NAGPUR: In order to reduce power consumption in Metro stations and offices, MahaMetro has decided to install highly efficient high volume low speed (HVLS) ceiling fans. This will save 2.31 lakh units of electricity per annum in every Metro stations.
A MahaMetro official said that to achieve similar type of velocity at each Metro rail platform with 8 high volume low speed fans having 10 feet diameter, the agency will require 144 wall-mounted fans, as one wall-mounted fan covers 150 sq.ft area. high volume low speed fans will thus save over 2 lakh units per annum.
HVLS fans utilize a D-Drive next-generation DC motor that eliminates the need for a gearbox, which reduces noise and moving parts. They are 10 feet in diameter, with a variable speed of 0 to 93.5 revolutions per minute (RPM) and maximum displacement of up to 34,000 cubic feet per minute (CFM). One fan can serve an area up to 2,700 sq. ft, with very low sound level (up to 44 dba at 100% speed).
These high volume low speed fans are very much energy efficient and each fan uses maximum power of up to 190 watts only. Its next-generation motor design eliminates gearbox, resulting in reduced noise, zero maintenance and easy installation. Hence, these fans can provide saving in capital, maintenance and energy costs too.
HVLS fans shall enhance thermal comfort by reduction in effective air temperature by about 5.7 degree F. They will be wired into the building’s fire suppression system so that the fans will automatically shut off maximum of 90 seconds after sprinklers are activated. Upon fire detection as described above, the fans shall coast to a stop as required by National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) guidelines.
Taking a cue from grand success of a nation-wide sale of Rail Neer of Indian Railways, Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is mulling over a proposal to set up its bottling plant to provide packaged drinking water to the citizens. The civic body will provide the bottled water at a very competitive rate as compared to similar products available in the market. This may open a new avenue of generating revenue for cash-strapped NMC.
Highly placed sources in NMC claimed that the Nagpur Environmental Engineering Services Limited (NESL) had taken a decision in the year 2016 to set up a bottling plant at Nagpur to sell bottled drinking water.
It may be mentioned that several brands are already selling packaged drinking water at quite a higher rate. The civic body is supplying 1,000 litres of water for Rs 8, while big brands are charging around Rs 18-20 for one litre water bottle, using NMC’s water.
A senior officer said, “We may sell one litre water bottle at Rs 10 to the consumer. Our product will be cheaper as compared to other products in the market. NMC can generate a huge profit from selling bottled water. The bottling plant will be installed at Gorewada Water Treatment Plant (WTP) and raw water available at the WTP will be used for bottling.”
“The civic body may initially install bottling plant of 2,000 bottles capacity. The main concern is about marketing and we are appointing a consultant to guide us for the marketing and production of the water bottle. We may also provide space to other companies to bottle the water and sell it in the market at the rates decided by the civic body. We will share the profit margin.”
The officer hoped that this would pave way for the new revenue generation for the cash strapped NMC.
Presently, the civic body is struggling with the finances and it is mulling all the proposals to increase its revenue. The collection from Property Tax and Goods and Services Tax (GST) is meager as compare to the development pace of the city.
Maharashtra Government takes steps to curb crime by juveniles:
The state government has initiated steps to curb crimes across Maharashtra committed by juveniles. The Maharashtragovernment is taking even a marginal increase in juvenile crime as a cause for concern and is committed to tackle it effectively through social and educational reforms.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday told the Maharashta Legislative Council (Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad) during question hour, “The government is working through various schemes and organisations to curb juvenile crimes.”
CM Fadnavis said, “Data analysis shows that 73 per cent of the total juvenile offenders are in the age group of 16 to 18 years. There are committees set up across 36 districts.”
Child welfare officers have been appointed at police stations to deal with juvenile crime, he said. “Statistics show the percentage of juvenile crime (2006) was 2.2 per cent. It increased to 2.38 per cent in 2017,” he said.
While stating that percentage of juvenile crime was much less compared to other crimes, the Chief Minister Devendra Fadanavis said, “Even a marginal increase is a cause of serious concern. And it is our government’s endeavour to make it negligible.” Various aspects, including social, economic and educational have been considered to tackle the problem.
“In the state, there are 69 observation and protection homes. Out of these, 18 are operated by the government and 51 are private,” said the CM Devendra Fadanavis.
The state government plans to monitor students when they come out of the protection homes to ensure they are guided in the right direction and get employment. Following a Supreme Court directive, state and regional committees have been set up for monitoring and rehabilitation of juvenile delinquents, CM Devendra Fadanavis said.
Low cost carrier AirAsia India will focus on expanding its domestic network and increase its flight frequencies, before commencing international operations to Southeast Asia by early next year, the airline’s chief, Amar Abrol, said.
Just a few days ago, the budget passenger carrier announced the addition of Nagpur and Indore to its network, effective March 17. It will also introduce new routes connecting Bengaluru, Kolkata , Goa, Indore and Nagpur.
In addition, the airline will operate daily flights connecting its two hubs — Bengaluru and Kolkata — which will become operational from March 25.
“We are not shying away from India. We will first commence flight operations to new domestic destinations and increase frequencies. In all we are looking at starting flights to four to five new cities in this year,” Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Abrol told in interview.
“We are making the preparations for international operations but it will most probably take place by the first quarter of 2019,” he added.
Currently, the airline operates to Bengaluru, Kochi, Goa, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Pune, New Delhi, Guwahati, Imphal, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad, Srinagar, Bagdogra, Ranchi, Kolkata, Chennai and Bhubaneshwar with a fleet of 16 A320 aircrafts.
When asked about the first international port of call, Abrol said: “It can be anywhere from India’s eastern seaboard to Southeast Asia, particularly to Thailand and Malaysia.”
According to Abrol, apart from adding more domestic flight frequencies, the airline is “steadily working” towards “break-even” by the year-end.
On the perils of high crude oil prices denting the airline’s ability to offer lower fares, Abrol said AirAsia India will continue to offer “lowest possible fares” to its customers.
“We don’t control oil prices. But we do control other aspects; we are good at one thing and that is to provide affordable flying. AirAsia India will continue to offer the lowest possible airfares,” Abrol said.
The airline, like many of its peers, has been known to offer promotional airfare schemes. It recently started the “Big Sale” promotion with all-in one-way fares starting at Rs. 799 for domestic travel.
AirAsia India is a joint venture between Tata Sons and Malaysia-based AirAsia, with a small stake held by two individuals. It commenced operations on June 12, 2014.
Oscar-Winning Composer A. R. Rahman Signs Up for Bollywood Remake of ‘The Fault In Our Stars’ :
Acclaimed composer A. R. Rahman will compose the music for the upcoming Bollywood remake of The Fault in Our Stars. Fox Star Studios is producing the remake toplined by Bollywood star Sushant Singh Rajput.
