Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp has started to roll out a new feature to some beta testers on iOS, which gives users the ability to search messages by date.
The new feature allows users to easily jump to a certain date within a conversation, reports WABetaInfo. Some beta testers can use this feature in their chats and groups, with the latest WhatsApp beta for iOS 22.24.0.77 update.
Users need to use the search feature in a conversation if they want to check whether the new feature has been rolled out to their account.
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If a calendar icon shows up, it means the feature is enabled on your WhatsApp account.
The feature will roll out to more users over the coming weeks, the report said.
Forward with caption
Earlier this week, the messaging platform had launched the ‘forward media with caption’ feature on iOS, which provides users the ability to forward images, videos, GIFs and documents, with a caption.
WhatsApp. (File Photo: IANS)IANS
After downloading the WhatsApp for iOS 22.23.77 update from the App Store, some users were able to access the new feature.
Additionally, if someone does not want to forward the caption, a dismiss button is provided to remove the caption from the image before forwarding the message.
Twitter verifies few fake accounts; random cat profile gets blue badge
Twitter banned 44,611 accounts promoting child sexual exploitation and non-consensual nudity in India between September 26 and October 25, as Elon Musk took over.
In the earlier period between August 26 and September 25, the company had banned 52,141 such bad accounts in India.
The micro-blogging platform, going through a churning under Musk, also took down 4,014 accounts for promoting terrorism on its platform in the country.
Twitter, in its monthly report in compliance with the new IT Rules, 2021, said that it received 582 complaints from users in India in the same time-frame through its grievance redressal mechanisms, and took action on just 20 of those URLS.
Twitter
It is in stark difference from the earlier period (August 26 and September 25) when Twitter received 157 complaints from users in India and took action on 129 of those URLS.
In its new report, Twitter said that it processed 61 grievances which were appealing Twitter account suspensions. “These were all resolved and the appropriate responses were sent,” said Twitter.
“We overturned none of these account suspensions after reviewing the specifics of the situation. All accounts remain suspended. We also received 12 requests related to general questions about Twitter accounts during this reporting period,” said the company.
Twitter bans over 44K accounts for policy violations in IndiaIBT Media
In October, Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal had said the replies received from Twitter in the child pornography complaints were incomplete and the Commission was not satisfied with them.
Musk has already expressed grave concerns over reports about the presence of tweets soliciting child pornography on Twitter.
Under the new IT Rules 2021, big digital and social media platforms, with more than 5 million users, have to publish monthly compliance reports.
Central government has placed a ban on wheat export with immediate effect
In the past one month, prices of wheat and flour have soared by 5 per cent and 4 per cent, respectively, and commodity watchers expect them to remain high till the new crop arrives, which is bad news for the consumers of the two essential commodities.
In the past one year, wheat prices have gone up by 15 per cent, while flour prices have increased by 23 per cent, and with the new crop expected only in April 2023, the prices are expected to remain high, market watchers said.
Owing to the Russia-Ukraine war, global demand for wheat has increased sharply while production has been low, which has led to the spike in prices of the commodity.
WheatIANS
As of now, the government has 227 metric tonnes of wheat, which is just 22 tonnes more than the buffer stock norms of 205 metric tonnes. However, if sources are to be believed, the government does not have any plans to sell wheat in the open market or apply stock limit.
Sources also pointed out that the government is monitoring the situation and the inter-ministerial committee will review the prices of wheat this week.
Not just crude, wheat prices too saw massive spike due to Russia-Ukraine war
Wheat price is at Rs 2,831 per quintal now, which is 5 per cent more than last month’s price of Rs 2,693 per quintal. Similarly, flour price is currently at Rs 3,196 per quintal, 4 per cent more than last month’s price of Rs 3,072 per quintal.
The current wheat price of Rs 2,831 per quintal is 15 per cent more than the year-ago price of Rs 2,431 per quintal. Also, the current flour price of Rs 3,196 per quintal is 23 per cent more than last year’s price of Rs 2,597 per quintal, according to official data.
