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Netflix update will change EVERYTHING in your app

by Loknath Das April 5, 2024

written by Loknath Das

Netflix is bringing a huge change to how you find the shows you love.

The online streaming service is rolling out an update that will see its current star-based rating system replaced by a new service called Thumbs.

Thumbs, as the name suggests, allows Netflix users to rate the programs they have watched with a simple thumbs-up/thumbs-down system, making it easier to quickly see people’s reactions.

Thumbs, which is similar to YouTube’s own ratings system, started testing last year, and proved a major success.

Giving a show or movie a thumbs-up will tell Netflix you want to see more programs like it, with a thumbs-down saying that you aren’t interested, and Netflix should stop suggesting it to you.

The change will start rolling out soon to all users on its site, mobile apps, gaming consoles, set-top boxes and smart TVs.

“Using thumbs helps us learn even more about your unique tastes so we can do a better job suggesting stories we think you’ll love,” Netflix said.

Netflix adds that the new Thumbs service was influenced by a growing move away from star ratings, which often lead to average scores that don’t give a true indication of how popular something is.

But Thumbs isn’t all Netflix has in store today, as the company has also launched a new way to help suggest new programs it thinks you’ll like.

The service is also introducing new “percentage match scores” which looks at you past viewing habits to work out how much you may be into different titles it has.

For example, if you like drama series, and head to the hub for The Crown, Netflix will show an icon saying it is a high match.

The news is the latest update Netflix has made to its platform in a bid to win user’s favour.

Back in December, the platform revealed it would finally be launching a way to download programs from the site to watch offline later.

When accessing the landing page of a program or movie, just click the download button on the details page and you can watch it later without an internet connection.

However not all of Netflix’s library is available just yet, so be warned if you’re looking to download lots of viewing for a long journey.

[Source:-Express]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Education

Education budget cuts will make system ‘unsustainable’

by Loknath Das April 5, 2024

written by Loknath Das

Members of NASUWT teachers union stage one-day strike in November

Further cuts to the education budget will make Northern Ireland’s education system “unsustainable,” a teachers’ union leader has said.

NASUWT NI president Susan Parlour made the comments during a speech to members at the union’s annual conference.

She also said the Education and Training Inspectorate, which carries out school inspections, was “not fit for purpose”.

The NASUWT is one of the largest teaching unions in Northern Ireland.

Its members are currently engaged in rolling strike action over pay and workload, along with members of the INTO union.

‘Penny-pinching approach’

National officer Justin McCamphill also spoke at the union’s annual conference in Belfast, warning of further strike action if devolution was not restored.

Teachers were prepared to fight for adequate budgets for schools and against the erosion of teachers pay, he said.

In October 2016, all teaching unions in Northern Ireland rejected an offer that saw pay frozen in 2015-16 and a rise of 1% for 2016-17.

Ms Parlour was heavily critical of what she called “political myopia and a penny-pinching approach to education”.

“The so-called fresh start agreement, rather than living up to the positive promise of its name, has brought stagnation and rot to classrooms,” she said.

NASUWT NI president Susan Parlour — Image captionSusan Parlour said cuts were being imposed “mercilessly”

She also claimed that front-line services, including those for children with special educational needs, had suffered due to budget reductions.

“This clearly suggests that we have politicians here in NI who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing,” she said.

“While these cuts were being imposed mercilessly on our schools, let’s not forget that our government saw fit to send millions of pounds up in smoke in the flawed RHI scheme.”

In January, former Education Minister Peter Weir said that schools needed an extra £240m over the next three years just to maintain current spending levels.

He also warned that schools faced making “redundancies and savings”.

“Efficiencies in and of themselves will not be enough to avoid the sort of pain that will be there if there is no new money at all,” he warned.

Subsequently, 15 primary school principals from County Down wrote a joint letter to parents warning their schools were facing “financial disaster”.

[“Source-bbc”]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Tech Update

Samsung Flow App Will Get Support for Windows 10 and More Galaxy Devices, Company Confirms

by Loknath Das April 5, 2024

written by Loknath Das

Samsung Flow App Will Get Support for Windows 10 and More Galaxy Devices, Company Confirms

HIGHLIGHTS

Samsung Flow app support is coming to more Galaxy smartphones
Enables unlocking Windows 10 devices using phone’s fingerprint scanner
Samsung Flow allows users to transfer files between devices as well

Just last week, Samsung revealed in response to a user query that the company is planning to bring Samsung Flow app to all Windows 10 PCs with next major update. Now, the South Korean company has officially announced that the Samsung Flow’s upcoming update, slated for April, will expand its compatibility to more Galaxy smartphones and Windows 10 devices.

