SliCeR

The Edmonton Oilers are not only focused on easing some of the sting from three previous losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs when they visit their Scotia North Division rivals on Saturday and Monday. They have a longer-term goal as well. "We might be playing them in seven more games (in the Stanley Cup Playoffs) so you obviously want to send a message," Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl said Friday. "We want to beat them and show them that we're a good team too. Those next two games are going to be fun, they're going to be exciting. I think fans will love it. And obviously we don't have to talk about the importance." The Oilers last played the Maple Leafs in a three-game series Feb. 27-March 3 at Edmonton, and were swept, outscored 13-1. Edmonton is 7-2-0 since then and is two points behind Toronto and the Winnipeg Jets, who are tied for first. "I wouldn't say (it left) doubt," Oilers defenseman Kris Russell said of the three-game sweep. "We've played and beat this team before. The way those three games went last time is not something that sits well with us, but at the same time we're a confident group in the way our team plays, and when we play the right way we feel we can beat anyone. "Credit to Toronto in those three games. They outexecuted us, outworked us. It was the way they outcompeted us and kind of outplayed us that was disappointing for our group, but we've got a big chance here, the two games here, a chance to right that wrong, kind of." Prior to those three losses, Edmonton split four games against Toronto, with each team scoring 12 goals. That three-game series isn't the Oilers' only focus this week. They're also aware they'll need to get up to speed quickly, having had games at the Montreal Canadiens on Monday, Wednesday and Friday postponed because two Montreal players entered NHL COVID-19 protocol. The Oilers spent much of the week resting and practicing in Montreal, then traveled to and practiced in Toronto on Friday. They haven't played since defeating Winnipeg 4-2 at Edmonton on March 20. The Maple Leafs did not practice Friday before the game Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, SN, CITY, TVAS, NHL.TV). "During the season there are some ups and downs," Edmonton coach Dave Tippett said. "We didn't play very well the last three games against [Toronto], gave up early goals. The other games were real tight games. We just have to get back to playing the way we can. We've got to monitor, see how we come out of this break here. We've been sitting on the road for a week." The series in Edmonton marked the only time this season Oilers captain Connor McDavid went three straight games without a point. He leads the NHL with 60 points (21 goals, 39 assists) in 34 games and shares the lead in goals with Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews. Since then, McDavid has scored 20 points (seven goals, 13 assists) in a nine-game point streak. Draisaitl, second to McDavid with 50 points (18 goals, 32 assists) in 34 games, had one assist in those three games against Toronto and has scored 15 points (eight goals, seven assists) in nine games since. "You guys make way more out of it than they do," Tippett said. "We're more worried about getting ourselves back and playing from this week." Draisaitl said the Oilers are more than aware of all the circumstances converging in these next two games, but they also have the bigger picture in mind about continuing their push toward the playoffs. "Obviously we want to get them back," he said. "There's no question about that. But at the same time we have to understand that this isn't do-or-die for us right now, these two games. We've got to play our game. We've got to be sound defensively, play a good road game, a solid road game, and I think we have a good chance of winning some games."

engineer and deploy complex hybrid emulation systems for their next-generation system-on-chip (SoC) designs. Veloce Strato+, a capacity upgrade to the Veloce Strato hardware emulator. With an industry-leading capacity roadmap that scales up to 15 billion gates, Veloce Strato+ combines the industry's highest total throughput with its fastest co-model bandwidth and time-to-visibility. Veloce Primo for enterprise-level FPGA prototyping, an internally developed enterprise prototyping solution that combines industry-leading runtime performance with exceptionally fast prototype bring-up. Veloce proFPGA for desktop FPGA prototyping. With a modular approach to capacity, the Veloce proFPGA family of products delivers scalability across a range of capacity requirements. This highly cohesive system sets a new standard for the future direction of hardware-assisted verification methodologies. The system takes hardware, software and system verification to the next level of intelligent digitalization by streamlining and optimizing verification cycles while helping to reduce verification cost. This seamless approach to managing verification cycles emphasizes running market-specific, real-world workloads, frameworks, and benchmarks early in the verification cycle for power and performance analysis. This enables customer-built virtual SoC models early in the cycle and the integration to begin running real-world firmware and software on Veloce Strato+ for deep-visibility to