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GREATER NOIDA: UM Lohia Two Wheelers today launched an electric cruiser 'Renegade Thor' with a price tag of Rs 4.9 lakh (ex-showroom) in the country. The company also launched Renegade Duty S and the Renegade Duty Ace bikes with prices starting at Rs 1.9 lakh. The Renegade Thor produces 30Kw of power along with 70Nm of torque, and is equipped with a 5-speed transmission gearbox, with a hydraulic clutch and a liquid cooled motor with a controller. I t also comes with reverse gear allowing for easy manoeuvring.  "By unveiling the Thor, we want to establish our technological advancement for the Indian market, reiterating the fact that we're here to stay. The Indian market is opening to electric motorcycles, and with the Thor we have a first mover's advantage," UML CEO Rajeev Mishra told reporters here. The Renegade Duty S and the Duty Ace cater to a special segment of motorcyclists who are seeking fun and advent ure fr...

WhatsApp has reportedly started testing out its UPI -based payments feature in India. The new feature, available for select WhatsApp beta users on iOS and Android, enables users to send and receive money using the Indian government's Unified Payments Interface (UPI) standard. This feature is said to be available on WhatsApp version 2.18.21 for iOS, and version 2.18.41 for Android. Considering the large user base of the messaging app in India, the payments platform's integration may give another boost to digital payments. The WhatsApp Payments feature, first spotted by GizmoTimes , is presently available to select users of the beta app in India. The feature can apparently be accessed in a chat window through the Attachments menu. The option is said to be available alongside other options such as Gallery, Video, Documents etc. Clicking on Payments will open a disclaimer window, followed by a list of banks to choose from. You can then select your preferred bank acc...

Facial recognition technology from Apple and Samsung will prompt other manufacturers to include the feature in their devices, a market research firm said on Thursday, adding that 1 billion smartphones will have some form of a face unlock solution in 2020. According to a report by Counterpoint Research, this development could lead to facial recognition becoming the de-facto standard for unlocking phones and the gradual elimination of fingerprint sensors in smartphones. "The diffusion of facial recognition technology into lower tier price bands will be faster than any other flagship feature due to 2D facial recognition being native on the Android platform," said Pavel Naiya, Senior Analyst at Counterpoint Research. "However, according to our estimates, close to 60 percent of all smartphones with facial recognition will use 3D technology in 2020. Data collected from multiple 3D sensors will assist emerging technologies like Augmented Reality , Virtual Realit...

HDFC Bank raises lending rates by 10 basis points even as RBI holds rates, other major banks are likely to follow suit New Delhi/Mumbai: India’s struggling economy is facing a new challenge: banks are raising interest rates even though the central bank is leaving its rates unchanged, as risks such as surging bond yields and more provisioning requirements erode their profit. HDFC Bank, India’s second-biggest bank by assets, on Wednesday became the latest to raise some rates by 10 basis points. The same day, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept its policy rate unchanged, to “carefully” nurture economic growth . Other major banks are likely to follow suit, raising concerns of de facto rate increases in an economy that is growing at its slowest pace in three years and needs private investment. An RBI staff study showed every 100 bps increase in borrowing costs lowers the investment rate by as much as 91 bps. “Lending rates will move up. We cannot avoid that from happening,...

Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Telsa, on Wednesday posted the final photograph of his Tesla Roadster that was launched into space on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket and is headed to the astroid belt. Musk wrote in the Instagram post, “Last pic of Starman in Roadster enroute to Mars Orbit and then the Asteroid Belt.” Tuesday's launch marked the rocket’s first test flight and is the most powerful rocket since the Saturn V's used in the Apollo missions.  Test vehicles usually carry concrete or steel blocks, the newpaper reported, but Musk said that would be “extremely boring.” “We decided to send something unusual, something that made us feel,” Musk told...

In America, not getting enough sleep isn’t just an issue plaguing a select segment of the population. As of 2013, 40 percent of Americans get less than the recommended amount of sleep each night,  as opposed to 11 percent of the population in 1942 . The negative side effects of not getting enough sleep are  well documented , but as it turns out, it isn’t just the duration of your snooze affecting your health. A recent study has shown a link between waking up during the middle of the night and an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s. The University of Illinois conducted a sleep study of 516 adults aged 71-78. The study found that the proteins associated with Alzheimer’s, known as biomarkers, were highest in the participants who suffered from respiratory sleep disorders which led to frequent sleep interruptions. (Here’s how to fall back asleep if you wake up in the middle of the night .) According to the Alzheimer’s Association, 20 percent of women and 30 per...