Dell 14S laptop debuts in India with Intel Core 5, Core 7 processors: Price, features, specifications

 

Dell has introduced the new Dell 14S laptop with its lightweight design and various colours in India to add more diversity to its notebook offerings. Announced in India on 4 November, the laptop targets younger consumers looking for a portable device with performance-focused features. It starts at ₹79,990 and comes in four colour options.

The Dell 14S has an aluminium body and the Intel Series 3 CPUs and up to 16GB RAM. It also has two display modes – a 120Hz panel with higher-end variants. Dell says it can get up to 21 hours of video streaming per charge.

Dell 14S design and display

The Dell 14S has an aluminium chassis that is 13.5mm thick and 1.15kg. It features a 180-degree hinge, one-touch lid opening and a backlit keyboard. The Dell laptop comes in four colours – Linen, Dusty Rose, Washed Denim and Velvet Green.

On the display side, the buyer can choose between a 2K IPS panel with a 60Hz refresh rate and 300-nit brightness or a higher-end 2.8K panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and 450-nit brightness. The displays are 16:10 in aspect ratio.

There are also stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support.

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Dell 14S processor, RAM and battery

The Dell 14S features Intel Series 3 processors (Core 5 and Core 7). It is also capable of delivering up to 17 TOPS of NPU performance for on-device AI workloads.

The basic variant has 8GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of storage. More expensive models have up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.

The laptop offers up to 21 hours of battery life when streaming video, according to Dell. However, the company has not disclosed its charging speeds.

The Dell 14S has two USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports for connectivity, as well as an HDMI port and a universal audio jack. It also has Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.4 capabilities. There are other features, such as support for Windows Hello and a 2 MP Full HD webcam.

Dell 14S price and availability in India

The Dell 14S starts at ₹79,990 in India. It can be purchased from Dell's official website and authorized retail partners.

Dell's India launch announcement states that customers will also be eligible for a discount of up to ₹10,000 through eligible bank offers, subject to applicable terms & conditions.

Tara Sutaria's Homemade Vongole is All the Inspiration You Need for Your Next Pasta Night

 

Nobody does exquisite quite like Tara Sutaria - and her homemade vongole is cue enough for that. In a recent post recounting her innumerable jaunts to London over the years across summers and winters, she listed a few special eats that were super close to her heart, and her palate. Leading the charge was a sumptuous plate of vongole, which has us craving the Italian classic right in the middle of the week. Follow the directions below to whip up your own plate of exquisiteness.

Ingredients

• 300 gms spaghetti
• 800 gms fresh clams (about 200gms per person)
• 5 to 8 garlic cloves
• 1 tsp red chilli pepper
• 4 to 5 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
• 1 to 2 handfuls fresh parsley, finely chopped
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (optional but recommended)

Method

• Begin by washing the clams in cold water and remove any with broken shells.
• Boil your pasta as you would, save for the salted water as the clams will already be quite salty.
• As the pasta boils, put the clams in a deep frying pan and cook covered over medium to high heat to open them up. This should take about 5 minutes.
• Once opened, remove the meat from half of the clam shells and keep the rest as is. Filter and retain the clam cooking liquid as well.
• Heat half the oil mentioned in a frying pan and go in with the garlic and red pepper and cook until the former softens and then add all the clams and cook for a few minutes. Add some of the clam water to create stronger flavour and then go in with the white wine - cook this till the alcohol evaporates. Keep on heat for another 3 to 5 minutes.
• Once the pasta is cooked, drain it and add to the pan with the cooked clams, bring this together over low heat and finish off with the parsley and olive oil.
• Serve hot.

(recipe from The Pasta Project)

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If you've never cooked with clams before the one thing you do need to know is that they tend to carry sand, even when they're sealed shut. While the first process of cooking the clams to open them up usually tends to get the sand ouy, many prefer to purge their clams instead. This is basically letting the clams sit in heavily salted cold water - enough to make it salty like the sea. Let the clams stand in this for 30 minutes and they will open naturally and release the sand. This process is to be repeated till your bowl does not have any collected sand at the bottom. Usually, 2 to 3 cycles suffice. Additionally, any clams that are open far too wide and don't close even on effort should be discarded.

