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BSES consumers can lodge 'no supply' complaints through WhatsApp
Power consumers of BSES now lodge their complaints about outages through WhatsApp, said a spokesperson of the electricity distribution company. The consumers can register 'no supply' complaints through WhatsApp integrated with customer relation management tools such as Intelligent Outage Management System, he said. "In view of the unpredictable weather conditions leading to storms in the last few days, BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BRPL) have made it possible for their consumers to register their 'no supply' complaints through WhatsApp," the spokesperson said. The BSES consumers can lodge their complaints using the numbers 9999919123(BRPL) and 8745999808(BYPL), by furnishing their nine digit customer account number. The complaints will be registered and a number will be sent to the affected consumer. For resolving the issue effectively, WhatsApp has been integrated with BSES customer relationship management tools, he said. Besides WhatsApp, the ...
Modi govt has spent Rs 4,343 crore on publicity: RTI
The Narendra Modi government has spent Rs 4,343 crore on publicity since it came to power in May 2014, an agency under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has said in reply to an RTI query. The expenditure was incurred on advertisements in the print and electronic media as well as outdoor publicity, the central government agency said in response to the application filed by city-based RTI activist Anil Galgali. The Bureau of Outreach Communication under the ministry said the government spent Rs 4,343.26 crore on advertising its programmes across media platforms. This included Rs 1732.15 crore on advertisements in the print media (from June 1, 2014, to December 7, 2017) and Rs 2079.87 crore in the electronic media (from June 1, 2014, to March 31, 2018). A sum of Rs 531.24 crore was spent on outdoor publicity (June 2014 to January 2018), it said. Tapan Sutradhar, Financial Advisor, Bureau of Outreach Communication, provided expenditure details on publicity campaigns from June ...
New Sony power audio systems now in India
Expanding its audio line-up for the millennials in the country, Sony India on Monday launched three all-in-one "box style" high-power audio systems in the country.
'Kult Impulse' launched at Rs 8,999 in India
Domestic handset maker Kult on Monday launched its new budget smartphone "Kult Impulse", priced at Rs 8,999, to be available across the country from Tuesday.
Micro-thermometer can record tiny temperature changes
Scientists have developed a micrometer-wide thermometer that can measure tiny amounts of heat generated by light electron beams in real time. The device can be applied in photo-thermal cancer treatment as well as in advanced research on crystals, optical light harvesting, etc. The miniaturised system with a nanoscale heat source and detector is essential for future development of next-generation transistors that will be employed in designing new nanoscale devices. The device developed by scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan consists of a gold and nickel thermocouple on a silicon nitride membrane and is miniaturised to the extent that the electrodes are only 2.5 micrometres wide and the membrane is just 30 nanometres thick. A thermocouple is an electrical device consisting of two dissimilar electrical conductors forming electrical junctions at differing temperatures. It produces a temperature-dependent voltage, which can be interpreted to measure temperature. For such a
New device records minute temperature changes
A team of researchers has developed a new device to record minute temperature changes.The Tokyo Institute of Technology researchers developed a micrometer-wide thermometer that is sensitive to heat generated by optical and electron beams and can measure small and rapid temperature changes in real time.This new device can be used to explore heat transport on the micro- and nano-scales, and in optical microscopy and synchrotron radiation experiments.This technology could be applied in photo-thermal cancer treatment as well as in advanced research on crystals, optical light harvesting. Moreover, a miniaturised thermal microscopy system with a nanoscale heat source and detector is essential for future development of next-generation transistors that will be employed in designing new nanoscale devices.A thermocouple, which is an electrical device consisting of two dissimilar electrical conductors forming electrical junctions at differing temperatures, produces a temperature-dependent ...
Facial recognition inaccurate in 98 percent cases: Report
Facial recognition is becoming a norm in modern gadgets. From smartphones to laptops, and even home security systems, facial recognition is now an unsaid prerequisite. However, it is not perfect, a new study has claimed.Facial recognition software used by the UK's Metropolitan Police returned incorrect matched in 98 percent of the cases, Cnet reports.As per the data acquired, only two of the 104 alerts generated by the facial-recognition software used by the Police were found to be accurate matches.Biometrics-based security systems are considered more secure and exclusive to the owner. However, if these statistics are anything to go by, then consumers and businesses are likely to have a hard time relying on the technology for their privacy needs.
YouTube now prompts when you watch too many videos
Do you also start watching a video on YouTube and lose track of time following the recommended/autoplay list? Google wants to tell you that it is concerned over this habit of yours and has inserted a nifty new feature to its video service.As part of its focus on digital well-being, Google has added a feature to YouTube called 'take a break' which notifies you when you have exceeded a specific amount of consecutive viewing time, The Verge reports.The feature is optional, and just like how you might scold a little one for exceeding their television viewing time, the feature will show you a prompt when you lose track of time.You can enable it through the Settings menu and selecting 'Remind me to take a break'. You can choose from options ranging from 15 minutes to 180 minutes.Whether or not it really contributes to a healthy digital well-being is something we are yet to see, but it surely gives an easy way of timing the consumption of the addictive video service.
Nintendo NES is coming back on June 29
Nintendo has officially announced that it is bringing back its NES console this June. The console made its debut in November 2016.The company said that the re-release of the NES Classic Edition will be on June 29, 2018. Nintendo expects it to be available along with the SNES Classic Edition through the end of the year, The Verge reports.As part of the re-release, Nintendo is including 20 NES games with updated multiplayer features as part of the online subscription service for the Switch which is set to launch this September.
