Google sold more than one Home smart speaker every second since it started shipping in mid-October, taking the sales numbers to over six million, the company has announced.

“We sold more than one Google Home device every second since Google Home Mini started shipping in October,” Rishi Chandra, VP, Product Management, Google Home, said in a blog post on Friday.

“Google Home usage increased 9X this holiday season over last year’s, as you controlled more smart devices, asked more questions, listened to more music, and tried out all the new things you can do with your Assistant on Google Home,” added Scott Huffman, Vice President, Engineering, Google Assistant.

The tech giant currently offers three Home devices – the original Home, the Home Max and the Home Mini. However, it did not reveal the sales figures for the individual devices.

Meanwhile Amazon, Google’s main rival in the smart speaker space has not revealed exactly how many Echo smart speakers it has sold but it pegged the number of its competing Echo Dot sales in the millions, according to Businessinsider.com.

Google in November rolled out an update that will allow you to use Home speakers as intercom systems in your house.

People can now broadcast their voice from Google Assistant on smartphones or voice-activated speakers like Google Home.

“When you need to round up the family in the morning, just say ‘Ok Google, broadcast it’s time for school!’ and your message will broadcast to all Google Assistant-enabled speakers in your home,” Alex Duong, Product Manager, Google Home, said in a blog post.

To get the feature work, sign in with the same Google Account for all devices. The feature is currently available in the US, Australia, Canada and the UK.

A 36-year-old Special Police Officer (SPO) attached to Haryana Police was mowed down by a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) here, police said on Monday.

Mukesh Kumar was posted in Palam Vihar police station. He was earlier with the Haryana State Industrial Security Force (HSISF).

He was killed while on duty on Sunday night at a barricade in Palam Vihar, police officer Ravinder Kumar told IANS.

“The vehicle involved in the accident has been identified and a case has been filed against its unknown driver,” Kumar said.

IIM Lucknow on Monday announced the result of CAT 2017.

The top scorers have also been announced but unlike last year that had only male engineers in the top 20 list, this year, the batch of top 20 has been different, having two female candidates and three non-engineers as mentioned in a press release by IIM Lucknow.

All candidates can easily download their result scorecards by logging into the official CAT website with their login id and password or wait for an automated SMS message that will inform them about their overall result percentage.

Here’s how a candidate can download his/her scorecard:

Step one: Go to official CAT 2017 website: www.iimcat.ac.in

Step two: Click on the link for CAT 2017 Score Card.

Step three: Enter your login id and password.

Step four: Click on Submit.

Step five: View and download your score card.

The CAT exam was conducted in two shifts on November 26, 2017 and a total of 1,99,632 candidates had appeared for the exam conducted in different test centres in a total of 140 cities.

The IIMs will next announce their admission criteria largely based on CAT score, writing ability, group discussion and personal interviews.

India has 20 IIMs which admit nearly 4,000 students into their flagship two-year management programs.

India will launch 31 satellites, including earth observation spacecraft Cartosat, on January 12 instead of its earlier tentative schedule on January 10, a space official said on Monday.

“The rocket launch to carry Cartosat and other satellites, including 28 from the US and five other countries, will take place on January 12 at 9.30 a.m.,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Public Relations Director Devi Prasad Karnik told IANS here.

“There is no delay in the schedule as the earlier stated launch date of January 10 was merely tentative,” stated Karnik.

The rocket launch would take place from ISRO’s spaceport located at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

The first space mission in 2018 on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C40) comes four months after a similar rocket failed to deliver the country’s eighth navigation satellite in the earth’s lower orbit on August 31.

The mission’s payload will also include one each nano and micro satellite from India, besides Cartosat-2.

As an observational satellite, Cartosat will beam high-quality images for cartographic, urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation and utility management like road network monitoring.

The fans of the Kolkata Knight Riders’ were stunned when Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise decided not to retain former India opener Gautam Gambhir at the recent Indian Premier League Player Retention event.

