All posts by Arun Sharma

image credit :huawei central

 Google Android 12 is the next operating system that comes with various new features. Android is open source and provides different types of customizations for the smartphone makers to customize Android and make it as a base of their custom software skin just like the Huawei EMUI.

However, if you are coming from any phone such as Huawei, Samsung, and others, you may find that Pixel device has minimized and a limited amount of apps, that solely launched by Google. This clean and Google apps only user experience is called – Stock Android.

But HarmonyOS is the next operating system that has entered on Huawei phones in China with the version HarmonyOS 2. Therefore, more and more device owners continue to upgrade over this new open-source operating system to ramp up HarmonyOS numbers to stand up against Android.

Image Credit:huawei central

In the past, we’ve compared different Android software including numerous types of software skins but this time, we’ll compare stock Android 12 vs HarmonyOS 2. For this HarmonyOS 2 vs Android 12 comparison, we’ll first dive into the quick settings feature of both of the software and see which one is the best.

Stock Android 12 Quick Setting:

Android 12 is powered by Material You, a new user interface design specially designed for the Android ecosystem. The Android 12 Quick Settings panel shows the same integrations. Once shipped downwards, you can access the quick settings and there are various tiles (quick tap buttons), that have a good amount of width to make sure that you don’t miss a tap.

The brightness control and volume sliders also have now bigger sliders. However, the position of the brightness slider at the top should have been at the bottom side. You can also edit the Quick Settings options and add more into them or remove any if you want.

image credit:HC

However, a virtual power button is a lifesaver, and it’s presented on the Android 12, from which, you can tap on emergency, initiate a lockdown, turn off the device or restart it. You don’t have to press the physical key to do such actions.

HarmonyOS:

HarmonyOS comes with a new Control Panel, that has different types of mobile services in a single place, such as media controllers, connectivity, quick settings, super device, and smart connected device. You can manage these from a single place without a hassle.

Image credit:HC

Talking specifically about the quick settings, the HarmonyOS carries forward the EMUI 11 icons but polished them with better visibility and the design scheme of the HM OS software. Compared to the Android 12, you can check more of the quick switches on the same screen without any issues.

The design of the HarmonyOS quick settings is very simple and subtle, which makes it easy to use. However, that power switch is also a required feature that Huawei should use to this new operating system, to save the phone’s physical power key.

Source:HC

The Professor has gone missing in a trailer for the final season of Money Heist, and there are a few likely possibilities for his whereabouts.

In a trailer for the Money Heist final season, the Professor has gone missing, and there are a few options for his whereabouts. In the first look at Money Heist season 5, part 2, also known as La Casa de Papel, Lisbon (Itziar Ituño), Palmero (Rodrigo de la Serna), Denver (Jaime Lorente), and the rest of the gang contemplate the Professor’s (Álvaro Morte) disappearance and what to do with their melted gold inside the Bank of Spain. Palmero wants to get the gold out, but the others don’t seem sure, thinking the police could be privy to the escape route. Unfortunately, Palmero isn’t interested in “democracy” and insists their scheme goes ahead as planned. The first part of Money Heist season 5 included several shocking twists and lingering questions. Inspector Alicia Sierra (Najwa Nimri) captures the Professor in the season 5 premiere, but her pregnancy changes her plans. She eventually lets the Professor go to help deliver her baby, leaving her allegiance to the Professor or her government up in the air. Additionally, Money Heist seemingly killed off a significant character in the first part of its final season. However, the true fate of the individual could still be a mystery.
The Professor’s disappearance is surprising in the Money Heist trailer. Lisbon hears about the Professor’s disappearance off-camera (or he doesn’t respond to her call), and then she delivers the news matter-of-factly in the season 5 video. According to her, the Professor is missing, and the big question is what to do with the gold. While the others looked shocked, Denver is the only one who speaks up, questioning where the professor could’ve gone. However, Lisbon offers no solid explanations. Though the Professor’s disappearance is odd, there could be an obvious reason.

If the Professor is missing, there is one likely saboteur. At the end of part 1 of the final season, there are questions about Alicia Sierra’s loyalty. Though her government disgraced her name and she let the Professor help deliver her baby, she also slips into the restroom and seemingly hides a small pair of scissors in her sleeve as a weapon. Before her baby’s birth, she wanted to bring the Professor and his accomplices to justice. But instead, she let him go out of necessity. So if the Professor is in trouble, Sierra has to be the prime suspect.

Alternatively, there could be more to the Professor’s disappearance than meets the eye. It’s unknown if the Professor is actually missing in the first look for part 2. For instance, the disappearance could be part of the plan. If Money Heist has taught fans anything, it’s that the Professor is always planning. Also, the trailer has Denver question if the Professor is in the “Bermuda Triangle.” The Professor previously mentioned the Bermuda Triangle in part 1 of the final season. “Madrid isn’t the Bermuda Triangle,” he said while discussing how to hide Marseille (Luka Peroš) and a helicopter from the police. That plan involved significant deception, and the Professor’s disappearance likely does too.

