Valiance Solutions on Tuesday launched CivicEye, an AI-powered surveillance system. The artificial intelligence (AI) and data analytics solution provider says that its system is capable of monitoring various instances of public disturbances and illegal activities such as traffic violations, theft, and unauthorised vendor encroachment. The company says that it is working with local government bodies in Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh to pilot the AI system in key cities. It also claims that the system follows full compliance with India’s data privacy regulations set by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
CivicEye Portal to Be Accessible Only to Government Officials and Police
The AI firm said that CivicEye is designed to enhance public safety and make law enforcement operations more efficient. It is built on Google Cloud and can process large-scale video data to offer real-time surveillance on roads and other public areas.
The surveillance system, which is built using the company’s native AI models, can detect traffic violations (such as speeding and illegal parking), monitor public disturbances, track crowd density, identify road hazards like stray animals and potholes, and send alerts to authorities to take action. CivicEye is also equipped with crime detection tools to spot incidents such as chain snatching and public brawl. Additionally, it can also monitor issues such as unauthorised street vendors.
The company says that it has partnered with local government bodies in Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh to pilot the project in key cities. CivicEye will utilise both existing CCTV systems and newly installed cameras to monitor public safety.
Valiance Solutions claimed that the front end of CivicEye can be accessed via a web portal as well as a mobile app and will be provided only to governing bodies and the police. The AI system is hosted in MeitY-empanelled data centres. Notably, CivicEye is a patent-pending technology.
Gadgets 360 asked the company during a press briefing whether it will have access to identifier data such as vehicle registration plates and faces of individuals. A question was also raised on whether the AI model will be trained on such data. The company stated that CivicEye does not process or analyse faces, and information such as vehicle number plates will only be available to the authorities.
The company also added that once the system is live, the company will not be able to access the system unless it is for maintenance and rolling out updates. Upon being asked about the data used to train the AI models, Valiance Solutions said that the system was trained on publicly available datasets and simulation data created in-house.
Gadgets 360 also asked the company about AI hallucinations and the rate of failure in either noticing an infraction or falsely reporting an incident. The Indian AI firm responded that while some instances of hallucinations exist, for critical infractions such as theft, the accuracy was measured at 99 percent during internal testing. For less critical infractions, the company claimed the accuracy was at 97 percent.
CivicEye is currently being tested in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh and Banda in Uttar Pradesh. The surveillance system is also being installed in Hamirpur in Uttar Pradesh. The company aims to finalise full deployment in these areas within the next couple of months, with plans to expand to more cities in the near future.
Microsoft Build 2024 witnessed a large number of artificial intelligence (AI)-focused announcements from the company that spanned across Copilot, Azure cloud service, its data analytics platform Microsoft Fabric, and various other platforms. The keynote session of the event took place just a day after its Surface event which the unveiling of the Copilot+ PCs class and various integrated AI features for PCs. Now, expanding Azure, the tech giant has made GPT-4o, which was recently unveiled, generally available via its Azure OpenAI Service.
GPT-4o is now available via Azure
Microsoft’s cloud computing platform Azure, which already offered a wide range of choice in large language models (LLMs), has now added support for GPT-4o continuing its partnership with OpenAI. Access to the recently unveiled AI model can be gained through the Azure OpenAI Service by anyone with an existing subscription to the cloud computing platform. The tech giant is also integrating GPT-4o’s capabilities — emotive speech, real-time verbal responses, and computer vision — with Copilot.
A short demo shared by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during the keynote session showcased Copilot assisting a user as they played a game of Minecraft. The AI chatbot was able to assist in real-time by answering questions and suggesting actions. Alongside, the company also shared various ways developers can use the AI model’s capabilities to build unique tools.
Build your Copilot via Copilot Studio
AI agents, or mini chatbots, have become the new trend in the tech space recently. OpenAI was among the first to introduce GPTs which are chatbots that can perform a particular task and be built by providing a text prompt to ChatGPT. Following suit, Google also announced Gems at its I/O 2024 event last week. Now, Microsoft is letting businesses and developers build Copilot apps via a new platform dubbed Copilot Studio.
