Friday, March 31, 2017
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Pratyusha Banerjee’s last short film can NOT release today, here is why?
It has been almost a year since “Balika Vadhu” star Pratyusha Banerjee committed suicide on April 1, 2016 and left India shocked. Before Pratyusha’s first death anniversary, her best friend Kamya Punjabi shared a glimpse of Pratyusha’s last short film, “Hum Kuchh Kah Na Sakey”, on her Instagram account.
But the Bombay City Civil and Sessions Court on Friday stayed the release of the film that’s based on her life. Actor-producer Rahul Raj Singh, her former boyfriend, has moved the court, seeking to stop the film’s release.
Speaking on the same to ANI, Singh’s lawyer Shreyansh Mithare said if the film gets released, then “it will have a particular impact on the judge and public that will influence the case.”
“In the film, Rahul has been shown in a bad light. In fact, the case is pending in the Dindoshi Court, where Rahul is facing serious accusations like IPC section 306 (Abetment of suicide). If we allow the release of this film, then it will have a particular impact on the judge and public that will influence the case,” Mithare said.
Adding, “Hence we have filed a civil suit and the court has granted us injunction orders against the release of the film. The matter has been kept for tomorrow (April 1) and the court has asked the producer as well as Kamya Punjabi to come and appear before the court tomorrow.
The promo for the short film was released on March 27 that took internet by storm.
The 36-second promo has reference of Pratyusha’s boyfriend at the time, Rahul Raj Singh to her issues with alcoholism. The creepiest part in it is the alarming resemblance to the real life issues that the late ‘Balika Vadhu’ star was battling at the time.
Rahul, however, has dismissed the short film as “bogus” and “fraud”.
Rahul said, “What film is she talking about? How and when did she shoot this film with Pratyusha? I’ve a record of all of Pratyusha’s activities in the months before I lost her. She was always with me. We went together to Ranchi for my brother’s child’s naming ceremony. Then we went to Goa. When did Pratyusha shoot this so-called film with Kamya?”
Rahul futher described this film as “bogus” and a “fraud” and said, “This is nothing but an attempt to make money in a dead person’s name. How can this woman continue to use Pratyusha’s name to get publicity? Only I know what her thoughts and feelings were. She was planning a big birthday party for me when she was snatched away from me.”
Rahul too is planning to pen a book on Pratyusha. He shared in the report, “It’s an idea that I’ve been living with for some time now. It came to me after I found a diary written by her in my house. Through that diary, I got to know her even better. I want to write my book on the Pratyusha that only I knew, and the girl I’d have known if she had only lived longer.”
UK reports 70 drone near-misses at Heathrow in 2016
Two of the three were classified as “category A” or the most serious of near-misses. In one incident, the pilots of an A320 passenger plane saw a UAV flying below their vehicle’s right wing 10,000 feet in the air as they prepare to land at the airport. That’s about 9,600 feet higher than the legal altitude for drones in the UK. According to investigators, the UAV with multiple rotors seem to be custom-made and not something off the shelf. They also said that “providence had played a major part in the aircraft not colliding” with the device.
In the second category A incident, a pilot taking off from Heathrow spotted a drone around 150 feet away from his plane’s wing at 3,000 feet in the air. Authorities believe they “narrowly avoided” a collision, as well. The third drone sighting at the airport within that three-week timespan was less dangerous than the other two, but it still came within 200 feet of an aircraft.
Overall, the report says there were 70 near-misses between planes and drones in 2016 compared to the 29 incidents in 2015. As more people start flying drones as a hobby or for business, we’ll likely see that number grow unless authorities find a way to spot UAVs before they get too close to airports.
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World Backup Day 2017: The best ways to backup your business
The 31st March marks World Backup Day – an annual event that reminds us of the importance of backing up our data. Now backup may not be the most exciting of IT needs, but it is an essential one – you might be surprised to hear that 80 per cent of companies that suffer a data disaster shut down within a year if they don’t have backup in place. Backup is undoubtedly integral to a healthy business infrastructure. Without it, a business may struggle to get up and running after a data incident or disaster. And so, to mark this year’s World Backup Day, we have gathered insights from six industry pros to explain why and how you need to backup company data.
Gary Quinn, CEO at FalconStor on the need for flexible backup solutions
“World Backup Day reminds us that many organisations still don’t have the right backup strategy in place to deal with the broad range of risks and threats they face in the digital economy. While the general importance of backups is accepted by most, the practicalities of quickly recovering lost data to resume normal business operations still only occurs to many when they are facing a crisis. But, flexible backup solutions can automate complex recovery processes to ensure data can be recovered before business operations are impacted, while snapshot technology can reduce or eliminate backup windows and recover data to any point.”
Jason Howells, EMEA Director, MSP Solutions Business at Barracuda Networks on backup to protect against ransomware attacks
“With ransomware now running rampant, initiatives like World Backup Day are a great way to highlight the importance of backing up. Although worrying, ransomware is at least helping to expose IT weaknesses and the extent to which small businesses manage their data in a cavalier manner. Backup and recovery may not have always been the sexiest of IT topics, but thanks to the rise of ransomware it is now one of the hottest. That’s because the single most effective defence against ransomware is an ability to recover an organisation’s data from another data source. Without backups in place, the majority of businesses simply wind up paying the ransom to recover their data. It’s not like these backup and disaster recovery technologies haven’t been around for a long time, it’s just that it has been hard to get businesses to focus on data protection until now. Thankfully, business owners are starting to see that having a disaster recovery service in place could make the difference between a minor nuisance and a total catastrophe.”
Hubert Da Costa, VP EMEA at Cradlepoint on having a backup plan for your network
“We are all familiar with the need to back up our data, but often a back up plan for the network is given less thought. No wired connection can deliver 100 per cent uptime. The question is not whether your business will lose Internet connectivity, it’s when. So how do you protect your organisation from loss and disruption when it happens? When your wired Internet connectivity experiences a service disruption (in some areas this happens several times a month) your business is exposed to risks of lost revenue, productivity and customer experience issues.
Upgrading to a more robust wired connection is one possible solution – but it’s expensive and is still susceptible to outages and service disruption. An alternative option is to bridge the inevitable gap with wireless WAN failover. This option is quick and easy to deploy. Ultimately when network connections fail, there will be a loss of productivity, brand credibility and revenue. In my experience, there are few businesses that can afford to take that risk.”
Marianne Calder, VP & MD for EMEA at Puppet on backup for application data
“Historically, backups have always been the worst of an administrator’s responsibilities. Vital to a business but tedious, error prone, repetitive and labour intensive. But a server or VM has so many layers to be protected and can be difficult to reproduce manually. A backup management tool with a strong focus on automation means application data is never forgotten. Automation makes it possible to replicate any host at any time, removing the need to backup the entire host. Saving time, but ensuring protection from a catastrophic failure. World Backup Day is a good reminder for our users of the time and infrastructure saved by not having to manage things manually; they rest easy knowing the data is secure and protected from unknown risks and external threats.”
Jake Madders, Director at Hyve Managed Hosting on backup in the cloud
“As the cloud continues to permeate business practices in numerous ways and companies are enjoying the flexibility and scalability that it brings, one thing that the cloud enables that often gets left out of the headlines is backup. No longer do companies have to worry about having the physical space to establish a backup location for data, using cloud servers and storage enables offsite backups that are protected from many issues that can arise on-premises. Company data is one of the most valuable parts of a business, but unfortunately loss of or damage to data can happen at any time. Investing in backup and replication from the production environment to a secure cloud computing environment should be a priority for every business. World Backup Day serves as a reminder that if it isn’t backed up, there is a huge opportunity for loss and that can have serious business repercussions.”
