Tech Update Of The Day

VIT Chennai cracks Covasant AI Hackathon with agent testing tech

In a high-stakes sprint of skill and smarts, a student team from VIT Chennai outpaced India’s top engineering minds to win Covasant’s first ever AI Hackathon. Their winning entry, a sophisticated AI Agent Testing suite, impressed judges with its ability to stress test large models for safety, cost, and performance under pressure.

The invite only virtual event drew participants from elite institutions like IIIT Raichur and IIT Bhubaneswar, with only 22 teams handpicked from over 100 registrations. VIT Chennai's second team, alongside IIT and IIIT finalists, secured the runners up spot with innovations in conversational agents, intelligent discovery, and smart routing.

For Covasant, the three week hackathon was not just a competition but a talent radar. Students received mentorship from the firm’s senior engineering and product leaders, gaining hands on exposure to building enterprise ready AI tools on cloud infrastructure.

“The energy, creativity, and technical rigor were off the charts,” said Subhendu Pattnaik, CMO of Covasant. “It is clear India’s AI talent is not emerging, it has arrived.”

Winners walk away with Rs 1 lakh in cash and a six week paid internship at Covasant, a growing force in agentic AI services. But the bigger prize might be what they built—scalable prototypes that point directly at AI’s next frontier.

Jul 31, 2025 16:34 IST
ASUS sets 46 performance records with new Threadripper PRO motherboard built for the extreme
ASUS has officially redefined the limits of workstation performance. Its Pro WS WRX90E-SAGE SE motherboard just shattered 46 benchmark records using AMD’s latest Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9000 WX-Series CPUs. The board powered a clean sweep of eight world records, 31 global first-place scores, and seven hardware-first titles, making it a new favorite among elite overclockers.

Tuned for high-stakes performance, the board handled the 96-core Ryzen Threadripper PRO 9995WX with composure as pro overclockers like CENS, SEBY, and bl4ckdot pushed clocks to the edge. SEBY, in particular, broke his own HWBOT x265 4K record with a 20 percent leap, signaling how much headroom ASUS has engineered into this platform.
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From custom liquid cooling support to a specialized LN2 mode and seven ProBelt voltage points, the WRX90E-SAGE SE reads like a wish list for performance tuners. Its 16x2 power stage design and dual active cooling fans handle thermal pressure with ease. Even memory gets the premium treatment with 8-channel ECC R-DIMM support.
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These records are more than bragging rights. They highlight a platform that brings unprecedented stability and scalability to creators, researchers, and engineers working on complex, memory-intensive workloads where every millisecond counts.



Jul 31, 2025 14:56 IST
ASUS puts power in small businesses' hands with ExpertBook P Series launch on Flipkart
ASUS India is bringing serious muscle to Flipkart’s Freedom Sale 2025 with its ExpertBook P Series, targeting professionals and small businesses looking to escape the limits of consumer-grade laptops. Starting at just ₹34,990, these AI-enabled machines offer up to ₹9,000 in discounts during the sale which begins August 1.
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The new lineup includes the ExpertBook P1, P3, and P5 models, each built with business in mind. Rugged, secure, and ready for hybrid work, these laptops feature Intel 13th Gen H-series processors, fast DDR5 RAM, Gen 4 NVMe SSDs, and enterprise-grade protection like TPM 2.0 and self-healing BIOS. ASUS is also bundling a one-year accidental damage protection and extended service packs.

While the P5 flaunts a full-metal build and an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor, even the entry-level P1 models pack enough punch for remote teams and solo founders navigating demanding workloads. Direct business payments, rapid delivery, and exclusive bank offers make this lineup accessible beyond just specs.
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In a space where most budget laptops fall short on long-term reliability, ASUS is making a clear case for durable, worry-free business computing that does not cut corners. The Freedom Sale just became a serious upgrade moment.



Jul 31, 2025 14:42 IST
itel turns up the volume with S9 Star earbuds built for Gen Z on the move
itel has added a new spark to its audio lineup with the launch of the S9 Star earbuds, priced at just Rs 899. Compact, affordable, and sharply tuned for the modern lifestyle, the S9 Star aims to deliver clear sound, deep bass, and all-day endurance without burning a hole in the pocket.
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Designed for daily wear and rough handling, the earbuds come with IPX5 water resistance and 30 hours of battery life backed by a 400 mAh case. Whether it is a commute, workout, or weekend playlist binge, the S9 Star stays in the game with Bluetooth 5.3 and AI Environmental Noise Cancellation that filters background chatter during calls.

What stands out is the 10mm driver with a 360-degree bass profile that adds depth to music without muddying vocals. The earbuds also offer touch controls and voice activation, bridging convenience with function. Available in four colors, including Midnight Blue and Brown, they reflect itel’s push to blend style with tech that keeps pace with a generation always plugged in.
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itel is not chasing premium hype but carving a space where practicality and good design meet for India’s young and mobile.



Jul 31, 2025 14:40 IST
Cognizant launches global AI coding marathon to break records and barriers
Cognizant has launched what may become the largest online generative AI hackathon in history, enrolling over 250,000 employees in a weeklong event called Vibe Coding Week. From HR and marketing to engineering and sales, the initiative draws on participants across every corner of the company.
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This bold effort doubles as a Guinness World Records title attempt for most participants in an online generative AI hackathon. The goal is not just scale but also inclusion, making AI tools accessible to all employees regardless of technical background. Participants choose platforms such as Lovable, Windsurf, Cursor, Gemini Code Assist, or GitHub Copilot based on their comfort level and experience.
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CEO Ravi Kumar S. calls it a breakthrough in AI literacy, describing how democratized tools can unlock creativity and value from all ranks of talent. Cognizant built its own internal learning hub in just one month to support the rollout, offering tutorials, prompt engineering kits, and project workflows.
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This is more than a training event. It is a real-time experiment in rethinking human labor, as AI continues to reshape the boundaries of what individuals and organizations can build together.