tech-news
Covid vaccine registration now available on MyGP
Grameenphone has incorporated the national Covid-19 vaccination management portal "Surokkha" into its one-stop digital solution MyGP.
So, MyGP users can now enjoy the opportunity to access the government's authorised portal for Covid-19 vaccine registration.
Also read: Covid-19 vaccine registration now possible through imo
They will find a freshly added card to access the Surokkha portal in the "What's New" section of the app. Upon clicking the card, users will be taken to the webpage directly from where they can register for a vaccine.
Also, the portal allows one to check for the registration status updates, collect cards and certificates after vaccination; and answers the FAQs regarding the total campaign.
Also read: Registration for Covid vaccination to restart Thursday
Solaiman Alam, chief digital and strategy officer at Grameenphone said: "Bringing more people under the vaccination process is indeed going to be extensive. Grameenphone has decided to play its role in the mammoth task by incorporating the Surokkha portal into its official app MyGP which has a huge reach. This will facilitate registration for vaccination in hopes of a pandemic free world tomorrow."
Huawei Sustainability Report 2020 highlights 4 strategies for sustainability
Huawei has released its "2020 Sustainability Report," highlighting the significant progress that it has made in its four strategies for sustainability – digital inclusion, security and trustworthiness, environmental protection, and a healthy and harmonious ecosystem.
Huawei has been using its innovative ICT solutions to provide people across different regions with equal access to quality education and healthcare resources.
In 2020, Huawei rolled out its "Skills on Wheels" and "Connecting Schools" programmes in over 200 schools around the world, benefiting more than 60,000 people.
READ: Huawei launches new 5G products
The company also used ICT solutions to provide technical assistance to nearly 90 countries. It launched the RuralStar Pro solution, providing voice and mobile broadband services to more than 50 million people in sparsely populated remote villages.
Treating cybersecurity and privacy protection as another top priority, Huawei released the Software Process Trustworthiness Capability Framework and Assessment Criteria in 2020 to establish a complete set of trustworthy coding production mechanisms.
As of the end of 2020, Huawei had been granted 2,963 patents relating to cybersecurity and privacy protection around the world.
READ: $300 billion market by 2025 for Augmented Reality: Huawei
To promote renewable energy, Huawei has deployed its digital power solutions in more than 170 countries and regions, serving one-third of the world's population. To date, these solutions have generated 325 billion kWh of electricity from renewable sources and saved 10 billion kWh of electricity.
"An intelligent world should be a green world. Advances in technology can help us better understand and protect nature, mitigating the impact of human activity on the planet," said Liang Hua, chairman of Huawei, in the report.
Oppo offers diverse, flexible services to users
Global smart device brand Oppo has come up with diverse, flexible, and cost-effective services for its users.
Oppo is providing International Warranty Service (IWS). Now users can enjoy warranty, repair and software upgrade services at authorised service centres located in over 59 countries for designated devices.
Read: OPPO partners with Thales for World’s First 5G SA-Compatible eSIM
Also, as the usurers are getting their devices fixed, the brand is allowing them to sit in front of the repair engineer and watch the entire process.
There are also several kinds of warranty services, specifically designed for broken screens, back covers or other problems, such as screen protection plans and extended warranty.
Read: Oppo offers discounted prices on Reno5, A15s
In addition to these, the users can also get online support if they prefer not to visit the brick-and-mortar service centres now.
Pentagon cancels disputed JEDI cloud contract with Microsoft
The Pentagon said it canceled a disputed cloud-computing contract with Microsoft that could eventually have been worth $10 billion. It will instead pursue a deal with both Microsoft and Amazon and possibly other cloud service providers.
“With the shifting technology environment, it has become clear that the JEDI Cloud contract, which has long been delayed, no longer meets the requirements to fill the DoD’s capability gaps,” the Pentagon said in a statement Tuesday.
The statement did not directly mention that the Pentagon faced extended legal challenges by Amazon to the original $1 million contract awarded to Microsoft. Amazon argued that the Microsoft award was tainted by politics, particularly then-President Donald Trump’s antagonism toward Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, who stepped down Monday as the company’s chief executive officer. Bezos owns The Washington Post, a newspaper often criticized by Trump.
The Pentagon’s chief information officer, John Sherman, told reporters Tuesday that during the lengthy legal fight with Amazon, “the landscape has evolved” with new possibilities for large-scale cloud computing services. Thus it was decided, he said, to start over and seek multiple vendors.
Read:Microsoft unveils Windows 11 operating system
Sherman said JEDI will be replaced by a new program called Joint Warfighter Cloud Capability, and that both Amazon and Microsoft “likely” will be awarded parts of the business, although neither is guaranteed. Sherman said the three other large cloud service providers — Google, IBM and Oracle — might qualify, too.