The most interesting part of Copilot AI agents is that they can function automatically, based on the instructions fed to them. This means there is no need to prompt a command for them to spring into action. It can be set to monitor emails or complete a data entry task. Just like other AI agents, it can also be built using simple text prompts in Copilot Studio. The platform is currently in preview with limited access, but it is expected to be made generally available soon.
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Realme 14 lineup is said to feature a new variant called the Realme 14 Pro Lite. The Chinese smartphone brand has not revealed anything regarding the launch of its new number series, but ahead of it, the model number, RAM, storage variants and colour options of the handset have surfaced online. The Realme 14 Pro Lite is said to come in four RAM and storage options with up to 12GB of RAM and a maximum of 512GB of onboard storage. It is expected to go official alongside the Realme 14 and Realme 14 Pro.
Realme 14 Pro Lite RAM, Storage Details Leaked
As per a report by 91Mobiles, the Realme 14 Pro Lite will be introduced as a new model in the Realme 14 lineup. The Indian variant of the phone reportedly has model number RMX990. It is said to be available in four RAM and storage configurations — 8GB + 128GB, 8GB + 256GB, 12GB + 256GB, and 12GB + 512GB.
The purported Realme 14 Pro Lite will be reportedly launched in emerald green, monet purple, and monet gold colourways. These colours are already available for the Realme 13 Pro+ and Realme 13 Pro in India.
The Realme 14 series is expected to launch in India in January, in order to compete with the Redmi Note 14 lineup. It is anticipated to be priced at around Rs. 30,000 in the country.
Both the Realme 13 Pro and Realme 13 Pro+ arrived in July this year in India, followed by the Realme 13 and the Realme 13+ in August. The price of Realme 13 Pro starts at Rs. 26,999 for the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage version, while the Realme 13 Pro+ launched with a price tag of Rs. 32,999 for the 8GB RAM + 256GB storage version. The Realme 13 5G starts in India at Rs. 17,999 while the price of the Realme 13+ 5G begins at Rs. 22,999.
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Imphal/Churachandpur Muolwaifei, Valpakot, Ngurte, Thenmol and Khawpuibing are non-descript Hmar dominated tribal villages. from Manipur Churachandpur district, about 65 km from the state capital Imphal.
When 10 bodies were brought to Churachandpur, a banner saying ‘Welcome home the brave martyrs’ was put up. (HT photo)
They are also the center of an investigation into a heinous crime and potentially the site of a new fracture in a state devastated by 18 months of ethnic conflict.
The state government and security forces are confident that these five villages are home to the terrorists, who had traveled about 250 km JiribamOn 11 November, security forces attacked a town along the Manipur-Assam border and killed two elderly Meitei residents. It is believed that there were 30–40 of them; 10 people were killed in encounters with security forces. The survivors escaped but six Meiteis, along with women and children (the youngest was eight months old), whose bodies were found at Jiribam and various places across the border in Assam. The protests in Imphal last week, including the vandalism of houses of MLAs and ministers, are indicative of public anger over the state’s failure to protect women and children.
For the Kuki-Zo-Hamar tribal inhabitants of Manipur, there are 10 heroes and martyrs. Churachandpur city is full of photographs of 10 people. There are posters on which it is written – Welcome Home. Others say, honor our fallen heroes.
When the bodies were taken to Churachandpur by security forces on 18 November, Kuki-Zo-Hamar MLAs, including local MLA LM Khaute, who was also the former chief of Manipur Police between 2016 and 2021, who received the bodies, lodged a complaint against the state government. The charges were dismissed. And security forces say those people were militants; Their families claimed that they were all civilians who had taken up arms to defend their villages in the wake of ethnic conflict in the state.
Tinnilam, wife of Lalsimlin Hamar, 34, one of the slain gunmen, said her husband was not a terrorist but a computer graphic designer. “We have a computer accessories shop in Churachandpur. Last year, he went to the front lines to protect the villages. He is a civilian who took up arms in this conflict. He was in Delhi until the pandemic struck in 2020 and did a computer course there. He is not an extremist.”
