Vodafone-Idea, which is India’s largest telecom operator, has made several changes in its prepaid plans. Notably, the telecom operator has stopped proving Disney+ Hotstar access with newly launched packs. This comes a month after Vodafone-Idea launched new packs for the same application.
To increase its user base in India, Disney+ Hotstar is testing two affordable plans for its customers. This development comes at that time when Netflix revised plans for its Indian customers. In fact, Disney+ Hotstar has also increased the prices of its plans.
Now, several reports claim that the OTT player is testing Rs. 49; however, this pack is likely to be available for select payment methods. Notably, this information was shared by the Reddit user and said that the plan is priced at Rs. 99 per month, but as an introductory offer, users can avail the pack at Rs. 49, which means there is a discount of Rs. 50.
The plan offers or supports 720p streaming and stereo audio quality. However, it should be noted that this plan is under testing and designed for only Android users. In addition, this pack is not for all.
Apart from this pack, Telecomtalk reported that Disney+ Hotstar is also testing Rs. 199 plan for its users in India. In fact, this plan comes under an inaugural discount as the actual cost of the plan is priced at Rs. 299. This pack is valid for six months, where users will get 720p streaming along with ads during movies and sports.
It is worth noting that the OTT platform has recently revised its plans in the country and now, the first plan start from Rs. 499 and it offers services for one year, while the second plan of Rs. 899 ships services for a year on two screens.
Lastly, there is a pack of Rs. 1,499, where users will get services for one year on four screens. Notably, the Rs. 499 offers HD streaming services, while Rs, 899 pack is providing services in the same streaming quality. On the other hand, Rs. 1,499 offers streaming in 4K.
The company has increased the prices of all plans; however, Reliance Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone-Idea offer app access with their prepaid plans. In addition, Jio Fiber and Airtel Xstream users are also getting Disney+ Hotstar app access.
Smartphones have been a blessing in disguise for us all. As technologically advanced these handheld gadgets are, they equally are prone to different forms of cyber/phishing attacks. Despite numerous efforts made by tech giants, there is no respite from malware attacks on smartphone users. One of the most notorious malware targeting Android users is the Joker.
Google has been on a constant lookout for this malware and has removed multiple apps laced with this fleeceware from the Play Store. But it seems that the struggle to get rid of the Joker app is long term as the malware has once again been spotted at the Play Store inside a popular app that had over 500,000 downloads. Which is the latest app laced with Joker malware that you need to get rid of? Let’s find out below:
Back in September this year, Google had removed around eight new apps laced with the Joker malware from Play Store. This time only a single app is said to have been affected by the fleeceware. Called Color Message, the app has been available on the Play Store for a long and was downloaded over 500,000 times until now.
Thankfully, Google was able to identify the Joker malware disguised as the Color Message app on Play Store. The search giant has also removed the app from its platform making it secure for the users. The malware was identified by the researchers at Pradeo Security. The security researchers have also warned the users to immediately remove the app from their respective Android smartphones.
Google has already taken down this app from the Play Store. What’s concerning is that the Color Message app which was affected by Joker malware has been quite popular amongst consumers. The app was designed to deliver a fun typing experience with new emojis and fonts. The app was removed as soon as the researchers were sure it is laced with Joker.
This is not the first time a messaging app is reportedly taken down citing Joker malware infections. A few months back, apps like Auxiliary Messages, Fast Magic SMS, Super Messages, and Go Messages were pulled down from the Google Play Store due to the same reason.
For the unaware, the Joker Malware tricks the users by simulating clicks and intercepting messages. By doing so, the attackers can get the users to subscribe to premium subscriptions that are priced on the hefty side.
