Google Maps Update Now Allows You to Add Pit Stops to Your Journey

oogle Maps Update Now Allows You to Add Pit Stops to Your Journey

The team working on Google Maps in India has done a fantastic job or carrying over international features to Indian shores with the recent addition of offline availability. More and more cities are being added to the list of live traffic view and street views in India and public transport is becoming a key part of the service.

Google has released a fresh update on Google Play Store for its Maps application, which allows users to add stops to your existing route without the need to exit navigation.

You can search for and add pit stops like restaurants, petrol pumps, grocery shops and prominent landmarks on your way to destination, so as to accommodate for the extra time for your journey and provide you an accurate estimate time.

Such a feature comes to rescue in case you’re looking for a grocery store on your way to destination to buy something very important, or refuel your vehicle before a long drive the next day. Once you have selected the choice of pit stop, Google Maps will automatically adjust the time of arrival to your destination and mark the stop on the map.

On Google India’s Blog, Sanket Gupta, Google Maps Product Manager, wrote, “Now when you’re driving in navigation mode and you get that call from your spouse to pick up some groceries on your drive home, or if you’re on a road trip and want to find a great restaurant option along your route, simply tap the magnifying glass at the top right corner of the screen. You’ll see a drop-down menu with helpful options, like petrol pumps, grocery stores, or restaurants. If the drop-down options aren’t what you need, you can always add a detour to your favorite coffee shop by tapping the search icon or by using voice commands.”

Google has advanced its maps business into smaller pockets of the country where navigation used to be difficult earlier.

With indoor maps for 75 popular Indian ventures to 360-degree view at heritage sites, India has become a very important destination for Google.

Maps is getting even more interactive as new features get added this year, possibly allowing complete hands-free navigation to save us from our traffic.

 

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Beware, social media can trigger cocaine-like addiction

Reports: Disability and Trauma showed that social media-related “addictions” share some neural features with substance and gambling addictions.

Can spending excessive time on Facebook or other social media be as dangerous as addiction to cocaine or gambling?

Well, yes, if researchers from California State University-Fullerton are to be believed.

They say social media obsession may lead to something akin to classical addiction. Such use triggers two key parts of the brain associated with rewards: The amygdala which is the integrative place for emotions, behaviour and motivation and the striatum — part of the forebrain and a critical component of the reward system.

Since the meteoric rise of the internet usage and emergence of various social media platforms, many young Indians have been left socially isolated and lonely.It’s time for a reality check in our backyard.

Take Krishnan (name changed), a 15-year-old social media addict in the capital, who recently visited Dr. Sameer Malhotra, director, mental health and behavioural sciences at Max Healthcare.

Hooked on to Facebook for nearly 16 hours a day, he had developed an obsessive personality profile and was neglecting priorities of life, including education.

“I have been seeing many youngsters who are in the grip of social media addiction. In the case of Krishnan, I treated him through both counselling and medication which helped channelise his energy in positive work,” Dr. Malhotra told IANS.

“Facebook addiction is similar to cocaine addiction to a certain level as there are certain neuro-chemicals like dopamine which operate across brain reward pathways and are responsible for maintaining addictive behaviour,” he said.

According to Dr. Malhotra, teenagers with Facebook addiction-like symptoms may “have a hyperactive amygdala-striatal system, which makes this ‘addiction’ similar to many other addictions.”

For Dr. Samir Parikh, director at department of mental health and behavioural Science, Fortis Healthcare, excessive use of social media is a common trend today and such preoccupation leads to an interference in one’s social, occupational as well as other areas of functioning.

“Yes, it could be considered similar to drug addiction to a certain level though it is not exactly the same. The difference is more in terms of the physiological manifestations involved in the influence of a substance,” Dr. Parikh told IANS.

Addiction is defined as repetitive habit pattern that increases the risk of diseases or associated personal and social problems. It is a subjective experience of “loss of control”.

Addiction connotes dependence because there are common neurochemical and neuroanatomical pathways found among all addictions — whether it is substance, gambling, sex, eating, internet use or Facebook obsession.