Rahman, 51, is one of India’s most successful composers, whose multiple awards include an Oscar and Grammy for his work on Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire. He worked again with Boyle on the 2010 release 127 Hours that starred James Franco.
The Hindi language remake of The Fault In Our Stars is produced by Fox Star Studios India and was first unveiled back in 2014. The Fault in Our Stars is a 2014 American romantic drama film. Based on John Green’s novel of the same name, The Fault In Our Stars was directed by Josh Boone and starred Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort and Nat Wolff, with Laura Dern, Sam Trammell and Willem Dafoe in supporting roles. Woodley played a 16-year-old cancer patient who attends a support group where she subsequently meets and falls in love with a cancer survivor (Elgort).
The Bollywood version marks the directorial debut of well-known casting director Mukesh Chhabra. Sushant Singh Rajput, whose credits include cricket biopic M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story, has been signed on for the lead.
As part of its India slate, Fox Star Studios has also produced local versions of international titles such as 2014’s City Lights, the Hindi remake of U.K. foreign Oscar entry Metro Manila. The same year, the studio released Bang Bang!, the Bollywood reworking of the Tom Cruise-Cameron Diaz film Knight And Day which starred Hrithik Roshan and Katrina Kaif.
Rahman’s latest international project was Iranian director Majid Majidi’s India-set drama Beyond the Clouds.
BENGALURU: After recently launching a mobile app for small businesses, WhatsApp is preparing to add several new features for large enterprises , including customer support and possibly merchant payments as well, according to people familiar with the developments.
WhatsApp, which last month introduced a peer-to-peer payments feature on its messaging app, has been working with companies including hotels network OYO and ticketing platform BookMyShow to allow them to communicate with their customers.
The Facebook-owned company is now developing a customer relationship management (CRM) software that it will introduce initially for companies using its application programming interface (API), said one person aware of the matter. This feature is expected to roll out in the next six to nine months. Till late last year, WhatsApp had about 10 enterprises using its API (which entails core tools for building applications), as per industry sources. WhatsApp is expected to expand its payments facility to include customer-to-merchant transactions to offer a complete solution to enterprises.
“WhatsApp will most likely use the Facebook Messenger playbook for enterprises. Their services could range from messaging, calls and maybe even payments in the future,” said Nikhil Kumar, head of developer ecosystem, IndiaStack.
WhatsApp didn’t comment on the merchant payments feature but confirmed it is testing an enterprise technology for larger businesses to make it easier for companies to connect with their customers and share useful information.
“We are building and testing two new tools that create more value for people and businesses on WhatsApp,” a spokesperson for WhatsApp said in an email. “In January, we launched WhatsApp Business app for small businesses on Android. We are also testing an enterprise solution for larger businesses. Both tools make it easier for businesses to connect with their customers and share useful information like flight information, delivery confirmations, and other updates.”
Left-hand batsman Gautam Gambhir who led IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders for seven years, has now been named the skipper of Delhi Daredevils for the upcoming season of the tournament. The announcement was made during an event on Wednesday, by DD CEO Hemant Dua.
Gambhir was associated with the Delhi franchise till 2010, and thereafter joined KKR, where he led them to two titles in 2012, 2014 respectively. Delighted to be chosen as the skipper for the team, Gambhir said, “It is a huge honour to once again captain DD. To get this responsibility is a way for me to give back to the sport in the city. I firmly believe that with the players currently involved we have the makings of a very good side. The potential of this group of players is immense and it is now up to us to turn that potential into consistent performances. It is also going to be great to work in unison with Ricky, an absolute champion himself.”
The southpaw batsman was picked by the Delhi outfit for Rs 2.8 crore, and till now has scored 4,132 runs from 148 matches in his IPL career. Asked whether he eyes IPL as a stepping stone to comeback in the Indian team, Gambhir said, “I’m more excited than I have ever been.”
“You don’t play a tournament to make a comeback, you play to win the tournament..every time before the IPL I am asked this question. But a leader plays to help his side win. Not for a personal comeback.”
Speaking about the Gambhir’s appointment, head coach Ricky Ponting said: “Gauti has been a leader for a very long time. He has always proven himself to be one of the top leaders during his stint with other sides in the IPL. He has a big personality, but it is the drive behind the outward confidence which I think will inspire the rest of the team. He has the respect of the dressing room and the franchise is proud to have him as our captain. I would like to congratulate him on the appointment and wish him, all the very best.”
Delhi Daredevils Squad: Gautam Gambhir (C), Jason Roy, Prithvi Shaw, Shreyas Iyer, Manjot Kalra, Colin Munro, Rishabh Pant, Naman Ojha, Chris Morris, Glenn Maxwell, Vijay Shankar, Daniel Christian, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Jayant Yadav, Kagiso Rabada, Mohammad Shami, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Harshal Patel, Sayan Ghosh, Amit Mishra, Shahbaz Nadeem, Rahul Tewatia, Abhishek Sharma, Sandeep Lamichhane.
Nagpur Municipal Corporation to once again begin sterlisation of stray dogs
NAGPUR : Honorary Animal Welfare Officer Karishma Gilani had lodged a complaint in police station against two doctors for the failure in ABC (Animal Birth Control) programme . After which the work of sterilization of dogs was stopped by Nagpur Municipal Corporation. But once again, ABC programme will start at Bhandewadi Shelter Home.
For this, 3 doctors and one diploma holder doctor has been appointed by NMC. Dr Gajendra Mahlle, Health Officer of Nagpur Municipal Corporation informed that after 10 days the sterilisation of stray dogs in the citywill be begin.
Nagpur Municipal Corporation has sanctioned Rs 50 lakhs for 50 thousand dogs. Nagpur Municipal Corporation’s health department has always been in controvetrsy regarding sterilization of dogs. After many years once again it NMC has been proposed to start the Animal Birth Control programme. Sterilization is the only way to control the number of growing stray dogs in the city.
Giving the information about the Animal Birth Control programme, Honorary Animal Welfare Officer Karishma Gilani informed that the Nagpur Municipal Corporation has appointed doctors. She said that she herself is in the monitoring committee.
The practice of sterilization was stopped after the complaints were received last time. Gilani said that this time his attention will be on sterilization of dogs. She said that this time Nagpur Municipal Corporation has carry out the sterilization programme properly. So that they make up for the last time’s mistake.
International Women’s Day, as the name implies, is dedicated to celebrating womanhood, their social, political, cultural, economic achievements and their significant contributions to society. The day also emphasises the importance of gender equality.
On this day, people from all across the world come together to partake in the celebration of womanhood. The day has come to be increasingly associated with feminism and equal rights for women. Every year, March 8 is celebrated as International Women’s Day.