WhatsApp has added a plethora of new features to its messaging app available for both Android and iOS devices in recent times. The desktop version has also received a fair share of updates in the last few years; specifically following Facebook’s acquisition of the app. Several new features primarily focus on enhancing the privacy aspects and also improving the overall user experience. Another such feature has now been released which will allow WhatsApp users to preview voice messages before sending to any contact. What is this new feature and how can you make use of it? Read on to know:
WhatsApp already offers the provision to send an audio message from any chat window. However, until now there wasn’t an option available to preview the audio clip before sending it. Also, users couldn’t pause the audio message while recording it.
But that changes now as the company has now added this feature wherein you’ll be able to listen to the recorded audio before sending it. The company has shared a new tweet via its official handle on Twitter that confirms the availability of this new feature for the WhatsApp messenger.
Besides, this option will also allow the users to delete the audio file if it isn’t recorded properly. All you’d need to do is click on the trash icon and the file be deleted. It is worth adding that this new feature has been made available for both WhatsApp Android and iOS platforms. It will also be available for the desktop version otherwise known as WhatsApp web.
As for the steps, they are similar to how you record a long audio message but you get to replay the audio before sending it.
Step 1: Open any chat window and tap on the microphone icon.
Step 2: You will need to slide up on the microphone tab to lock it and for hands-free audio recording.
Step 3: Now, you can start speaking your message and click on stop once done.
Step 4: You’ll see an option to replay the audio. If it sounds good and doesn’t require any changes you can click on the send button. Or else, you can click on the trash icon to delete the audio. You can repeat the above steps to re-record any audio message.
With an aim to increase its user base in India, Netflix has made big changes in its plans. The company has decreased its prices between 18 to 60 percent across different plans. The new development comes after when Disney+ Hotstar and Amazon Prime increased the prices of their plans.
It is important to note that all revised plans are listed on the website and users are allowed to upgrade all packs from today (December 14th, 2021). The company also said that all users can sign up and choose the plan they wanted to use. Besides, the company said that it will upgrade the plan automatically, which is higher than the current pack.
The first plan of the popular steaming application is now priced at Rs. 149 per month as against Rs. 199 per month. The Basic pack is now priced at Rs. 199 instead of Rs. 499 per month earlier, while the Standard pack will cost you Rs. 499 per month. Earlier, this plan was priced at Rs. 649 per month and lastly, there is a pack of Rs. 649 per month, which was earlier priced at Rs. 799 per month.
The company also announced that if you already have a subscription, you are allowed to choose or upgrade to high-end plans. However, those who are using Premium plans can change the plans and that will be reflected in their next billing cycle.
It is worth noting that benefits are the same as the Mobile and Basic plan offers 480p content on phones and tablets, whereas the Standard plan offers 1080p resolution and Premium pack ships content with 4K+ HDR resolution.
The content of the Mobile plan can be accessed via mobile and tablet. While Basic pack will be accessed on television, mobile, tablet, and computer. The Standard and the Premium plans are also accessible via the same platforms.
“As Indians, we love great entertainment. Whatever your mood, tastes or plan, Netflix is now even more accessible. Whether you choose Aranyak on Friday, Money Heist on Saturday, or Dhamaka and Sooryavanshi on Sunday, you can watch all of Netflix on your mobile for Rs. 149, and on any device starting at Rs. 199,” Monika Shergill, Vice President, Content, Netflix India.
With an aim to increase digital transactions in the country, the Reserve Bank Of India has announced a payment feature of features phones. Currently, all-digital transactions can be done via smartphone users and feature phones are known for making calls and sending messages.
Notably, the apex bank in its “Statement on Developmental and Regulatory Practices”, has proposed this new feature for the feature phones. However, the bank is yet to issue details about the same services.
“These products, coupled with other complementary solutions, will facilitate UPI-based digital payment solutions on feature phones to promote wide digitization. It is proposed to launch a UPI-based payment product for feature phone users. Further details will be announced shortly,” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das was quoted by PTI.
“As part of the transition from LIBOR, we also look forward to the guidelines on the use of interbank rate or alternative reference rate (ARR) as benchmarks for ECB/Trade Credit,” Shankar further added.
