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BRIDGING THE INTERNET’S DIGITAL LANGUAGE DIVIDE

AROUND HALF THE world’s population still lacks access to the internet. Companies like Facebook, SpaceX, and Amazon want to change that by launching constellations of satellites into the sky, which will beam internet back down to Earth. But even if these projects succeed, tech giants may face a more fundamental problem in bridging the digital divide: language.

There are thousands of different tongues spoken around the world, but most of the content on the web is only available in a select few, primarily English. More than 10 percent of Wikipedia is written in English, for example, and almost half the site’s articles are in European dialects. Getting one billion more people online is often held up as the next major milestone, but when they log on for the first time, those users may find the internet has little to offer in the primary languages they speak.

“Approximately 5 percent of the world speaks English at home,” said Juan Ortiz Freuler, a fellow at the World Wide Web Foundation, during a panel at the RightsCon conference in Tunisia Wednesday, but around “50 percent of the web is in English.” Freuler argued the internet has facilitated “cultural homogenization,” now that the majority of its users rely on Facebook and Google, and communicate in the same dominant languages. But the problem “is not because of changes in technology,” said Kristen Tcherneshoff, community director of Wikitongues, an organization that promotes language diversity. Corporations and governments largely didn’t provide the resources and support necessary to bring smaller languages online.

LOUISE MATSAKIS COVERS AMAZON, INTERNET LAW, AND ONLINE CULTURE FOR WIRED.

Many of the biggest online platforms were founded in Silicon Valley, and started with primarily English-speaking user bases. As they’ve expanded around the world and to different languages, they’ve been playing catch-up. Facebook has faced criticism for not employing enough native speakers to monitor content in countries where it has millions of users. In Myanmar, for example, the company for years had only a handful of Burmese speakers as hate speech proliferated. Facebook has admitted that it did not do enough to prevent its platform from being used to incite violence in the country.

Another part of the problem stems from the fact that relatively few datasets have been created in these languages that are suitable for training artificial intelligence tools. Take Sinhala, also known as Sinhalese, which is spoken by around 17 million people in Sri Lanka and can be written in four different ways. Facebook’s algorithms—trained primarily on English and other European languages—don’t map well to it. That makes it difficult for the social network to automatically identify things like hate speech in the country, or stop the flow of misinformation after a terrorist attack.

But Tcherneshoff says language diversity is about more than just practicality, it’s about expression. Jokes, emotions, and art are often difficult, if not impossible, to translate from one language to another. She pointed to projects like the Mother Language Meme Challenge, which invited people to make memes in their native tongue for Unesco’s International Mother Language Day in 2018. The idea, in part, was to demonstrate how humor is often intimately tied to language.

Mozilla is one organization working to crowdsource language datasets that can be used by any developer for free, like Common Voice, which it claims is “the world’s most diverse voice dataset.” It includes recordings from over 42,000 people in dominant languages like English and German, but also Welsh and Kabyle. The project is designed to give engineers the tools they need to build things like speech-to-text programs in different tongues. Mark Surman, executive director of the Mozilla Foundation, believes open source datasets like Common Voice are one of the only viable ways to ensure more language diversity in emerging tech. At for-profit companies, the issue “falls very low on the economic ladder,” he said during the RightsCon panel.

Bringing more languages online may ultimately be an exercise in cultural preservation, rather than utility. Despite advocates’ best efforts, it’s unlikely there will ever be as many websites in Yoruba, say, as there are in French or Arabic. New internet users may simply opt to browse in their second or third language instead of their native tongue.

At the same time, corporations like Google have built programs that make it easier to access online content in different languages, like Google Translate. Google also gave some of its tools to Wikipedia to help translate articles, although they still require careful review by native speakers; Wiki editors have complained that the Google tools sometimes produce shoddy results. For the time being, promoting language diversity online still requires the concerted effort of humans.

[“source=wired”]

Opinion | New education policy misses a critical chance to address inequalities in system

The draft National Education Policy (NEP), 2019, is full of provisions that many in the education sector have been desperate to see for decades. The conferring of the Right to Education to children under six and above 14, doubling of the overall financial allocation to education and strengthening the teaching profession bring cheer. However, many of the policy’s omissions and contradictions, combined with the previous track record of central and state governments in implementing existing education policies, diminish this hope.

The omissions: While the policy talks about the need to bring “unrepresented groups” into school and focus on educationally lagging “special education zones”, it misses a critical opportunity of addressing inequalities within the education system. It misses to provide solutions to close the gap of access to quality education between India’s rich and poor children. It proposes to remove the expectations that all schools meet common minimum infrastructure and facility standards, and that primary schools be within a stipulated distance from children’s homes.

India’s schools already vary across the scale—from single room structures without water and sanitation, to technology-enabled international schools. Not specifying a common minimum standard below which schools cannot fall, creates conditions where quality of facilities in some schools will only sink lower, widening this gap.

This is even more of an issue since it proposes a roll back of existing mechanisms of enforcement of private schools making parents “de-facto regulators” of private schools. Parents, and particularly poor and neo-literate parents, cannot hold the onus of ensuring that much more powerful and resourced schools comply with quality, safety and equity norms.

India should have moved towards a national system of education that shapes India’s next generation and enforce standards of quality across the country.

The contradictions: While the policy places considerable emphasis on the strengthening of “school complexes” (clusters of schools sharing joint resources) and decentralized mechanisms for supporting teachers, their everyday management appears to have been tasked to the head teacher of the secondary school in the cluster.

