New Delhi: The 5G services, rolled out in all states and Union Territories, are presently available in 773 out of 776 districts in the country including Lakshadweep, the government informed the Parliament on Wednesday.  As on February 28, 4.69 lakh 5G Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) have been installed by the telecom service providers (TSPs) across the country, Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, told the Lok Sabha in a written reply to a question. Telecom service providers (TSPs) have expanded the 5G services across the country and have gone beyond the minimum rollout obligations, as prescribed in the Notice Inviting Application (NIA) for spectrum auction. Expansion of mobile services beyond these obligations depends on the techno-commercial consideration of the TSPs, said the minister. The government has taken several initiatives for rollout of 5G services in the country, like auction of spectrum for 5G mobile services; financial reforms to rationalise Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR), Bank Guarantees (BGs), and interest rates; and the removal of Spectrum Usage Charges for spectrum acquired in auction of 2022 and thereafter. Other initiatives include simplification of procedure for SACFA (Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocations) clearance; launch of PM GatiShakti Sanchar portal and RoW (Right of Way) Rules to streamline RoW permissions and clearance of installation of telecom infrastructure and time-bound permission for use of street furniture for installation of small cells and telecommunication line. The Indian telecom industry is experiencing remarkable growth, both domestically and internationally, and there remains immense potential for expansion, according to the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). With approximately 1,187 million subscribers, urban tele-density has reached 131.01 per cent, while rural areas stand at 58.31 per cent. The roll-out of 5G is progressing rapidly, facilitated by artificial intelligence (AI), indigenous data sets, and the establishment of localised data centres.

New Delhi: The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) has proactively identified and blocked more than 3,962 Skype IDs and 83,668 WhatsApp accounts used for Digital Arrest scams so far, the Parliament was informed on Wednesday.  The I4C under the Ministry of Home Affairs, in collaboration with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), launched a caller tune campaign for raising awareness about cybercrime and promoting the Cyber Crime Helpline Number 1930 and ‘National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal’ (NCRP). The caller tune is also being broadcasts in regional languages, delivered 7-8 times a day by telecom service providers (TSPs). The government and telecom service providers (TSPs) have also devised a system to identify and block incoming international spoofed calls displaying Indian mobile numbers appear to be originating within India. Till February 28, more than 7.81 lakhs SIM cards and 2,08,469 IMEIs as reported by police authorities have been blocked by the government, MoS in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. Directions have been issued to the TSPs for blocking of such incoming international spoofed calls. The Central government has also launched a comprehensive awareness programme on digital arrest scams. The ‘Citizen Financial Cyber Fraud Reporting and Management System’, under I4C, was launched in 2021 for immediate reporting of financial frauds and to stop siphoning off funds by the fraudsters. So far, financial amount of more than Rs. 4,386 crore has been saved in more than 13.36 lakh complaints. Efforts are also underway to use artificial intelligence (AI) for identifying mule accounts, while over 19 lakh such accounts have been caught and transactions worth Rs 2,038 crore prevented in the fight against cybercrime, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said last month. A mule account is a bank account used by criminals to transfer stolen money. The person who owns the account is called a “money mule”.