David Griffiths, VP of EMEA at Tintri on the need to guarantee availability
“Data loss and disruption happens far too often in the enterprise. Research by Ponemon in 2016 estimates the average cost of an unplanned outage has spiralled to nearly $9,000 a minute, causing crippling downtime as well as financial and reputational damage. Legacy backups simply aren’t equipped to provide seamless operations, with zero Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) should a disaster strike. In order to guarantee the availability of applications, synchronous replication with real-time analytics needs to be simple to setup, monitor and manage for application owners and economical to the organisation. That way, the concept of making zero data loss attainable suddenly becomes a reality.”
Image source: Shutterstock/scyther5
Salesforce Offers AI-Powered CRM for Financial Advisors
Salesforce this week announced Financial Services Cloud Einstein, an artificial intelligence-based CRM tool for financial advisors.
Financial Services Cloud Einstein gives users a holistic view of each client’s household and wealth ecosystem and lets them leverage Salesforce’s AI technology to seek out new business opportunities.
Feature Lineup
- Einstein Opportunity lets users uncover opportunities based on clients’ sentiments, competitor mentions, and overall engagement. For example, it automatically alerts the advisor if a client mentions a competitor in an email. If communications from the client fall off, the system sends a reminder to the advisor to reach out and nurture the relationship;
- Relationship Builder lets advisors connect information about clients and their households, store it in one place, and edit existing roles and activities. For example, an advisor can update the record when a client takes on a new role such as being named to the board of a company;
- Relationship Groups let advisers link clients to multiple households, trusts, and business groups to get holistic views of clients’ wealth across all accounts and relationships. For example, advisors can track when clients take on new responsibilities within other households, such as assuming power of attorney for a family member. The advisors then can proactively reach out with personalized advice;
- Relationship Map lets advisors visualize a client’s family wealth ecosystem and financial accounts in a single snapshot and drill down to see fresh business opportunities. For example, an advisor can discover that a client has become the beneficiary of a trust that’s in need of estate planning services.
Relationship Builder, Relation Groups and Relationship Map are available generally now, and they are free for all Financial Services Cloud users.
Einstein Opportunity Insights costs US$50 per user per month for Financial Service Cloud users of Enterprise Edition and above.
“This could prove a game changer for financial advisors since it will enable a more targeted marketing approach to selling such services,” observed Michael Jude, a program manager at Stratecast/Frost & Sullivan.
Not Without Risks
Einstein’s integration into Salesforce’s Financial Services Cloud “is designed to help financial advisors manage customer relationships better and more effectively, [but] customer relations are very much about human-to-human interaction,” said Andreas Scherer, managing partner at Salto Partners.
“The risk of introducing AI in this area was experienced by Microsoft last year when they had to pull their chatbot Tay off the market,” he told CRM Buyer.
Microsoft took Tay offline after Twitter trolls induced it to deny the Holocaust, send out racist tweets, and advocate 9/11 conspiracy theories and genocide, among other things.
The addition of Einstein to the Financial Services Cloud lets Salesforce provide deep insights into target markets, “but only customers likely to be interested in a particular offer will be contacted, [which] will reduce the irritation associated with getting cold call offers,” Frost’s Jude told CRM Buyer.
However, there’s “strong potential for some customers perceiving this as a violation of privacy, especially if there’s deep insights into their private affairs,” he cautioned.
Other AI Systems
Pefin offers an AI financial advisor that it claims costs one-twentieth of a human financial advisor’s fees. Its full release is set for April.
Pefin’s AI algorithm works only for the United States market now, but the company will extend it to global markets later.
Hedgeable offers a platform with a feature called “Tax Samurai” — run by an AI bot named “Katana” — which targets the high-net-worth market.
Whether Einstein will take off is an open question, but it seems clear that the next generation of AI in wealth management will use rules or models crafted by data scientists with master’s or doctoral degrees.
“For now, Einstein is a great marketing concept that sets Salesforce apart,” Salto’s Scherer said. “The true business value has yet to be seen.”
Richard Adhikari has been an ECT News Network reporter since 2008. His areas of focus include cybersecurity, mobile technologies, CRM, databases, software development, mainframe and mid-range computing, and application development. He has written and edited for numerous publications, including Information Week and Computerworld. He is the author of two books on client/server technology.
Email Richard.
Georgian Entrepreneurs Look to Silicon Valley for Funding
PALO ALTO, CALIFORNIA —
Boris Kiknadze, chief executive of Pawwwn, took a deep breath as he looked out to the crowd of Silicon Valley venture capitalists and began his pitch.
With just 10 minutes to speak, Kiknadze rapidly described his business idea — Pawwwn, an online payment and management system to make transactions easier for pawnshop owners and their customers. The pain point for pawn shops is payment. Pawwwn takes away that pain, he said.
For months, Kiknadze and his co-founder had developed Pawwwn in his home country of Georgia before getting on a plane for San Francisco. Since the firm launched in March, Kiknadze has had 20 customers trying out the service.
But with 1,400 pawnshops in Georgia and 12,000 more in the U.S., Kiknadze saw a big opportunity. And to achieve that, he needs cash — $1 million, which he said he would use to launch Pawwwn in the U.S.
Competing for investors
Kiknadze is part of Startup Georgia, a project administered by Georgia’s Innovation and Technology Agency, that connects U.S. experts and investors with startups in Georgia.
More than 250 entrepreneurs tried out in Georgia to qualify for a week of training in Tbilisi, the nation’s capital. Among those 50 who participated in the training, 20 were selected for seed funding and three months of additional training with a Silicon Valley expert with weekly videoconferencing meetings.
Of those, eight were chosen to travel to the U.S. for a boot camp and to pitch to investors directly.
Georgia, a country of fewer than 4 million people, is looking to the success of small countries, such as Estonia and Israel, to pitch itself as a burgeoning tech hub, said Mark Iwanowski, founder and president of Global Visions-Silicon Valley, which provided the U.S. support for the program.
For U.S. investors, typically reluctant to invest beyond U.S. tech hubs, there is an opportunity to get more value in overseas companies, where labor costs are lower, he said. To attract these investors, foreign companies need to incorporate in the U.S. and set up a team here.
Over the past week in Silicon Valley, the Georgian entrepreneurs received one-on-one mentorship training as they refined their pitches. They heard from lawyers on protecting intellectual property and listened to venture capitalists talk about how to approach investors.
“If a venture capitalist says they love it, it kind of doesn’t mean anything,” said Steve Goldberg, operating partner at Venrock, a venture firm. “My advice is to have people on the team who understand venture-speak.”
“Understand what the investor is looking for,” said Ron Weissman of Band of Angels, Silicon Valley’s oldest seed fund. He suggested approaching investors seeking a conversation — “I’m not here to raise money. I’m here to get a sense of what it would take to interest you.”
Eight companies from the country of Georgia took part at a startup boot camp in Silicon Valley recently. QuickCash CEO Mariam Rusishvili represented her company. (M. Quinn/VOA)
Tech’s next ‘unicorn’?
That is the kind of approach honed by Vamekh Kherkheulidze, founder and medical adviser to ORsim, a Georgian operating room virtual reality simulator.
By slipping on a virtual reality headset and a special glove that gives all the sensations of holding instruments and operating on a person, medical students can better learn how to become surgeons, Kherkheulidze said. And that’s important, because there’s a shortage of surgeons both in the U.S. and worldwide.
From potential investors, ORsim is looking “for supporters,” he said. “We promote new ways of education and we want investors who understand that.”
Still, his ambition is big. “We want to expand and expand fast,” Kherkheulidze said. Already, ORsim, with $35,000 in pre-seed funding from Startup Georgia, has an appendectomy simulator.
“Our hope is to be a unicorn,” Kherkheulidze said, referring to the term used to describe startups worth more than $1 billion in valuation. But in addition to greatly improving surgical training worldwide, he sees his company as a way to help his home country.
“If we are worth $1 billion, you can increase the economy. What was Skype’s influence in Estonia?” he said, referring to the Estonian internet communication service bought by Microsoft for more than $8 billion.
After the pitches, the entrepreneurs mingled with investors. No one got investment on the spot, but most are hopeful and are following up with meetings next week.