the lowest level of hardware. Customers can then move the same design to Veloce Primo to validate the software/hardware interfaces and execute application-level software while running closer to actual system speeds. To make this approach as efficient as possible, Veloce Strato+ and Veloce Primo use the same RTL, the same virtual verification environment, the same transactors and models to maximize the reuse of verification collateral, environment and test content. This is a necessary foundation for a seamless methodology. "As we enter the new semiconductor mega-cycle, the era of software-centric SoC design requires a dramatic change in functional verification systems to address new requirements," said Ravi Subramanian, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Siemens EDA. "The introduction of the next-generation Veloce system that addresses these key new requirements is a direct result of the focused investment from Siemens to offer our customers a complete, integrated system with a clear roadmap for the next decade. With today's announcement, we are establishing a new standard for a system that is capable of supporting the new verification requirements across a diverse set of industries-spanning computing and storage, AI/ML, 5G, networking, and automotive." Innovation in chip, system, and software design enables Veloce Strato+ to deliver to the capacity roadmap published in 2017 when the Veloce Strato platform was introduced. The innovative design and manufacturing of the Crystal 3+—a new, proprietary 2.5D chip—increases system capacity by 1.5x over the previous Veloce Strato system. This innovation enables Veloce Strato+ to lead in the emulation market with marketing-leading available capacity of 15B gates. This capacity, which is the largest effective capacity available today, is now in use at multiple Veloce Strato+ customers. "AMD utilizes Veloce Emulation platforms as part of our pre-silicon verification and validation solutions," said Alex Starr, corporate fellow, Methodology Architect, AMD. "The high-performance designs we create demand scalable, dependable and innovative emulation solutions. We are delighted to have worked with Siemens to pioneer high-capacity Veloce Strato+ system deployment at AMD. Furthermore, we're excited to see 2nd and 3rd Gen AMD EPYC™ processors qualified for use with Veloce Strato and Veloce Strato+ platforms. The high-performance capabilities of both families of processors bring new levels of productivity to the Veloce ecosystem and its customers, like AMD." The Veloce Strato system is also expanding the list of qualified processors by adding the AMD EPYC™ 7003 series processor, starting today. These new processors are fully qualified to run with the Veloce Strato systems as run time hosts and co-model hosts. Veloce Primo and Veloce proFPGA represent the industry's most powerful and versatile approach to FPGA prototyping. The enterprise-level FPGA prototyping system, Veloce Primo, simultaneously delivers outstanding performance, with capacity scaling up to 320 FPGAs and a consistent working model with Veloce Strato in terms of software workloads, design models and front-end compilation technology. This fundamental alignment between emulation and prototyping contributes to reducing the cost of verification by leveraging the right tool for the task where the emulation and the prototyping work together as complimentary solutions for a better outcome in the shortest cycle. Veloce Primo also supports both virtual (emulation offload) and in-circuit-emulation (ICE) use models for highest possible performance while maintaining accurate clock ratios in both modes. "The increasing demand for computing in all industries means time to market is critical," said Tran Nguyen, senior director of design services, Arm. "The Veloce Primo enterprise FPGA prototyping solution from Siemens helps Arm quickly resolve design issues and achieve verification objectives so that our ecosystem can deliver quality Arm-based SoCs to support the rapid pace of innovation." "We are delighted to welcome Siemens to the FPGA prototyping market with their launch of Veloce Primo," said Hanneke Krekels, senior director, Core Vertical Markets, at Xilinx. "Xilinx has a long-standing relationship with Siemens both as a customer and as a collaboration partner, and we're excited to provide our recent and industry-leading Virtex UltraScale+ VU19P device enabling scalability and capacity to this new product offering." Veloce proFPGA brings a proven, world-class desktop platform to the Veloce hardware-assisted verification system (via an OEM agreement with Pro Design). With a modular approach to capacity, the Veloce proFPGA family of products delivers scalability across a range of capacity requirements – from 40M gates to 800M gates – based on high-end FPGAs including Intel Stratix 10 GX 10M and Virtex UltraScale+ VU19P device. "The advanced technology found in the proFPGA family delivers many advantages for validating today's AI/ML, 5G, and data center ASIC designs," said Gunnar Scholl, CEO of Pro Design. "We are excited to partner with Siemens. Our collective experience, insight and strategy for the FPGA desktop prototyping market is being recognized, and we are excited to accelerate market penetration in this space through the collaboration with Siemens."

