Different types of Cryptocurrencies you can Invest Apart from Bitcoin

Bitcoin has not just been a trendsetter but now its one of the most valued Cryptocurriencies in the market, it’s become the de facto standard for cryptocurrencies​, Their are a lot of Different types of Cryptocurrencies you can Invest Apart from Bitcoin. The currencies inspired by Bitcoin are collectively called Altcoins and have tried to present themselves as modified or improved versions of Bitcoin. While some of these currencies are easier to mine than Bitcoin is, there are tradeoffs, including greater risk brought on by lesser liquidity, acceptance and value retention. Here we look at six cryptocurrencies, picked from over 700 that could be a lot of worth.

1) Litecoin (LTC)

Litecoin, launched in the year 2011, was among the initial cryptocurrencies following bitcoin and was often referred to as ‘silver to Bitcoin’s gold.’ It was created by Charlie Lee, a MIT graduate and former Google engineer. Litecoin is based on an open source global payment network that is not controlled by any central authority and uses “scrypt” as a proof of work, which can be decoded with the help of CPUs of consumer grade. Although Litecoin is like Bitcoin in many ways, it has a faster block generation rate and hence offers a faster transaction confirmation. Other than developers, there are a growing number of merchants who accept Litecoin.

2) Ethereum (ETH)

Launched in 2015, Ethereum is a decentralized software platform that enables Smart Contracts and Distributed Applications to be built and run without any downtime, fraud, control or interference from a third party. During 2014, Ethereum had launched a pre-sale for ether which had received an overwhelming response. The applications on Ethereum are run on its platform-specific cryptographic token. Ether is like a vehicle for moving around on the Ethereum platform, and is sought by mostly developers looking to develop and run applications inside Ethereum. According to Ethereum, it can be used to “codify, decentralize, secure and trade just about anything.” Following the attack on the DAO in 2016, Ethereum was split into Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). Ethereum (ETH) has a market capitalization of $41.4 billion, second after Bitcoin among all cryptocurrencies.

3) Zcash (ZEC)

Zcash, a decentralized and open-source cryptocurrency launched in the latter part of 2016, looks promising. “If Bitcoin is like http for money, Zcash is https,” is how Zcash defines itself. Zcash offers privacy and selective transparency of transactions. Thus, like https, Zcash claims to provide extra security or privacy where all transactions are recorded and published on a blockchain, but details such as the sender, recipient, and amount remain private. Zcash offers its users the choice of ‘shielded’ transactions, which allow for content to be encrypted using advanced cryptographic technique or zero-knowledge proof construction called a zk-SNARK developed by its team.

4) Dash (Darkcoin)

Dash (originally known as Darkcoin) is a more secretive version of Bitcoin. Dash offers more anonymity as it works on a decentralized mastercode network that makes transactions almost untraceably. Launched in January 2014, Dash experienced an increasing fan following in a short span of time. This cryptocurrency was created and developed by Evan Duffield and can be mined using a CPU or GPU. In March 2015, ‘Darkcoin’ was rebranded to Dash, which stands for Digital Cash and operates under the ticker – DASH. The rebranding didn’t change any of its technological features such as Darksend, InstantX.

 5) Ripple (XRP)

Ripple is a real-time global settlement network that offers instant, certain and low-cost international payments. Ripple “enables banks to settle cross-border payments in real time, with end-to-end transparency, and at lower costs.” Released in 2012, Ripple currency has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion. Ripple’s consensus ledger — its method of conformation — doesn’t need mining, a feature that deviates from bitcoin and altcoins. Since Ripple’s structure doesn’t require mining, it reduces the usage of computing power, and minimizes network latency. Ripple believes that ‘distributing value is a powerful way to incentivize certain behaviors’ and thus currently plans to distribute XRP primarily “through business development deals, incentives to liquidity providers who offer tighter spreads for payments, and selling XRP to institutional buyers interested in investing in XRP.”

 6) Monero (XMR)

Monero is a secure, private and untraceable currency. This open source cryptocurrency was launched in April 2014 and soon spiked great interest among the cryptography community and enthusiasts. The development of this cryptocurrency is completely donation-based and community-driven. Monero has been launched with a strong focus on decentralization and scalability, and enables complete privacy by using a special technique called ‘ring signatures.’ With this technique, there appears a group of cryptographic signatures including at least one real participant – but since they all appear valid, the real one cannot be isolated.

Bitcoin continues to lead the pack of cryptocurrencies, in terms of market capitalization, user base and popularity. Nevertheless, virtual currencies such as Ethereum and Ripple which are being used more for enterprise solutions are becoming popular, while some altcoins are being endorsed for superior or advanced features vis-à-vis Bitcoins. Going by the current trend, cryptocurrencies are here to stay but how many of them will emerge leaders amid the growing competition within the space will only be revealed with time.

India to become fifth largest economy in 2018

The country will vault to third spot by 2032, says a report

India is set to overtake the United Kingdom and France to become the world’s fifth largest economy next year, a report said Tuesday.

Currently ranked seventh, India will move up to fifth place in 2018 and vault to third spot by 2032, the Centre for Economics and Business Research, a London-based consultancy, said in its annual rankings.

The Indian economy hit a three-year low in the first quarter of the current financial year, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s snap decision in November 2016 to scrap high-value banknotes and following a tax overhaul.

Growth slumped to 5.7% for the three months ending June but recovered slightly to 6.3% for the quarter ending September.

“Despite temporary setbacks... India’s economy has still caught up with that of France and the U.K. and in 2018 will have overtaken them both to become the world’s fifth largest economy in dollar terms,” said CEBR deputy chairman Douglas McWilliams. Cheap energy and a digital revolution will drive economic growth globally, it said.

India deployed it's first make in India submarine "INS Kalvari"

The Indian Navy is set to commission the INS Kalvari soon, which is the first Indian-made stealth submarine made under the Make in India initiative.

Weighing 1,550 tonnes, the diesel-electric submarine is 6.2 meters in diameter and is 67 metres long. The submarine is named after the vicious tiger shark and built by Mazagon Dock Limited (MDL) in collaboration with the French company DCNS in a USD 3.6 billion (Rs.20,000 crore approximately) deal that was signed in October 2005.