Calix has been one of the major success stories in the highly competitive technology communications space over the past several years. Although it’s a company that few consumers would immediately recognize by name, the Calix cloud and software platforms empower internet service providers of all categories and sizes to transform and electrify their businesses.
On a more practical level, Calix’s capabilities and tools allow business service providers (BSP) to support and promote their subscribers via compelling experiences, which we’ll detail. For BSPs, this translates into creating a stronger, stickier bond with customers via more substantial customer acquisition, heightened loyalty, and long-term revenue potential.
The Calix strategy of focusing on BSPs, in almost a maniacal manner, has paid off with business results. Despite challenging supply chain issues, the company recently reported record revenues of US$236.2 million in the third quarter of its fiscal year 2022. Calix is on track to exceed its 2021 revenue of $679.4 million, a 25.5% improvement over fiscal 2021.
SMB and MDU Market Opportunities
Calix, on Nov. 16, announced new solutions specifically designed to help BSPs expand their footprints into the SMB (small and midsize business) and MDU (multi-dwelling unit) markets.
Built on Calix’s foundation of proven appeal in the single-family home market, these new products will take advantage of use cases that solve real connectivity problems at small businesses, apartment complexes, duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, and mixed-use properties.
Calix has good reason to believe that its managed Wi-Fi strategy, which has enjoyed strong appeal in the single-family home market, will experience significant traction in the SMB and MDU markets.
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There is a healthy demand for ubiquitous Wi-Fi coverage equally in these markets, and the management aspects often have the same pain points with single-family homeowners. Said a bit differently, most SMB and MDU customers do not like to deal with the hassle of managing the technical complexity of router setup, maintenance, and upgrades.
The SMB and MDU markets are not tiny. The U.S. Small Business Administration reports 32.5 million small companies — broadly defined as businesses with fewer than 500 employees — operating in 2021, a remarkable 99.6% of all businesses. Moreover, it is projected that there will be 126.7 multi-family dwellings at the end of 2022, up from 68.8 million in 2019.
New Wi-Fi Systems Address Connectivity Needs
Calix introduced two new systems, the GigaPro GPR8802x and GigaSpire BLAST u4g. Both products are explicitly designed to address the wireless connectivity needs of the SMB and MDU markets.
The GigaPro GPR8802x is a “purpose-built” switch designed for use by SMB and MDU customers. At a technical level, it’s an Ethernet-based managed switch/ONT (Optical Network Terminal, aka modem) solution that provides seamless WAN integration, which facilitates the ability of BSPs to manage it as a single system.
This aspect is critical as it gives BSPs end-to-end visibility and management with the Calix Support Cloud and the Calix Operations Cloud. With eight configurable Ethernet ports, eight analog voice ports, and automated service provisioning, this switch can quickly open new markets to BSPs that desire to cultivate their value proposition in their local communities.
Calix family of GigaSpire Blast u4 systems | Image Credit: Calix
Calix’s managed services appeal gets a shot of adrenalin with the GigaSpire BLAST u4g, an integrated GPON (Gigabit Ethernet Passive Optical Network) with residential gateway capability. Calix designed this product with “aesthetic shelf appeal” that homeowners and renters will find refreshing and cool. The product supports fast Wi-Fi 6 wireless connectivity, making it ideal for apartment or condo dwellers in large properties or buildings.
Benefits for BSPs
From a business perspective, the GigaSpire BLAST u4g can potentially optimize the opportunity for BSPs to attract residential market opportunities because it can deliver formidable and highly secure Wi-Fi to MDUs. Most importantly, the product nicely integrates into the Calix Revenue Edge platform for the dependable conveyance of the company’s growing list of managed services.
The following examples come to mind that underscore what the business impact could be:
BSPs could use these solutions to help offer apartment owners the ability to provide highly secure monitoring services in their units, e.g., smart door lock control and video monitoring.