Blizzard"s first eSports stadium opens for "Overwatch"
The Blizzard eStadium, as it’s named, seats up to 250 fans. Our Engadget colleagues got a tour of the event center, which the company will use to host both local matches and international tournaments for the Asia-Pacific region. While we only managed to snag photos of the company swag up for sale at the venue’s shop, it’s a good bet that their snack bar will be stocked with jokey goods matching Blizzard’s particular sense of humor.
Blizzard will break in the eStadium on April 8th with the first games in the Overwatch Pacific Championship, the studio-run competitive league based in Taipei. Eight teams from Taiwan, Japan, Australia and Thailand will compete for 11 weeks, with the top three advancing to the playoffs and, eventually, this year‘s Overwatch World Cup. The venue will expand to host matches from other games in Blizzard’s competitive retinue, like Hearthstone and Starcraft 2. Maybe one day, we’ll even see the remastered Starcraft: Brood War grace its fresh gamer halls — a perfect mix of old nerdity and new.
IBM Launches Enterprise-Strength Blockchain as a Service
IBM on Monday unveiled the first enterprise-ready Blockchain as a Service offering based on The Linux Foundation’s open source Hyperledger Fabric version 1.0.
IBM Blockchain, which lets developers quickly establish highly secure blockchain networks on the IBM cloud, is a transformative step in being able to deploy high-speed, secure business transactions through the network on a large scale, the company said.
The platform offers the world’s safest Linux infrastructure, with tamper-responsive hardware security modules, a highly auditable operating environment, protection from insider attacks, and secure service containers, according to IBM.
Safe and Secure
“IBM developers were very substantial contributors to the Hyperledger Fabric project, and
they have also been great at pulling developers from other companies into the center of the development process,” noted Brian Behlendorf, executive director of Hyperledger.
“This means the architecture has been scrutinized by a much wider community than you might otherwise see for a commercial project, and there are many different commercial options for support available,” he told LinuxInsider.
Hyperledger — an open source consortium of companies in finance, banking, IoT and other industries — was created to advance blockchain technologies.
Hyperledger Fabric is the project designed to implement blockchain technologies into applications or solutions.
IBM Blockchain for Hyperledger Fabric v1.0 is available through a beta program on IBM Bluemix. Hyperledger Fabric is available on Docker Hub as an IBM-certified image for download at no cost.
In a related announcement, IBM and SecureKey Technologies said they will launch a new digital identity network for Canadian consumers based on IBM Blockchain. The network currently is undergoing tests in Canada and is scheduled to go live later this year. Consumers will be able to opt in through a mobile app.
IBM also announced the world’s first blockchain-based green asset management platform under a deal with Energy Blockchain Labs to help lower emissions in China.
A beta version of the platform will be released in May.
IBM Edge
IBM has an advantage from the standpoint that few companies have the skills and experience to capitalize on this emerging technology, noted Jeff Kaplan, managing director of ThinkStrategies.
Many companies are hesitant to make the investment to advance what is a relatively unproven technology, he said.
“So in the same way organizations have been able to leverage compute power via the cloud and applications via SaaS, IBM Blockchain will enable organizations to acquire blockchain functionality quickly without the risks and costs associated with buying and deploying the technology themselves,” Kaplan told LinuxInsider. “It gives IBM a good method to quickly win customers and market share.”
The IBM announcement is a significant step in enterprise adoption of blockchain technology, and can be likened to what Hortonworks and Cloudera did for Hadoop or what Redhat did for Linux, observed Stewart Bond, research director for data integration software at IDC.
“IBM is an industry incumbent known for enterprise-scale transaction processing, security and data management, and many enterprises trust IBM applications, processes, transactions and data,” he told LinuxInsider.
“Blockchain is partly about trust, and IBM Blockchain provides a higher level of trust, security, transaction processing and manageability of blockchain data, code and deployments, Bond said.
IBM last summer entered an agreement with Everledger to use blockchain to help the company track diamonds and other valuables.
IBM is the provider best suited for transactional security at the scale required for such a partnership, said Leanne Kemp, CEO of the firm.
“As a business focused on tracking and protecting the provenance of the world’s most valuable items, there can be no compromise when it comes to the security and expertise required to ensure records are stored in a trusted and tamper-proof environment,” she told LinuxInsider.
IBM also is working with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Northern Trust, Walmart and Maersk on previously announced deals to run their blockchain applications in the IBM Cloud.
Snapchat now lets you search across over 1 million Stories
Snapchat has opened up search across over 1 million curated public Stories, with a new feature release that could be a very helpful tool not only for users, but for advertisers, too. The search feature allows users to find Stories relevant to their interest by keyword, from a large number shared publicly by users and brands.
The Stories search is built on new tech behind the scenes that uses machine learning to identify what’s happening in Stories submitted to the network’s Our Story feature, and to organize it by keyword accordingly. This can identify elements shared in the story by either elements of the image, or by words included in captions.
This new feature will roll out to the broader Snapchat community in pieces: Today, it’s coming to just a few select cities at launch, with gradual introduction to additional locales planned from there.
A search function should help with user stickiness: The ability to easily find content you’re interested in should result in longer time spent in-app among users. It’s also likely to help with advertiser targeting; adding a search function opens up tons of opportunities for targeted advertising products in the future, including promoted Stories specific to certain keywords and queries.
To be clear, no ads are currently set to run on the Stories collections appearing in the new Search results, but it’s an interesting opportunity for the company in the future.
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Shah Rukh Khan gets emotional as he completes 25 years in Mumbai!
Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has completed 25 years of his journey in the city, which he says has given “me my life”.
“25 years in Mumbai, which has given me my life. For the first time at the opening of RC (production banner Red Chillies Entertainment) VFX new office. I felt, I must have done something right,” Shah Rukh tweeted on Friday.
25 yrs in Mumbai, which has given me my life. For the 1st time at the opening of RC vfx new office I felt, I must have done something rite.
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) March 30, 2017
The 51-year-old, who hails from Delhi, started his acting career with the television series “Fauji” in the late 1980s. He made his debut in movies with “Deewana” in 1992.
The actor attained superstardom with “Baazigar” and the rest, as they say, is history. Since then, he has given blockbusters like “Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge”, “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai”, “Yes Boss”, “Devdas”, “Kal Ho Naa Ho”, “Chak De! India”, “Chennai Express” and “Dear Zindagi”.
SRK is currently busy filming director Imtiaz Ali’s tentatively titled “The Ring” opposite actress Anushka Sharma.
Android Wear 2.0 is hitting more watches today
Yesterday, Google said that an unspecified bug was delaying the Android Wear 2.0 rollout yet again. It looks like the delay hasn’t been too severe though. The company says that Wear 2.0 is now available for five more watches: the Polar M600, Nixon Mission, Fossil Q Wander, Fossil Q Marshal and Michael Kors Access. That’s in addition to the Fossil Q Founder, Casio Smart Outdoor Watch WSD-F10 and TAG Heuer Connected, which Google said were already receiving the update. All told, that’s almost half of the 19 older watches that’ll get the Wear 2.0 update.
Virat Kohli honoured with Padma Shri at Rashtrapati Bhavan
India skipper Virat Kohli received the Padma Shri award on Thursday, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. The fourth-highest civilian award in India was presented to Kohli by President Pranab Mukherjee.
The Indian cricket team captain took to Facebook to share a heartfelt message on his social media platforms after receiving the award.
He wrote, “What an absolute honour and a memorable day to receive the Padma Shri award from the president of india. These days last for a lifetime. Gods been kind . Jai hind (sic)”
Virat was looking dapper in a grey suit as he received the honour. He was given the award for excellence in sports.
Eight sportspersons including Kohli were nominated for the prestigious Padma Shri. The other sportspersons are Rio Olympics heroes wrestler Sakshi Malik, gymnast Dipa Karmakar, Paralympian Mariyappan Thangavelu and Deepa Malik, hockey captain PR Sreejesh, discus thrower Vikas Gowda and blind cricket team captain Shekhar Naik.