Ramhamsoum, the elder brother of slain gunman Lalthanei Infinet, 23, the youngest of the 10 alleged militants, said his brother was a painter.
“I refuse to believe that my son and his friends kidnapped women and children and later murdered them. Before the conflict, he wanted to study and was ready to take his Class 10 exams from the National Institute of Open Learning,” said Ruolnesiang’s (22) mother Wanthaliphui.
At least 250 people have been killed and more than 50,000 displaced in the ethnic conflict between the Meiteis and Kuki-Zo-Hamar tribal groups that began on May 3 last year.
Five villages are on the radar of security agencies, who believe they hold the key to the identity of the men behind the murder of six women and children.
“The truth behind the murder of six women and children lies in those villages. These are prominent Hamar villages, so all the gunmen are from here. All 10 people killed, who are from the Hmar tribe, were from those five villages, so one can assume that the 30-40 gunmen who went to Jiribam that afternoon were from there. If the NIA is successful in conducting raids in the villages, the identity of all other gunmen will become clear,” said a senior police officer posted in Manipur’s Imphal Valley.
Following protests in Imphal, the cases have been transferred to NIA, a federal agency. Pictures of mutilated bodies, such as one showing the headless body of a two-and-a-half-year-old child, sparked tension in Imphal, prompting the government to shut down the internet.
The five villages are also under close watch by security forces and intelligence agencies as they have suddenly become meeting places for all the Kuki-Zo tribal leaders.
Leaders are meeting to discuss the killing of 10 people, protest against the killing of civilians by central security forces, ways to encourage youth to be on the front lines, defend their villages and respond to the allegation . Our gunmen killed six unarmed women and children.
The Hamar community has refused to bury 10 people until they get copies of the post-mortem reports from the government. After the firing, the Kuki-zo-Hamar tribals immediately declared the 10 people “martyrs” and announced that the bodies would be taken by road from Silchar (Assam) to Churachandpur to pay last respects to the tribals; In response, security forces took the body straight to Churachandpur, fearing a possible breakdown in law and order.
“We believe the men were tortured and killed. That’s why we are asking for the postmortem report. If this is not done then we will not bury the bodies. If they deny us the reports, a second postmortem will be conducted at Churachandpur District Hospital,” said Ramnisang Phaheng, development secretary of Hmar Students Association (HSA).
Each village in Churachandpur has sent groups of 15-20 to guard the Churachandpur District Hospital to ensure that people are present to keep an eye on the mortuary.
On the road leading to Mulowaifei, one of the villages, the road is covered with black flags and photographs of Lalthanei Infimet (22), one of the 10 alleged militants killed. “We have done this for all the villages. They are not extremists. They are village volunteers who went to protect our villages because a woman from our community was raped and murdered on November 7. Ferzaul district, which is sparsely populated and shares its border with both Churachandpur and Jiribam, had become vulnerable to attacks from Jiribam, so volunteers from our village went there to protect the Kuki-Zo people, ”said an HSA spokesperson.
The murders of six women and children may have turned public opinion against the Kukis.
“During a peace meeting with tribal community leaders here, we told them that they had made a mistake by killing those unarmed women and children,” said a senior security force officer posted in Churachandpur. No one will forgive him for this crime. There is a war going on between these communities in the state but still a code has to be followed. We told him that the national press and neutral people were now against him for this terrible murder. If they object to raids in their villages by central agencies, they will stand in favor of national public opinion.
The Biren Singh-led state government, which has made little effort to hide its allegiance – Singh himself is a Meitei – is pressing for what it sees as benefits. In a resolution dated November 18, the government called for declaring the militants members of terrorist groups. The Center has already sent more than 70 companies of paramilitary forces to the state to ensure that communities do not cross the buffer zone between the valley and the hills and attack each other. Most of the residents of these villages believe that this will lead to a massive operation by the army. Kuki-Zo-Hamar tribal MLAs, who are against Biren Singh, on Wednesday objected to the proposal to launch a massive operation against just one community and instead sought talks to restore peace. “The Center and the state government should take all necessary steps to restore peace and normalcy in Manipur by initiating political dialogue to bring lasting peace in the troubled region,” the statement by the 10 rebel MLAs said.