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at UiPath, a maker of workplace automation software that was founded in Romania, is on course to be the biggest new business software listing since Snowflake’s blockbuster debut in September. UiPath unveiled its plans for an initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, barely two months after raising $750m in a round that valued it at $35bn, including the new capital. The company uses computer vision and artificial intelligence to automate routine and repetitive business processes, from extracting data from documents to filling in forms. Its technology promises to “augment and empower” knowledge workers in finance, sales, HR and legal departments. “Our platform is designed to eliminate the need for employees to execute low-value, manual tasks, freeing up time to focus on more meaningful, strategic work,” UiPath stated in Friday’s S-1 filing. “Society is at a turning point in how organisations execute work, and we believe the ability to leverage software to enrich the employee experience will unlock tremendous value and efficiency opportunities.” No details of UiPath’s target pricing or capital raise have been disclosed. But with February’s valuation probably providing a floor for its prospective pricing, the IPO will provide the biggest new test of investors’ appetite for fast-growing but lossmaking software companies, after a rocky start to 2021 for last year’s high-flying tech stocks. Cloud computing company Snowflake’s shares doubled on their first day of trading in September to become the largest IPO ever for a US software firm. But Snowflake has fallen more than 42 per cent since its high point in December, to value the company at $64bn on Friday.Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at Friday’s filing revealed that UiPath’s revenues grew by 81 per cent to $607.6m in the year to January 2021, while net losses narrowed from $519.9m to $92.4m. The pandemic “may have accelerated the adoption of automation” as more companies were forced to work remotely, UiPath said. Its sales and marketing expenses fell last year as it postponed physical conferences and other travel. After cutting hundreds of jobs in 2019, the company also reduced executive salaries for three months last year as the pandemic began. UiPath was co-founded by its chair and chief executive Daniel Dines, a former Microsoft engineer, in Bucharest in 2005. Its headquarters moved to New York in 2017. Dines’ letter to prospective investors describes how the company went from “10 people in an apartment in Romania in 2015” to operating in almost 30 countries today. In common with other tech listings including UK-based Deliveroo, UiPath will retain a dual-class share structure, giving Dines more than 50 per cent of voting power. Other big investors ahead of the IPO include venture firm Accel, with 29 per cent of the class A shares, Earlybird with 11 per cent and Alphabet’s CapitalG with 8 per cent. UiPath competes with rivals including UK-based Blue Prism and SoftBank-backed Automation Anywhere in a corner of the business software market known as “robotic process automation”. Microsoft has also sought to expand in the field, acquiring RPA company Softomotive last May. While UiPath’s “bots” can cost a few thousand dollars a year in licensing costs, they are typically far cheaper than the back-office workers whose routine jobs they aim to replace or redeploy. UiPath now has almost 8,000 customers, including 63 per cent of the Fortune Global 500. Named customers range from tech companies such as Adobe, Uber and Autodesk to Toyota, Bank of America, EY and CVS Health. Despite its focus on back-office automation, UiPath’s filing revealed that its own finance department had previously struggled with certain accounting issues. It disclosed a “material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting”, dating back to 2018, resulting in “the improper allocation of stand-alone selling price and certain errors in deferred revenue and contract assets”. It blamed the problem on “a lack of oversight and technical competence and experience within our finance department to identify such errors” and said the issue had been “remediated”.

The coronavirus incidence continues to fall in Spain, but it is doing so at a slower rate. According to the latest report from the central Health Ministry, which was released on Monday evening and covers Friday to Sunday, the 14-day cumulative number of coronavirus cases per 100,000 inhabitants now stands at 142.24, having been falling since February 12, when it peaked at 899.9 during the third wave of the health crisis. The fall from Friday to Monday was just seven points, compared to more than 18 points one week ago. Health Minister Carolina Darias had already warned on Monday morning that the fall in the key indicator would be less pronounced than it had been previously. What’s more, in Andalusia, the Canary Islands and the North African city of Melilla it has actually risen compared to Friday. The Canaries have in fact seen a rising curve for a week now. Fernando Simón, the director of the Health Ministry’s Coordination Center for Health Alerts (CCAES), said on Monday that these upticks will be regular, albeit not permanent.In total, 11,958 new coronavirus infections were reported on Monday. This is the lowest figure for that day of the week since July of last year. On January 25, the data point came in as high as 94,000. The total number of confirmed infections in Spain since the pandemic began is now 3,160,970. Simón drew attention last night to the low positivity rate in the latest report: just 5.63% of coronavirus tests came back positive, according to Monday’s data. The government’s chief epidemiologist admitted that this progress has led to regions such as Castilla y León relaxing some of its Covid-19 restrictions, but he warned that the data do not permit for any great easing of measures. He recommended that individuals exercise caution, by continuing to wear masks, observing social distancing and avoiding groups or crowds. Speaking on Monday morning on the Cadena SER radio network, Health Minister Carolina Darias reminded listeners that the objective is to reach an incidence of 25 – only the Extremadura region has managed to get as low as 50 so far. She added that she hopes that there will be a consensus at the next Inter-Territorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS), which brings together the country’s health chiefs and the central ministry, to agree on measures that will be mandatory for all regions. So far, the Madrid government is the only one to reject the perimetral lockdowns of the country’s regions that have been agreed on a preliminary basis for Easter week.The good progress in general of the pandemic is still not being fully reflected in the number of fatalities. Monday’s report added 298 Covid-19 deaths to the total, which is the lowest Monday figure since January 4. But the seven-day number is as high as 1,827, the maximum since last Tuesday. In total, 71,436 official Covid deaths have been recorded by the Spanish government. Elsewhere, there is good news in terms of the fall in the occupation of intensive care unit (ICU) beds. The rate is now 24.27%, which is below the 25% considered to be maximum risk according to the ministry. Only the North African city of Ceuta is above 40%, with a rate of 52%. This parameter is also falling slowly, but this is normal because many of the Covid-19 patients who end up in the ICU stay there for a long time. The seven-day fall is just over 10%, the lowest for two weeks. The use of general hospital beds is also falling, and currently stands at 7.81%. A week ago that figure was 9.36%.

