September 2019
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www.theasianindependent.co.uk<br />
TRUECALLER crosses<br />
500mn downloads,<br />
150mn daily active users<br />
Stockholm : Swedish caller identification<br />
app Truecaller on Wednesday announced it<br />
has crossed the 500 million mark in terms of<br />
downloads and now has 150 million daily<br />
active users globally.<br />
The 150 million daily active users achievement<br />
makes Truecaller the most used communication<br />
app in India after apps like WhatsApp<br />
and Facebook Messenger, the company said in<br />
a statement.<br />
"This is a very significant achievement.<br />
150 million daily active users and 500 million<br />
downloads is extraordinary. These milestones<br />
underline the faith and trust our users have in<br />
our brand," said Alan Mamedi, CEO and Cofounder,<br />
Truecaller.<br />
Recently, the company announced it has<br />
crossed one million paying subscribers globally<br />
and has added a series of new features to its<br />
paid subscription service, Truecaller<br />
Premium. With its offices in Bengaluru,<br />
Gurugram and Mumbai, more than half of the<br />
company’s employees are from India.<br />
Boston : Humans have systematically<br />
altered the brains of dogs through selective<br />
breeding for favoured behavioural traits over<br />
hundreds of years, according to a study.<br />
Erin Hecht, from Harvard University in the<br />
US and her colleagues investigated the effects<br />
of this kind of selective breeding on the brain<br />
structure of canines by<br />
analysing magnetic resonance<br />
imaging (MRI)<br />
scans of 33 dog breeds.<br />
"Most modern dog<br />
breeds were developed<br />
in an intentional, goaldriven<br />
manner relatively<br />
recently in evolutionary<br />
time; estimates for the<br />
origins of the various<br />
modern breeds vary<br />
between the past few thousand, to the past few<br />
hundred years, researchers wrote in the study<br />
published in the journal JNeurosi.<br />
The team observed vast differences in the<br />
brain structure, not only related to the body<br />
size or head shape of dogs, but to the patterns<br />
in neural networks associated with different<br />
brain functions. There is a hundred-fold difference<br />
between the body mass of a Chihuahua<br />
(about one kilogramme) and the body mass of<br />
a Great Dane. However, we found that dog<br />
TECH<br />
Selective breeding<br />
for traits altered<br />
dogs’ brains: Study<br />
brain sizes do not scale commensurately to dog<br />
body sizes, the researchers noted.<br />
For instance, by comparing dachshund and<br />
golden retriever brain scan images, the team<br />
found that the dachsund’s brain takes up most<br />
of the available endocranial space, while the<br />
golden retriever showed noticeably larger<br />
sinuses. By comparing<br />
the evolutionary lineages<br />
of the dog breeds, the<br />
team revealed that<br />
changes in relative brain<br />
size are not predicated by<br />
relatedness. Instead, the<br />
study notes that these are<br />
more likely caused by<br />
human selection for specific<br />
traits in dogs --<br />
occurring more recently<br />
across the tree of dog evolution.<br />
When the team examined the areas of the<br />
brain with the most variation across breeds,<br />
they generated maps of six brain networks,<br />
with proposed functions varying from social<br />
bonding to movement.<br />
Each of these was associated with at least<br />
one behavioural characteristic, the researchers<br />
said. The differences in behaviours across<br />
breeds was linked to the anatomical differences<br />
in the six brain networks.<br />
<strong>September</strong> <strong>2019</strong><br />
19<br />
Apple s cheaper<br />
iPhone SE successor<br />
may arrive next year<br />
San Francisco,<br />
Aiming to take on<br />
Huawei and other<br />
Chinese rivals,<br />
Apple is reportedly<br />
mulling to resurrect<br />
the cheaper<br />
iPhone SE for<br />
emerging markets,<br />
especially India<br />
and China, early<br />
next year.<br />
The new model<br />
would be Apple s<br />
first low-cost<br />
smartphone since<br />
the launch of the<br />
iPhone SE in 2016,<br />
which started at $399.<br />
Though the name and price of the new model hasn t<br />
been decided, it is viewed as the latest generation of the<br />
iPhone SE, the Nikkei Asian Review reported on<br />
Wednesday. Reported to be similar to the 4.7-inch iPhone 8<br />
that was launched in 2017, the new iteration would arrive<br />
next year.<br />
It is likely to feature an LCD display and most of the<br />
same components as this year s flagship iPhones.<br />
The cheaper iPhone is designed to help Apple gain<br />
ground in emerging markets, where consumers are more<br />
price sensitive. It could also counter mid-to-high range<br />
smartphone models from Samsung Electronics, Huawei<br />
and Oppo as well as challenge Google, which became<br />
the No. 5 smartphone maker in the US during the June<br />
quarter thanks to its $399 Pixel 3A, the report added.
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