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Vodafone Idea (Vi) has rolled out a new entry-level recharge plan for its prepaid users. The telecom operator has introduced a recharge plan of Rs 99 which is available across the country.
Vi Rs 99 prepaid plan
Under the Rs 99 prepaid plan, Vodafone Idea is offering 200MB of data and talk time of Rs 99. The service provider will be charging 2.5 paise per second for calls. The plan comes with a validity of 28 days. The users will not get the facility of free SMS as part of this plan. The company claims that the Rs 99 plan is the minimum recharge plan and it is introduced to maintain connectivity. Users can purchase this new plan from the Vi website and app.

“Catering to the affordability of consumers, Vi continues to take measures to offer the best in class mobile services at most attractive price points. We invite mobile users and non-users to join the high speed Vi network at just Rs. 99 and continue enjoying the benefits of mobile connectivity in the digital era. This will not just drive inclusivity but also enable more users to enter the digital bandwagon,” said the company.
Along with the Rs 99 prepaid plan the company has also announced that it will offer unlimited high-speed nighttime data to the users of the Rs 249 plan and above. The nighttime data will be available from 12 am to 6 am.
Your mobile bills may go up soon
Recently, it was reported that telecom companies may increase mobile tariffs this year. Mobile companies are likely to increase tariffs by the middle of 2023. “With 5G related ARPU (average revenue per user) uplift likely to be insignificant in near future, 4G prepaid tariff hike remains the most important ARPU lever for telcos. We see higher probability of 4G prepaid tariff hikes in mid-2023,” told brokerage firm IIFL Securities in a report. It further added that pushing tariff hikes closer to the 2024 elections raises the risk of political backlash.
The service providers are expected to increase the price of both prepaid and postpaid plans. To recall, the telecom companies announced the last tariff hike in November 2021.

OnePlus’ co-founder Carl Pei’s technology startup Nothing launched its first smartphone — Nothing Phone (1) last year. The smartphone received a lot of appreciation for its unique design and smooth performance. Now it appears that the company has already started working on its successor which may launch this year.
Nothing Phone (2) coming later this year
As reported by Inverse, Carl Pie has confirmed to the publication that the company will launch its next flagship smartphone — Nothing Phone (2) in the US later this year. “We decided to make the US our No. 1 priority in terms of markets,” said Pie.
“We couldn’t do it earlier because we were only in our second year and our hands were tied building the team as we were building the products. Now as we’re on a more solid footing, we can take a step forward,” Pie told Inverse.

Along with this, Pie also revealed that the company’s revenue has increased tenfold from 2021 to 2022. The internal team of the company also grew from 200 people to 400 people. “We did more than $200 million last year; the first year we did something like $24 million USD. We’re growing quite quickly. We shipped over a million products already,” added Pei.
Pei didn’t reveal any other information about the smartphone but he did mention that the Nothing Phone (2) will be more premium as compared to its predecessor. He also added that the company is working on improving the software experience on the upcoming smartphone. He mentioned that nearly 100 people are working on the software part of the smartphone.
It is expected that the company will keep the same transparent design for the Nothing Phone (2) and will introduce more innovations on the software part. The smartphone maker did not reveal any details about the global launch of its next-generation flagship smartphone.

Various online rumours and leaks suggest that the Indian smartphone market may soon get a Coca-Cola-branded smartphone. Last week Realme also teased the launch of a Coca-Cola smartphone by creating a microsite. However, now Realme VP Madhav Sheth has taken to Twitter to hint that the upcoming Coca-Cola phone will be the special edition of the Realme 10 Pro.
Sheth posted an image on Twitter which shows Realme 10 Pro’s Hyperspace Gold version with a reflection of Coca-Cola on the rear panel. This suggests that Coca-Cola will be a special edition of Realme 10 Pro which the company recently launched in India.

Rumours suggest that the upcoming special edition Coca-Cola phone may come with preloaded Coca-Cola-inspired special wallpapers, themes and ringtones.