From an SMB perspective, BSP could use these products to provide retailers with the ability to provide guest internet services with interesting e-commerce and advertising implications.
Calix’s ability to provide BSPs with a customized mobile app — not to mention BSP co-branding possibilities with SMB and MDU customers — sets it apart from large, institutional internet providers like Comcast and Spectrum.
These solutions set the stage for Calix fulfilling its “SmartTown” concept, which would allow BSPs to support continuous, seamless Wi-Fi access across homes, businesses, and schools in local communities.
Analyst Thoughts
It’s hard to deny the momentum behind Calix’s strategy, which has been playing out over the past several years. Clearly, market tailwinds are favorable to what the company is striving to accomplish in the communications and connectivity areas.
Interview with Calix CEO and President Michael Weening
First, consumers are exhausted at the seemingly endless parade of new “alphabet soup” wireless topologies that come to market every 18 months or so.
Even though new wireless topologies offer substantial speed and latency benefits for consumers in gaming, working from home, videoconferencing, and streaming video, many users resist upgrading their wireless routers by themselves to simply avoid the hassle.
Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E are now rolling out, and still, many consumers will not upgrade if the complexity is bothersome and the benefits of upgrading are not made clear and compelling.
Secondly, Calix realizes that SMB and MDU customers have the same interest in new wireless capabilities as single-family homeowners.
Renters, in particular, want to enjoy the speed and latency benefits of faster routers but don’t want to invest in their own hardware. Moreover, there are significant incremental revenue opportunities for landlords who can offer bundled value-add wireless services to their tenants that are fast, secure, and easily managed.
SMB customers increasingly depend on reliable wireless connectivity at an operational and “guest customer” level. Unlike enterprises, SMBs often lack dedicated IT staff and the required resources that a local BSP can provide to manage the small business’s wireless system and support any value-add services the BSP might offer.
Marketing Priorities
It cannot be overstated that the broadband market is highly competitive. Calix is supremely aware of this and appears to be taking significant steps to differentiate itself with platforms and solutions that allow BSPs to reduce operational expenditure, deliver more valued-based “sticky” services to their subscribers, and the ability to customize their offerings.
Going forward, Calix must continue to craft unique, compelling, and highly detailed usage model examples that BSPs can customize and message to their subscribers.
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Creating and delivering new, easy-to-understand marketing content (particularly video), including subscriber testimonials that homeowners, SMBs, and MDU residents can wrap their heads around, must remain a priority for the Calix marketing team.
The company’s relative anonymity with consumers has not hindered Calix as it has been forthright in its view that its success is highly dependent on the success of its BSPs.
From a business results standpoint, this has proven to be highly effective as Calix happily plays the role of a behind-the-scenes entity that allows BSPs to build solid and durable relationships with their subscribers.
With this backdrop, there’s little reason to believe that the Calix playbook won’t work in the SMB and MDU markets, given the similarity of challenges, needs, and long-term desires shared with the single-family homeowner market.
Apple makes it official; new iPhone 14 series arriving on Sep 7
Apple Music on Monday launched a new replay experience revealing 2022’s top charts, in which Arijit Singh is the top artist in India whereas ‘Excuses’ song by AP Dhillon and Gurinder Gill is listed as the top song in the country.
“Beginning today, Apple Music subscribers can learn their top songs, artists, albums, genres, and more in a redesigned Replay experience,” the company said in a statement.
Replay follows the tech giant’s standard privacy throughout the experience despite the focus on data. Users’ insights are never sold, shared, or utilised in promotional materials.
PR Handout
“When we first launched Replay, the feature became an instant fan favourite on Apple Music, and we really wanted to develop the experience further and make it even more special, personal, and unique for subscribers,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats.
“The music we enjoy throughout the year becomes like a soundtrack, and it’s really fun to be able to go back and relive those meaningful and memorable moments over again,” Schusser added.