The sentiment against the Kuki-Hamar-Zo community is palpable on the streets of Imphal. An official of COCOMI, a prominent Meitei group, said, “The protests will continue until the security agencies arrest all the terrorists and flush them out of their hideouts. “It will be more intense.”
A senior paramilitary officer in Churachandpur, on condition of anonymity, said, “Violence has taken place on a large scale in Manipur. In this wave, the Kuki-Zo tribals have lost in terms of public opinion. Youth and citizens of both sides have taken up arms. Tribal civil society organizations are suddenly hiding behind the age of gunmen and claiming to be farmers, painters and innocent civilians. Perhaps the Gram Raksha Swayamsevaks have gone rogue…”
The official said there are many unanswered questions.
“These people are from five villages of Churachandpur. What were they doing in Jiribam, about 250 km away? It takes 10-12 hours to reach there. Whose villages were they protecting there? Most importantly, how will they explain the confiscated RPG launcher recovered from them? Where did they get it from?”
He, other security officials and the state government, all believe that answers can be found in five villages.
Intel Core Ultra 200V series — codenamed Lunar Lake — was unveiled by the chipmaker on Tuesday ahead of the upcoming IFA 2024 event. The company’s second-generation artificial intelligence (AI) processors will compete with chipsets from rivals AMD and Qualcomm and Intel claims that they deliver a total of 120 trillion operations per second (TOPS) with support for several AI-accelerated features. While Intel’s first-generation AI chipsets were the first to include a neural processing unit (NPU), the Lunar Lake series processors are the first from the company to reach Microsoft’s Copilot+ standard.
Intel Core Ultra 200V Lunar Lake Series Features
The newly announced Intel Core Ultra 200V series (Core Ultra Series 2) is claimed to be up to 50 percent more power efficient than Intel’s Core Ultra Series 1 (Meteor Lake) that was introduced last year. The lineup includes nine new laptop processors that are equipped with eight CPU cores and up to eight GPU cores. These chips drop support for hyperthreading in exchange for improved efficiency.
Of the eight CPU cores on the Core Ultra 200V series, four are Lion Cove performance cores, while the other four are Skymont efficiency cores. The new Core Ultra 5 processors have seven GPU cores, while the Core Ultra 7 and 9 CPUs have eight GPU cores. All nine processors are equipped with up to 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM.
Intel Core Ultra 200V series specifications (tap to expand) Photo Credit: Intel
The new Lunar Lake laptop processors are also the first to feature Intel’s new Xe2 graphics microarchitecture which is claimed to offer up to 30 percent improved graphics performance. The company claims that its chips offer up to 68 percent better graphics performance than the Snapdragon X Elite chipset from Qualcomm, while it is said to be 16 percent faster than its closest AMD rival — the Ryzen AI 9 370 HX.
Laptops powered by the new Intel Core Ultra 200V series CPUs will be able to connect to up to three 4K monitors while the Arc GPU also delivers up to 67 TOPS. The chipmaker says that the Core Ultra Series 2 chips offer a total of 120 TOPS across the CPU (5 TOPS), GPU (48 TOPS), and NPU (67 TOPS).
Intel Core Ultra 200V series chips support Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 (with LE Audio) connectivity, as well as a Gigabit Ethernet connection. Devices with these processors can include up to three Thunderbolt 4 ports, six USB 2.0, and two USB 3.0 ports.
Intel Core Ultra 200V series variants (tap to expand) Photo Credit: Intel
The chipmaker says that except for the Core Ultra 9 288V variant, all the other processors unveiled on Tuesday have a default 17W TDP. The Lunar Lake CPUs are also claimed to be 22 percent and 10 percent faster than their predecessors at 9W and 17W, respectively. However, last year’s Meteor Lake processors are 6 percent faster than the Core Ultra 200V series when power consumption is at 23W.