Amazon quietly launches its own social media influencer program into beta
Social media influencers – like Instagram stars or YouTube celebs – often promote products they like, either as part of a brand relationship or as means of generating income through affiliate sales. Now, Amazon is looking to get in on this action as well. The company has quietly launched the “Amazon Influencer Program,” which is currently in beta testing as of a couple of days ago. Similar to the Amazon Affiliate program, the new program will offer influencers commission on products sold, but is not open to the public.
One of the key things that makes the new Influencer program different from Amazon Affiliates is its exclusivity.
Today, anyone can sign up to be an Amazon Affiliate, which lets you build links and shopping ads that you can use on your own website or blog. When a reader clicks through to buy the product, the affiliate receive a commission on those sales, which varies by product type.
Amazon Influencers, meanwhile, must submit an application to be considered for inclusion.
According to the program details page, only those influencers with “large followings” will be accepted. In addition, Amazon considers other metrics, like the fan engagement on posts across a variety of social media platforms, quality of content, and the level of relevancy for Amazon.
The company says there is not set a cut-off in terms of follower count that guarantees an influencer will be let into the program, and that influencers across “all tiers and categories” will be represented.
The Influencers are given a unique vanity URL on Amazon’s domain that will be easy for customers to remember and find.
Here, shoppers will be able to browse through the curated selection of products that the influencer recommends. The URL could be placed in the comments section of a YouTube video or in Instagram, for example, to reference the products mentioned.
Basically, it’s a more exclusive step up from Amazon Affiliate linking, and offers a better browsing experience. Amazon has not disclosed if influencers are receiving higher commissions than Affiliates, however.
For example, this popular YouTube channel,What’s Up Moms, aimed at moms mentions their new Amazon shop, which has the URL format: amazon.com/shop/username.
Clicking through, you’re redirected to a page featuring thumbnail images of the suggested products, their pricing, their Prime status, and a brief description.
“We are really excited to be a part of this new program,” said Liane Mullin, President and COO of WhatsUpMoms, when asked about their involvement. “As the #1 Parenting Network on YouTube, we are constantly asked by our community for product recommendations and about the products used in our videos. Now that we have our own Amazon store makes it much easier to have a curated collection all in one spot,” she added.
We understand that Amazon is in no way working with the influencers on product selection, vetting products, nor providing free products. Brands are also not working through Amazon to reach these influencers either. Instead, the selection of products – which can be anything sold on Amazon – are entirely the influencer’s choice.
Of course, influencers may have relationships with brands outside of this program, but Amazon does not get involved with that aspect of the influencer’s business.
The program only launched a couple of days ago, and is really meant as a test to see how customers will responded to curated pages of products, and what impact that will have on sales. At present, only a small group of influencers have joined.
Amazon declined to comment.
Featured Image: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Snapchat Adds More Accessible Search Feature
Snap Inc. said Friday that its Snapchat messaging app would add an option for users to search through photos and videos that users have posted to the public.
The move came days after larger rival Facebook Inc. stepped up efforts to encourage users to take more photos and edit them with digital stickers that show the influence of Snapchat.
Snapchat will enable users to search for photos and videos known as “Snaps” posted to the “Our Story” option on the app, by creating new “Stories” using machine learning technology, the company said in a blog post.
The “Our Story” option is derived from Snap’s widely copied “Stories” feature that is a slideshow of user content that disappears after 24 hours.
“Our Story” allows users to post their Snaps as part of a larger public collection, which users will be able to search through with the latest update.
For instance, users can use the search feature to find “Snaps” related to events such as local basketball games and topics such as puppies.
The search feature, which was rolled out in some cities Friday, is an addition to curated “Stories,” where public “Snaps” about major events like Wimbledon or the Coachella music festival already appear.
Snapchat popularized the sharing of digitally decorated photographs on social media, especially among teenagers, but faces intense competition from larger Facebook and Facebook-owned Instagram.
Users will now be able to search for over 1 million “Stories” on Snapchat, Snap said, making the app more accessible.
Snap’s shares were up 1.5 percent in afternoon trading, while Facebook’s stock was down marginally.
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Ukraine SM-N920C Nougat Official Firmware
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Ukraine SM-N920C Nougat Official Firmware
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Ukraine SM-N920C Nougat Official is one of the Mid-Level Mobiles of Samsung.It comes with the Marshmallow Version.Here we Provide the ROM of Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Ukraine SM-N920C Nougat Official.You can Easily root your mobile with computer.If you feel the Mobile is Junked with Unwanted Mobile Company applications.You can recover it By rooting.When rooting you can change your ROM.But normally You can delete some company applications and free your mobile memory and also you can increase your Phone memory.You can Free Your Mobile From lots of unwanted applications.For Making Root and other Operations You Should Install the USB Drivers For Your Mobile.Here We give the Download Link For the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Ukraine SM-N920C Nougat Official 7.0.
Alia Bhatt’s latest holiday pictures from London will gives you major vacation goal!
Alia Bhatt has been doing film after film and finally, has found a period for the much-needed break. After giving a smashing hit at the box-office in Shashank Khaitan’s ‘Badrinath Ki Dulhania’ co-starring Varun Dhawan, the actress flew down to United Kingdom with her girls gang.
She left for the Queen’s City right after the Hello! Magazine’s Hall of Fame Awards where she walked home with the ‘Outstanding Talent of the Year’ trophy.
“Alia had been planning a trip for a while. She has a few friends in London too. She will be staying there for a week, strolling around the city and shopping with her girl gang before she returns to the Bay,” informs a source close to the actress.
The 24-year-old actress keep updated her fans by posted some envy-worthy photos! Check out the pics here:
After the series of hits she has been delivering ever since she made her Bollywood debut, she barely had time to take a long vacation.
Alia Bhatt will start working on Ayan Mukerji‘s superhero flick “Dragon” alongside Ranbir Kapoor on September.
So she has about six months in hand, which, Alia claims, she’ll be using to learn new skills, crafts and more. During the game launch of the actress, she said so herself! “That’s right. My next, Ayan Mukerji’s Dragon starts in September. Until then, I am going to be bettering my craft, learning new skills, imbibing untried experiences,” said the diva.
Alia also has a bucketlist of things she wants to learn and do during this 6 months break. “I want to learn to play the piano. I want to learn Kathak, too.”
“I want to be more equipped as an actor. I realise acting is not just about what you do when you’re facing the camera. There’s a lot more thought that goes into it. I am trying to gather as many experiences as possible,” the actress added.
Good News For Jio Users: Reliance Jio Extends Prime Membership Registration Till…
Reliance Jio Infocomm on Friday said the deadline to buy Jio’s 303 (and other) plans had been extended till April 15 after the unprecedented rush to sign up for Jio Prime offer in just one month.
“Reliance Jio Infocomm announced today that in just one month, over 72 million Jio customers have signed up for Jio Prime, making it one of the most successful customer privilege programmes anywhere in the world,” the company said in a statement.
“Considering the unprecedented demand for enrolling to Jio Prime and doing the first recharge, Jio has extended the deadline for purchasing Jio’s Rs 303 (and other) plans till April 15. This extension will provide the necessary breathing room for users to avoid service disruption during the transition from free to paid services,” the statement added.
Jio also announced the Jio Summer Surprise for its Jio Prime members.
“Every Jio Prime member, when they make their first paid recharge prior to April 15 using Jio’s Rs 303 plan (or any higher value plan), will get services for the initial three months on a complimentary basis. The paid tariff plan will be applied only in July, after the expiry of the complimentary service,” the statement said.
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani in a letter to the Jio customers said: “I want to personally thank you for choosing Jio, and for being a founding member of the Jio movement. A movement to transform India. A movement to empower and enrich each one of you with the revolutionary power and possibilities of digital life.
“Over the past few days, we have been deluged by millions of customers queuing up to purchase Jio’s popular Rs 303 and other tariff plans. This nationwide trend indicates that very many customers are still in the process of purchasing Jio Prime and their first paid tariff plan.
