Vikas SN, reporting for ET Tech:

As per the deal, Spotify will get access to more than 100,000 music tracks across various genres like Film, Carnatic, Hindustani classical and devotional music in over 25 languages. This includes songs from artists like Lata Mangeshkar, R.D. Burman, Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mahmood, Manna Dey, Kalyanji-Anandji, and Hemant Kumar among others.

Saregama’s “Carvaan” is one of the best collection of songs on this planet, and I’m glad some (most?) of that is coming to Spotify.

Apple Updates the 13-inch MacBook Pro, Kills the Butterfly Keyboard for Good

Apple today announced the release of an updated lineup of its 13-inch MacBook Pro that introduces the new Magic Keyboard, doubles the storage, and adds faster RAM and newer CPUs in the top-end models.

The biggest change, of course, is the replacement of the terrible Butterfly keyboard with the newer and better Magic Keyboard. The 13-inch MacBook Pro was the only notebook in Apple’s current lineup that featured the sucky keys, so good riddance.

The new lineup also offers Intel’s 10th-generation CPUs and 16GB of faster 3733MHz LPDDR4X memory, but only on the topend model that features the 2.0GHz Core i5 processor. While the lower model does get the option to upgrade to 16GB of RAM, you’re limited to the much slower 2133MHz LPDDR3 RAM only.

Effectively, the base model of the “new” 2020 13-inch MacBook Pro that will go on sale in India late next month will come with:

  • Magic Keyboard
  • 1.4GHz quad‑core 8th‑generation Intel Core i5
  • 8GB of 2133MHz LPDDR3 RAM
  • 256GB SSD
  • Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645
  • Two Thunderbolt 3 (USB‑C) ports

and cost a whopping INR 1,22,900 or $1625.

If you have to actually take advantage of the newer processor & RAM, you have to get the topend model with:

  • 2.0GHz quad‑core 10th‑generation Intel Core i5
  • 16GB of 3733MHz LPDDR4X RAM
  • 512GB SSD
  • Intel Iris Plus Graphics
  • Four Thunderbolt 2 (USB-C) ports

and costs INR 1,74,900 or $2315.

If you need 1TB of SSD storage, i.e. +512GB in the above config, you have to shell out INR 20,000 extra, taking the total to INR 1,94,900.

The 16-inch MacBook Pro starts at INR 1,99,900.

Devanagari Numbers: How to Enable Hindi or Marathi Digits in the Watch Face on Apple Watch

Back in September, I wrote about my favorite watch face on the Apple Watch running watchOS 6 — the California Watchface with Devanagari (Marathi) numbers.

Devanagari Numbers on Apple Watch

The numerical text on the Apple Watch is being displayed as Devanagari text — Hindi or Marathi — with a simple analog watch face. Since then, I’ve received a bunch of emails asking how to enable the Devanagari numbers on Apple Watch. Here’s a small guide that explains how to display Apple Watch time with Marathi or Hindi numbers.

How to Enable Devanagari Numbers on Apple Watch

Apple Watch running Devanagari Numbers Watch Face
  1. First, ensure that you’re running watchOS 6 on your Apple Watch, as the California watch face isn’t available in previous versions.
  2. Now, tap and hold on your Apple Watch screen to enter the watch face editor mode.
  3. Swipe till the extreme right and tap on the ‘New‘ watch face button.
  4. Swipe up or rotate the crown till you see the ‘California‘ watch face, then tap on it to enable it.
  5. Once again, tap and hold on your Apple Watch screen to enter the watch face editor mode.
  6. Tap on the ‘Customize‘ button.
  7. Rotate the digital crown to cycle through California → Arabic → Arabic Indic → Devanagari numerals on the watch face.
  8. Swipe left to customize the appearance of the watch face, such as background color and shape.
  9. Press the digital crown when you’re done.

That’s it! You now have an Apple Watch with Hindi or Marathi numbers on the watch face.

You can add and customize any complications you want, depending on what shape you choose for the California watch face. If you choose the Full Screen watch face, then your options are limited. Choosing the round shape for the watch face lets you set much more complications, so you can go wild. I personally like to keep it simple, so the photo at the top are the Devanagari Digits I currently have on my Apple Watch.

Hit me up on Twitter: @preshit if you have any questions or feedback. And share your photos too, so

Anjli Raval, Tim Bradshaw and Benjamin Parkin reporting for the Financial Times:

Facebook is in talks to buy a multibillion-dollar stake in Mukesh Ambani’s digital operation Reliance Jio to expand its presence in the Indian digital market, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.

The Silicon Valley technology giant was close to signing a preliminary deal for a 10 per cent share, one person said, but negotiations stalled because of the global travel bans that have been implemented since the coronavirus outbreak.

That’s one way of getting into the country that struck down Free Basics.

Mubi is a streaming service that is known for its sparse-but-meaningful catalog of films, has become available in India, reports Manish Singh for Techcrunch.

The London-headquartered firm is offering a three-month subscription in India at Rs 199 ($2.8), after which it would charge $7 a month or $67 a year (this way, the monthly cost works out to about $5.5). This is substantially lower than the £9.99 monthly subscription fee it charges to subscribers in the U.K., and the $10.99 it charges in the U.S.

I first learned about Mubi through a comment on some random Reddit thread. Mubi has made a name for itself by curating a small collection of critically acclaimed films in its catalog — a catalog that refreshes every few weeks.

I’ve been wanting to try out Mubi for a while now, but never really pushed the lever owing to its high subscription price. Now that it has arrived in India with a low entry barrier (and it also has a nice app for Apple TV), I might just take the plunge.

Devanagari Digits — My Favorite Watch Face on Apple Watch in watchOS 6

The California watch face on watchOS 6 with Devanagari numerals

I updated my Apple Watch Series 4 (GPS) to watchOS 6 a couple of days ago and while it’s nice to have features like the ECG app in India or the new independent apps, by far my favorite thing in watchOS 6 is the new California watch face on watchOS 6 with Devanagari numerals. I have it set to show the StepsApp complication, and I love how minimal the whole thing looks.

How I wish I could display the day and date in Devanagari too.

Update: To learn how to enable Devanagari numbers on Apple Watch, follow this tutorial.

Pankaj Doval, reporting for TOI

“Apple will be investing $1 billion in India through its partners. They have said the production will be used for meeting the demand for its products across global markets,” an official source told TOI.

Foxconn, Taiwan’s contract manufacturing behemoth and the biggest production partner for Apple globally, will be investment partner for the iPhone maker’s latest push. Its factory in Chennai will be used to manufacture products for Apple’s global markets. Also, a host of component suppliers to the company will be making investments in the region for the local push.

Good to see these activities in recent times, although I’d like to see some concrete results from all this.

Apple has posted a new job listing on its ‘Jobs at Apple’ website for a Environmental Initiatives Program Manager focused on India and the Middle East.

The main focus of this position is on tracking, monitoring and implementation of environmental regulations in India and the Middle East, establishing relationships to key internal and external partners, and identifying and developing leadership opportunities for Apple in the field of environmental responsibility.

The position is located at Apple India’s offices in Gurugram, India and has a long list of key qualifications.