Furthermore, no separate funding appears to have been earmarked for this. This is false economy, since this is a full time activity and needs to be staffed and resourced accordingly.

Lessons from non-implementation of past policies: The policy’s implementation is predicated on the assumption that the education budget would be almost doubled in the next 10 years through consistent decade-long action by both the centre and states. However, the revenue is decentralized to the states and it is unclear what would be done to ensure that resources needed will be allotted. The sheer scale of changes expected, the rapid timeline, the absence of a strong mechanism for handholding states on this journey and the probable inadequate budget raises questions on the full implementation of this policy. India’s history is littered with ambitious education policies that have not been fully implemented. The National Education Policy risks following this tradition, unless the government addresses the reasons behind the past policy-practice implementation gap and makes conscious efforts to carry all of India on the same road towards improvement in education.

[“source=livemint”]

Blogging Platforms Market Outlooks, Future Forecasts, Key Players, and Competitive Analysis 2019-2025

Industry Overview of Blogging Platforms Market

The global Blogging Platforms market research report studies market overview defining; definition, types, applications latest trends to identify the revenues and the progress of the market over the forecast period. The report offers the preventive and premeditated management along with emphasizes the summary of the global Blogging Platforms market along with classifications and market chain structures. It also highlights authorized statistics of the global Blogging Platforms market.

The key players covered in this study : :
WordPress.org
Wix
WordPress.com
Blogger
Tumblr
Medium
Squarespace
Joomla
Ghost
Weebly

Market segment by Type, the product can be split into :
Cloud-based
On-premises

Market segment by Application, split into :
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs)
Large Enterprises
Personal

The fundamental purpose of this Blogging Platforms market report is to provide a correct and strategic analysis of the Profile Projectors industry. The report scrutinizes each segment and sub-segments presents before you a 360-degree view of the said market.It provides a deep insight into the industry parameters by accessing the market growth, consumption volume, the upcoming market trends, and the different prices variation for the forecast year.

The research methodology of the market involves both primary as well as secondary research data sources. It commits different factors affecting Blogging Platforms industry such as market environment, various policies of the government, past data and market trends, technological advancements, upcoming innovations, market risk factors, market restraints, and challenges in the industry.

The study objectives of this report are:
To study and forecast the market size of in global market.
To analyze the global key players, SWOT analysis, value and global market share for top players.
To define, describe and forecast the market by type, end use and region.
To analyze and compare the market status and forecast between China and major regions, namely, United States, Europe, China, Japan, Southeast Asia, India and Rest of World.
To analyze the global key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.

Important Questions Covered in this Report:
1. What will the market size be in 2025?
2. What are the key factors driving the global market?
3. What are the challenges to market growth?
4. Who are the key players in the market?
5. What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key players?
6. What will be the growth rate in 2025?
7. Which strategies are used by top players ?

For compiling the report, data has been derived from a number of paid and unpaid sources such as presentations, white papers, journals, and press releases. It offers in-depth information obtained through extensive primary and secondary research methods. The information has been further assessed using various effective analytical tools. Therefore, the report provides a 360-degree view of market.

At last, It includes the methodical description of the various factors such as the Blogging Platforms market growth and a detailed information about the different company’s revenue, growth, technological developments, production and the various other strategic developments.

[“source=marketindustrynews”]

Opportunities for Leading SAFe Certified Professionals Across The Globe

SAFe stands for Scaled Agile Framework and is basically a set of workflow patterns that guide companies in scaling lean and agile practices. The framework was introduced in the year 2011 by Dean Leffingwell. It leverages Agile software development, lean product development and system thinking in order to promote alignment, collaboration and delivery across a large number of agile teams. It centres on essential principles that include:-

Taking an economic approach
Applying systems thinking
Assuming variability and preserving options
Building incrementally with fast learning cycles
Basing benchmarks on an objective assessment of working systems
Visualizing and limiting WIP (Work-in-Progress)
Applying measures and synchronizing with cross-domain planning
Motivating skilled workers
Decentralizing decision-making process.

SAFe Certification

SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) Certification is a professional program that provides a consistent and valid method of evaluating and using SAFe skills, knowledge and mindset. Certified SAFe professionals are reckoned for their expertise to support the successful transformation of companies into Lean-Agile organizations.

Eligibility for Enrolling in a SAFe Training Course

To acquire a SAFe certification, professionals must complete the two-day training course. However, in order to be eligible for the SAFe certification exam, a candidate must have at least 5 years of working experience in the field of software development, business analysis, testing, or product or project management.

Who Will Benefit from SAFe Agilist Certification?

Following professionals are will gain high career benefits from this certification:-

Executives, directors, VPs, and CIOs
Program and project managers
Enterprise, system, and solution architects
PMO and process leads
Development, QA, and infrastructure managers

Types of SAFe Certifications

There are three types of SAFe Certification programs that professionals can acquire based on their expertise and preferences. These certifications include:-

SAFe Practitioner (SP) Certification

SAFe Practitioner Certification offers a comprehensive knowledge of every aspect of the Agile framework. It is also the most basic form of SAFe certification. Obtaining this certificate ensures that the professionals possess a high-level of skills to work or lead a process-centric development model based on an Agile framework. This demonstration of skills increases the chances of acquiring the positions of manager, training specialist or coach within an enterprise.

SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) Certification

Acquiring SPC certification validates the qualification of Agile professionals to launch an Agile Release Train (Agile team) and educate the members who want to become Agilist or SAFe practitioners. Additionally, it trains professionals to identify and use the right technique to execute various Agile programs. To obtain SPC certification, professionals are recommended to first gain SP certification along with three years of working experience in an Agile environment.

SAFe Product Manager or Product Owner (PM/PO) Certification

This certification program is designed specifically to facilitate better Agile management as it emphasizes on the importance of SAFe framework for the product manager or product owner. It covers important scaling agile aspects such as enterprise backlog management, stakeholder management, and delivering features.

Opportunities for SAFe Professionals

Scaled Agile Certification promotes the personal growth of the professionals by extending a catalogue of role-based training programs. It allows professionals to strengthen their Agile knowledge and offers the following opportunities:-

Competitive Edge in the Global Job Market

Presently over 70% of the US Fortune 100 companies are using SAFe framework, making it the most popular method used for scaling Agile. Evidently, the demand for skilled SAFe certified professionals is increasing at a tremendous pace. The role-based curriculum within the Scaled Agile training program allows professionals an advancement from entry-level SAFe practitioner to SAFe specialist.

Additionally, employers are looking out for professional candidates who hold SAFe certification as it demonstrates their expertise and proficiency in working within a SAFe environment. Presently, the average salary of leading SAFe certified professionals is USD 68.667 annually. Therefore a SAFe certification can prove highly beneficial for professionals who wish to boost their career opportunities.

Access to Digital Badge

SAFe certified professionals acquire a digital badge, which is a convenient and shareable version of the certification that allows them to display their accomplishments in digital resumes, email signatures, and social media networks, etc. This digital badge provides better visibility and ensures that the professionals have been verified, manifesting their expertise and qualifications as a SAFe certified professional.

Membership in the SAFe Community Platform

A SAFe certification also allows professionals to be a member of the SAFe Community platform that manages their credentials and provides access to a wide range of resources, keeping them updated with SAFe knowledge and SAFe Communities of Practice (CoPs).

Additionally, certified SAFe professionals can also grant access to a specific CoP that can be viewed by all members of the SAFe Community Platform. This privilege offers them with numerous networking opportunities with experienced professionals.

SAFe Certification – A Step Towards Professional Advancement

The business domain is increasingly adopting an Agile framework in order to optimize the workflow and sustainability in this ever-evolving and competitive marketplace. While a highly productive framework, implementing agile in the development process can be complicated. Scaled Agile Framework offers a streamlined roadmap to companies that strengthen the Agile methodology and allows the team to constantly deliver high-value results.

Evidently, the prominence of Scaled Agile framework is growing and so is the demand for skilled and certified Scaled Agile professionals. A SAFe Agilist certification can allow professionals to verify their expertise of working in an Agile environment and pave way for career opportunities, that hold higher monetary, as well as professional benefits.

How Digital Marketing Is Becoming A Game Changer In Lead Generation

An underlying fact every businessman is aware of is continuous lead generation translate into higher sales. A fresh lead calls for action in terms of pitching the services or products to someone who is in need of the same and is all set to pay if their requirement is met.

In most industries, 10% of new leads make a purchase. Clearly, greater the lead generation, the greater will its revenue be. In the current times, businesses are looking to surge the lead counter by using digital marketing.

Digital marketing proves to be an effective way of lead generation for a variety of reasons some of which are described below.

Digital Marketing Is Affordable

A traditional marketing campaign executed on print, TV, and radio is frightfully expensive. The expense of such campaigns exceeds lakhs and in some cases over 1 crore may need to be spent. Despite such high costs, a traditional marketing campaign doesn’t guarantee to deliver the expected results.

This is because such campaigns reach a wide audience, an overwhelming majority of who have little reason to purchase the product or service advertised. Therefore the large expense of traditional marketing campaigns is unjustified because they are grossly inefficient at lead generation from the quality aspect.

Digital marketing can easily be crafted to reach segments of consumers likely to buy what’s marketed. The first step to reach a niche audience is identifying the traits of those likely to buy a product or service. Young single men who’re shown adverts of stuffed toys and premium chocolates before Valentine’s Day are likely to buy them for their girlfriends.

Because digital marketing reaches a narrow audience it is affordable and produces results superior to those of traditional marketing campaigns. Before digital marketing, it was difficult for new brands to attract loyal customers.

The only way to reach a nationwide audience was through TV, newspaper, magazine, and radio. Hence the number of brands in the consciousness of consumers was small. Since the introduction of digital marketing, many new brandshave found tremendous success and there has been an increase in the number of brands stored in the psyche of consumers.

Everyone Is Always Online

It’s no secret that smartphone addiction is commonplace. An average person checks his or her smartphone approximately 70 times a day. Among younger people, spending time online has usurped time spent with friends and family. Many free apps have been downloaded by millions and earn revenue only through digital advertisements. Across urban and rural India people of all ages spend at least an hour using their smartphone. This makes online platforms an ideal way to reach consumers.

Nearly 30 crore Indians own a smartphone and data is abundant and cheap. Smartphones are always connected to the internet and always within the reach of their owners. This makes digital marketing very effective in lead generation because consumers likely to be interested in a brand can be reached daily.

Measuring the Effectiveness of Digital Campaigns is Simple

Money spent on traditional marketing can seem akin to dumping money into a black hole. A company may spend many lakhs of rupees on a traditional marketing campaign, yet the campaign may not only be unsuccessful but also present inaccurate or vague data that doesn’t reveal consumer sentiment about the product or service advertised.

