Google recently announced the largest-ever layoffs in the company’s 25-year history. The company is cutting 12,000 jobs, or roughly 6% of its full-time workforce. Days after the announcement, Google executives including CEO Sundar Pichai defended the job cuts during a companywide town hall. Pichai said that he consulted with the founders and controlling shareholders, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, as well as the board of directors about the layoffs. During the address Pichai indicated there would be executive compensation cuts. However, he provided limited details. He said that all senior vice presidents “will see a very significant reduction in their annual bonus” this year. “The more senior you are, the more your compensation is tied to performance,” he said. “You can reduce your equity grants if performance is not great,” he added. Though there is no official confirmation, it is quite clear that Pichai too will be taking a salary cut along with all other top executives. Before the job cuts, Google had made the decision to pay out 80% of bonuses in January with the rest expected in March or April. In previous years, the full bonus was paid in January.
Google’s chief people officer on the job cuts According to Google’s chief people officer, Fiona Cicconi, around 750 senior leaders across Google were involved in the process. She added that it took a few weeks to determine who would be laid off. “We have over 30,000 managers at Google and to consult with all of them would have made this an open process where it would have taken additional weeks or even months to come to a decision,” said Cicconi at the meeting. “We wanted to get certainty sooner.” Regarding the criteria for cuts, Cicconi said that execs looked at areas where the work was necessary. She added that the company considered “skill set, time in role where experience or relationships are relevant and matter, productivity indicators like sales quotas and performance history.” Also Watch:
Chinese smartphone maker OnePlus is set to host a global launch event on February 7. At this event, the company confirmed to debut its next-gen flagship smartphones — the OnePlus 11 and the OnePlus 11R — along with several other products. Now, the company is set to release another flagship smartphone for its domestic market — the OnePlus Ace 2. OnePlus has updated its official Chinese website to confirm that the OnePlus Ace 2 will be launched on February 2 in China. Rumours claim that the OnePlus 11R 5G that will be available for the global market will be a rebranded version of the OnePlus Ace 2. The company has also shared the official renders of the OnePlus Ace 2 which reveal the design of the upcoming phone. OnePlus Ace 2: Confirmed design As per the official renders, the OnePlus Ace 2 will sport a punch-hole display with curved edges. The phone will also feature an alert slider and a power key on the right edge, whereas a volume rocker will be located on the left panel. OnePlus Ace 2’s rear panel will have a circular camera module that will seem to fuse with the frame of the device. The camera island will include three sensors and an LED flash. The smartphone is set to arrive in two colour variants — green and black. Rumours claim that the OnePlus 11R 5G which is heading to India may sport the same design.
OnePlus Ace 2: Expected specs The smartphone is likely to support a 6.7-inch AMOLED display that may offer a 1.5K resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. Just like the OnePlus 11R 5G, the OnePlus Ace 2 is also expected to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ chipset which might be backed by up to 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 512 GB of UFS 3.1 storage. For optics, the phone may include a 50MP Sony IMX890 primary camera, an 8MP/12MP ultra-wide lens and a 2MP macro unit. The smartphone may also house a 16MP front shooter for selfies and video calls. OnePlus Ace 2 is likely to house a 5000mAh battery with 100W charging support and may run ColorOS 13 UI based on the Android 13 OS. Also Watch:
The original Garena Free Fire was updated with high-resolution graphics and released as Garena Free Fire Max last year. The popular battle royale game Garena Free Fire is among the apps and games that the Indian government has forbidden. Fans were disappointed by the game’s inaccessibility in India. The good news for fans of multiplayer battle royale is that there is still a suitable alternative to the banned game available on app stores. How to play Garena Free Fire Max The Garena Free Fire Max game has 50 players competing in the battle royale mode. As a multiplayer battle royale game, it gained popularity in the country. In addition to being able to pick their starting positions in this game, players can also gather suppliers and weaponry to help them survive on the battlefield. But in a battle royale action-adventure game, there can only be one winner. Garena Free Fire Max redeem codes The developers of the game are always incorporating new alphanumeric codes into it. Players can win complimentary prizes by using these codes. These codes can also be used to unlock different steps and acquire various reward points.
