<div>Sony India on Wednesday (21 January) announced the launch of a pioneering technology for all those who take music seriously and savor real high definition sound with its state of art MDR Z7 headphones and high resolution amplifier PHA-3. The headphones are crafted to provide the audiophiles an ultimate music experience by reproducing crystal clear notes of high resolution audio content, which brings the listener closer to the spirit and soul of the artist’s original performance.</div><div> </div><div>High Resolution Audio is typically an audio format that has a sampling rate of 96 KHz/ 24 bit and can reproduce very close to original sound as recorded in a studio or concert hall. With high resolution audio, listener can experience fine details of audio like artist’s breath, subtlety, depth, pressure, expression or concert hall atmosphere. Better frequency sampling rate and high bit rate makes the playback audio very close to the original audio track while a CD recording cannot capture and playback the fine details of the original audio source. Popular high resolution audio formats are FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF and DSD.</div><div> </div><div><strong>ASUS Zenfone 5 Price Slashed</strong></div><div>ASUS on Wednesday made a special announcement for its revolutionary ASUS Zenfone 5 will now be available for Rs. 7,999. Emerged as the most loved smartphone out of the series - ASUS Zenfone 5 has received a tremendous response from the Indian masses.</div><div> </div><div>The ASUS ZenFone 5 combines a spacious 5-inch IPS panel that delivers superb high-definition (HD) 1280 x 720-pixel resolution — a brilliant 8-megapixel PixelMaster main camera with image stabilization. It features Intel® Atom Multi-Core 1.2 GHz Z2520 Processor with Intel Hyper-Threading Technology and 8GB EMMC plus 2GB RAM.</div><div> </div><div><strong>Vserv Launches Aqua Native Ads</strong></div><div>serv, a leading smart data led mobile marketing platform, on Wednesday announced the launch of Vserv Aqua Native, a dynamic native ad format powered by the Vserv Smart Data™ platform. Vserv Aqua Native is designed to facilitate seamless experience for consumers on mobile, inclusive of ads. It displays ads that are customized as per the environment, design and layout of the app or site, hence being able to retain consumer attention and reduce ad fatigue. This in turn leads to a higher average click-through rate (CTR) for the publisher.</div><div> </div><div>As content is increasingly being consumed on smartphones today, ads are rapidly merging with the app content in the form of native ads. These ads provide a non-intrusive experience for consumers. It has been reported that 25 per cent more consumers tend to notice native ads, thereby resulting in better conversions. Native ads today make perfect sense for publishers who are trying every trick in the book to grab the consumer attention. The free flowing nature of native ads effortlessly integrates marketing messages into content, without compromising on the user experience and results in earnings that were not possible earlier.</div><div> </div><div>Commenting on the launch, Prashant Dixit, VP, Global Data & Supply Partnerships, Vserv said, “Vserv Aqua Native is a fluid ad format which can deliver 5760 different permutations of an ad to be displayed on the app or site. In addition to this, Vserv Aqua Native also allows the publishers to fully customize the ad based on their requirement. These unique features combined with our Vserv Smart Data platform make the overall consumer experience more authentic, customized and effective.”</div><div> </div><div><strong>TCS Consolidates Partnership With Amsterdam</strong></div><div>Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, on Wednesday announced the extension of its partnership with the TCS Amsterdam Marathon. In an agreement signed in the presence of the Vice-Mayor of the City of Amsterdam, Eric van der Burg, the company renewed its title sponsorship of the Marathon until 2020, extending the original partnership by an additional five years.</div><div> </div><div>Since TCS first began its support of the Marathon in 2011, the event has grown to become one of the largest and most popular marathons in Europe, hosting over 42,500 runners from over 80 countries last year. The race has now received the IAAF Gold Label for Road Races, the highest accreditation in this field.</div><div> </div><div>TCS’ employees and clients have contributed extensively to the event, comprising over 4 per cent of the runners each year (1,850 of them participated in 2014). Over the past four years, the company’s employees joined up into combined teams with over 30 of its client organizations, including ABN AMRO, Achmea, ASML, Avery Desnnison, AXA, Belgacom, DSM, ING, Iamsterdam, Nyenrode Business University, Irdeto, KLM, KPN, NXP, Platform Outsourcing Nederland, Rabobank, Royal HaskoningDHV and Tata Steel. Collectively these teams have been in the forefront of the effort that raised over €500,000 for the VUmc Amsterdam Cancer Centre, the country’s leading cancer research facility. The company has won several corporate engagement and CSR awards in recognition of these initiatives.</div><div> </div><div><strong>TCS Research Scholarship Programme Expanded</strong></div><div>Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a leading IT services, consulting and business solutions organization, on Wednesday announced that the company’s flagship TCS Research Scholarship Programme (TCS RSP) will be extended for another five years to reach over 200 additional doctoral research scholars across India in the area of Computer Science. Till date, TCS has actively supported 188 research scholars across 33 institutes in India, under this programme. Six students have successfully completed their Phds under this scheme.</div><div> </div><div>For the next five years, the TCS RSP will benefit 40 scholars annually. The programme supports nearly 20 per cent of all the Computing Science PhD scholars in India. The TCS Research Scholarship Programme was launched in 2010 to provide a major fillip for quality research in areas such as computer sciences and engineering, information systems and technology, and software engineering. The programme also aims to promote development and innovation to contribute towards boosting the country’s technology landscape.</div>