He said that it is important to bring UPI payments to feature phone users as 44 crore users are still using the same platform out of 118 crore mobile users in the country. According to Statista this year close to 74 crores of users are using smartphones in India.
As per the RBI statement, “UPI is the single largest retail payment system in the country in terms of volume of transactions (14 crore transactions per day, October 2021). One of the initial objectives of UPI was to replace cash for low value transactions. Transaction data analysis shows that 50 percent of transactions through UPI were below RS. 200, indicating its success. These low value transactions, however, utilise significant system capacity and resources, at times leading to customer inconvenience due to transaction failures because of issues related to connectivity.”
It is worth noting that the National Payments Corporation of India launched USSD a mobile baking service called *99#. For the uninitiated, the services were launched by BSNL and MTNL. In 2016, the Indian Government introduced BHIM, which actually increased digital transactions in India.
In fact, some report claims that 2017-18 USSD 2.0 transactions managed to get 4.3 percent of the UPI volumes and 1.6 percent of the entire value. However, last year was not good the share has been decreased to 0.005 percent respectively.
Telegram is currently grabbing the audience’s attention as WhatsApp’s prime rival. The instant messaging application uses the same end-to-end encryption platform like WhatsApp for enhanced privacy. But what gives Telegram an edge is the availability of numerous user-friendly features which even WhatsApp is missing. The company has once again added a bunch of new features which not only improve the user’s security but also help with the better management of the accounts and groups.
Telegram New Update: Here’s The Changelog
Telegram has released a new update for both Android and iOS devices which comes as a part of the monthly update cycle. This latest update brings multiple new features such as the option to delete messages by date, a new login option (via calls), and also new global chat themes.
The company has shared a blog post detailing the features released with the new update. Starting with the ‘Delete Messages by Date’ option, this new feature will allow users to clean older conversations or messages from a select chat window.
The company has added a handy calendar from where you can select any specific day or date range while deleting messages. As of now, one can only use this feature for one-to-one chats and not all conversations. Restricted users wouldn’t be able to forward messages or screenshots and also be unable to download any media from the posts. For all chats, only the auto-delete option is available for which the timer can be set for one day, a week, or a month.
Telegram’s latest update also brings the ‘protected content in groups and channels’ option. This feature has been designed specifically for content creators. This option will allow group and channel owners can restrict message forwarding from their chat window.
Telegram has also added new login options with this new update. Users will now also get a call for login instead of just text messages or codes. The company has made it easier to manage accounts from connected devices. A new tab has been added to quickly link a desktop device and also an option to automatically logout. All these new features are rolling out to both Android and iOS devices and improve the overall user experience.
After removing Disney+ Hotstar packs, Reliance Jio has again come up with new packs to offer the same app benefit. The company has launched three new packs that are priced at Rs. 799, Rs. 1,099, and Rs. 3,119. Besides, the company is providing Rs. 601 plan to offer Disney+ Hotstar access.
It is worth noting that the company offers four plans to its customers in the same segment. The first plan will cost you Rs. 601, where users will get 90GB of data, unlimited calling, and 100 messages per day for 28 days. In addition, the pack ships Disney+ Hotstar app access for one year and access to all Jio apps like JioTV, JioCinema, JioSecurity, and JioCloud.
The other pack of Rs. 799 ships 2GB of data for 56 days, which users will get 112GB of total data. This pack also ships unlimited calling and 100 messages per day for the same period. This pack also ships access to Jio apps, including JioCloud, JioCinema, JioSecurity, and JioTV. In addition, users will get access to Disney+ Hotstar app for one year.
The third plan of Reliance Jio is priced at Rs. 1,066 offers 100 messages per day, unlimited calling, and 173GB of data for 84 days. In addition, this pack ships JioCloud, JioTV, JioCinema, and JioSecurity. Also, this plan offers the Disney+ Hotstar app for one year.