“Jio has created the world’s largest greenfield 4G LTE wireless broadband network, with over 100,000 mobile towers. And we will add another 100,000 towers to our network in the coming months. This greenfield investment – of over Rs 200,000 crores – is the largest anywhere in the world,” Ambani said.
German law urges parents to rat out kids" illegal downloads
The precedent-setting decision by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) charged the parents of three children with a €3,500 fine after someone in the home illegally downloaded Rihanna’s 2010 album “Loud.” The father stated that Germany’s Basic Law protects family members from testifying against each other and refused to out which child did the deed. The court didn’t force him to reveal the perpetrator, but held him liable in their stead.
If parents refuse to name the guilty party, the decision establishes, whoever gets the bill for internet service is ultimately responsible to pay the fine. But nobody will be forced to “deliver their children at knifepoint,” state prosecutor Christian Rohnke reportedly said.
A Solution for the Uber CEO"s Anger Problem
Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has earned a reputation for having a short fuse. In addition to his apparent personal anger management issues, there are the stresses that come with running a giant company — and Uber recently has been losing executives. When it rains, it pours. What’s happening with Kalanick, and can Uber recover its mojo?
Many people have issues with anger, but few are in the spotlight. When you are in the spotlight, everyone pays attention. That’s especially so for people who have become successful and for those who are responsible for the well being of many others. For the very successful, it may seem as though everyone wants to take a shot. It may seem that everyone wants to bring you down.
That appears to be the case with Kalanick, but I have a different take. Cut Kalanick some slack, I say — he’s only human. Being CEO of one of the fastest-growing companies is a big accomplishment. Being able to build a company does not mean you can handle the pressure that comes with it. It’s a helluva challenge.
Stay Inside?
Most of us could not do it, but I’m not giving Kalanick a pass. Yelling at one of his drivers was bad behavior that displayed a lack of leadership skills. The thing is, I am sure Kalanick already knows that. Anger is an emotion, and too many people have less control over their emotions than they would like to have. Many know when they have crossed the line — but many others don’t.
Angry outbursts such as Kalanick’s often are illogical. Would you get angry at someone with a broken arm for failing to open a door? Still, everyone has emotional issues of one kind or another.
The solution for a high-profile CEO like Kalanick is either to learn how to improve in your problem areas, or find someone else to be Mr. Outside while you step into the shadows as Mr. Inside. Countless businesses have taken this approach for many different reasons, for many years.
Legendary Apple CEO Steve Jobs had a single-minded focus and short temper that rubbed many workers the wrong way. The founders of Home Depot didn’t have anger issues, but they still adopted a Mr. Outside and Mr. Inside strategy, and it worked for them.
The Right Stuff
Having problems doesn’t necessarily mean a person is evil. However, when powerful people have problems that can affect countless others — investors, workers or customers — finding a workable solution is critical.
For Kalanick, the solution could be to find a Mr. Outside who would allow him to fade into the quiet background as Mr. Inside. Of course, he would have to find the right Mr. Outside. Some choices are great — for example, Jeffrey Citron of Vonage very wisely brought in Marc Lefar. Some choices don’t work as well, though — for example, Apple’s board unwisely brought in John Sculley to replace Steve Jobs.
As individuals, these people all may be great, but finding the right person for the right position at the right time is often complicated. Still, it is vital for the health of the company, and for all the people involved with it, to get it right.
Thank You, Travis Kalanick
That’s where Uber finds itself today. It needs to find the right person for the Mr. Outside position so the company can continue to grow.
Pressure can make situations like this worse. Creative CEOs lean heavily on their emotional side, and when running a huge and rapidly growing company gets to be too much, they simply explode. This is simply evidence of their inability to control a growing business.
Could you do any better? I don’t know if I could. Kalanick is not a god — he is one of us. He is a human being with a short fuse. That’s it. No big deal. So now he needs to bring in a Mr. Outside. Let’s give him the chance to do that. Uber is a broken company, but it is still rapidly growing. It can be fixed, and it can then continue on its successful path.
Kalanick is not an evil person — he’s a human being, overwhelmed by the rapid growth of the company he created. We should have respect for his accomplishments, and give him some room to fix his problems.
It takes guts for an entrepreneur to start a groundbreaking company that will grow and reward countless people for many years to come. However, entrepreneurs are creative types — they’re idea people. They typically are not the best choices for the role of long-term CEO. It’s important to partner with others who enjoy taking on the operational role of running a company.
So, thank you Travis Kalanick for your bold, entrepreneurial vision and accomplishment. I look forward to following your growth and that of Uber into the next generation — perhaps with a new partner in the CEO slot. If you get fortunate and can find the right person early, your future may be brighter than ever. Things will get better when Uber finds the right CEO for its next chapter.
Jeff Kagan has been an ECT News Network columnist since 2010. His focus is on the wireless and telecom industries. He is an independent
analyst, consultant and speaker.
Email Jeff.
How Stories Search makes Snapchat a real-time YouTube
Snapchat is shifting from a social network limited to content shared by people you follow to an ephemeral, real-time database of what’s going on now everywhere. Today Snapchat launched Search for Stories submitted to its public Our Stories. It makes Snapchat as deep as whatever the world is sharing, creating near-infinite rabbit holes to go down, and a stronger competitor for YouTube and Twitter.
That aligns exactly with Snap IPO strategy following the slow-down of user growth after the removal of auto-advance and the launch of Instagram Stories and Facebook’s other competing clones: Snapchat wants to be where some people spend tons of engagement time, rather than where everyone spends a little time.
It also sees Snapchat break one of its cardinal rules. User-generated content is no longer limited to a lifespan of 24 hours. A Snapchat spokesperson confirms to TechCrunch that some Snaps submitted to Our Stories that appear in the new Search feature will be visible for less than a day to up to a few weeks or even months.
If content around a theme is being submitted more rapidly, what’s seen in Search results will turn over more quickly, while themes that only get submissions every few days may see Snaps stay visible for longer to make sure there’s something to watch for the theme.
How Snapchat Stories Search works
In January, Snapchat opened the ability to submit to Our Story from people in certain locations, like big events, or at certain times, like Christmas, to everyone everywhere all the time. But this meant it was pulling in way more content than its human curators could package into specific, widely visible Our Stories like ones for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or the NBA Finals.
Now, Snapchat is using algorithms to scan the caption text, time and visual elements found in Snaps submitted to Our Story and group them by theme. For example, it could pull out Snaps with the words “dog” or “puppy” in captions, or use machine vision to detect the shape of a real dog in the photos or videos, and aggregate them into an Our Story that comes up when people search for “Puppies.” Snap notes you could use this to watch a nearby basketball game, see what’s happening at a local bar, check out a specific Fashion Week runway show or explore a vacation spot. More than 1 million themes will have Search results available.
The rollout of the feature begins with people in select U.S. cities being able to search for public Our Stories, but everyone’s submissions are already being indexed. For now, no ads, sponsored lenses or sponsored geofilters will appear in the Search collections. That makes this a play for more engagement, not a new channel to drive more ad views.
Snaps submitted to Our Story can appear in Search results for up to months, rather than disappearing after 24 hours like usual
Why Search makes Snapchat endless
Previously, you could think of Snapchat like a television with the Stories of people you follow as different cable channels. Discover and Snapchat Shows were like HBO, offering extra premium content. All you could watch was what these channels aired. If you flipped through all the channels and still weren’t satisfied, you were out of luck.
Search is like having the world’s biggest Blockbuster video rental spot open up next door. Suddenly you can browse a near-endless array of content in all sorts of categories, from popular mainstream releases to weird niche foreign films. New films arrive faster than you can watch them, so there’s always something you haven’t seen available.
For the biggest Snapchat fans, this uncaps their potential engagement time. You can now do around-the-clock movie marathons.
