Paradise Papers leak reveals secrets of the world elite's hidden wealth

The material, which has come from two offshore service providers and the company registries of 19 tax havens, was obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with partners including the Guardian, the BBC and the New York Times. The project has been called the Paradise Papers.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/05/paradise-papers-leak-reveals-secrets-of-world-elites-hidden-wealth

Indian Content on Google Home

After you have got hold of that new toy they call Google Home, you probably start wondering "does it play regional content?" This article attempts to uncover ways to do just that.

Been trying to figure out ways to make the Google Home speaker play online radio content from India and this is what you discover - it can play some Indian radio channels via TuneIn and iHeartRadio. You can, for example, call out Hey Google and tell it to fire up any of these online radio stations playing news, music and other content in Indian languages. Here is a non-exhaustive list of online radio that streams Indian content ranging from news to commentary to music.

1. Hey Google, play Red FM: plays 93.1 Red FM Vancouver streamed over TuneIn. This Canadian radio station is broadcast from the Metro Vancouver region of British Columbia and the majority of its programming is in Punjabi, Hindi and Urdu languages.
2. Hey Google, play Radio Mirchi: plays Mirchi FM Online that is streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Suva, Fiji and the majority of its programming is in the Hindi language playing Bollywood and other Indian music. This broadcast is mostly unreliable - more often the playback fails.
3. Hey Google, play Big FM Kolkata: attempts to play 92.7 Big FM streamed over iHeartRadio but fails.
4. Hey Google, play Radio City Hindi: plays online Radio City Hindi streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Mumbai and the majority of its programming is in the Hindi language. This channel gives you a flavor of Radio City 91.1 FM online, with mood-mapped Bollywood music, stories from Love Guru and the oh-so hilarious Babber Sher.
5. Hey Google, play Radio City Hindi Classics: plays Radio City Hindi Classics streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Mumbai and the majority of its programming is in the Hindi language featuring all-time favorite classics of Hindi Cinema’s legendary artists.
6. Hey Google, play Radio City Bollywood Mix: plays Radio City Bollywood Mix streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Mumbai and the majority of its programming is in the Hindi language featuring select covers, mixes, recreations and much more of favorite Bollywood songs from across the globe.
7. Hey Google, play Radio City Tamil: plays Radio City Tamil streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Mumbai and the majority of its programming is in the Tamil language featuring the finest picks of Tamil contemporary songs peppered with humor capsules & the iconic Radio City Love Guru.
8. Hey Google, play Radio City Malayalam: plays Radio City Malayalam streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Mumbai and the majority of its programming is in the Malayalam language featuring blend of contemporary and classic hits.
9. Hey Google, play Radio City Kannada: plays a radio station from Google Play Music called College Bound - though you would expect it to play Radio City Kannada streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Mumbai and the majority of its programming is in the Kannada language presenting the best of Bangalore.
10. Hey Google, play Radio City Gujarati: plays Radio City Gujarati streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Mumbai and the majority of its programming is in the Gujarati language featuring a blend of devotional, lok sangeet, garba and Gujarati film music streaming all day long.
11. Hey Google, play Radio City Marathi: plays Radio City Marathi streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Mumbai and the majority of its programming is in the Marathi language featuring retro music across a wide range of film, devotional and folk compositions, all-day long.
12. Hey Google, play Radio City Premaloka: plays Radio City Premaloka streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Mumbai and the majority of its programming is in the Kannada language featuring love songs with the soothing voice of Love Guru, all through the day, all throughout the year.
13. Hey Google, play Radio City Freedom: plays Radio City Freedom streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Mumbai and the majority of its programming is in the Hindi language featuring the best of indie music from across genres straight out of the Indian sub-continent.
14. Hey Google, play Radio City Electronica: plays Radio City Electronica streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Mumbai and the majority of its programming is in the Hindi language featuring Indie Electronic music 24x7 - Dubstep, House, Chillout, Drum & Bass, Ambient, Trance & more.
15. Hey Google, play Radio City Metal: plays Radio City Metal streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Mumbai and the majority of its programming is in the Hindi language featuring non-stop Indian metal songs from the biggest bands in the Indian metal underground.
16. Hey Google, play Radio City Fusion: plays Radio City Fusion streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Mumbai and the majority of its programming is in the Hindi language featuring carefully curated, non-stop contemporary Indian folk fusion songs across languages.
17. Hey Google, play Suno 1024: plays Suno 102.4 FM streamed over TuneIn. This Indian radio station is broadcast from Dubai, United Arab Emirates and the majority of its programming is in the Hindi language featuring Bollywood and other Indian music.