DCNS assisted with the technology transfer for the submarine. The Kalvari class is a class of diesel-electric attack submarines based on the Scorpène-class submarine being built for the Indian Navy

INS Kalvari is the first indigenously built submarine in 22 years. It can use torpedoes as well as tube launched anti-ship missiles above and below the surface.

Apart from defence purposes, the submarine can also be used for mine laying, surveillance, anti-sub warfare and intelligence gathering. The report further states that the INS Kalvari has a range of 12,000 km, which makes for a wide area of operation.

The submarine will slip into the Arabian Sea.This is the first of the four submarines which will be delivered at nine-month intervals. The project has already seen several delays and an overshooting of the budget. The projects were meant to be delivered between 2012 and 2015. Data leaks were also said to have contributed to the delays.

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has called for an accelerated tendering process to build six conventional diesel-electric submarines for Rs. 50,000 crore (USD 8.1 billion), in addition to the Scorpenes.

The revamping of the Navy fleet comes at a time when China increasing its presence in the Indian Ocean. These new submarines would increase the submarine count of the Indian Navy to 14. Defence analysts state however, that the Indian Navy would still fall short of the optimum number of 24-26 such submarines.

The second Scorpene submarine, INS Khanderi, is likely to join the Navy fleet around March next year.

Google Celebrates 50 Years of Kids Coding Languages With an Interactive Doodle

Google Doodle's coding for carrots game on Dec. 4, 2017. Google Doodle

Google celebrated the 50th anniversary of Logo, the world’s first programming language designed for kids, on Monday with a Doodle that celebrates kids coding languages and is aimed at teaching children to code.

In an interactive Doodle, called “Coding for Carrots,” users help an animated rabbit navigate a block maze. The rabbit hops from block to block in response to increasingly complex code sequences the game directs its players to input.

That’s not so different from how kids coding language Logo worked.

Designed in 1967 by Seymour Papert and a team of researchers at MIT, the pioneer of kids coding languages helped kids learn about math by inputting commands that would direct an on-screen or electronic turtle. MIT’s Champika Fernando, who worked on Coding for Carrots with Google, said she was 9 years old when she first coded through Papert’s program.

Mitra the ‘Made in India’ robot shown at GES Hyderabad

Mitra is an indigenous robot developed by a two-year old startup Invento Robotics in Bangalore

Hyderabad: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Ivanka Trump, daughter and adviser of the US President, inaugurates the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017 in Hyderabad on Tuesday.(PTI)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Adviser to US President Donald Trump Ivanka Trump on Tuesday inaugurated the three-day Global Entrepreneur Summit in Hyderabad by pressing a button on an indigenously developed robot called Mitra.

Mitra has been developed by a Bangalore-based startup Invento Robotics that was set up in October 2015. The company has been founded by Balaji Viswanathan, who has previously worked in Silicon Valley and technology companies such as Microsoft. Viswanathan was recently in news for being the most followed person on Quora.

The company has been closely working with National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (ASSOCHAM)

“Mitra has been completely designed and developed in India. The idea behind the robot was to provide customised and contextual information to people,” Kaundinya Panyam, a senior company executive told Hindustan Times.

The indigenous Mitra runs on a propriety operating system. The company sells multiple versions of the robot, customised for different sectors such as corporates and banking. It uses different chipsets depending upon the customisation and integrations that are incorporated within the humanoid. In some versions it uses Qualcomm’s chipsets.

Featuring fibre glass body, the humanoid comes with a touchscreen on its chest which comes in handy when there’s a lot of ambience noise, the executive said. On a single charge, Mitra can deliver a back up of 8-10 hours.

Invento said it has deployed a fully functional robot at a Canara Bank in Bangalore.

While the company is pushing the device primarily as a smart customer support assistance, it also sees other various use cases as well. For instance, the robot could be used as a party photographer, smart DJ or just a live tweeter.

Mitra also features a facial recognition technology which the company says is quite accurate, allowing the robot to quickly identify the person and deliver the customised services.

The humanoid also understands multiple languages. At the moment, Mitra supports Kannada and English but the company says it is soon going to add support for Hindi as well.

“Our robots can recognize speech in multiple languages and engage customers with smart conversations to provide better customer engagement and increase sales,” said the company on its website.

US Wishes India For World Court ICJ Win

Dalveer Bhandari was re-elected to ICJ with more than two-thirds of the UN members backing him

WASHINGTON:  The US has congratulated Justice Dalveer Bhandari for his re-election to the International Court of Justice or ICJ, however, it asserted that it is against any change in the current veto structure of the UN Security Council, even as it favorus a modest expansion of the 15-membered body.

India's Dalveer Bhandari was yesterday re-elected to the International Court of Justice with more than two-thirds of the UN members backing him, forcing Britain to withdraw its candidate amidst high drama in the hard-fought race to the world court.

Responding to questions on reform of the 15-member top wing of the world court, a US State Department spokesperson said: The United States remains open in principle to the idea of UN Security Council reform, including a modest expansion of the Security Council.

"We believe a reformed council must reflect the realities of the 21st century and be able to meet the challenges of this century with enhanced -- and not diminished -- effectiveness and efficiency. To this end, we remain opposed to any alteration or expansion of the veto, the spokesperson told news agency PTI.

The spokesperson was asked about reform of the UNSC in view of the differences that emerged between the General Assembly and the Security Council during the just concluded election to the ICJ.


For the last remaining seat, the General Assembly and the UN Security Council had to carry 11 round of voting before judge Christopher Greenwood from Britain withdrew from the race, leaving India's nominee Dalveer Bhandari to be re-elected for a nine-year term.

"We congratulate Judge Dalveer Bhandari of India for his re-election to the International Court of Justice, as well as the other candidates who were elected or re-elected...," the spokesperson said, thanking Judge Greenwood for his service to the ICJ.

However, the official refused to comment on the 11 rounds of voting.

"We're not going to comment on the prior rounds of voting. In the end, Judge Bhandari received the unanimous support of the UNSC and an absolute majority in the UN General Assembly for his re-election to the ICJ," the spokesperson said.

China to shut down steel plants for 5 months to curb Beijing winter pollution

The Xi Jinping government will also form a new environmental protection bureau to explore ways to curb PM 2.5 levels in the capital city and its surrounding provinces.

