Last year, Voot was integrated with Jio Cinema, and all the content that was available on the Voot platform was shifted to Jio Cinema. While Jio Cinema has also bagged the streaming rights of IPL for five years, earlier these streaming rights were with Disney+ Hotstar.

Well interestingly, Reliance Industries has acquired the ownership of Disney+ Hotstar. Earlier reports suggested that Reliance will make Disney+ Hotstar an exclusive streaming platform for the newly merged entity comprising Star India and Viacom 18. While some hinted that the company might run separate platforms for sports and entertainment. It was said that the company could decide to retain Disney+ Hotstar due to its superior technology infrastructure.

Now as per some sources, Reliance may merge Jio Cinema and Disney+ Hotstar, and this combined OTT platform will be called Jio Hotstar. It is said that this merger will make Jio Hotstar the biggest OTT platform in the country with a wide subscription base. Whereas Jio Hotstar is also expected to dominate the Indian streaming space.

Reliance may soon officially announce this merger and Jio Hotstar may also start streaming soon. Stay tuned with The Tech Outlook for all the latest updates.

The post Reliance To Merge JioCinema And Disney+ Hotstar; Joint Platform Will Be Called Jio Hotstar appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

Following the recent price hike of the YouTube Premium subscription plan, Google is revealed to be testing a cheaper alternative. This is regarding YouTube’s Premium Lite subscription that was discontinued back in 2023, however, the newer version has a catch.

Here’s more about it.

Is YouTube’s Premium Lite Really Back?

For those of you who don’t know, similar to the YouTube Premium subscription, the YouTube Premium Lite subscription also offered users the benefit of an add-free experience in the past, and was available at a cheaper price. But do note that other benefits like YouTube Music, background play, and download options were unavailable to YouTube Premium Lite subscribers and was only available on the YouTube Premium plan.

As mentioned, the Premium Lite plan was discontinued last year in 2023 and as we are getting to the end of 2024, Google seems to have plans to bring the cheaper plan back. This is because a different version of YouTube Premium Lite is in test and users in a few countries, namely Germany, Australia, and Thailand, may see the availability of YouTube’s Premium Lite plan on their YouTube account. To note, in Australia, when compared to the YouTube Premium plan of AUD 22.99 per month, the Premium Lite plan can be availed by paying almost half the price – AUD 11.99 per month.

There is one more thing that users must keep in mind. As opposed to the previous version of YouTube Premium Lite that offered ‘no-adds’ benefit, the newer version will have a ‘limited-ads’ feature. Regarding the expansion of YouTube Premium Lite to more countries, Google still hasn’t yet made any announcements and we’ll probably have to wait for a while.

The post YouTube Premium Lite is Back; A Different Version Now in Test Phase and Available to Users in Few Countries appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

Apple has announced changes to its Business Connect service, now allowing businesses of all sizes and types to use the platform, including those without physical locations. The service lets verified businesses manage their appearance across Apple’s apps, which are used by over a billion people.

David Dorn, Apple’s senior director of Internet Software and Services Product, stated, “We designed Business Connect to enable businesses to present accurate information to Apple users. With today’s updates, we’re extending this capability to more businesses.”

New features in the expanded service include:

1. Branded Mail: Businesses can display their name and logo in emails sent to customers through Apple’s Mail app. This feature is available for sign-up now, with logo display expected later this year.
2. Tap to Pay on iPhone Logo Display: Companies can show their logo instead of a category icon when accepting payments via Tap to Pay on iPhone.
3. Business Caller ID: Planned for next year, this will show a business’s name, logo, and department on incoming call screens.

These additions build on existing features introduced last year, which allowed businesses to customize their place cards in apps like Apple Maps and Wallet with photos, logos, action links, and promotions.

The expansion of Business Connect to include service providers and online-only businesses represents a change in Apple’s approach to business integration within its ecosystem. This move may affect how businesses interact with customers through Apple’s platforms and could influence digital brand management strategies.

As per Apple’s support page currently, two types of entities can use Apple Business Connect

• Company/Organization: Your company or organization. You directly manage how your brand appears to customers.
• Third-Party Partner/Agency: A data provider or data manager who works on your behalf on how your brand appears to customers.

The post Apple Expands Business Connect Service with more ways to connect with customers appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

Online shoppers often face challenges when returning or exchanging clothing and footwear purchased from e-commerce platforms. Blinkit, has recently introduced a new service to address this issue in select Indian states.

The ‘Easy Returns’ feature allows customers who have ordered footwear or clothing to initiate a return or exchange within 10 minutes. This service aims to reduce the uncertainty associated with sizing when purchasing apparel and footwear online.