Check out the Garena Free Fire Max redeem codes for today (January 30): X99TK56XDJ4X FF7MUY4ME6SC WEYVGQC3CT8Q 3IBBMSL7AK8G J3ZKQ57Z2P2P FFDBGQWPNHJX TDK4JWN6RD6 4TPQRDQJHVP4 GCNVA2PDRGRZ XFW4Z6Q882WY HFNSJ6W74Z48 HHNAT6VKQ9R7 2FG94YCW9VMV 4ST1ZTBE2RP9 8F3QZKNTLWBZ V44ZZ5YY7CBS WD2ATK3ZEA55 E2F86ZREMK49 B3G7A22TWDR7X MCPW3D28VZD6 FFCMCPSGC9XZ FFCMCPSEN5MX ZZZ76NT3PDSH EYH2W3XK8UPG FFCMCPSUYUY7E NPYFATT3HGSQ MCPW2D2WKWF2 V427K98RUCHZ MCPW2D1U3XA3 FFCMCPSJ99S3 6KWMFJVMQQYG BR43FMAPYEZZ UVX9PYZV54AC XZJZE25WEFJJ HNC95435FAGJ Follow the below steps to redeem Garena Free Fire Max redeem codes for today (January 30): Step 1: Go to the official redemption page: https://reward.ff.garena.com/en/ Step 2: Log in with your social media accounts, such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, or VK IDs. Step 3: Players can now copy and paste the redeem codes into the text field and confirm their actions by clicking the “confirm” button. Step 4: After the confirmation, a dialogue box will appear for cross-referencing. To redeem the codes, hit the OK button. Note:
Players should go to the in-game mail section to claim their prize.
These codes will not work on guest accounts. In order to receive the rewards, you can connect your account to Facebook or VK.
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 590 is the puzzle for January 30; 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 590 puzzle for January 30, 2023, the following hints and clues may help you solve it: Wordle hints and clues for today, January 30, 2023, are stated here for our readers:Wordle 590 hints and clues for January 30, 2023, are:
Today’s Wordle starts with the letter ‘C’
The Wordle ends with the letter ‘E’
Today’s Wordle contains two vowels.
It is a five letter word.
Still, stuck? If you could not find the answers, fret not; we have got it all figured out for you: CRAVE is the solution to Wordle 590 for January 30, 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.
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 30): 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.
Elon Musk announced earlier this month that Twitter will make it less mandatory for users to use the “For You” algorithmic timeline. The CEO has now announced another update regarding the platform’s timeline saying the ‘For You or Following’ choice will be persistent soon. The conversation started when MMA fighter Matt Brown tagged Musk complaining that he doesn’t understand the new Twitter timeline. “I don’t understand my Twitter timeline anymore it’s filled with crypto junk and political junk I just want fight stuff what’s up @elonmusk,” he tweeted. In a reply, Musk said that Twitter is working on it. The conversation was taken forward by another Twitter user saying, “I don’t mind the way it’s set up, just put the recommended tweets in chronological order, and make it to where it stays on either ‘For You’ or ‘Following’ even after closing the app and coming back.” To this, Musk replied: “Next app update will make For You or Following choice persist. Agreed that recommended tweets should be more chronologically ordered. They cannot be entirely so.” Several users complained of the same on Musk’s post, and he said he “will investigate.” Recently, Twitter announced that it was rolling out a feature for its web client that will remember which timeline users were using the last time they logged in and it will be set default to it when they log in again. Musk also announced that the platform will also make it less mandatory for users to use the “For You” algorithmic timeline.
Twitter removes direct message option on Android, iOS Meanwhile, the micro-blogging platform has removed the option to send a direct message to another account directly from a profile page on Android and iPhones. As per the change, reported by 9to5Google, the “DM” button that used to appear next to the follow and notification buttons has disappeared without any replacement. While it is yet to be confirmed whether this was done on purpose or it’s a bug, users can still send a direct message by searching the desired account in the messages tab. Also Watch:
Twitter blue tick subscription: All you need to know
It’s rather difficult to develop an operating system designed for mobile phones. Perhaps that’s why alternatives to Android and iOS have come far and few in between. IIT-incubated firm JandK Operations has developed BharOS with the idea of emerging as an alternative to Android. There are quite a few questions about BharOS and we attempt to answer a few of them.
What is BharOS?