Realme 10 Pro specifications
The Realme 10 Pro flaunts a flat 6.7-inch FHD+ LCD display with a 120Hz refresh rate, DC dimming, and up to 680 nits of peak brightness. The fingerprint sensor comes embedded in the power button on the side.
Under the hood, the smartphone is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 695 chipset and comes up to 8GB RAM and up to 256GB of internal storage. The smartphone has a 5,000 mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging.
The Realme 10 Pro features a 108MP main camera paired with a 2MP portrait camera, and on the front, the smartphone has a 16MP camera.
Realme has partnered with Jio to bring out of the Box 5G SA, NRCA, and VoNR on Realme 10 Pro smartphones for users to experience Jio’s True 5G network. The Realme 10 Pro+ comes with support for 9 5G bands, while the 10 Pro supports 7 5G bands out of the box.

Coin Master is a single-player mobile game that can be downloaded from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. This game has become increasingly popular in recent years, with over 100 million downloads. Coin Master was created by the Israel-based studio Moon Active and was released in 2015. The goal of the game is to construct your own village.
The Coin Master also has a time slot machine that can help you get additional coins and other sundries to help you enhance your community. Players must spin the slot machine and collect free gifts in order to fully build their hamlet. Unfortunately, the game only allows five spins per hour, and if you run out, you’ll have to wait an hour.
Fortunately, players can gather coins in this game in a variety of ways. Players can raid and attack the towns of other players in order to steal cash. You can even get free extra spins in this game. Coin Master offers free spins that can be used to gather coins and other prizes. To obtain Coin Master Free Spins and Coins today, simply follow the procedures outlined here.

How to get Coin Master Free Spins and Coins for today (January 31):
Step 1: To get the rewards, first log in to your Facebook account in the game.
Step 2: Go to this link for a free spin: Link 1, Link 2 and Link 3.
Step 3: After being routed, you will be prompted to log in to your Facebook account in order to link the spins to your account.

Wordle is a web-based puzzle game owned by The New York Times. It was created in 2021 by Josh Wardle and featured a daily puzzle where users have six attempts to guess the “word of the day.” The colour of the tiles changes to help users figure out the correct word, with grey indicating the letter is not part of the word, yellow indicating the letter is part of the word but in the wrong location, and green showing the letter is in the correct location and part of the “Word of the day.” Wordle 591 is the puzzle for January 31; this article provides hints, clues, and answers to the puzzle.
Wordle is an online puzzle game popular among people who want to use their time productively. If you are having trouble with the Wordle 591 puzzle for January 31, 2023, the following hints and clues may help you solve it:
Wordle hints and clues for today, January 31, 2023, are stated here for our readers:

Wordle 591 hints and clues for January 31, 2023, are:

Still, stuck? If you could not find the answers, fret not; we have got it all figured out for you:
MANLY is the solution to Wordle 591 for January 31, 2023.
If you keep winning for two or more days, you will be awarded a winning streak. This will continue till the time you fail to guess the correct word. If you lose, the streak will be broken.

The White House has released what it called a roadmap to mitigating the key risks posed by cryptocurrencies. The roadmap talks about how the year 2022 was a tough year for cryptocurrencies. “In May, a so-called “stablecoin” imploded, prompting a wave of insolvencies. Just months later, a major cryptocurrency exchange collapsed. Many everyday investors who trusted cryptocurrency companies—including young people and people of color—suffered serious losses, but, thankfully, turmoil in the cryptocurrency markets has had little negative impact on the broader financial system to date,” it says. The focus of the roadmap is said to be on continuing to ensure that cryptocurrencies cannot undermine financial stability, to protect investors, and to hold bad actors accountable. It goes on to “identify the risks of cryptocurrencies and act to mitigate them using the authorities that the executive branch has.”
Some cryptocurrency entities ignore financial regulations
“First, experts across the administration have laid out the first-ever framework for developing digital assets in a safe, responsible way while addressing the risks they pose. To be sure, the technologies powering cryptocurrencies may offer ways to make payments faster, cheaper, and safer. But this framework identifies clear risks. For example, some cryptocurrency entities ignore applicable financial regulations and basic risk controls—practices that protect the country’s households, businesses, and economy. In addition, cryptocurrency platforms and promoters often mislead consumers, have conflicts of interest, fail to make adequate disclosures, or commit outright fraud. And there is poor cybersecurity across the industry that enabled the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to steal over a billion dollars to fund its aggressive missile program,” says the document on risks.
It goes on to emphasise on the need to create awareness among people. “Second, agencies are using their authorities to ramp up enforcement where appropriate and issue new guidance where needed. The banking agencies issued joint guidance, just this month, on the imperative of separating risky digital assets from the banking system. Agencies across government have launched—or are now developing—public-awareness programs to help consumers understand the risks of buying cryptocurrencies. We encourage regulators to continue these efforts, including those designed to address and limit financial institutions’ exposure to the risks of digital assets.”

