MEDOLOGY

• Google Play Games v5.14 update brings Dark Theme, App shortcuts and more
• Honor 8A with 6-inch waterdrop notch display, Android 9.0 (Pie) gets certified
• ASUS CEO Jerry Shen steps down as company shifts focus to power users, gamers
• YouTube removed 7.8 million videos and 224 million comments in Q3 2018
• Realme U1 3GB + 32GB version will go on open sale from December 17 on Amazon India
• Google, United Nations ESCAP unveils AI health service in Thailand to screen diabetic eye disease
• Microsoft Hummingbird AI-powered news App for Android released
• Google Assistant gains support for Australian and British accents
• Qualcomm now seeks to ban Apple iPhone XS and XR in China

Google Play Games v5.14 update brings Dark Theme, App shortcuts and more Google has updated its Play Games app to version 5.14 that brings several new features including dark theme that can be enabled from the settings, app shortucuts in the launcher to quickly launch most recently played and installed games and an option to sort your achievements by rarity. The app also brings animated icons for built-in games when you scroll through the carousel. Teardown of the APK has revealed upcoming built-in game Minesweeper, Family Link controls, and easter eggs. The latest update is available from Google Play. Check out the complete changelog below. New features in Google Play Games Come to the dark side. Head over to Settings and flip the switch on our new dark theme. Sort your achievements by rarity (bragging rights automatically included) Short on time? Touch & hold the Play Games icon and get to your recent games lightning fast.

Honor 8A with 6-inch waterdrop notch display, Android 9.0 (Pie) gets certified Huawei Honor brand is all set to introduce Honor 8A, the company's new budget smartphone as the phone has been certified by TENAA with model numbers JAT-TL00 and JAT-AL00. This doesn't have a fingerprint sensor  like the predecessor, but this reveals a waterdrop notch display with minimal bezels, two-tone design, and Android 9.0 (Pie) out of the box. Honor 8A rumored specifications 6-inch (1560 × 720 pixels) Full HD+ 19:5:9 2.5D curved glass display 2.3GHz Octa-Core Processor 3GB RAM, 32GB / 64GB storage, expandable memory up to 512GB with microSD Android 9.0 (Pie) with EMUI 9.0 Dual SIM (nano + nano + microSD) 13MP rear camera with LED flash 8MP front-facing camera Dimensions: 156.28×73.5×8.0mm; Weight: 150g 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.2, GPS + GLONASS 3000mAh (Typical) / 2920mAh (Minimum) battery Honor 8A is expected to come in Black, Blue, Gold, Red. We can expect the smartphone to go official in the coming weeks. Source 1, 2

ASUS CEO Jerry Shen steps down as company shifts focus to power users, gamers ASUS has announced that its long-time CEO Jerry Shen is stepping down ahead of the company's "comprehensive corporate transformation" part of a major shift in mobile strategy to focus on gamers and power users. Meaning, we might see more ROG phones and fewer Zenfones. During his 11 years serving as CEO, Shen oversaw the launch of the PadFone series, Transformer series, ZenBook series, and ZenFone series. Prior to that, Shen was also credited as the main creator of the Eee PC, the small machine that kickstarted the netbook in 2006. In a statement, Shen announced that he will be running a new AIoT startup, iFast, as chairman and CEO, with its business targeting B2B applications. Despite his departure, Shen will still maintain a link with ASUS thanks to its 30% stake in his new venture. Shen added that he will "devote myself to assisting ASUS effectively transition into the AIoT industry."As for ASUS' vacant CEO role, it will be split between PC business lead S.Y. Hsu and global customer service lead Samson Hu as of January 1st, 2019. ASUS was quick to clear the air regarding the future of Zenfones; in a statement, the company said: With regard to the doubts raised by some on the ...

YouTube removed 7.8 million videos and 224 million comments in Q3 2018 Back in April, YouTube had launched a quarterly YouTube Community Guidelines Enforcement Report as part of this ongoing commitment to transparency. Further to the commitment, the company is now expanding the report to include additional data like channel removals, the number of comments removed, and the policy reason why a video or channel was removed. The company, from July to September 2018 has removed 7.8 million videos and 81% of these videos were first detected by machines. Of those detected by machines, 74.5% had never received a single view. When it detects a video that violates our Guidelines, it will remove the video and apply a strike to the channel. YouTube will terminate entire channels if they are dedicated to posting content prohibited by its Community Guidelines or contain a single egregious violation. Over 90% of the channels and over 80% of the videos that it removed in September 2018 were removed for violating the policies on spam or adult content. Over 90% of the videos uploaded in September 2018 are removed for Violent Extremism or Child Safety had fewer than 10 views. Much like the videos, YouTube uses a combination of smart detection technology and human reviewers to flag, review, and remove ...