Gambhir, who had led KKR to two IPL titles, is set to generate a great deal of interest among IPL teams when his name will flash on the screen in the much-talked about auction on 27 and 28 January.

Even though, there are high chances that KKR will play their right-to-match card in the auction to retain Gambhir, yet if the speculations doing round on the internet is to be believed then the Delhi lad can be seen playing for Chennai Super Kings in the upcoming season.

A cryptic Tweet from CSK’s official handle had created a buzz on the internet about the potential destination of Gautam Gambhir.

All the speculation started when a micro-blogging site user (@Anti_ESTD) tweeted, “I Hv a strong feeling @GautamGambhir wil b picked by @ChennaiIPL in this auction”.

I Hv a strong feeling @GautamGambhir wil b picked by @ChennaiIPL in this auction. #IPLRetention

— Vikashkothari (@Anti_ESTD) January 5, 2018

Co-incidentally or incidentally, the official Twitter handle of CSK decide to respond to the Tweet.

https://t.co/zS5Tt9Y1TU

— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) January 5, 2018

Earlier, in the mega IPL player retention, CSK was predictable when they decided to rope their skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni along with Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina.

In 2016, MS Dhoni was the first choice of Rising Pune Supergiants when CSK was banned from IPL for two years due to fixing saga.

Dhoni had led CSK in winning two IPL in 2010 and 2011 and in the Champions League 2010.

Eight coaches of a goods train derailed in Uttar Pradesh’s Barabanki district on Monday, a railway official said.

The train was en route to Gonda from Lucknow. The derailment occurred due to a track fracture.

The derailment has disrupted rail traffic and efforts were underway to clear and repair the tracks, the official added.

In yet another case of ‘drunk and driving’ in the capital, five powerlifters, including a national level player, lost their lives while one received severe injuries after their over speeding car hit a road divider and crashed into pole in Outer Delhi Alipur area on early hours of Sunday.

Rajneesh Gupta DCP Rohini identified the deceased as Saksham Yadav, 28 a national level power lifter Tikamchand, 27 Saurabh, 18 Yogesh, 24 and Harish Roy 20 while the injured as Rohit, 23.

“The incident took place on the wee hours of Sunday near Sindhu Border when victims were heading towards Haryana’s Karnal road while celebrating Rohit’s birthday. They were returning from Panipat after attending athlete meets,” the DCP said.

“Primary investigation reveals that the car was over speeding at the time of incident and few beer bottles were recovered from their car which indicates towards them being drunk. However we are waiting for the autopsy reports of the deceased and injured to be fit for statement,” the DCP said.

The DCP added that locals informed police about the incident and on reaching all six were found heavily bleeding. “Due to massive collision the roof of the car was blown away which tells about the intensity of the collision. And also after the collision with an iron pole car rolled down before halting. As of now it is not clear who amongst six victims was driving the vehicle. All the six athletes were initially taken to Raja Harish Chandra hospital where doctors declared four brought dead while Saksham and Rohit were referred to Max hospital in Shalimar Bagh. Later, they were taken to AIIMS Trauma Center where Saksham succumbed to injuries while Rohit has been kept in Intensive Care Unit,” he said.

Requesting anonymity, a senior doctor from AIIMS treating both told The Statesman that Saksham’s condition was very critical when he was brought here in the morning around 9.30 a.m. “Both the injured had severe injuries and they lost lot of blood. But Saksham was more critical as he had suffered two cardiac arrests in Max and one here in AIIMS. At 6.38 he succumbed to the injury,” the doctor said.

Following the accident, police have registered case under section 304A (causing death by negligence) against the driver. Rajneesh Gupta told The Statesman. “Now we are waiting for Rohit to recover from his injuries and declared fit for the statement. We have also collected the CCTV footage of the area and will analyse it to know who was driving the car. Through CCTV footage we will also check if there was any foul play in the accident,” added Gupta.

He further said that prime facie it looks like all the six were drunk and due to dense fog the driver lost control over the vehicle. “Eyewitnesses told police that driver was trying to overtake the vehicle when he hit the divider and smashed the vehicle into pole after bouncing few meters away. The rooftop of the car was blown away, which tells about the excessive speed of car,” said Gupta.