Luther Burbank High School senior Emili Carrillo is finding ways to learn English — but lately, school isn’t making that easy. The 17-year-old moved from Mexico nearly four years ago with her dad, and works part-time as a cashier at a grocery store. “Working has helped me a lot, because I have to practice my English,” Carillo said about chatting with customers on the job. But learning English at her South Sacramento school — an entirely computer-based activity since last March — is another matter. “It’s been hard for me,” she said about attending classes online, which eliminates opportunities to practice English with peers. “When we were at school … we kind of communicated more with our classmates. And this year, during the pandemic, we don’t even talk sometimes.” As the momentum builds to reopen schools in California, early evidence suggests that English-learning students have fallen behind more than their peers. Education experts say school leaders should act now to reverse a widening achievement gap between students with financial resources and kids with less support at home. “Now is the time where we have to acknowledge that these gaps have widened during the pandemic and really be intentional about providing extra supports,” said Heather Hough, executive director of Policy Analysis for California Education at Stanford University. Hough says that, with the right resources and support, educators can fast-track learning. “And this doesn't have to have a long term catastrophic event on their lives,” Hough said of the pandemic. Hough’s research released in January showed that California students in 18 school districts grew less in mathematics and English language arts than they would have over a typical year. The evidence was most pronounced in the younger grade levels. But the most concerning impacts, according to Hough, were that kids in socioeconomically disadvantaged groups, which in the study included low-income students and English language-learning kids, were further behind than their peers. “In the fifth grade, our research shows that students learning English are about 30 percent behind where they would be in a normal year in English language arts, compared to 10 percent for students that are not learning English,” Hough said. And this is a significant group: English-learning students make up almost a fifth of California’s public school po[CENSORED]tion, according to California Department of Education estimates from 2019. Although some may already be fluent in English, more than 40% of the students enrolled in California public schools overall — some 2.5 million kids — speak a language other than English at home. More than 81% of English-learning students in California schools speak Spanish, according to the state statistics. Larry Ferlazzo teaches history and English to non-native-speaking students of all levels at Luther Burbank.He tries to make the best of “Zoom school” by teaching with humor and interactive online quizzes. But the quality is not the same as learning face-to-face, he said, where gestures and informal interaction can help student comprehension. “There’s no question that grades are suffering, not just for [English-learners], but for all students,” Ferlazzo said about how students are doing nationwide. He writes extensively about education trends and improving school instruction for national outlets such as EdWeek. During a couple of his online classes one recent Wednesday morning, almost all students had their cameras off, with just cartoon characters or animal photos to represent their space on the screen. Students responded to Ferlazzo or teacher aide questions by writing in the chat, instead of verbalizing their answer. But the technical glitches and physical distance are not the only thing preventing non-native English speakers from learning more. Ferlazzo says many of his students are children of immigrants from all over the world — Afghanistan, Central America, Vietnam, and the Pacific Islands — and family responsibilities sometimes keep them from attending class. “Many of our students are having to take care and assist younger siblings,” he said. “A fair number of our students are also having to work nearly full time to help their families during the recession.” And Ferlazzo says he hears of a case of COVID among one of his students, or their family members, at least once a week. “When you’re sick, when you’re worried, you just can’t concentrate,” he said. Hough says the learning gap between disadvantaged groups and other students during the pandemic is directly tied to the different supports kids have at home. “In some families, students have full time tutors, or even a credentialed teacher, who's at home supporting their learning. Or a parent who doesn't work, who's supporting their learning full time,” she said. “On the other end of the continuum, we have families where perhaps there isn't an adult at home during the day at all because all adults in the family are out working multiple jobs.” The California Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom are still deadlocked about how to reopen schools, and what resources will be available when they do. Samantha Tran of Children Now says policymakers should focus resources on the most disadvantaged kids, such as English language learners, and that should include summer school and partnerships with community-based organizations. “How do we address some of this learning loss in a way that engages kids, that gets them excited about learning, and dare I say … be fun?” Tran asked. Emili Carrillo has juggled many things during the pandemic, including being a peer tutor for Ferlazzo’s class. She says she knows teachers are trying their best to connect with students during the pandemic, but she still sometimes has trouble communicating. Carrillo will likely be able to feel more connected to her peers and teachers in a couple of months. The Sacramento City Unified School District plans to restart in-person instruction for the youngest grade levels in early April. High schoolers would see each other again in May, but only if the COVID threat level goes down in the county.

