Welcome to the first installment of tech news for the month of February!
With over 14,500 confirmed cases & 362 deaths with so many of them undetected, coronavirus is a “global health emergency” right now.
Apart from the obvious never-seen-before health hazards around the globe, the tech world is getting affected as well.
Let’s find out how.
Asus phones go out of stock due to coronavirus
Asus ROG Phone II was launched back in July of 2019. Currently, however, the device is facing supply disruption on the account of the coronavirus outbreak.
Wuhan, Hubei’s capital, has been the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
According to reports, not of Asus but Apple is also closing its stores, corporate office & also contact centers till 9th February.
Asus’s Team said, “Dear Fans, We know you’ve been excited to get your hands on the ROG Phone II. While we have had steady availability for long, but due to the disruption in the supply chain caused by the prevailing situation in Asia, ROG Phone II will face a temporary shortage…”
For more information, read here.
Google enables “SOS alert” to keep the public informed
Due to this massive global outbreak, Google has taken some initiatives.
The company has partnered with the World Health Organization (WHO) to provide all the necessary information about coronavirus in the search itself.
When someone will search for ‘coronavirus’ on Google, a curated page with all the access to resources for the virus from WHO, including safety tips, latest news, and Twitter updates from the organization will appear.
The SOS alert has been live in India & can be check on using smartphones of computers.
Also, along with SOS alert, their team has announced a grant of $250,000 to help the relief efforts.
Hackers take advantage of the coronavirus epidemic
Meanwhile, hackers are taking despicable advantages from the grave situation.
Many security firms have uncovered despicable acts by hackers taking advantage of the fear over the coronavirus outbreak to spread malware through emails.
According to experts from IBM X-Force Threat Intelligence, hackers have been sending spam emails to potential victims in Japan.
The company stated, “This new approach to delivering Emotet may be significantly more successful, due to the wide impact of the coronavirus and the fear of infection surrounding it,”
For more information, here is the whole story.
Now, coming to some positive news…
Microsoft to partner with Google to improve PWAs
Microsoft recently announced that they would add URL Protocol Handler Registration support for Progressive Web Apps, to allow Google to integrate PWA services into Chrome.
Engineers at Microsoft explained that registering a PWA as a protocol handler will open web apps when you click on a hyperlink with a specific scheme on Google Chrome.
The company is also working to enable users to run PWAs upon login, which would activate Outlook chat apps and other high-engagement PWAs upon Windows 10 startup.
For more details, click here.
Telegram founder thinks Whataspp is dangerous
Whatsapp‘s most coveted rival company Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov, in an official blog, stated criticisms about Whatsapp & the reasons why he thinks it is dangerous.
In the blog, he wrote, “It became clear that this backdoor had been exploited to extract private communications and photos of Jeff Bezos – the richest person on the planet – who unfortunately relied on WhatsApp. Since the attack seemed to originate from a foreign government, it is likely that countless other business and government leaders have been targeted,”
He gave almost ten reasons as to why he thought Whatsapp was dangerous.
Want to get other details? Read here.
Poco X2 to launch tomorrow
Gearing up for its big comeback, Poco X2 is set to launch tomorrow, which is 4th February.
Poco X2’s 6GB and 64GB variant will be priced at Rs 18,999. It’s likely the phone will be available in more variants. The price of the much-awaited phone will be Rs 18,999.
The phone is confirmed to be available online via Flipkart.
The camera is reported to be one of the best of its features. The smartphone will come with a newer Sony IMX686 sensor. The front will have dual punch-hole cameras.
To get more details, read here.
That’s it for today!
Please remember to be careful during this global epidemic. If you seem to have any symptoms of flu or viral infection, get it checked immediately. Meanwhile, here is the SOS Google alert for you
Use it to be safe as a precaution is always better than cure!
Want to get some more news regarding the tech world? Read our blogs here!