China will either shut down or curtail operations at dozens of steel plants over the next five months under an aggressive action plan to reduce winter pollution in Beijing and its surrounding areas, a new report has stated.

A number of steel plants in northern China, which usually faces heavy to severe winter pollution every year, will be shut down before Christmas as part of the green strategy.

“The measures are part of an aggressive action plan that aims to cut wintertime particulate pollution by 15% year-on-year over the next five months. These cuts are badly needed as Beijing and the surrounding industrial provinces have suffered the winter’s first serious episode this week (last week of October), with PM 2.5 levels across several provinces reaching ‘very unhealthy’ levels,” the report by environmental advocacy group Greenpeace said.

The new measures are set to take full effect in mid-November, and will continue through the winter.

“The operating restrictions will affect one quarter of China’s total steel-making capacity and approximately 10% of its cement production. The measures are expected to cut national steel output by over 10% in the next five months and could prevent (the emission of) as much CO2 as Denmark and Finland emit in one year,” the report added.

Greenpeace energy analyst Lauri Myllyvirta stated in a presentation shared with Hindustan Times that among the other measures being put in place by China to curb winter pollution are output restrictions on aluminium plants; closure of cement and coking plants; installation of a new environmental protection bureau; ramped-up central enforcement agencies that would conduct tens of thousands of inspections; replacement of coal heating and cooking in three million households; a ban on construction activities; and restrictions on heavy trucks.

Myllyvirta described the steel industry as a “dominant source of air pollutant emissions in the Beijing region, given that the surrounding Hebei province is the world’s largest producer of the metal and has poorer emission control performance than other large producer provinces”.

Though the five-month shutdown of factories is temporary, the plan envisages a new joint environmental protection bureau covering Beijing and two surrounding provinces with a focus on enforcing industrial emission norms.

Stressing on the campaign’s “forward-looking aspect”, Chinese environmental minister Li Ganjie said: “These special campaigns are not one-off measures. Instead, they are an exploration of long-term mechanisms.”

Myllyvirta said it was interesting to note the manner in which President Xi Jinping referred to the environment in his inaugural speech at the 19th national congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which concluded in Beijing late last month.

Xi mentioned the words “environment” and “ecological civilisation” 20 and 12 times respectively in his speech, which lasted for over three hours.

Real life Iron Man

Richard Browning has been dubbed the ‘real life Iron Man’.

Marvel character Tony Stark’s fanciful Iron Man costume may never become a reality, but what is it that makes this British inventor’s suit fly? It’s physics.

Richard Browning made a Guinness World Record on Thursday for fastest speed in a flight suit, whizzing in the air at speeds over 50km at Lagoona Park in Reading, Britain. The technology of the suit combines miniaturised jet engines and an exo-skeleton, allowing vertical take-off and flight.

The Guinness World Record – fastest speed in a body-controlled jet engine power suit – is the first of its kind, The Mirror said.

“I am delighted we have set the record, and I have no doubt that this is just the beginning – I really think we can go on and smash it,” Browning -- now being dubbed as the ‘real life Iron Man’ – was quoted as saying by Express.co.uk.

The suit, named ‘Daedalus’ after the mythological Greek craftsman and Icarus’ father, has six jet engines mounted on the arms and the rear of the exo-skeleton. These engines act as thrusters that make vertical flight possible. The suit depends on human body movement to steer itself.

In April this year, Browning captivated an audience at the TED Conference by flying in a circle and hovering above the ground. His start-up, Gravity, formally debuted in March with an early-version suit that he started working on three years back.

The former Royal Marine reservist created the suit because he is “inspired by doing things that haven’t been done”, reads a description on his promotional website. He wanted to create a flight suit that one day would allow its wearer to launch from a beach, soar along the coast and then perhaps hop into a helicopter in the air to continue their journey.

Browning had earlier said investors and some in the British military were interested in his human-propulsion gear. But “I don’t think anyone is going to be going down to WalMart with it or taking anybody to school for quite a while, but the team at Gravity is moving it along”, Browning said in April.

Although the suit has been compared to the ‘Iron Man’ armour worn by Marvel character Tony Stark, Browning says his goal is firmly rooted in the real world.

Indian Scientists Successfully Fire Electromagnetic Railgun

The Indian Defense Research organization hopes to soon complete trials of electromagnetic railguns that would give the country's naval forces a superlative advantage and a capability to launch devastating attacks on both land and sea targets.

NEW DELHI (Sputnik) — Indian defense scientists have successfully developed electromagnetic railguns (EMRG) that can fire projectiles at Mach 6 (six times the speed of sound) or 4,600 miles per hour. Such railguns are touted as one of the future technologies of warfare, as they use kinetic and laser energy instead of controlled explosives for firing missiles.

According to the state-owned Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), a 12 mm square bore EMRG has been successfully tested and they are preparing for the 30 mm variety. The target is to accelerate a one kilogram projectile to a velocity of more than 2,000 m/s with a capacitor bank of 10 megajoules.

"A simple, single pulse driven railgun launcher was developed with a minimum of metal components in proximity to the bore to maximize the inductance of the launcher and to improve the launch efficiency. The launcher has a 12 mm square bore cross-section. The launcher was fabricated with lengths ranging from 1 to 2 meter," a defense scientist involved with the project told Sputnik on condition of anonymity.

According to the state-owned Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), a 12 mm square bore EMRG has been successfully tested and they are preparing for the 30 mm variety. The target is to accelerate a one kilogram projectile to a velocity of more than 2,000 m/s with a capacitor bank of 10 megajoules.

"A simple, single pulse driven railgun launcher was developed with a minimum of metal components in proximity to the bore to maximize the inductance of the launcher and to improve the launch efficiency. The launcher has a 12 mm square bore cross-section. The launcher was fabricated with lengths ranging from 1 to 2 meter," a defense scientist involved with the project told Sputnik on condition of anonymity.

JavaScript continues to be the first choice of developers

Technology is something that changes almost every day. The same goes for tech trends, tools and new programming languages. However, there are some like JavaScript, which although emerged more than a decade ago, still holds the future. The popular programming language continues to sow its seeds in an evolving software industry to produce highly responsive web applications packed with advanced features and catering to the dynamic needs of user-centric businesses.

