An internet-calling application, which was developed and hosted on anonymous servers by a team in Pakistan for the Inter Services Intelligence, is now being used by the LeT, IB sources said.
Slapped with a second hefty fine for anti-competitive practices, Google India on Wednesday said it remains committed to users and developers and is reviewing the antitrust body's order to evaluate next steps. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Tuesday slapped a Rs 936 crore fine on Google for "abusing" its dominant position on its Android mobile app store and ordered it not to prevent app developers from using third-party billing or payment processing services in India. That penalty came just days after a Rs 1,337.76 crore fine was imposed on it for abusing the dominant position of its Android smartphone operating system. Commenting on Tuesday's CCI order, a Google India spokesperson said Indian app developers have benefited from the technology, security, consumer protection, choice and flexibility that Android and Google Play provide.
This year will be the one when GenAI becomes a part of the daily lives of people around the world.
Scrutiny of Google's code of conduct in the Indian Android ecosystem is far from over with several start-ups preparing to appeal against the company's revised policies of service fee on in-app purchases and subscriptions, according to sources in the know. This comes days after the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) granted partial relief to the tech giant, reversing four of the 10 key non-monetary directives that would have forced Google to allow uninstalling of its pre-installed apps on Android devices. Paytm, BharatMatrimony, and ShareChat are among the start-ups that are likely to file grievances against the tech major for alleged non-compliance with the Competition Commission of India's (CCI's) cease-and-desist order on Play Store policies.
An online company would show a particular price to the customer and then quickly increase the cost after analysing consumer behaviour or detecting any kind of desperation.
Instagram, owned by the tech giant Meta, on Wednesday, unveiled its new app called 'Threads' a new app designed to directly compete with Elon Musk's Twitter. According to The Hollywood Reporter, a US-based media house, Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the launch, framing Threads as "a new, separate space for real-time updates and public conversations." Threads will be linked to users' Instagram profiles, making it simple to connect with followers, prominent personalities, or brands.
Infosys claims it can deliver a full-fledged applications store within 6-8 weeks, with its application platform Flypp.
'Banning a game is not the solution, rather, there should be laws that restrict the number of hours spent a week playing a game.'
The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has arrested a person who the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) said has emerged as the mastermind of the racket of incorporating a large number of shell companies with Chinese links in India.
A Judicial member of the appellate tribunal NCLAT has recused himself from hearing a petition filed by tech giant Google, appealing against Rs 936.44 crore penalty imposed by competition watchdog CCI for abusing its dominant position with respect to Play Store policies. On Monday, NCLAT bench Justice Rakesh Kumar and Alok Srivastava ordered Google's appeal to be listed before another bench of which Justice Rakesh Kumar is not a party. It has asked the registry of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) to place it before the chairman of the appellate tribunal for this.
Google is going ahead with a policy revision mandating 30% charge on in-app purchases across all apps on Play Store. This has left developers' community worried about tighter squeeze on their earnings, says Yuvraj Malik.
A new mobile banking 'Trojan' virus -- SOVA -- which can stealthily encrypt an Android phone for ransom and is hard to uninstall is targeting Indian customers, the country's federal cyber security agency said in its latest advisory.
Technology giant Apple has informed its customers in India that it will no longer store their card information on file and will not be accepting payments made by debit cards and credit cards for purchases or subscriptions on the App store or other Apple services. The decision has been taken by the US-based company in view of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) card data storage guidelines, which will kick in from July 1. The deadline for implementing these norms was extended twice.
Indian industry snubbed Google Play's decision to cut by half its commission for developers when they make $1 million in annual revenue for in-app purchases, saying the US tech giant may continue its "abrasive & monopolistic abuse" as it owns the Android system. Google Play said Tuesday that beginning July 1 it would slash its 30 per cent billing fee to 15 per cent for developers globally when they make the first $1 million of their annual revenue.
Installing a new app? Rediff.com's Ashish Narsale shows you how to do it safely.
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Wednesday declined to grant interim relief to Google seeking a stay on competition watchdog CCI's penalty of Rs 936.44 crore on the tech giant for abusing its dominant position with respect to Play Store policies. The appellate tribunal has directed Google to deposit 10 per cent of the fine before its registry in the next four weeks. A two-member bench comprising Justice Rakesh Kumar and Alok Srivastava issued notices to the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and other respondents and posted the matter for hearing on April 17, 2023.