Saksham Yadav bagged a gold medal while representing the country in power-lifting world championship held in Moscow in 2007. “He had also won gold in junior category in 2006. He was residing with his family members in Civil Lines DRDO office Apartment. While Tikamchand was working as a bouncer, Saurabh as helper in Gym, Yogesh as video camera contractor, while Harish Roy is a student. Rohit also works as helper in a gym,” the police said.

As the government continues to caution people against tobacco and e-cigarettes, a study by the North East Hills University (NEHU) has stated that Electronics Nicotine Delivery System (ENDS) or vaping has minimum health and safety concerns compared to high risk associated with conventional cigarettes.

According to study, researchers, who undertook an evidence-based audit of published scientific literature on the issue, came to the same conclusion in their paper titled “Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) as a substitute for conventional cigarettes.

“Our systematic meta-analysis of published literature compares the health and safety aspects of vaping using ENDS with smoking conventional cigarettes. We find that ENDS have minimum health and safety concerns compared to the high risks associated with conventional cigarettes,” said the study.

According to the recently published study, people who have been wanting to quit cigarettes can also switch to ENDS which is gradually much lesser harmful.

In a similar study by University of Catania in Italy has revealed that no evidence of a lung injury amongst even the heaviest e-cigarette users, in the form of physiological, clinical or inflammatory measures.

The study stated that no changes were observed in the blood pressure or heart rate of the young e-cigarette users.

“There was no evidence of health concerns associated with long-term use of e-cigarettes in the relatively young users who did not smoke tobacco,” said Riccardo Polosa, Director at the University of Catania.

For the research, published in the journal Scientific Reports, the team conducted a three-and-a-half-year-long comparative study on a group of daily e-cigarette users aged between 23 and 35 years, and another group of young adults who have never smoked.

The researchers examined health factors like blood pressure, heart rate, body weight, lung function, respiratory symptoms, exhaled breath nitric oxide (eNO), exhaled carbon monoxide (eCO) and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) of the lungs in both the groups.

“No pathological findings could be identified on HRCT of the lungs and no respiratory symptoms were consistently reported in the e-cigarette users,” Polosa added.

The DMK and Congress on Monday boycotted Governor Banwarilal Purohits inaugural address to the Tamil Nadu Assembly and their MLAs trooped out of the House after accusing him of letting a “minority” AIADMK government remain in office.

The DMK, along with the Congress, demanded an immediate floor test in the legislature.

As soon as Purohit addressed the MLAs with a ‘Vanakkam” in Tamil, the opposition legislators began raising slogans. In no time, the DMK MLAs walked out, led by their leader M.K. Stalin, followed by the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League.

Stalin told the media that the government did not enjoy majority support in the House as it had only 111 MLAs when it needed 117 in a house of 234.

Stalin said that despite repeated requests, the Governor was not taking a decision on the need for a floor test. “How can the Governor allow a minority government to run the state?”

Even among those with the ruling AIADMK, many MLAs were inclined to oppose the government in the wake of the feud within the ruling party, he said.

Stalin said he hoped that the Madras High Court would soon come out with a ruling regarding the case of 18 disqualified AIADMK MLAs opposed to the ruling faction.

Disregarding the opposition protest, the Governor continued his address, detailing the government’s achievements and its efforts to promote welfare measures.

The government is set to build a grand memorial for late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa and turn her house, Veda Nilayam, into a memorial, Purohit said.

He lauded the efforts of the state and central governments in resolving the Tamil fishermen issue.

There is a buzz that Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati may hit the theatres the same day as Padman, but actor Akshay Kumar is hopeful that both the movies do well in the holiday weekend.

Padmavati, which missed its December 1 release date due to controversy over its plot, has been finally given a go ahead by the censor board and according to grapevine the producers are planning January 25 release – the same day as R Balki-directed Padman.

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) recently gave U/A certification along with some modifications and suggested to change its title to Padmavat.