Women’s day is a day which is celebrated to make women feel special. On this day, everyone wishes every woman happy women’s day. Though there should be no specific day to celebrate the day of women’s but March 8 is considered as a day to celebrate the importance of women. This is a day when women has all the rights. They prefer celebrating the day on their own terms. On this day, many seminars, events are organized for women.
Different events, activities are held in which women’s are given great importance and they are made aware of their rights and all other things. Many activities like games and other sports take place and even they make the women celebrate this day on their own terms. This day is of a highly social, historical and a good event that is highly auspicious to celebrate. On this day, men bow down their head in front of the women they admire the most. Women’s day create awareness in rural areas. Ladies who work in an NGO go to rural area and create awareness in almost every sector and create awareness in all section.
Theme:
Themes play an important role in the celebration of the day. It widens the context of women and their rights across the world and highlights the atrocities women face and the need to end them. The UN celebrates the day on the basis of different themes. This year, the theme is #PressforProgress & Time is Now: Rural and urban activists transforming women’s lives.
Vandalism continues despite warnings, now Mahatma Gandhi’s statue damaged in Kerala:
A statue of Mahatma Gandhi was vandalised by miscreants in Kerala’s Kannur on Thursday despite a stern warning by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh (Rajnath Ram Badan Singh) against such acts.
According to reports, the hooligans, who are yet to be identified, broke the spectacles on Gandhi’s statue before getting away in Thaliperambu area of the city.
The incident came close on the heels of the razing of the statue of Lenin in Tripura and the desecration of a bust of Periyar in Tamil Nadu’s Vellore.
The bust of Jana Sangh founder Syama Prasad Mukherjee was damaged by activists of Left-leaning outfit ‘Radical’ in south Kolkata on Wednesday. A statue of B R Ambedkar was damaged by unidentified people in Uttar Pradesh’s Mawana on Tuesday, triggering protests by Dalits.
Taking a serious view of the desecration of statues in various parts of the country, the Home Ministry on Wednesday issued a second advisory, its second in the day, holding district magistrates and superintendents of police “personally responsible” for such incidents of vandalism.
The fresh advisory came a few hours after the ministry, in its first advisory, told all states and union territories that incidents of toppling and damaging of statues must be checked immediately and stern action should be taken to prevent such incidents.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also expressed his strong disapproval of incidents of vandalism of statues and spoken to Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on the matter.
The home minister Rajnath Singh has appealed to political parties to ensure that those found desecrating statues are dealt with strictly.
Nagpur Municipal Corporation in association with police department and three NGOs has started to shift homeless people in city to night shelters constructed and operated by the civic body. In the last seven days, 147 homeless were shifted to five night shelters.
NMC’s social welfare department, police’s economic cell and cyber crime branch and NGOs— Sanskruti, Sahara and Sahyadri— launched a week-long special drive between February 28 and March 6. Deputy municipal commissioner Ranjana Lade and DCP Shweta Khedkar also visited various parts of the city during the night drive.
Lade told, target was to shift all 307 homeless to NMC’s night shelters. “Survey revealed there are 307 homeless in the city. Accordingly, Nagpur Municipal Corporation had constructed night shelters having 220 beds at five locations. Process to construct more night shelters is going on. We saw the homeless do not come to night shelters on their own. Therefore, special drive was launched in which a team of NMC, police and NGOs made rounds of the city between 10.30pm and 1.30am,” she said.
Lade said NGOs would continue the drive. “We have provided beds, food, clothes, washrooms and other amenities at night shelters. Regular health check up of these people is being conducted. NGOs are doing counselling of these people so they can go out to earn and return to night shelters during night daily on their own. Skills training will be given to the people so they can earn good and start to live in rented houses,” she said.
The state government had issued a circular on July 11, 2011, directing all civic bodies to provide one night shelter per one lakh population. Then, the formula was revised and directives were given to construct night shelters as per population of homeless. Accordingly, 10 night shelters were constructed between 2012 and 2014 but they got no response. Hence, the drive to search and bring the homeless to night shelters was started.
Under the central government’s Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Antyodaya Yojana -National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM), the night shelters are being operated at Sitabuldi (40 beds), below railway station flyover (30), Dipti Signal (30), Indora (20) and Hansapuri (100).
Rashtrasant Tukadoji Maharaj Nagpur University ( RTMNU ) has proposed to start courses in Animation Art, Visual Effect Art, Creative Production Management, Film Studies and New media Design and Innovation. These new courses have been included in the five-year Perspective Plan of the University.
The courses will be available under Bachelor degree in Vocational courses (B Voc), in the four districts under its jurisdiction – Nagpur, Bhandara, Gondia and Wardha. The courses will be started from the academic year 2018-19 to 2023-24.
Besides ensuring equitable distribution of avenues for higher education, reducing gap between Gross Enrollment Ratio at the national level and at the district level has been considered while preparing the plan. The University also aims to promote satellite centres at the place which are neither district nor taluka places.
The RMTNU has proposed to open 22 new colleges, including eight for the vocational courses and ten exclusively for women and two evening colleges for those who wish to pursue higher education while working.
The number of colleges in other districts are – Bhandara – 10, including four vocational, four for women and two evening colleges; Gondia – 12, including five vocational, four for women and two evening colleges; Wardha – 8, including four vocational, two for women and one evening college. Besides the technical courses mentioned earlier the subjects in vocational courses will include Acting, Theatre and Stage Craft, Software Development, Retail Management, Food Processing and Engineering, Building Technology, Automotive, Banking, Accounting and Taxation and Rural Development Technology.
The RTMNU has also proposed to open 11 professional colleges in the four districts. Looking at the modern trend these include seven colleges for Hotel Management and Catering Technology (HMCT) and four in Pharmaceutical Sciences. One College in HMCT in Nagpur will be exclusively for women. These courses are being considered important, when a large number of engineering colleges are facing closure for want of students.
The option of shifting the technical universities to Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Technical University, Lonere, is open. The shifting of affiliation to BATU, so far has not been made compulsory.
Actor Rajkummar Rao says his upcoming film Mental Hai Kya is a very quirky and different comedy. Asked whether he has become “mental” in the film, Rajkummar said, “I am very mental and from April onwards, I will entirely become mental. People are asking me that Mental Hai Kya? So now I feel ‘#MentalHaiKya’ will trend.”
Rajkummar, who attended the second edition of Powerbrand Bollywood Film Journalist Awards on Monday in Mumbai, will be seen with actress Kangana Ranaut again in Mental Hai Kya after starring in the 2014 hit movie Queen. “It’s an amazing script as it is very quirky and different comedy. Kangana is such a powerhouse performer and we are coming together after Queen along with Ekta Kapoor (producer) so it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
He shared the film’s poster on Monday on his social media accounts and within a short period, it received a positive response from the audience. Asked about the other stars in Mental Hai Kya, he said, “As of now, me and Kangana are there in the film and to see who all are there in the film, the audience has to watch the movie”.
