New research from the University of Birmingham indicates that regularly eating foods high in flavanols, such as tea, berries, apples, and cocoa, may help support vascular health in men during extended periods of sitting. Sitting for long stretches is a common part of modern life. Young adults are estimated to spend around six hours per […]
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Amazon has already invested $3.7 billion in India between 2016 and 2022. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
E-commerce giant Amazon plans to make a mega investment of $35 billion — more than ₹ 3.14 lakh crore — in India by 2030 across its businesses with a focus on AI-driven digitisation, export growth and job creation, a senior company official said on Wednesday (December 10, 2025).
Making the announcement during the Amazon Smbhav Summit, Senior V.P. Emerging Markets, Amit Agarwal, said the company has set a target to quadruple exports from India to $80 billion from about $20 billion it has facilitated as of now and create an additional one million direct, indirect, induced and seasonal jobs by 2030.
“Amazon to date has invested $40 billion in India since 2010. Now we will invest another $35 billion by 2030 across all our businesses in India,” Mr. Agarwal said.
Amazon’s investment plan is twice that of Microsoft’s investment plan of $17.5 billion and close to 2.3 times that of Google’s $15 billion investment plan by 2030.
“Amazon is the largest foreign investor in India, according to a Keystone report compiled from publicly available data,” said Mr. Agarwal said.
Also Read | GST simplification will do good for sellers and buyers, says Amazon Country Manager
In May 2023, Amazon announced plans to invest $12.7 billion in India by 2030 into its local cloud and AI infrastructure across Telangana and Maharashtra. The company has already invested $3.7 billion in India between 2016 and 2022.
Mr. Agarwal said that the company has invested at scale towards building physical and digital infrastructure, including fulfilment centres, transportation networks, data centres, digital payments infrastructure and technology development.
According to the Keystone report, Amazon has digitised over 12 million small businesses and enabled $20 billion in cumulative e-commerce exports, while supporting approximately 2.8 million direct, indirect, induced and seasonal jobs across industries in India in 2024.
To push export growth from India, Amazon launched a manufacturing-focused initiative, “Accelerate Exports”, designed to connect digital entrepreneurs with trusted manufacturers while enabling manufacturers to become successful global sellers.
As part of the program, Amazon will host on-ground onboarding drives in over 10 manufacturing clusters across India, including Tirupur, Kanpur and Surat.
At the Smbhav Summit, Amazon announced a key partnership with the Apparel Export Promotion Council of India to expand and scale the programme nationwide.
Published – December 10, 2025 11:25 am IST
FILE PHOTO: Google has launched a subscription plan called Google AI Plus in India for users to be able to access their latest AI tools at an accessible price.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Google has launched a subscription plan called Google AI Plus in India for users to be able to access their latest AI tools at an accessible price. Available for Rs. 399 per month from today, new subscribers can avail the plan for Rs. 199 for the first six months.
Users will get greater access to Gemini 3 Pro, Google’s most advanced AI model along with extended usage of the latest version of their image generation model, Nano Banana Pro via the Gemini app.
The plan also includes expanded access to NotebookLM for deeper analysis and research reports, video generation on the Gemini app with tools like Flow, Gemini-infused versions of Google apps like Gmail and Docs.
Users will also get 200 GB of storage across Photos, Drive and Gmail.
Google AI Plus can also be shared with up to five family members.
Published – December 10, 2025 01:16 pm IST
Hospitals are seeing a striking rise in people with sudden bouts of intense vomiting linked to long-term cannabis use, a condition now formally classified as cannabis hyperemesis syndrome. With the new medical code, doctors and researchers can better track how often it occurs and how it develops. Many patients are surprised to learn cannabis may […]
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Lava is back and this time, it isn’t playing safe. The brand has returned with the Agni 4, the successor to last year’s Agni 3, which made headlines for its quirky secondary display. While it still proudly carries the Made in India badge, the Agni 4 takes a very different path in design and identity, choosing to stand apart rather than build on its predecessor’s character. Starting at ₹24,999, it lands straight into the most unforgiving battleground of mid-range smartphones, competing with the OnePlus Nord CE 5, Motorola Edge 60 Fusion, and Motorola Edge 60 Stylus. The question is simple: does Lava’s new challenger have the firepower to stand out? Let’s find out.
The Agni 4 marks a complete departure from the design language of the Agni 3. Gone is the experimental dual-display approach. Instead, Lava has leaned into craftsmanship and material quality. The phone features a precision-engineered aluminium alloy metal frame, something you usually see in phones priced above ₹50,000. It instantly elevates the in-hand feel with a sturdy yet premium character. The Matte AG Glass back (in Phantom Black and Lunar Mist White) looks elegant, though the Lunar Mist variant is slippery and demands a case. At 195g, the Agni 4 feels slightly heavy but settles nicely in the palm due to its balanced weight distribution.
