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Annasha

Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more

Esports

Esports streaming will help change the mindset of people towards gaming.

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In India, when it comes down to action and strategy-based competitive gaming, the current generation has a huge potential. But somewhere the amount of infrastructure for esports or hype for taking it as a career lacks the stigma and hence continues to struggle. Though the amount of gaming expertise is increasing in India along with many new esports startups emerging, Indian esports has a great potential that is not yet unleashed. With the Asian Video Games 2022 around the corner, the preparation for participation or excitement as an audience accelerates with time.

Addressing the culture of esports in India, Akshat Rathee, cofounder of Nodwin Gaming speaks about esports and how streaming video games is more than just delivering content to the audience. Breaking the orthodox belief, many Indian gamers have been successful in choosing their career in esports. But, even today, esports or video gaming is considered not more than recreation by most Indians. Rathee’s main message to the Indians is esports is more than just a source for recreation and through esports streaming, the mentality of common people can be moulded and more Indians will be able to take it up as a career.

Esports streaming as a career

Rathee gives a very strong and impactful explanation of how the mentality of Indian people towards sports has changed with time. He says, before 1983, the hype for cricket was not as much as we witness now. The love for cricket and an enormous follower base started building up after Indian won the World Cup in 1983. So, once a sport that wasn’t even a topic of discussion in most Indian households now sends their kids for cricket coaching. And, the most significant reason for this change in perception is the victory of 1983. Because it gave people evidence to believe that investing in sports might bear a fruitful result.

Esports
Image Source: indianexpress.com

Rathee says, “With greatness and nice performances which might be publicly obtainable, comes the need for glory and legitimacy. ” It’s not just cricket that has become very popular in India, but after Viswanathan Anand became a famous Chess player and won several tournaments representing India, the followers kept increasing. This is how Rathee explains the importance of streaming as esports is no different from cricket, tennis, or chase. Indian will be waiting for the video game records in Asian Video Games 2022 and some of the esports titles that are most likely to be added are Counter-Strike: International Offensive, DOTA 2, etc.

Esports is more than Asian Video Games

While India bagged a bronze medal in Asian Video Games 2018 in esports, the participation is predicted to increase by several folds this year. As Rathee said, a sign of triumph escalates the enthusiasm among people. But, the interest in Asian Video Games 2022 doesn’t account for how many Indians are exactly inclined towards esports. There are many video gaming opportunities that are eventually opening up for potential Indian gamers who could play at a professional level. But, there should be overwhelming participation in esports like we observe in cricket or football.

A few days ago, ASUS announced the ROG Academy Programme to bring out the best of Indian video gamers and train them at a professional level. Many similar initiatives are taken by many other companies out there to improve the gaming culture in Indian and put it out there that it can be chosen as a valid profession. There are many great Indian gamers who with proper training and infrastructure can give a tough competition worldwide especially in tournaments of CS: GO, Valorant, PUBG, etc.

Streaming as a profession

Streaming enables a content producer to deliver quality content to the audience. In India, gaming content that reaches out to common people is negligible. Two reasons for this is there aren’t many streaming companies in India (recently a few startups have been established) and even today most Indian people have not accepted gaming as a profession.

When PUBG wasn’t banned in India, many famous streamers like Mortal and Dynamo Gaming had huge popularity in India. But, when speaking of esports, it is more than just playing PUBG. So, the overall esports culture has to be uplifted so that apart from avid gamers, esports content reaches out to the general public.

Foxconn

Foxconn expects ‘Limited Impact’ on Apple due to global chip shortage.

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The pandemic has taken a toll on every possible industry one can think of in the last year. There was a shortage of supply, hindrance in production, unavailable transportation, and several more obstacles in any business. One latest concern in the tech industry is regarding the shortage of chips that is creating a major disturbance in the semiconductor industry. The chip shortage has affected both the automotive and semiconductor industry on a global scale.