Some of these streaming services are not always too reliable, though they work most of the times.

Music I'm listening to in 2016

Here is a quick log of the music albums that I have been listening to this year.

1. Recovery / Eminem
2. The Fifth Element (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) / Eric Serra
3. Bandho Bhangar Chhanda: Rhythmic Songs of Tagore / Kamalini Mukherji
4. Revival / Selena Gomez
5. 25 / Adele
6. Ishq Nachaye / Pankaj Udhas
7. Ami Je Jalshaghare / Manna Dey
8. Rock On!! / Shankar Ehsaan Loy & Javed Akhtar
9. All That You Can't Leave Behind / U2
10. 1,039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours / Green Day
11. Stoned Raiders / Cypress Hill
12. Shootout At Lokhandwala (Motion Picture Soundtrack) / Various Artists
13. The Pinkprint / Nicki Minaj
14. 2015 Grammy Nominees / Various Artists
1. Grammy Recordings
15. Sufiaana (The Complete Sufi Experience) / Various Artists
16. Black Sunday / Cypress Hill
17. Udaan / Bhoomi
18. Konvicted / Akon
19. Mutations / Beck
20. Freedom / Akon
21. Slippery When Wet / Bon Jovi
22. Trouble / Akon
23. Aman / Pankaj Udhas
24. Revival / Selena Gomez
25. Purpose / Justin Bieber
26. My Everything / Ariana Grande
27. Born This Way / Lady Gaga
28. Bangerz / Miley Cyrus
29. Demi / Demi Lovato
30. Breakout / Miley Cyrus
31. Title / Meghan Trainor
32. Ten Summoner's Tales / Sting
33. The Invisible Man / Cretu
34. ...But Seriously / Phil Collins
35. Beauty Behind The Madness / The Weeknd
36. Dance Of Love / Dan Hill
37. Boheme / Deep Forest
38. Views / Drake
39. Expressions / Jon Secada
40. Vagabond Heart / Rod Steward
41. Jagged Little Pill Acoustic / Alanis Morissette
42. Know-It-All / Alessia Cara
43. Isabliss / Amethystium
44. Silverstate / Silverstate
45. Soundscapes: Music Of The Mountains / Shiv Kumar Sharma
46. Soundscapes: Music of the Deserts / Zakir Hussain
47. Delirium / Ellie Goulding
48. Reflection / Fifth Harmony
49. Engraved In Black / Graveworm
50. ‎Moon Magic / Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia

Galaxy Note 7 prohibited in airplanes by FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration officially banned Galaxy Note 7s from being brought onto airplanes earlier this week, and under a new Emergency Restriction / Prohibition Order, it’s now a federal crime to fly with the device.

https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/16/13298846/galaxy-note-7-federal-crime-federal-aviation-administration

Jam Classic HX-P230G Keeps "Powering On"

The HDMX Jam Classic HX-P230G Bluetooth Wireless Speaker has been performing well for me since February 2016 with its solid-built design, clear sound with a decent level of bass that never had a distortion, and about 4 hours of battery backup - just enough for your personal listening.

This speaker series has an incredibly small footprint, is available in exciting colors (black, grey, orange, purple, green apple, blueberry and strawberry) and it has an interestingly low price point. At the time of writing this, it is available at an average $19 here at Amazon.

So, here is a new situation with my Jam Classic HX-P230G Bluetooth Wireless Speaker. Having been lying idle for just over a month now, when it is turned on it repeats the message "Powering on". It has been put under charge from the main AC outlet for over 8 hours but this behavior hasn't changed. The red light is always on when put on charge. The blue one turns on when the unit is powered up but blinks every 10 seconds as it infinitely repeats "Powering on". Factory-resetting the device by pressing and holding play/pause for 5 seconds or so until you hear a sound or the red light flashing doesn't seem to have any effect at this time. I just skewed through the user's manual but didn't find any related troubleshooting ideas.

Attempting to pair the speaker with an Xperia Z C6602 running on Android 5.1.1 throws up a "Couldn't pair with Jam Classic because of an incorrect PIN or passkey" error.