Another analogy is to think of Search as turning Snapchat into the ephemeral, real-time YouTube built for mobile video creation. YouTube indexes the world’s online recorded video content with Google’s search prowess. But often there’s a delay of a few hours to days from when something is recorded to when people upload it. And since YouTube was originally built for the web, the clips are typically longer, from 30 seconds to a few minutes.
That norm subtly discourages short-form, mobile-shot, real-time, off-the-cuff content. And that leaves the door open for Snapchat and its new search feature. Instead of just relying on text descriptions and manually added tags, Snapchat is using machine vision to see what’s actually in content, then categorize and index it. Since it’s all mobile and people submit to Our Story as soon as they’ve shot something, plus it’s curated mostly by algorithms, content should be more quickly searchable.
And because Snaps disappear eventually, even if not just after 24 hours here, it encourages the submission and searchability of raw, unpolished, but still compelling content YouTube isn’t getting.
Finally, you could also see Stories Search as a competitor to Twitter. If you want to read what people are saying around a topic in real time, today you search Twitter. But now if you want to SEE what people are capturing with their cameras around a topic in real time, you can search Snapchat. The camera is the new keyboard, after all.
These ideas support the narrative Snap has been pitching to investors. It can’t sell itself on future user growth and eventual massive scale like Facebook since its growth plummeted late last year around when Instagram Stories launched. Instead, while it only has 158 million daily active users, it repeatedly highlighted that they spend 25-30 minutes a day in Snapchat on average. Search thereby fuels Snapchat’s best hope for growth, not in breadth of users but in the depth of their engagement.
If Snap can’t get everyone on earth using it because Facebook’s slew of Stories competitors steal the international markets and older demographics, then Snap must get the U.S. teens it already has addicted to stick around longer. Search is how.
Amy Jackson turns producer with a short film
Popular British model and film actress, Amy Jackson has turned producer for the first time. The actress will be producing a short film along with her friend. The film, which will be shot soon, is based on the cruelty done to animals, and seeks to create awareness on the same.
She even plans to launch the film on social media and thereafter send it to film festivals.
The actress has had a history of supporting animal-related causes, even appearing in an ad campaign that encourages people to adopt strays and not buy them.
Talking about it, Amy added, “We will shoot for the film soon. I will also be a part of it, though I won’t act in the film. I will be speaking about my experience of making the movie. It will have a few real stories. I believe that cruelty to animals is a serious issue and it’s important that it’s discussed more.”
Amy shares a ‘life-changing’ article that made her aware about cruelty towards animals. “A 5-year-old female cross-breed dog in Malta named Star made international headlines in 2011. She had been found by Animal Welfare Department officers, shot at point-blank range and buried alive after being covered with cardboard and a tree trunk. She died later.” The actress felt strongly about the incident and decided to do something about it with the short film.
On the film front, Amy Jackson is gearing up for one of the most anticipated releases of the year, ‘2.0′ which stars Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar in lead roles. The film, which is a sequel to ‘Robot’, and all set to release on Oct 28, the day of Diwali.
Oculus Co-founder Palmer Luckey Leaves Facebook
NEW YORK —
Palmer Luckey, the co-founder of Facebook’s Oculus virtual-reality business, is leaving the company.
Facebook didn’t give a reason for Luckey’s departure. His last day is Friday.
Luckey, who is 24, is leaving Facebook in the heels of controversies. Earlier this year, a federal jury found that Oculus, Luckey and co-founder Brendan Iribe violating the intellectual property rights of video-game maker ZeniMax Media. The jury awarded $500 million in damages, including $50 million from Luckey.
Luckey was also criticized for a donation of $10,000 to a pro-Donald Trump group called Nimble America, which created offensive memes online during the 2016 election season.
Facebook bought Oculus in 2014 for $2 billion. Oculus makes the stand-alone Rift virtual-reality headset along with the Gear VR headset for Samsung.
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Kazakhstan SM-N920C Nougat Official Firmware
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Kazakhstan SM-N920C Nougat Official Firmware
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Kazakhstan SM-N920C Nougat Official is one of the Mid-Level Mobiles of Samsung.It comes with the Marshmallow Version.Here we Provide the ROM of Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Kazakhstan SM-N920C Nougat Official.You can Easily root your mobile with computer.If you feel the Mobile is Junked with Unwanted Mobile Company applications.You can recover it By rooting.When rooting you can change your ROM.But normally You can delete some company applications and free your mobile memory and also you can increase your Phone memory.You can Free Your Mobile From lots of unwanted applications.For Making Root and other Operations You Should Install the USB Drivers For Your Mobile.Here We give the Download Link For the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Kazakhstan SM-N920C Nougat Official 7.0.
Here are some unseen pictures of Arbaaz Khan’s Romanian girlfriend Alexandra
Actor Arbaaz Khan and Malaika Arora decided to part ways following a long-drawn-out-separation. If reports are to go by, the Bollywood couple had also filed for divorce in November, 2016. In one of his recent interviews, the “Dabangg 2″ director shocked every one.
Well, now the man recently admitted to be dating a Romanian girl called Alexandria.
Arbaaz told DNA, “I feel, if we had to get more time, we would have got back by now. The fact that we haven’t, means it is not meant to be.”
Well, we found some photos of this beauty. Check out here:
Khan also talked about his personal life and admitted to the fact that he’s dating, but it wasn’t the restaurateur Yellow in Goa. He told “I am dating, yes… As of now, there is still a long way to go.”
When asked if she is Romanian, he said, “No, that’s another girl — Alexandria. That’s my friend. I am dating, yes. But we are not… As of now, there is still a long way to go.”
Netflix nabs "Archer" team for its first animated feature
Netflix is making its animated feature film debut with the grandly titled America: The Motion Picture. According to Deadline, the original movie is an R-rated, comedic take on the founding of our country. The production team is stellar and will be led by Archer‘s Matt Thompson (who will direct) and Adam Reed. The Expendables’ Dave Callaham will write the script, and the team behind The LEGO Movie, (including Phil Lord, Chris Miller and Will Allegra) will also contribute. Channing Tatum gets a producer credit as well, and is on tap to voice George Washington in the film.
Sara Ali Khan to have 3 bikini scenes in ‘Student Of The Year 2’
Saif Ali Khan’s daughter, Sara Ali Khan is all set for her grand debut – Karan Johar’s Student Of The Year 2 and according to the latest reports the leggy lass will be seen sporting a bikini for the film.
According to source of bollywoodlife.com, “Sara will be wearing three different bikinis in the film. She will have to look smouldering and it will be organic to the film.”
According to the portal, “One of the shots will be a trademark Dharma scene where the actress walks out of water in her two-piece. The second is supposedly a scorching hot lovemaking scene between Sara and her hero, Tiger. And the third if true might be the most talked about one if it indeed makes to the movie’s final cut – a bikini face-off between Sara and Disha.”
On a related note, Sara’a dad, Saif is quite happy that Karan is launching his daughter. Recently, in an interview, Saif had mentioned, “I am very happy she is working with Karan Johar because I think he is brilliant with newcomers and he will launch her correctly.” “He is a very intelligent and a passionate filmmaker and he understands films. I am very pleased that she is with him.”
Twitter is getting rid of the egg avatar because that will totally fix the abuse problem
Everyone knows that Twitter has a harassment problem. And while the service has tried things like banning abusive users (both on a temporary and permanent basis) it hasn’t really fixed the problem.
But Twitter now thinks it has a real solution. Cracking the egg.
In a long-winded post the service announced they are replacing the default egg with a unisex profile picture resembling a head and shoulders silhouette.
Beginning in 2010 all new accounts started with their default profile picture as an egg. Since then it has become a integral part of the Twitter brand. Everyone, even non-hardcore Twitter users, know the egg. Even CNN frequently features the egg when they show tweets from politicians and other celebrities.
Twitter gave a bunch of reasons for the switch. Some, like the fact that a more generic profile picture should encourage new users to actually upload a real profile picture of themselves, make sense.
