BardTech

Tor Browser is a web browser specifically designed for privacy and anonymity. The web browser is a modified version of Firefox ESR that includes privacy tweaks and even some extensions to improve privacy and security on the Internet. What makes it special is that all connections go through several severs of the Tor network before they connect to the destination. Connections to Tor improve privacy when you are online but could you, in theory, run Tor Browser without Tor? Tor Browser without Tor would still provide better out-of-the-box privacy than Firefox ESR or Firefox Stable -- and other browsers. It is arguably the browser with the best default privacy configuration which might make it attractive to some users. Dropping Tor reduces privacy while online but that can be compensated, e.g. by connecting to a VPN or even chaining VPN services  and it would speed things up significantly. Tor is the better choice when it comes to critical tasks, e.g. leaking documents or communication...

Realme is an emerging smartphone brand in India, with a focus on budget and early mid-range segments. Realme started off as an online-only sub-brand of OPPO, but then later on, became its own separate brand . Realme devices ar seen to undercut the competition on their price value, and hence, coming up as viable alternatives despite the infancy of the brand. To keep up the pressure, Realme has now launched the Realme U1, the first smartphone with MediaTek’s Helio P70 SoC , in India. Realme U1 is the first smartphone in the company’s U series, which in-turn is the lineup that will be focused on photography. The rest of the company’s lineup includes the C series, the numbered series and the Pro series. The Realme U1 is being touted as “India’s Selfie Pro”, mainly because of its front camera — a single 25MP Sony IMX576 sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and 1.8-micron pixels. There’s software features like an AI Beauty+ mode that is optimized for Indian complexions, a Smarter Groupie featur...

Realme is an emerging smartphone brand in India, with a focus on budget and early mid-range segments. Realme started off as an online-only sub-brand of OPPO, but then later on, became its own separate brand . Realme devices ar seen to undercut the competition on their price value, and hence, coming up as viable alternatives despite the infancy of the brand. To keep up the pressure, Realme has now launched the Realme U1, the first smartphone with MediaTek’s Helio P70 SoC , in India. Realme U1 is the first smartphone in the company’s U series, which in-turn is the lineup that will be focused on photography. The rest of the company’s lineup includes the C series, the numbered series and the Pro series. The Realme U1 is being touted as “India’s Selfie Pro”, mainly because of its front camera — a single 25MP Sony IMX576 sensor with an f/2.0 aperture and 1.8-micron pixels. There’s software features like an AI Beauty+ mode that is optimized for Indian complexions, a Smarter Groupie featur...

Opera Software released Opera 57 to the Stable channel today. The new version of the browser comes with personalized news improvements and a new Netflix recommendations feature. Opera users who run a stable version of the browser on their desktop computers may load opera://update to run a check for updates. The browser should pick up the new version automatically so that it can be downloaded and installed over the existing version. Users who prefer to download an installer can do so on the Opera website . Check the advanced options to make sure that the "default browser" option is selected or not selected depending on your personal preferences. Opera 57 If you are a fan of personalized news, Opera 57 adds something that you probably will be happy about. Opera improved the recommendation engine that powers news on the browser's New Tab page. The New Tab page of the browser lists News below the search field, Speed Dial links and the bookmarks bar -- if displayed. Just...

India and China are two of the biggest emerging countries when it comes to technology. For years, tech companies only focused on markets like the United States and Europe, but both India and China have a higher population to target. As more people in these countries come online, we’re going to see an influx of technology companies attempt to gain customers there. Some have tried and already failed, while others (like Google) have been very aggressive in the area by not only making their current services more accessible but also launching entirely new services built specifically for these markets. The latest tech company to try to enter the Indian market seems to be Spotify as reports indicate they have plans to launch within the next 6 months. There’s been a lot of activity under the roof of Spotify as of late. The music streaming service received integration into Google Maps,  they now allow you to download 10,000 tracks per device , and they’re even testing a sleep timer for thos...

Opera Software released Opera 57 to the Stable channel today. The new version of the browser comes with personalized news improvements and a new Netflix recommendations feature. Opera users who run a stable version of the browser on their desktop computers may load opera://update to run a check for updates. The browser should pick up the new version automatically so that it can be downloaded and installed over the existing version. Users who prefer to download an installer can do so on the Opera website . Check the advanced options to make sure that the "default browser" option is selected or not selected depending on your personal preferences. Opera 57 If you are a fan of personalized news, Opera 57 adds something that you probably will be happy about. Opera improved the recommendation engine that powers news on the browser's New Tab page. The New Tab page of the browser lists News below the search field, Speed Dial links and the bookmarks bar -- if displayed. Just...