As Merck and Pfizer prepare to report clinical trial results for experimental COVID-19 antiviral pills, rivals are lining up with what they hope will prove to be more potent and convenient oral treatments of their own.

Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Pardes Biosciences, Japan’s Shionogi and Novartis said they have designed antivirals that specifically target the coronavirus while aiming to avoid potential shortcomings such as the need for multiple pills per day or known safety issues.

Infectious disease experts stressed that preventing COVID-19 through wide use of vaccines remains the best way to control the pandemic. But they said the disease is here to stay and more convenient treatments are needed.

“We need to have oral alternatives for suppression of this virus. We have people who aren’t vaccinated getting sick, people whose vaccine protection is waning, and people who can’t get vaccinated,” said Dr. Robert Schooley, an infectious diseases professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

Pfizer and Merck, as well as partners Atea Pharmaceuticals and Roche AG have all said they could seek emergency approval for their COVID-19 antiviral pills this year.

Rivals are at least a year behind. Pardes began an early-stage trial last month, Shionogi plans to start large-scale clinical trials by year-end, Enanta aims to start human trials early next year and Novartis is still testing its pill in animals.

Enanta Chief Executive Jay Luly said re-purposing drugs originally developed for other viral infections is not an unreasonable approach. But it is not known how potent they will be against COVID-19 or how well they can target lung tissue, where the virus takes hold.

The risk is “if it’s not a great effort …you’ll end up losing time,” Luly said.

Antivirals are complex to develop because they must target the virus after it is already replicating inside human cells without damaging healthy cells. They also need to be given early to be most effective.

Currently, intravenous and injected antibodies are the only approved treatments for non-hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

An effective, convenient COVID-19 treatment could reach annual sales of over $10 billion, according to a recent Jefferies & Co estimate. Merck has a contract with the U.S. government that implies a price of $700 for a course of treatment with its antiviral molnupiravir.

SEARCH FOR AN EASY TREATMENT

Several classes of antiviral drugs are being explored. Polymerase inhibitors such as Atea’s drug – first developed for hepatitis C – aim to disrupt the ability of the coronavirus to make copies of itself. There are also protease inhibitors, like Pfizer’s pill, which are designed to block an enzyme the virus needs in order to multiply earlier in its lifecycle.

We are trying to halt the processes “that allow the virus to set up a replication factory,” said Uri Lopatin, CEO at Pardes, which is also developing a COVID-19 protease inhibitor.

Merck’s molnupiravir, developed with Ridgeback Therapeutics, was at one point envisioned as a flu drug and works by introducing errors into the genetic code of the virus.

“The broad spectrum activity of molnupiravir against RNA viruses, including other respiratory viruses, suggests that it should be a durable, useful molecule,” said Jay Grobler, who oversees infectious disease and vaccines at Merck.

Merck said data shows the drug is not capable of inducing genetic changes in human cells, but men in its trials have to abstain from heterosexual intercourse or agree to use contraception.

Until reproductive toxicology study results are available, “we don’t know if there’s any potential effect of drug on sperm,” said Merck research executive Nicholas Kartsonis.

Both molnupiravir and Pfizer’s pill are taken every 12 hours for five days. Pfizer’s drug must be combined with older antiviral ritonavir, which boosts the activity of protease inhibitors but can cause gastrointestinal side effects and interfere with other medications.

“It is a nuisance to add a drug you don’t need to have a drug you want to take be effective,” Schooley said.

Pfizer said a low dose of ritonavir will help its protease inhibitor remain in the body longer and at higher concentrations.

Enanta, which gets most of its revenue from a hepatitis C deal with AbbVie Inc, scanned its library of antiviral compounds early in 2020. It instead chose to design a new protease inhibitor that targets an enzyme vital to the ability of the coronavirus, and its variants, to replicate.

The drug will be tested at once daily dosing with no ritonavir boosting, Luly said.

Lopatin said Pardes is assessing once- and twice-a-day dosing and whether its drug needs to be combined with ritonavir. “We do not anticipate that we will need to use a booster,” he said.

Pardes received funding from Gilead Sciences, which gave up on an inhaled version of its remdesivir, an intravenous polymerase inhibitor approved for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

Gilead is still working an oral remdesivir, which was also first developed for hepatitis C and is currently the only antiviral approved for treating COVID-19.

Mastercard unveiled on Tuesday a buy now, pay later (BNPL) program that will allow consumers to pay for online and in-store purchases through equal and interest-free installments.

The Mastercard Installments program will be available in markets across the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, the company said.

Mastercard says its Installments program builds on Mastercard’s investments in open banking that help deliver a simple and convenient experience for consumers, merchants and lenders.

As an elective option for lenders, with consumer consent, account-level transaction histories can be considered as part of the underwriting process, enabling credit to be safely extended to a greater number of shoppers. Open banking technology also facilitates the consumer’s preferred method of repayment, which may be their checking or savings account, a Mastercard debit card, or another payment product.