Based on the Linux kernel, BharOS is an operating system, which is quite similar to Google’s Android. The one big difference being BharOS comes with absolutely no apps. Notably, Android is based on a Linux kernel as well, which means in terms of look and feel, it will resemble Android. But it gives users the option to not use any app that they aren’t familiar with. The idea is to give users more control over what apps they can use or give access to their data.
How does BharOS provide app access to users?
Through something called PASS or Private App Store Services, which is a list of apps that have been thoroughly vetted and have met certain security and privacy standards of organisations. The firm claims that this ensures the safety of apps.
Where is BharOS being used?
As of now, it’s not clear who exactly is using BharOS. The firm says that they have given access to the OS to certain organisations “that have stringent privacy and security requirements whose users handle sensitive information that requires confidential communications on restricted apps on mobiles.”
When can you expect BharOS to reach mobile phones?
Again, it’s not clear when and how BharOS will roll out to smartphones. However, the firm has mentioned that it tested BharOS on a Google Pixel phone. We can expect BharOS developers to reach out to Android OEMs but when that happens or whether OEMs embrace an alternate OS remains to be seen.
What apps will BharOS run?
Almost every Android app. But it’s not clear what happens to apps that require Google Play Services will run on BharOS or not.
Is it a replacement for Android?
Certainly not. At least not as of now as the dominance of Android is unlikely to end anytime soon.
WARNING: This article contains spoilers for The Last of Us
HBO’s The Last of Us has earned rave reviews for its impressive loyalty to developer Naughty Dog’s era-defining PlayStation title, but the series’ third episode marked the first major deviation from Joel and Ellie’s in-game story.
‘Long Long Time’ puts the spotlight on Bill (Nick Offerman) and Frank (Murray Bartlett), two lonely survivors who come together in the aftermath of the global Cordyceps outbreak. Both characters feature briefly in the original The Last of Us game, but HBO’s small screen adaptation dedicates an entire hour to delving deeper into their decades-long relationship.
In an interview with TechRadar ahead of the series’ release, co-showrunners Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin explained the thinking behind their decision to go off-piste with The Last of Us episode 3 – which the pair have previously admitted (opens in new tab) will inevitably leave some fans “upset”.
“It came out of an interest I had in portraying Bill slightly differently, because the Bill section of the game was very much built around gameplay,” Mazin tells us. “What fascinated me about Bill was that he was safe, that he had created this interesting little safe harbor in the world. Then my next question was, well, what happens to you if you’re safe in this world? What next? Do you just stay there alone? What do you need? Why do you keep going? And I knew about the Frank storyline in the game, which, to me, sort of echoed the worst possible outcome for Joel.
Nick Offerman plays lonely survivalist Bill in The Last of Us (Image credit: HBO)
“But I thought there was an opportunity [with episode 3] to go in a different direction and explore the passage of time between the outbreak and where we are now, and also create a relationship that worked,” Mazin continues. “A relationship that, in its duality, helped define some themes that we’ll see over and over again [in the show] – two very different kinds of love. Somebody that loves outwards, and nurtures and protects and creates. And somebody that loves by protection through violence and preservation.
“So I remember saying to Nick [Offerman] and Murray [Bartlett] that this relationship is the basis of everything. Everything is reflected in this [relationship]. And even though there is a bit of a blubbering that occurs, in their own way, they win. They get the happy ending.”
I think the change [in episode 3] became very indicative of what we prioritized in this show.
Neil Druckmann
When adapting The Last of Us for the screen, Druckmann – who penned the game’s original story – likewise felt it was important to leave certain gameplay-heavy moments on the cutting room floor.
“I think the change [in episode 3] became very indicative of what we prioritized in this show,” he says. “In my mind, a lesser adaptation would have looked at the Bill sequence and said, ‘Oh, there’s this epic, iconic moment where Joel steps into a snare trap and is upside down and Ellie has to get him out of the ditch. And then Bill shows up and Bill saves you and that’s how you bond with him through this long action sequence.’ You’re relying on each other and then, through in-game dialogue and a bunch of different things, we reveal a hint at this backstory and this relationship.
Bill appears briefly in the original The Last of Us game (Image credit: Naughty Dog)
“But some of the brilliance of Craig is to say: that’s not as important. That’s what would have been an important thing in the past, when you’re adapting video games and looking at superficial aspects and thinking, ‘Oh, players want to see that gameplay moment.’ That’s not what they want. They want the core of the heart of this experience. So when Craig said, ‘Let’s focus on Bill and Frank instead of the set-piece, and do stuff that we couldn’t do in the game, like jump around in time, and really show how people have survived over this 20-year gap’ – that’s a great counter-example of everything else we see [on Joel and Ellie’s journey]. That story is so beautiful and so moving.