Ever since his debut in Hindi filmdom in 2010, Rajkummar has starred in several films like Shaitan, Trapped, Kai Po Che!, Bareilly Ki Barfi, Behen Hogi Teri and Newton.
Does Rajkummar keep a count of films he does in a year?
“I don’t keep a count. I think media will tell me how many films I have done in 2018 same as they did in 2017. So, let’s see how it goes but I don’t really keep a count. I love doing interesting work.”
Mental Hai Kya has been written by Kanika Dhillon and will be helmed by National award-winning director Prakash Kovelamudi.
Talking about winning an award at the Powerbrand Bollywood Film Journalist Awards, he said, “It always feels good whenever I win any award because last year was quite special and very interesting as whatever films I did, people liked my work and appreciated my effort so when people are honoring with awards for my performances it always feels great.”
Dassault Aviation will showcase the ultra long range Falcon 8X at this year’s edition of Wings India, India’s biggest civilian aviation exhibition. It will be the first appearance of the 6,450 nm/11,945 km trijet at this prestigious event, which opens on March 8 at Hyderabad Begumpet Airport.
The inaugural Falcon 8X presentation comes just as Dassault is introducing into the market a new ultra widebody twinjet, the Falcon 6X. Unveiled on February 28, the 6X will be the most modern, spacious and versatile twin in the 5,000 nm segment and will draw on many of the advanced features of the 8X, in particular its ultra quiet cabin.
The first Falcon 8X was handed over to an Indian customer early last year and is now in operating in all major markets, including the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Brazil and China as well as India.
With 26 Falcon aircraft currently in service, Dassault is the large cabin market leader in India, where the company has long enjoyed a strong brand image, in part thanks to the Indian Air Force’s long reliance on Dassault combat aircraft. A relationship that dates all the way back to 1953 and has continued without interruption ever since, culminating in 2016 with the IAF’s acquisition of a batch of 36 frontline Rafale fighters.
The relationship received a further boost last October when a joint-venture created by Dassault Aviation and Reliance Aerospace Limited broke ground on a new production plant in Nagpur, Maharashtra. To be ready by the end of 2018, the facility will manufacture parts and component subassemblies for the in-production Falcon line and then move on to assemble Falcon as well as Rafale fighters.
All Falcons, and in particular late generation models like the Falcon 8X, 7X and 6X, draw on Dassault’s extensive experience with combat aircraft – a heritage unique among business jet manufacturers. Falcons also benefit from the advances in fighter aerodynamics, structural design, digital flight control and man-machine interface, keeping them on the cutting edge of executive aircraft technology.
“The unmatched ability of Falcons to combine short and long haul flights and fly out of short hard-to-reach airstrips with full range performance – even at high altitudes and extreme temperature conditions – make them perfect for Indian operating conditions. No other business jet line is more suited to local requirements,” said Dassault Aviation Chairman/CEO Eric Trappier.
Apple is ready to expand its audio portfolio seeing as how people have been lapping up its AirPods and loving the sound of the HomePod. Now, the company could be planning for a high-end over-the-ear noise canceling headphones to take on the likes of Bose and even its own Beats by Dre brand. As per a Bloomberg report, people familiar with the product’s development say that Apple could launch its own premium headphones by the end of 2018.
In addition to them being noise canceling, the headphones will also support wireless pairing similar to the AirPods. This makes sense since Apple has been all about going wireless by ditching the traditional 3.5mm headphone jack since the iPhone 7. The AirPods offer a quick and seamless pairing with the iPhone by simply opening the case next to it and tapping on Connect. Of course, with the over-the-ear headphone, pairing may be slightly different, but the report does not go into much detail on that.
Bloomberg’s report adds that development challenges could push back the launch of the headphones even further, but nothing is sure as of now. Apple had to delay the launch of the HomePod as well due to similar issues that also included multiple redesigns. The HomePod was scheduled to start shipping in December during the holiday season. However, Apple had to push back the shipments to early 2018 as the company needed a little more time. The upcoming headphones could possibly see some redesigns as well before it is ready for unveiling or the project could be scrapped altogether, people familiar with the matter said. The report also notes that Apple may look to a different supplier for the headphones and will not go with Inventec Corp. that manufactures the HomePod.
It is quite interesting to hear about Apples plans of developing its own noise canceling headphones considering it purchased audio product maker Beats by Dre for around $3 billion a few years ago. An Apple headphone would directly take on the company’s own subsidiary and could potentially cannabalize it, which begs one to question about the future of Beats. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says that Apple’s headphones will look to offer better sound quality than what Beats products provide. Beats also makes low-end wireless headphones and earphones that will not necessarily have to face-off against Apples headphones or the AirPods for that matter. So essentially what we could be looking at is Beats targeting the lower-end of the market while Apple will price its own headphones much higher.
Apple in recent years has been focussing quite a lot on delivering high-quality sound. The HomePod – Apples first bid in the smart speaker game – has been widely regarding as probably the best sounding smart speaker in the market right now, but lacks the smarts of the Google Home or Amazon Echo. Meanwhile, as per a report last month, Apple is also working on a successor to the AirPods which will come with water-resistance and Hey, Siri voice support thanks to a new wireless chip.
After over two years of its release in India, Kabir Khan’s Bajrangi Bhaijaan hit the screens in China on March 2. Bollywood star Salman Khan’s film Bajrangi Bhaijaan opened well in China and the audience is appreciating its cross-border story of love and compassion.
The movie is on a good streak at the Chinese box office and hence it will be interesting to see how much will the movie earn. The movie stands with a total of ($ 10.25 million) 66.58 crore.
The film tells the story of Bajrangi, played by Salman Khan, to be an ardent devotee of Lord Hanuman, partaking a journey to reunite a six-year-old Pakistani girl with her family back in her homeland. The film also stars Kareena Kapoor Khan.
The opening day collections of Bajrangi Bhaijaan in China are remarkable considering factors like Salman Khan’s debut film, delayed release, piracy and lesser screen count as compared to Dangal and Secret Superstar. However, to the films’ benefit, the Chinese market became more receptive to Indian films after the success of Dangal and Secret Superstar.
Bajrangi Bhaijaan released in India in 2015 and it was a critical and commercial success. The film’s lifetime collection in India is 320.34 crore. Bajrangi Bhaijaan is directed by Kabir Khan and it also stars Kareena Kapoor and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
Best known for essaying poles apart roles – ranging from playing a gun-toting gangster Faizal Khan in Gangs of Wasseypur to a hilariously funny journalist in Bajrangi Bhaijaan Nawazuddin Siddiqui thinks it is the ‘Bollywood hero’ who becomes stereotypical with time, but the actors do not.
In an interview, one of the most versatile performers of present-day Bollywood talked about the evolution of Indian films, lack of audience in theatres as well as his methods and aspirations as an actor.