Asked about his reaction on the possible clash of the two films, Akshay said, “It is not about competition, it is a very big day, a big week, so all the films can come. Both the films can release on that day.

“Every film has the right to release whenever they (makers) want, and I am happy for them,” he told reporters.

Viacom18 Motion Pictures and Sanjay Leela Bhansali Productions are yet to announce the official release date of the film.

Akshay’s Padman co-star, Sonam Kapoor said she would wait for an official announcement from the team of Padmavati.

The Supreme Court on Monday said it will re-examine its verdict upholding Section 377 of the IPC that criminalises gay sex.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra decided to re-examine the top court’s earlier order upholding section 377 of the Indian Penal Code. “Our earlier order needs to be reconsidered,” said Justice Misra on Monday.

The court order came on a petition by 10 individuals holding that IPC section 377 was “violative of fundamental rights under Article 14 (right to equality) and Article 21 (right to life)”.

The Supreme Court had earlier set aside a Delhi High Court verdict decriminalising the gay sex.

While referring the matter to a larger bench the court observed “what is natural to one may not be natural to others”.

A major fire on Monday gutted the principal’s office and an adjacent record room of the state-run BRD Hospital here, the fire department said.

No loss of life has been reported in the blaze in the hospital, which was in the news last year after scores of infants died at the facility.

“Prima facie, it seems that the fire was caused by a short circuit,” SP (North) Ganesh Saha said.

A committee has been constituted to probe the reasons behind the fire, Chief Fire Service Officer T K Singh said.

Six fire tenders took nearly an hour to control the flames which destroyed important documents in the record room.

The Baba Raghav Das Medical College had hit the headlines in August last year when 63 children, including infants, died within a span of four days when the supply of oxygen was allegedly disrupted due to non-payment of dues to the vendor.

The state government has, however, vehemently denied that shortage of oxygen led to the deaths.

Strong global cues along with healthy buying in capital goods, healthcare and banking stocks lifted the key Indian equity indices to trade with gains for the third consecutive session on Monday.

The wider Nifty50 of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) crossed the 10,600-level and touched a fresh intra-day high level of 10,623.20 points.

Around 1.10 p.m., the Nifty50 traded higher by 53.45 points and 0.51 per cent at 10,612.30 points.

The barometer 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the BSE too scaled a new intra-day high of 34,374.85 points.

The Sensex, which opened at 34,216.33 points, traded at 34341.69 points (at 1.10 p.m.) — up 187.84 points or 0.55 per cent — from its previous session’s close.

The BSE market breadth was bullish as 1,815 stocks advanced as compared to 1,016 declines.

“BSE Sensex surged to new life time high and the Nifty50 hit a new record high of 10,600 with strong gains from pharma, IT and banking stocks,” Dhruv Desai, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Tradebulls, told IANS.

On Friday, the equity indices closed higher on the back of positive global cues, along with inflow of foreign funds.

The Nifty50 rose by 54.05 points or 0.51 per cent to close at 10,558.85 points while the Sensex closed at 34,153.85 points — up 184.21 points or 0.54 per cent.

Anushka Sharma returned to India after a vacation with her hubby Virat Kohli from Cape Town, South Africa where she had accompanied Kohli, who is leading India against South Africa in the three-match Test series that started on January 5.

Anushka was spotted at the Mumbai airport. She looked stunning in all-black look. Her airport style is never disappointing and this time also she kept it comfy and classy. She was dressed in a sporting black jumpsuit with white sneakers. Anushka smiled for the cameras at the airport.

@AnushkaSharma
Very cute smile#Virushka @iamsrk pic.x.com/P0jjxPMUBf

— ֆǟɮɛʀ ֆʀӄɨǟռֆᶻᵉʳᵒ (@SSrkians) January 8, 2018

Anushka Sharma is back in town😍💕 Mumbai 😍💗 @anushkasharma @virat.kohli #anushkasharma #mumbai #bestactress #dancer #Hot #Charming #wink #selfie #flowers #queen #perfection #Stylish #hairstyles #cutest #smile #Cute #Cutiepie #proud #dieheartfan #fan #love #world #for #Life #anushkafans #taimuralikhan #insta #photography

A post shared by 💁💁Payal (@payal_ranushka) on Jan 7, 2018 at 10:26pm PST

The couple celebrated their New Year in Cape Town. She was also present to cheer for India on the first day of the Test match against South Africa.