But, in response to the chip crisis situation, Foxconn mentioned last weekend that there will be “limited impact” on the company and its clients. Speaking of clients, Apple is one of the major clients of Foxconn, and since the clients are massive tech giants they always have a Plan B. With the advent of 2021, the pandemic though prevailing is easing, and Liu Young-way, chairman of the manufacturing conglomerate formally known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd said that they expected the company to do better in the first half of 2021 (Gadgets 360).

Foxconn Global chip shortage

The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 created havoc across the globe. Though many small businesses were forced to shut down, the market for electronics boomed. During the lockdown, demand for laptops and gaming consoles increased unexpectedly as people were getting more inclined towards enjoying and working from the confinement of home. In the beginning, we didn’t have any choice but now people are adapting to this lifestyle. So, demand for good electronics, especially laptops, smartphones, and good connectivity are not going down anytime soon.

Foxconn
Image Source: scmp.com

Due to this sudden escalation in demand for electronics, chip-making companies faced some difficulties in manufacturing and constant supply. So, the chip manufacturers have to reallocate their supply for the tech industry and away from the automotive sector. A sudden shift in supply from one sector to another was going to create a shortage in the automobile industry. But, it was not possible for the chip manufacturers to meet the demand in both sectors simultaneously amidst the pandemic.

Chip shortage in many sectors

The chip shortage caused many big automobile brands like Volkswagen AG, General Motors Co, and Ford Motors Co to cut their output capacity. Because without the chips, the final model won’t be ready for sale. The chip shortage affected the automotive industry with a huge jolt but eventually, the crisis had its impact on the smartphone sector. In the smartphone industry, the companies faced a shortage in application processors, display driver chips, power management chips, etc. But, the common people didn’t face the impact of this smartphone sector crisis in a great amount.

Amidst the crisis, chip manufacturers are likely to prioritize the biggest customers. Hence, it can be predicted that Apple is going to suffer the minimal impact of the chip crisis scenario. Foxconn’s biggest customer is Apple and it also has another advantage due to its large size hence a global presence. Though big companies have also faced crises during the beginning of the pandemic, they absorbed the shock much more efficiently than the smaller businesses.

Other interest of Foxconn

Though Apple is Foxconn’s biggest priority currently, the company is still looking out for growth opportunities in other sectors. Foxconn is showing its current interest in electric vehicles (EV) and Liu has further mentioned that their EV platform (MIH EV Open Platform) currently has around 736 partner companies participating from around the globe. The company is extensively working on this area and Liu believes that two or three models for presentation will be ready by the end of the fourth quarter. But, he has also mentioned that EV’s contribution to the company won’t be significant before the next couple of years.

For contributing significantly in the area of EV, last month Foxconn and Zhejiang Geely Holding Group came into a joint partnership which will provide contract manufacturing for automakers. This new venture is shared equally between the two companies who will also provide consultancy service for EV technologies. Apple is also planning to launch self-driving cars by 2024.

Every company is trying to evolve and keep up with the evolution in technology. But. among all these giant businesses, Tesla is the one that is way ahead of all its rivals.

Apple Platform Security Guide

Apple Platform Security Guide updated highlighting changes that came up with the M1 chip

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On 19th February 2021, Apple updated the company’s Platform Security Guide highlighting all the new changes that have been implemented to iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Apple has updated the Platform Security Guide in a detailed fashion mentioning every detail about all the features used by Apple to protect user data. Apple has tried to increase the transparency between the company and the users so that they have an idea about how their devices and data are kept protected across any platform.

The new Platform Security Guide is the lengthiest guide of the company ever consisting of a 200-page detailed guide and information. But, the most highlighted information in the guide is about the M1 chip and all the new updates regarding security changes due to the same. Apple released the M1 chip last year and has also changed some security features accordingly.

Apple Platform Security Guide

After Apple released the last update of Platform Security Guide, it took the company ten long months to release the recent version. The main gadgets that have been focused on in this updated guide are iOS 14.3, iPad 14.3, macOS Big Sur 11.1, tvOS 14.3, and watchOS 7.2 (Gadgets 360). In the new Platform Security Guide, Apple has mainly focused on the security changes of Mac users through the new Apple M1 chip. There are eleven new topics regarding security changes and features that have introduced in the new guide.