Aditya-L1 helps scientists understand how solar storms spread through space - The Tribune

 

India’s first space-based solar observatory, Aditya-L1, has helped scientists discover that massive eruptions from the Sun do not spread uniformly through space, as previously believed. Instead, they expand unevenly, taking on irregular shapes.

The finding could help scientists better understand solar storms and predict their impact on satellites, communication networks and other space-based systems.

Scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), an autonomous institution under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), studied a solar eruption using observations from Aditya-L1, data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and computer-based three-dimensional modelling.

The study, published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, found that a solar eruption, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), does not necessarily expand like a perfectly round balloon. Instead, different parts of the eruption can move at different speeds, resulting in an uneven shape.

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CMEs are massive bursts of charged particles and magnetic fields released from the Sun. When directed towards Earth, they can disturb its magnetic field and affect satellites, GPS services and communication networks.

The researchers studied a solar eruption that occurred on August 5, 2024, near the western edge of the Sun. They combined images captured by NASA’s SDO with observations made by the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), the primary instrument onboard Aditya-L1.

While NASA’s telescope captured how the eruption moved across the sky, VELC helped scientists understand how the solar material was moving towards and away from the observers. This enabled the team to develop a three-dimensional picture of the eruption.

"We observed the CME that occurred on 5 August 2024 using the VELC as well as data from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)," said Saurabh Tripathi, a PhD student at IIA and the lead author of the study.

The VELC observations revealed an unusual pattern in the light emitted by the eruption. Changes in the light indicated that some of the solar material was moving towards the observers, while other parts were moving away.

"Our results show that the CME did not expand uniformly. The AIA images captured how the CME propagated across the sky, while VELC revealed the motion of the expanding CME bubble towards and away from us," said Tanmoy Samanta, a solar astronomer at IIA and the corresponding author of the study.

To understand this unusual movement, the researchers developed a three-dimensional computer model of the eruption.

"To understand the unusual spectral pattern observed by VELC, we then developed a 3-D geometric-kinematic model of an expanding CME," said Jayant Joshi of IIA, a co-author of the study.

The team found that a model assuming uniform expansion could not explain the observations. However, a model in which the eruption was tilted and expanded unevenly towards its sides matched the actual observations.

Aditya-L1’s VELC studies these eruptions by observing green light emitted by highly heated iron atoms in the Sun’s outer atmosphere, known as the corona. This light helps scientists measure the speed of solar material by studying changes in its wavelength.

Launched in September 2023, Aditya-L1 is positioned at a point approximately 1.5 million km from Earth towards the Sun, known as the Sun-Earth L1 point. It carries seven scientific instruments and continuously observes the Sun.

Bengaluru-Mumbai Vande Bharat Sleeper sees huge demand, tickets go on waiting list ahead of launch

 

Bengaluru-Mumbai Vande Bharat Sleeper ticket booking: The newly announced Vande Bharat Sleeper train on the Bengaluru-Mumbai route is witnessing strong passenger demand even before its launch. The semi-high-speed train will be flagged off by Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Sunday, November 1, 2026. It will be operated and maintained by the South Western Railway (SWR) zone.

Bengaluru-Mumbai Vande Bharat Sleeper Express ticket booking

Ticket bookings for the Bengaluru-Mumbai Vande Bharat Sleeper Express opened at 8 am on October 31. However, tickets for the initial few days were booked within hours, with passengers now seeing waiting lists across different travel classes.

According to the IRCTC ticket booking portal, train number 27652 (SMVT Bengaluru-CSMT Mumbai Vande Bharat Express) is fully booked in Second AC and First AC for the first day of operation. As of 1:49 pm on October 31, the waiting list stood at 2 in Second AC and 3 in First AC.