Wishing you all a very happy , healthy and prosperous new year ! Love and light to all ❤️✨ pic.x.com/mV2vE595ji

— Anushka Sharma (@AnushkaSharma) January 1, 2018

She is all set to be in a work mode after her vacation and marriage celebrations. She will now get busy with her work commitments and her home production, film Pari, all set to release on February 9 and now she will start its promotions.

In a heart-warming gesture, Shah Rukh Khan and the entire team of Zero welcomed the actress with a cute flower bouquet and some pictures of her with husband Virat Kohli.

She took to Instagram to express her gratitude towards her co-stars. In an Instrgram story, she wrote: “Great to be back on set. Thank you for this floral welcome guys. Lot of love.”

. @AnushkaSharma ‘s Instagram story as she starts shooting for #Zero. We can’t wait to see her sizzling chemistry on screen with our Bauaa! pic.x.com/TLPgIjU1un

— SRK Universe (@SRKUniverse) January 8, 2018

Anushka Sharma and Shah Rukh Khan’s film Zero is scheduled to release in December 2018.

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen declared that the current Big Bash League (BBL) is the last that he is playing. Pietersen is also planning to end his cricketing career across the globe.

Pietersen took it to micro-blogging site to inform about his decision that he will not play again in Australia. “Confirming that this is my last BBL as a player! By the time BBL starts later this yr I cannot see myself wanting to improve or try & get better. That means it’s time to finish! I’ll enjoy playing my last few games at the Adelaide Oval, SCG & MCG!,” tweeted Pietersen.

However, the South African-born cricketer is expected to play in Cricket South Africa’s events and Pakistan Super League. But his statement also hints that by the end of this year he will retire from the game.

Pietersen had played with Melbourne Stars for four seasons and while talking to Australian media, he had expressed his desire to stay involved with the team.

“I won’t be playing next season. I’m done and dusted (with my) playing days,” he made the statement to Australian media.

“You come to the end of your time and you get to a time in your career where you just think, ‘Do I want this?’. I want this desperately at the moment, but I don’t think I’ll want it in 10 months‘ time,” Kevin said.

“I love Melbourne. To have some sort of (Stars) involvement going forward would be immense value for me,” Pietersen added.

Pietersen had scored 998 runs with a strike rate of 135.97 while playing in Big Bash.

In a boost for the LGBT community, the Supreme Court (SC) has decided to revisit its earlier verdict on Section 377 which criminalises homosexuality and has referred a plea seeking its decriminalisation to a larger bench.

Reopening the debate on Indian Penal Code’s Article 377, the three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by CJI Dipak Misra said, “it would reconsider and examine the Constitutional validity of section 377.”

The SC also issued a notice to the Centre seeking response on a writ petition filed by five members of LGBT community, who say they live in fear of Police because of their natural sexual preferences.

In august 2017, the landmark judgment on the right to privacy by a nine-judge bench of SC had criticised an earlier judgment of the apex court which reinstated the Section 377 that declares homosexuality unnatural and a legal offence.

The judgment called the previous judgment in the Suresh Kumar Koushal vs Naz foundation case a “discordant note” which directly bears upon the evolution of the constitutional jurisprudence on the right to privacy.

In the 2013 judgment, the two judge bench of justices GS Singhvi and SJ Mukhopadhaya had argued that in 150 years, less than 200 persons had been prosecuted under Article 377.

The judgment that overturned a 2009 judgment by Delhi High Court that decriminalised homosexual acts also said “plight of sexual minorities” cannot be applied blindfolded for deciding the constitutionality of the law enacted by the Indian legislature.