US telecom major, AT&T, is reportedly negotiating the sale of its gaming division, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE), with a number of prominent video game studios and publishers. According to unnamed sources quoted by CNBC, the deal could fetch around $4 billion (Rs. 30,000 crore). Take-Two Interactive, EA and Activision Blizzard are some of the notable companies said to be in negotiations with AT&T.

WBIE holds the copyright over a number of popular game franchises, including ‘Harry Potter’, ‘Game of Thrones‘, ‘The Lego Movie’ and more. The unit also owns other popular gaming franchises, like ‘Mortal Kombat‘ and ‘Scribblenauts’. The report says that AT&T is looking to structure the deal in a way that will still earn it some royalty payments for these titles.

None of the companies responded when contacted by CNBC for comments. However, sources quoted by the report suggest that it is only a matter of time before the deal is done. According to the report, AT&T is desperately looking to divest its assets to service its massive debt of almost $200 billion. What that means is that we should hear something official on this matter sooner rather than later.

AT&T acquired Time Warner in 2018 for a reported $85 billion in spite of antitrust concerns. The merger combined one of the largest telecom operators in the country with a major entertainment brand that owned properties such as, Warner Bros. and HBO. However, that deal, and an earlier acquisition of DirecTV, increased AT&T’s debt. Which is why, the company is now looking for ways to cut costs and sell off its assets.

Today’s smartphones have become quite advanced when compared with devices of the early 2010s. However, no matter how powerful a smartphone is, it cannot compete with the power of a high-end computer. Now, what if I told you that it might change soon in the future and smartphones would possess the power of a super-computer? Sounds crazy, right?

Well, according to a recent paper, researchers at MIT have developed a new type of artificial brain synapse that can be combined in bulk on a really tiny chip. According to the researchers, this tech could lead to small, power-efficient, and super-powerful chips for portable devices, such as smartphones. These smartphones will be able to grind on complex AI computing locally, without needing to connect to a data center.

A Transistor with “Memories”

The researchers are calling it “memristors” as, apparently, it is like a transistor, but with the ability to “remember”. Traditional transistors, that serves as the brain of the modern chips, can change between two states, 0 and 1. “Memristors”, on the other hand, can handle an array of values, much like a human brain.

Now, the team was able to achieve the feat by using a concept of metallurgy in designing computer chips. Metallurgists, oftentimes, need to change the properties of metals. That is why they create, what are called “alloys” which possesses properties of multiple metal elements.

So, the MIT researchers used this concept and combined the silver, which is in the memristor’s positive electrode, with another element. This creates a chip that is able to transfer ions, consistently and reliably, through a very narrow conduction channel. This is how they were able to develop a chip with numerous “memristors”.

Now, the project is still in its very early stages. However, the team of researchers is pretty positive that their “memristors” could power hand-held devices capable of handling complex tasks that are similar to the tasks which present super-computers handle.

Since the rise of the Coronavirus-led lockdowns, video conferencing saw a huge increase in usage as people started to work from their homes. However, getting a decent picture quality during a video call is out of the question as most laptops come with pretty basic (and inferior) cameras. In light of the situation, major camera companies are now helping people use the DSLR and mirrorless cameras as webcams to get a high-quality picture during their video calls. We saw Canon taking the necessary steps. Now, Panasonic stepped up and pushed an update to its Lumix Tether app that allows a user to use a Panasonic mirrorless camera as a webcam.

Now, the Lumix Tether app is still in its beta form. It is basically a software that helps users stream the live feed of the camera (with some on-screen elements) on a laptop or a desktop. However, with a recent update, Panasonic gave support to use the cameras in video conferencing platforms like Zoom or Skype.

It works by connecting the camera to a laptop or a desktop via a USB cable. Users can then remove the on-screen elements like the focus box and the control buttons to feed just the video to an app like Open Broadcaster Software (OBS). Then you can transfer the video stream to any video-conferencing app of your choice. You can watch the video below to get more details on how to set up your Panasonic camera as a webcam.

Now, unlike Canon’s software, the Lumix Tether app is currently only available for the Windows platform. So, Mac users with a Panasonic mirrorless camera will still have to rely on their FaceTime cameras.

Reliance Jio is believed to be working on a new sign-in system as part of its efforts to create a secure digital authentication and authorization system. Called ‘Jio SecureID‘, the new service is expected to let users log into apps and websites using a single identity. The service will be similar to Sign-in with Apple and Google Sign-in. However, Jio is apparently taking it a step further by adding Aadhaar verification to the mix.

Reports suggest that the upcoming service is currently being tested by Reliance employees. It should, however, be rolled out universally in the coming months. A report from NDTV Gadgets earlier today seemed to suggest that the Jio SecureID website was live at some stage. However, it had been taken down by the time we checked.

Either way, the report claims that as per details published on the now-defunct site, the technology will be highly secure and respect user-privacy. The service “uses a highly secure patented technology wherein your passwords or PINs are not stored anywhere” it said. The service will use four- and six-digit PINs to authenticate transactions. While the former will be used in most cases, the latter will be used for high-value payments.

Secure sign-in services seem to be the next-big thing that many technology firms are jumping into. However, none of the existing ones from the big US companies require users to furnish their government IDs. With the cyber-security records and privacy policies of Indian digital platforms being sketchy at the best of times, it will be interesting to see how much traction this particular venture will get, going forward.