Intel’s 11th Gen Tiger Lake CPUs are supposed to pack the company’s best architectures both on the CPU as well as the GPU side, plus the latest iteration of the 10nm process. These will be the first 10nm chips from Intel to approach the 5GHz mark which is a big step up from Ice Lake which was barely able to hit 4GHz in most applications. The new Willow Cove core architecture powering the CPUs are supposed to offer a markedly higher IPC and single-threaded performance than any other chip on the market. Finally, the Gen12 iGPU will be Intel’s fastest graphics solution to date with up to 96EUs or 384 shaders.

Publication: Hardware Times

As the pandemic challenges just about everything, what is the responsibility it puts on business leaders? Businesses will need to look at the evolving consumer needs in the post-Covid-19 world and this calls for leaders to revisit their strategy and innovate with agility and resiliency. Organisations will adopt changes arising from these times in the long-term. For one, some percentage of the workforce may remain remote and the rest would also see increased flexibility.

Publication: BW Businessworld 

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has partnered with Facebook to launch a curriculum to teach digital safety & online well-being and augmented reality (AR) to students and teachers. The curriculum can be accessed via CBSE website. The digital safety and online well-being curriculum will be rolled out in phases. In the first phase, from July to October, it will be implemented across national education boards such as CBSE. In the second phase, it will be made available to state education boards.

Publication: Livemint

The company has denied such allegation saying “performance management is a normal process” for the industry including Cognizant. Similarly, IBM reportedly laid off some employees in India as part of its global employee pyramid optimisation. Not only global IT firms, even the top management of domestic companies including Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Wipro have commented on involuntary attrition as part of appraisal methods.

Publication: Business Standard

Time spent with PCs, laptops, and smartphones indoors has increased significantly, leading to an upsurge in gaming across PCs, notebooks, consoles and smartphones. With the thrilling experiences that gaming offers, even casual gamers are spending more time playing,” Terry Makedon, Senior Director of AMD Software Strategy, told DH in an email interview. All leading OEMs like HP, Dell, Lenovo, Acer, Asus and MSI have released powerful system configurations in the Indian market to cater to the gaming appetite across different price segments,” he added.

Publication: Deccan Herald 

India’s top IT services exporters—Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys and Wipro—are likely to strengthen their acquisition business models in line with global trends going forward. Many overseas firms having put projects at captive global information centres (GICs) on hold due to the pandemic and Indian IT service companies may smell an opportunity here—acquire some of these captive GICs or smaller firms since valuations have dropped considerably. According to a research note by apex IT industry body Nasscom, though the IT sector globally has shown some resilience, there has been a drop in valuation of many companies, presenting acquisition opportunities.

Publication: The New Indian Express 

Anmol Eknath, a senior manager at a Bengaluru-based MNC, feels he has been more productive since the Covid-19 pandemic forced him to work from home (WFH). “Productivity has definitely improved,” he told ThePrint. “WFH has led to less commute and more focus on the job at hand. The time that is wasted on office politics and gossip has come down.”  But it has not exactly been a breeze for Sneha Mahadevan, a mother-of-two who works with a Bengaluru-based IT giant located in Electronic City.

Publication: The Print 

With schools and colleges taking to online classes, students are firing up demand for pre-owned and refurbished phones, tablets and laptops, given that the prices of new gadgets have been rising, during the lockdown. Pre-owned smartphone seller Cashify has seen a 40% increase in orders. Mandeep Singh, founder, of the company said, “Online classes have been happening for over 3 months and students want to buy smartphones where they can watch uninterrupted video lessons for over 3-4 hours at a stretch.”

Publication: Gadgets Now 

The Asus TUF Gaming A15 is targeted at gamers with entry-level budgets, but that doesn’t mean there’s anything ordinary about it. This model is the first laptop we’re reviewing with a 4000-series AMD Ryzen Mobile processor, which definitely helps to set it apart in the market. AMD has promised that this generation can easily hold its own despite Intel’s virtual monopoly in the laptop market. We’ll be paying attention to this, but there’s also a lot more to take into account.

Publication: Gadgets 360 

A common grouse with users of Windows 10 are the constant updates. The notifications keep piling up, and it is impossible ignore those pop-ups asking for users to restart and install the software patch to keep their systems up to date. However, the business-focussed versions of the popular operating system have let users avoid major updates for up to a year, which is helpful for those who want a stable interface or are simply reluctant to change.

Publication: The Economic Times 

Microsoft has detailed what it means with ‘Optimised for Xbox Series X’. As the name would suggest, this will be an indicator to gamers that a particular game has been specifically optimised to make the most of Microsoft’s upcoming next-generation console.  Here at Xbox, we’re building the future of gaming by putting players first, ensuring that you are at the center and in control of your gaming experience. Whether you’re exploring an expansive library of Xbox Game Pass titles with more than 10 million of your fellow gamers or taking your gaming on the go with Project xCloud, it’s clear that the future of gaming is brighter than ever.

Publication: Digit

Big Achievement of  OF the present dispensation at the Centre has been to give a thrust to digital India. It was able to push the IAM trinity and make financial inclusion possible for millions. Now, Nandan Nilekani, the architect ofAadhaar, believes it is time to shift focus. Speaking at an event, on the fifth anniversary of digital India initiative, Nilekani said that the focus needs to shift to artificial intelligence (AI) and improving the ease of doing business. He believes that the amount of data we shall generate over the next few years, given the shift to online, warrants India adopt AI.

Publication: Financial Express 

Jio Platforms, a subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), has raised INR 1,894.50 crore from Intel Capital. Intel Capital, the investment arm of chipmaker Intel Corp, is making the investment for a 0.39 per cent stake in Jio Platforms.

Publication: The Hindu BusinessLine 

AMD has confirmed their plan to launch its leaked Ryzen 9 3900XT, RYzen 7 3800XT, and Ryzen 5 3600XT. This will be the successors of the Ryzen 9 3900XT, Ryzen 7 3800X, and Ryzen 5 3600X serues at the same prices

Publication: IT Voice