Key benefits of Mastercard Installments include:

• Consumers: The Mastercard Installments program enables consumers to choose how and when they pay for items from a brand they can trust. Consumers enjoy a seamless experience before and after checkout through options to access BNPL offers, or secure an offer at the time of checkout, from trusted lenders for use at a variety of merchants interest-free. As consumer protection is paramount at Mastercard, Mastercard Installments provides ubiquitous acceptance backed by zero liability fraud protection, not yet available through most current BNPL offerings.

• Merchants & Acquiring Banks: The Mastercard Installments program helps merchants scale BNPL offerings to consumers to turn convenience into a competitive advantage. BNPL solutions have been shown to increase average sales by 45 percent and reduce cart abandonment by 35 percent post-implementation*. Mastercard Installments provides seamless merchant integration with a streamlined process for millions of merchants who already accept Mastercard. Meanwhile, acquiring banks can offer installments capabilities to their entire merchant base with minimal, simple integration.
• Lenders: Through the Mastercard Installments Program, lenders can offer a flexible, seamless BNPL experience to both existing and new customers, expanding their lending opportunities in one of the fastest growing consumer segments. Mastercard Installments provides an expedited time to market and global expansion opportunities with a responsible lending approach.
• Wallets and BNPL players: Digital wallets and BNPL players can easily integrate Mastercard Installments’ APIs and deploy the solution to consumers and already integrated merchants, extending reach beyond their existing footprint. Mastercard Installments is embedded in the core Mastercard network, which means there is no longer a need for wallets and BNPL players to build direct settlement arrangements with merchants or acquirers. BNPL providers can also supplement their existing networks with additional merchant acceptance.

Fueled by changing consumer spending habits during the pandemic, BNPL adoption continues to accelerate globally. In addition to consumer demand, the momentum is being driven by issuer and merchant desire to deliver new, complementary ways for consumers to shop both in-store and online.

The company also said it will work on the BNPL program with banks and fintech firms, including Barclays’s U.S. unit, Fifth Third Bancorp, Marqeta, and SoFi Technologies, in the United States, and Qantas Loyalty and Latitude in Australia.

Elon Musk has performed a sudden U-turn on bitcoin over concerns about its energy usage, and says his electric car firm Tesla will no longer accept the cryptocurrency as payment – but will his decision have an impact, and could Tesla turn to an alternative currency?

Tesla bet big on bitcoin earlier this year with a $1.5 billion investment, and it paid off: Bloomberg estimates that the company made $1 billion on its purchase in the first quarter of 2021.

At the time, Musk was criticised for investing in the cryptocurrency, with many people pointing out that the environmental damage caused by its large electricity usage was at odds with Tesla’s apparent green credentials.

Now, Musk seems to have reached the same conclusion, tweeting on 12 May that Tesla would suspend bitcoin sales because of concerns about “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal, which has the worst emissions of any fuel”.

“Cryptocurrency is a good idea on many levels and we believe it has a promising future, but this cannot come at great cost to the environment,” he added.

PayPal has two decades of experience in online payments and manages 403 million user accounts. So, it caused ripples when it announced on 23 August it would allow UK customers to buy and sell four cryptocurrencies: bitcoin prices rose to a three-month high. But will this – and last October’s roll-out in the US – push cryptocurrencies into the mainstream, or is it just another blip in the short but volatile history of decentralised money?

Customers in the US who have bought cryptocurrencies through Paypal log in twice as often as those who haven’t, says Jose Fernandez da Ponte at PayPal. “We expect digital currencies to play an important role in consumer payments over the longer term,” he says.

Public interest in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is certainly growing, but only a minority have bought in. A YouGov survey revealed that by August 2019, just 3 per cent of people in the UK owned any cryptocurrencies. By July 2021 that had risen to 8 per cent.

Giving millions of existing PayPal customers the ability to buy at the click of a button has enormous potential for increasing those numbers, but access to the currency isn’t the only limiting factor. People need a way to spend it.

A handful of large companies, such as Microsoft, have begun accepting bitcoin as payment, and others such as electric car company Tesla have done so at times too. And while several other retailers, including grocery stores, coffee shops and hardware stores, have systems to accept cryptocurrency in some countries, using only this form of payment day-to-day would be no easy task.

It’s been a while since the news regarding multi-device support on WhatsApp broke out, but now, a new report shows evidence that this feature is going to look more like what Telegram already does.

According to WABetainfo, while WhatsApp already offers the ability to link its account with WhatsApp Web, Desktop, and Portal to some beta testers, it’s still developing an app for the iPad and the ability to link another phone with the same account.

WABetainfo says it’s not clear whether this feature will only be available for tablets, but for the time being, there is no evidence that the company will exclude mobile phones.

One of the things that people complain about the most about WhatsApp over Telegram is the lack of multi-device support, as you can log in to as many devices as you’d like. WhatsApp, on the other hand, is still restricted to one main device with an active internet connection.

The company is also working on another important feature, which is the ability to transfer chat history between iOS and Android devices and vice-versa.

There’s no official news regarding when WhatsApp will release multi-device support or multi-device 2.0, but the company is developing them and making progress.