Notably, as of now, the Samsung Flow app is only compatible with Galaxy S6 smartphone and newer devices, featuring fingerprint scanners.

With Samsung Flow app, users will be able to unlock their Windows 10 devices with the fingerprint scanner on their phones. Apart from the unlocking feature, the app will also allow users to act upon their notifications right from their Windows 10 PC or tablet. Samsung Flow, which works on similar lines as Apple’s Continuity feature, further lets users resume their browsing sessions from one device on another and allows for easy transfer of files between the devices.

“Users can share photos, videos and hefty documents cord and hassle free, and pause and continue browsing sessions on whichever device is more convenient. Additionally, when Wi-Fi is spotty, the app allows you to seamlessly connect your tablet to your phone’s mobile hotspot, so you’ll never be out of the loop,” the company said in its blog post.

This feature will be available for devices running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and later and Windows 10 devices with Creators Update, which is expected to be rolled out in April. The Samsung Flow app comes preloaded on Samsung’s newly unveiled Galaxy Book and Galaxy Tab S3 tablets.

Tags: Samsung Flow, Windows 10, Apps, Android, Samsung, PC, Laptops, Microsoft, Mobiles, Tablets

[“Source-Gadgets”]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Education

Schools fear business rate rise will be ‘breaking point’

by Rajdeep April 5, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Child with abacus

A sharp rise in schools’ business rates could push some budgets beyond breaking point, say head teachers’ leaders.

Business rates, charged on property in England, are due to change in April for the first time in seven years.

Calculations by consultancy Gerald Eve suggest changes to the rateable value of schools mean some will face 40% bill increases.

The government said its own figures suggested state schools overall would see a 2% fall in rates.

Public money

Andrew Altman, a specialist schools partner at Gerald Eve, said the firm estimates that the total rates bill for schools in England is about £791m.

But it estimates that this could rise by £131m to about £922m by 2021-22 as the revaluation changes work through.

The figures amount to a rise of about 17% by 2021, said Mr Altman, but this “hides the fact that about a quarter of schools could see actual rate increases of about 40% in the first year”.

Mr Altman said he feared that council-run schools would be particularly badly hit as academies have their costs, including rates, met fully, directly from Whitehall.

He said that he expected many schools to appeal against their new business rate rises and questioned why public sector properties were subjected to business rates at all.

“It’s circular. It’s all public money. It’s a very expensive tax to collect and appeal,” he added.

National Association of Head Teachers’ general secretary Russell Hobby said a sharp increase in business rates would “add to the perfect storm school leaders are experiencing.

“It cannot be right that more and more of the money to schools is being taken back to central and local government.”

Mr Hobby said schools were already having to find money, which would otherwise be spent on pupils, to fund the Apprenticeship Levy which also comes into force from April, as well as staff insurance contributions and pension costs.

“The burden on schools is becoming too much,” he added, urging the chancellor to “act in next month’s Budget to ensure schools have the resources they need”.

‘Fall of 2%’

In a statement, the Department for Communities and Local Government said it did not recognise the Gerald Eve figures and state schools would see a 2% fall in their bills – equivalent to £16m a year.

“The revaluation of business rates means nearly three-quarters of properties will see no change or a fall in their bills,” said a spokesman.

The National Day Nurseries Association said its members, who operate as small businesses, feared their business rates could double.

Research late last year by the Lambert Smith Hampton commercial property consultancy estimated rises of 45%, or higher in more affluent areas.

NDNA chief executive Purnima Tanuku said these rises would be “a huge burden” when nurseries were already facing “severe financial pressure” due to the national living wage and uncertainty surrounding the financial viability of the government’s plan to double the number of free childcare hours for working families.

[Source:- BBC]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Internet

Google, Yahoo, and Others Will Soon Ban Torrent Links in Search Results: Report

by Rajdeep April 5, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Google, Yahoo, and Others Will Soon Ban Torrent Links in Search Results: Report

When you take down one torrent site, another mirror site takes its place. This has been the regular trend to keep torrent sites like Kickass Torrents alive and active. And Google has inadvertently played a big role in informing people about these sites. Due to the number of complaints received from entertainment companies over the years for failing to prevent online piracy, Google along with other search engine are reportedly now planning to ban torrent sites.

In order to steer away from the tag of ‘promoting’ piracy, Google entered into discussions with other search companies and entertainment studios which was chaired by UK’s Intellectual Property Office, according to a report by Torrent Freak.