#PRO good activity

A volunteer school tuckshop program operating in Queensland's most diverse city is helping migrants and refugees gain confidence and settle into Australia's working culture. The city of Logan, south of Brisbane, is home to people from 217 different cultures — many are new residents who have only recently arrived in Australia and feel daunted by the prospect of trying to find a job. Now a local school tuckshop program, Connections Through Cooking, is working with refugees and migrants to help them make friends, gain work experience and sharpen their English-speaking skills. After launching two years ago, the program now operates across 15 schools around Logan City and South Brisbane. Aimee Johnston from Queensland Association of School Tuckshops (QAST) said the not-for-profit organisation thought the program was a win-win for volunteers, school students and the tuckshops, which are often struggling to secure volunteers."We were working at the time to try and encourage people from diverse backgrounds to understand what a tuckshop is and how it runs," she said. "It's quite different from countries overseas where students might go home for lunch or it's provided by the schools."Ms Johnston said school students were also benefitting from the program. "A lot of the students, particularly down here in Logan, they themselves come from diverse backgrounds so it's really friendly and welcoming to see someone from their own culture in the tuckshop," Ms Johnston said.As part of the program, QAST helps volunteers apply for and secure a blue card, which enables them to work with children. Two years since it was launched, dozens of migrants and refugees have now gone through the program with some gaining paid employment at tuckshops or in other hospitality roles. Geeta More, who migrated from India, has been volunteering since the program started in 2019 and said the tuckshop she works at has asked for her chicken curry recipe to add to its menu.Woodridge State School in the heart of Logan City is home to roughly 800 students. Tuckshop convenor, Charlene Hope has been working at the school for 18 years and said she can often make more than 50 lunches a day. "I am the only one here usually so I rely on the volunteers to get through the day," Ms Hope said. "They're very hard workers and they want to try and make everything, so there's no drama with 'I don't want to do this job, I don't want to do that'," she said. "I've got a couple [of volunteers] now that don't even have kids at the school anymore and they still come back.""I feel confident when I come to tuckshop. I can learn new words from the food and from my friends — they explain to me so many things I never knew before," she said.

Welcome

¤ Nickname: SliCeR ¤ Name: Mohamed ¤ Age: 16 ¤ Country: egypt ¤ City: Sohag ¤ Favorite Games: cs 16, pubg, fortnite ¤ Favorite Shows: - ¤ Favorite movies: - ¤ Favorite Songs / Favorite genre: rap - romantic ¤ What would you like to do in life: just live it, and thanks god for everything ¤ Favorite actor - why ?: - ¤ Favorite actress - why ?: - ¤ You Smoke? / What brand of cigarette smoke: merit, Marlboro ¤ What alcoholic drink frequently: - ¤ Favorite juice: - ¤ In what country would you like to live: England ¤ Favorite football team: al ahly egyptian ¤ Car models: - ¤ A brief description about you: A simple person ¤ How did you find NewLifeZm?: old member here ¤ If you win 1 million dollars, which would be the first thing you do?: nothing xd

On Dec. 4, users of a simple Android program — a barcode scanner — started witnessing odd behavior when their smartphones suddenly began opening up their browser to display unwanted advertisements. While the devices exhibited the hallmarks of a malware or adware infection, the compromises puzzled most users since they had not recently downloaded new software, according to an analysis by endpoint security firm Malwarebytes. Instead, the malicious behaviors came from a software update to a po[CENSORED]r application — the generically named "Barcode Scanner," with millions of downloads. An enterprising group bought the code and then pushed a malicious update to every user of the application.The supply chain attack is a new technique — buying applications, along with their software base, and then pushing out updates with malicious code — that will likely grow in po[CENSORED]rity among cybercriminals, says Nathan Collier, senior malware intelligence analyst at Malwarebytes. "Now that this has been done, I can definitely see it happening more in the future," he says. "Honestly, for malware developers it's kind of genius that they can just do this — let someone else build something, have it on Google Play for years. You are buying the ability to update all of the users to a new version of the app." Already, a second group used a similar tactic to infect millions of users with malicious code through a po[CENSORED]r Google Chrome extension. In early February, Google removed the Great Suspender utility for Chrome, which reduces the memory consumed by the browser through