Realme U1 3GB + 32GB version will go on open sale from December 17 on Amazon India Realme launched its  Realme U1 smartphone in India last month starting at Rs. 11,999. It went on sale exclusively on Amazon.in starting December 5th. Today, the company has announced that the 3GB RAM and 32GB storage version will go on open sale starting from next Monday, December 17th. The next sale for 4GB RAM with 64GB storage version is scheduled for December 19th at 12 noon. You asked for it & we have done it. No more wait to buy your favourite #IndiasSelfiePro #RealmeU1 3+32GB variant as it is going to be available 24x7 starting Dec. 17th on @amazonIN: https://t.co/47xpO8WUW6 and Realme Official Website: https://t.co/N3oPmlbfWY pic.twitter.com/DMNiAVnaHc — Realme (@realmemobiles) December 14, 2018 To remind you, the phone packs a 6.3-inch Full HD+ display with Dewdrop notch and 90.5% screen to body ratio, is powered by  MediaTek Helio P70 12nm SoC with AI engine and GPU acceleration with gaming mode. It has up to 4GB of RAM, runs Android 8.1 (Oreo) based on ColorOS 5.2, comes with a 13-megapixel raer camera along with a secondary 2-megapixel camera for portrait shots.  It AI features, 25-megapixel front camera with Sony IMX576 sensor, 4-in-1 pixels, AI beautify feature that scans 296 facial recognition points and studio portrait lighting modes. It has a shiny back with diffraction grading ...

Google, United Nations ESCAP unveils AI health service in Thailand to screen diabetic eye disease Google, a few years ago worked with eye specialists in India and the U.S. on an AI system to help doctors analyze images of the back of the eye for signs of diabetic retinopathy. The AI model now detects diabetic retinopathy with a level of accuracy on par with human retinal specialists. This means doctors and staff can use this assistive technology to screen more patients in less time, sparing people from blindness through a more timely diagnosis. The company is rolling out this diabetic retinopathy initiative in clinics in India with its partner Verily, and it also conducting research in Thailand over the past few months. At the AI for Social Good Summit in Bangkok hosted by Google and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the company has announced a partnership with the Rajavithi Hospital, which is operated by the Ministry of Public Health in Thailand, kicking off a forward-looking research pilot using AI to detect diabetic retinopathy in Thailand. To ensure that all sectors contribute to the development of AI in the Asia Pacific, Google is supporting the creation of an Asia Pacific AI for Social Good Research Network with a grant. This network will bring ...

Microsoft Hummingbird AI-powered news App for Android released Microsoft has released Hummingbird, an AI-powered News app for Android which currently is only available in the USA.  The app offers login in through Microsoft or LinkedIn accounts, but you can go ahead by skipping. The main home screen offers various topics for you to chose from. However, unlike Google News, you can't pin down your choices to granular options like a specific sports team or player, or company, or celebrity. Instead, you get general categories like NBA, celebrities, road trips, and cooking. Once the choices are made, the feed gets updated with the articles that you're probably interested in. It also enables you to save, share, dislike articles, or simply just block all news from that particular source. Tapping an article opens it in the original site it was published in, but keeps Hummingbird's title bar where you can switch into a reading mode with control over font, background color, and text size as well as copy the URL. There's also a"Search" tab that acts more like a shortcut to general topics, and "Me" takes you to view your topics, saved articles, and history. Other settings include clear all your data and to disable automatic video and GIF playback. Since it is powered ...

Google Assistant gains support for Australian and British accents Google Home Speakers in the US can now choose between an Australian-accented voice and a British-accented voice for your Google Assistant across devices. All the other settings and features including setting a timer, checking the weather and getting an overview of your commute and everything else remain the same while your Assistant will speak with a new accent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMZYVMr5UJQ The Google Assistant speaking in an Australian-accented voice and a British-accented voice are built using DeepMind's speech synthesis model WaveNet, which uses deep neural networks to generate raw audio waveforms resulting in more realistic and natural-sounding voices for the Google Assistant. To try out these new voices on your Assistant, navigate to "Settings" on your phone, tap on the "Assistant" tab, and select "Assistant voice." You'll now see two new voices that you can select, either "Sydney Harbour Blue" for the Australian voice, or "British Racing Green" for the British voice. Source

Qualcomm now seeks to ban Apple iPhone XS and XR in China After Qualcomm was granted a preliminary injunction to ban the sale and import of Apple iPhone 6s through iPhone X in China, Qualcomm now plans to file for an injunction on the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR in China. This would prevent the sale of those devices in the country. Qualcomm has granted the preliminary injunction after it ruled that the devices violated two Qualcomm patents. The first Qualcomm patent reportedly enables users to "adjust and reformat the size and appearance of photos," while the second is said to relate to "managing applications using a touch screen when viewing and navigating apps." However, Apple has continued to sell the affected iPhone models in China because it believes the patent infringement ruling does not apply to iOS 12 and this led Qualcomm to Fuzhou Intermediate People's Court to enforce the injunction. This move suggests that Qualcomm is forcing Apple into settling its on-going legal battle, primarily over chip-related licensing fees. Apple says that a Chinese ban on sales of the iPhone will force it to settle long-standing licensing battle with Qualcomm Inc., This outcome that may end up harming the country's smartphone industry and give its fiercest legal rival a boost. The ruling on Apple comes at times when Washington ...