Over the years many companies spent astronomical sums on traditional marketing yet they failed. What’s worse they never understood what they did wrong.

The beauty of digital campaigns lies in their precise metrics that reveal their effectiveness. Real-time tracking of the campaign is a stellar feature of digital marketing. This allows companies to tweak unsuccessful campaigns so they have a better chance of success or repeat successful campaigns.

The ROI of such campaigns can be measured to the last rupee and because digital campaigns are so affordable, multiple campaigns can be run at a fraction of the cost of traditional campaigns.

Digital Campaigns Offer Variety Suited to Needs

The subtle and obvious differences between companies and their requirements mean some marketing strategies are likely to be more successful than others. For instance, some businesses may not need to pay for a robust digital marketing campaign.

This is possible when they use organic strategies that highlight their brand but don’t require them to spend. A well-executed organic strategy will allow a brands message to be shared with audiences seamlessly.

Some companies may find paid campaigns more suitable. A paid campaign will highlight brands advert when users request products or services sold by the brand. The ecosystem of paid digital marketing campaigns is vast and companies may choose those that suit them best.

Experts Understand Conceptualising and Executing Campaigns

A digital marketing campaign doesn’t need a large team to implement or execute it. Because of this, the cost of a digital marketing campaign is low. However, despite the fact that a digital marketing campaign can be executed at low cost using a small team, expertise in conceptualising and managing a digital marketing campaign is required for it to be a success.

Such expertise is provided by a number of competent digital marketing experts who know how to create successful campaigns. Using their services a company can be confident its digital campaign reaches as many as possible and generates ample leads.

Both small and large companies benefit from digital marketing campaigns. Most large companies already use digital marketing extensively not only to create awareness about their products but also to gauge consumer sentiment. Swift feedback from digital advertising makes possible the latter.

Small companies using digital marketing are making inroads into new markets and challenging incumbents. It’s not uncommon for small companies to find success simply as a result of thoughtfully planned and executed digital marketing campaigns.

[“source=inc42”]

Google Stadia’s internet speed requirements are just the beginning

Google Stadia on Thursday unveiled its pricing and some of the video games you can play on its all-new service set to launch in 2020. The company also offered up some guidelines as to the types of network speed requirements it has for various qualities of gameplay: 10Mbps for 720/60fps stereo, roughly 20Mbps for 1080/60fps HDR with 5.1 surround audio, and 35Mbps for 4K/60fps HDR video with 5.1 surround.

That’s all well and good, but don’t assume that meeting Google’s internet speed requirements means you’ll be able to play at the stated quality. They’re the minimum, but not necessarily sufficient, conditions.

Google — like many of the PC cloud-gaming services — doesn’t mention the other, more important issues that usually affect your experience as exemplified by Nadia Oxford’s tweet: the network. If you’re getting potato streaming, then local network congestion is what’s mashing it.

Think of it as being able to drive 75 mph on the highway, but then you hit the city and your speed unavoidably drops to an average of 25 mph. That number encompasses a lot of stop and go. While these services will test your network, and even in some cases include jitter and other types of network latency data in its calculations, like stop-and-go traffic it can bottleneck by surprise at any moment. And none of it even factors in a given device’s connection stability.

In other words, even if you’re getting 500Mbps with no latency when Google checks your network, at any point while you’re playing, the entire block may start streaming some random playoff game in 4K HDR and those packets interweave with your game packets, interrupting how smoothly they’re flowing. Google fails to lay out any of the details, such as maximum jitter and latency, that you’d want to see before plopping down your $130/£119 for a Founder’s Edition preorder.

When latency rises, frames and frame-rates drop, audio stutters, image quality degrades visibly, your trigger pull registers a millisecond too late and you end up dead in a puddle of your own blood while screaming at the cats in frustration. (OK, maybe that last one’s just me.)

While Google has an advantage over many competitors in that it owns a lot of the network infrastructure between its game-hosting cloud servers and the edge servers which are the last point of delivery between Google and your internet service provider or cellular carrier. But there’s only so much it can do to optimize packet delivery once they leave your ISP. And while many of these services have algorithms to gracefully fall back to lower levels when network issues arise, but that’s not always executed well.

And none of this even includes the irritation of excitedly trying to launch a game, only to be told that your network isn’t up to snuff at the moment — bandwidth great but too much jitter, please try again later. I participated in the Project Stream Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey trial. The first time I ran it, it was great. The second time, unplayable. Both times Speedtest told me I had more than enough bandwidth. And that problem’s not limited to Google.

Everything announced at WWDC: Get the latest on iOS 13, iPad OS, Dark Mode for iPhone and more.

New Mac Pro makes its debut: The long-awaited update to Apple’s flagship desktop starts at $5,999, available in the fall.

[“source=cnet”]

3-language policy: National Education Policy draft revised, 2 members object

The criticism forced the HRD Ministry to issue a statement Saturday clarifying that the policy was only a draft and will be finalised after incorporating public feedback and views of the state governments. (Representational image)

Two members of the government-appointed committee led by scientist K Kasturirangan are learnt to have objected Monday to their chairperson’s decision to revise a contentious paragraph in the draft National Education Policy (NEP) 2018, dropping a reference to Hindi and English in the recommendation on the three-language formula.

Following protests by political parties, mainly in Tamil Nadu, on what they called the “imposition” of Hindi, the HRD Ministry, at Kasturirangan’s behest, has shared a revised document on its website, which dropped the recommendation that stipulated the languages that students must choose to study from Grade 6.

