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    From looking things up on search engines to ordering food, reading news and booking cabs, we use web services every day. But do you know the web as we know it is just a fraction of the actual web space. Yes, and that is why it is called the surface web. It is available for access to anyone and everyone with access to the internet. There is a whole lot more to the web which is not accessible to everyone. People call it the  dark web.  Curious to know what the  dark web  is, who uses it, and why it is a maligned space? Let’s take a look: What is the  Dark Web? It is that uncharted part of the web which is not accessible to everyone The Dark Web is a reality that has existed since the beginning of the internet. While there is a load of information indexed on the web and easily accessible by anyone with internet connectivity, irrespective of geography, there is even more information and data that does not come to your notice because it is hidden and re...

   The South Korean state watchdog on personal information protection on Friday recommended the operator of  Facebook  to pay 300,000 won ($256.70) in compensation to each of 181 users demanding damages for the provision of their personal information to third parties without consent. The recommendation to Meta Platforms was made by the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC)'s dispute mediation panel in charge of settling a dispute between the operator and Korean users of  Facebook  over the platform's breach of users' personal data. The state watchdog in November concluded that  Facebook  passed personal data of at least 3.3 million of its total 18 million Korean users to third parties without the users' consent between May 2012 and June 2018. The leaked data included the lists of the users' Facebook friends. The global platform giant was fined 6.7 billion won for the privacy law violations at that time, reports Yonhap news agency. In r...

   Seven in 10 consumers in India were targeted by tech support scammers in the last 12 months, Microsoft’s 2021 Global Tech Support Scam Research report reveals. Organisations now face an industrialised attacker economy with skill specialisation. Many commodities that can be purchased in the dark markets are inexpensive, making attacks cheaper and easier to conduct. • 48% of consumers surveyed in India were tricked into continuing with the scam — an eight-point increase from 2018, and three times higher than the global average (16%) • 31% of those surveyed continued engaging and eventually lost money, an increase of 17 points over 2018 (14%) •  Millennials  (aged 24-37) were the most susceptible to such scams, with 58% of those that continued with the scam incurring monetary loss • 73% of males in India who proceeded to interact with a scammer were likely to lose money Read Complete Article

   There is no smartwatch that complements the iPhones the way Apple’s own watches do, even if they are not perfect. Therefore, even if the new models do not bring any significant upgrades over the previous-generation models, they still make a compelling buy for iPhone users looking to upgrade to a new model. A case in point is the  Apple Watch  Series 7. Over the  Watch Series 6 (review) , the Series 7 brings a bigger display with curved edges and negligible display bezels, redesigned user interface optimised for larger display, and new watch faces to complement the curved display profile. Starting with the display, the Watch Series 7 boasts 20 per cent more screen area over the Watch Series 6. Interestingly, the bump in screen size does not translate into any significant changes in dimensions of the case. This is because the screen is stretched by narrowing the borders. That said, the  Apple Watch  Series 7 is just 1mm (45mm, review unit) bigger than...

   Nowadays we hear a lot about the connected ecosystem. We read about everything connected – from connected homes to connected offices, connected cars, and even connected manufacturing facilities. These are enabled by an interconnection through Internet of Things, or  IOT.  But what is  IoT?  Let’s understand. In layman’s terms, the  Internet of Things  is a network of internet-connected devices linked together to work in tandem. It enables a connected ecosystem and automation. For example, a smart bulb and a smart speaker linked together are connected to the internet. Here, the smart speaker can take voice commands to switch on or switch off the smart bulb. In silos, the smart bulb and the smart speaker are just other internet-enabled devices with limited benefits of interconnection. But when linked together, they form a network where both the devices form a connected ecosystem. By combining the data of these connected devices with automated sys...

   Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday arrived here in Italy to participate in the G20 Summit. In Rome, Prime Minister Modi will hold discussions on global economic and health recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Landed in Rome to take part in the @g20org Summit, an important forum to deliberate on key global issues. I also look forward to other programmes through this visit to Rome, he said on Twitter. In his departure statement, Modi said he will be visiting Rome and the Vatican City from October 29-31 at the invitation of Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, following which he will travel to Glasgow, the UK, from November 1-2 at the invitation of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Read Complete Article

   EVENT HIGHLIGHTS  09:31 AM India reports 14,348 new Covid-19 cases, 13,198 recoveries and 805 deaths in last 24 hours  09:09 AM Army Chief Gen MM Naravane at passing out Parade of 141st Course of NDA in Pune  08:46 AM Shaktikanta Das gets an extension of three years as RBI governor Rajinikanth in Chennai. (File photo: ANI) India reported 14,348 Covid-19 new cases in the last 24 hours, informed the Ministry of Health and Family welfare on Friday. With this India's active caseload stands at 161,334. Active cases account for less than 1 per cent of total cases, currently at 0.47 per cent, the lowest since March 2020. The country also registered 13,198 new recoveries in the last 24 hours, taking the recovery rate to 98.19 per cent. A magistrate court in Surat has directed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to appear before it today to record his statement in connection with a criminal defamation case against him over his remark on the "Modi surname". Defence Minister R...

   Facebook  Inc is now called Meta, the company said on Thursday, in a rebrand that focuses on its ambitions building the "metaverse," a shared virtual environment that it bets will be the next big computing platform. The name change comes as the world's largest social media company battles criticisms from lawmakers and regulators over its market power, algorithmic decisions and the policing of abuses on its platforms. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, speaking at the company's live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference, said the new name reflected its ambitions to build the metaverse, rather than its namesake social media service. The metaverse, a term first coined in a dystopian novel three decades ago and now attracting buzz in Silicon Valley, refers broadly to the idea of a shared virtual environment which can be accessed by people using different devices. "Right now, our brand is so tightly linked to one product that it can't possibly represent everythin...

   Tech giant  Amazon  is building a new app, codenamed "Project Mic" that gives anyone the ability to make and distribute a live radio show complete with music. According to The Verge, this project's goal is to democratise and reinvent the radio. The app will be focused on the US initially. Listeners will be able to tune in through the app as well as through Audible,  Amazon  Music, Twitch and Alexa-equipped devices. With the Alexa devices, listeners will be able to interact with shows using just their voice. The app experience will also be optimised for the car, playing into Amazon's idea of trying to reinvent radio. A mockup app image viewed by The Verge depicts a screen listing shows that are currently live; trending topics like #NBA or #hot100; and featured creators. Users will also be able to search for content by topic, name or music. Anyone will be able to pull from Amazon's music catalogue to arrange their programme. For launch, the company is plan...

   Photo-messaging app  Snapchat  on Wednesday said its monthly user base has reached 100 million in the country, and the company will continue to anchor its efforts towards growing and providing more resources to its community of Indian creators. Snap Inc, the parent company of Snapchat, virtually hosted the second edition of 'Snap in India'. At the event, Snap co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel announced the milestone of reaching 100 million Snapchatters monthly in India. "We have made significant investments to localise the  Snapchat  experience for the Indian community. We have added culturally relevant content, developed highly active and creative local creator communities, and invested in local products, marketing initiatives, and language support, he added. Spiegel noted that these efforts to bring a localised experience to Indian Snapchatters has helped the company to reach the milestone and that the company will "continue to anchor our efforts around ...

   The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has started looking into disclosures that  Facebook  Inc's internal company research had identified ill effects from its products, the  Wall Street Journal  reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the matter.   Officials are looking into whether  Facebook  research documents indicate that it might have violated a 2019 settlement with the agency over privacy concerns, according to the report. Facebook  and the FTC did not immediately respond to  Reuters  requests for comment. In a statement, Facebook said that it is “always ready to answer regulators’ questions and will continue to cooperate with government inquiries.”   The FTC has been in touch with Haugen's team, the Journal reported, citing a source. The company has come under fire after Frances Haugen, who worked as a product manager on the civic misinformation team at Facebook, revealed that she was the whistleblower...

  As Reliance Jio gets ready to launch its next handset soon in the festive season, Alphabet and  Google  CEO  Sundar Pichai  said that in three-five years, the affordable JioPhone Next device will have a lot of impact in connecting and helping millions take advantage of a smartphone. The upcoming JioPhone Next smartphone will house Pragati OS, powered by Android, which is touted as a world-class operating system built specifically for India. "People are looking for access and there's definitely been a wave of them who have adopted  smartphones  (in India)," Pichai said during the earnings call after announcing robust quarterly results late on Tuesday. "There is still demand to shift from feature phones to  smartphones.  JioPhone Next is like building a phone beyond the English-speaking community and going local, doing it in a way that many more people can take advantage of a smartphone," he elaborated. The device is built with exciting featu...