Apple Platform Security Guide
Image Source: macrumors.com

According to the updated guide, there are security elements that will be able to provide the new Mac machines with a secure boot process. The Apple computers that are based on the new M1 silicon chip can enable kernel extensions in the devices. And, the authorization requirements for enabling this extension are also mentioned in the security guide.

In spite of the 200-page security guide mostly concerning the new M1 chip-enabled devices, Patrick Wardle, a security researcher has mentioned that M1-enabled Apple devices are still not fully secured. But, with software updates, the issues will be fixed in near future.

Security changes in iPhone and iPad

Apart from the changes that are followed by Apple’s M1 chip, the security guide also mentions the security changes for iPad and iPhone through the iOS14 updates. One of the most important iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 updates includes the iBoot implementation which is exclusively for the iPhones that are based on Apple A13 Bionic and above. In the case of iPads, the update is for the iPads fueled by Apple A14 Bionic chips. Apple has also updated the overall user experience by updating the silicon in iPad, iPhone, and Mac to T2 chip and AES hardware engine. This was incorporated to implement line-speed encryption.

Biometric Security System

Along with these updates, Apple has also included a set of changes for both its hardware and software division for the not-so-knew devices to uplift their security. One of the biggest changes that Apple has brought in its devices is face recognition and touch recognition adding an extra layer of security. Biometric security is becoming very popular recently and almost implemented in every smart device for the protection of data and devices. The conventional password protection is present along with that biometrics are added for a better user experience.

The previous reports have shown that around 51 percent of the total Apple users don’t prefer setting a password for their devices, because it takes too much effort to set a passcode and type it every time you unlock the device. So, even when there is a choice to provide security, many people choose not to set a passcode only because they have to give extra effort. But, after Apple introduced the Touch ID and Face ID, around 92 percent of Apple users switched to biometric authentication.

Every company strives to strengthen its security to the topmost level but glitches are found sooner or later. Many researchers often find bugs in the Apple security system and the company has even faced lawsuits due to this. Apple has also faced lawsuits due to copyright infringements in the anime of enhancing security systems. But, with the new updates, maybe the bugs will reduce and the overall user experience will improve.

Perseverance Rover

‘Seven Minutes of Terror’ faced by NASA Perseverance Rover before landing on Mars

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Scientists hold their breaths as NASA’s Perseverance Rover enters into the thin Martian atmosphere and faced ‘seven minutes of terror’ before landing. NASA’s Mars Rover Perseverance is a robotic astrobiology lab that is designed and fit inside a space capsule. The rover was in its seven-month-long journey from Earth and it is about to land on the Martian land surface this week. The Perseverance rover is expected to emit a radio alert as it enters the atmosphere of Mars.

The signal transmitted by the rover is received at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) situated near Los Angeles. This signal will travel more than 200 million km and by the time the managers in the laboratory are able to receive it, the rover is expected to land on Mars’ surface. The expected time between entering the Martian atmosphere and landing on the surface is seven minutes whereas the radio signal transmission time to Earth is more than eleven minutes. The rover’s final descent started on Thursday and the JPL engineers have their fingers crossed for a safe landing.

JPL descent and landing team

The Mars perseverance rover mission is worth $2.7billion (approximately). Al Chen, head of the JPL descent and landing team mentioned that the safe landing part is the most difficult and dangerous part of the mission. Chen also mentioned that in such missions ‘success is never assured’ as this time the team tried to land the most complicated and heavy rover they have ever built on a landing site that they never attempted before. If the landing is successful, this mission will open many doors for the scientist to know and explore if life ever existed beyond Earth.

This mission if successful will be followed by more human missions on Martian land. But, before all the discoveries and research, a safe landing is the biggest priority. The rover is six-wheel heavy machinery that will land with the help of a giant parachute (supersonic) followed by deployment of a jet-powered sky crane. The main function of the sky crane is to successfully land the rover on the target spot safely and it will also hover over the surface while descending the rover to the surface on a tether. (Gadgets 360) Al Chen also mentioned that the perseverance rover has to do this all on her own and the team cannot be of any help at this stage.