Baidu's 'Facemoji Keyboard' hits over 30mn downloads
Chinese tech company Baidu, populary known as China's Google, on Monday said that its third party app "Facemoji Keyboard," has reached over 30 million downloads since its launch.
New way to hide information in plain text
Scientists have found a way to embed hidden information in ordinary text by imperceptibly changing, or perturbing, the shapes of fonts in text. The method called FontCode, creates font perturbations, using them to encode a message that can later be decoded to recover the message. It works with most fonts and, unlike other text and document methods that hide embedded information, works with most document types, even maintaining the hidden information when the document is printed on paper or converted to another file type. "While there are obvious applications for espionage, we think FontCode has even more practical uses for companies wanting to prevent document tampering or protect copyrights, and for retailers and artists wanting to embed QR codes and other metadata without altering the look or layout of a document," said Changxi Zheng, associate professor at Columbia University in the US. The method that can embed text, metadata, a URL, or a digital signature into a text document or .
Nokia 7 Plus: Stock Android, promising hardware (Tech Review)
Finnish company HMD Global that makes Nokia smartphones has refreshed its line-up to gain some momentum in the competitive mid-price segment in India.
Samsung Research Institute in India preparing Bixby for IoT home devices
As tech giants like Google, Amazon and Apple integrate their voice-enabled digital assistants into more devices, Samsung, led by its R&D Institute in India, is busy infusing Artificial Intelligence (AI) into its virtual assistant Bixby for a harmonised Internet of Things (IoT) experience at home.
Foxconn's unit plans Shanghai IPO, raising capital to upgrade production, projects
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Foxconn Industrial Internet Co Ltd, an internet and industrial-focused unit of Taiwan's Foxconn, filed an application on Monday for an initial public offering in Shanghai to raise capital to upgrade production and for 5G related projects.
Artificial Intelligence facing large skills shortage: Microsoft
The fast-emerging field of Artificial Intelligence, which has suddenly caught the attention of the IT industry and the governments across the world, is facing a large skills shortage, a top Microsoft official has said. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) is also facing the challenge of appropriate use of data, group programme manager of Microsoft Learning Matt Winkler told PTI. "There is a pretty large skills shortage. Lots of folks are talking about it (AI). A lot of folks are very, very excited about it and then they want to go and make that real. And when they go to make that real, there's a really large skills shortage," Winkler said. That's why it's so exciting to be trying to bring these technologies to more developers because it's going to bring more people into the mix, he said. Winkler said the second challenge is really around data. "How do you get the data in the right shape? How do you prepare the data? Because all of the AI in the world is based on data, and so what makes it
Gang involved in credit card frauds busted, two arrested
A gang involved in fraudulent withdrawals through credit cards has been busted and two members arrested, police said on Sunday.
Jio complains against Airtel over Apple Watch service; Airtel refutes charge
Reliance Jio has alleged that Bharti Airtel is offering eSim service on Apple Watch in violation of licence norms, prompting the Sunil Mittal-led firm call it a "frivolous complaint". Reliance Jio has filed complaint against Bharti Airtel with the DoT, alleging that the telecom major is offering eSim service on Apple Watch Series 3 in violation of licence norms and demanded immediate closure of the service. "Apple Watch Series 3 service is being offered by Airtel in deliberate and gross violation to the terms and conditions of Unified License," Jio said in a letter to the Department of Telecom. When contacted, Bharti Airtel denied the allegations terming it a frivolous complaint. "This is yet another frivolous complaint by a desperate operator, whose sole aim appears to have a monopoly over everything that they do. Bharti Airtel is a law abiding and responsible operator. "The DoT was duly notified prior to the launch of Apple watch including product features, network architecture and .
92% RTIs filed with Delhi government online in past 10 months
Ninety-two per cent of the total number of RTI requests filed with different departments of the Delhi government were filed online after the system was introduced 10 months ago, according to government data.
Flexible, honey-comb like material could mop up pollution
Scientists have developed a flexible, 3D porous material that mimics the shape of a honeycomb and could help filtering air to remove pollutants or viruses. Both the lattice of a honeycomb and the symmetry of a diatom are complex living structures comprising patterns and shapes that have long provided inspiration for scientists. One recent application is to develop artificial hierarchical porous materials that are stable, yet have a large surface area and the ability to selectively extract materials. It has been difficult however to build these structures at the nanoscale due to their complexity and pattern repeatability across scales from the individual compartments to the whole structure. A team from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, led by Suzana Nunes, has proposed a simple method that, in just five minutes, can produce a flexible film with a complex hierarchical structure that has repeating patterns of interconnected, regularly shaped ...
IBM India says cyber security a gold mine for jobs
Global technology major IBM has said there is a massive shortage of cyber security professionals in the country, urging young graduates to look this segment, which is a high-margin segment for companies, as a lucrative career option. The company, which looks at India both as a market as well as a talent pool to serve the global markets on cyber security, said a whopping 3 million cyber security professionals are required in the country but the supply is not even 1 lakh now, Kartik Shahahni, integrated security leader for IBM India and South Asia, told PTI here. "Can I find people, yes I can. But can I find enough number of people? There is obviously an opportunity for more number of people than we actually have now," Ananda K Vaideeswaran, director and global integrated leader, chipped in saying. Shahahni explained that security solutions currently contributes in "double-digit percentages" to IBM India's revenue at present, whereas its share of the total staff is much .