“They all display similar patterns of behaviour like inability to abstain, impairment in behaviour control, craving, diminished recognition of significant behaviourial problems, interpersonal issues and a dysfunctional emotional response,” says Dr. Birendra Yadav, psychology clinical operations at telehealth venture-Poccare, Healthenablr.

Experts say Facebook addiction can lead to impulse-control disorders, especially among adolescents where it has led to high prevalence of depression, aggressive behaviour and psychiatric symptoms.

The social media has also been found to have affected lifestyles, resulting in irregular dietary habits, decreased physical activity, short duration of sleep and increased use of alcohol and tobacco.

Is it true that getting out of Facebook addiction is easier than that of substance abuse?

“This is subjective and depends on the context, personality and state of mind of the individual concerned and you need to build the will power of the person through both counselling and medication,” Dr. Malhotra says.

“Overcoming any kind of addiction is possible with adequate professional interventions,” Dr. Parikh said.

The bottom line: use social media, but do not let it take over your life. Investing time in “real” relationships rather than in the cyberworld can lead to improved mental health, say experts.

Note | The findings, recently published in the journal Psychological

 

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Concentrate! The challenges of reading onscreen

Concentrate! The challenges of reading onscreen

Our lives are full of distractions: overheard conversations, the neighbor’s lawnmower, a baby crying in the row behind us, pop-up ads on our computers. Much of the time we can mentally dismiss their presence. But what about when we are reading?

I have been studying how people read with printed text versus on digital devices. Both media have virtues and drawbacks. But one standout issue concerns our ability to concentrate on the words in front of us. Do we focus as well while reading on a screen as when those same words are on a printed page?

The data suggest we don’t. My surveys of university students in five countries—the United States, Japan, Germany, Slovakia, and India—asked about the medium on which these young adults concentrated the best: print, a computer, an eReader, a tablet, or a mobile phone. Of the more than 400 respondents, 92% said print. In reporting what they like most about reading hard copy, respondents said things such as “You can concentrate better” and “feels like the content sticks in your head more easily.” When it came to complaints about reading digitally, replies included “danger of distraction” and “no concentration.” Other researchers have reported similar results.

Some of the reasons people get distracted when they read online are obvious. With computers, it’s easy to multitask, toggling between a Wikipedia article on the Zika virus and a live cam of Carnival in Rio. We hear a ping on our mobile phones and rush to find out who’s texting us, abandoning that article we were reading from the digital New York Times. On our tablets, we keep a game of Angry Birds going at the same time that we are working through Go Set a Watchman.

Yet there’s another challenge to our concentration when we read on a digital screen with internet connection, and that is extraneous images and messages. Those ads that clutter our every web search. Those dancing images that snatch away our attention. Those banners plastered over the text we’re trying to read until we figure out how to extinguish them.

“Tablet Reading” by Unsplash. Public Domain via Pixabay.

Such distractions aren’t limited to the likes of commercial weather sites or discount travel pages. They show up on mainstream publications likeFortune. Do you want to read breaking news about the death of Antonin Scalia? While you’re at it, how about a Celebrity cruise or an Amex sale on select hotels? Return to the site 30 seconds later, and you’ll find the same article, but perhaps a whole new set of offers, beckoning.

More troubling is that distractions show up when we are trying to do serious reading online. Recently I came upon an eloquent essay called “The Future of the Humanities” by Washington Post book critic Michael Dirda. You can find the article from the magazine Humanities on the website of the National Endowment for the Humanities. However, that’s not where I originally encountered it. Instead, I stumbled upon the piece reposted on the website of the Pacific Standard, where I was barraged with sidebar ads for Amazon’s Audible and TripAdvisor’s recommendations for hotels in Anchorage, along with in-text temptations from Saks Fifth Avenue. Even though I was deeply interested in what Dirda had to say, the siren call of Alaska kept pulling my eyes away, along with my mind.