shutting down old tab processes, after the original maintainer of the open source project sold the code to an unknown group. Users of the extension noticed in October 2020 that new owners had installed updated code on users' systems without notification — code that appeared to behave similar to adware. The technique for distributing malicious code comes as developers and security firms are trying to detect attackers who compromise code bases and insert malicious modifications. Skipping the initial requirements of compromising the code base makes the attack simpler, Bishop Fox CEO Vinnie Liu told Dark Reading earlier this month. "The secure development life cycle has for 15 years been focused on preventing the inadvertent introduction of vulnerabilities by developers, and not against identifying and preventing the purposeful insertion of malicious code or behavior into an existing application," he said. "Developers are unprepared for this. Most enterprise security programs are unprepared for this." Paying for access to a vulnerable system is not necessarily new, however. Cybercriminals services that sell access to already compromised systems have evolved over the past decade; such services now account for a large number of ransomware infections. In 2016, cybersecurity experts were already warning of the emergence of access-as-a-service sites used by cybercriminals. Other gray-market groups use a more subtle approach, creating advertising software development kits (SDKs) used by developers to monetize their applications, but then adding aggressive advertising or even malicious code to the third-party component. In August, for example, researchers at security firm Snyk revealed that an SDK used by more than 1,200 iOS applications had adopted code to spy on millions of users. Compromising the supply chain directly is also becoming more common. Many cybercriminals and nation-state operators have targeted po[CENSORED]r software and vendors — such as the software compromise that allowed NotPetya to spread and the attack on SolarWinds — as a way to eventually infect companies using the software. By targeting struggling but po[CENSORED]r software projects, however, cybercriminals have added another door into the supply chain for their code. The Barcode Scanner app behind the latest case appeared on the Google Play store in 2017 as a legitimate, ad-driven application with tens of thousands of users, according to Malwarebytes. At the time of its sale to an organization named LavaBird LLC, the application had about 10 million downloads and an extensive user base, according to Malwarebytes. LavaBird says the company then sold it to another third party, who made the malicious modifications, Collier says. "The clean version was on there for a long, long time ... so it was growing and growing and growing before it got taken up by LavaBird," he says. "They bought it with the intention of selling it as quickly as they can, but the problem is they did zero verification on who they were selling it to."

DC has revealed the creative teams for Milestone Comics heroes Hardware, Icon and Rocket, who are returning for their first series since the 90s.Milestone Comics heroes Hardware, Icon and Rocket return after a nearly 25-year hiatus with new creative teams in Milestone Returns #0 Infinite Edition, DC Comics has announced. Denys Cowan, the original artist on Hardware during its first run in 1993, returns to the character with Bill Sienkiewicz. Hardware: Season One will be written by Brandon Thomas, and covers will be illustrated by Mateus Mahanini. Icon and Rocket Season One will be written by Reginald Hudlin and Leon Chills and illustrated by Doug Braithwaite. Taurin Clarke provides the covers. Director/producer Hudlin was executive producer for the animated series The Boondocks and had a run writing Black Panther for Marvel.Originally offered during DC FanDome, Milestone Returns #0 was a 17-page reintroduction of the "Dakotaverse" heroes. The "Extended Cut" adds 24 pages, incorporating a modern take on how several of them gained metahuman powers during a police brutality protest that came to be known as "the Big Bang." Hardware is genius scientist and inventor Curtis Metcalf, who uses self-made body armor and equipment against his foes. Icon is Arnus, a strange visitor from another planet stranded on Earth. Extraordinarily long-lived, Arnus uses the guise of lawyer Augustus Freeman IV, his own great-grandson. His partner Rocket is Raquel Ervin, a teenager from a poor section of Dakota who coaxes him to stop hiding his powers and help the city. Written by Brandon Thomas and illustrated by Denys Cowan and Bill Sienkiewicz, with cover by Mateus Mahanini, Hardware: Season One will be available digitally Aug. 15. Written by Reginald Hudlin and Leon Chills and illustrated by Doug Braithwaite, with cover by Taurin Clarke, Icon and Rocket: Season One will be available digitally June 27. Milestone Returns #0: Infinite Edition is available now on participating digital platforms, with the print version available to purchase on May 25.