Albinder Dhindsa, CEO of Blinkit, shared details of this new offering on X (formerly Twitter). His statement read, “Introducing Easy Returns on Blinkit! Customers can initiate a return or exchange in case of a size or fit issue with the delivered product. This solves a crucial problem of size anxiety for categories like clothing and footwear. The cool part – return or exchange will happen within 10 minutes of raising a request!”

The company has implemented this service gradually. “We’ve been testing this in Delhi NCR for a couple of weeks and have now enabled it for Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Pune,” Dhindsa stated. He also indicated plans for further expansion, saying, “More cities to be added soon!”

Currently, the service is available in these major metropolitan areas, with expected introduction in other states across India in the future. This development could potentially influence the online shopping experience for clothing and footwear purchases.

Blinkit’s new approach to returns and exchanges represents a change in the online retail sector. By focusing on quick returns and exchanges, the company is attempting to differentiate itself from other e-commerce platforms.

As this service expands across India, its impact on consumer behaviour and potential influence on other e-commerce companies’ practices remains to be seen. For now, the service offers a new option for shoppers in the selected cities when dealing with size or fit issues in their online clothing and footwear purchases.

The post Now you can exchange or return footwear or clothing via Blinkit appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

Are you someone who does not have a bank account or still relies financially on your family due to which you are not able to make payments digitally? Well, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has introduced a new way- UPI Circle that simplifies financial transactions for individuals who may not have a bank account or are hesitant to use digital payment methods.

UPI Circle feature is currently available on BHIM UPI and Google Pay (GPay). This feature allows primary users who have a UPI account to delegate digital payment tasks to trusted contacts such as family or friends. It is useful for individuals who either do not have a bank account or find it difficult to manage digital payments on their own. UPI Circle allows payments to be made through the primary user’s account.

A primary user can add up to 5 secondary users in the UPI circle while each secondary user can only be a part of one UPI Circle at a time. Primary users will be offered two options:

• Partial Delegation– You retain full control, approving each payment request initiated by your secondary user.
• Full Delegation– Set a monthly limit, of up to Rs.15,000, allowing your secondary users to make payments independently within that limit.

This feature is expected to be particularly beneficial for parents providing allowances to children, senior citizens who are cautious about conducting digital transactions, and business owners who need to manage petty cash for their staff. The primary user will have the option to monitor the activity of the secondary users on the app.

The post NPCI Introduces UPI Circle For Users Without Bank Account Or Are Hesitant To Use Digital Payment Methods appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

Jio Financial Services Ltd (JFSL) has released an updated version of its JioFinance App. The app is now available on the Google Play Store, Apple App Store, and MyJio, offering a range of financial products and services.

The release follows a beta phase that began on May 30, 2024, during which six million users tested the platform. JFSL states that user feedback from this period has been incorporated into the current version.

The JioFinance App now includes additional features such as Loans on Mutual Funds, Home Loans (including Balance Transfer), and Loan Against Property. These loans are available at market-competitive terms.

A digital savings account from Jio Payments Bank Ltd. (JPBL) is also part of the offering. JPBL reports that 1.5 million customers are using their accounts for routine expenses. The app includes features for UPI payments, mobile recharge, and credit card bill payments.

One of the app’s functions is to provide users with a view of their holdings across different bank accounts and mutual fund investments. The app also offers access to 24 insurance plans covering life, health, two-wheeler, and motor insurance.

JFSL has partnered with BlackRock to develop investment solutions, which they plan to introduce through the app in the future.

Hitesh Sethia, Managing Director and CEO of JFSL provided a statement: “At JFSL, we aim to provide access to financial services through technology. The JioFinance app, developed in India, is part of our effort to offer financial products to consumers.”

The post JioFinance App Launches with Expanded Features and Services appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

In May, Google introduced some new and improved AI features at its Google I/O event. Among these features the company unveiled its most capable image generation image model Imagen 3. This image generation model was said to be soon made available for users around the world.

Imagen 3 has now been officially made available for all Gemini users worldwide, including users who are not Gemini subscribers.

Image generation with Imagen 3 is now available to all Gemini users around the world.

Imagen 3 is our highest quality image generation model yet and brings an even higher degree of photorealism, better instruction following, and fewer distracting artifacts than ever before. pic.twitter.com/E8CrcyFcz5

— Google Gemini App (@GeminiApp) October 9, 2024

About Imagen 3

Google considers Imagen 3 as its highest-quality text-to-image model capable of generating images with even better detail, richer lighting, and fewer distracting artifacts. It comes with an ability to understand prompts, which helps the models generate a wide range of visual styles and capture small details from loner prompts.

Imagen 3 generates high-quality images in a wide range of formats and styles, from photorealistic landscapes to richly textured oil paintings or whimsical claymation scenes. It understands prompts written in natural, everyday language making it easier to get the output. It then generates visually rich, high-quality images with good lighting and composition and can also render small details and complex textures. It can be used to make stylized birthday cards, presentations, and more.