The problem most squarely hit home when I came across a piece on BuzzFeed that described my own research. A central finding of those studies—though not specifically referenced in the article—was problems of concentrating while reading onscreen. The BuzzFeed story was visually delightful but a model of distraction: an animated GIF of an old-fashioned young woman with a book, a colorful still tableau of a hand removing a volume from a library shelf, and then another animated GIF, this time of a cartoon maiden (courtesy of Disney) gliding along a classic library ladder. All fun to watch, but the result was to reduce the text into a side dish for the main entertainment course.

Reading onscreen is not going away, nor are those ads and waltzing GIFs. If the content of what we are trying to read matters to us, we need to develop coping strategies. The task is not a simple one. Given the commercial model for funding the majority of websites, it’s hard to imagine a wholesale return to the once pristine, ad-free pages of Google. And recognizing our human desire to be amused, after the public tires of GIFs, something equally distracting will surely take their place.

I don’t have a solution in my hip pocket. Rather, for now, I challenge those who care about the written word—teachers, parents, students, researchers, and readers of all ilk—to take the problem seriously. Acknowledging distractions when reading onscreen is a necessary first step.

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‘Unused mobile library a waste of funds’

‘Unused mobile library a waste of funds’

A former senate member of the University of Mumbai has criticised the varsity’s proposal to invest in an aircraft for a new course in aviation while its previous investments are gathering dust. The former member has said a mobile library van purchased and inaugurated in 2014 amid much fanfare has been lying unused at the Fort campus for the past eight months. He alleged that it was a waste of university funds as well as disservice to the intended beneficiaries and said the van should be made functional at the earliest.

Sanjay Wairal, former senate member, said officials were guilty of squandering funds that belonged to the students. “The van was purchased by the university to provide access to study material, videos and presentations to students living in mofussul areas. While initially the van visited far-off areas in Thane, Raigad and Sindhudurg, it has been lying unused at the Fort campus since the past eight to nine months. The university wants to be progressive, but at what cost? A lot of money was invested in modifying the van to provide learning on the go, but all that is now being laid to waste,” said Mr Wairal. 

He added that the absence of a full-fledged senate, management and academic council was the reason officials could get away with such an irresponsible behaviour.

The fully air-conditioned van is installed with five computers, an LCD projector, a 130-inch plasma screen, among other facilities. 

The van also has books in English, Hindi and Marathi, e-books, journals and previous question papers of various subjects being offered by the university. 

When asked about the same, Dr Manali Londhe, director, department of students welfare, which is responsible for the van, said the van was not being sent on visits for various reasons but the service would start soon. “The van was not being used during the monsoon and later the exams started, hence it was not sent out. However, our department, in consultation with the university authorities, is drawing up a new timetable for the van and it will start visiting the rural areas once again,” said Dr Londhe.

Source | Asian Age | 22 February 2016

Sahitya Akademi Awards Presented To 24 Indian Authors

Sahitya Akademi Awards Presented To 24 Indian Authors

Twenty four eminent authors writing in as many Indian languages were felicitated today by the Sahitya Akademi at its annual Festival of Letters.

The recipients were awarded a cash prize of Rs. 1 lakh each for their "outstanding books of literary merit".

Urging authors from across the country to write extensively in various regional languages, Akademi President Vishwanath Prasad Tiwari said that Indian writing faces a threat from the effect of colonial thinking.

 

Complete winner list is attached & Link | http://sahitya-akademi.gov.in/sahitya-akademi/pdf/sahityaakademiawards2015-e.pdf

 

Regards

The future of comic books is here

The future of comic books is here

Inspired from mythology and cognitive sciences, Phallaina leads the way for futuristic digital comics with the clever adaptation of technology

THE sound of waves hitting the shore fill the air, and is heightened with melancholic beats. A young girl walks slowly towards the sea, submerging herself completely into it, only to get lost in the darkness and a dream where fish swim through the air. They appear small initially, and transform into huge white whales, while the city melts down. Gradually, they turn smaller and dissolve into a frame featuring a group of medical professionals staring at what seems to be scans of a human brain. The patient’s name is Audrey.

These opening frames from Marietta Ren’s new digital comic, Phallaina, are poignantly cinematic similar to a master long shot taken straight out of the works of directors like Alfred Hitchcock and Stanley Kubrick, or as if words from Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot have been brought to life. It’s sad, melancholic and at the same time, engaging.