Committee members Ram Shankar Kureel, former founder vice-chancellor of Baba Saheb Ambedkar University of Social Sciences in Madhya Pradesh, and K M Tripathy, former chairperson of Uttar Pradesh High School and Intermediate Examination Board, are learnt to have registered their opposition to the revision of the draft with the government.

Responding to an email sent by an HRD Ministry official, informing all committee members of the change effected at the behest of Kasturirangan, Kureel is learnt to have called the move unfortunate, while Tripathy objected to the changes made without consulting the committee members — especially since the changes had been discussed and decided against during the panel’s deliberations. The panel has a total of 11 members.

When contacted, Tripathy refused to comment on the matter. Kureel told The Indian Express: “The committee had submitted the hard copy to the HRD Minister (on May 31) and that is the report of the NEP. I stand by that report. The three-language formula is in the interest of national integration.” He did not wish to comment any further.

EXPLAINED

The formula, the opposition

The three-language formula, dating back to 1968, means students in Hindi-speaking states should learn a modern Indian language, apart from Hindi and English and, in non-Hindi-speaking states, Hindi along with the regional language and English. Tamil Nadu has always opposed this policy, and the new row is over the draft NEP proposing its continuation.

Advocating for bringing in flexibility in the implementation of the three-language formula, the earlier version of the draft NEP, uploaded on the ministry’s website on May 31, read: “In keeping with the principle of flexibility, students who wish to change one of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6, so long as the study of three languages by students in the Hindi-speaking states would continue to include Hindi and English and one of the modern Indian languages from other parts of India, while the study of languages by students in the non-Hindi-speaking states would include the regional language, Hindi and English.”

The revised version states: “In keeping with the principle of flexibility, students who wish to change one or more of the three languages they are studying may do so in Grade 6 or Grade 7, so long as they are able to still demonstrate proficiency in three languages (one language at the literature level) in their modular Board Examinations some time during secondary school.”

The draft NEP was submitted to the new HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank on May 31, following which it was made public for feedback and suggestion.

The earlier version of the draft’s pitch for the proper implementation of the three-language formula in schools across the country drew strong reaction from the DMK, which dubbed the suggestion as an effort to “thrust” Hindi on Tamil Nadu.

[“source=indianexpress”]

Gadgets Weekly: Redmi K20, Oppo Reno, ZenBook and more

Several tech majors such as Amazon, Apple, Xiaomi, and Oppo, among others unveiled a new line of phones, laptops, music players and accessories in India, as well as global markets.

DH lists a prominent product that made their debut this week (May 26-June 1):

Black Shark 2
Xiaomi-backed Black Shark made their debut in India with the launch of flagship gaming phone Black Shark 2.
It sports a 6.39-inch full HD+ display with 19.5:9 aspect ratio and in-display fingerprint sensor.

On the back, it flaunts eye-catching chiselled textured shell case, resembling an armoured tanker and most importantly offers good grip for hands to hold on to the phone while playing a game.

Inside, Black Shark 2 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 octa-core backed by Andreno 640 graphics engine and to control the overheating, the company has incorporated Liquid Cooling 3.0 technology. It is based on Tower-wide global liquid cooling system that utilises liquid-cooled plate and liquid-cooled tube, which will be covered on all components that are susceptible to overheating under heavy processing particularly while playing graphics-rich games. It is capable of reducing the CPU’s core temperature by up to 14° C, the company claims.

It also boasts a feature-rich 48MP+12MP (with Samsung sensors) dual-camera on the back and a 20MP selfie snapper on the front.
Other stipulated features include Android Pie OS, 6GB RAM/12GB RAM, 128GB/256GB (UFS 2.1) storage and comes with 4,000mAh battery, which is more than enough to keep the phone running for a full day under mixed usage. It also supports 27W fast charging Type C port.
The new Black Shark 2 come in two options– 6GB RAM + 128GB storage and 12GB RAM + 256GB storage–for Rs 39,999 and Rs 49,999, respectively. It will available for purchase from June 4 onwards exclusively on Flipkart.

Oppo Reno series
After Realme, Oppo introduced a new sub-brand Reno in India by unveiling two phones- Reno and Reno 10X Zoom.
Oppo Reno 10X Zoom sports 6.55-inch full-view AMOLED display with 93.1-per cent screen-to-body ratio, Corning Gorilla Glass 6 shield

It boasts unique shark-fin inspired rising front camera with 16MP sensor to capture selfies. On the back, it comes with a triple camera module with a 48MP primary sensor, 13MP telephoto lens, and an 8MP ultra-wide angle sensor.

New Reno 10X Zoom and Reno; picture credit: Oppo India

under-the-hood, it comes with 4,0065mAh battery with VOOC 3.0 fast charging, Dolby Atmos, Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor with tri-cooling control to dissipate overheating, Android Pie-based ColorOS 6 (with Hyper Boost 2.0-Frame Boost and Touch Boost for gaming).

Whereas the generic model Reno features same design language as the 10 X Zoom including the shark fin rising pop-up selfie camera, but differ in terms of internal hardware.
It comes with Android Pie-based ColorOS 6, a 3,765 battery with VOOC charging, 48MP+5MP dual camera on the back, 16MP front camera, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor.

As far as the pricing is concerned, Oppo Reno 10X Zoom comes in two configurations–6GB RAM + 128GB storage and 8GB RAM + 256GB storage–for Rs 39,990 and Rs 49,990, respectively.