Imagen 3 is deployed with the latest privacy, security, and safety technologies including the SynthID watermarking tool, which embeds a digital watermark directly into the pixels of the image, making it detectable for identification but imperceptible to the human eye.

When I tried to check this feature out on Gemini by giving a prompt on the website, in less than 2 seconds I got the output in the form of an image based on my prompt.

The post Imagen 3 Now Available For All Gemini Users Around The World appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

Shocked reading the headline? Well anyone would be, as due to the onion scams and threat to privacy due to smartphones, users try to be more careful and aware before giving access to permissions like location being tracked, or some files being shared with an app or website.

A report by Cybernews today has alarmed the people online. In their latest research, the publication has found out that Google tracks your location every 15 minutes even with GPS disabled. Cybernews researchers took the latest Pixel 9 Pro XL smartphone with a new Google account and default settings to focus on what all a new smartphone sends to the company. Researchers used a man-in-the-middle approach to intercept the traffic between the smartphone and Google’s servers.

As per Aras Nazarovas, a security researcher at Cybernews, “Every 15 minutes, Google Pixel 9 Pro XL sends a data packet to Google. The device shares location, email address, phone number, network status, and other telemetry. Even more concerning, the phone periodically attempts to download and run new code, potentially opening up security risks.”

It was also revealed that the phone constantly requests experiments and configurations tries accessing the stain environment, and connects to device management and policy enforcement endpoints, suggesting Google’s remote control capabilities. Pixel devices also connected to services that were not used, nor explicit consent was given, such as Face grouping endpoints, causing privacy and ownership concerns while the calculator app, in some conditions, also leaked calculation history to unauthenticated users with physical access.

The device sent potentially excessive and sensitive data that includes the number of times the device was restarted, time elapsed since powering on, and a list of apps installed on the device, including sideloaded ones.

All these points raised concerns about eroding user privacy and control. However other than the company’s servers, the data was not shared to any other third-party app.

Cybernews reached out to Google with these findings to which the company explained that core Play services enable key functionality on every certified Android device. Everyone can check what data is collected. It is revealed that data transmissions are needed for legitimate services regardless of the device model, manufacturer, or even OS.

The post Google Tracks Your Location Every 15 Minutes Even When GPS Disabled: Claims Report appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

Who doesn’t want to enjoy uninterrupted music without listening to those ads after every 10 minutes? Well if you are a Spotify user, you know what I mean. Previously Spotify India announced an affordable Rs.59 Spotify plan that enabled users to listen to ad-free music for three months. But that was a limited-time period offer.

Well, today Spotify India is back with the same plan with increased validity. Users can enjoy ad-free music for four months with a Rs.59 Spotify Individual plan. This offer will end on 13^th October and thereafter you will be priced at Rs.119/month for the Spotify Individual plan.

But there is a catch, users who have not purchased any Spotify premium earlier can only avail of this limited-time offer.

Benefits Of The Premium Plan

• Ad-free music listening
• Download to listen offline
• Play songs in any order
• High audio quality
• Listen with friends in real-time
• Organize listening queue
• Listening insights (not in Mini)

There are several ways available that you can use to make the payment including BHIM UPI, BharatPe, Google Pay, and Paytm.

There are other premium plans available for users based on their requirements- Spotify Mini at Rs.29 for 1 week, Spotify Family at Rs.179 for two months and thereafter Rs.179 for 1 month, Spotify Duo for Rs.149 for two months and thereafter Rs.149 for 1 month and Spotify Student for Rs.59 for two months and thereafter Rs.59 for a month.

The post Get Spotify Individual Premium For 4 Months At Just Rs.59: Limited Time Period Offer appeared first on The Tech Outlook.

Having trouble while using Instagram? And have also tried re-logging, restarting the app, re-installing the app, and reconnecting with Wifi or mobile data, well worry not, you are not the only one. Several users from India and other global countries have been facing problems in accessing Instagram in the past 1 hour.

As per a report by DownDetector, problems with Instagram have been detected since 11:19 AM IST. You can also check the graph below that shows the outage reports from users over the past 24 hours.

Some users were facing issues during login, while to some the social media platform is inaccessible where as many have complained about receiving errors.  Users from India, UAE, Switzerland, Thailand, USA, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, and a few other countries have reported these issues. Also when we checked and tried to open Instagram on the web, we received an error as you can see below.

Users have also started posting about this issue on the X platform to check whether it’s an issue faced by them or there is some problem with the app itself.

As per the current status, the issue that lasted for 1 hour has now been resolved and the users can now access the platform without any trouble.

Well, this is the second time Instagram users have faced this outage this month. Previously on 4^th October, many users faced this issue which was later resolved.

The post Instagram Outage Faced by Several Users Globally: Issue Now Resolved appeared first on The Tech Outlook.