Heena Sharma Blog

Today's Google doodle is dedicated to Arati Saha, a groundbreaking Indian long-distance swimmer and Olympian. This day would have been her 80th birthday. On September 29, 1959, she became the first Asian woman to cross the English Channel, swimming 42 miles from Cape Gris Nez in France, to Sandgate in England. Born in Kolkata, Saha's athletic talent became known when she won her first gold medal for swimming at the age of 5. By the time she was 11 years old, she earned the title of 'swimming prodigy'. Today’s Google doodle has been drawn by her fellow Kolkata native, artist Lavanya Naidu. Naidu hopes her drawing helps inspire people everywhere to ‘dream big, no matter where they come from'. Saha earned multiple honours in her early career, including setting an all-India record in 1949 and breaking Dolly Nazir's all-India record in a 1951 West Bengal state meet. Read More

  Samsung Electronics on Wednesday unveiled the Galaxy S20 FE (Fan Edition), a new model in the Galaxy S20 series, starting at $699 for the 5G variant. Pre-orders for the Galaxy S20 FE 5G and S20 FE have started and the phone will be available globally from October 2. The smartphone’s India availability is not yet confirmed by the company. Samsung took select features of the Galaxy S20 series, such as the super smooth scrolling display, an AI-powered camera, advanced chipset, hyper-fast connectivity, all day battery, expandable storage, with a streamlined premium design, in order to create the all-new Galaxy S20 FE. "The S20 FE is an extension of the Galaxy S20 family and is the start of a new way to bring meaningful innovation to even more people to let them do the things they love with the best of Galaxy," said Dr TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile Communications Business for Samsung Electronics. Read More

  To ensure productivity along with enough self-care in between, Google has introduced a new Workday routine that makes Google Assistant help you stretch, walk and drink water as you work from home. Available in English, the new workday routine automatically reminds you of all the small and big things to do throughout your work day - from staying on top of your calendar to taking a break away from the desk. After you enable the routine in the Assistant settings on your Android or iOS device, you can start with a pre-set routine. For example, at 2 p.m., Google Assistant might suggest going for a walk, and then to grab a glass of water at 3 p.m. "At 4:45 p.m., you'll be reminded to start wrapping things up. Assistant will also regularly share the time with you throughout the day, so that you don't lose track of upcoming meetings," said Alice Liang, Product Manager at Google. Read More

  WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new 'Expiring Media' feature that will let users send self-destructing media on the popular messaging app. The upcoming ' Expiring Media ' feature is an extension to another under-development feature called 'Expiring Messages'. WABetainfo, a website that tracks WhatsApp in Beta, has spotted Expiring Media as part of WhatsApp for Android's new beta version 2.20.201.1. This upcoming WhatsApp feature is similar to that found in Snapchat, which was later copied by Instagram. When this feature will be enabled, users will have an option to set expiration when they share media files, the report said. Those who will receive any "Expiring Media" can only view them for a single time and once they exit the chat, they will disappear without any trace unlike "This message was deleted" message when the sender deletes messages. Read More

  Saudi Arabia on Wednesday suspended air travel to and from India, Brazil and Argentina, in view of the COVID-19 pandemic . According to the country's Civil Aviation Authority, people with travel history to any of the mentioned countries 14 days prior to their arrival to the Kingdom, have also been barred. "Suspending travel to and from the following countries (India, Brazil, and Argentina) including any person who has been in any of the mentioned countries in the last (14) days prior to their arrival to the Kingdom," General Authority of Civil Aviation said in a statement. However, those who have official government invitations are excluded. According to the Johns Hopkins Unversity, there are 330,798 COVID-19 cases in the country. Read More

  Chinese electronics maker Lenovo-owned smartphone brand Motorola on Wednesday launched in India the Moto E7 Plus . Touted to be made in India, the smartphone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 460 system-on-chip and a 5,000 mAh battery. It has a 6.5-inch screen of HD+ resolution and boots stock Android 10 operating system. The Moto E7 Plus will be available exclusively on Flipkart at Rs 9,499, starting September 30. The Moto E7 Plus sports dual-camera set-up on the back, featuring a 48-megapixel primary sensor of an f/1.7 aperture, and a depth sensor. The camera is supported by night vision feature for low-light photography. Besides, there is high-res zoom and hyperlapse plus slow-motion video (120fps) features. The camera also features several AI modes, including auto smile capture, smart composition, shot optimisation, portrait mode, spot color, and more. Read More

  Russia is ready to offer its ' Sputnik V ' COVID-19 vaccine free of charge for voluntary vaccination of the staff of United Nations (UN) and its offices and the country will soon hold a virtual conference for those nations keen in cooperation in the development of anti-coronavirus vaccines, said Russian President Vladimir Putin. Delivering his remarks through a pre-recorded video for the 75th session of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Putin described the 'Sputnik V' vaccine, the world's first coronavirus vaccine, as "safe, reliable and effective". He said the Russian government is ready to share experience and continue collaborating with countries and international entities including the supply of the 'Sputnik V' vaccine. "Building on the scientific, industrial and clinical experience of its doctors Russia has promptly developed a range of test systems and medicines to detect and treat the coronavirus, as well as registered the worl...