What we like Phallaina is a digital comic book that traces the journey of Audrey, a young woman who suffers from hallucinatory fits ( epilepsy), during which she has visions of whales. Her neurological examinations reveal the existence of a physeter in her brain: an anomalous structure which enables its carriers to hold their breath for sustained amounts of time. The comic book follows her journey as the doctor puts her through tests, exploring the world of cognitive sciences and mythology.

Apart from the subject what sets Phallaina apart from other digital comic books is its horizontal scrolling ( they claim to be the first), which when combined with audio- visual elements, animation and the black and white drawing style of Japanese Manga comics, offers an immersive story telling experience.

The horizontal scrolling also takes away the need to flip pages or press next, thus creating a fluid reading experience.

The style enables the reader to become an unhindered co- passenger, as its lead character Audrey’ traverses between her hallucinations and the real world.

The effects can be best compared to what one would have felt while watching Terry Gilliam’s Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas which starred Johnny Depp. In short, it’s trippy yet fun.

Produced by Smallbang and France télévisions Nouvelles écritures, the comic book was released in January at Angoulême Festival in France, and is available for free download for Android as well as iOS devices. There are no in- app purchases but it’s heavy with a download size of 318 MB. What it means however is that the app is completely offline, and requires no Internet connection. So, if you are planning to download the comic book make sure you are connected to Wi- Fi and have plenty of space for other apps on your phone.

What we don’t Phallaina opens new avenues for digital comic books, and is the best digital comic book we have come across in a long time, but the app seems to have a few bugs, as it crashes a lot.

The app also stops responding if you try to multi- task or attend a call while reading.

Source | Mid-Day | 17 February 2016

Education dept gives go-ahead to school picnics but with safety clauses

Education dept gives go-ahead to school picnics but with safety clauses

 

As most school representatives asserted the same point, Jadhav said that the revised guidelines would not issue any ban 

Doing a volte face after a review meeting with a few stakeholders, the deputy director of education Thursday set new guidelines allowing schools to take children to picnics, provided adequate safety measures are taken well in advance. The move comes after he faced flak rom all quarters, including the education minister, over an arbitrary ban on school trips to beaches, rivers, forts or water parks after the Murud beach tragedy.

On February 3, two days after the Murud tragedy in which 14 students of a city college drowned, deputy director of education Ramchandra Jadhav had issued a 27-point guideline to all education officers putting a blanket ban on picnics to beaches, rivers, adventure parks and even out-of-state destinations.At Modern College, representatives of various education departments, school and college management representatives and teachers’ union were present for the review meeting but surprisingly parents, who are important stakeholders, were not present. They had allegedly not been invited for the crucial meeting.

“Rather than putting an absolute ban on picnics to such places, you should have said take picnics after due care and precaution. Also, it is insulting to ask a school principal to give an affidavit on Rs 100 bond paper that they will adhere to guidelines, merely sending declaration on plain paper should be sufficient,” said Dr Gajanan Ekbote, chairman of Progressive Education Society.

As most school representatives asserted the same point, Jadhav said that the revised guidelines would not issue any ban. “New guidelines will say due care must be taken before taking any such trips. Also principals don’t have to sign any bond,” he said.

Other points that were discussed and changed included the ban imposed on out-of-state school trips, which was put in the earlier GR. The condition of not taking trips for more than one day was also revised and Jadhav said that depending on the age of student and need of syllabus, duration of trips can be decided. After much deliberation on what should be the teacher-student ratio, it was decided to revise the ratio from1:10 teacher-student ratio to 1:20. While earlier guidelines said primary school picnics should end by 5pm, the new guidelines would say by the end of the day, said Jadhav.