Perseverance Rover
Image Source: tribune.com.pk

If the mission is successful, the JPL team is expected to receive a signal before 1PM (Pacific time) confirming the safe landing on the Martian soil.

More about the mission

The Mars Perseverance Rover has embarked on a two-year mission from Earth and its main objective is to search for evidence for microbial life that might have flourished on the planet billions of years ago. To do this job, the rover will engage a complex suit of instruments that will search for signs. There will be drilling operations on the rocks of Mars which will be sealed in tubes to further bring back to Earth and carry out research. This will become the first such specimen to be collected by humankind from another planet. (Reuters) The landing site of the rover is on Jerezo Crater, a 28-mile wide space on the land which is expected to be rich in fossils of microorganisms.

Objectives of the mission

NASA is planning another two such missions whose only objective will be to bring back those samples from Mars. The rover also has a small drone helicopter that will test surface-to-surface powered flight on another world for the first time. (Gadgets 360) Another objective is to extract pure oxygen and carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere which will be evidence that future human survival is possible on Mars. The scientists are mostly looking for organic molecules which will be proof that microorganisms did survive in the Martian atmosphere.

For the production of oxygen missions, the space agency will deploy an instrument that will produce 10 grams of oxygen an hour using the electrolysis process. Since the mission started amid the pandemic due to COVID 19, there will be much fewer people in the control room. The mission’s deputy project manager also mentioned that COVID-19 cannot stop them from carrying out such big research and setting out for more such missions.

Google Seven West Media deal

Google strikes deal with the Australian media company, Seven West Media amid content payment row

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The Australian government has been pushing the enforcement of a law to compensate local news media companies in the country. Amidst the tension between the government and tech giants like Google, Seven West Media became the first Australian company to land a deal with Google. The exact monetary value of this inked deal was not revealed but some sources from Seven West Media said that the deal is worth more than $30 million a year for the media company (The Sydney Morning Herald).

Seven West Media revealed this news on 15th February 2021 and it also mentioned that the company will provide content to Google for the Google News Showcase product. The news Showcase product of Google has been launched recently and the company is paying the local publishers for “certain behind-the-paywall articles” that will go up in this new product. The media company has also mentioned that the deal is a “long-term partnership” with Google but was vague with the exact numbers.

New law enforcement caused tension in January 2021

Last month, tension rose between the tech giant Google and the Australian government as the latter announced the enforcement of a new law. According to this new law which is called the News Media Bargaining Code, tech giants like Google and Facebook have to pay the small news publishers and media companies for content. In response to this new law, Google commented that if this law is enforced then the people of Australia will get barred from receiving quality news in Google.

The response of Google was not taken very politely by the Australian government, as in response to that comment, the Australian government mentioned they are open to any businesses who want to prosper in Australia but they won’t respond to any kind of threat. Since then, a lot of bargaining has been going on and finally the Australian leading media company, Seven West Media successfully landed a paid deal with Google. 

Google-Seven West Media deal

Seven West Media is one of the most leading Australian media channels and the main source of metro newspapers in Perth, Australia. The new deal between the tech giant, Google and the Seven West Media mainly concerns the news that will be published in the Google News Showcase platform. The media company didn’t reveal any terms and conditions of the deal. But, the deal with Google also brings along the news of splitting partnership with News Corp and Nine Entertainment. These leading organizations have failed to reach an agreement with Google and backed laws that are supposed to be passed this week (Gadgets 360).

Google Seven West Media deal

The newly launched product of Google, i.e., the Google News Showcase platform, has gone live in Australia this month. Till now, only some specialist Australian publishers and a newspaper have been able to successfully land a paid deal with Google for their content. Outside Australia, Reuters has successfully struck a deal with Google. In response to the newly inked deal with Google, Kerry Stokes, Chairman of Seven West Media has commented that this deal is a sign of how important is the value of quality journalism in the country, especially in regional areas. Mel Silva, CEO of Google Australia, said that the company is “proud to support original, trusted, and quality journalism” by bringing Seven West onboard for the new Google product.