“I think only the heroes can become stereotypical, not actors. It is the concept of hero in our films that you and I have been seeing for the last 60 years. The Bollywood hero who sings and dances with a heroine by his side, fights but still manages to look good after a beating– has become a stereotype. An actor can never become a typecast,” said Siddiqui.
SpaceX launches its largest satellite ever which is nearly the size of a bus
Elon Musk‘s SpaceX launched its largest satellite ever into space on Tuesday, which was nearly the size of a bus.
It marked the 50th time the company has flown one of its signature Falcon 9 rockets.
The payload was a 30W-6 satellite made by Spanish firm Hispasat and was launched from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
Typically, once SpaceX has released a satellite into space, the rocket then lands back on earth so it can be reused. SpaceX said it did not attempt to do that this time due to “unfavorable weather conditions.”
Chief Executive Musk said that the Hispasat satellite is the “largest geostationary satellite we’ve ever flown.”
Falcon 9 flight 50 launches tonight, carrying Hispasat for Spain. At 6 metric tons and almost the size of a city bus, it will be the largest geostationary satellite we’ve ever flown.
A geostationary satellite orbits around the earth. It takes one day for them to complete each orbit and are typically used for communications like satellite TV or satellite navigation systems.
SpaceX said Hispasat’s satellite will allow the Spanish company to expand its broadband offering in Europe and northwest Africa.
Musk has been pushing SpaceX to do more regular launches this year and has also expanded its offerings, after it successfully launched the Falcon Heavy last month, the world’s most powerful commercial rocket.
Skype is now optimized for lower-end Android phones
Skype, one of the most popular chat apps for video and voice calls, now has an update that will improve audio and video quality on budget-friendly Android devices.
For those with inexpensive Android phones, older models or poor network coverage, this upgrade for Android 4.0.3 to 5.1, is supposed to bring “greater speed and better audio and video quality,” says Microsoft.
Adapting apps to be “lighter on both disk and memory consumption,” as Skype is doing, is a new and necessary trend to accommodate the growing markets who seek out affordable phones. And there is no shortage of them as many manufacturers are now competing to provide the best-performing ‘under $200′ models, rather than trying to outdo the latest flagships.
Affordability usually comes at a cost — less internal storage — therefore each installed app will slow things down. Hence the start of a battle for data.
To accommodate these issues, Twitter released its “data-friendly” Lite version last September, which, under 1MB, loads more quickly, takes up less space and functions better over poor networks. Shortly after, Facebook introduced its Messenger Lite for Android.
Since then, Google has reinforced this movement by releasing the Android Oreo (Go Edition), to bridge the performance gap for those not buying the latest flagships.
“In the coming weeks, the update will be rolled out around the world, so no need to worry if you are not seeing the update just yet,” the Skype Team concludes.
So it’s not surprising that Skype for Android, which has been downloaded from Google Play Store over one billion times, rolls out its own solution. This version is set to reach devices worldwide in the next few days, however some areas may have to wait a few weeks.
NAGPUR: The speed of Nagpur Metro rail on at grade (priority section) section of 5.05km between Khapri station and Airport South station on North-South corridor has been restricted to 25 kilometre per hour (kmph) for lack of requisite signalling systems. Average speed of MahaMetro Rails in the nation is 80 kmph. This makes Nagpur MahaMetro slowest among all.
Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MahaMetro) has planned commercial run on the at grade on North-South corridor in the first phase.
Ministry of Railway’s Research Designs and Standards Organization (RDSO) and Commissioner of Metro-Railway Safety (CMRS) had inspected the stretch and also six rolling stock/cars obtained by MahaMetro from L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Limited (LTMRHL) on rental basis for trail and commercial run.
As per documents obtained under RTI Act by activist TH Naidu, RDSO issued provisional speed certificate on December 1 last year in which Metro Rail’s speed for at grade section was restricted at 25 kmph. Based on its inspection on January 16, CMRS issued a detailed note of 20 pages in which it also restricted Metro Rail’s speed at 25 kmph. “Trains will be operated in safety cut out switch (SCS) mode. Communications based train control (CBTC) and automatic train protection (ATP) have been not planned for commissioning of priority section. Also, signalling automatic train control (ATC) system is unavailable. Therefore, no other mode of operation — ATP, automatic train operation (ATO) and auto turn back (ATB)— will be functional,” report said.
CMRS also directed MahaMetro to ensure opening of cars’ doors on correct side manually through train operator. “In SCS cut out mode, the train shall be operated by train operator in accordance with line side signals and on radio verbal instructions from the traffic controller.”
India cricket team coach Ravi Shastri on Monday likened skipper Virat Kohli to Pakistan’s World Cup winning captain Imran Khan. Showering praise on Kohli’s exploits in the recently-concluded South Africa tour, Shastri said the India skipper is already among the very best.
“It’s still early days for Virat. He is still very very young. But he is already there among the very best. He wants to lead by example. He reminds me a lot of Imran. He is still very young but he has got lot of qualities that Imran had when it came to leading a side. Which is great,” said Shastri. Virat, ranked No.1 batsman in One Day Internationals, was in imperious form against the Proteas becoming the first batsman ever to score 500 or more runs in a bilateral ODI series.
The dashing right-hander, rated as one of the finest in modern times, finished the series with 558 runs racking up three centuries, a record for an Indian batsman, and one fifty in six innings.
Asked about the similarities between Imran and Virat, Shastri said the desire to always be on top and having an infectious energy level made him draw the comparison.
“Just the ability to always want to dominate, want to compete, irrespective of whatever conditions you get, believe that you can do it and when you have that kind of quality it spreads among the other players as well. And that was very similar to the way Imran led.”
“I think he was fantastic on the last trip. It was a tough trip,” Shastri said on Kohli’s leadership and performance in South Africa.
India lost the Test series 1-2 but came back strongly in the 50-over format, winning the six-match series 5-1. In the T20Is, India edged past the hosts 2-1.
“When you are the leading batsman in the side plus the captain, plus the conditions you get, plus the side that you are playing which is formidable, you need to be on top of your game.”
“Mentally and physically. And he did just that. For someone to score 870-plus score on a single tour in two months, is an unbelievable achievement. Really unbelievable achievement,” said Shastri.
Ravi Shastri lashed out at former cricketers asking Kohli to cut down on his aggression on the field, saying they should allow him and his captain to go about their business.
“My only advice to them is to mind their own business. I will keep it very simple. Whoever is saying that, mind your own business. Let us get on with our job.
“I think he is absolutely fine. If there was a problem, the umpires are there. The match-referee is there to sort it out.
What are they there for? He is hardly been called by the match-referee for going over the top in his career. So where is the problem?”
Shastri also rated India’s batting performance in the third Test at the Wanderers in Johannesburg as “one of the most courageous and bravest batting performances ever.”