The companies, which also included Yahoo and Bing, among others, have reportedly reached an agreement to tackle the appearance of torrent sites in search results. A draft amendment to the Digital Economy Bill committee would allow the government to impose a code of practice on search engines. However, after a recent meeting, the various companies decided that such a regime will not be needed.

“Since the idea was last discussed in [parliament], Intellectual Property Office officials have chaired a further round-table meeting between search engines and representatives of the creative industries,” Baroness Buscombe said.

“While there are still elements of detail to be settled, the group is now agreed on the key content of the code and I expect an agreement to be reached very soon.”

The Torrent Freak further reported that the agreement should take effect from June 1, 2017. As of now, nothing has been finalised and the companies involved are tight lipped on the measures they plan to introduce to curb piracy.

Additionally, once implemented, the agreement is likely to be restricted to the UK and it will be interesting to see whether the measures will work uniformly around the world.

Currently, a simple Google Search of ‘torrent sites’ will bring up a list of the most popular torrent sites, which include names like Kickass Torrents and The Pirate Bay.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Education

Exclusive: Pisa boss warns England’s school funding squeeze will hit standards

by Rajdeep April 5, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Union leader hails ‘significant’ intervention from ministers’ favourite, Andreas Schleicher, who runs Pisa for the OECD

The head of Pisa has added his voice to warnings that financial pressures on schools in England risk damaging standards.

Andreas Schleicher, education director at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which publishes the Pisa (Programme for International Student Assessment) world rankings, voiced concerns over schools struggling to make budget savings of 8 per cent to cope with increasing cost pressures.

Asked by TES about the funding squeeze affecting schools in England, Mr Schleicher said: “If you take the same system and you take money out of it, you lose and lack in quality. I think there’s no question around it.”

He spoke out as politicians from around the globe gathered in London for the Education World Forum, where England’s schools minister Nick Gibb again cited Pisa research approvingly.

Mr Schleicher said that in high-performing education systems, such as China, parents and governments prioritised spending on educating children, adding that “they invest in the future”.

“The UK has already spent the money on consumption today,” he said. “That’s where the debt crisis came from. It’s a value choice of societies to make. Education really is an important choice; that is the future.

“The school system today is your economy tomorrow, and that is something I worry about when governments have an attitude of, ‘Oh well, let’s cut some corners here’.”

‘Significant’ intervention from Pisa boss

Mary Bousted, general secretary of the ATL teaching union, described Mr Schleicher’s intervention as “significant”.

The Department for Education said it had protected “core school funding”, which was at a record level, and that it was “incorrect” to say it was taking money out of the system

The department added that total expenditure from public and private sources on UK education institutions was above the OECD average for each phase of education.

A spokesperson said: “We recognise, however, that schools are facing cost pressures, which is why we will continue to provide advice and support to help them use their funding in cost-effective ways, including improving the way they buy goods and services, so they get the best possible value for their pupils.”

Mr Schleicher added that the overall level of funding was not the only issue, and called for schools to do more with the money they received.

[Source:- tes]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Internet

YouTube’s Super Chat Will Let You Pay to Have Your Comment Highlighted in Live Streams

by Rajdeep April 5, 2024

written by Rajdeep

YouTube's Super Chat Will Let You Pay to Have Your Comment Highlighted in Live Streams

In order to provide users with way of preventing their chat messages from getting buried in YouTube’s comment section, the video-sharing platform has announced a new tool named ‘Super Chat’. The newly-announced feature essentially pins user’s message at the top of the chat for up to five hours so that the message gets the required attention from the video creator. The Super chats are also highlighted using a different colour.

YouTube has already started the beta test for the Super Chat feature with few creators including-iHasCupquake, Great Library (buzzbean11), and Alex Wassabi, the company said in its blog post. However, it plans to broadly launch the feature on January 31, with creators from 20 countries and viewers in more than 40 countries, it added.

“For creators, this means Super Chat does double duty: keeping their conversations and connections with (super) fans meaningful and lively while also giving creators a new way to make money,” the blog post said.

In terms of requirements and availability, the Super Chats can be viewed on YouTube or YouTube Gaming on computer, in Android app, and in the iOS app. Interestingly, Super Chat purchases can be made on all aforementioned platforms except iOS. YouTube says that purchases on iOS are currently not supported.

In order to make a Super Chat purchase, users need to select the “$” sign within the live chat. The option apparently pops up only in portrait mode. Then, you have to select the Send a Super Chat option. The user is then required to either type or drag the slider to their desired value. Users can then type the message and then select the option to Buy and Send.