As most experts spoke about the need for some precautions before trips, Jadhav said that few additional points in new guidelines would be mandatory like all school/junior colleges will have to organise a committee for planning trips. “All proposals will be put before this committee which will review the security measures at that spot by either sending two teachers or writing to local administration to get complete information about the spot. It would be mandatory to seek permission of the school or college management body as well as local education officers before the trip as well as a

Source | http://www.dydepune.com

Do varsity services come under RTS Act? Yes, but only on paper

Do varsity services come under RTS Act? Yes, but only on paper

Students and alumni of various state-run universities may have to wait for a couple of months more to avail the time-bound delivery of university documents like duplicate degrees, marksheet, migration and eligibility certificates under Maharashtra Right to Public Services Act 2015 (RTS Act). Reason: The alma maters are not yet ready to deliver those services.

Interestingly, the higher and technical education department of Maharashtra has notified the university services under the RTS Act in the gazette on January 18 that stipulates the time limit to issue each document. List of designated officers, first appellate and second appellate authorities at each of 14 public Universities has also been notified.

However, the move is stuck as universities have apparently raised the red-flag citing four major constraints — infrastructure, inadequate power supply, poor internet speed and inadequate staff. Some universities have also sought financial support to execute the plan making government puzzled.

“To end the deadlock, a meeting of all vice-chancellors is being convened very soon,” said a highly-placed official in the department.

The move is aimed to force universities to provide most crucial services to students like retotalling, issuing of migration and eligibility certificate, duplicate marksheet and degree certificate and document verification in a time-bound manner, within 30-45 days.

The rules not only cover universities and affiliated colleges, but also Maharashtra state board of technical education (MSBTE) which covers polytechnics. As per the gazette notification, universities and MSBTE will have to do re-totalling of marks, issuance of duplicate marksheets and degree certificates within 15 days.

Eligibility and migration certificates, score cards of CET (Professional courses) will have to be given within 30 days. Universities will also have to verify documents of students within a month. Document verification is required by students who take up admission in foreign universities or a job abroad and also by employers globally.

Assistant registrar level officials in the universities and system analyst ones in MSBTE have been tasked to deliver the services. If the said services will not be delivered within the stipulated time frame, the candidates can go to first appellate officer. A 30-day period is given for the first appellate officer (Deputy Secretary in MSBTE and Deputy Registrar in Universities) to do the needful.

Source | Daily News Analysis | 8 February 2016

e price of technology

Sitting in front of a computer for a long time has lasting impact on our mental and physical health. 

With technology becoming a major part of our everyday lives, constant texting, checking e-mails and also sitting in front of the desktop for long hours are leading to problems that have lasting impacts on our mental and physical health. The commonly heard complaints are pain in the neck, headaches, sleep disorders and repetitive strain injuries in fingers.

But we have to face the truth — a world without technology would be difficult to live in. Given the constraints, the best option is to work towards a balance and opt for preventive steps for a healthy body and mind.

Headaches are now common

Experts state that the electromagnetic radiation emitted from phones have thermal effects. The radio waves emitted by mobile phones are absorbed by the body. Due to this reason we get headaches as the blood flow in the brain is affected.

Dr J. Anish Anand, consultant of internal medicine at Apollo Hospitals, says, “Thermal energy from phones affects the skin and soft tissue due to which there are rashes. At the same time, constant strain of trying to hear from a small device with limited voice output affects the ear muscles. Wrong position of the neck and head is one of the major causes of headaches.”

Sleep deprivation, stress and also lack of sleep are some of the other symptoms. Sleep quality is also affected when mobile phones are kept close by.

Recent research has shown damage to the body’s cells by vibration signals. This growing evidence is becoming one of the major reasons to ask people to switch off their phones at night so that they can get sufficient sleep.

Maintain proper posture at work

Earlier factory workers, dressmakers and musicians would suffer from repetitive strain injury but now people working on desktops are suffering from these problems. Constant typing and improper sitting postures affect the forearms, elbows, wrists, hands, neck and shoulders. Dr Sudhindra V., consultant, lifestyle and rehabilitation at Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences Hospitals, says, “One of the major reasons for this problem is lack of Vitamin D. Also most desktop jobs have people sitting for eight to nine hours which alters the alignment of the spine in the lower back region, leading to central obesity.”

