Technology

Windows 11 SE has been released as Microsoft’s latest attempt to take on Google’s Chrome OS. The new Windows operating system is meant for entry-level laptops — targeted at students and educators. It is also optimised for Microsoft apps including the Office suite and Edge browser. Users can, however, also get third-party apps including Zoom and Chrome. Alongside Windows 11 SE, Microsoft has launched the Surface Laptop SE as its answer to Chrome OS-based Chromebooks. This new machine runs on Windows 11 SE out-of-the-box and is specifically designed for school students.

Windows 11 SE features

Microsoft has brought Windows 11 SE as a stripped down version of Windows 11 to work on entry-level devices. It is touted to bring a “distraction-free” environment for students where they are not allowed to install any third-party apps on their own. Windows 11 SE also doesn’t include Microsoft Store for downloading any new apps. Nevertheless, IT admins can choose to have certain third-party apps. Chrome and Zoom are among the initial apps available for Windows 11 SE, though Microsoft is yet to detail all its supported apps.

In addition to the lack of Microsoft Store, Windows 11 SE doesn’t have the Snap Layouts interface that is available on the regular Windows 11 release. The Widgets section is also missing on the new Windows version.

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Microsoft says that it has designed Windows 11 SE after taking feedback from teachers and school IT admins. This means that the new operating system may not be useful for all use cases.

IT admins can control the experience on Windows 11 SE using cloud-based mobile device management service Intune for Education or Intune. The operating system also comes preloaded with Microsoft Edge to let users access Web-based apps and websites.

Microsoft Office apps including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, and OneDrive are also available for offline usage on Windows 11 SE devices. Further, Microsoft has promised to expand third-party app support on the new platform over time to include apps coming from categories such as common test taking, accessibility, content filtering, classroom orchestration.

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On the part of its interface, Windows 11 SE gives a similar look and feel that you get on Windows 11. There is a centrally-aligned Start menu button and the refreshed taskbar. The operating system is also claimed to help deliver a better battery life by using less hardware resources.

Windows 11 SE is not available for all device configurations and is available only for machines with 4GB or 8GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of storage, as per the details available on an FAQ page. Users who are on Windows 11 SE are also not provided with a native way to move to the standard Windows 11 or Windows 10. Although IT admins can install a Windows operating system on a Windows 11 SE device, the device in this case will no longer be able to move back to Windows 11 SE.

Importantly, Windows 11 SE isn’t the first attempt by Microsoft to take on Chrome OS as it took similar steps in the past as well. The most recent one was the launch of Windows 10 S in 2017 that later transformed into the S Mode on the regular Windows 10. The Redmond company has, however, not yet been able to attract a large number of students and teachers to opt for its solutions over Chrome OS.

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Surface Laptop SE price, availability

Surface Laptop SE price starts at $249 (roughly Rs. 18,500) for the base 4GB RAM + 64GB storage configuration. The laptop also comes in an 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant that is priced at $329 (roughly Rs. 24,400), reports The Verge. Both options will be available through education channels in the US, UK, Canada, and Japan starting early 2022.

Aside from the Surface Laptop SE, PC manufacturers including Acer, ASUS, Dell, Dynabook, Fujitsu, HP, JP-IK, Lenovo, and Positivo are bringing their Windows 11 SE models later this year and into 2022.

Surface Laptop SE specifications

The Surface Laptop SE runs on Windows 11 SE out-of-the-box and features an 11.6-inch display with a 1,366×768 pixels resolution that brings a 16:9 aspect ratio. The laptop is powered by an Intel Celeron N4020 or N4120 processor, along with Intel UHD Graphics 600, 4GB or 8GB of RAM, and 64GB or 128GB of eMMC storage. It comes with a 720p webcam for video chats.

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Connectivity-wise, the Surface Laptop SE houses a single USB-A port — alongside a USB Type-C port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The laptop also has stereo speakers and is rated to deliver up to 16 hours of battery life on a single charge.