But Twitter also said that they were switching up default profile pictures in an effort to combat harassment. Specifically they think that since abusive accounts often have the egg as a profile picture, there is now “an association between the default egg profile photo and negative behavior”.
Gee, ya think?
What Twitter isn’t understanding is that abusive tweets sent from an egg account will now just be abusive tweets sent from a silhouette account. Switching up the profile picture may be putting a bandaid on the problem, but it does nothing to fix harassment in the long run.
A abusive tweet is a abusive tweet whether it’s next to an egg, a silhouette or a real person’s avatar.
Plus, as a byproduct Twitter is killing off yet another part of Twitter’s unique internal language and identity – just like they did with @replies and favorites.
Don’t blame the egg, just fix the problem.
The best portable document scanner
Who this is for
The reason for buying a portable document scanner is fairly straightforward. If you have stacks of documents and receipts filling up filing cabinets or cluttering your desk, converting them to digital documents not only frees up physical space, it makes your information much easier to find. On both Windows computers and Macs you can do word searches that include the contents of searchable PDF files, instead of having to recall a PDF’s obscure filename.
Search capability aside, another benefit of digitizing your documents is simply that they won’t get lost or inadvertently thrown away in a flurry of spring cleaning. Warranties and receipts for appliances can be crucial if they ever need to be repaired. And remember that the IRS requires you to keep tax records for a full seven years after the filing date.
Even if you start out with a big backlog of documents to scan, chances are you won’t always need to scan on a daily basis. What makes portable scanners attractive is that they’re designed to fold down into an even more compact form when not in use.
How we picked and tested
Our latest round of scanner testing included the Epson ES-300W, ES-200, FastFoto FF-640, and Fujitsu S1300i. Photo: Amadou Diallo
The must-have feature of any document scanner is the ability to save scans as searchable PDFs. To do this, scanners rely on OCR software to “read” the document and convert its text so you can search and copy/paste just as you would with any other PDF file. Whether the scanner maker uses its own OCR engine or licenses one from a third party, a high accuracy rate is crucial. Speed is also important so you can quickly process your documents. And unless you’ll use a scanner every day, it’s nice to have a unit that folds down into a more compact form when not in use.
After searching sites of major retailers, we found over 100 scanners. We winnowed this list by eliminating bulky desktop models, simplex scanners, those without an automatic document feeder, and models that work only on Windows machines. You can read more about what we tested and what didn’t make the cut in our full guide.
For our in-house comparisons we focused on text accuracy, speed, and software usability. We ran dozens of test pages, business documents, tax forms, receipts, business cards, and photographs through the scanners to see how they measured up. For our full testing procedures, see our full guide.
Our pick
Photo: Michael Hession
The Epson ES-300W offers just about everything we could want in a portable document scanner, making it an easy recommendation as the best choice for digitizing your analog paper trail. In our tests it (along with its sister model, the ES-200) delivered the fastest scans we’ve seen from a portable unit, with flawless text recognition with fonts as small as 6 points when using the bundled ABBYY software. Scan speeds were virtually identical under both USB and AC power, making the included power brick largely unnecessary unless you have an older laptop fitted with USB 2 ports (USB 3 is required for supplying power). Even more impressively, there was no speed penalty when scanning over Wi-Fi versus a USB connection on computers, phones, and tablets (paired with a free iOS or Android app). This makes it more future-proof as mobile-only workflows gain popularity, and as computer makers transition from USB 3 to USB-C while reducing the overall quantity and variety of ports in general. The Wi-Fi connection worked without any issues, save an installation snafu we talk about in our full guide. The ES-300W isn’t the lightest portable unit we tested (due to its battery) but is still small enough to easily fit in a shoulder bag or carry-on.
Runner-up
Photo: Michael Hession
If you’re always able to connect to a computer via USB, Wi-Fi and battery power will be of little use. If that’s the case, you can save yourself about $50 (at the time of this writing) and buy the Epson ES-200. It lacks a battery and Wi-Fi, but is otherwise identical in both features and performance to our top pick. The units are so similar that they even share the same user manual. The ES-200’s lack of a battery does make it lighter by half a pound and shorter by half an inch than our top pick, a consideration if packable size is your number-one priority.
For photo scanning
Photo: Michael Hession
If you’re looking for a document scanner that can also accept photos without bending and crumpling them while scanning, we recommend the Epson FastFoto FF-640. In addition to being a competent document scanner, it can accurately scan photos without damaging them thanks to a reconfigured scan head and roller design that doesn’t bend documents as they pass through the scanner. With a maximum resolution of 600 dpi, it can convert a 4-by-6 photograph into a roughly 8.5-megapixel JPEG in 3 to 4 seconds. It’s a welcome alternative if you have shoeboxes of family photos taking up space in your closet or collecting dust under your bed and you don’t want to send them out to be scanned professionally. However, it costs more and is significantly larger than any document-only portable scanner.
This guide may have been updated by The Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.
Note from The Wirecutter: When readers choose to buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn affiliate commissions that support our work.
A quick look at the Apple TV 3rd Generation
If you have the Apple TV 3rd generation, then you know that this is in fact a very impressive streaming device. On the other hand, the competition right now is fiercer than ever. There are many other similar devices that you can use to stream your favorite movies and TV shows. The Apple TV’s Full HD playback is indeed nice, yet in terms of the content and features you can access with it, it leaves a lot to be desired. However, if you own an iPod Touch, an iPhone or maybe an iPad, then the Apple TV may soon become an essential part of your Apple ecosystem. In the apple tv 3rd generation review below we’ll try to fill you in on everything you need to know about it prior to purchasing it.
Build quality, hardware, size, and price
Even though it’s a few years old, no one can deny that the apple tv 3rd gen looks amazing. It measures 23 millimeters in height, and 100 millimeters square. In fact, it’s has such a small form factor that you can easily place it on your TV without worrying about it taking too much space. If you check the back of the device, you’ll notice there are several ports. These include optical S/PDIF, HDMI, Ethernet (10/100 Megabits), and a micro USB port. However, according to Apple, this port is for diagnostics only.
The Apple TV also features a dual band 802.11n Wi-Fi, meaning that it can effectively connect to 2.4 GHz and also 5GHz networks. If you’re curious about the apple tv 3rd generation price, you can currently get it for as little as $59. The apple tv 3rd generation Amazon may be cheaper, so be sure to check its price on Amazon as well.
Setup and control
You can easily control the Apple TV via its sleek and small, yet very thin aluminum remote. Even better, the remote is very simple to use, features a central Select button, but also a 4 way cursor pad that you can use to navigate through menus.
It’s possible to also use the Remote application for your iPad or iPhone. With it, you can control your Apple TV from your tablet or phone. What’s great about the app is that you don’t require line of sight, since it works over Wi-Fi.
To set up the Apple TV, you just have to plug in the soft-touch power cable and then hook it up to the HDMI port of your TV. Keep in mind that Apple doesn’t provide an HDMI cable, so you should get one separately. Next, all you have to do is enter your Apple ID and password. Once you do that you’ll be taken to the home screen.
Interface
What many will love about the Apple TV is the fact it has one of the simplest interfaces you’ll ever find on a media streamer. The icons on the home screen are large, therefore easy to navigate through. It’s important to mention that the top row is dedicated to Apple Services. You cannot delete them, but you can reorder them. The Apple TV runs on TVOS which works very smoothly. Even though it’s a bit old, the Apple TV 3rd gen has hands down one of the best operating systems ever put in a streaming device.
Content and AirPlay
The reason why people get an Apple TV is to consume content and there are many ways for them to do that. You can use apps, but you can also use AirPlay. AirPlay allows you to beam content from your Mac, tablet or smartphone to your Apple TV. This means that almost any content you can watch on your smartphone can also be beamed to your Apple TV.
If you want, you can also use AirPlay’s Mirroring function. As the name suggests, you’ll be able to send what you see on your laptop, tablet or smartphone to your TV. This can be very useful if you want to watch a movie with your friends or someone else.