For the 169 countries and regions where Apple Music is available, Replay is localised in 39 languages.
Apple MusicApple.com (screen-grab)
In India, Desires and Pasoori are on top of the list of top songs, following Excuses.
There are eight Punjabi songs in the top 10 list.
Moreover, Dhillon and Pritam are at top of the top artists list in India, following Arijit Singh.
The top 10 artists list includes five Punjabi singers. Whereas, Hidden Gems leads in the top 10 albums in India.
Talking about the global lists, the Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber ended the year at No. 1 on the top songs of 2022 chart, with their collaborative song “STAY,” the company said.
Whereas, ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ leads the most-read lyrics chart.
Key highlights at a glance
Top 10 Songs
Excuses – Intense, AP Dhillon, Gurinder Gill
Desires – AP Dhillon, Gurinder Gill
Pasoori – Ali Sethi, Shae Gill
Insane – AP Dhillon, Shinda Kahlon, Gminxr, Gurinder Gill
— Only 21 out of the Top 100 songs are International. — 8 of the Top 10 songs are in Punjabi; and 36 out of the Top 100 are in Punjabi. — 3 of the Top 10 songs are from Bollywood; 30 of the Top 100 are from Bollywood. — AP Dhillon has sung 5 of the Top 10 songs, and 16 of the Top 100 songs.
Top 10 Artists
Arijit Singh
AP Dhillon
Pritam
Gurinder Gill
Sidhu Moose Wala
A.R. Rahman
Anirudh Ravichander
The Weeknd
Diljit Dosanjh
Gminxr
— 5 of the Top 10 artists are Punjabi — Arijit Singh is the most streamed artist again this year.
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, N95 face masks have been in short supply. Health care workers, in particular, desperately need these masks to protect themselves from the respiratory droplets of infected patients. But because of the shortage, many have to wear the same mask repeatedly.
Now, researchers reporting in ACS Nano have tested several methods for disinfecting N95 materials, finding that heating them preserves their filtration efficiency for 50 cycles of disinfection.
N95 masks contain a layer of “meltblown” polypropylene fibers that form a porous, breathable network. To help capture smaller particles that could slip through the holes, the fibers are electrostatically charged.
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended several methods for disinfecting N95 masks, such as heating, ultraviolet (UV) radiation and bleach treatment, but so far they have not been tested extensively, especially for multiple rounds of disinfection.
The researchers wanted to compare five of the methods that could reasonably be used within a hospital setting to see how mask materials hold up to repeated disinfections.
In this study, instead of analyzing N95 masks — which should be reserved for health care workers — the researchers examined pieces of the meltblown fabric used to make these masks.
They treated the material with a particular disinfectant and compared its ability to filter aerosol particles (resembling respiratory droplets, but lacking coronavirus) before and after disinfection.
The team found that spraying the fabric with an ethanol or chlorine bleach solution drastically reduced the filtration efficiency after only one treatment, from about 96 per cent to 56 per cent (ethanol) or 73 per cent (bleach).
A single steam treatment maintained filtration, but five steam treatments led to a sharp decline in efficiency. UV radiation allowed up to 20 cycles of disinfection; however, administering the exact dose of UV that kills the virus without damaging mask materials could be problematic, the researchers note.
The best disinfection method appeared to be heating. For example, heating at 185 F for 20 minutes allowed the fabric to be treated 50 times without loss of filtration efficiency. But frequently donning and removing N95 masks could affect fit, which also impacts performance, the researchers point out.
The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the US Congress.
Microsoft pushes reopening offices as Covid cases surgeIBTimes IN
Microsoft and its subsidiary LinkedIn on Wednesday announced it has empowered 7.3 million learners in India to acquire digital skills for in-demand jobs.
To date, Microsoft has engaged 14 million learners in Asia via its professional networking platform LinkedIn, including 7.3 million from India, via its aSkills for Jobs’ programme.