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Windows 11 has been unveiled, but do you need it? We discussed this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the US House of Representatives has introduced a bill that would require internet platforms like Meta’s Facebook and Alphabet’s Google to allow users to see content not chosen by algorithms.

The legislation, introduced by Representatives Ken Buck, a Republican, and David Cicilline, a Democrat, and others, would require big internet platforms to show consumers information not directed to them via algorithms, putting them outside what the lawmakers called the “filter bubble.”

Cicilline is chair of the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, and Buck is the top Republican. The panel wrote a big report unveiled last year that sharply criticized big tech companies, including Amazon and Apple.

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The House measure is a companion to a bill introduced in the Senate in June. That one is also bipartisan.

“Consumers should have the option to engage with internet platforms without being manipulated by secret algorithms driven by user-specific data,” Buck said in a statement.

There is also a raft of antitrust legislation aimed at the big tech platforms.

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Most recently, Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, and Republican Tom Cotton introduced a bill that would make it easier for the government to stop deals it believes break antitrust law. It is normally up to the government to show a particular transaction would cause prices to rise or is illegal for other reasons.

© Thomson Reuters 2021

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Is JioPhone Next the 4G phone for everyone that Reliance promises? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Rivian, an American automaker specializing in electric pickup trucks, sport utility vehicles and vans, announced Tuesday it had raised $11.9 billion (roughly Rs. 88,250 crores) in its Wall Street debut.

Backed by Amazon and Detroit automaker Ford, Rivian set its IPO price at $78 (roughly Rs. 5,800) per share, according to a press release, and will issue 153 million new shares on Wednesday, up from the 135 million initially planned, due to high demand from investors.

This represents a valuation of $67.9 billion (roughly Rs. 5,04,072 crore) if stock options and other convertible shares are not taken into account.

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The amount is well above what the company expected in early November when it proposed a range of between $57 (roughly Rs. 4,200) and $62 (roughly Rs. 4,600) per share.

Though the start-up has just taken its first vehicles off the assembly line, it is worth almost as much as Ford, which has a valuation of $80 billion (roughly Rs. 5,93,910 crore) and close to the $85 billion (roughly Rs. 6,31,132 crore) valuation of General Motors, guaranteeing it a splashy entry on the Nasdaq with the ticker symbol RIVN.

It announced its intention to go public in August and delivered its first pickup, the R1T, in September, with plans to debut its R1S SUV in December.

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As of late October, it had an order backlog of 55,400 R1Ts and R1Ss that it expects to deliver by the end of 2023. Prices for the electric trucks and sport utility vehicles start from around $70,000 (roughly Rs. 51.98 lakh).

Rivian also plans to deliver 100,000 vans to Amazon by 2030. The e-commerce giant has a stake of $3.8 billion (roughly Rs. 28,219 crore) in Rivian’s preferable stock.

The company is taking advantage of investor enthusiasm for the electric vehicle sector, where star performer Tesla recently surpassed $1 trillion (roughly Rs. 74,26,236 crore) market capitalization.

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The next Tesla? Rivian was founded in 2009 by Robert Scaringe, a car enthusiast, who, after graduating from college, wanted to focus on less polluting forms of transportation rather than the traditional automobile.

After initially considering developing a sports car, he shifted towards larger vehicles in 2012.

The company’s backers often view it as the new Tesla, but Edmunds executive director of insights Jessica Caldwell said the comparison is not necessarily warranted.

While Tesla released its first car “when no one else really cared about electric vehicles,” Rivian “is coming out in a market that is more saturated,” Caldwell told AFP.

“They’re not going to catch anyone by surprise,” she added.

Ford has announced a $30 billion (roughly Rs. 2,22,794 crore) investment in electric vehicle production in a bid to position itself to lead the United States’ shift away from climate-damaging fossil fuels

The company said it will build four new plants to produce electric vehicles and batteries that will create 11,000 new jobs by 2025, and Caldwell noted it will debut a new, cheaper electric pickup model in the coming months, the F150 Lightning.

Start-ups like Faraday and Fisker are also developing their own electric SUVs.

