The OnePlus 10 Pro will officially go on sale in India in the next few days. That's not all. Dyson, the UK-based technology company, surprised many this week by unveiling air-purifying headphones, which will be available worldwide later this year. How exactly does it work? Read more below about what else made news in the world of science and technology this week.
Google Pay launches Tap to Pay feature
You can now use Google Pay, with just a tap. Earlier this week, Google Pay, in collaboration with Pine Labs, announced the launch of “Tap to Pay for UPI”. So far, the “Tap to Pay” feature was only available for cards. To complete a payment, users will need to tap their phone on the POS terminal and authenticate the payment from their phone, using their UPI PIN, making the process virtually instantaneous, as compared to scanning QR codes or entering the UPI-linked mobile number. The feature will be available to any UPI user with an NFC-enabled Android smartphone. This new feature was piloted with Reliance Retail and will now be available at other large merchants such as Future Retail and Starbucks, an official statement explains.
Dyson’s air-purifying headphones
We’ve seen some mind-boggling iterations of air purifying devices. A few days back, the UK-based company Dyson unveiled new headphones that also have – believe it or not – a built-in air purifier. The Dyson Zone air-purifying headphones come with active noise cancellation and feature an innovative visor that channels a continuous stream of purified air to the user’s nose and mouth, without touching their face. Netizens wondered if this was another April Fool’s Day prank, but turns out it’s not. The headphones, according to the company, have been designed to simultaneously tackle the issues of urban air pollution and noise pollution. The air-purifying headphones – which were six years and 500 prototypes in the making – will be available globally from autumn 2022.
The One Plus 10 Pro is here
OnePlus officially announced the price and availability of its new flagship, the One Plus 10 Pro 5G, in India earlier this week. The much anticipated device will go on sale in India from 5 April, 12 pm onwards and you can get your hands on it starting at ₹66,999 for the 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant. The 12GB + 256GB variant will cost you ₹71,999. The OnePlus 10 Pro features an interesting streamlined design and a second-generation Hasselblad camera for mobile, which includes a triple-camera setup. The phone will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile platform. One of the other key highlights of the device is the 80W SUPERVOOC charger and a massive 5,000 mAh battery. Users can find more details on Amazon.com and the OnePlus website.
Hubble spots farthest star ever seen
While the world has been busy talking about the recently launched James Webb Space Telescope – and rightly so – US space agency Nasa announced this week that the Hubble Space Telescope detected the light of a star – named Earendel – that existed within the first billion years after the universe’s birth in the big bang, making it the farthest individual star ever seen to date. According to Nasa, the newly detected star is so far away that its light has taken 12.9 billion years to reach Earth, appearing to us as it did when the universe was only 7 percent of its current age. The smallest objects previously seen at such a great distance are clusters of stars, embedded inside early galaxies, a Nasa statement explains. Further, astronomers expect that Earendel will remain highly magnified for years to come. This will enable them to conduct further observations and research with the James Webb Space Telescope.
Compiled by Nitin Sreedhar
Also read: The new Dyson vacuum cleaner: It sucks and that’s a good thing