   Chinese smartphone maker  OPPO  is reportedly planning to launch its first foldable smartphone phone in November. The upcoming  OPPO  Fold is expected to feature an inward folding design like the Galaxy Z Fold3 and the Huawei Mate X2, reports GizmoChina. The device is said to come with an 8-inch LTPO OLED panel that offers a 120W refresh rate. Under the hood, it will be powered by the Snapdragon 888 mobile platform. As per report, the device is expected to come preinstalled with ColorOS 12, but it is unclear whether it will feature the latest Android 12 or last year's Android 11. Earlier,  OPPO  patented a new technology that could be used in its future wearable devices. The new technology has a patent number of CN110298944B and describes a "Venous Unlocking Method and Vein Unlocking Device". In other words, a biometric system similar to facial recognition or fingerprint scanning but one that maps the veins on the users' hands. Notably, this te...

   In March, as claims about the dangers and ineffectiveness of  coronavirus  vaccines spun across social media and undermined attempts to stop the spread of the virus, some  Facebook  employees thought they had found a way to help. By subtly altering how posts about vaccines are ranked in people's newsfeeds, researchers at the company realized they could curtail the misleading information individuals saw about COVID-19 vaccines and offer users posts from legitimate sources like the World Health Organization. Given these results, I'm assuming we're hoping to launch ASAP, one  Facebook  employee wrote in March, responding to the internal memo about the study. Instead,  Facebook  shelved some suggestions from the study. Other changes weren't made until April. When another Facebook researcher suggested disabling comments on vaccine posts in March until the platform could do a better job of tackling anti-vaccine messages lurking in them, tha...

   Data breaches and cyber attacks are expected to grow to large scale with the adoption of digitisation by both businesses as well as consumers, Israel-based cyber security firm Check Point said on Tuesday. The company expects cyber groups will continue to leverage fake news campaigns to execute various phishing attacks and scams. "Going into 2022 we will see an increase in data breaches that will be on a larger scale. These breaches will also have the potential to cost organizations and governments more to recover. In May 2021, the US insurance giant paid USD 40 million in ransom to hackers. This was a record, and we can expect ransom demanded by attackers to increase in 2022," Check Point said in its prediction report. India is one the top 10 countries that faces most of the cyber attacks. According to industry estimates, cyber crimes caused a loss of around USD 6 trillion to the global economy in 2020. "We can expect ransom demand by attackers to increase in 2022. Go...

   It hasn't been long since  Vivo  launched its X60 series  ( review )  that placed the Chinese smartphone maker at a fine spot in the cluttered smartphone market in India. And  Vivo  did not take long to launch its X70 series, yet again in collaboration with lens major Zeiss. The X70 series is geared towards content creators as imaging remains a focus here, not just that, the new series also features Vivo’s V1 imaging chip, which the company claims took almost two years to develop. That said, Vivo’s X60 Pro and X60 Pro+ had already set the bar so high for rivals and now with a new iteration in the X series, it remains to be seen if  Vivo  lives up to the expectation. I took the X70 Pro+ for a spin—from photography to gaming, I put the phone to a stiff test to see what’s on offer. I’ll talk about everything this phone has to offer in this review: Vivo X70 Pro+: Design and build quality The very first thing one notices in the X70 Pro+ is...

   The Russian-based agency behind last year's massive SolarWinds cyberattack has targeted hundreds more  companies  and organizations in its latest wave of attacks on US-based computer systems,  Microsoft  said in a blog post.   Microsoft, in a blog post dated October 24, said Nobelium’s latest wave targeted “resellers and other technology service providers” of cloud services. Those attacks were part of a broader campaign over the summer,  Microsoft  said, adding it had notified 609 customers between July 1 and October 19 that they had been attacked. Just a small percent of the latest attempts were successful,  Microsoft  told the  New York Times , which first reported the breach, but it gave no further details.   US  cybersecurity  officials could not be immediately reached to confirm the report. US officials confirmed to the Times that the operation was underway, with one unnamed senior administration official...