Augmented reality has been a buzzword for years, but for the most part, it has remained a novelty. WiARframe , which is competing in our Startup Battlefield competition today at Disrupt Berlin, believes that we are still very early on in the AR game and that part of what is holding the market back is that the tools need to become easier to use and that designers need to find better ways to find inspiration for their AR experiences. WiARframe tackles these issues by providing budding AR designers with an easy-to-use web-based interface for building AR experiences and a community feature that allows them to share these experiences with anybody who downloads the company’s iOS and Android apps. The actual scene editor, the company’s founder Jeremiah Alexander told me, is modeled after other 3D modeling tools. In it, you can lay out the scene, but then also make it interactive. Typically, developers would do this in a complex and multi-faceted tool like Unity, but Alexander ...

Xiaomi has had a busy year marked by lots of hits, among them the Xiaomi Mi 8 line of flagship smartphones. The Xiaomi Mi 8 was the first device in Xiaomi’s fleet to embrace the display notch trend, but the powerful hardware specifications including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 and new software features including facial recognition enhanced by an IR camera more than made up for it. The device’s success has spawned two more variants on top of the Mi 8 EE and Mi 8 SE that launched alongside it. The mid-range Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite and flagship Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro  with a pressure-sensitive in-display fingerprint scanner have both made their way to some international markets. If you own the latter device, then you’ll be glad to know that the official Android Pie beta should be coming soon as the Chinese model has received its first few betas. Android 9 Pie comes to the Xiaomi Mi 8 UD (the name for the Mi 8 Pro in China) with MIUI 10 China Developer ROM version 8.11.28, which you can download and...

Xiaomi has had a busy year marked by lots of hits, among them the Xiaomi Mi 8 line of flagship smartphones. The Xiaomi Mi 8 was the first device in Xiaomi’s fleet to embrace the display notch trend, but the powerful hardware specifications including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 and new software features including facial recognition enhanced by an IR camera more than made up for it. The device’s success has spawned two more variants on top of the Mi 8 EE and Mi 8 SE that launched alongside it. The mid-range Xiaomi Mi 8 Lite and flagship Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro  with a pressure-sensitive in-display fingerprint scanner have both made their way to some international markets. If you own the latter device, then you’ll be glad to know that the official Android Pie beta should be coming soon as the Chinese model has received its first few betas. Android 9 Pie comes to the Xiaomi Mi 8 UD (the name for the Mi 8 Pro in China) with MIUI 10 China Developer ROM version 8.11.28, which you can download and...

Motorola is preparing to launch 4 devices under the Moto G7 brand this year: the Moto G7, Moto G7 Plus , Moto G7 Play, and Moto G7 Power. Motorola has previously released “Play” and “Plus” variants of their G series devices which are generally lower and higher-end models of the standard device. The new “Power” variant seems to be between the “Play” and the standard model in that it sports mid-range specifications, but it’ll also have a massive 5,000mAh battery that dwarfs the battery capacity of the other 3 models. One model number for the upcoming Moto G7 Power has appeared on the FCC , revealing the battery capacity, device dimensions, rear design (as shown in the feature image above), and connectivity information. We have also been holding onto information from a reliable source detailing some of the other specifications of the device that we now feel comfortable in sharing. First, here’s what we’ve learned about the device from the FCC. XT1955-4, One of Four Moto G7 Power Model N...

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is one of the most interesting smartphones released this year because of its nearly bezel-less design, thanks to its magnetic slider. The phone launched in China late last month but has yet to launch internationally. The stylish device has a premium ceramic body with colors like Jade Green, and there’s even a model with up to 10GB RAM. Like other Xiaomi flagship devices, the Mi Mix 3 runs MIUI 10 based on Android 9 Pie. For those of you looking for an AOSP-based custom ROM, we have some good news for you: the kernel source code for the device has been released. You can download the kernel sources for the Mi Mix 3, code-named “perseus,” at the link below. Developers who are interested in the device can now take a stab at building a custom ROM for the phone. Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 Kernel Source Code Be sure to visit the XDA forums for the device if you’re interested in custom development, or if you just want to chat with fellow owners of the device. Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 XD...

The Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 is one of the most interesting smartphones released this year because of its nearly bezel-less design, thanks to its magnetic slider. The phone launched in China late last month but has yet to launch internationally. The stylish device has a premium ceramic body with colors like Jade Green, and there’s even a model with up to 10GB RAM. Like other Xiaomi flagship devices, the Mi Mix 3 runs MIUI 10 based on Android 9 Pie. For those of you looking for an AOSP-based custom ROM, we have some good news for you: the kernel source code for the device has been released. You can download the kernel sources for the Mi Mix 3, code-named “perseus,” at the link below. Developers who are interested in the device can now take a stab at building a custom ROM for the phone. Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 Kernel Source Code Be sure to visit the XDA forums for the device if you’re interested in custom development, or if you just want to chat with fellow owners of the device. Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 XD...

Update 11/29/18 : A spokesperson from OnePlus’ PR agency in India has reached out to us with an official statement clarifying the matter. Skip to the end for the update. The original article follows. OnePlus is one of the most developer friendly device makers because they make kernel source code available on time (day 1 for both the OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T ) and allow for easily unlocking the bootloader of their devices. For years, the company has gone above and beyond in supporting the custom development community via their developer program. The company sends devices to a handful of developers to kickstart development of custom ROMs and kernels on the latest OnePlus flagship. OnePlus usually doesn’t talk about the program apart from the occasional tweet , but this year’s OnePlus 6 development program was much more public . Unfortunately, it looks like the days of developers receiving OnePlus devices for custom ROM and kernel development are over. The OnePlus representative in cha...

Update 11/29/18 : A spokesperson from OnePlus’ PR agency in India has reached out to us with an official statement clarifying the matter. Skip to the end for the update. The original article follows. OnePlus is one of the most developer friendly device makers because they make kernel source code available on time (day 1 for both the OnePlus 6 and OnePlus 6T ) and allow for easily unlocking the bootloader of their devices. For years, the company has gone above and beyond in supporting the custom development community via their developer program. The company sends devices to a handful of developers to kickstart development of custom ROMs and kernels on the latest OnePlus flagship. OnePlus usually doesn’t talk about the program apart from the occasional tweet , but this year’s OnePlus 6 development program was much more public . Unfortunately, it looks like the days of developers receiving OnePlus devices for custom ROM and kernel development are over. The OnePlus representative in cha...

ZTE’s Nubia sub-brand makes some interesting devices, though most of these quirky devices remain limited to China only. Recently, the company had launched the Nubia X , a device with dual displays and dual fingerprint sensors, but no front camera. And now, the company has launched the Nubia Red Magic Mars — a gaming phone with flagship level specifications, liquid and air cooling systems and shoulder buttons. ZTE Nubia Red Magic Mars – Specifications at a Glance Category ZTE Nubia Red Magic Mars Dimensions and Weight 158.25 mm × 75 mm × 9.85mm; 193g Display 6″ FHD+ (2160 x 1080 pixels; 18:9) In-Cell LCD display with 2.5D curved glass SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 : 64-bit Octa-core SoC, clocked at 2.8GHz; Adreno 630 GPU RAM and Storage 6GB (LPDDR4) RAM + 64GB (UFS 2.1) internal storage; 8GB + 128GB; 10GB + 256GB Rear Camera 16MP, f/1.8 aperture, PDAF, dual-tone LED flash Front Camera 8MP, f/2.0, wide-angle lens Battery and Charging 3,800mAh with f...

The competition is really heating up in India’s budget and early mid-range segments. OEMs are spoiling and confusing the consumer for choice, as they continue releasing a wide variety of devices across often-overlapping price points. After releasing a new color variant for the Honor 8X in India, Huawei has now announced the Honor 8C, pitching it at a slightly lower price point. Honor 8C — Specifications at a Glance Category Huawei Honor 8C (BKK-AL10) Dimensions 158.7 mm × 75.94 mm × 7.98 mm; 167g Display 6.26″ HD+ (1520 x 720 pixels, 19:9) LCD, 269ppi SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 632: Kryo 250 semi-custom cores comprising of 4x Cortex-A73 @1.8GHz + 4x Cortex-A53 @1.8GHz; 14nm FinFET process;Adreno 506 RAM and Storage 4GB RAM + 32GB storage; 4GB RAM + 64GB Expandable Storage Yes; up to 256GB with dedicated microSD card slot Rear Camera 13MP, f/1.8 + 2MP, f/2.4; LED Flash Front Camera 8MP, f/2.0; LED Flash Battery 4,000mAh USB Port mi...