JavaScript has become the dominant language of the web as all the modern web browsers implement this language. It is the only language that can be deployed on all personal computers and mobile devices globally. However, critics say it’s not really the most refined language and is considered by many programmers as syntantically “messy”. So, what’s all the noise about?
Latest buzz

JavaScript has been constantly dubbed by the web development community as the most popular programming language. As per the new developer survey released by Stack Overflow, a popular online community for developers, in March this year, JavaScript continued to be the most commonly used programming language for the fifth year in a row.

Stack Overflow also listed the most popular languages by occupation, where JavaScript again dominated, placing No.1 in Web Developer, Sysadmin/DevOps and Data Scientist/Engineer categories and No. 2 in the Desktop Developer section, where SQL barely edged it out by 0.2 percentage points. JavaScript-based offerings also fared well in the category of most popular "frameworks, libraries and other technologies,” where Node.js and AngularJS were first and second.

The strong showing of JavaScript probably isn’t much of a surprise to most developers, as it continually ranks highly in other survey and reports. Earlier this year, for example, the biannual Redmonk language popularity report listed JavaScript as No. 1, as it did several times previously.  And in January, JavaScript was named the ‘Application & Data Tool of the Year’ for 2016 by StackShare Inc, which runs a developer-only community that tracks software tools. It also garnered “programming language of the year” honours for 2014 by the TIOBE Index. Why does JavaScript continue to be the first choice of developers?

First things first

What is JavaScript? Well, JavaScript is a client and server-side computer scripting language. It is supported by all popular browsers including Microsoft Internet Explorer (beginning with version 3.0), Firefox, Opera, Safari and Google Chrome, among others. It can be used across multiple Web browsers and has the capability of making a website more interactive with features such as slideshows, ad pop-ups and Google’s auto complete functionality. It is also used in game development and writing desktop applications.

How did it all start

JavaScript was first created by Brendan Eich, an American technologist, while working at Netscape in 1995. Eich later co-founded the Mozilla project.  Eich originally joined intending to put Scheme “in the browser”, but his Netscape superiors insisted that the language resemble Java in terms of its syntax. The result was a language that had much of the functionality of Scheme, the object orientation of Self, and the syntax of Java. Initially, it was nicknamed Mocha, further released in beta as LiveScript and then it eventually got named as JavaScript when Sun Microsystems signed a licence agreement with Netscape.

In the first decade after its release, JavaScript was widely criticised with many professional programmers denigrating the language because, among other reasons, its target audience consisted of Web authors and other such “amateurs”. However, with the advent of Asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX), developers started changing their mindset and the language’s journey began to the path of popularity.

Why is it still so popular?

It's easy: JavaSrcipt is a syntantically simple language and also has a huge open source community to seek out help from in case you get stuck. As developers are able to use the same language in the front end and back end, it makes the programming task easier. It’s accessible: Since JavaScript runs in a browser, you don’t need to download it in order to use it. All you need is a text editor. Also, it doesn’t require any special compilers or editors. On the client side, it comes with a browser and executes within a browser. Best of all, it’s completely free.

You don’t need to buy JavaScript.

It’s extensible: The functionality of any web application can be extended by adding third-party add-ons in JavaScript: JSON, AJAX, Nodejs, MongoDB, jQuery. These tools take this “messy” looking language to the next level. Nodejs/MongoDB allows for it to be used as a backend language; AJAX gives it optimised loading times and a fabulous user experience; and jQuery gives it an extensive code library that makes writing complex Javascript much quicker and easier.

It has free frameworks and libraries: Developing a software is not quite easy. However, there are free frameworks and libraries available in JavaScript that allow developers to code error-free and quickly. While some popular frameworks are AngularJS, Backbone.js and Bootstrap, a few libraries are jQuery, Prototype, and Dojo.

Someone broke Twitter with a 35,000 character tweet

you thought 280-character tweets were bad. Over the weekend, two German men (who presumably were unfamiliar with the saying that brevity is the soul of wit) figured how to trick Twitter into letting them post a 35,000 character tweet. Twitter has since deleted the post, although it lives forever on the Internet Archive, where you can view it here.

The tweet starts off by saying (at least, according to Google translate) “People! @Timrasett and @HackneyYT can exceed the character limit! You do not believe us? Here’s about 35k characters proof.” Following that is an incomprehensible string of characters that goes on and on and on and on.

So, what’s the secret sauce? As pointed out by one Twitter user, the main body of the post is actually a URL (in case you’re curious, click the link above and CTRL-F for “.cc”).

Unfortunately, the fun didn’t last long. Twitter sat both Tim Rasett and HackneyYT on the naughty step, handing them both temporary bans. Fortunately, these have since lifted.

This, presumably, is because Twitter doesn’t like looking silly, and the fact that the extra-long tweet was causing all sorts of issues for users.

Amusingly, last year, Recode reported that Twitter was contemplating letting users post tweets of up to 10,000 characters in length, which is the same character limit afforded to direct messages. Perhaps Tim Rasett and HackneyYT weren’t even that far off the mark.

8 International Beautiful Places To Visit

Are soaring flight costs preventing you from planning your next international trip? Not anymore. We have the perfect list of places where you can fly for real cheap. And mind you, these places are some of the best and the most sought after holiday destinations in the world. So what's holding you back? Read on to know more!

1. Maldives: Adventure in paradise

 
Nestled amidst the Indian Ocean, Maldives is a surreal romantic destination. If romance is not what you are looking for, go for the awesome world-class adventure, water sports and delectable cuisine. Sun Island Beach is known for rich and varied marine life amidst coral atolls. Spectacular diving sites dot the Southern Ari Atoll area.

 2. Bali: Beaches, temples and treks
 

From food to the beaches to that 'eat, pray, love' experience, there are so many reasons why you should go to Bali for a holiday. Go for the Mount Batur trek, chill at pretty cafes, visit the cliffs of Uluwatu or the rice terraces of Ubud.

3. Singapore: An international entertainment hot-spot

 

Be entranced by the fine beauty of a modern megapolis with splendid entertainment avenues! Marina Bay is a must visit at night and you can witness many events that are conducted there. The Sentosa Island is a one-stop entertainment wonder! Of course, the Universal Studio theme park is a part of it.

