Nasheman News : YouTube videos that depict dangerous or emotionally distressing “pranks” have been banned from the platform.

The move comes in response to the so-called “challenges” that have sometimes resulted in death or injury, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

The Google-owned video sharing site said such material had “no place on YouTube”.

But enforcing its new rules on pranks may prove to be difficult, given ambiguity over what may or may not be considered harmful.

“YouTube is home to many beloved viral challenges and pranks,” a message added to the site’s FAQ section read.

“That said, we’ve always had policies to make sure what’s funny doesn’t cross the line into also being harmful or dangerous.

“Our Community Guidelines prohibit content that encourages dangerous activities that are likely to result in serious harm.”

From now on, the site said it would not allow videos that featured “pranks with a perceived danger of serious physical injury”.

This includes pranks where someone is tricked into thinking they are in severe danger, even if no real threat existed.

The site added: “We also don’t allow pranks that cause children to experience severe emotional distress, meaning something so bad that it could leave the child traumatized for life.”

Recently, a challenge inspired by a scene in Netflix show Birdbox involved carrying out activities – such as driving – while blindfolded. At least one person is known to have crashed as a result.

Nasheman News :  In a renewed push for Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven Intelligent Cloud and Intelligent Edge use cases in the country, Microsoft India on Wednesday said there is highest penetration of AI skills among the workforce that will fuel digital transformation in the country sooner than thought.

“A tectonic shift is happening in AI. Nearly 85 per cent of enterprises globally will use AI in some form or the other by 2020. Indian firms are now fast catching up,” Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, told reporters at the company’s flagship Media and Analysts’ Day here.

Nearly eight per cent of GDP components in India are currently impacted by digital technologies and by 2021, 60 per cent of those will be impacted.

“Almost every sector is becoming digital and that transformation is impacting every company in India,” stressed Maheshwari.

Today, 97 per cent of the top banks, 75 per cent of the top retailers, 81 per cent of the top auto firms, 75 per cent of the top pharma players and 67 per cent of the top healthcare firms are Microsoft’s customers in India.

Wipro, Future Generali, L&T Technology Services and Apollo Hospitals are some of the key customers.

“With over 9,500 partners, nearly 3,000 Cloud partners and 88 own IP-ready partners, we are ready to unlock the full potential of AI, Cloud and data for the Indian firms,” stressed the Microsoft India President.

Over 700 AI-driven enterprises in India today are driving businesses with New Age technologies.

Driven by Intelligent Cloud, Intelligent Edge and spurt of data, AI and its growing use cases are set to change the game.

Microsoft currently has 54 Azure Cloud regions — more than AWS and Google combined.

“We will continue to work closely with the countries when it comes to data localisation. India already has three Azure regions which shows how serious we are for keeping data within the boundaries,” said Maheshwari.

Nasheman News : In a renewed push for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its use cases in India, Microsoft India on Wednesday said there is highest penetration of AI skills among the workforce that will fuel digital transformation in the country sooner than thought.

“A techtonic shift is happening in AI. Nearly 85 per cent of enterprises globally will use AI in some form or the other by 2020. Indian firms are now fast catching up,” Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India, told reporters on the company’s flagship Media and Analyst Days here.

Nearly eight per cent of GDP components in India are currently impacted by digital technologies and by 2021, 60 per cent of those will be impacted.

“Almost every sector is becoming digital and that transformation is impacting every company in India across the spectrum,” stressed Maheshwari.

Driven by Intelligent Cloud, Intelligent Edge and spurt of data, AI and its growing use cases are set to change the game.

Microsoft currently has 54 Azure Cloud regions — more than AWS and Google combined.

“We will continue to work closely with the countries when it comes to data localisation. India already has three Azure regions which shows how serious we are for keeping data within the boundaries,” said Maheshwari.

Toshiba (TEC) Singapore Inks Partnership : 

Toshiba (TEC) Singapore Pvt Ltd announced the partnership with Galtech Infosolutions Pvt Ltd for the sale & service distribution of Toshiba multi-function office peripheral systems. With Galtech’s strong business presence & network in Northern & Southern parts of India, Toshiba (TEC) & Galtech collaboration is a powerful step forward in expansion of Toshiba’s award winning MFPs penetration across India. Galtech Infosolutions Pvt Ltd. is a 1 stop solution provider for Office Automation requirements. The Company’s main products include Multifunction Printers, Projectors, Interactive Flat Panel Displays & Wireless Presentation Devices. 47 years of extensive business experience in the field, coupled with a strong core value to bring highest level of service satisfaction to its customers, founding members of Galtech have built for themselves a name in the list of top service providers in India. Toshiba (TEC) Singapore is part of Toshiba (TEC) Corporation, a leading provider of technology solutions, operating across multiple industries, ranging from retail, education & business services to hospitality & manufacturing. With headquarters in Japan & over 80 subsidiaries worldwide, Toshiba (TEC) Corporation helps organizations transform the way they create, record, share, manage & display information.