On the other hand, the Oppo Reno (8GB RAM + 128GB storage) costs Rs 32,990. All the new phones will be available exclusively on Flipkart from June 7 onwards.

Xiaomi Redmi K20
After weeks of speculations, Xiaomi finally pulled the wraps off the Redmi K20 and the K20 Pro.

Redmi K20 Pro sports a 6.39-inch full HD+ AMOLED HDR display with an in-screen fingerprint sensor. It also comes with Gorilla Glass 5 shield and 3D glass cover. On the back, it boasts a glossy premium shell with gradient finish.

Inside, it comes with a powerful 7nm-class Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, 6GB/8GB LPDDRX4 RAM, 64GB/128GB/256GB storage (UFS 2.1) and a 4,000mAh battery with 27W fast charging support.

Redmi K20 Pro series; picture credit: Redmi India/Twitter

As far as the photography hardware is concerned, it boasts feature-rich triple camera, 48MP (with Sony IMx586 sensor, F1.85 aperture), 13MP ultra wide angle lens and 8MP telephoto lens on the back. And, a 20MP pop-up selfie camera.

On the other hand, the generic Redmi K20 comes with pretty much same design language including internal hardware as the top-end model but differs in a couple of aspects. It houses

Qualcomm Snapdragon 730 octa-core and supports 18W fast charging.

Rest including the display, battery capacity, and the camera remains the same as the Redmi K20 Pro.

In India, the Redmi K20 and the K20 Pro are expected to come with Poco F2 and F2 Pro branding.

Apple iPod Touch (7th gen)
After four years, Apple finally refreshed its iPod Touch line with upgraded hardware. The new iPod Touch (7th gen) sports a slim body form with the premium metallic shell on the back and a 4.0-inch display with bezels, home button, and camera at the top centre in the front side.

Inside, it houses an Apple A10 Fusion chipset, which makes the device support Augmented Reality (AR) games offering an immersive experience, which the previous iteration lacked.

With this, the iPod Touch now users can be able to subscribe to Apple Arcade and enjoy exclusive gaming titles like the top-end iPhone and iPad users.

Apple iPod Touch (7th gen); picture credit: Apple

The iPod Touch (7th gen) comes in three storage variants-32GB,128GB and 256GB– for Rs 18,900, Rs 28,900 and Rs 38,900 in India. It will be available in six colour options–space grey, white, gold, blue, pink and (PRODUCT)RED.

Amazon Echo Show 5
The new Amazon Echo Show 5 flaunts a 5.5-inch display, which compact and yet big enough for a perfect kitchen TV or in a living room or children room.

Users can simply wake the device with ‘Hey Alexa’ and start asking to play movie trailers, news snippets from popular channels, the sports update such as Champions league goal score or of a cricket match in the ongoing World Cup.

He/she can also look for recipes and the Echo Show 5 will start a step-by-step guide to on how to make traditional or an exotic dishes.
Also, consumers can listen to the latest songs on Amazon Prime Music and watch the latest TV shows on Amazon Prime Video. People can also play music from Hungama Music, Saavn, Gaana, and TuneIn – without additional cost.

Echo Show 5; picture credit: Amazon India

And, children can enjoy fun skills like Chu Chu TV, Chhota Bheem, and more.

With a 1MP camera, user can video chat with the spouse or parents or children at home at any time. The Echo Show 5 is now available on Amazon for Rs 8,999.

Syska Beat Pro
Emerging consumer electronics major Syska launched a new line of earphone HE1100 Beat Pro series. It comes with a built-in microphone, multi-function button which can be used to play, pause, control volume, track speed and answer calls.

The Syska Beat Pro earphones also come with a 1.2 metre anti-winding TPE (Thermoplastic elastomers) round cable which provides a tangle-free experience. These earphones are compatible with all devices that include mobiles, laptops, gaming & music devices. It costs Rs 899 and will be available in two colours– black and white.

Motorola Moto Z4
Motorola unveiled the new Moto Z4 in the US. It sports 6.4-inch OLED full HD+ display with dot-notch design. Like the current crop of flagship phones, it boasts an in-screen finger sensor in addition to the face unlock capability. On the back, it flaunts a sturdy shell with a metallic frame.

Under-the-hood, the Moto Z4 houses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 octa-core chipset backed by Android Pie OS, 4GB RAM, 128GB storage and a 3,600mAh battery, which is more than enough to run the phone for a whole day easily under mixed usage. It also supports TurboPower charging, which enables the device to quickly charge within minutes and offer several hours of talk time.

It boasts a 48MP sensor with F1.7 aperture, meaning the camera will be able to absorb more light and capture stunning images at any type of environments. On the front too, Moto Z4 comes with an impressive 25MP selfie snapper. It will be released first in the US on June 6 for $499.99

Asus ZenBook series
Taiwan-based technology major Asus unveiled a new line of ZenBook, Duo and also anniversary special ZenBook Edition 30.

The ZenBook Edition 30 flaunts luxurious Pearl White genuine Italian leather — hand-crafted and hand-stitched. It sports a 13.3-inch full HD NanoEdge display and comes with Intel Core i7-8565U/Core i5-8265U processor, Windows 10/ 10 Pro OS, 3D IR HD camera, ScreenPad (5.45-inch FHD+), 8GB/16GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce® MX150, 2GB GDDR5 VRAM/Integrated Intel® UHD Graphics 620 and a 50Wh 3-cell lithium-polymer battery with up to 14 hours of power backup.