The company said it will provide free access to 350 courses, six new ‘Career Essentials Certificates’ and 50,000 ‘LinkedIn Learning Scholarships’ to millions of learners in India and globally.
linkedin
“We want to continue making tech skills accessible to all, opening up employment opportunities for people to succeed and embrace innovation,” said Dr Rohini Srivathsa, National Technology Officer, Microsoft India.
The new courses and certificates will be offered in seven languages — English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese and Japanese.
The launch builds on the Global Skills Initiative, which helped 80 million jobseekers around the world access digital skilling resources.
By 2025, Microsoft will help train and certify 10 million more people with skills for in-demand jobs globally.
MicrosoftIANS
The top six ‘LinkedIn Learning Pathways’ in India were Critical Soft Skills, Software Developer, Data Analyst, Financial Analyst, Project Manager, and Customer Service Specialist.
The company said that the new ‘Career Essentials Certificates’ are designed to help learners bridge the gap from basic digital literacy to more advanced technical skills training and gain certifications that will be valuable to securing employment.
All courses are available on LinkedIn at opportunity.linkedin.com.
In addition, Microsoft-developed courses are also available on Microsoft Community Training (MCT) and in downloadable format for use on other Learning Management Systems (LMS) for nonprofit partners, the company said.
In an address to the nation today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the next lockdown will be different and the guidelines will be soon before May 18 regarding the measures to be taken during the fourth phase of the lockdown.
As per him, several experts and scientists have said that the virus is going to be part of our lives for a long time. But, it is also important to ensure that our life does-not revolve only around it. He exhorted people to work towards their targets while taking precautions like wearing masks and maintaining ‘do gaz doori’.
Modi said the crisis that has emerged due to COVID-19 is unprecedented. He emphasised on the need to save ourselves from the novel coronavirus and also move ahead at the same time.
The guidelines will be prepared keeping in mind the feedback received from the states, he said.
The Prime Minister announced an economic stimulus package of Rs 20 lakh crore. “I am announcing a special financial package, which will play an important role in our atmanirbhar bharat abhiyan (self-reliant India campaign). If we add this package to RBI’s announcements, the government’s announcement, the total comes to nearly 20 lakh crore, which is nearly 10 per cent of India’s GDP.”
Prime Minister observed that the package will also focus on land, labour, liquidity and laws. It will cater to various sections including cottage industry, MSMEs, labourers, middle class, industries, among others.
He informed that the details of the contours of the package will be provided by the Finance Minister from tomorrow, in the coming few days.
He stressed on the need for a structure to make India self-reliant. Modi elaborated five pillars for self-reliance.
First pillar is Economy:As per him, India will have to bring an economy that doesn’t bring incremental change, but quantum jump.
Second pillar is Infrastructure:He said we need an infrastructure which can become the identity of modern India.
Third pillar is the System: He said there’s a need to not necessarily follow the norms of the previous century. It should be technology driven and should be able to fulfill India’s 21st century dreams.
Fourth pillar is Vibrant Democracy: He called it as the source of energy for our dream to make India self-reliant.
Fifth is Demand: As per him, the demand-supply chain is the real power and it should be used to its full potential.
As per Modi, when India speaks of self-reliance, that does not mean self-centered. Instead self-reliance stands for world’s happiness, cooperation and peace.
Prime Minister remarked that self-reliance will prepare the country for tough competition in the global supply chain, and it is important that the country wins this competition. “The same has been kept in mind while preparing the package. It will not only increase efficiency in various sectors but also ensure quality.”
“Today we have the resources, the power and the best talent in the world. We will make the best products, improve our quality, and modernise the supply chain. We can and we will.”
He said, “We have to be vocal with local. That is, we should not only buy local products, but we should also be vocal in promoting them. I am confident that we can do this.”
The Guwahati unit of National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER-G) have come out with two products of help in the fight against the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19.