Safeguards are coming
It says that the events of the past year underscore that more is needed. “In the coming months, the Administration will also unveil priorities for digital assets research and development, which will help the technologies powering cryptocurrencies protect consumers by default.”
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Were you waiting for the new iPad mini? Well, you might have to wait a little more, as the new iPad mini might not launch anytime before next year, i.e., 2024.
Earlier, Kuo had predicted that the new iPad mini could launch in late 2023 or early 2024. However, now in the latest tweet, the analyst suggests that the iPad mini refresh may come in 2024 and not this year.
The last iPad mini was launched in 2020, and it was then the smallest iPad of the lot, shed its bezel, and came in quite a few colours.
iPad mini may come with a “new processor”
In a series of tweets made previously, Kuo had suggested that the next-generation iPad mini would come with a new processor, which would be its main selling point. Since it is expected to launch in 2024, it could come with the A16 Bionic that powers the iPhone 14 Pro.
The current-generation iPad mini has the A15 Bionic chip, which also brings support for 5G.
Besides a new chip inside, the iPad mini is not expected to come with a major design overhaul, so it may look exactly like it looks now. In 2021, the iPad mini got the much-needed visual overhaul, cutting down on the chunky bezels, Touch ID being moved to the side, and a pastel paint job.
Previously, Kuo has stated that the foldable iPad, which was rumoured to replace the iPad mini, would not be aimed to be an iPad mini replacement. The foldable iPad is also expected to launch in 2024, but do not expect it to be as affordable as iPad mini.
Kuo predicts the mass production of the next-generation iPad mini to begin in the first quarter of 2024.
While the launch of the new iPad mini seems to be pushed off to 2024, we may not also get any other new iPad this year, says Kuo.

Poco is expected to expand its X-series with a new smartphone for the Indian market. The Chinese smartphone maker will launch the Poco X5 Pro 5G smartphone which will succeed last year’s Poco X4 Pro. Now, the company has officially confirmed the global launch of the smartphone.
Poco X5 Pro 5G: Global launch date
Poco will unveil the X5 Pro 5G smartphone globally on February 6. The company has confirmed the same via a tweet on its Twitter handle. Viewers will be able to live stream the launch event online on the company’s YouTube and other social media handles.

As per previous reports, Poco X5 Pro may be a revamped version of the Redmi Note 12 Pro Speed Edition which is exclusive to the Chinese market. The upcoming smartphone is expected to sport an AMOLED display that is rumoured to support a Full HD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The smartphone is likely to house a Snapdragon 778G chipset, a 108MP main camera setup and a 5000mAh battery unit.
Poco X5 Pro 5G spotted in hands of an Indian cricketer
According to a report by GizmoChina, the smartphone model that was spotted in the hands of Indian cricketer Hardik Pandya, appears to be the Poco X5 Pro in the yellow variant. The report also shared some images where Pandya was seen using the phone and also making a call from the X5 Pro. These images offer a clear view of the rear camera module of the upcoming phone.

Poco has already teased the new smartphone on the major e-retailer platform Flipkart. Moreover, the phone is also being teased on AliExpress for the global markets. Apart from this, Poco has also held a fan meetup for the launch of its new X series smartphones in Delhi.