New Chinese AI Agent Manus: China is making waves in the AI race once again. Just weeks after DeepSeek grabbed headlines, another startup, Monica, has introduced its own AI agent called Manus. Now, the AI agent is being compared to top AI models from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. It stands out as an advanced agent capable of handling multiple tasks and working autonomously. Currently, the AI agent Manus is available through an invite-only web preview. It can perform practical tasks like building websites step by step. The company has shared a demo video on its official site, manus.im, and within 20 hours of launch on March 6, the AI agent had already gone viral.  Notably, the Manus was launched on March 6 and in just a few days after its launch it has managed to catch global attention. According to creators, the Manus outperforms OpenAI’s DeepResearch on the GAIA benchmark.  Chinese startup Monica just launched Manus, the world’s first general AI agent. #Manus has set new state-of-the-art (SOTA) performance across all three difficulty levels, surpassing #OpenAI’s Deep Research in the GAIA benchmark for real-world problem-solving capabilities. pic.twitter.com/eiRShk1hxq — Chengdu Hi-tech Zone (@ChengduHitech) March 7, 2025 What Is Manus?  Manus is being called the world’s first truly general AI agent. Unlike regular chatbots, it operates fully on its own, capable of thinking, planning, and completing tasks without human help. Reports suggest it can independently deliver complete results.  For example, if tasked with writing a research paper on global warming, Manus won’t just generate text. It will research sources, write the paper, create charts and interactive elements, and compile everything—without requiring additional user input.  Manus AI Features:  Works Independently  Manus runs entirely in the cloud, allowing it to continue working on assigned tasks even if the user disconnects. This makes it ideal for long-term projects, ensuring uninterrupted progress without requiring constant user supervision. Live Web Interaction  Unlike most AI models, Manus actively browses the web, interacts with websites, and displays its workflow in real-time. This transparency helps users understand how it gathers and processes information to generate accurate and relevant results. Learns and Adapts  Manus continuously learns from user interactions, refining its responses over time. It adapts to individual preferences, improving the relevance and accuracy of its outputs, making it more personalized and efficient with repeated use. Manus, the new AI product that everyone’s talking about, is worth the hype. This is the AI agent we were promised. Deep Research+Operator+Computer Use+Lovable+memory. Asked it to “Do a professional analysis of Tesla stock ” and it did ~2wks of professional-level work in ~1hr! pic.twitter.com/qipMcWPIX6 — Deedy (@deedydas) March 8, 2025 Multi-Platform Access  The AI can collect and analyze data from various platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram. This capability allows it to pull real-time insights, making it a powerful tool for research, social media monitoring, and trend analysis. Manages Multiple Screens  Manus can operate across multiple screens simultaneously, enabling seamless multitasking. Its ability to handle different tasks in parallel, as shown in its official demo, makes it highly efficient for complex workflows requiring diverse inputs. Beyond Text Generation  Manus does more than just produce text; it can create detailed reports, interactive presentations, and even code-based outputs like data visualizations and spreadsheets. This versatility makes it useful for professionals across various industries.  Manus AI Availability Manus is currently accessible through an invitation-only web preview. However, the company hasn’t announced a public release date yet, but with the growing buzz, an official launch is likely in the coming weeks. It has also stated that in the months ahead, the model will be open-sourced for developers to use in their projects.  How To Use Manus AI? Using Manus is similar to platforms like ChatGPT or Grok. You enter a prompt, such as planning a budget-friendly week-long trip to Bali, and Manus independently researches, organises the data, and provides structured, real-time results. Manus begins researching by browsing the web, gathering relevant data, and analysing information to ensure accuracy and relevance. 

New Delhi: Elon Musk on Monday said a massive cyber attack has hit his X social media platform, that disabled millions of users across the globe, including in India, from accessing the popular platform.  The X platform went down in a massive global outage as users were unable to access the micro-blogging platform. “We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved. Tracing…,” said the billionaire in a post. “There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against X,” he said, adding that it is an attempt to silence him and his platform. X, formerly Twitter, went non-operational for millions of users during the day. According to platform outage tracking platform DownDetector, the X outage peaked at around 15:00 hours A user commented: “Is Twitter down? Anyone getting the same issue? Can’t open the comments section”. “Thanks for the update. It’s unreal how badly they want to shut down free speech,” another posted. “Looks like someone really doesn’t want X to thrive. Wonder who’s behind it,” said another. DownDetector reported a huge spike, with users rushing to lodge their complaints about the social media site on other platforms like Facebook and Instagram. During the downtime, X stopped working completely while the users were unable to post tweets or even open pages on the platform. X was acquired by Musk in October 2022 for $44 billion. After the acquisition, X rarely went off the grid unlike its peers Facebook and Instagram. Recently, the tech billionaire raised prices of its top-tier subscription service (Premium+) for his X social media platform by a massive 35 per cent for both new and existing users in India, including across global markets.

New Delhi: X (formerly Twitter) users across the globe are facing difficulties in using the social media site and are reporting issues. Users from across the world –UK, United States, Canada, Italy, Malaysia, Netherlands, Australia were reported to be unable to access the microblogging app. People took to DownDetector website to lodge their problems and comments.  Downdetector is a platform that tracks websites across the globe and gives an estimate whether a website is working or not.  Users majorly complained that they were unable to see any comments, view any profiles, tweets, and others. DownDetector, showed in its chart that there were 2000 reports from India, 18,000 in the United States and 10,000 in the United Kingdom.  The company was yet to respond to the reason behind the mega outage, including India, however, it started to work for some users after facing at least outage of nearly 30-40 minute during the day. DownDetector reported that the X outage peaked at around 15:00 hours. DownDetector reported a huge spike, with users rushing to lodge their complaints about the social media site on other platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