Apple movies and TV
One of the best things about the Apple TV is that you can rent and also purchase TV shows and HD movies from Apple’s collection. In fact, Apple has the second largest collection of content (Sky Now ranks first) you can choose from, so no matter what TV show or movie you want to see, there’s a good chance Apple has it.
If you want, then you can also watch content you purchased from another device. Dolby Digital surround tracks are also supported by Apple (where available). Therefore, if you’re into surround sound, then just plug your Apple TV into an audio video receiver and enjoy it! One thing to bear in mind when purchasing live shows from Apple is that its version is usually a day behind the live broadcast.
Photos and iCloud
With photographs from your Mac, iPad, and iPhone going into iCloud, you can easily view them on your Apple TV at any given time. Not only that, but all the content you uploaded, such as your shared streams, photo stream, movies, etc can be accessed from the interface. Based on your internet connection, the content can be viewed pretty fast.
You may also have photographs that have yet to be uploaded to iCloud. If that’s the case, then you can use AirPlay to view on them your Apple TV.
Apple music
By using the music app, you can easily browse through the music store to play any songs that you may have purchased. If you have an iTunes Match subscription, then the songs you ripped from CDs are also made available.
Summary
If you’re the type who wants to have access to all his favorite TV shows and movies at any given them, time you certainly need to buy apple tv 3rd generation. Its impressively simple interface, great functionality, amazing build quality, but also low price make it a solid choice for anybody looking for an affordable, yet top quality streaming device.
Root Moto G4 Plus US XT1644 Nougat Install TWRP Recovery
Root Moto G4 Plus US XT1644 Nougat Install TWRP Recovery
Root Moto G4 Plus US XT1644 Nougat was Released in March 2017.It comes with Marshmallow Version.It is planned to Update Nougat.You can Update Your Mobile to Marshmallow by your Software update.If you feel the Mobile is Junked with Unwanted Mobile Company applications.You can recover it By rooting.When rooting you can change your ROM.But normally You can delete some company applications and free your mobile memory and also you can increase your Phone memory.You can Easily root your mobile with computer.You can Free Your Mobile From lots of unwanted applications.
About
| Name | Flash using cmd. |
| Warranty | Voids Warranty. |
| Stability | Stable without any issues. |
| Suggestion | Prefer Laptop. |
Supporting Versions
- Moto G4 Plus US XT1644 Nougat.
Note
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Apple unveils App Accelerator for developers in Bengaluru
Bengaluru: Giving its India growth strategy a fresh impetus, Apple on Friday announced the opening of its App Accelerator in Bengaluru that will provide specialised support for developers to build tools for the iOS platform.
Each week, Apple’s team will guide developers to design best practices and refine their skills to create iOS apps.
“We are impressed by the great entrepreneurial spirit in India and are excited to provide a platform for these developers to share their innovations with customers around the world,” said Philip Schiller, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Apple, in a statement.
The announcement came at a time when Apple app developers earned over $20 billion in 2016 — up over 40 per cent from 2015 and several of those talented minds were from India.
According to an Apple India spokesperson, app developers from India are now creating amazing apps for its platform. “There are several app developers from India who are now part of the growing innovative community globally,” the spokesperson had told IANS earlier.
The App Accelerator is now open to iOS developers in India through a sign-up process on the App Accelerator Bengaluru website.
“In just the first few weeks, we’ve already seen some incredible developers here at the App Accelerator Bengaluru, including Practo and Reliance Games, create innovative apps that can meet the needs of customers in India and around the world,” added Schiller.
The first-of-its-kind facility will also provide support and guidance on Swift, Apple’s powerful and intuitive programming language created to build apps for iOS, Apple TV and Apple Watch.
Swift enables developers to write safer, more reliable code, save time and create richer app experiences.
“Apple’s commitment to the developer community through the opening of the App Accelerator is a tremendous investment in the future of India’s digital economy,” said Nasscom President R. Chandrashekhar.
The App Accelerator Bengaluru features Apple Technology Evangelistsa who will provide specialised briefings for over 500 developers every week.
They will also offer detailed app analysis feedback for developers as they work to enhance their apps.
“The Accelerator has really helped us make the best use of iOS technologies to rapidly digitise and improve the healthcare experience for millions of consumers in India,” said Shashank ND, Founder & CEO of Practo.
Apple last year revealed plans for an iOS app design and development facility in Bengaluru.
Across India, Apple supports over 640,000 iOS app developer jobs and other positions related to the iOS ecosystem.
According to the company, purchases from the App Store topped $3 billion in December globally.
Available in 155 countries, the App Store offers 2.2 million apps in total, up over 20 per cent from last year.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, Apple will also begin assembling iPhone 6 and 6S models in Bengaluru in the next two months.
“Yeh Rishta..” actor Amit Dolawat enjoying honeymoon with wife Cheshta in Thailand
TV actor Amit Dolawat who recently got married to his longtime girlfriend Cheshta Sharma on 14th February recently enjoyed their honeymoon in Thailand.
Cheshta posted some of the vacation pictures on social media in which the couple is seen enjoying at beach.
It was a traditional wedding with family and close friends. Actor had a grand valentine’s day wedding.
The actor is best remembered for his role of Himanshu Dubey in ‘Diya Aur Baati Hum’ starring Deepika Singh & Anas Rashid in lead roles.
Amit met Cheshta on a flight where she was an air hostess. After three years of dating, the couple will get married on February 14, 2017.
The newlywed couple is absolutely enjoying the marital bliss.
Facebook tests a second News Feed headed by a rocket ship icon
Facebook’s launch of Stories may be the social network’s big news of the week, but some Facebook users have spotted another addition, and are thoroughly confused. A “rocket ship” icon has popped up in the app of select users worldwide, adjacent to the News Feed button. Its appearance is prompting a lot of users to wonder, “what on earth is this thing?”
The button may be either at the top of the screen or the bottom, depending on whether the user is on iOS or Android.
As it turns out, the rocket ship icon is just the latest in Facebook’s ongoing experiments in presenting an alternate News Feed to users – one that consists of posts, articles, photos and videos from sources you haven’t followed, like Facebook Pages or posts news media organizations, for example.
While you might not be actively tracking these sources, Facebook believes it’s content that you’ll like. The items displayed in the “rocket ship” feed come from Pages that are similar to those you’ve already liked, as well as those that are popular with your friends – like a video that many people in your network are watching, for instance.
This is not a new experiment – Facebook was recently spotted testing an alternative News Feed, but was using a different icon (a small square) at the time. That test was also limited to Android beta users, according to reports. A similar earlier test on iOS actually labeled the second feed with the word “Explore.”
The new experiment with the rocket ship, however, is appearing in the mobile version of Facebook across both iOS and Android platforms, including those who have not opted into a beta.
Despite Facebook’s advanced algorithms designed to keep users engaged and endlessly scrolling – and its understanding of what a user has liked, watched, and clicked – the company has not heavily focused its efforts on helping users connect more broadly with interests through recommended content. Instead, today’s News Feed is filled with content a user has explicitly liked, whether that’s friends’ posts or updates from Pages users are following.
But Facebook has always wanted to have a better angle into people’s interests – especially as other networks (like Twitter) have made it easier to follow news and topics, and not just people, brands, and businesses.
In 2012, Facebook introduced “interests lists” to organize its News Feed by topic, but this never saw mainstream adoption. In 2014, the social network experimented again with interests, via its mobile app Rooms, which offered users a means of discussing various topics. But that app eventually failed.
An alternative News Feed-like stream of information could be another way of tackling interests, but popping it into the app without an explanation is clearly confusing to those who have new feature.
The expanded test is underway now in markets worldwide, we understand. The rocket ship icon itself is fairly new, based on a number of tweets most of which were either posted this month or the last.
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the global test in a statement, saying “We are testing a complementary feed of popular articles, videos, and photos, customized for each person based on content that might be interesting to them. We’ve heard from people that they want an easy way to explore new content they haven’t connected with yet.”