Pokémon might be renowned for its cooperative gameplay, delightful spinoffs, and making an intimidating genre approachable, but the franchise also has a long history of creative and interesting gadgets. The series is bursting with technology. The original in-game pokédex clearly takes inspiration from early Palm Pilot-like devices, for example. And if you think about them, pokéballs are technological marvels: they somehow transform living creatures into particles that can be transported across the world (and in the TV show, the pokéballs can even shrink). So it’s not all that surprising that there have been many Pokémon-themed toys and hardware. We’ve collected just a few of the many memorable Pokémon gadgets in honor of the series’ 25th anniversary. The IRL devices range from gamified pedometers to custom video game consoles to actual pokéball replicas (though they can’t turn living things into particles just yet). There’s a lot of gear you can get if you want to catch ‘em all. Tiger Electronics and Hasbro released a toy pokédex in the late ‘90s, and I still consider it one of my favorite toys of all time. It was modeled after Ash’s pokédex from the first season of the TV show, though with a few different features to allow it to actually function as a real-life toy. It had a keypad and a number pad for searching information, a small screen that showed the pokémon you were looking at, and could show information about each pokémon like its height, weight, type, and some attacks it could learn. It made me feel like I was a bona fide pokémon trainer, and I remember spending hours reading up on different pokémon with my pokédex.My Pokémon Pikachu was a staple of my childhood. Released in 1998, it was a pocket-sized gadget that was kind of like a Tamagotchi, except you took care of a digital Pikachu. But it also had a built-in pedometer that you could activate just by shaking the device up and down. (Or, like in the commercials embedded above, jumping.) That shakeability meant that I was constantly bouncing the little device to earn a currency called watts. You could gift watts to Pikachu or, oddly, gamble them away at a slot machine. You can learn more about it on this delightful Nintendo Japan website that’s still around. Nintendo released an upgraded model, the Pokémon Pikachu 2 GS, in 1999 in Japan and 2000 in North America and Europe, according to Bulbapedia. It had a color screen and could connect to Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal via the Game Boy Color’s infrared port, allowing you to trade watts for items.Just look at this point-and-shoot camera. It has a giant Pikachu on one side, two poké balls hold the flash and the lens, and an adorable Diglett is the shutter button. The camera shot 35mm film, and each photo would also have a pokémon-themed border, according to the manual. (You can see that border, which featured Pikachu, Meowth, Squirtle, and Blastoise, in this album.) A couple eBay listings peg its release date as 1999.Hey You, Pikachu was a Nintendo 64 game that let you talk to Pikachu with the help of the Voice Recognition Unit, or VRU, that was bundled with the game. It was released in 1998 in Japan and 2000 in North America. You can see the VRU in the picture above — users clipped a large microphone to their controller, plugged that into a special module (which stored Pikachu’s 256-word vocabulary, according to Po[CENSORED]r Science), and then plugged that module into the Nintendo 64 itself. And speaking of Pikachu-themed hardware...The Pikachu-themed Nintendo 64, released in 2000, put a fun twist on the console’s design by making the on-off switch a poké ball and Pikachu’s right foot the reset button. I love how giant Pikachu is — it dominates almost half the console. And while I can’t remember ever actually using one of these myself, I imagine it must have been very satisfying to press Pikachu’s little foot to reset a game.The Pokémon mini was a tiny handheld console designed specifically to play Pokémon-themed games from cartridges. It was released in 2001 in North America and Japan and 2002 in Europe. It was 74mm x 58mm x 23mm — described on the still-active Pokémon mini Nintendo UK website as “well under half the size” of Nintendo’s iconic Game Boy Advance — and came in three colors. It even had motion sensing and rumble built in.The Pokémon Pikachu devices were succeeded by the poké ball-themed Pokéwalker in 2009, which was bundled with every copy of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Like the Pokémon Pikachu, the Pokéwalker was a pedometer, let you accumulate watts, and allowed you to take care of pokémon. But unlike the Pokémon Pikachu, you could transfer pokémon back and forth from the Pokéwalker, meaning you weren’t forced to only care for Pikachu. You could also find new wild pokémon and items directly on your Pokéwalker by spending watts to play mini-games.Nintendo released another poké ball-themed device in 2018 alongside Pokémon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokémon: Let’s Go, Eevee!: the Poké Ball Plus, an actual, functional game controller that’s compatible with the Nintendo Switch. You can play both games with the controller and catch pokémon by making a throwing motion with your arm. Similar to the Pokéwalker, you can also store pokémon inside the Poké Ball Plus, and they’ll even cry from inside it if you shake it around. The controller is also compatible with the huge mobile hit Pokémon Go.