Wholesale inflation eased to an eight-month low in December, strengthening views among some economists the central bank could ease its monetary policy stance next month as the country faces a slowdown in manufacturing.

Annual wholesale price inflation edged down to 3.80 per cent last month, as food prices hardly rose and fuel cost increases almost halved, government data showed on Monday. The outcome was lower than a provisional 4.64 per cent rise in November and below a 4.42 per cent increase forecast by economists in a poll by news agency Reuters.

The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee, which mainly monitors retail inflation data and kept interest rates unchanged at a meeting last month, will have leeway to soften its monetary stance at its February 7 meeting, say economists.

“With wholesale and retail inflation easing, we expect the RBI to soften its monetary policy stance at its next meeting,” said Devindra Kumar Pant, chief economist, India Ratings and Research, an arm of Fitch Ratings.

Retail inflation data will be released later on Monday and economists have projected prices may have eased to its lowest since June 2017.

Annual growth in the country’s industrial output in November slumped to 0.5 per cent from an upwardly revised 8.4 per cent in October, on a slowdown in auto and garment manufacturing. The economic weakness is a problem for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has already been struggling to meet ambitious job creation targets, ahead of an election, which has to be held by May.

India’s total passenger vehicle sales for December fell 0.43 per cent to 2,38,692 units from a year earlier, data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed.

Wholesale food prices in December remained almost flat, up 0.07 per cent from a year earlier compared with a 1.96 per cent fall a month earlier. The figures indicate that rural incomes remain under pressure while consumers are benefitting from easing inflation.

“A deflationary trend in many food items for the last few months only shows that farmers’ incomes are not rising,” said Mr Pant.

[Nasheman news] San Francisco Video-sharing giant YouTube has announced that it will kill the feature that allows users to automatically share their YouTube Activity on micro-blogging site Twitter after January 31.

Twitter currently allow users to share their YouTube activity via options such as going to YouTube Settings, then to Connected apps and choosing “Share your public activity to Twitter”.

Instead, the platform is urging users to share videos on social networks directly from YouTube via the Share button. 

Users will see an option to Share on social platforms right after a successful new video upload, The Star reported late on Saturday.

However, users would still be able to add links from their social media to their YouTube channels and share videos from pages. 

The platform also stated that this new update will not affect items that have already been shared on Twitter prior to the removal date. Those posted activities will remain on Twitter, the report added.

[Nasheman news] Gurugram Samsung India on Monday said it will launch the Galaxy ‘M’ series on January 28 that will be available on Amazon.in from March 5.

India will be the first country to launch the new series smartphones, the company said in a statement.

The ‘M’ series will also be available on Samsung’s online store.

The new range comes with powerful display, camera, battery and a processor — helping the devices deliver power-packed performance for millennials.

Nasheman News :Excessive use of social media platforms like Facebook can make its users take decisions as bad as drug addicts tend to do, a new study suggests.

“Around one-third of humans on the planet are using social media, and some of these people are displaying maladaptive, excessive use of these sites,” said lead author of the study Dar Meshi, Assistant Professor at Michigan State University in the US. 

“I believe that social media has tremendous benefits for individuals, but there’s also a dark side when people can’t pull themselves away. We need to better understand this drive so we can determine if excessive social media use should be considered an addiction,” Meshi added. 

For the study, published in the Journal of Behavior Addictions, the researchers had 71 participants take a survey that measured their psychological dependence on Facebook, similar to addiction. 

Questions on the survey asked about users’ preoccupation with the platform, their feelings when unable to use it, attempts to quit and the impact that Facebook has had on their job or studies.

The researchers then had the participants do the Iowa Gambling Task, a common exercise used by psychologists to measure decision-making. 

To successfully complete the task, users identify outcome patterns in decks of cards to choose the best possible deck.

Meshi and his colleagues found that by the end of the gambling task, the worse people performed by choosing from bad decks, the more excessive their social media use. 

The better they did in the task, the less their social media use. 

People who abuse opioids, cocaine, methamphetamine, among others – have similar outcomes on the Iowa Gambling Task, thus showing the same deficiency in decision-making, the study said.

By : Faizan Rizwan

BIAL to invest over Rs 13,000 crore for development of the Airport, including T2, NSPR and associated infrastructure

The Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru – BLR Airport – is all set to get bigger and better. India’s aviation growth has been unprecedented; Bengaluru has been setting the pace and has emerged as one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world. Announcing one of the largest infrastructure projects in the Country, BIAL is set to undertake a massive Rs. 13000 crore capital programme to cater to the demands of a civil aviation market that has been growing at a blistering pace of 25% YoY for the last 3 years. The current capital development programme includes a new terminal, a second runway, massive expansion to the access roads and internal road infrastructure, utilities as well as a new multi-modal transport hub.