Intel Core Ultra 200V Lunar Lake Series Availability
The new Intel Core Ultra 200V series processors will be available on more than 80 laptops from over 20 OEMs in select markets, according to the chipmaker. These laptops will be available from a range of brands such as Acer, Asus, HP, Dell, Lenovo, LG, and MSI starting on September 24.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched the Optus-X telecommunications satellite into orbit on Sunday, November 17, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The liftoff took place at 5:28pm EST coinciding with a sunset that added visual appeal to the event. The satellite, commissioned by the Australian telecom company Optus, will serve communication needs once operational in geostationary orbit.
First Stage Recovered in Ocean Landing
After the launch, the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage made a controlled descent, landing on SpaceX’s Atlantic Ocean-based droneship, A Shortfall of Gravitas. The landing occurred approximately nine minutes after takeoff, marking the 16th flight for this booster. SpaceX has indicated that nine of these flights were part of missions to deploy Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit.
Optus-X’s Journey to Geostationary Orbit
The satellite’s intended destination is geostationary orbit, located 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometres) above the Earth. The Falcon 9 upper stage carried Optus-X to a geosynchronous transfer orbit, from where the satellite will travel the remaining distance using its onboard propulsion systems.
Busy Schedule for SpaceX
The launch marks the beginning of an intense three-day period for SpaceX. Two additional missions are planned for Monday, November 18, including the deployment of Starlink satellites and an Indian telecom satellite. On Tuesday, November 19, SpaceX is set to conduct the sixth test flight of its Starship rocket, an event expected to attract significant attention.
This latest mission highlights SpaceX’s ongoing commitment to frequent and reusable launches, which have become a central component of its operational strategy.
Infinix has made laptops before, but this is their first attempt at a gaming laptop. The Infinix GT Book was unveiled in India alongside the Infinix GT 20 gaming phone. It is equipped with up to 13th generation Intel processors and up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. The laptop has a unique design that will definitely turn some heads and is also priced competitively. I’ve had the Infinix GT Book for a couple of days now, and while I haven’t had time to fully explore it, here are my initial impressions.
Firstly, I’ll talk about the design. The Infinix GT Book looks the part thanks to the Cyber Mecha design, which you’ll also find on some of the recent smartphones from the brand. The top and bottom lid are made from metal, and have a matte finish, which helps keep the fingerprints and smudges away. The lid features the Mecha Loop emblem as well. Overall, the GT Book feels well-built, and yes, you can open the lid with just one hand. Infinix claims this is the lightest gaming laptop, with a 16-inch display weighing in at 1.99kg.
The Mecha bar is an RGB strip that’s customisable
It also has some RGB lighting in the form of a thin strip located at the back called the Mecha Bar. The rear also houses the exhaust vents. The bottom panel has an orange-accented grille for the intake fans and sturdy rubber feet to keep the laptop planted. All RGB on the laptop is customisable using the GT Control Centre, but I’ll talk more about the experience in my full review.
Opening the lid reveals a full-size keyboard with 4-zone RGB lighting and a rather small touchpad. Then there’s the 16-inch display with an anti-glare coating, slim bezels on the sides, and slightly thicker bezels at the top and bottom. The display offers a 16:10 aspect ratio, full-HD resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and up to 300 nits of brightness. At first glance, it appears to be a good display for gaming. The top bezel houses a 1080p web camera and dual microphones.
The laptop has a 4-zone full-sized RGB keyboard
Before I talk about the internals, let’s take a look at the ports on the laptop. You get two USB Type-A 3.2 ports, an SD card slot, HDMI 2.0, and a USB Type-C DP port. In terms of connectivity, the Infinix GT Book offers up to dual-band WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. The company provides a 210W power adapter in the box that can definitely be used as a weapon. I think Infinix did a good job with the port selection here.
Alright, moving on to the internals, the Infinix GT Book comes with a 70 Whr battery, dual fans for cooling, up to 32GB non-upgradable LPDDR5 RAM, and up to 1TB PCIe 4.0 storage. The laptop is configurable with up to a 13th Gen Intel Core i9 13900H processor and up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU with 8GB VRAM. Our review unit came with the 12th Gen Intel Core i5 12450H processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 with 6GB of video RAM, 16GB LPDDR5 RAM, and 512GB PCIe 4.0 storage. There’s also a variant that comes with a 13th Gen Intel Core i5 chipset and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU.