Flip it around, and the front oozes refinement thanks to its ultra-slim 1.7 mm equilateral bezels. It creates a clean, symmetrical look, something even the Nord CE 5 doesn’t fully achieve with its slightly larger chin. Buttons feel crisp, and the new customisable Action Key is a clever addition that lets you map over 100 shortcuts (torch, camera, apps, DND, you name it). As feature-rich as this sounds, the IP64 rating is a letdown. When phones like the Edge 60 Fusion and 60 Stylus offer IP68, Lava’s lower rating feels dated and unsafe in a segment where dust and splash protection is increasingly standard.
The Agni 4’s durability story doesn’t end there, though. The phone includes Corning Gorilla Glass and Lava’s own anti-drop diamond frame structure, which boosts resistance against accidental falls. Wet Touch Control, a feature shared with Motorola’s devices, keeps the display responsive even with damp fingers. While the Agni 4 certainly nails the premium construction vibe, it lacks the more practical flourishes of the Edge 60 Stylus (like the headphone jack and stylus slot) and the superior protection of the Nord CE 5. Still, in terms of sheer metal craftsmanship, it outclasses most competitors in this bracket.
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The Agni 4 packs a 6.67-inch 1.5K+ AMOLED panel with a 120 Hz refresh rate, 10-bit colour, 446 PPI, and a massive 2,400 nits peak brightness. It’s a stunning display on paper, and largely impressive in real-world use. Colours pop, the contrast is strong, and the high brightness ensures excellent visibility even outdoors. Scrolling feels smooth thanks to the 120 Hz panel, and HDR content on apps like YouTube looks punchy and immersive.
That said, the competition is fierce. The Motorola Edge 60 Fusion pushes brightness to 4,500 nits and offers HDR10+ certification, clearly delivering a superior multimedia experience. The Nord CE 5, while only FHD+, counters with an extremely fluid Super Fluid AMOLED and excellent outdoor visibility at 1,430 nits. The Edge 60 Stylus, too, offers a slightly higher peak brightness at 3,000 nits. So while the Agni 4’s display is bright and sharp, it doesn’t quite dominate the segment, but it comfortably holds its ground as one of the better 1.5K panels under 25K.
Where Lava swings big is software. The Agni 4 ships with stock Android 15, free of bloatware, pop-ups, or duplicate apps, something Motorola fans will appreciate immediately. But the real head-turner is Vayu AI, Lava’s new “emotionally responsive” AI companion that sits right on the home screen. Unlike Google Gemini or Moto AI’s functional approach, Vayu tries to add personality and warmth. It responds playfully, controls system functions through voice, and acts as a bridge to a growing AI ecosystem.
It gets better. The phone includes Expert AI Agents tailored for real Indian needs: an AI Math Teacher, AI English Tutor, emotional companions, Horoscope AI, a call summary tool, a rewriting assistant, an AI photo editor, and even a text-to-image generator. Features like Circle-to-Search and visual intelligence are baked in on the system level. Compared to the Edge 60 Fusion’s more minimal Moto AI or the Nord CE 5’s Gemini-assisted tools, Lava’s ecosystem is much more ambitious. Whether that ambition translates into consistent real-world reliability is something long-term users will judge, but in terms of sheer feature depth, Agni 4 is the most AI-forward device in its class.
Powering the Agni 4 is the MediaTek Dimensity 8350 5G, built on a 4nm process and clocked at up to 3.35 GHz. Paired with 8 GB RAM + 4GB virtual RAM and 256 GB UFS 4.0 storage, the phone feels snappy in daily use; app switching is smooth, animations rarely drop frames, and multitasking is fluid. On Geekbench, the phone scores 1,436 (single-core) and 4,366 (multi-core), while the GPU hits 9,557. These are strong numbers for this category.
But let’s talk about competition.
The OnePlus Nord CE 5 uses the Dimensity 8350 Apex, a slightly tweaked version of this chip, and posts marginally lower scores (1,312 / 4,073 / 7,302). In everyday use, the difference is hard to notice, but in bursts of heavy tasks, the Agni 4 does feel faster. Meanwhile, the Edge 60 Fusion runs a Dimensity 7400, which is weaker in CPU and GPU tests, and the Edge 60 Stylus’ Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 also trails behind.
Gaming is surprisingly stable on the Agni 4. Titles like CODM and BGMI run at high frame rates with minimal stutter, aided by the 4300 mm² VC cooling system and Game Booster Mode. The phone stays warm but never uncomfortably hot, even after long sessions. Thanks to UFS 4.0 storage, faster than what the Nord CE 5 and Motorola rivals use, loading times are noticeably snappier. Overall, Agni 4 delivers one of the smoothest performance packages in this segment.
Unfortunately, this is where the Agni 4 fails to keep up.