“It has to go down as one of the most courageous and bravest batting performances ever,” the 55-year-old opined.
“Not only in the history of Indian cricket but in the history of the game. Absolutely no question about that because the conditions were such and with the kind of attack they had, it needed a lot of guts, courage, application, determination to do what they did. And above all, belief. And there is a reason why I give them credit.
“On that track, everyone was surprised that we batted first. But the end result shows we were right,” the former all-rounder added.
The South Africa sojourn, Shastri said, was the toughest of all, owing to the surfaces the tourists played on and still fought hard.
“It is one of the toughest tours and if you look at the pitches that were on offer to us, it is chalk and cheese when you look at the track that has been given against Australia.A
“When you look at the track now in Durban and looked at the tracks we played on, they look like chalk and cheese. And on those tracks, to perform the way they did, I think, was simply outstanding,” Shastri said.
Australia are currently playing their first Test against South Africa in Durban.
Shastri signed off by priding that they don’t shy away from playing in any condition and never whine.
“I have always said that we don’t want a team that would complain about the tracks. We will play on whatever is on offer.
And we will try and get the right combination to counter that.”
Indian-arm of German automaker Volkswagen India will soon be rolling out a special edition of its sedan Volkswagen Vento with the Sport badging.
Volkswagen Vento Sport will feature an array of cosmetic changes, mostly visual and expect no mechanical changes on the sedan. To sustain sales until the next generation Vento makes way for the Indian market, Volkswagen Vento Sport Edition will keep the sedan a bit more fresh with this latest upgrade.
Volkswagen India is also offering benefits worth Rs 1.90 lakh and additional discount of Rs 25,000 if the car is booked before 20th March 2018.
While the prices of the new Volkswagen Vento Sport is still unknown it is expected to be the top-trim and the Sport pack will be added to either current Highline variant or Highline Plus variant of Vento. Expect the price of the Vento Sport Edition to be about Rs 20,000 more than these variants. Currently Volkswagen Vento Highline variant is price starts at Rs 11.58 lakh.
Cosmetic upgrades on the Volkswagen Vento Sport Edition includes the front grille finished in black, gloss black roof wrap, ORVMs get a carbon-fibre treatment and will also host a ‘Sport’ badge on the front fender. The car also gets black decals on the side and rear lip spoiler finished in dark colour. The 16-inch alloy wheels are finished in dark grey complementing the overall look. Upgrades to the cabin aren’t known yet, but the Sport edition is likely to be offered on the range-topping Highline Plus variant.
The cabin of the car is still not revealed but expect only a few minor changes. Volkswagen Vento Sport Edition will get faux leather seats, steering wheel wrapped in leather, 7-inch touchscreen infotainment system. On the safety front, dual airbags, ABS with ESP, reverse parking camera with sensors will be standard across all variants.
With no mechanical changes, Volkswagen Vento Sport will get the same 1.2L TSI petrol engine with a maximum power output of 103 bhp mated to a 7-speed DSG gearbox. Diesel engine duties are done by the 1.5L TDI block shedding a power of 108 bhp mated to a 5-Speed manual gearbox or an optional DSG transmission.
Volkswagen Vento takes on the likes of Maruti Suzuki Ciaz, Honda City, Hyundai Verna and the car it shares its platform and engine with, Skoda Rapid. Toyota Yaris will soon join these executive sedans and is expected to launch in India in May 2018.
5G in India: Government Harmonising Spectrum, Says Telecom Secretary
The government has started tuning spectrum for 5G services as part of its roadmap to become early adopter of the next generation services, which is expected to provide download speed over 1000Mbps on mobile devices.
“On spectrum we are already more or less aligned with global position in 5G. Those bands we are harmonising in line with global community,” Telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan told in an interview.
She was in Barcelona to attend global telecom event Mobile World Congress and held meeting with key players in the sector, including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Nokia, Ericsson, Huawei, Qualcomm, MediaTek, NTT, Intel, etc.
The Department of Telecom has started harmonising spectrum in 3500MHz band and 26GHz band along with E and V band, she said.
At present 4G services are provided in spectrum band below 2600Mhz. With increase in frequency band count, the signal coverage area reduces, but as per technology trend, speed of transmitting data has been increasing.
The government has already harmonised spectrum in 700MHz band which can be used for 5G services.
Telecom players are running trials to use 5G in automated cars, robotic surgery from remote locations, education, etc.
Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha has asked technology companies to look for using 5G services in agriculture sector as well, she said.
“All the players are positioning themselves for India as a big 5G market. One of the leading chipset company in a meeting told us that India will have one of the biggest IoT (Internet of things) user base and the company is keen to partner with C-DoT for developing various IoT solutions. India is a forerunner and will be an early adopter of 5G,” she said.
According to Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal, 5G services in India will start once standards for the technology will be freezed by global telecom body International Telecommunications Union next year.
Sundararajan said before finalisation of standards telecom gear makers – Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE, NTT and Samsung have started deepening their work on 5G in India.
“Ericsson has plans to scale up manufacturing facility. They are also going to set up 5G test bed in IIT Delhi. Huawei is going to set up their test lab for 5G,” she said.
Chinese telecom gear maker ZTE, which has recently won major 4G contract from BSNL, is planning to start capacity building around new technology in India, the telecom secretary said.
Finnish telecom firm Nokia will start smart village pilot in which they will showcase health and education using 5G.
Nokia will set up 400-500 centres and in third phase pan India rollout will take place, Sundararajan said.
She also said 5G is like steam engine and it will drive everything.
“Another significant message that came out here was that a lot of Indian software companies are behind of lot of the technologies in 5G. The corresponding software has to be made. Indian companies are developing software for that. Already C-DoT has developed standard M2M platform,” she said.
When asked about timing for spectrum auction, she said that the government will decide on it only after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India submits recommendations to the government.
Listen to music while exercising to workout longer
Listening to music while exercising can help you work out for a longer time than those who do not have music playing in their ears, a team of researchers, including one of Indian origin, suggested. Music can have a powerful impact on our mood, signalling the brain to release feel-good and energy-boosting chemicals. Being inactive or not exercising ranks alongside high blood pressure, high cholesterol, smoking and obesity as one of the five major risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
“At least on a small scale, this study provides some evidence that music may help serve as an extra tool to help motivate someone to exercise more, which is critical to heart health,” said lead author Waseem Shami, cardiology fellow at Texas Tech University Health Sciences in the US.
For the study, to be presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 67th Annual Scientific Session in Orlando, the team randomly selected 127 heart patients in two groups for a routine electrocardiogram (ECG) treadmill stress test and assigned to either listen to up-tempo music or have no music playing during their stress tests.
The results showed that the exercise time was significantly longer in the music group compared with the control group, 505.8 versus 455.2 seconds, respectively — an absolute difference of about 50.6 seconds.