Microsoft said in response to the Pentagon announcement, “We understand the DoD s rationale, and we support them and every military member who needs the mission-critical 21st century technology JEDI would have provided. The DoD faced a difficult choice: Continue with what could be a years-long litigation battle or find another path forward.”
Amazon said it understands and agrees with the Pentagon’s decision. In a statement, the company reiterated its view that the 2019 contract award was not based on the merits of the competing proposals “and instead was the result of outside influence that has no place in government procurement.”
Oracle, which had earlier sought the JEDI contact but didn’t make it to the final round, declined comment Tuesday. In separate statements, IBM said it was evaluating the new Pentagon approach and Google said it looked forward to discussing it with Pentagon officials.
Read: Sanctioned Russian IT firm was partner with Microsoft, IBM
The JEDI project began with the $1 million contract award for Microsoft, meant as an initial step in a 10-year deal that could have reached $10 billion in value. The project that will replace it is a five-year program; Sherman said no exact contract value has been set but that it will be “in the billions.” Sherman said the government will negotiate the amount Microsoft will be paid for having its 2019 deal terminated.
Amazon Web Services, a market leader in providing cloud computing services, had long been considered a leading candidate to run the Pentagon’s Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure project, known as JEDI. The project was meant to store and process vast amounts of classified data, allowing the U.S. military to improve communications with soldiers on the battlefield and use artificial intelligence to speed up its war planning and fighting capabilities.
The JEDI contract became mired in legal challenges almost as soon as it was awarded to Microsoft in October 2019. The losing bidder, Amazon Web Services, went to court arguing that the Pentagon’s process was flawed and unfair, including that it was improperly influenced by politics.
This year the Pentagon had been hinting that it might scrap the contract, saying in May that it felt compelled to reconsider its options after a federal judge in April rejected a Pentagon move to have key parts of Amazon’s lawsuit dismissed.
Read:Microsoft buying speech recognition firm Nuance in $16B deal
The JEDI saga has been unusual for the political dimension linked to Trump. In April 2020, the Defense Department inspector general’s office concluded that the contracting process was in line with legal and government purchasing standards. The inspector general found no evidence of White House interference in the contract award process, but that review also said investigators could not fully review the matter because the White House would not allow unfettered access to witnesses.
Five months later, the Pentagon reaffirmed Microsoft as winner of the contract, but work remained stalled by Amazon’s legal challenge.
In its April 2020 report, the inspector general’s office did not draw a conclusion about whether the Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft Corp. was appropriately declared the winner. Rather, it looked at whether the decision-making process was proper and legal. It also examined allegations of unethical behavior by Pentagon officials involved in the matter and generally determined that any ethical lapses did not influence the outcome.
That review did not find evidence of White House pressure for the Pentagon to favor the Microsoft bid, but it also said it could not definitely determine the full extent of White House interactions with the Pentagon’s decision makers.
Realme offers great deals on smartphones for Eid
realme has kicked off its ‘Mega Eid Campaign’ where the buyers and fans can win prizes including deep freezer and washing machine.
It also guaranteed data bundle offer as well for Robi, Airtel and Banglalink users.
In consideration of the recent situation, the users could buy realme smartphones from their nearest outlets through home delivery facility and enjoy these offers.
Read: realme to bring G85 gaming processor-equipped phone C25s
This campaign would continue till 20 July.
Each purchase during the offer period would be rewarded with a guaranteed prize that includes deep freezer, washing machine, realme 8 Pro, realme 8, realme 8 gift box, realme C21 gift box, realme Buds Classic, realme T-shirt and instant cashback.
This offer would be valid for realme official smartphones only.
Read realme narzo 20 review: Best Features, Specs and Price phone in Bangladesh 2021
Prize winners would be informed via SMS.
To know more about the campaign buyers could call this number -09610555555.
Buyer could order for home delivery with the Eid offer at the link: https://myrealmeoffer.com.
Read realme C25s Review: G85 Equipped Powerful Gaming Smartphone
Mobile World Congress 2021: Huawei wins 5 awards
Chinese telecom giant Huawei won five awards for its cutting-edge technology and inventions in the Mobile World Congress 2021 held in Barcelona from June 28-July 1.
This year, the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA) announced the winners of the Global Mobile (GLOMO) awards.
Huawei bagged awards in five categories – best innovation for Covid-19 pandemic response and recovery, outstanding mobile contribution to the UN SDGs, best mobile innovation in emerging markets, best mobile innovation for the connected economy, and best mobile infrastructure.