Abnormal posture at work and doing prolonged repetitive work in a wrong posture ends up aggravating the strain on the body which finally results in pain, stiffness, throbbing, tingling or numbness, weakness and cramps.

The best method to control these problems is to maintain proper posture at work, getting up after every 20 minutes and taking a break by walking around. Gently stretching every two hours is found to help a lot as it gives a positive signal to the muscles that they must be active, added Dr Sudhindra.

A recent study carried on IT professionals reported...

Clinical cases have seen a rise due to constant use of technology in terms of mobile phones and Internet addiction
Personality changes — irritability, anger, depression.
Tiredness and early fatigue syndrome.
Body pains and hearing problems.

Get off that phone!

59 per cent of IT professionals reported that they had experienced some form of computer related/repetitive stress injury in the past 12 months.

Neck pain problems were the most frequently reported where 30 per cent of the samples had experienced such problems in the past 12 months.

Low back pain, wrists and hand pain and, the shoulder pain were the reported symptoms where the annual prevalence was reported as 25, 14 and 13 per cent.

Source | http://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/health-and-wellbeing/080216/the-price-of-technology.html

Overseas degree and job - Double or quits?

Overseas degree and job - Double or quits?

The question middle-class parents in India are facing is whether it is worthwhile to invest a big amount in a degree that may or may not translate into a career and a secure future 

The other day a friend of mine called. He wanted advice - or perhaps just an ear - on what to do with his only child who had finished his Class 12 examinations last year and had got a mid-80s percentage - too low to get into one of Delhi's premier colleges but high enough to enrol in some course somewhere. He had taken a gap year to decide his next course of action and applied to universities overseas. The boy had recently gained admission for a liberal arts degree at a mid-level institution in the US. My friend would, however, sell a property - a flat in Gurgaon near Delhi and the only other he owned besides the one they live in - to pay for the four-year degree that would cost close to Rs 1.5 crore (all expenses accounted for).

His dilemma was two-fold. One, is it worth it to sell off property (his wife doesn't earn) to finance a degree today when degrees seem to be losing their sheen to an extent? Evidence of companies - and employers - putting less and less emphasis on the degree one held was coming in. Both in the US and in India, companies are less enamoured with the stamp you had acquired and more with how you got the job done.

Then, there appears to be a glut of graduates the world over. A degree no longer guarantees a highly paid job nor the career path you would find satisfying or challenging. There are several graduates - especially with liberal arts degrees - in the US, many of who have loans to pay back with no jobs in hand. A number of them are back and living at home, a rare development for the US where children are often gone from parental homes once they leave high school.

In India, too, the number of graduates coming back armed with degrees from fancy institutions - from all over the world - is piling up. Almost all of us will know students, who left the country after schooling and are now back in India with undergraduate degrees for one reason or the other. Few seem to have a clear direction of where they are headed but all had rejected the American way of life, refusing to stay back and be sucked into a life of "money, materialism and mortgages" as one of them put it to me.

But there's a host of reasons for this - not necessarily disheartening. In some cases, the students have tried working in the States for a while but had either got disillusioned with what they were doing or had not found jobs up to their expectations. At least two of them I know - both of whom had very high paying jobs with consultancy firms - said they were looking for more "meaningful" stuff to do and soon realised the Western work environment didn't always offer that. Just the pay package wasn't enough to hold them down.

There's a large and growing body of young 23-28-year-olds who feel they'd rather contribute to their own country and do something here rather than slog it out in an alien environment. They are mostly from a privileged background in India, have no education loans (parents have put together the money to finance their degrees somehow) and are keen to be a part of India's growth story. They don't mind the risk, the challenge and don't fear the hard work they know they will have to put in to succeed in India. The start-up story attracts them and they are keen to join the bandwagon.

But there's another interesting nugget here. None of the students I know are willing to exchange their overseas education for anything. The degree they had received was just a stamp; the experience was invaluable and priceless. Despite it being just four years, many feel it has moulded them into what they are today.

Coming back to my friend's story, here's what he was pondering - and it's something an increasing number of Indian parents I reckon will ponder over - given the fact that the days are over when a degree from overseas was a passport to success and happiness.