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The booking status for the next few days also indicates strong demand:

• November 4: Second AC and First AC tickets are waitlisted at 5 and 6, respectively.
• November 5: The train is fully booked, with a waiting list of 52 in Third AC and 37 in Second AC. First AC is showing REGRET.
• November 6: Third AC has a waiting list of 101, while Second AC has 60 passengers on the waiting list. First AC is showing REGRET.
• November 7: Third AC and Second AC have waiting lists of 44 and 16, respectively, while First AC has a waiting list of 7.

Bengaluru-Mumbai Vande Bharat Sleeper ticket price

The Bengaluru-Mumbai-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Sleeper Express comprises 16 coaches, with three classes of travel: Third AC, Second AC and First AC. The fare for Third AC on the route is Rs 2,810, while Second AC is priced at Rs 3,630 and First AC at Rs 4,450.

Bengaluru–Mumbai Vande Bharat Sleeper Fare Chart

Fares from Bengaluru to each stop on the route, in Third AC, Second AC and First AC.

iPhone spyware alert: German politicians among potential targets of suspected cyberattacks

 

Germany has raised concerns over a fresh wave of suspected spyware attacks after Apple warned users in 99 countries that their devices may have been targeted. Members of the Bundestag and other prominent individuals reportedly received alerts, although the government has not identified those responsible or confirmed any successful breaches.

(AI generated image used for representational purposes)

Germany has warned members of its parliament and other prominent individuals to take Apple's latest spyware alerts seriously, amid concerns that government-linked hackers may have attempted to access their iPhones.

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The warning comes after Apple sent notifications to users across 99 countries, alerting them to suspected attempts to compromise their devices. While the company has not identified the attackers or confirmed whether the targeted phones were successfully hacked, the latest disclosures have prompted renewed scrutiny of the use of commercial spyware against politicians, journalists and other public figures.

Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) said it had received reports that members of the Bundestag, the country's parliament, and other notable individuals had been notified by Apple about potential cyberattacks.

The development has also drawn attention from the federal government. Government spokesperson Stefan Kornelius told the Financial Times that Berlin was "taking the incident and the warning very seriously". However, officials have not disclosed which individuals were targeted or whether Chancellor Friedrich Merz received an alert.

Apple alerts point to a wider surveillance threat

Apple regularly issues threat notifications when it identifies activity suggesting that a particular user may have been targeted by sophisticated spyware. These warnings are intended to alert individuals who could be at risk of highly targeted attacks, rather than indicate that every recipient's device has necessarily been compromised.

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However, the BSI has advised recipients to err on the side of caution. According to the agency, anyone receiving such a notification should proceed on the assumption that their device may have been compromised.

The concern is partly linked to how advanced spyware operates. Some attacks exploit vulnerabilities that allow hackers to infiltrate phones without requiring users to click on suspicious links, download attachments or take any other action. Known as zero-click attacks, these techniques can make surveillance particularly difficult to detect.

Once installed, spyware can potentially give attackers access to private messages, location information and other sensitive data stored on a device.

Apple does not publicly identify the governments or organisations it suspects of being behind individual attacks. Nor does receiving a notification automatically establish that a successful intrusion took place.

Spyware vendors complicate efforts to identify attackers

Germany is not the only country where individuals have reported receiving Apple's latest warnings. Radwan Mortada, a Beirut-based filmmaker, said on X that he had received another notification informing him of a suspected attack on his device. Mortada had previously been targeted by spyware in 2021.

The identity of those behind the latest campaign remains unknown. It is also unclear whether the attacks across the 99 countries are connected or were conducted by different actors.

The incidents nevertheless highlight the growing role of private surveillance companies in government-linked cyber operations. Rather than developing sophisticated hacking tools themselves, governments can purchase access to spyware developed and maintained by commercial vendors.

One of the best-known companies in this market is Israel-based NSO Group, whose Pegasus software has been linked to surveillance operations targeting journalists, activists and political figures.

Germany has also faced questions about its own use of such technology. The country's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) reportedly purchased access to Pegasus in 2019, raising questions about the government's relationship with the spyware industry.