“They can be viewed in Internet Explorer 11+, Chrome 36+, Safari 9+, FireFox 35+, Edge, and Opera 23+,” the company said on browsers supporting the new Super Chat feature.

Apart from the introduction of this new feature, the Google-owned website also announced that it is getting rid of its Fan Funding feature, which was launched back in 2014. The Fan Funding feature essentially allowed users to make voluntary payments to support their favourite content creators. “While we were really excited about Fan Funding, it never achieved widespread usage outside of live streams, where we saw the majority of revenue,” YouTube reasoned in the blog post.

Even though the company has stopped accepting new signups for the Fan Funding feature, the feature will continue to be used on enabled channels till February 28, when it will finally be discontinued.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Education

Apprentice levy ‘will harm small council schools’

by Rajdeep April 5, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Child using abacus

Plans to boost apprenticeship funding in England will hit school budgets, with small council schools unfairly affected, say town hall bosses.

From May, all employers with wage bills over £3m a year must pay 0.5% of that into the new apprenticeship levy.

But council schools below that threshold must still pay as they come under the overall local authority wage bill, while small academies are exempt.

The LGA wants the rules changed to put all schools on an equal footing.

Ministers say local authorities, rather than the schools themselves, will be responsible for paying the levy.

But the LGA says advice agreed with the government is that schools should adjust their spending plans for next year to account for the extra cost of the levy.

‘Discriminatory’

The LGA says the levy will unfairly hit the finances of about 9,000 small community schools, usually primaries, with a total of 2.8 million pupils.

This is because where a school is maintained by the council, its staff are employed by the local authority, and those staff contribute to the overall wage bill of the council rather than being counted separately.

This means that the apprenticeship levy is applied to them, and will need to be accounted for in school budgets from April 2017, according to the LGA.

But free standing academies, where the academy trust is the employer, will be exempt.

The same is true of some faith and foundation schools, where the governing body is the employer.

“It is discriminatory,” said Richard Watts, chairman of the LGA’s Children and Young People Board.

“It is no secret that many schools are struggling with their funding, yet once again, council-maintained schools are being dealt a poor hand compared to academies.”

“Clearly what really matters is making sure that all children get the education they deserve, regardless of school structures, so applying initiatives like the levy equally across all schools is only right.

“The government therefore needs to urgently revise the apprenticeship levy to make sure that all schools are on an equal footing.”

‘Breaking point’

The National Association of Head Teachers warned that while 0.5% might not sound like much, “it comes in the context of school budgets being at breaking point already”.

“It’s another example of government policies hurting schools,” said NAHT Head of Policy Valentine Mulholland.

“We would definitely support the LGA’s call for small local authority schools to be treated in the same way as stand-alone academies.”

Once the levy is paid, employers will be able to access funding for apprenticeships, but Ms Mulholland said smaller schools would struggle to do this.

“There are hardly any apprenticeships that are suitable for schools,” she said.

Ms Mulholland said large secondaries could develop master’s level apprenticeships to help staff teach outside their main subject areas or move into leadership.

But smaller schools, which are often primaries, lacked the flexibility and the resources to be able to do this, she said, so the levy would become “just another tax”.

Apprenticeship and Skills Minister Robert Halfon said: “We expect these schools to have full access to funding for apprenticeship training and will support all employers, including schools and local authorities, in using levy funds to invest in quality apprenticeships,” said Apprenticeship and Skills Minister Robert Halfon.

[Source:- BBC]

April 5, 2024 0 comment

Internet

Amazon’s Latest Idea Is a Flying Warehouse That Will Deliver Your Stuff by Drone

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

Amazon's Latest Idea Is a Flying Warehouse That Will Deliver Your Stuff by Drone

Amazon is exploring the use of giant airships to serve as mobile, flying warehouses that could help the online retail giant deliver more of its goods by drone.

You might already be familiar with Amazon’s drone delivery service, which recently received a demo in the United Kingdom for the first time. But the idea for a fleet of large airships, disclosed in filings to the US Patent and Trademark Office, expand on those ambitions dramatically. (Amazon chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos also owns The Washington Post.)

Imagine you’re at a baseball game and wanted to buy a meal or a jersey without ever leaving your seat. The system Amazon describes would allow you to place an order and receive the item within minutes. From its so-called “airborne fulfillment centers” hovering near the stadium, Amazon would dispatch a drone with your purchase. The drone would float or glide most of the way, then turn on its propellers and navigate itself to you directly.