4. Kuala Lumpur: Experience the life after dark

 
Kuala Lumpur is a paradise for those who love the life after dark. From Bangsar's cocktail bars to Changkat Bukit Bintang's chic see-and-be-seen nightclubs there's no shortage of fun places to go after dark. You can even play Club at The Roof KL and be seen with local celebrities and trendsetters. Oh and don't miss out the Petronas Towers.


5. Mauritius: Look! An underwater waterfall!

This is the ultimate destination sporting beaches, waterfalls and some great natural wonders. Visit the Trou aux Cerfs, an extinct volcano with a lake at the centre. The village of Chamerel has coloured surface, the mix of purple, oranges, yellow, red, violet, brown and green and the highest waterfall of the region.

6. Hong Kong: Exotic dining on a cruise

Hong Kong is one place which will leave you mesmerised! In The Jumbo Kingdom, Jumbo Floating Restaurant is an awesome dining experience. Not only is it known for its food but the authentic Chinese feel. Another must do is a Hong Kong evening harbour cruise. The panoramic view coupled with dinner is one of a kind experience.

7. Bangkok: Glitzy nightlife that will stun you!

 
Bangkok's nightlife remains unmatched to any other across the world. Watch the cityscape from Vertigo - Banyan Tree is a chic al fresco bar-cum-restaurant, 61 floors above the bustling Bangkok. Go for a dinner cruise on Chao Praya River or go shopping after dark at the Khao San Road. There is never a dull moment here.

8. Dubai: Land of man-made wonders

 
Being a desert city, Dubai will surprise you with the world’s longest flower wall. Go to the top observation deck of the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa to look at the glittering cityscape. Or bask the sea at Jumeriah Beach Park as you take in the Palm Jumeriah and the other man-made islands. If you love shopping, don't miss out the Dubai Mall.

Bellroy’s ‘Made for Google’ sleeve is a perfect companion for your Google Pixelbook

If you’re an owner of Google’s new $1,000 Pixelbook, you probably want to protect it. However, covering up such a gorgeous machine requires something a bit more than your standard laptop sleeve. That’s where Bellroy’s Pixelbook sleeve comes in.

As gorgeous as the machine it holds

The Pixelbook is an amazing laptop for its hardware alone, and Bellroy’s sleeve is also drop dead gorgeous. It has a fabric design that feels great and even in the light grey color I’ve been using, doesn’t get dirty easily.

The sleeve is available in black and grey, and in either case, you’ll get a couple of leather accents. On the grey model, that’s a brown leather, and it looks great. The sleeve isn’t much thicker or larger than the Pixelbook itself either, so you’re not giving up any portability. It even still fits in my backpack.

 

A clever design

Further, this case has a really clever design touch. By folding a flap inside of the case, you’ll be able to prop up the entire case to create an ergonomic stand for the Pixelbook. It doesn’t make a massive difference, but I’ve noticed that when it’s sitting on your lap, it makes typing more comfortable.

A special holster just for the Pen

One of the leather accents is hidden inside of the case is a loop that perfectly fits the Pixelbook Pen. It’s a convenient little touch that makes keeping your Pen close by, easy to access, and secure.


But it comes at a cost

This is a great sleeve with few complaints aside from a tight fit, but that comes at a cost. At $89, it’s not cheap at all. However, when you’re already spending $1,000 or more on this machine, the extra cash might not be too bad.

Where to Buy

• Bellroy
• Google store

न मंदिर, न मस्जिद: अयोध्या में था बौद्ध विहार, साकेत नगरी थी अयोध्या

How Microsoft helped one of its biggest video game rivals do something great for its players

RobloxRoblox CEO David Baszucki with a Roblox toy.

• Roblox, a popular online game with 56 million players, will let Xbox One gamers play with their friends on smartphones and PCs, starting on Monday.
• Microsoft helped Roblox build the feature - despite the fact that Roblox is a chief competitor to Microsoft's own Minecraft.

       Roblox CEO

• DavidBaszucki also hints that versions for the Nintendo Switch or Sony PlayStation 4 could be in the pipeline, though he says their focus is currently elsewhere.

Roblox, a massively popular online game, is giving its Microsoft Xbox One fans an early Halloween treat: Starting on Monday morning, Roblox gamers on the Xbox One will be able to play with their friends on PCs and smartphones.

Previously, Roblox users on the Xbox One could only play with each other. Meanwhile, Roblox has let smartphones, tablets, and PCs all play together in harmony for years now. With this update, the Xbox One joins the fun.

Now, if you're older than, say, 15, there's a healthy chance you've never heard of Roblox - a free online game, especially popular with kids. All of the games on Roblox are created by players, for players, and sold on a free-to-play basis,

turning a few lucky teens into video game millionaires.

So far, Roblox is available for Xbox One, PCs, smartphones, tablets, and virtual reality headsets, but

Roblox CEO DavidBaszucki tells Business Insider that the company is considering making versions for consoles like the Sony PlayStation 4 or Nintendo Switch, too - though it's not necessarily where Roblox's focus lies at the moment.

"It's natural to assume Roblox will be on more and more platforms," says Baszucki.

So what is Roblox, and where does Microsoft come in?

While the two games are very different, Roblox competes for much the same demographic as Minecraft, the phenomenon that Microsoft paid $2.5 billion to acquire in 2014.

However, Roblox actually has slightly more players at the moment, 56 million monthly active users to Minecraft's last reported 55 million.Which makes it a little funny that Microsoft actually helped Roblox to accomplish the feat of getting this cross-platform play running. According to Roblox CEO David Baszucki, Microsoft came in and helped the company smooth out the technical wrinkles involved in letting the Xbox One "talk" to Roblox players on other platforms.

"They've welcomed us as if we were a completely neutral partner," says Baszucki. He sees it as "a testament to Microsoft's vision under [CEO] Satya [Nadella] as being part of a more connected world."

Matt Weinberger/Business InsiderSome Roblox games, like "Murder Mystery 2," can get a little violent...

In fact, Baszucki says that Microsoft helped bring Roblox to the Xbox One in the first place. Because all the games and characters on Roblox are generated and sold by players for real money, it presented a tricky challenge: the Xbox One wasn't really built for letting players swap and sell their own creations.