READ: Huawei launches new 5G products
Introduced in 1996 by the GSMA and judged by a panel of more than 250 global experts, the GLOMO Award is widely regarded as the highest honour within the mobile industry.
In this year's edition, the telemedicine solution for Covid-19 developed by the China-Japan Friendship Hospital based on Huawei's 5G network solutions won GSMA GLOMO Best Innovation or Covid-19 Pandemic Response and Recovery award.
This high-end technology provided by Huawei has helped the hospital to scale up patient services and assist more than 5,000 hospitals across China.
Read OnePlus Nord CE Review: Know the Pros and Cons?
Marvin Chen, president of Huawei DIS Product Line, said: "5G is seeing large-scale application in healthcare. Huawei will continue to innovate 5G solutions together with the healthcare industry to develop 5G applications that can help fight the pandemic and get more value out of 5G."
Also, Rainforest Connection and Huawei's "Nature Guardian" project has contributed positively to protect nature, prevent deforestation, and safeguard against biodiversity loss. As a recognition, this project has been honoured with the GSMA 2021 GLOMO for its outstanding mobile contribution to the UN SDGs.
Huawei also bagged the best mobile innovation in emerging markets award of GSMA GLOMO for its industry-first integrated access and backhaul solution (RuralStar Pro), which has superseded traditional costly transmission modes of optical fibre, microwave, and satellite.
READ: $300 billion market by 2025 for Augmented Reality: Huawei
Oppo launches 'Trusty Rusty' campaign ahead of Eid
Global smart device brand Oppo has launched a new campaign ahead of Eid-ul-Azha to give smartphone users a chance to share their most trustworthy person's happy moments captured in pictures.
Through the "Trusty Rusty" campaign, smartphone users can express their gratitude to the person they count on most.
Read: OPPO partners with Thales for World’s First 5G SA-Compatible eSIM
To participate in the activity, the smartphone users will have to share their most trustworthy person's happy moments' picture and write why the person is trustworthy to them in the comment box of Oppo Facebook page.
The participants have to tag the person they trust most and share the post in public as well. While sharing the post, they will have to use the hashtag #OPPOTrustworthiness #OPPOEidHappiness.
Read: Oppo offers discounted prices on Reno5, A15s
To make this activity all the more rewarding for smartphone users, there will be exciting prizes for the winners.
The most beautiful trustworthy reason will be selected as the winning entry, and the top three winners will get wireless earphones Oppo Enco W11.
Read Best Upcoming Phones in July 2021 in Bangladesh: Official and Unofficial
India gives aluminum battery a chance to take on lithium in electric vehicles
A drive to reduce dependence on imported materials and technology, especially from China, is pushing India to invest in a battery technology that uses aluminum rather than lithium as the key ingredient. Indian Oil Corp., the nation’s largest oil refiner, has teamed up with startup Phinergy Ltd. to develop the Israeli company’s aluminum-air battery.
India has few exploitable options to produce lithium, the key metal for the current generation of electric-vehicle batteries, but its eastern jungles hold large reserves of bauxite, the ore used to make aluminum.
“Lithium is scarce in the country and we started scouting for an element which is abundantly available as a natural resource,” said Indian Oil R&D Director S.S.V. Ramakumar.
Read: Volkswagen triples electric car sales ahead of climate rules
India is among the top 10 bauxite producers. It has some 600 million tons of the ore in proven reserves, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, though India’s mining ministry estimates that untapped resources may be many times that amount. Moreover, the country has invested heavily in production of aluminum over the years to become the world’s second-biggest smelter of aluminum.
“Clearly the special consideration here is that aluminum is in better supply than lithium,” said James Frith, Head of Energy Storage at BNEF in London. “But with the ever-falling prices of lithium-based systems, developers will be under pressure to find niche applications where Aluminum-Oxygen can gain a foothold.”
An aluminum-air battery could win advantages over its lithium-ion rival in three other crucial ways, Ramakumar said: It’s potentially cheaper, vehicles using it would have a longer range, and it’s safer.
Read MPs now can import duty free electric vehicles
Swapping Batteries
The battery works by tapping electricity generated when aluminum plates react with oxygen in the air. It has one of the highest energy densities for a battery. But the system has a number of drawbacks that have kept it from wide-scale use since it was first proposed in the 1960s.
Chief among them is the cost of materials that need to be added to the battery to prevent the power from dropping and the fact that the cells can’t be recharged. Instead, Phinergy’s plan is for users to be able to quickly swap in a new battery and send the used one to a recycling facility.