“And ultimately,” Druckmann concludes, “when Joel and Ellie come back to that story – yes, it’s different from what’s in the game, but it helps elevate [the experience] in a way that I think is really strong for this medium. We couldn’t have told this story in the game. And likewise, I think the show would have been less if we tried to tell the story [of Bill and Frank] in the game over here.”
The Last of Us is now streaming on HBO Max in the US and Sky Atlantic and NOW in the UK.
When the iPhone 15 handsets make an appearance, we’re once again expecting there to be several differences between the standard two phones and the two more expensive Pro models – and one of those differences could be in Wi-Fi support.
A leaked document posted by tipster Unknownz21 (opens in new tab) on Twitter (via MacRumors (opens in new tab)) makes reference to the antenna architecture for the iPhone 15, the iPhone 15 Plus, the iPhone 15 Pro and the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
According to the document, the standard iPhone 15 and the Plus model will stick with the same Wi-Fi 6 spec as the current iPhone 14 series. The Pro and the Pro Max, however, will be upgraded to the latest Wi-Fi 6E standard.
A numbers game
We had heard rumblings earlier in the week that Wi-Fi 6E would be coming to the iPhone 15 series in 2023, but at that stage we were thinking the upgrade was intended for all the models. Now that doesn’t appear to be the case.
The difference between Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E isn’t huge though: it supports an extra 6 GHz frequency band alongside 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, so while the speeds are similar, there’s more capacity for more devices. You’re also going to need a Wi-Fi 6E router to take advantage of the improved technology.
While it isn’t mentioned in this document leak, we’re assuming that if the iPhone 15 Ultra is real then it too will have the Wi-Fi 6E upgrade as well. It’s not clear yet if the phone will be a separate model or take the place of the Pro Max version of the iPhone.
Analysis: more reasons to upgrade
In recent years Apple has clearly been trying to make the Pro model upgrades as worthwhile for people as possible, most recently with the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max. The standard models almost seem neglected by comparison.
Last year, for example, we saw a speed difference between the two pairs of models for the first time: the iPhone 14 and the iPhone 14 Plus got the A15 Bionic chipset, while the more expensive pair of phones got the latest A16 Bionic upgrade.
A slight upgrade in Wi-Fi standards might not be the most important spec when it comes to choosing a phone, but it’s yet another reason to pick one of the Pro models when they go on sale (which will be in September, if Apple sticks to its usual schedule).
The danger is that the cheaper iPhones get ignored by buyers (and the Plus version is rumored to be not selling well at all) – but with the Pro models retailing for more money, it seems like a trade-off that Apple is happy to make.
Maxima Watches has expanded its smartwatch lineup with the launch of its latest watch — Max Pro Samurai. The company is calling it a new non-calling smartwatch from that which basically means that the watch does not come with Bluetooth calling features. The company says that this is the first smartwatch in its price segment to feature a call-accepting feature. Other features include 10 days of battery life and health and fitness features. Maxima Pro Samurai smartwatch: Price and availability Maxima Pro Samurai smartwatch is priced at Rs 1,499 and is available for purchase via both online and offline retail stores across the country. Maxima Pro Samurai smartwatch: Features The Max Pro Samurai features a 1.85-inch HD display with touch support and 600 nits of peak brightness. The watch also comes with features like enhanced users interface, screen lock, call notifications and pickup option, over 100 watch faces and sports tracking features.
The company claims that the Maxima Pro Samurai will offer up to 10 days of battery life on a single charge. Also, the watch supports multiple languages including Engligh, Hindi and regional languages. “Maxima Max Pro Samurai was developed after researching what customer needs were. A majority of customers felt that ability to accept calls from their smartwatch to TWS was most important. We developed Samurai along these lines, and have created a new category, where customer can accept calls even in non-calling watches. This new category in effect repositions the entire market. The question now will be, why buy a smartwatch if it doesn’t have call accept? We will be launching Samurai at the competitive price of 1499/- with the idea to reach out to everyone.,” mentioned Manjot Purewal, Managing Partner, Maxima.