Commenting on the ongoing projects, Mr. Hari Marar, MD & CEO, BIAL, said: “The second terminal – T2 – is our dedication to this beautiful city of Bengaluru. Designed as a reflection of this City, T2 will be founded on 4 pillars: technological leadership, being a terminal in a garden, environmental and ecological stewardship and a celebration of Karnataka’s rich heritage and culture. Of course, it goes without saying that all this will be centredon the most important element – the needs of our customers. BIAL worked with some of the finest global minds on the design and planning of this Terminal. While T2 is designed to be an iconic terminal – one that Bengaluru can truly be proud of – it will be built at the most affordable cost and in the most responsible manner. The Terminal will be world-class in all respects – starting from its design, the processes, the people who manage it, the sustainable practices it embraces and the performance it achieves.”

“Over the last ten years, BLR Airport has evolved as the Gateway to South India and with this next phase of expansion, the aim is to position our Airport as the Gateway to a New India. Once ready, the Airport will offer passengers seamless and delightful experiences, powered by cutting-edge technology,” Mr. Marar added.

During this construction phase, BIAL’s Teams will put various processes in place and work closely with multiple stakeholders to ensure minimal impact on the passenger experience. BIAL will also undertake a slew of measures to continuously cater to the requirements of growth for the period of development of the new infrastructure.

Mr. Bhaskar Anand Rao, Chief Financial Officer, BIAL, said the project would be a boost to the economy. “Phase 2 of Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru will provide a huge boost to the connectivity of people and goods of the State and provide the much needed capacity that a growing city like Bengaluru richly deserves. Once operational, the Airport will create more opportunities for businesses at the Airport and fuel the economic growth of the region and Country. Our aim has been to ensure that not only should we deliver an iconic asset of which the people can be truly proud, but also set benchmarks in the way such project is delivered – at a cost that is affordable and to the highest standards of corporate governance.”

Meanwhile, Mr. Tom Shimmin, Chief Project Officer, BIAL, said: “Designed to provide the highest level of passenger comfort and dramatic visual impression, upon completion, the new terminal will substantially increase the overall capacity of the Airport. T2 is designed in a manner that we retain the philosophy of simplicity and minimal walking distances for the passengers – a key characteristic of the BLR Airport. With the use of a combination of the latest in construction technology and natural material, this Terminal will establish a new vision for sustainable growth. The new passenger terminal will cater to the specific needs of the Airport’s spectrum of users and provide a seamless travel experience. This will help the BLR Airport remain competitive and stay ahead of the growth in passenger demand.”

Nasheman News : In a bid to hide sexual harassment allegations against former Google executives, Alphabet’s board of directors has approved hefty severance packages for the accused, according a lawsuit filed by a shareholder of the company.

Alphabet Inc is Google’s parent company.

The lawsuit filed on Thursday in California state court accuses the board and executives of breach of fiduciary duty, unjust enrichment, abuse of power and corporate waste, CNET reported.

The lawsuit makes reference to oversize severance packages that Google reportedly paid to Android creator Andy Rubin, and Amit Singhal, head of Google’s search unit until 2016. 

The New York Times in November 2018 reported that Rubin received $90 million in severance when Google fired him in 2014 over accusations of sexual misconduct that the company deemed credible.

Allegations of sexual harassment against the two men were found to be credible by company investigations, according to the lawsuit filed by shareholder James Martin.

“Rubin was allowed to quietly resign by defendants Larry Page and Sergey Brin after an internal investigation found the allegations of sexual harassment by Rubin to be credible,” according to the complaint. 

“While at Google, Rubin is also alleged to have engaged in human sex trafficking — paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to women to be, in Rubin’s own words, ‘owned’ by him.”

Singhal stepped down as ride-hailing giant Uber’s Senior Vice President of Engineering in 2017 after it discovered he had allegedly been accused of sexual harassment while he was employed at Google, said the CNET report, adding that both Rubin and Singhal have denied the allegations.

Following the New York Times report in November, Google employees around the world staged a protest against the tech giant’s handling of sexual harassment cases.

After the reaction to the story in The Times, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sought to reassure employees about the company’s stand against sexual harassment.

“Over the past two years, we have terminated 48 people, including 13 senior managers and above for sexual harassment,” Pichai said.

“None of these people received an exit package. And to clarify: in that time, we have also not provided any exit packages to executives who departed voluntarily in the course of a sexual harassment investigation,” he added.