On the other hand, the ZenBook Duo series comes with a secondary display dubbed as ScreenPad Plus, a 14-inch full-width secondary touchscreen that expands and enhances the interactive capabilities. They come with 9th generation Intel Core processors, combined with up to 32GB RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 GPU, with ultrafast storage provided by up to a 1TB PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD.

[“source=deccanherald”]

In 1995, Bill Gates made these predictions about streaming movies and fake news on the internet

Today, pretty much everyone regularly uses the internet to read breaking news and stream the latest blockbuster films. But in 1995, the internet was still in its infancy, and many Americans weren’t even online yet.

Bill Gates — as the co-founder of Microsoft (which made Internet Explorer, one of the first web browsers) — likely knew as much about the potential of internet technology as anyone in the mid-90s, however. So it’s not shocking that in 1995 Gates would be asked for his predictions on what the internet might look like a couple of decades into the future.

That’s exactly what happened when Gates sat down with author and journalist Terry Pratchett for an interview that appeared in the July 1995 edition of GQ magazine’s UK version. At the time, Gates was 39 and the world’s richest person with a net worth of $12.9 billion (he’s now second to Jeff Bezo with a $99.6 billion net worth, according to Forbes).

Gates’ conversation with Pratchett recently resurfaced online when writer Marc Burrows, who is working on a biography of Pratchett, tweeted two screenshots of the magazine interview (Gates is identified in the interview screenshots as “BG” and Pratchett is “TP”).

Not surprisingly, Gates had a couple of predictions for the future of the internet — one of which would turn out to be eerily prescient, while the other one seems to have come up short.

Streaming movies

One prediction that Gates nailed was that the internet would forever change the way we consume entertainment, like movies and television shows. At the time, most people’s idea of a home entertainment system was a television hooked up to a VCR (electronic devices that played VHS tapes for anyone too young to remember), though video discs like DVDs were beginning to be introduced by the mid-90s.

In the interview, Pratchett is astounded when Gates tells him that “VCRs will be obsolete within ten years.”

“What? Completely obsolete?” asks Pratchett, who then asks if discs will be the primary home video format.

“Oh, they’ll be replaced by a disc player within four or five years,” Gates says. “I’m talking about access to media across the network.”

In other words, Gates is describing our ability to watch movies, TV shows and other streaming videos online. Gates, who complained that VCRs had “the world’s worst user interface,” went on to explain: “Everything we’re talking about will have screens to guide you and when you pause there’ll be a built-in personality that’ll immediately jump in and help you.”

Gates’ prediction ended up being pretty much on the money, as online video technology continued to improve over the next decade to the point where the now-ubiquitous video streaming platform YouTube was founded in 2005, 10 years after this interview took place. In 2007, Netflix announced plans to start streaming full movies and shows online. Today, Netflix has nearly 150 million streaming subscribers around the world, while more than two billion people watch videos on YouTube every month.

Pratchett also wanted to know if Gates thought that the internet would eventually make it easier to spread misinformation to large groups of people.

“There’s a kind of parity of esteem of information on the Net,” Pratchett remarked to Gates in the interview. “It’s all there: there’s no way of finding out whether this stuff has any bottom to it or whether someone just made it up.”

As an example, Pratchett proposed a hypothetical situation where someone purporting to be an expert promoted a theory online claiming that the Holocaust never happened. That theory, Pratchett argued, could be propped up on the internet and “available on the same terms as any piece of historical research which has undergone peer review and so on.”

While Pratchett’s biographer, Burrows, argued on Twitter this week that Pratchett had “accurately predicted how the internet would propagate and legitimise fake news,” Gates’ response is worth noting for the fact that the Microsoft co-founder failed to foresee the same negative effects of online misinformation.

Gates agreed with Pratchett that misinformation could be spread online, but “not for long,” the billionaire reasoned. For instance, Gates argued, the internet could contain fake news, but it would also create more opportunities for information to be verified and supported by appropriate authorities, from actual experts to journalists and consumer reports.

“The whole way that you can check somebody’s reputation will be so much more sophisticated on the Net than it is in print today,” Gates tells Pratchett.

Of course, we know now that many online platforms — from social media sites like Facebook to online video sites like YouTube — have struggled to squash the spread of misinformation and fake news on the internet. Even Gates himself says today that he’s concerned about the spread of misinformation online, admitting that “it’s turned out to be more of a problem than I, or many others, would have expected.”

But Gates also said, in a 2018 interview with Quartz, that he remains optimistic that the internet will continue to become more sophisticated as an information source over time, and that the benefits of having access to such a wealth of information on the internet will eventually outweigh the “challenges” of separating fact from fiction online.

[“source=cnbc”]

Blogging provides a community — or a paycheck — to Idaho Falls mothers

Every detail of Valerie Illguth’s life is potential fodder for her blogs.

She started her travel blog, 51 Cent Adventures, six years ago to write about all the unique and under-the-radar places her family visited on vacations. Over the last few months, she has been writing about all the details of Yellowstone National Park that they encountered while living in an RV near the park last summer. In December she joined the newly started Idaho Falls Moms Blog as one of a team of volunteers writing about her life and the area. Her most recent post talked about the effects of her son’s autism.

Why did Illguth enjoy blogging enough to write for two sites?

“I don’t know,” she laughed. “It’s a good hobby. I don’t need to have any other items around than my laptop.”