It takes just three minutes to replace the battery, about the time it takes to fill up at a gas station, Ramakumar said. The fuel retailer plans to use its network of filling stations as swapping points.
Read: 'Irrigation, EV sectors should be focus areas of solar energy'
In comparison, lithium-ion batteries often contain hazardous materials that can be toxic if not disposed of correctly, making them harder to recycle. By 2035, the world will have accumulated about 4 millions tons of Li-ion batteries that have reached the end of their lives, according to a BloombergNEF estimate.
Lithium is already entrenched in the EV market and absorbs most of the research dollars, with many potential challengers based on sodium, magnesium or aluminum focused on smaller segments such as backup power systems, energy storage or low-power transport, like forklifts.
Yet demand both from electric transport and renewable energy storage means India could provide a market big enough for aluminum-air batteries to find a role. Battery demand will rise to as much as 185 gigawatt hours by 2035, according to BNEF.
Read Nissan investing in electric vehicles, battery development
Amara Raja Batteries Ltd., India’s largest producer of lead-acid cells, is examining existing lithium-based technologies as a “next growth engine,” though also sees scope for alternatives to be developed, Vijayanand Samudrala, the firm’s president of new energy, told a BNEF summit on Tuesday.
“I don’t think there’s a final word on the maturity of the technology, I can see at least two or three generations of technology shift happening in the batteries area in the next 10 years,” he said.
Indian Oil made a strategic investment in Phinergy in early 2020, and the Indian firm’s 30,000 service stations can “serve as the infrastructure for the deployment of Phinergy’s technology,” the Israeli company said in an e-mail.
Read Ford to add 10,800 jobs making electric vehicles, batteries
Phinergy’s systems have been tested by telecoms companies for backup power at transmission towers and other sites. The company, which raised $60 million from an initial public offering in Tel Aviv earlier this year, has run a test car using an aluminum-air battery to keep the vehicle’s lithium-ion power pack charged that it says would have a range of 1,750 kilometers.
To assess the viability of wide-scale use in India, automakers Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd NSE 0.40 %., Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. and Ashok Leyland Ltd. are carrying out vehicle tests that are expected to take almost a year. If there’s enough demand, Indian Oil and Phinergy plan to set up a gigawatt-scale facility to make the batteries in India, Ramakumar said.
Success would help Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to tackle three urgent problems for the country: cutting pollution, reducing raw material imports and creating jobs.
Read Introduce customer-friendly electric vehicle recharging policy: Nasrul
India’s dependence on fossil fuels has made it the the world’s third-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and its cities regularly top the rankings for polluted air, putting hundreds of millions of citizens at the risk of lung diseases and premature death. The government has also been pushing companies to reduce the imports bill and increase self-sufficiency. Indian Oil is the the nation’s biggest importer of crude oil.
The refiner has joined major oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BP Plc in pivoting toward clean energy as governments tighten emission regulations.
“We no longer see ourselves as merely an oil company. We want to emerge as an energy player, supplying all forms of energy,” Ramakumar said. “All future fuels have to have a common motive: make India self-sufficient.”
Read Bangla Car: The First Car Made in Bangladesh
This article was first published in The Economic Times
Grameenphone sued for showing caged indigenous bird in ad
Bangladesh Forest Department's Wildlife Crime Control Unit (WCCU) filed a case against Grameenphone with a Dhaka court Wednesday for featuring a caged indigenous bird in its advertisement.
WCCU Director Nargis Sultana lodged the case with Dhaka's Chief Judicial Magistrate Court under sections 38(2), 41 and 46 of the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act 2012.
Also read: Grameenphone receives Asian Leadership Awards 2021
In a recent Grameenphone advertisement, a young girl was shown being gifted a caged parrot. The depiction of a caged rose-ring parakeet, which is an indigenous bird, sparked controversy on social media platforms.
"By showing this bird in a cage in their commercial advertisement, Grameenphone violated three sections of the Wildlife Act 2012," Nargis told UNB.
Also read: Grameenphone contributes Tk 31.4 crore to Labour Fund
Realme to provide home delivery amid lockdown
Youth-focused brand realme will provide home delivery service amid the nationwide "stick lockdown."
Realme has launched a home delivery service for its fans and users so that they do not need to step out of their homes, risking their lives.
Read: Realme to bring G85 gaming processor-equipped phone C25s
To get home delivery, customers can click on www.realme.com/bd/store-address to get the number of their nearby outlet. Next, they will have to make a phone call to get their desired realme smartphone at their doorstep, free of delivery charge.
Read realme narzo 20 review: Best Features, Specs and Price phone in Bangladesh 2021
Smartphone enthusiasts can get home delivery service for any realme smartphone, read a press release.