Lava Agni 4 camera sample
| Photo Credit:
Haider Ali Khan
On paper, the camera system looks competitive: a 50 MP OIS main sensor, 8 MP ultra-wide, and a 50 MP EIS selfie camera with 4K 60fps support on both sides. But the real-world experience reveals major inconsistencies. The biggest issue is flickering, especially in challenging lighting, which makes photos look unstable and sometimes unusable. Colours swing unpredictably, skin tones often shift, and dynamic range is erratic.
Lava Agni 4 camera sample
| Photo Credit:
Haider Ali Khan
The portrait mode struggles with edge detection, frequently blurring parts of the subject or failing to apply depth correctly. The ultra-wide camera is weak, delivering soft details and skewed colours. In natural light, you do get some good shots, the sensor is capable, but the software tuning holds it back. Night photos lean heavily towards artificial brightening, losing realism and often adding noise.
Lava Agni 4 camera sample
| Photo Credit:
Haider Ali Khan
Selfies fare better, thanks to the high-resolution sensor, but EIS isn’t always consistent, and textures can look overly smoothed. When phones like the Nord CE 5 deliver consistently excellent portraits, or the Edge 60 Stylus produces vibrant night shots, the Agni 4’s camera performance feels disappointing. In a ₹25,000 phone, the camera cannot afford to be the weak link, but here, it is.
Battery life, however, is where Lava redeems itself. The Agni 4’s 5,000 mAh battery with intelligent power optimisation easily lasts a full day of active use; streaming, gaming, 5G browsing, and photography included. Lava claims 14 hours of YouTube, and it’s not far from reality. The phone also supports 66W fast charging, taking it from 0–50% in under 19 minutes.
Compared to competitors, the Agni 4 sits between the Motorola twins (68W charging) and slightly below the Nord CE 5’s 80W system, though the Nord also has a much larger 7,100 mAh battery. Practically, though, all these phones deliver reliable endurance, and the Agni 4 is no exception.
Made in India smartphones deserve appreciation, and Lava is pushing boundaries. The Lava Agni 4 gets a lot right. It has a premium aluminium build, a sharp 1.5K display, fast performance, great battery life, and arguably the most ambitious AI suite in this segment. But when placed beside the OnePlus Nord CE 5, Motorola Edge 60 Fusion, and Edge 60 Stylus, it falls short in one critical area: camera performance. The Agni 4 shows promise, and with better camera optimisation, Lava could turn this into a true category disruptor. For now, it’s a bold step forward, hoping to see it developing into a complete package as its rivals already are.
Nvidia has strongly denied that its chips have backdoors [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
Nvidia has built location verification technology that could indicate which country its chips are operating in, according to sources familiar with the matter, a move that could help prevent its artificial intelligence chips from being smuggled into countries where their export is banned.
The feature, which Nvidia has demonstrated privately in recent months but has not yet released, would be an optional software update that customers could install. It would tap into what are known as the confidential computing capabilities of its graphics processing units (GPUs), the sources said.
The software was built to allow customers to track a chip’s overall computing performance, a common practice among companies that buy fleets of processors for large data centres, and would use the time delay in communicating with servers run by Nvidia to give a sense of the chip’s location on par with what other internet-based services can provide, according to an Nvidia official.
“We’re in the process of implementing a new software service that empowers data center operators to monitor the health and inventory of their entire AI GPU fleet,” Nvidia said in a statement. “This customer-installed software agent leverages GPU telemetry to monitor fleet health, integrity and inventory.”
The feature will first be made available on Nvidia’s latest “Blackwell” chips, which have more security features for a process called “attestation” than Nvidia’s previous generations of Hopper and Ampere semiconductors, but Nvidia is examining options for those prior generations, according to the Nvidia official.
If released, Nvidia’s location update could address calls from the White House and lawmakers from both major political parties in the U.S. Congress for measures to prevent smuggling AI chips to China and other countries where their sale is restricted. Those calls have intensified as the Department of Justice has brought criminal cases against China-connected smuggling rings that were allegedly attempting to bring more than $160 million worth of Nvidia chips to China.
But the calls for location verification in the U.S. have also led China’s top cybersecurity regulator to call Nvidia in for questioning about whether its products contain backdoors that would allow the U.S. to bypass its chips’ security features.
That regulatory cloud came to the fore again this week, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would allow exports of the Nvidia H200, the most immediate predecessor to its current flagship Blackwell chips, to China. Foreign policy experts expressed skepticism about whether China would allow companies there to purchase them.
Nvidia has strongly denied that its chips have backdoors. Software experts have said that it would be possible for Nvidia to build chip location verification without compromising the security of its offerings.
Published – December 10, 2025 02:22 pm IST
Google Photos was previously seen as a photo and video storage app but is developing new features [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
Android users can now use Google Photos in order to create highlight videos with perfectly-synced music and media, meaning users can create social media-ready reels without relying on a separate editing app.