The Rs. 3,119 offers 2GB of data per day for 365 days. It includes 740GB of data in total, 100 messages per day, and unlimited calling. This pack ships all Jio apps like JioTV, JioCinema, JioCloud, and JioSecurity. It includes Disney+ Hotstar app access.
It is important to note that Airtel and Vodafone-Idea also offer Disney+ Hotstar app access with prepaid plans. Coming to the Airtel plans that offer Disney+ Hotstar, the new plans are priced at Rs. 599, Rs. 838, and Rs. 3,359. On the other hand, Vodafone-Idea Disney+ Hotstar packs will cost you Rs. 501, Rs. 701, Rs. 901, and Rs. 3,099.
Amazon Prime is all set to increase the price of its packs from December. The company has also confirmed this update through its support page and the changes will be made monthly, quarterly, and yearly packs. Notably, all packs will be costlier from December 13.
However, the company said that existing users can continue the services until their existing pack lasts. “Existing Prime members can continue their membership for the duration their membership plan is at the current price. However, after the price change, you can choose to renew your membership at the new price,” Amazon Prime on its website notes.
Notably, the company is providing three packs that are priced at Rs. 179, Rs. 459, and Rs. 1,499. Earlier, these packs were priced at Rs. 129, Rs. 329, and Rs. 999. This clearly shows that the annual pack will become Rs. 500 costlier, while monthly pack will be expensive by Rs. 50 and quarterly will be costlier than Rs. 130.
The company said that “Since the launch five years ago in IN, Prime has continued to increase the value it offers members. Prime provides an unparalleled combination of shopping, savings, and entertainment benefits to make life more convenient and entertaining every single day, and we continue to invest in making Prime even more valuable for customers.”
On the other hand, the company has decreased the price of Youth membership plans. The plans will be available between 18 and 24 years and a quarterly pack will be priced at Rs. 64 instead of Rs. 89 and Rs. 164 instead of Rs. 299 respectively.
Apart from providing content benefits, the users will get 70M free songs on Amazon Music, 5 percent reward points on shopping with ICICI Bank Credit cards, Amazon Pay. In addition, users will get early access to mega sales.
In case you are looking for Amazon Prime access for free, then you should look for telecom operators’ prepaid packs, such as Airtel and Reliance Jio. In fact, JioFiber and Airtel Xstream internet packs also offer Amazon Prime access with their packs.
In order to increase its user base, LinkedIn a professional social networking platform has announced support for regional language Hindi. With this launch, the company will support 25 languages globally. Notably, LinkedIn Hindi users can access their profile, feed, and messages in Hindi.
“With the launch of Hindi, now more members and customers can unlock greater value from the platform through content, jobs, and networking, and express themselves in a language that they feel comfortable in,” Ashutosh Gupta, India Country Manager, LinkedIn.
Besides, the company said that it will increase the range of job opportunities for Hindi-speaking professionals across all industries like government and banking. Additionally, the company announced that it will continue to add Hindi publishers and creators in the coming week ,which can increase engagement and conversations in the same language.
Moreover, new members are also allowed to use the app in Hindi. In fact, members who are using the app in English are also allowed to use the Hindi language. However, to access or change LinkedIn in Hindi, you have to follow these steps.
Step 1: First, you need to go to the phone settings and tap the language option.
Step 2: Now, tap on the Hindi option to change the language. Once it is done, you can use the application in Hindi.
To use the app on the desktop, you have to click on the Me icon and tap on the select and privacy.
Step 1: Log in to the LinkedIn account via desktop, then you have to click on the Me icon.
Step 2: Now, tap on the settings and privacy and click on the language option. Then, you have to tap on the language as Hindi.
The company said that India is the second market for them after the US. India has 82 million members. “We have witnessed high engagement and member growth in the last year, and it is at this exciting inflection point that we are strengthening our vision to create economic opportunity for ‘every’ member of the workforce, and taking down language barriers for Hindi speakers across the world,” said Gupta.
