by Editor | May 25, 2021 | News
New Delhi : Stressing that technology is the tool for transformation, Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Friday said engineers play a crucial role in nation-building.
Addressing a seminar organised by the Institution of Civil Engineers on the occasion of Engineers Day, Naqvi said Indian engineers and technocrats are among the best in the world.
“Be it defence sector, infrastructure, railway or space technology, India’s engineers and technocrats have made their mark and made the country proud. Through their creative thinking and dedication and hard work, they give a new direction to the country,” he said.
Naqvi said it is true that providing basic amenities and infrastructure is the responsibility of the government, but at the same time, engineers, doctors and other professionals also have a role to play in this regard.
“Earlier, a large number of professionals from various fields preferred to work abroad. But now, they are coming back to India and are contributing to the vision of ‘New India’,” he noted.
“India has continued to rise in the Global Innovation Index (GII) rankings. In this year’s rankings, India has come at 60th place from 81.
“India has improved its performance in most areas, including infrastructure, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs,” he added.
Highlighting the utilisation of the latest technology by the BJP-led government “to make people’s life more comfortable”, the Minister said: “Through technology, we have filled the gap between governance and the common people.”
Naqvi added the government has been utilising the technology to ensure “leakage proof” and transparent system for welfare of the common man.
“India is moving towards becoming a digital economy. Money meant for welfare of the common people is going directly to bank accounts through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). Crores of students are getting their scholarships directly into their bank accounts though DBT,” he added.
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Technology
San Francisco : Tech giant Microsoft has updated its ‘Pix’ camera application for iOS devices which now lets users take better scans of documents, whiteboards and business cards too.
From the beginning, ‘Pix’ app used artificial intelligence (AI) technology to choose and optimise photographs and apply a range of filters.
This time the app would deploy AI technology for documents too.
“We have data that shows people are taking a lot of whiteboard photos at work, they are doing a lot of document scanning,” said Josh Weisberg, a principal programme manager in the Computational Photography Group within Microsoft’s research organisation in Redmond, Washington.
The updated camera app automatically detects whiteboards, documents and business cards in real time and intelligently adjusts camera settings for these types of photos.
Once the shutter clicks, the app uses AI to improve the image, such as cropping edges, boosting colour and tone, sharpening focus and tweaking the angle to render the image in a straight-on perspective.
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, Markets, News, Startup Basics, Technology
By Bhavana Akella,
Bengaluru : At a time when India is listed as being home to among the most depressed citizens of the world, Bengaluru has been witnessing a steady change in its start-up space, with a number of firms coming up to address the issues around mental health using technology.
According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) study in 2014, India is among the leading countries whose citizens are battling depression and anxiety.
Even with an alarming situation in which over 50 million (WHO study, 2015) Indians are fighting depression each day, there are only about 0.3 psychiatrists and 0.07 psychologists for every 100,000 people in the country, as per WHO statistics.
It is against this background that start-ups are taking to artificial intelligence (AI) and modern technological means to keep a keen eye on the mental health of Indians.
“Shattering the stigma attached to mental health in the country” was one of the reasons that prompted entrepreneur Mukesh Bansal to start Mind.fit, a segment dedicated to mental wellness through his wellness start-up Cure.fit.
“Unfortunately, mental health is a much-neglected aspect in India. Given the rising cases of lifestyle diseases, we wanted to build a unique, customer-focused holistic health solution that inculcates mental wellness,” Bansal told IANS.
“There is a gradual increase in the number of people taking some steps towards coping with anxiety, hypertension, stress and other issues. This is a positive sign,” he admitted.
Mind.fit was conceptualised by renowned psychiatrist Shyam Bhat, who had also helped actor Deepika Padukone battle depression.
Offering DIY (do it yourself) sessions on their Cure.fit application and through the Mind.fit centre in Bengaluru and in other cities, which are to be launched by 2018, the start-up aims to bring the aspect of mental health “out into the open”.
“We have such a huge population and many millions affected by mental illnesses. Everyone living in urban India is at risk,” Bhat told IANS.
“The mission has been to bring mental health out into the open. We have no way to beat the problem with conventional means as we do not have enough psychiatrists,” he said.
“So the idea behind Mind.fit was to bring something for our minds, the same way we have gyms for our bodies,” the psychiatrist added.
According to Indian online doctor consultation platform, Lybrate, people aged between 25 and 45 were 50 percent more likely to have mental health issues than any other age group.