Baszucki says Microsoft worked with them to figure out a solution, growing from a small, curated selection of games and content into a full-fledged version of the core marketplace. Now Roblox's developers have a real opportunity to make money from Xbox gamers, while simultaneously giving those gamers more games to play for free.

"It's gonna make Roblox much more fun," says Baszucki.

Cross-play is a Microsoft passion project

Microsoft has called for an online gaming amnesty, urging developers and publishers to make it possible for Xbox owners to play with Nintendo Switch, Sony PlayStation, and Windows PC players. It would knock down one of the oldest barriers in online gaming.

Matt Weinberger/Business Insider...while others, like "Meep City," are just a place for its mostly younger players to hang out.

The company put its money where its mouth is, too, with a recent update to Minecraft that allows for cross-play between Apple iOS, Android, the Xbox 360, the Xbox One, Windows 10, and even the Nintendo Switch. However,

Sony has yet to play ball

- a problem that Roblox isn't facing, at least not yet, given that there's no PlayStation version.

Still, that makes it little wonder that Microsoft would play ball. Besides, anything that makes Roblox better for Xbox One gamers is going to help Microsoft sell more Xbox consoles this holiday season.

UAE to train 1 million students for coding and data analysis

UAE has launched a new initiative to train a million Arab youth for computer programming. The official tweet by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid confirms the program designed to create a pool of skilled talent in the country.

‘One Million Arab Coders’ is an initiative to offer computer programming training for the Arab youth. The new portal ‘arabcoders.ae’ has been launched in partnership with Udacity. The program will offer training in the areas of website development, Android application development, mobile interfaces and data analysis. A middle east-based recruitment portal, bayt.com is also supporting the initiative.

In the official announcement, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid said, “Coding is the language of the modern era. Our goal is to teach it to one million young Arabs in order to prepare them now for the requirements needed to excel in the future.” The Sheikh wants the Arab youth to start Internet businesses and contribute to the global economy.

The training program is offered free of cost to the Arab youth. Many young Arabs with unstoppable potential will be supported through the program. Dubai’s ruler wants to Arab talent to find more jobs within the country than migrating to foreign countries. The initiative is part of Sheikh’s vision of reviving Arab civilization and creating innovative changes in the country.

The course curriculum is designed for three months of training, which is divided into three stages of implementation. Users have to register on arabcoders.ae. Applicants need to go through a screening test to be eligible to receive the training. Only top 1000 students will be selected for the certification program. The last stage of the program is the coding competition. Only top 10 students will be selected from the coding challenge.

Dubai’s government has announced the cash price of $1 million for the student securing first-place. The remaining nine students will be awarded $50,000 each. The platform also has an independent panel for tutors. The top four tutors voted by the students will the cash reward of $200,000. 

How to get interview call from Google

Here are some top tips which will help you land your dream job at Google, one among the most sought after company by tech professionals.

1)Gain professional experience-:

"If you have the right professional experience, it might not even matter if you have no university degree at all. (Of course, having a good degree is always preferable.)" Lutz Enke, Hamburg Googler. The statement is enough to determine the importance of relevant experience in bagging a job at the company.

2)Polish your coding skills if applying for an engineering job

While GPA is comes as one criteria. When you're starting out, what matters is how well you can understand coding and come up with innovative ways to excel in it. It is also important to figure out ways to quickly improve in your skills.

3) Focus on internships, campus recruiting and referral opportunities

"The best ways to get an interview with mediocre grades is the best way to get interviews in general...If you have to externally apply via (for example) a company web site, your chances of getting an interview aren't very good,'' as per  John L. Miller, interviewer at Microsoft, Amazon, and Google.

4)Reach out to a recruiter directly

"I have gotten two interviews at Google (both I have failed miserably)...but I got them. The first one I got by going on LinkedIn and emailing Google Recruiters. I emailed 3, and 1 responded,'' says Mark Kuczmarski on Quora.

5)Excel in a specialty

Google hunts for 'T-Shaped people' who are pretty skilled in one area, often the best in their field, but should also have other interests, as per staff.com.

6)Don't write your GPA on your resume if its low

"We all know Google doesn't care about the GPA if the Engineer is good enough. But still when the HR is comparing your resume with thousands of other resume, you don't want anything on your resume which is not your strength. And, I think having a low GPA does hurt your chances in some way'', answers  Shubham Bansal on Quora.

7)Wait for at least three years after school

"If you apply within 3 years [of graduation], Google will ask for your transcript and it will stay in the electronic records used by Google recruiters forever. If you wait to apply and don't volunteer your GPA they shouldn't ask,'' says Harvey Alcabes, MIT CS alumni.

‘Biggest mistakes’ of some rich person

We all make mistakes, and no one is perfect. Tech legends like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Narayana Murthy, Satya Nadella and others too have made mistakes.

Here are some of the biggest blunders these tech legends made in their decisions-:

Bill Gates- Not making a single key for Control-Alt-Delete

The world's wealthiest man and the co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates says that he would make a single key for the Control-Alt-Delete command if he could time travel in the past.

"We could have had a single button. But the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn't want to give us our single button," said Gates. "And so we had ... we programmed at a low level that you had to ... it was a mistake," he said.

Steve Jobs- Treating cancer with alternative medicine

In an interview Walter Isaacson,the  author of Steve Jobs' biography disclosed that the late CEO of Apple regretted to not treat his cancer with surgery but with alternative medicines.

"We talked about this a lot," Isaacson said in a television interview.

Despite requests from family and friends, Steve Jobs denied to undergo surgery for months.

Narayana Murthy-Quitting as chairman 

The co-founder of Infosys, NR Narayana Murthy said in July this year that  his biggest regret was quitting as chairman of Infosys in 2014. This statement came amid a fierce battle between him and Infosys's board and management.

“A lot of my founder colleagues told me not to leave Infosys in 2014, to stay a few years. Generally, I find that I am a very emotional person. A lot of my decisions are based on idealism and probably, I should have listened to them,” he said to news channel.

Sergey Brin- Working on Google+

In the year 2014, Google's co-founder Sergey Brin informed that it was "probably a mistake"  to have worked on Google+ citing that he is "not a very social person."

Google+ was the company's social network which failed to mark its impact in the social media industry.