"The Government of India has issued an interim order for the blocking of 59 apps, including TikTok, and we are in the process of complying with it. We have been invited to meet with concerned government stakeholders for an opportunity to respond and submit clarifications," Nikhil Gandhi, head of TikTok India, said.
Apple has removed hundreds of apps from its App Store over concerns that they gathered personal information from phones.
'We want to achieve overall profitability, and then we would go for an IPO.'
Google on Friday said it is deferring the deadline for developers in India to integrate with its Play billing system from March 2022 to October next year. In October last year, the company had announced March 31, 2022 as the deadline for developers in India to integrate with Play's billing system. A Google spokesperson on Friday said the extension has been done in view of the changes to India's recurring digital payments guidelines.
The move by the two Silicon Valley companies came the day when Twitter permanently suspended Trump's account due to "risk of further incitement of violence".
After failing to get a court order to block an antitrust ruling, Google on Wednesday said it will allow users in India to choose default search engine on Android-based smartphones. As part of the key changes the tech giant will make to its platforms and business in India in the aftermath of the landmark CCI ruling, OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) will be able to license individual Google apps for pre-installation on their devices. Google is also updating the Android compatibility requirements to introduce changes for partners to build non-compatible or forked variants, the company said in its blog.
Borrowers should be careful if the app promises too-quick disbursal, and doesn't provide adequate information on the terms of the loan, such as interest rate, repayment schedule, etc.
Google has termed as "tainted" the investigations done against it by CCI, contending that the two informants on whose complaint the fair trade regulator has initiated the enquiry were working at the same office that was investigating the tech major. This was "against the principles of natural justice", Google said in the petition filed before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), adding the Competition Commission of India (CCI) should have refrained from initiating an investigation based on a complaint filed by their own employees. "At the very least, the Commission could have debarred the Informants from working in the DG office while the investigation was ongoing, to ensure that the investigating officer was able to impartially assess the case without any influence, such that no concerns could arise on the independence of the investigation," said Google.
'We're seeing major Bollywood celebrities, fashion icons, and even movie studios all wanting to build Metaverse experiences'
India's third largest network service provider, Reliance Communications (RCom), is close to signing an agreement with US-based GetJar to launch its own application store (app store, software modules to run specific tasks on own mobiles), sources said.
Google has removed indigenous social media app Bolo Indya from Playstore on a copyright complaint made by music company T-Series. Super Cassettes Industries Pvt Ltd, which operates under the brand name T-Series, has served an infringement notice to social media and video sharing platforms about a year ago to pay around Rs 3.5 crore in damages from using its copyrighted contents. While most of the companies have settled the row with T-Series, Bolo Indya is yet to come to terms with the music company.
In September, BlackBerry had paused the global rollout of its instant messaging service BBM on rival phones, blaming the delay on issues caused by an unreleased old version of BBM (BlackBerry Messenger).
Winter Games in Beijing has glaring security problems that could expose sensitive data to interception, according to a report
The home ministry can notify Google of the Voice of Punjab app's hateful content and have the app taken down from the app store. The glorification of Beant Singh's assassination alone is enough to have the app taken down.
The two apps had drawn millions of downloads in India as border tensions between India and China surged.
Due to onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent unprecedented lockdown, e-catering services were suspended on March 22, 2020.
The app, which has close to 1 million users per day, its lawyer, is losing close to Rs 4.5 crore in revenues every day.
Mobile application stores, or app stores as they are known, have become the biggest news for cellphone users this year.
Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Nazara Technologies is all set to hit the primary market with its Rs 583-crore IPO on Wednesday. The diversified and online gaming firm's three-day issue will run through March 17-19 and will be entirely an offer for sale (OFS). While 5.29 million equity shares will be offloaded via OFS by some of the shareholders, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, who owns 3.29 million shares or 11.51 per cent stake in the company as of September 30, 2020, has decided to hold on to his stake. The issue has a price band of Rs 1,100-1,101 and will be available in lots of 13 shares and multiples thereof.
The pornographic app would have enabled Google Glass wearers to watch pictures and videos filmed using the Glass, helpful for one-on-one interactions between adults possessing Glass, the CNN reports.
The market potential is huge. with over four billion global mobile users as compared to approximately one billion PCs.
Mushrooming app stores are offering a huge 70 per cent revenue to developers.
A banking Trojan malware has been detected in the Indian cyberspace that is lurking to attack bank customers using Android phones and has already targeted those from more than 27 public and private sector banks, the country's federal cyber security agency said in a latest advisory.