The numbers are even higher when it comes to the urban population. According to the National Mental Health Survey of India 2015-16, urban Indians are 2-3 times more likely to face stress-related mental issues.
Hence the start-ups believe that the issue has to be addressed through non-conventional means like technology.
“Everyone was using technology for the sake of marketing, but we wanted to use it for a social change — to address mental health issues,” said Jo Aggarwal, the founder of Wysa, an emotionally intelligent chatbot that acts as a “virtual coach” in improving people’s mental health.
Through the AI bot, which was launched for the public in January, the firm has been able to provide mental health support to over 90,000 users in around 30 countries.
The chatbot enables users to chat with it anonymously and seek medical help when required.
“People don’t want others to know that they are depressed and Wysa helps in offering support while maintaining anonymity,” Aggarwal added.
Bengaluru-based LeanOnMe is another such platform that is making use of a mobile application to let counselling be available to everyone.
“Technology is only an enabler in fighting social stigma,” said Jennyfer Rajan, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of LeanOnMe.
“In a world where people are afraid to seek medical help directly due to the fear of being labelled, technology helps people break that fear,” she added.
(Bhavana Akella can be contacted at bhavana.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Markets, Technology
By Sourabh Kulesh,
New Delhi : Apple AirPods and Samsung Gear “IconX” laid the foundation for the next era of premium Bluetooth earphones — and with people shelling out more for best-in-class technology, other players like Jabra have intensified the competition.
Denmark-based Jabra, a subsidiary of GN Netcom that makes in-ear and on-ear audio wearables, recently launched “Elite Sport” wireless bluetooth earplugs for fitness lovers who want music on-the-go.
Let’s see how these are different from others.
With the Elite Sport earphones, Jabra has given people an option to ditch fitness watches and other gadgets.
These are two separate earplugs that come with several attachments for top-of-the-line audio output and have a heart rate monitor (HRM) fixed in it — a first for wireless earplugs.
The buds have a design similar to Samsung’s IconX earplugs. One of the buds houses multi-function controls to answer or reject calls/play or pause music and a shortcut to the Jabra Sport Life app.
The other bud can be used to adjust the volume and to skip tracks.
The device comes with an on-the-go charger which needs to be charged to deliver extra battery for the buds. For longer use, the customers are advised to first charge the device from the portable charger.
In one charge, the device runs for just about three hours. The case gives two extra charges, totalling almost nine hours of running time.
The two earbuds connect with one another through near field communication (NFC) technology.
When it comes to comfort, the company has given an array of silicon and foam tips and wing tips (nine pairs in total) for secure fit. Go for silicon tips when you are at a place where there is not much noise.
The foam tips are recommended for environments with extreme noise and provide better noise cancellation than silicon ones.
The device is water-and-sweat-resistant and so you don’t need to worry about them being wet.
With the earbuds on, we trained (running and workout) for almost two hours and it was really comfortable.
We kept checking our workout regime on the Sport Life app. It includes several features that help a user monitor and improve on the exercise regime.
You can take “VO2max” test to assess and track your fitness level.
As far as call and audio output are concerned, we were more than satisfied with the quality of the depth and richness of the sound. The balance between bass and treble was excellent.
What does not work?
The earbuds are not as compact as the Samsung IconX or Apple Airpods.
At times, you hear the sound in one earbud and, after a lag, in the other. This might be owing to the NFC technology that “wakes up” the other bud.
Conclusion: The Jabra Elite Sport is a one-of-a-kind Bluetooth earphone. Highly recommended to people who seek high-audio output and fitness on-the-go.
(Sourabh Kulesh can be contacted at sourabh.k@ians.in)
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Technology, World
San Francisco : Tech giant Apple on Saturday announced that its “App Development with Swift” curriculum will be offered in over 30 community colleges across the United States in 2017-2018 school year.
The course will enable the students with no programming experience to build their own fully-functional apps.
“We believe passionately that the opportunity should be extended to everyone and community colleges have a powerful reach into communities where education becomes the great equaliser,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook in a statement.
The company is aiming to prepare the students to build careers in software development and Information Technology.
Several community colleges like Austin Community College District, Northeast Mississippi Community College, Northwest Kansas Technical College and campuses in the Alabama Community College System have added the curriculum for the session.
“Apple is going to be a force multiplier in the community’s ongoing efforts to lift 10,000 people out of poverty and into good jobs over the next five years,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler.
Apple’s app economy supports 1.5 million jobs in the US. In 2016, software developers in the US earned $5 billion through the App Store, a 40 per cent increase over 2015.
—IANS