Is it worthwhile for him to dish out this kind of money for an experience that may or may not translate into a career and a secure future? Will his son's future be remarkably different if he graduates from one of India's unremarkable institutions? Should he leave him to float and find his way? In an increasingly uncertain world, does anyone have the answers?

 

Source | http://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/anjuli-bhargava-overseas-degree-and-job-double-or-quits-116020801063_1.html

4-year course to become teacher after 12th

4-year course to become teacher after 12th

New Delhi : The Human Resources Development Ministry is introducing a 4-year degree course for producing professional teachers like engineers and doctors. Anyone passing 12th exam is eligible for the course that will enable direct appointment in schools as a teacher.

The National Council for Teachers’ Education (NCTE) is ready with the curriculum of the course that envisages grant of BABeD in arts stream and BScBed in Science stream. Admissions in the course are proposed to start from the next academic session in July. The only handicap is that so far only 1000 out of 18,000 teacher training colleges have consented to switch over to the new course.

An early introduction of the course as the new basic qualification for appointment of the school teachers was discussed here on Monday at a conference of the state education ministers. NCTE chairman Prof. Santosh Panda said the purpose of the new course is to encourage the students to become teachers after they pass the 12th class exam instead of going for BEd after graduation. The course is prepared with an aim to produce good teachers as “our worry is that if the students go for becoming doctors, engineers and CAs, we would not have good teachers,” Panda said.

The conference discussed acute shortage of teachers as those teaching in the government or government aided schools are just 14.15 lakh as against the sanctioned posts of 19 lakhs.

Source | http://www.freepressjournal.in/4-year-course-to-become-teacher-after-12th/776013

Beware! ransomware is on the prowl

A malicious software that infects the computer and asks for money

Did your computer inexplicably freeze or applications ceased to function? Chances are that some villain in Russia or North Korea would have taken control of it seeking ransom. The issue of ‘ransomware’ continues to be the biggest cyber crime threat affecting people globally.

In the real world, a person is taken hostage for ransom.

Similarly, ransomware is a malicious software that infects the computer and asks for money. For example, there was a ransomware that fakes as an alert or a warning from Federal Bureau of Investigation that you are involved in illegal cyber activity and demands that you pay a fine or end up in jail.

A growing number of cyber criminals are using deceptive links and web sites to install malicious software, which can hold the computer for ransom. Infected machines pop messages that demand payment to restore functionality, said Fran Rosch, EVP and GM, Norton Business Unit, Symantec Corporation, a $4-billion provider of security solutions.

The malicious software affects the system when the person clicks a link, and the bad guys immediately encrypt all the information and pop up a screen saying that they have taken control of system’s information. They hold information till the payment is not made.

Another way is that your computer could really slowdown with virus getting in to the system. The bad guys can take away money of $50-100 right away, he told BusinessLine.

The malicious software creators seeking money are located all over the world, especially in Eastern Europe, Russia and North Korea. Governments there don’t crack down on such cyber criminals. They are well educated with good computer skills. However, their economy is in bad shape and unemployment is high, he said.

Growing menace

There was a 25 per cent growth in malware that get into the system to steal information last year. A decade ago, there were 10-12 new malwares a month. Now, a million variations are coming out every month as the bad guys have set up program to keep sending them frequently for money.

Source | Business Line | 9 February 2016

Tech enabling the disabled

Tech enabling the disabled

 

Technology can be deployed to help people with disabilities navigate their daily life. But it needs to be routed through better channels

 

Technology can be an ena bler as well as a challenge for people with disabilities.

In a country like India, with 100 million disabled people, and where physical infrastructure is rarely provided, technology can support people with disabilities to perform day-to-day activities that presently may be difficult for them to perform independently.

So how does a disabled person access the bank, read a book, visit the library, prepare for exams or even perform recreational activities?

While people with disabilities have the same needs and rights as others, the sad part is that technology only widens the gap; when in fact, it should serve as a tool to bridge it.That's because the channel to provide these technologies to persons with disability has not been built.