Adults need to get at least 30 minutes of moderate (aerobic) activity most days, including taking a brisk walk, swimming, playing tennis, riding a bicycle, dancing, water aerobics, gardening and even busy housework, experts suggested.
“Our findings reinforce the idea that upbeat music has a synergistic effect in terms of making you want to exercise longer and stick with a daily exercise routine,” Shami said. “When doctors are recommending exercise, they might suggest listening to music too,” he noted.
It seems that Apple, just like how it did last year, is planning to launch three iPhones in 2018. The latest information suggests that talk of Apple killing the special iPhone aka the iPhone X this year was just a talk. According to reports, the Cupertino major is gearing up to announce a huge 6.5-inch OLED iPhone with dual-SIM support, while the other two iPhones will be slightly cheaper and are tipped to come with LCD displays. Along with the iPhones, Apple is also expected to launch a cheaper variant of the 13-inch MacBook Air in 2018, suggests KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
According to what Ming-Chi Kuo, a reliable analyst at KGI Securities, believes, and as first reported by 9to5 Mac, Apple is seemingly planning to release a new MacBook Air “with a lower price tag”. The company is expected to launch the new MacBook Air version fairly soon, which indicates that it may launch the Apple’s WWDC conference in June. The report suggests that we may see the upcoming cheaper version of the 13-inch MacBook Air going official sometime around the second quarter this year.
To recall, in 2016, the company decided to officially discontinue the 11-inch MacBook Air. While in 2017, Apple updated the 13-inch MacBook Air with a modest specs bump. Now with plans to launch a cheaper variant of the 3-inch MacBook Air, Apple is seemingly looking forward to boost its laptop shipment by at least up to 10 – 15 per cent this year.
According to a report coming from TrendForce, Apple has overtaken Asus in global laptop shipments and has moved up a step higher to the fourth position. Report further suggests that the company shipped approx 4.43 million MacBooks in the third quarter of 2017.
Details on the upcoming cheaper version of the MacBook Air are sparse. Currently, Apple sells the 13-inch MacBook Air at a starting price tag of $999, which is roughly around Rs 65,059. This also means that the toned down version of the 13-inch MacBook Air, which is to launch this year, will be much cheaper than this, and should cost under Rs 50,000.
The KGI Securities analyst has also managed to gather some additional supply chain details about the upcoming iPhones as well as Airpods. The report suggests that KGI is “positive” on shipments of AirPods and also predicts that Apple may also bring a refreshed model of its existing Airpods in the second half of the year. On the other hand, as for the new iPhones coming this year, Kuo says that the entry-level 6.1-inch model of 2018 iPhone lineup will make for a strong year for suppliers such as Unimicron and Apple partners Wistron and Pegatron.
In addition, Kuo also notes that demand for HomePod has been “mediocre” as of now. Overall, the analyst notes that he holds a “neutral” view on the demand of the HomePod based on “shipping time.”
Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will launch in India on March 6, which is tomorrow. Samsung is hosting the event in Delhi at 11:30 am IST. The Galaxy S9 launch takes place in India just over a week after the phones were first unveiled in Barcelona at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018. Samsung usually introduces the flagship Galaxy S series in India a month after the global launch, but this time around the strategy is different and the phone will make their India debut along with the global launch.
Samsung India online store is already accepting pre-bookings for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ for a token amount of Rs 2000. The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ are to go on sale on March 16 globally, and the company will likely follow a similar date for the Indian market. Samsung’s new Galaxy S9 series comes with offer improved camera experience to take on Apple’s iPhone X and Google Pixel 2. Recently DxOMark, which is known for testing and rating smartphone cameras, has placed Samsung Galaxy S9+ as the best camera ahead of both its rivals.
Samsung Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+ expected price in India
With the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S9, the price will be closely watched. In the US, the smaller Samsung Galaxy S9 is priced at $720, which is nearly Rs 47,000, while the Plus variant starts at $840 or nearly Rs 54,000. The Galaxy S9 will likely cost more in India with a price of Rs 50,000 plus for the base 64GB variant, while the Galaxy S9+ will likely cost Rs 60,000 plus for the 64GB variant. Samsung Galaxy S9 series has launched in three storage variants this time: 64GB, 128GB and 256GB versions. Samsung will likely bring only the 64GB and 256GB variants to the Indian market.
Samsung Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+ specifications
Coming to the specifications, the Galaxy S9 has a 5.8-inch Super AMOLED display, comes with 4GB RAM and a single rear 12MP rear camera with dual variable aperture of f/1.5 and f/2.4. The front is 8MP, while the battery is 3000 mAh. The rear camera is capable of super-slow motion video at 960fps at 720p resolution. Samsung Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will both be powered by the Exynos 9810 chipset, which is an octa-core processor. Both phones are on Android 8.0 Oreo with TouchWiz UI on top.
The bigger Samsung Galaxy S9+ comes with a 6.2-inch Super AMOLED display, 6GB RAM and 3500 mAh battery. Galaxy S9+ has a dual rear camera: 12MP+12MP with dual OIS. The wide-angle sensor, which is 12MP comes with dual variable aperture of f/1.5 and f/2.4. The telephoto lens is also 12MP with f/2.4 aperture. The front camera is 8MP with f/1.7 aperture.
Samsung Galaxy S9, Galaxy S9+ also come with a new AR Emoji feature, where users can convert their selfie into a customised emoji, which can then be shared via SMS, or other third-party messaging apps. AR Emoji is a similar idea to Apple’s Animoji, which is available on the iPhone X.
After a gap of about four months, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) has resumed the production of the Toyota Camry hybrid. TKM had stopped the Camry hybrid production in India citing higher tax on hybrids under the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) as the main reason.
The Toyota Camry hybrid production resumes after the carmaker had stopped assembling the hybrid Camry due to a sharp decline in sales resulting in excess inventory.
Sadly, the government’s approach of incentivising electric vehicles in India is punishing hybrid vehicles.The GST rollout in July 2017, tax on hybrid vehicles was increased from 30.3 percent to 43 percent. Since the tax rate went up, the Toyota Camry Hybrid price went from Rs 31.98 lakh to Rs 37.22 lakh.
With the price increase, the sales of the Toyota Camry Hybrid reduced from monthly sales of 100 units to 25 units after the GST was rolled out. Commenting on the matter, Shekhar Vishwanathan, Vice Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, said: “We had to stop the production of hybrid Camry for a while because our stock had built up as the tax rate had gone up.”
With the intention of going all-electric in the future, the government of India had increased the taxation of hybrid vehicles in India. However, the lack of charging infrastructure and an effective strategy has not helped in the development of EVs in India, but hybrids could change that.