Researchers at the Microsoft Research (MSR) lab in India have been working toward creating digital ecosystems for Indian languages that do not have enough presence online, the company said. The team is preparing datasets that will be used to build AI technologies for their online presence, essentially aimed at preserving them for future generations.
Microsoft’s Project ELLORA
To bring ‘rare’ Indian languages online, Microsoft launched project ELLORA or Enabling Low Resource Languages in 2015. Under the project, researchers are building digital resources of the languages. They say that their purpose is to preserve a language for posterity so that users of these languages “can participate and interact in the digital world.”
How is ELLORA creating a language dataset?
The researchers are mapping out resources, including printed literature, to create a dataset to train their AI model. The team is also working with these communities on the project, Microsoft said.
“By involving the community in the data collection process, they [researchers] hope to create a dataset that is both accurate and culturally relevant,” the company noted.

Microsoft working with Mundas
Microsoft is currently working with Mundas community of about a million people spread across the eastern Indian states of Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal.
The community speaks Mundari, however, as per the Microsoft researchers, the community is concerned about the longevity of their language as only prominent languages like Bengali, Hindi and Odiya are taught to kids in schools.
A handful of researchers at the MSR lab in India have been working toward creating digital ecosystems for languages, like Mundari, that have a written script but don’t have enough presence in the digital world.
Internet’s language is English
English has been the internet’s language since its earliest years. Things improved and now there are eight out of nearly 6,000 languages around the world that are preferred online. This translates to 88% of the world’s languages do not have enough of a presence on the internet. It also means that 1.2 billion people, which is 20% of the world’s population, can’t use their language to navigate the digital world.

Hindi-to-Mundari: Work in progress
Microsoft says that its research team is currently working on a Hindi-to-Mundari text translation as well as a speech recognition model that will provide the community access to more content in Mundari.
Microsoft said that its researchers collaborated with IIT Kharagpur in 2018 “and sponsored a study to find what the community needs to keep the language alive.”
They are also building a text-to-speech model that doesn’t have significant digital content to train machine learning models. IIT Kharagpur professors initially worked with members of the community to help them manually translate sentences from Hindi to Mundari. The speech collection is done on a smartphone using Karya app.
The researchers also developed new technology called Interneural Machine Translation (INMT), which helps predict the next word when someone is translating between languages and speeds up the translation process.

Apart from Munda language, Microsoft is also working with Gondi speakers and the Idu Mishmi community in Arunachal Pradesh.
Meta’s language translation AI tool
Facebook parent-Meta is also working on something similar. Last year, the company announced that it developed an AI translation tool that can convert an unwritten (or oral) language to spoken English. An unwritten language is one that does not have a widely used writing system and is primarily spoken.
The company said that its AI was able to convert Hokkien – an oral language, to English. Hokkien is one of 3,500 languages that are spoken and do not have any written system (or at least not wide enough to train an AI model.)

Flexnest, a Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) fitness brand, has recently entered the audio market by introducing its new product, the FlexDubs true wireless Bluetooth earphones. These earphones feature an AI-powered voice assistant, making them unique and highly convenient for users. With this launch, Flexnest aims to provide its customers with a complete wellness solution, covering both fitness and audio needs.
The newly launched FlexDubs earbuds are designed in Germany and are feature-packed, lightweight, and unique in design. These earbuds are equipped with deep bass technology and offer Active Noise Cancellation with a 40 dB reduction, making them ideal for consumers. The earbuds offer a long battery life of up to 35 hours on a single charge, and they have an IPX5 rating which makes them resistant to sweat. The earbuds are designed to provide a high-quality audio experience while being lightweight and portable.
The FlexDubs earbuds are compatible with both Android and iOS devices and have support for both Google Assistant and Siri voice assistants. The earbuds feature smooth touch buttons that allow users to control music playback, switch between sound modes, and receive or reject calls with ease.
The earbuds have two different sound modes, one for active noise cancellation in noisy environments and another for environmental noise cancellation that helps to block external noise for a better audio experience. Further, these offer different sound modes allowing for a personalized audio experience.
The Flexnest FlexDubs is priced at Rs 2,999 in India. The earbuds will be available to purchase through the company’s official website or partners like Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa Man, Nykaa Fashion & Tata Cliq Luxury.
“We at Flexnest continue to expand our product portfolio to serve the needs of our consumers’ entire fitness journey. Music and Hearables are an important element of working out and Flexnest users can now experience a quality sound experience that has been specifically tuned for their high powered workouts,” said Mr. Raunaq Singh Anand, co-founder of Flexnest.