The laptop has orange accents on the vents and speaker grilles
The base variant, which I’ll be testing, is priced at Rs. 59,990. It has a total graphics power (TGP) of 80W, whereas the other two variants offer a slightly higher 90W TGP. I’ll be testing the laptop thoroughly to see how well it fares in gaming.
For the first attempt, I think Infinix has done a good job with the GT Book gaming laptop. The pricing is good, and as part of a limited-time launch offer, users will also get some freebies with the laptop purchase. The freebies include an RGB gaming mouse, RGB gaming headphones, and an RGB gaming mousepad. Although the internals are older than most recent gaming laptops, they should be good enough for gaming, video editing, and such. Stay tuned to our full review to find out if the Infinix GT Book is a good gaming laptop to buy.
Samsung launched the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5 alongside the Galaxy Tab S9 series and Galaxy Watch 6 series at its first Galaxy Unpacked event in South Korea. We discuss the company’s new devices and more on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
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The Vivo X200 series, which includes the Vivo X200, X200 Pro, and X200 Pro Mini, were launched in China in October. They are powered by MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chipsets and run on Android 15-based OriginOS 5. The smartphones are equipped with Zeiss-backed triple rear camera units, alongside Vivo’s V3+ imaging chips on the Pro models. The lineup is expected to be introduced in global markets soon. The company’s official Malaysia page previously teased an imminent launch. A tipster has now hinted at the probable global launch date of the Vivo X200 handsets.
Vivo X200 Series Global Launch (Expected)
The Vivo X200 series may launch globally on November 22, according to an X post by tipster Paras Guglani (@passionategeekz). However, he did not specify the region or markets that the lineup could debut in. Previously, the launch of the Vivo X200 series was teased by Vivo Malaysia.
An earlier report claimed that the Vivo X200 series could arrive in India by November end or the first week of December. Notably, the Vivo X100 and X100 Pro were introduced in India in January this year, after its initial China launch in November 2023.
Vivo X200 Series Features
The global variants of the Vivo X200 phones are expected to be similar to their Chinese counterparts. All three handsets in the lineup are powered by MediaTek Dimensity 9400 chipsets and run on Android 15-based OriginOS 5. They carry Zeiss-backed 50-megapixel triple rear camera units.
Vivo X200, X200 Pro, and X200 Pro Mini support 90W wired fast charging, with the Pro options also offering 30W wireless charging support. The base model has a 5,800mAh battery, while the Pro and Pro Mini variants carry 6,000mAh and 5,700mAh cells, respectively.
The price of the Vivo X200 starts at CNY 4,300 (roughly Rs. 51,000) for the base 12GB + 256GB option. The Vivo X200 Pro and Vivo X200 Pro Mini begin in the country at CNY 5,999 (roughly Rs. 63,000) and CNY 4,699 (roughly Rs. 56,000) for their respective 12GB + 256GB variants.
Dell XPS 13 (9350) was launched by the company on Tuesday as one of the first laptops to be equipped with the newly unveiled Intel Core Ultra 200V ‘Lunar Lake’ processors. It will be sold alongside the XPS 13 (9345) and XPS (9340) models that are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and Intel’s older Meteor Lake chipsets. The latest XPS model from Dell runs on Windows 11 Home and features up to 32GB of RAM along with up to 2TB of storage.
Dell XPS 13 (9350) Price, Availability
Dell XPS 13 (9350) price is set at $1,400 for the base 16GB+512GB RAM and storage model with an Intel Core Ultra 5 226V processor. It is also available in other variants with Intel Core Ultra 7 256V, Core Ultra 7 258V, Core Ultra 7 268V, or Core Ultra 9 288V processors and can be configured with up to 32GB of memory and 2TB of storage.
Dell XPS 13 (9350) Specifications
The newly announced Dell XPS 13 (9350) is nearly identical to the Snapdragon variant that was launched by the company earlier this year, except for the new Intel Lunar Lake processors powering the laptop. It is equipped with up to Intel Core Ultra 9 288V Lunar Lake processors, paired with up to 32GB of LPDDR5X RAM.