“Once you push enough number of hybrids into the market with enough battery manufacturing taking place in India, then the volumes go up. When the volumes go up, the battery cost will come down,” said Shekar Vishwanathan, Vice-Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar. The Toyota Camry hybrid is the first hybrid model from the carmaker to launch in India, which is locally assembled at its Bangalore plant.
The Toyota Camry Hybrid draws power from a 2.5-litre petrol engine which produces 158bhp and 213Nm of torque which is mated to an E-CVT automatic gearbox. The petrol engine is aided by an electric motor which churns out 141bhp. The Toyota Camry Hybrid can run in full electric mode only at low speeds and on mild throttle inputs. Upon further higher acceleration, the system switches to a combination of electric and internal combustion power with a total power output of 203bhp.
Instagram might soon launch a feature that would allow both audio and video calls. All the social networking platforms are in a constant state of competition for being the best and capturing the most users. Instagram—the Facebook owned application is soon to introduce the Voice and Video Calling Feature.
As per the reports of TechCrunch, there are files found in the Instagram and the Instagram-Direct standalone app’s Android Application Packages (APKs) which are the icons for an interface that would permit audio and video calls.
Application Packages usually display files or icons for the features that are not released yet and are ready for launch by the company. So, it seems, that ‘Instagram’ is soon to introduce audio and video calling within its Direct Messaging system.
The addition of audio-video calling to ‘Instagram’ would make it a better alternative to Snapchat—which launched the video calling feature back in 2014. This is like ‘Instagram’ copying Snapchat again at the cost of weakening the app’s experience.
Snapchat’s calling experience is kind of buried and one has to go through a series of steps before the call could be placed. Additionally, Snapchat is under negative criticism because of the recent redesign of the app, so if Instagram releases the calling feature and makes it simple and straightforward, then it would just give users another reason to remain stuck to the application.
Last week, ‘Instagram’ released a feature that allows one to control who replay photos, videos shared through Instagram-Direct.
As per the new update, the users who send their photo or video from the platform of Instagram-Direct camera could now decide whether they want the recipients to view their shared content once or replay it temporarily or could see a permanent thumbnail of it in the chat log. Thus, the new update gave complete power to the users to decide who could see their photos or videos.
‘Instagram’ has yet given no indication that whether the voice and video calling feature would be launched and if it would, then when.
Ever since Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) didn’t retain skipper Gautam Gambhir during the IPL 2018 auction, speculations were rife on who would succeed him in the coveted job. There was no inkling regarding who would take up the top job. With a few options — Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik and Chris Lynn (and perhaps Vinay Kumar) — available, KKR have finally went ahead with Uthappa. The franchise announced their skipper on national television.
Robin Uthappa was a part of KKR’s winning side in 2014. With 660 runs at 44, he also won the Orange Cap. Overall, Uthappa has featured in 58 games for KKR.
With his experience and knack of providing flourishing starts, Uthappa will be expected to fill in the big shoes of Gambhir. It would be interesting to see how the added responsibility turns his attacking style of play.
In an interview with Star Sports, Sourav Ganguly revealed Uthappa as his first choice: ”When I look at the current KKR squad, I feel Uthappa is the best player to lead the team. Though the team has experienced campaigners in Karthik and Lynn but Uthappa has been with the team for over four years now and he’s had considerable experience in dealing with the dynamics of the side, not to mention that he’s a fan favourite as well. An aggressive batsman himself, he will be the right successor to the legacy that KKR has come to build over the last decade.”
Riders will open their campaign against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 8 at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
NEW DELHI: Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has invited applications for recruitment to 23 posts of Deputy Engineer (Computer Science, Electronics). Interested and eligible candidates can submit their application to the Deputy General Manager (HR/ Mil Com), Military Communication SBU, Bharat Electronics Limited, Jalahalli Post, Bengaluru – 560 013 on or before 14 March 2018.
‘Candidates are required to possess at least one valid e-mail id and mobile number, which is to be entered in the application form,’ reads the official job notification. Details of the recruitment are available at bel-india.com.
Candidates must visit the official website as all the details are available on the official website. Candidates will be qualified on the basis of written exam. The candidates who will qualify the written exam will be sent a call letter for the interview. After the interview round, the final result will be displayed. The candidates who will be selected will be asked for the joining.
In order to be eligible for the posts candidates must have BE, BTech, AMIE, BSc Engineering in Computer Science / Computer Science and Engineering / Computer Science Engineering, Electronics and Communication, Electronics, Telecommunication, Communication, Electronics and Telecommunication disciplines. Applicants should also have minimum one year of post qualification experience as on 1 February 2018. ‘First class for General & OBC Candidates and Pass Class for SC/ ST/ PWD (Person with Disability) candidates from an AICTE approved College/ Institute or a recognized University,’ clarifies the recruiting body regarding the educational qualification. The upper age limit for applicants is 26 years.
Candidates belonging to General and OBC categories are required to deposit Rs. 500 towards application fee through SBI Collect (through online mode or through SBI Branch).
Candidates must keep a check on the website for the updates of admit card and the exam date details. The official website is bel-india.com.
It is known that Anil Kapoor and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan are reuniting in Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s production, Fanne Khan. The two stars, who had previously shared screen space in Satish Kaushik’s 2000 directorial, Hamara Dil Aapke Paas Hai and Subhash Ghai’s 1999 musical, Taal, wrapped up the film in December 2017.
In the latest reports, we have learned more about Anil Kapoor’s character in Fanne Khan and his different looks in the film. If there’s one man who literally has stopped ageing, it is Anil Kapoor. The actor is all set to play a younger version of himself in the film. He will reportedly play 22-year-old in the film and has already shot the scenes. In the film, he is essaying the role a failed singer. In the flashback scenes, he will be seen playing 20- something age. Now, it seems like the makers will be using the age reduction technique to get Anil Kapoor’s younger version role proper and authentic.
One may know that age reduction technique through VFX has been used in many Hollywood films. In the most recent ones, Robert Downey Jr played younger version of Tony Stark in Captain America: Civil War. Even Ali Abbas Zafar is trying to do same with Salman Khan starrer Bharat.
Earlier, Anil Kapoor’s salt-n-pepper looks from Fanne Khan took over Internet by storm. The film shooting has been completed. Only one romantic song shoot is left which will feature Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Rajkummar Rao.
Fanne Khan is an official adaptation of the Dutch film Everybody’s Famous! The film revolves around a man who takes a drastic step to make her daughter’s career. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 73rd Academy Awards.
Fanne Khan is produced by Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and Prernaa Arora. The film, directed by Atul Manjrekar, also stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as a diva singer with Rajkummar Rao playing her love interest. Divya Dutta will play the role of Anil Kapoor’s wife. The film is scheduled to release on July 13, 2018.
Makar Sankranti Wishes : Makara Sankranti (Sankranthi) is a Hindu festival that encourages people to live in peace and harmony. Here are best quotes,...