But considering the soaring success that is the Elon Musk-helmed Tesla, Caldwell conceded that traders can justify their enthusiasm for the latest electric vehicle maker on Wall Street.

“All the investors kind of want to be a part of the next company that could show as much value as Tesla and some people think that Rivian is that company,” she said.

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Is JioPhone Next the 4G phone for everyone that Reliance promises? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter has soared through the Red Planet’s skies for the 15th time. The chopper, which arrived on Mars attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover, landed within the targeted zone on the Martian surface, said NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which manages the Ingenuity mission. Initially, when NASA was making the chopper, the agency was not sure whether it would be able to fly at all on the cold Mars. It had originally planned for only five flights in total. In a tweet, JPL said Ingenuity flew for 128.8 seconds and “opportunistically took” some images of interest to scientists.

The officials were still processing the images and other data. Once that is processed, it would be clear what distance the chopper covered during its 15th flight.

Ingenuity was designed to fly for up to 90 seconds and travel for almost 980 feet (300m) at a time. It can gain about 10–15 feet (3–4.5 metres) altitude. The rotorcraft flies on its own, with minimal commands from Earth sent in advance, according to NASA.

After being launched from the Earth in July 2020, Ingenuity and Perseverance landed on Mars on February 18 this year, in the targeted zone in the Jezero Crater, a dried-up bed of an ancient lake. According to scientists, the lake may have hosted an ecosystem of Martian microbes over 3.5 billion years ago. They hope the crater may still have deposits that may throw light on the life that once possibly existed there.

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Ingenuity lifted off Mars’ surface for the first time on April 19 and successfully completed a controlled flight.

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Is JioPhone Next the 4G phone for everyone that Reliance promises? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Fitbit is rolling out new updates for its app and wearables. The Google-owned company is adding a new health metric called the Daily Readiness Score on the Fitbit app for its latest smartwatches and trackers. The feature calculates users’ willingness for workouts and suggests what they should be doing on a given day based on the heart rate, sleep, and activity. The Fitbit Charge 5 fitness tracker is also getting an on-device electrocardiogram (ECG) app. Additionally, Fitbit users in India can access a new blood glucose logging tool in the Fitbit app.

Fitbit’s Daily Readiness Score was announced in August this year alongside Fitbit Charge 5. The Daily Readiness Score works based on inputs from the user’s Fitbit device. It will monitor activity, heart rate variability, and recent sleep patterns to tell users whether they should focus on recovery or do an intense workout on a given day. Users will get a personalised score each morning with details on what impacted the scores, along with suggestions such as a recommended activity level.

Daily Readiness Score is only accessible to Fitbit Premium users. It is available for Fitbit Charge 5, Sense, Fitbit Versa 3, Fitbit Versa 2, Fitbit Luxe, or Fitbit Inspire 2. However, it is important to note that the feature requires wearing the fitness band throughout the day. Fitbit Sense and Fitbit Versa 3 users will be able to access their scores directly on their wrist.

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Fitbit has also unveiled an electrocardiogram (ECG) app for Fitbit Charge 5 to help users assess heart rhythm on the wearable itself. While the ECG feature was not bundled with the wearable when it was launched in August, the company has now added it via an update. Fitbit Charge 5 users can take the reading by putting their fingers on the stainless steel panels on each side of the Charge 5 for 30 seconds.

Additionally, targeting diabetes patients in India, Fitbit has added Blood Glucose Logging as well. Premium users can check their blood glucose levels directly in the Fitbit app on Android and iOS. They will also get reminders about other health metrics such as physical activity, sleep, and nutrition. Premium Fitbit users can add this feature to the Today screen by going to the Fitbit app and clicking on Discover > Health & Fitness Stats today and adding Blood Glucose to today. Apart from India, Blood Glucose logging is live for users in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, the UK, and the US.

Fitbit said it is working on adding new Fitbit audio and video workouts for Premium members. At present, the Fitbit Premium subscription costs $9.99 (roughly Rs. 740) per month.

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