Dell XPS 13 (9350) has a dedicated Copilot key Photo Credit: Dell
Dell has equipped the laptop with a 13.4-inch full-HD+ (1,920×1,200 pixels) IPS LCD display with a 120Hz refresh rate and a 500nits peak brightness level. It is also available in Quad-HD+ (2,560×1,600 pixels) IPS LCD and OLED variant — the latter is equipped with Corning Gorilla Glass protection but has a lower 60Hz refresh rate.
You get up to 2TB of NVMe SSD storage on the Dell XPS 13 (9350). The laptop is equipped with a four 2W speakers, a full-HD RGB camera, and dual array microphones. It also offers Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity and has two USB Type-C Thunderbolt 4 ports.
The Dell XPS 13 (9350) is powered by a 3-cell 55Wh battery with support for 60W charging over a USB Type-C port. The laptop offers up to 26 hours of video streaming at full-HD+ resolution, according to the company.
Ukraine says critical infrastructure was targeted in Dnipro
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that an attack by his forces on the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday morning was carried out using “a new conventional intermediate-range missile”.
He said that the missile, codenamed Oreshnik, was a response to the use by Ukraine of US and UK long-range weaponry to hit targets inside Russia.
Putin added that Russia could attack military facilities of those countries which allowed their weapons to be used for this purpose.
The US and the UK authorised the use of US ATACMS and UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles this week, in a major change of policy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia’s use of the new missile was “a clear and severe escalation in the scale and brutality of this war.”
“[This] is yet more proof that Russia has no interest in peace,” he wrote on X, adding: “Putin is not only prolonging the war – he is spitting in the face of those in the world who genuinely want peace to be restored.”
Earlier, Zelensky said the missile had the characteristics of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), even as Western officials cast doubt on this theory.
The US National Security Council, meanwhile, said “an experimental medium-range ballistic missile” had been used against Ukraine, adding that Russia probably only possessed a handful of these weapons and that they would not be a game changer in the war.
The Pentagon’s deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said the US had been notified “briefly” before the missile was launched through Nuclear Risk Reduction channels – which are used to exchange information on issues including missile launch notifications.
Putin said a “test” was successfully carried out on a non-nuclear hypersonic version of a ballistic missile and that the “target was reached”.
“In response to the use of American and British long-range weaponry, on 21 November this year, the Russian armed forces carried out a combined strike on one of Ukraine’s military-industrial complex sites,” he said.
There is no way of counteracting this weapon, which attacks targets at a speed of 10 Mach, or 2.5-3km/s, he said.
And he warned the West that Russia was “ready for any developments. If anyone still doubts this, they shouldn’t. There will always be a response”.
Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at Rusi, a think tank, said available information about the Russian missile suggests something with a longer range than the Iskanders used so far in the conflict, which have a range of up to 500km (311 miles).
Intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs) – which Putin appears to have been describing – generally have ranges of between 3,000 and 5,500km.
Savill says the use of such a weapon may not have huge military significance but is symbolically important, coming on the back of Russia’s revised nuclear doctrine which many see as a lowering of the threshold for the use of such weapons.
It is, he says, a not so subtle reminder that Russia has a wider arsenal of different and larger missile types and is ready to develop more.
Putin’s announcement comes as the conflict in Ukraine – which marked its 1,000th day on Tuesday – appears to be entering a new, dangerous phase.
Last Sunday US President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the go-ahead to use long-range Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) to strike inside Russia, and two days later they were launched into Russia’s Bryansk region.
On Wednesday, Ukraine was reported to have used UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles against Russian targets. On the same day, Biden also agreed to give Ukraine anti-personnel landmines.
The Western moves were apparently in response to Moscow’s deployment of North Korean troops as it prepares for an offensive aimed at driving Ukrainian troops out of a small area they have occupied in Russia’s Kursk region.
Trump has promised to end the US involvement in wars and instead use taxpayers’ money to improve Americans’ lives. He has said he will bring the Russia-Ukraine war to an end within 24 hours, without saying how.
Also this week Putin – seemingly reacting to these moves – ratcheted up the tension still further by loosening the conditions of use for Russia’s nuclear weapons.