   Google  has teamed up with  Facebook  to work around Apple's privacy tools in Safari to continue tracking end-users, an update to an antitrust lawsuit claims, with the search engine also doing what it could to slow down other regulatory initiatives surrounding privacy. A lawsuit was filed against  Google  in December 2020 by a group of attorneys general, accusing the search engine of "engaging in market collusion to rig auctions," reports AppleInsider. While the lawsuit largely focuses on a deal between  Google  and  Facebook  to cooperate in the online advertising business instead of competing, an update accuses the two tech giants of trying to work against initiatives by  Apple  to help protect the privacy of its users. The amended complaint filed on October 22 and first reported by The Register, expands on the original claim in some directions, revealing more ways that Google may have tried to subvert user privacy. A...

   Reliance Jio  on Monday confirmed operating system and processor details of the JioPhone Next ahead of Diwali launch. Announced at the Reliance Industries’ annual general meeting earlier this year, the JioPhone Next will be powered by Google Android operating system-based Pragati OS and Qualcomm processor. According to Reliance Jio, the Pragati OS, powered by Android, is an operating system built specifically for India and is at the heart of JioPhone Next. It has been engineered by best minds at Jio and Google with an objective to bring Pragati (progress) for all, while offering truly seamless experience at affordable cost. As for the processor, Jio said the Qualcomm processor on the JioPhone Next will deliver optimised connectivity and location technologies along with optimisations in device performance, audio and battery. The information came courtesy a short video titled ‘Making of JioPhone Next’ released by  Reliance Jio  on Monday. In the video, the tele...

   Unveiled earlier this year at the Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, the macOS Monterey is now rolling out for supported Mac computers. The new operating system brings several new features and capabilities, including universal control for seamless integration between Mac and iPad, AirPlay to Mac feature to send content to supported Mac from an iPhone, iPad and another Mac, and improved Safari browser with support for tab groups and new privacy protections. macOS Monterey: Supported devices The macOS Monterey is designed to harness the potential of Apple’s ARM architecture-based M1 chip. Therefore, it will be available for the new MacBook Air M1, MacBook Pro M1, Mac Mini M1, and the recently launched MacBook Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. Besides, the macOS Monterey will be available for below mentioned Mac computers: iMac – 2015 and later iMac Pro – 2017 and later MacBook Air – Early 2015 and later MacBook Pro – Early 2015 and later Mac Pro – Late 2013 and later Ma...

   The Indian digital start-up ecosystem has welcomed Apple's deleting a clause that prevented developers from contacting users outside of  in-app purchases. On Saturday,  Apple  said it deleted clause 3.1.3 that said: “Developers cannot use information obtained within the app to target individual users outside of the app to use purchasing methods other than in-app purchase (such as sending an individual user an email about other purchasing met­hods, after that, individual signs up for an account within the app).” The All India Digital Foundation (ADIF), a think tank for digital start-ups in India, called it an encouraging move, which it said was being used by  Apple  to maintain a stronghold on the developers in order to make them cough up hefty commissions. “This comes as a major victory for the developer and start-up community who have been vocal against the restrictive and anti-competitive practices of the two big firms through AppStore/PlayStore p...

    The Super 12 round of  ICC T20 World Cup 2021  will kick-start from October 23 with Australia vs South Africa game at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi. The qualifier round which would determine the four teams, who will join India, Pakistan, South Africa, Australia, England, West Indies, New Zealand and Afghanistan, is underway at UAE and Oman. Bangladesh, Scotland, Sri Lanka are the three teams that have already qualified for the Super 12 round and the last team will be decided after today’s games (Namibia vs Ireland, Sri Lanka vs Netherlands). Check ICC T20 WC 2021 latest news here India will start its ICC T20 World Cup against its arch-rivals Pakistan at Dubai International Stadium. India has not a single game against Pakistan in the T20 World Cups. It would be interesting to see whether Babar Azam-led side will able to break the jinx on October 24.   ICC T20 World Cup venues (Super 12) Dubai International Stadium. Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi Sharjah cr...