New Delhi: Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no longer just an emerging technology; it has become a crucial factor for the growth of the IT services sector, according to a recent report by Centrum Institutional Research. The report highlighted that IT companies integrating AI into their operations and services are more likely to achieve higher productivity, faster growth, and access to larger transformation deals as businesses increase their AI investments. It said “The consensus among IT industry leaders is clear – AI is not optional, it’s an imperative”.The report mentioned that the Indian IT sector has always adapted swiftly to new technological trends, such as cloud computing and digital transformation. Now, the industry is showing similar agility in adopting AI. With a vast talent pool, Indian IT firms are rapidly upskilling their workforce to stay ahead in the AI-driven market. Companies that establish a strong AI strategy, demonstrate early success through case studies and productivity improvements, and foster a culture of innovation are expected to emerge as long-term winners. AI is proving to be a game-changer for IT firms in two key ways. First, it helps improve internal operations, making business processes more efficient. Second, it serves as a major revenue stream, allowing IT companies to offer AI-driven solutions to their clients.  The adoption of AI can lead to non-linear growth for IT service providers, meaning that more work can be handled without a proportional increase in manpower. It stated “AI can drive non-linear growth for IT services companies as more volume of work can be carried out without a commensurate increase in manpower”.On the other hand, companies that fail to embrace AI could struggle to remain competitive.  Traditional outsourcing services, which rely heavily on manual labour, may become less attractive as automated solutions offer cost-effective alternatives.Industry experts agree that AI is not just an option but a necessity for IT firms. As global businesses accelerate their AI investments, IT companies that successfully integrate AI into their offerings are likely to lead the next wave of growth in the sector. The report also outlined that investors should look for companies that have put in place a clear AI strategy, early results (case studies or productivity metrics) and a culture of innovation as those will likely emerge as long-term winners. 

Xiaomi 15 Ultra And Xiaomi 15 India Launch: Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi has introduced its latest flagship devices, the Xiaomi 15 Ultra and Xiaomi 15, at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2025. The new Xiaomi 15 series features a Leica-tuned camera and runs on HyperOS 2, built on Android 15. Notably, they are the direct follow-ups to last year’s Xiaomi 14 and Xiaomi 14 Ultra, which were highly praised for their Leica-powered optics.  Adding further, the Xiaomi 15 series also features AI tools for writing, speech recognition, image enhancement and video shooting. The company has partnered with Google to integrate Gemini directly with Xiaomi apps with access to Xiaomi Notes, Calendar, and Clock.  Xiaomi 15 will be available in three colour options: black, green, and white, while the Xiaomi 15 Ultra could launch only in a silver chrome colourway. Both the Xiaomi 15 Ultra and Xiaomi 15 are powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset. Running on Android 15 with Xiaomi’s HyperOS 2.0, the smartphones also come with ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanners and IP68-rated dust and water resistance.    #Xiaomi15 is set to revolutionize mobile innovation with its leading camera, ultra-thin display, top performance, and connectivity.#XiaomiLaunch pic.twitter.com/0Rb43ecChm — Xiaomi (@Xiaomi) March 2, 2025 Xiaomi 15 Ultra and Xiaomi 15 India Launch Date And Availability Xiaomi has announced that the Xiaomi 15 and Xiaomi 15 Ultra will launch in India on March 11. The smartphones will be available for purchase through Amazon India, Xiaomi’s official website, and other retail outlets. Xiaomi 15 Ultra Specifications (Expected) The Xiaomi 15 Ultra is expected to feature a 6.73-inch QHD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 3,200 nits. It could come with 16GB of RAM, ensuring smooth and powerful performance. For photography enthusiasts, the device is set to offer a quad-camera setup, including a 200MP Leica telephoto lens, a 50MP primary Leica camera, a 50MP ultra-wide Leica camera, and a 32MP front-facing selfie shooter, promising top-tier imaging capabilities. Xiaomi 15 Specifications (Expected) The Xiaomi 15 comes with a more compact 6.36-inch FHD+ AMOLED display, supporting a 120Hz refresh rate and 3,200 nits of peak brightness. The smartphone is expected to launch in India with 12GB of RAM. On the camera front, it is equipped with a triple-camera setup, featuring a 50MP primary camera, a 50MP ultra-wide lens, a 50MP telephoto lens, and a 32MP selfie camera.