The Tech Weekender: Elon Musk's 'bogus' COVID-19 tests, Facebook's disappearing messages and the return of PUBG in India

PUBG Corporation is making a big push to bring PUBG Mobile back after it was banned by the Government of India. The developers announced that the new game would be launched under the name PUBG Mobile India. PUBG Corporation stated there will be regular audits and verifications on the storage systems that store the personal information of Indian users in order to make sure that the data is kept safe. The PUBG Corporation and parent company Krafton are planning to make investments to the tune of $100 million in India to “cultivate the local video game, e-sports, entertainment, and IT industries”. Click here for more details.

Apple has launched two new MacBook models, namely the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, at the One More Thing Apple event. The new chip, Apple claims, is the fastest chip it has ever built. All the new M1-powered Macs are coming to India and will be available on sale starting November 17. What is the price of the new MacBook Air? This, along with the Mac mini and MacBook Pro price in India, detailed here. Also, macOS Big Sur is now available for download. Click here to check if your Mac is compatible and how you can install it.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk on November 13 shared the results of his COVID-19 tests, and said "something extremely bogus is going on". In a tweet, Musk said he tested positive on two rapid antigen tests, but tested negative on two other tests. In a later tweet, Musk said he had symptoms of a typical cold, and "nothing unusual so far". Click here to know more.

Google Photos said it is discontinuing unlimited free storage for users from June 1, 2021. "Starting June 1, 2021, any new photos and videos you upload will count toward the free 15 GB of storage that comes with every Google Account or the additional storage you’ve purchased as a Google One member. Your Google Account storage is shared across Drive, Gmail, and Photos,” Vice President Shimrit Ben-Yair said. Any existing high-quality photos or videos uploaded before June 1, 2021, will be considered free and will not count toward the 15 GB of free storage limit. Click here for more details.

Facebook recently announced that it would be rolling out a new Snapchat-like feature into its messaging app. The new feature called Vanish Mode is being introduced on the messaging apps on Facebook and Instagram. The new Vanish Mode will allow users to send texts, photos, voice messages, emoji, and stickers that will disappear after they’ve been seen by other parties and when they leave the chat window. To know how Vanish Mode works, click here.

The Indian PC market has recorded tremendous growth in the third quarter of 2020. The coronavirus pandemic has forced several people around the country to work from home, forcing employees to upgrade their systems. According to the analysis from the International Data Corporation (IDC), a total of 3.4 million PCs were shipped in Q3, 2020, up 9.2 percent year-on-year (YoY). These PC units include notebooks, workstations, and desktops. Click here for more details. On the smartphone front, Apple iPhone 11 has emerged as the most shipped smartphone worldwide in Q3, 2020. According to Canalys, iPhone 11 sales in Q3, 2020 surpassed 1.6 crore globally, followed by the iPhone SE (2020), which also reached the one crore milestone. Click here for more details.

According to research conducted by NortonLifeLock and the IMDEA Software Institute in Madrid, 67.2 percent of the malicious apps on Android phones came from the Play Store. However, this was primarily down to the enormous volume of downloads from the Play Store as compared to other sources. The report also added that Google’s defences work for the most part. The research titled ‘How Did That Get In My Phone? Unwanted App Distribution on Android Devices’ recorded data from 7.9 million apps from 12 million Android devices over a period of four months during June and September 2019. The research found that 87.2-percent of total app downloads on Android came from the Play Store. More details here.