Satya Nadella-Believing that PC will be supreme forever

The  India-born CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella accepts that "one big mistake" the software company made in the past was to believe that personal computer (PC) will rule supreme forever.

"If anything, one big mistake we made in our past was to think of the PC (personal computer) as the hub for everything for all time to come. And today, of course, the high volume device is the six-inch phone. I acknowledge that,'' said Nadella.

Mark Zuckerberg-Dismissing Facebook's influence on US election

In a post last month, the CEO of Facebook said that he regrets ridiculing worries about fake news on Facebook impacting the results of US presidential elections.

"After the election, I made a comment that I thought the idea misinformation on Facebook changed the outcome of the election was a crazy idea. Calling that crazy was dismissive and I regret it," wrote Zuckerberg

Tesla's Solar Roof tiles

Tesla's Solar Roof tiles development done. watch out musk new house.

The world's first cochlear implant made for iPhone is here

Australian company Cochlear has teamed up with Apple to release the world’s first cochlear implant sound processor made for iPhone.

The Nucleus 7 sound processor will allow users to stream sounds directly to their Cochlear implant from their iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

People living with severe to profound hearing loss will be able to listen to music, play games, watch Netflix or stream YouTube videos in high quality, get directions from Maps, or take FaceTime calls — it's all streamed directly to the processor.

Users can control the sound processor on their iPhone using the Nucleus Smart App, which monitors the device's volume, battery and location with the Find My Processor feature, in case you (or your child) has left it on the fridge, in the car etc. You can also adjust the mixing ratio on the app so background noise is blocked out.

“For people with hearing loss we know the ability to talk and hear on their iPhone is incredibly important," said Janet Menzies, General Manager, Cochlear Australia and New Zealand.

"The connectivity, monitoring and accessibility not only helps people with the day to day management of their hearing, but it also enables them to interact with friends, family and technology to live their life to the fullest."

Cochlear is also releasing a bimodal version (hearing aid in one ear, cochlear implant in the other) which will allow you to control both devices, if compatible, with your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch.

The availability of the processors will differ from country to country.

Indian H-1B Visa Holders Plea to US Lawmakers for Green Card

Indian IT professionals working in the United States on H-1B visa have approached US lawmakers for green card approval. The country-specific quotas for the green card have resulted in massive backlogs in last few years.

More than 100,000 Indian IT professionals apply for the green card to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) each year. However, the country-specific quota allows the department to approve only 10,000 of these applications. With the number increasing each year, the backlog of green card applicants is massive.

More than 100 Indian IT professionals have formed a group called ‘Skilled Immigrants in America’. The group claims to have 150,000 members in 25 states of the US. The agonized IT professionals flew down to Washington to meet top American lawmakers and their aides on Monday.

All the green card applicants waiting for the approval are highly skilled Indian IT professionals. Most of these agonized professionals have moved to the US 10 years ago and still waiting for the green card. The group expects the US government to remove the country-specific quota for the green card.

The members of ‘Skilled Immigrants in America’ are Indian techies that have been legally working in the US on H-1B visa. The professionals are highly-paid individuals that are tax-paying and law-abiding immigrants. The group demands the Congress to check the positive contributions made by Indian professionals in the US and solve the problem.

The meeting with top US lawmakers is the awareness drive by the group. A lot of these legal immigrants have major issues like adult kids that are waiting to transfer on F1 visa to get into a college. The Indian IT professionals are demanding the equal rights for their children who have spent more than a decade in the US.

Indian Government To Increase Internet Speed By 4 Times

The government of India in a bid to increase the internet speed has flagged off the procedure of increasing the minimum internet speed to at least 2 MBPS against the existing 512kbps.
The secretary for Telecom,  Aruna Sundararajan has said that the government is aware of the slow internet speed available to users in many parts of the country and that the speeds promised by 3G and 4G networks no where meet the actual speeds received by the consumers. The issue is crucial as the country gears up for a pan India 5G roll out along with the implementation of Internet of Things (IoT) focused applications.

"We are very slow . While we have done a lot on (providing internet) access, we have not been able to actually deliver the quality of service that is required," said Sundararajan.


The telecom secretary also added that India needs better internet speeds to meet the targets of ambitious initiatives like Digital India Programme, digital payments, 5G rollout etc. Answering the question of whether a speed of 2MBPS would be sufficient to accomplish digital transformation, the secretary added.


Asked whether 2 mbps -which is also being pushed for ward by regulator TRAI -will be sufficient for digital transformation, she said, "2 mbps is the basic minimum. We should definitely mandate this. If at all, it should be higher than that. It cannot be lower than that."

The  slower internet  speed issue has come as a challenge for a majority of mobile users in India, particularly when download speeds of videos and other heavy applications is not at all satisfactory. The challenge also comes amid the roll out of faster networks like 4G, particularly after the roll out of Jio services.

Their main concerns in this regard were limited availability of spectrum per operator in 2G/3G bands; low coverage zones such as basements, high-rise buildings, tunnels; and variations due to external factors such as subscriber's device quality and type, number of subscribers browsing the data services, peak off-peak time, transmission bandwidth, website behavior, etc," said sector regulator Trai in its consultation paper on Data Speed Under Wireless Broadband Plans' this year.


A global report published recently which covered about 63 million internet speed tests across the globe placed India at 119th position in a list of 189 countries in terms of internet speed available to users.

Earn Big As A FreeLancer With These Tech Skills

Tech freelancers are on a roll, specially those that are into new-age technologies. A severe shortage of these skills is also encouraging many full-time employees to become independent workers offering their expertise to multiple companies and earning much more than in their erstwhile positions.

A study by Manipal Global Education -one of India's largest education services groups -says that with 15 million independent workers, India is second only to the US (60 million) in terms of the number of freelancers. The study, shared exclusively with TOI, says there's been a boom of freelancers because of growth of internet and mobile phones.

The most common roles that freelancers are present in are data visualisation, data mining, digital marketing and social media, says A P Ramabhadran, CEO, professional learning unit, Manipal Global Education.

"Specific areas like Google digital marketing, data science, analytics, Android and iOS app development programs are witnessing a significant shift towards individuals choosing to be entrepreneurs and freelancers," he says.