Google made a small compromise 

Today, we are witnessing a paid deal between Google and Seven West thus uplifting the local news publishers for quality content in Australia. But, last month, Mel Silva clearly mentioned in a parliamentary hearing that if the Australian government enforces this law Google search engines will pull out from Australia. The law said that if Google and a media company cannot strike a deal privately then a negotiator will be given the responsibility to set a fee. But, the deal between Google and Seven West shows that the tech giant made a little compromise from its side to thrive in Australia and not abandon quality news content due to this new law. Last month, Google was furious about the new law, but thinking from the perspective of the Australian government, it is trying to uplift the economic status of the local media publishers and help people value the power of good journalism. 

Volkswagen

Volkswagen will tap into Microsoft’s cloud computing for developing self-driving software

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Volkswagen dropped the hint of developing self-driving software in the future when the company decided to use Microsoft’s Azure software back in 2018. The two companies made a deal three years ago that Volkswagen will use Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing service and link it to the cars. And, from the announcement made on 11th February 2021, the software updates will be developed in this cloud from where they will be directly downloaded in the cars.

The technology behind developing self-driving cars has been a hot topic for quite some time now. Yesterday’s announcement was all about making it public that Microsoft’s cloud computing service will be used to streamline the software development updates for self-driving cars.

Volkswagen Position in the Automobile Industry

The two brands Audi and Porsche that are owned by Volkswagen are working on developing self-driving cars. Though these brands are under the same parent company, they are working independently to give their brands an exclusive presence. Self-driving cars are the future of the automobile industry and that future is not very far. Both Audi and Porsche are working on self-assisting driving features like adaptive cruise control. But these features will not be designed for every self-driving model of the companies.

Volkswagen
Image Source: gccbusinessnews.com

In an effort to make the designing process smooth, Volkswagen brought all these development efforts together into a subsidiary last year. The name of the subsidiary is Car. Software and this was an initiative taken by the company to establish proper coordination among all the makers. Though each company was responsible for handling its own work, design, and visual prototype, all of them needed to work on some features together as they were common for all cars, for example, obstacle detection. All these groups in spite of working within a common group used different systems for developing the software for self-driving cars.

So finally, the company decided to put all the updates on a common cloud server, and hence the deal was announced yesterday in collaboration with Microsoft. This information was given to Reuters by Dirk Hilgenberg, Chief Executive of Car. Software. Every brand will have an opportunity to examine the work of others and modify their software accordingly.

Work to be done

The deal between Microsoft and Volkwagen also included deploying software updates to the car so that any new feature can be instantly downloaded into the care system. This is one such practice that helped Tesla to move far ahead of the competition and ahead of time as well. Along with mentioning the reason why Volkswagen decided to update all new features in one place, Dirk also mentioned that “over-the-air updates are paramount: without which the company might lose the firm ground in the self-driving automobile field.

The main objective behind this entire practice of software updates for self-driving cars is that today you are hitting the road with a car with little self-driving assistance in it. But, subsequently, new features will come along and in no time you will be able to access them thus taking you one step towards a more flexible world of autonomous driving. In response to this new deal, Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of Cloud and Artificial Intelligence at Microsoft, said that. “That ability to start to program the vehicle in richer and richer ways, and in a safe way, transforms how the experience works.” while explaining how to receive updates in our mobile phones within very short intervals.

How Self-driving cars will change the future?

The main theory behind building a self-driving car is to design sensors that can track all objects around the car and embedding the technology on how to react if it is about to bump into one. But, it is easier said than done. The idea of self-driving technology is keeping almost every leading car company out there. But, with the pace of advancement taking place, the ones who won’t be able to keep up with this drastic change will face severe business problems. At the same time, experts predict that with the amount of brainstorming put into developing self-driving car technology, the next decade might bring enormous opportunities for automakers and technology developers. Evolution is the only means to survive whether they are mankind or machines.