Here is a nice little article that reviews and provides troubleshooting tips - it doesn't cover my situation though: https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/HMDX_Jam_Troubleshooting

Reliance Jio launches 4G network in India, offers unlimited free voice calls

Jio's network is being touted as the largest 4G LTE deployment anywhere in the world, Ambani said, adding that the network is also "future proof" with baked in support for upcoming 5G and 6G network technologies. Jio's 4G coverage is available in 18,000 cities in the country, and over 200,000 remote areas. The company aims to extend the coverage to 90 percent of India's population by next year.

https://mashable.com/article/reliance-jio-launch-tariff-plans-india

Motorola Moto 360 (1st gen): Smartwatch with a blend of style, functionality and price

The Moto 360 is an Android Wear-based smartwatch made by Motorola Mobility. The appearance of the watch stands out with a round watch face in a solid-built stainless-steel case which is IP67 dust/water resistant. It doesn't support SIM-based mobile communication but has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi options to pair and synchronize with a smartphone. As one of the first Android Wear products to hit the market, it was first announced in March 2014 and subsequently released in September that year in the US and elsewhere.

Moto 360 (1st gen)

I ordered the Moto 360 in light chrome in June 2015 when it was retailing in Flipkart for Rs. 14,999 inclusive of all taxes. The delivery was fairly quick, and I had the device in my hands in three days. In comes in a cylindrical box which includes the smartwatch with the battery built in, a charging cradle, a power adapter with micro-USB output. and a quick start guide.

The watch is available in various colors like black, cognac leather, stone grey, champagne metal, natural metal, champagne, dark metal, and light metal.

Setup

Setting up the device is simple. Before powering up the device for the first time, charge it till 100% using the provided Qi charging dock or cradle and the wall charger. Install the Android Wear app on your smartphone and pair it with the watch using Bluetooth and / or Wi-Fi.

Display

The touch screen display consists of a 1.56-inch IPS LCD screen with a resolution of 320 x 290 pixels (~205 ppi density). The 16M color screen displays pretty crisp and vivid colors and is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3.

Calling

As the smartwatch doesn't include a built-in speaker, it doesn't allow to speak over the device itself. It, however, does show notifications for incoming calls and let you receive or reject calls directly from the display. To carry on the conversation, you have to use your phone. This is useful though when you are driving with your phone connected to the vehicle's infotainment system.

Messaging

The messaging application displays Short Messaging Service (SMS) messages on-screen. If you have other messaging apps installed, like WhatsApp, the messages can also be displayed.

Performance

The watch runs Android Wear OS on a 1.0 GHz Cortex A8 CPU over a Texas Instruments OMAP 3 SoC (system-on-chip) with 512 MB LPDDR RAM and 4 GB of internal storage. It handles most tasks smoothly, sometimes with a little lag and seldom the system hangs with auto or hard restarts.

Audio Quality

The device doesn't have an in-built speaker.

Microphone

An in-built microphone allows you to use voice commands to perform a variety of tasks - including doing a web search.

Camera

The device does not feature a camera.

Internal Storage

The internal memory of 4GB provides storage for installing a fair number of apps from the Google Play Store.

Expandable Storage

There is no option for additional storage.

Battery

One major component of a wearable device is the battery as that is what keeps it going. The smartwatch is powered by a non-removable 3.8V Motorola WX30 SNN5951A 300 mAh Li-ion battery packed into the casing. This is in contrast to Motorola's claim of a 320 mAh capacity battery as revealed by a teardown by iFixit. The watch charges inductively by resting it on the included charging Qi charging cradle. The charging cradle accepts a micro-USB which is also included in the box. The battery charge lasts just about a day with a conservative amount of use. The battery life could be better.

Connectivity

The Moto 360 smartwatch allows synchronization with a smartphone via Bluetooth 4.0 LE with aptX codec support. It also synchronizes with the smartphone via Wi-Fi. There is no option for cellular connectivity through a SIM card.

SAR (Specific Absorption Rate)

The highest SAR value for this smartwatch is 0.44 W/kg. The SAR limit for a wrist-worn mobile device set by the FCC is 4.0 W/kg.

FCC ID

The FCC ID for the device is IHDT6QC1 and the reports are available here.

Warranty

The product comes with a 1-year manufacturer warranty on the device and 6 months of warranty on the accessories.

Conclusion

The smartwatch has been performing well over the last 12 months and still got the looks. Sometimes the apps do hang, and the system abruptly reboots. I have seen the battery life deteriorate pretty fast over this period. The look and feel are still attractive. The connectivity to the smartphone is frequently lost and I have had to reset the watch and pair all over again several times. The 2nd generation of Moto 360 is already available which I have not tested.

January 28, 2022 Update: I have owned the Moto 360 (1st gen) for over 6 years now. Over the last 3 years many apps on the device have stopped working and synchronizing with Android phones. Lately, the phone has stopped completing the startup process and is unusable. So, I let it go.

The product homepage at http://moto360.motorola.com/

The user manual is available here at ManualsLib, here at B&H and here at the FCC ID database.