It’s easier than ever to create a website and share your writings online. WordPress, one of the world’s largest blog-supporting websites, sees more than 70 million new posts every month.

Not all of those blogs will draw in a ton of traffic or earn their creators money — the average WordPress post gets fewer than six views a month— but most bloggers aren’t looking to make it rich as long as they attract some community of readers.

In the last year, a handful of new blogs have started adding their content to the web out of Idaho Falls. One is a collective effort from more than 20 women looking to help local families, while the other is one woman’s attempt to expand her platform to speak about her disease.

The Moms Blog

In August, Idaho Falls became one of the 92 cities represented by the City Moms Blog Network. Idaho Falls Moms Blog, staffed by nearly two dozen volunteers from in and around the city, is the only city in Idaho, Utah or Wyoming to join the network.

“We’re kind of a dot on our own over here,” Idaho Falls founder Heather Jarrell said.

Jarrell started the blog as a one-stop location for parents like her to see what the opportunities are for families in the city. The blog gets a lot of traffic from its roundup of the weekend events that will be happening and the guides offering advice on where to find splash pads or host a kid’s birthday party.

“I felt like I was hearing about all these great things that were happening in town and wanted to get all that information in one place,” Jarrell said.

The blog is run by a team of volunteers, many of whom only post once a month. It gives them freedom to write about any subject, whether it’s recent things that happened with their children or advice on what to do during the summer. Some posts are sponsored by local businesses — Jarrell said health-related events have proven especially popular.

Some of those contributors also manage blogs of their own outside the Idaho Falls Moms Blog. Valerie Illguth started her travel blog six years ago while her husband was stationed in Fort Hood, Texas. She said her friends enjoyed hearing about the unique places she would stumble across with her husband and children, so she began writing about them online to get a wider audience while her husband was serving.

“He was deployed to Korea and I was at home with four kids. I would turn on ‘Toy Stor,’ and I would sit and write so I would feel like I was communicating with the outside world,” Illguth said.

The Illguths live outside Pocatello and she isn’t the only mother from outside the city limits writing for the Idaho Falls Moms Blog. The blog posts generally shy away from controversial topics or politics but the differing ages and experiences of the writers allow for some variety in the writing styles. Contributing writer Kim Lewis thought that style combined with the local focus of the blog has helped to grow its audience.

“It’s validating to hear from others in the community that are dealing with the same things,” Lewis said.

{strong style=”font-size: 1em;”}Hailey and a Spoon{/strong}

{p dir=”ltr”}Hailey Williams has been managing a YouTube channel for five years, since around the time her second daughter was born. Her videos were focused on parenting and her family life until she was diagnosed with celiac disease in 2016.

Blogger two — Buy Now

Hailey Williams enjoys the freedom being a blogger provides. Williams is able to work almost anywhere and that allows her to spend more time with her family. She often blogs in her garage so she can be near her two daughters Khloe, 7, and Kaelyn, 5, while they play outside.

Monte LaOrange / [email protected]

{p dir=”ltr”}She switched the focus of her channel to gluten awareness and advocacy. She cut back her number of videos to just one a week but saw her subscriber count rise from just over 1,000 people to nearly 6,000. Last month, Williams used that momentum to launch her own blog called Hailey and a Spoon. She admitted that, before she had launched a blog of her own, she hadn’t been that interested in reading food blogs.

{p dir=”ltr”}“I know if I was going to do blogging it would have to be my style. If I’m not going to like writing that, why would anyone want to read it?” Williams said.

{p dir=”ltr”}That shift in the focus of the blog is not unique to Williams.

{p dir=”ltr”}Former Post Register commentary page editor Katie Stokes ran her own ‘mommy blog’ in Idaho Falls for several years, around the time that blogging first peaked early in the days of the Great Recession.

“It was an easy way to women who were staying home with their kids to pick up some income,” Stokes said.

{p dir=”ltr”}Since then, Stokes said a lot of parents have dialed back on the details they shared about their children. The blogs would stay online forever, meaning an embarrassing story from when a child was 3 could follow them for the rest of their life. Stokes deleted her blog a few years ago in an attempt to remove some of the more personal details she had shared.

{p dir=”ltr”}Williams’ husband recently earned his technical degree and began working as a mechanic in town, but her YouTube channel and blog has become her main source of income. She runs the occasional sponsored video reviewing a gluten-free product and works with the local gluten-free store Mom’s Place. Last month, she traveled to Utah to create videos and meet representatives from celiac-friendly brands at the Nourish Festival.

{p dir=”ltr”}Traveling to Utah also allowed her to connect with other people who blog about the same subject. Gluten-free recipe blogs are much more common in Utah than in eastern Idaho, which has made it tougher for her to befriend other local bloggers.

{p dir=”ltr”}“There’s not a lot of what I do here. I have a niche, so it’s harder to make an acquaintance or friendship easily,” Williams said.

{p dir=”ltr”}Creating a website over the last month and becoming a blogger has led to changes in Williams’ life. She had to learn about website design and coding without any formal training on the subject. Her schedule moved around to let her post regular weekly content — Monday nights are preparing for her YouTube videos to post the next morning and Friday nights are the final touches for her Saturday blog posts.

{p dir=”ltr”}The trade-off for those nights of work, however, is that Williams can easily spend time with her kids at home or take them wherever they need to go without worrying too much about her schedule.

“I can work from the house, the park, the garage. I like being able to work from anywhere,” she said.

[“source=postregister”]