Thammaiah B, India managing director at staffing solutions firm Kelly Services, says the technology transformation is helping the sector's gig economy to evolve to a level seen only in the US. "In India, the gig economy used to be an extrapolation of temporary and contract employees. However, that is changing with the innovation required at IT companies demanding newer skills. You cannot have a single homogeneous group of talent anymore in a team. And what you need may be only available when you go shopping for talent with very specific requirements," he says.
On Freelancer.com, one of the largest global online platforms where freelancers can offer their services, the number of registered people from India is the highest, at more than 20% of the total. The portal currently has around 5.3 million people from India, and 3.3 million from the US.

The top projects awarded to Indians on Freelancer.com over the past 12 months include graphic and website design, PHP (programming language), search engine optimisation and internet marketing.

The Manipal report says that despite taking up re-skilling at scale, leading IT firms are struggling to fill the newer technology roles.The report estimates that 65% of professionals in IT firms are struggling to upgrade their skills in the newer technologies. So they need external talent.

"Areas like fintech, health-tech, retail-tech, sales, and analytics are areas that are witnessing interest in hiring freelancers," says Ramabhadran.

The startup boom and the changing ethos with respect to job safety and security are also encouraging employees to take up more independent projects. "The workforce of the current generation is not looking at a safety net. They are willing to take risks to work only on the projects that they want. They are also looking at a balance between work and life," says Thammaiah of Kelly Services. He estimates that at large IT organisations, freelancers account for 2-3% of the workforce. He predicts this will grow rapidly in the next three-four years.

How much money some of the biggest companies make per employee?

The world’s largest companies have many similarities, but the size of their respective org charts is not necessarily one of them.

At the one extreme, companies such as Walmart require a massive workforce in the millions to run retail operations around the globe. But at the other extreme, an energy giant like Valero is able to generate $76 billion of annual revenue with just 0.4% of the employees of Walmart.

It raises the question: which types of companies make the most revenue per employee?
1.Apple: $1.9 million
Apple is the most valuable company in the world, and it also makes the most money per employee. For each of its 1,16,000 employees, Apple makes $1.9 million (Rs. 12.3 crore). This is the most money any firm anywhere makes per employee.


2. Facebook: $1.6 million
Facebook now has a over a billion users, but it’s still run by relatively few people. Facebook has around 20,000 employees, and for each of them, it earns $1.6 million (Rs. 10.4 crore)   in revenue.


3. Alphabet: $1.3 million
Alphabet has nearly doubled its employee headcount over the last five years, but it’s still third on the list of companies with most revenue per employee. For each of its nearly 70,000 employees, Alphabet makes $1.3 million (Rs. 8.5 crore).


4. Verisign: $1.2 million
Number four on the list is Verisign. It has far fewer employees than the bigger companies on the list — Verisign only has 1,019 employees. But its revenues from its domain level registration services, SSL certificates, managed DNS, DDoS attack mitigation and cyber-threat reporting services, it ends up earning an impressive $1.2 million per employee.


5. Visa: $1.1  million
There’s a reason why finance firms are some of the best paymasters — finance firms make a lot of money. Payments giant Visa makes $1.1 million in revenue for each of its 11,300 employees.


6. Mastercard: $906,000
Fellow payments firm Mastercard follows Visa at number 6. Mastercard makes $906,000 (Rs. 5.85 crore) for each of its 10,300 employees.


7. Broadcom: $843,000
Networking company Broadcom is 7th on the list. Founded in 1991, Broadcom now makes $843,000 (Rs. 5.39 crore) per employee.

8. Lam Research: $785,000
One of the lesser-known companies on the list is Lam Research. Lam Research produces semiconductor  processing equipment that’s used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. It has 9,100 employees, and makes $785,000 in revenue for each of them.

9. Qualcomm: $772,000
Joining Broadcom in the list is fellow multinational semiconductor and telecommunications equipment giant Qualcomm. Qualcomm makes $772,000 in revenue for each of its 33,500 employees.

10. Microsoft: $748,000
And rounding up the top 10 is Microsoft. Microsoft might be not be the hottest software company at the moment, and it has more employees than any other company on the list — 1,24,000 of them. But it still makes a solid $748,000 per employee.

Micromax Bharat -1

Micromax Informatics has partnered with BSNL to launch Bharat-1, a feature phone with 4G LTE capability. This will be a direct competition for Reliance Jio's JioPhone. The state-owned telecom operator also claims to trump the JioPhone with a running cost that's even lower than the heavily subsidized JioPhone.
Despite a price of Rs 2,220 against JioPhone's "effective price" of Rs 0, Bharat-1 users will end up spending much lesser than JioPhone users in terms of total expenditure on recharges. Bharat-1 users will get free access to unlimited internet, calls and texts at a nominal price of Rs 97.

On the contrary, JioPhone users will have to recharge their devices with a recharge of Rs 153 for unlimited data, free voice calls, messages and access to Jio apps.

The new Micromax Bharat-1 can be used with any network provider, even a Reliance Jio SIM. This gives the device a huge advantage against the JioPhone as it can only be used with Reliance Jio.
The Micromax Bharat-1 device will be available at a price of Rs 2,220 but this will give complete ownership to the buyer contrary to JioPhone's claim over the device. In order to make the effective price Rs 0, Jio had to layer the deal with a long list of terms and conditions.

According to these terms and conditions, users will have to hand over the device if they fail to recharge the device with a minimum of Rs 1,500 per year which amounts to Rs 4,500 in three years. After the completion of these three years the JioPhone user will be eligible for a complete refund of Rs 1,500.
In terms of specifications, Micromax Bharat-1 comes equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 205 which is paired with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of internal storage. JioPhone also has identical specifications with a 1.2GHz processor paired with 512MB RAM and 4GB internal storage. The device also features a MicroSD card slot that will be capable of reading cards of up to 128GB.

Both devices come with a 2 Megapixel primary camera. Bharat-1 features a VGA selfie camera and the JioPhone features a 0.3Megapixel front camera. Both devices also share an identical QVGA screen with a  size of 2.4 inches. Both Reliance JioPhone and Bharat-1 are powered by 2000mAh batteries.

Despite a lower running cost, Bharat-1 phone, which is bundled with BSNL's voice and data pack, will not be able to achieve 4G LTE speeds. However, the state-owned company plans to launch their 4G services as early as January next year.