While Amazon’s existing goal with drone delivery is to get you your stuff within 30 minutes, airships could potentially reduce that time even further. Unlike Amazon’s land-based warehouses, which by definition can’t move around, airborne fulfillment centers could respond to surges in demand even before they occur, according to the patent filing.

Large gatherings of people for a specific event, such as a concert or a sports game, are one example Amazon highlights as a clear-use case. But Amazon also appears to believe that using airships could reduce the costs of drone delivery in general.

In looking to airships, Amazon draws upon a long technological tradition dating back to the 19th century, when some of the world’s first self-propelled dirigibles were created.

amazon drone warehouse Amazon Drone

Sending drones out from a ground-based facility requires substantial energy, the filing says, because the drone must have its propellers spinning constantly to stay aloft. What’s more, having to make a return trip to the warehouse with no payload onboard could be a wasteful expense. By contrast, Amazon believes it could be more efficient to deploy drones from airships; the drones could float or glide most of the way down to earth by way of gravity, rather than using their own power.

The airships would have to be resupplied periodically, of course. Amazon envisions still more airships – smaller ones – that could shuttle more drones, products and other things needed to keep the airships functioning up to the larger carrier.

A diagram from Amazon’s patent filing that shows how the whole system could work.

amazon drone warehouse uspto aMAZON DRONE

There’s no word on when such a system might debut; an Amazon spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Some patents never even lead to actual products. But companies such as Facebook and Google have floated the use of airships and drones to beam Internet connectivity down to earth, so it was likely only a matter of time before Amazon began thinking about how to apply the same technology to its business.

[Source:- gadgets.ndtv]

April 4, 2024 0 comment

Education

Grammars ‘will not boost poorest pupils’ science grades’

by Rajdeep April 4, 2024

written by Rajdeep

School chemistry experiment

Top scientists fear plans for more grammar schools in England will not boost disadvantaged pupils’ grades.

Overall, the poorest pupils do worse in science and maths subjects in areas with selective schools, suggests research for the Royal Society, the UK’s independent scientific academy.

New grammars are likely to help “only a small proportion” of the poorest pupils, it says.

Ministers maintain that their proposals will improve social mobility.

A government consultation on plans for more selective education closed earlier this month.

“Social mobility is a complex issue,” said Prof Tom McLeish, chairman of the Royal Society’s Education Committee.

“We support the government’s commitment to ensuring all students fulfil their potential, regardless of their background.

“However, we are concerned that the approach to selective education outlined in the green paper may only support the small number of high ability disadvantaged pupils who do attend selective schools, at the cost of disadvantaged pupils who do not.”

Researchers from the Education Policy Institute, commissioned by the Royal Society, looked at the impact of selective education on the attainment of the most disadvantaged young people – those on free school meals – in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects.

The researchers found free school meals pupils performed less well in GCSE maths in areas where there were selective schools.

In non-selective areas in 2015, 48.1% of free school meals pupils got a C or more, compared with 72.3% of pupils not eligible for the meals.

But in selective areas the attainment gap was wider, with only 43.9% of free school meals pupils getting at least a C, compared with 74.8% of pupils not receiving the meals.

The researchers found that free school meals pupils in selective schools performed very well, with 98% getting at least a C, compared with 99.2% of non-free school meals pupils.

However, free school meals pupils make up only 3% of selective schools so their achievements are not enough to make any difference to “an overall negative impact on the attainment of all free school meals pupils in GCSE mathematics in selective areas”, say the researchers.

Specialist teachers

They also found that fewer free school meals pupils in selective areas took double or triple sciences at GCSE.

“We have found no evidence to suggest that overall educational standards for free school meals pupils in STEM subjects in England would be improved by an increase in the number of places in selective schools,” the Royal Society concludes.

Dr McLeish added that the best way to help every pupil achieve their potential is to make sure that they are taught by “well-trained, motivated and supported, specialist science teachers”.

Support is essential, he said, to help teachers “draw out the natural curiosity and creativity that grows from a framework of knowledge in science”.

In particular, the Royal Society proposes partnerships between universities, schools and businesses which could involve university staff teaching part-time and even carrying out some of their research in schools.

The Department for Education said its proposals were “about creating more choice, with more good school places in more parts of the country”.

It said grammar schools have a “track record of closing the attainment gap” and the department was also raising standards for maths and science for all pupils.

A spokesman added: “We have introduced rigorous new qualifications and in science we are investing £12.1 million over the next three years to improve the quality of teaching in schools.”

[Source:- BBC]

April 4, 2024 0 comment