The first product is a 3D-printed hands-free object that could be used to help open or close doors, windows, drawers (both vertical and horizontal), and refrigerator handle, or press elevator buttons, and laptop/desktop keyboards, including turning the switch buttons on/off.
In a press note, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers said, “The researchers came up with the design for the fabrication of the 3D-printed object after detailed analyses of several resources for risk measurement and on how viruses spread through bare hands.”
As per note, the face shield is also easy to design and it is possible to have rapid development of prototypes. “It is also low cost, easy to wear, has good chemical stability, non-fragile and is easy to clean with the existing sanitizers or any alcoholic disinfectant.”
The second product is a 3D-printed antimicrobial face-shield to control the spread of novel coronavirus. It was designed after a thorough study to understand how viruses spread through oral, ophthalmic, olfactory and other body cavities.
A meeting was held through video conferencing yesterday under the chairmanship of new delhi to review NIPERS performance in research & innovation activities especially with regard to the ways in which NIPERs have and can contribute in country’s fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
“NIPER-G is committed to provide useful contributions cum solutions,” said Dr USN Murty, Director, NIPER-Guwahati.
He said this on Thursday while attending a video conference with NIPER directors under chairmanship of Dr P D Vaghela, Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals.
Murty said NIPER–G has also made a skin friendly herbal sanitizer. He informed that industrial scale manufacturing of its new products are being done in collaboration with Hindustan Antibiotics Limited( HAL), a departmental PSU.
NIPERs are Centres of Excellence institutes of under the Department of Pharmaceutical, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers.
The seven institutes are functional at Ahmadabad, Hyderabad, Hajipur, Kolkata, Guwahati, Mohali, and Raebareli.
The stock market was upbeat on Tuesday after the Adani group acquired 99.5 per cent holding in RRPR Holding Private Ltd, the promoter group vehicle of news media company New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV).
Accordingly, NDTV’s scrip opened at Rs 420 and touched a high of Rs 426.40 intra-day before closing at Rs 426.40 on Tuesday.
RRPR Holding is the investment company of NDTV promoters — Prannoy Roy and Radhika Roy — that holds 29.18 per cent stake in NDTV, which has three national television channels.
In a regulatory filing on Monday, NDTV had said that it was informed by RRPR Holding that the latter has issued equity shares on 28.11.2022 constituting 99.5 per cent of its equity share capital to Vishvapradhan Commercial Private Ltd (VCPL), which is a part of Adani group.
NDTVIANS
The shares have been issued in consonance with the conversion notice dated August 23, following the expiry of the two-year restraint period imposed by the Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) in the matter of dealing in securities, on November 26.
According to NDTV, SEBI has not responded to a specific letter dated August 28 on behalf of RRPR Holding seeking clarification.
However, SEBI had approved the letter of offer (dated November 11) by VCPL (acquirer) along with AMG Media Networks Limited and Adani Enterprises Limited for acquiring up to 16,762,530 fully paid up equity shares of the face value of Rs 4 each representing 26 per cent in NDTV.
The Adani group had earlier planned to make the open offer last month but decided to revise that to get SEBI’s nod.
Curiously, the open offer price is at Rs 294 per share which is far less than the current market price.
As per the offer document, November 18 was the last date for upward revision of offer price and size. The offer opening date was November 22 and the closing date is December 5.
VCPL holds 1,990,000 warrants of RRPR Holding entitling it to convert them into 99.99 per cent stake in the latter.
The VCPL has exercised its option in part, resulting in acquisition control of RRPR Holding — 1,990,000 equity shares or 99.50 per cent.
This triggered the issue of open offer to acquire shares of NDTV from the public as per SEBI’s (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011.
The VCPL, at its sole discretion, may exercise the balance warrants to acquire up to 99.99 per cent of the equity share capital of RRPR Holding at any time and in such manner as it may deem fit.
The second round for the Adani group is the open offer to acquire 26 per cent, to hold 55.18 per cent stake in NDTV.