While Google Photos was previously seen as a photo and video storage app, the new features make it easier for content creators to turn their videos into polished Reels, highlight videos, and vlogs, without a third-party tool.
In addition to this, new video templates give Android users the ability to choose pre-set formats with built-in music, custom text, and cuts that are synced already, so they can simply pick which photos and videos they want to include.
Users can access Google Photos’ music library and pick a suitable soundtrack for their highlight video on Android.
Google noted in a blog post that users can also add custom text to their videos, apart from using the redesigned editor to make quick and easy edits to individual video clips.
Published – December 10, 2025 02:49 pm IST
Apple previewed its 5th retail store in India, opens Dec 11 for public
| Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
Apple on Wednesday (December 10, 2025) previewed its 5th retail store in India, Apple Noida, based at DLF Mall of India. This is going to be the second retail store of the iPhone-maker in Delhi NCR with Apple Saket being the first.
The U.S. based tech giant is also expected to open its 6th and the second store in Mumbai in the early 2026.
Apple Noida will go live for public on December 11 onwards where they can experience and buy Apple products ranging from the latest iPhone 17 series to Macbooks, AirPods, Watches and accessories. They can also get tips from the 80-member team of Apple representatives at the store about their devices.
For those shopping on the Apple online store can pick up their devices from the store. Customers can also order directly from any store location across the country.
Apple has been having great consecutive growth and quarters in India. As per Counterpoint Research, Apple achieved highest value growth of 28% during the Q3 2025 in India with consistent demand for iPhone 15 and 16 series and iPhone 17 series.
Simultaneously, Apple entered into the top five smartphone brands in India by volume in Q3 2025 with a 9% share. The research firm noted that India has become the third-largest iPhone market for Apple.
Similarly, IDC stated that Apple, for the first time, entered in top five smartphone brands in India with 9.7% share during the H1 2025, and became the fastest-growing brand with nearly 35% year-over-year (YoY) growth.
Published – December 10, 2025 01:45 pm IST
FILE PHOTO: OpenAI, Anthropic and Block have come together to form a new group under the Linux Foundation called the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) to design standards for agentic AI systems.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
OpenAI, Anthropic and fintech firm Block have come together to form a new group under the Linux Foundation called the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) to design standards for agentic AI systems. Other members that have donated to the AAIF include Google, Microsoft, AWS, Bloomberg, and Cloudflare.
While OpenAI is adding AGENTS.md, a simple, open format with project-specific instructions for agents that can be in the repository, Anthropic is bringing Model Context Protocol or MCP, a standard for connecting AI apps and Block is contributing its open-source agent framework, Goose.
All these tools were already freely available but now developers will be able to contribute to build on them as well.
“As more agents begin handling real responsibility, the cost of fragmentation increases. Without common conventions and neutral governance, agent development risks diverging into incompatible silos that limit portability, safety, and progress,” a blog posted by OpenAI stated.
The AAIF will act as a “neutral home” where agent interoperability rules can be governed, discussed and changed to help benefit developers, enterprises and the open-source community.
The Linux Foundation is a non-profit entity that already guides open-source projects including the Linux operating system.
Published – December 10, 2025 12:18 pm IST
The report noted that worldwide foldable smartphone shipments are forecast to grow 10% year-on-year (YoY) in 2025 to reach 20.6 million units [File]
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
Consumer interest in foldable phones is set to significantly grow next year as Samsung is expected to debut a tri-fold phone and Apple is rumoured to be working on its first foldable iPhone, according to a report from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker.
The report noted that worldwide foldable smartphone shipments are forecast to grow 10% year-on-year (YoY) in 2025 to reach 20.6 million units.
In addition to this, the foldable phone category is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17% through 2029. This rate is less than 1% for the traditional smartphone segment, with IDC noting that consumers are keeping their phones longer and replacing them less frequently than before.
In a less active gadgets market environment such as this one, innovative handsets—like foldables—have the potential to spark customers’ interest and push them to consider a premium smartphone.
If Apple releases a new iPhone in 2026, this too could drive a surge in users buying foldable phones.
“Next year will prove exciting for the foldable category with multiple launches pushing the market to 30% YoY growth from just 6% in the prior forecast. Samsung will kick start 2026 with the Galaxy Z Trifold, introducing tri-fold innovation to mainstream global consumers, building off the momentum of the successful Galaxy Z Fold7 in 2025. Huawei’s foldables running on HarmonyOS Next will also see strong growth, with shipments expected to almost double in 2026,” said Nabila Popal, senior research director with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, adding that the real game-changer would be when Apple enters the foldable space.
According to IDC, the iPhone-maker is projected to capture over 22% unit share and 34% of the foldables market value in its first year.
Published – December 10, 2025 12:22 pm IST