Let's consider government websites -for the first time, the Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment has mandated that at least 50 per cent of all government websites be accessible to all.This has taken long, but is welcome.But why can't we consider the needs of people with disabilities at every point? A visually impaired person should be able to do everything a person with normal vision can and with the same amount of ease.

A starting point would be universities with Resource Centres to support students with disabilities and inclusive libraries which would be accessible to everyone.Here are five technologies, simple and effective, that must be a part of every library: 

1 EASY READER -ACCESS TO BOOKS AND DOCUMENTS: 

One of the biggest challenges that people with visual impairment and dyslexia face is access to books and documents. Now they can read an e-book, a digital talking book, a word document or even a web page, using a simple software called Easy Reader.The software is built to not only listen and read but also provide synchronised reading. It allows a user to lets them increase or decrease the text size to suit their reading style and also reads aloud books in English, Hindi and Marathi. 

2 TALKING LABQUEST -SCIENCE LABS FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED: 

Did you know that very few visually impaired study science? The biggest hindrance for them is the inability to conduct experiments in the science lab. The Talking Labquest allows people with visual impairment to utilise sensors (it includes over 70 sensors) to conduct lab experiments and the findings are announced and recorded for the student to participate in class.

3 KINESIC MOUSE -HEAD AND FACE CONTROLLED COMPUTER MOUSE: 

Now you can control your computer with or head or your face if you have limited mobility. Kinesic Mouse allows a person to control your computer using your eye blink, or raising your eye brow, or opening your jaw.This device allows one to play games, write emails or even surf the internet, without any challenges.

4 BLUE2 BLUETOOTH SWITCH CONTROL YOUR MOBILE PHONE WITH LIMITED MOBILITY:

If you are unable to use a touch phone due to mobility limitations, use the Blue2 Bluetooth switch to activate and use the mobile phone and mobile apps by just pressing one or two buttons.

5 AVA -ASSISTS THOSE WITH HEARING IMPAIRMENTS UNDERSTAND AND PARTICIPATE IN GROUP DISCUSSIONS

Those who are hard of hearing or deaf are generally left out in discussions. In addition, there are very few sign language interpreters available.With the Ava Mobile App, now group of people can talk to the app and the same will be converted into text. People can also type replies if they are deaf and contribute to group discussions. If communities and societies come together and set up these model resource centres, inclusive libraries and inclusive spaces in general, it would allow for equal participation for all. We always assume that technology for people with disabilities would be different. We assume that we would not be using the same technology. So, my questions to every developer who is making an app are: Are you going to think about making it disabled friendly?
Do you think that they will not need your app or your technology?

Makers of wearable technologies have already got the ball rolling by building gear which can help and empower persons with disabilities.Technologies like Le Chal (haptic shoes for visually impaired) or +me (a wearable to motivate autistic children to interact socially) have already found many users. Google just bought Liftware, the makers of a smart spoon with assists people with tremors to eat easily. Two simple yet ingenious technologies that caught my eye are;

BuzzClip:

This is a small and discreet wearable for people who are visually impaired or partially sighted. The device uses ultrasound to detect obstacles that may lie directly in the path. It then notifies the user of these obstacles through intuitive vibrations, allowing the user to safely navigate around any objects that they may encounter. A major pain point that needs to be addressed is detecting obstacles above the waist, particularly at the head level.Traditional aids such as a cane or a guide dog do not always address these issues.

Talking ATM Locator app:

This is the first of its kind speaking app which even sighted people can use.The app helps one easily locate an ATM, either by entering the pincode or simply the nearest ATM when on the move. Its database includes addresses of over 5300 ATMs from eight banks. Generally bank apps show only their own ATM locations.

The reality is that people with disabilities use the same technology as we do. They might use additional technology that helps them overcome some of the challenges but over time, we have seen that technologies like word prediction and speech recognition that have become so common today were actually developed to support people with disabilities. The power of technology is enormous and we can change the lives of people with disabilities in India by using technology to empower them.

--An Ashoka Fellow, Shilpi Kapoor is the MD of BarrierBreak, an accessibility technology company. 

Source | Mumbai Mirror | 9 February 2016