BMW says that Android Auto is supported by every BMW model with a Live Cockpit Plus or Professional that runs on Operating System 7 (iDrive 7). From what we’ve seen online, only software versions that start with 07/2020 have the Android Auto option built-in. The following BMWs that have iDrive 7 are eligible for the update: However, the following models can only be updated by the dealership via a Software Update: BMW 5 Series, BMW 6 Series, BMW X3 and BMW X4.You can use any smartphone with Android 11.0 and 5GHz Wi-Fi. If your smartphone is made by Google or Samsung, you can use the Android 10.0 operating system. Latest requirements are listed here.Just like in the case of Apple CarPlay, Android Auto will be wireless. This means that owners of a smartphone with the Android operating system can now access their familiar smartphone apps in the vehicle, just like users of an Apple iPhone. Of course, you can always use a USB cable to charge your phone. Unless your car comes equipped with the wireless charging tray.The digital voice assistant Google Assistant is available in some markets. Now you can control your music or search for your next destination with “Hey, Google!”. You can dictate text messages or emails, along with many other functions.

You could say we’ve been branching out. Over the past year, Ireland’s forests have been gifting us a lockdown lease of life; breathing a much-needed dose of dúlra and solace into our daily grinds. From nature trails with the kids or bonding time with our dogs, to pushing through those 5Ks, Ireland’s woods have become our natural wellness escapes. We’ve watched red squirrels forage, seen buzzards soar, and enjoyed the real-life page shift of Ireland’s nature calendar as wild garlic flourished; and then bluebells; and later, conkers. But as we’ve grown to incorporate woodlands into our daily lives, could these open-air amenities become more rooted into our national getaway psyche. Could forest breaks become the new coastal getaways. And yes, could beech become the new beach? This week, Coillte revealed that in 2020, 2.2 million of us laid tracks in one of their 260 recreational woods located across the country. Visitors to the forests of the Dublin Mountains doubled, Curraghchase Park in Limerick saw its numbers triple, while in West Cork, Gougane Barra Forest Park saw numbers jump from 19,000 to 36,000. “We’re delighted so many people are using their local forests more during this difficult and prolonged Covid lockdown,” said Imelda Hurley, Coillte’s CEO. “Healthy forests are not only beautiful to look at but provide a much-needed physical and mental wellness boost.” But enjoying leisure time (not to mention the idea of overnighting) in an Irish forest may not be as accessible as you think, with Ireland falling well behind our EU neighbours in terms of tree coverage and as a consequence, tourism amenities. While historically shrouded in native oaks, Ireland dipped to just 1% forestry in the 1920s; we’re up to 11% a century later. That figure still sees us lagging behind on the tree table with both Finland and Sweden sitting at about 70%. However, the Irish Government has ambitious plans to plant 440 million trees by 2040; that’s about 8000 hectares (or 20,000 acres in old money) of woodland per year. With both reforestation and afforestation, plus a focus on embracing native species versus more biodiversity-sapping spruce plantations, Ireland’s forest fortunes now look a little more budding. How can this all impact Ireland’s tourism industry? While there are some exceptions, like Lough Key Forest Park in Roscommon and more recently Cabu by the Lakes in Cavan, there has never been a massive cabin culture in Ireland, nor myriad options to steal away to forests for a wilderness weekend. But this new appreciation of our woodlands together with green initiatives could see Ireland’s forests becoming a sustainable tourism niche for the future. Who knows? Maybe the next generation of Irish tourists will see a Center Parcs in every county or be able to spot a re-introduced wolf in the oak forests of Kerry? From these little acorns, a new niche of woodland tourism can surely grow. But while you wait for those saplings to take hold, here are three all-budget suggestions to get you inspired for your forest fix this summer.Castlewellan Forest Park in County Down was one of my travel revelations for 2020. The 460-hectare forested estate, located on the foothills of the Mourne mountains is backdropped by a stunning castle, a postcard lake, as well as one of Europe’s most significant arboretums. And best of all, you can overnight at Castlewellan’s fully serviced campsite. Once pitched up, enjoy a range of outdoor pursuits such as kayaking and e-biking, with super facilities here giving the experience a very well-oiled feel. Pitching rates from €17 per night; book via nidirect.gov.ukOn my list this summer is another trip to Gougane Barra Forest Park — one of Cork’s true wild highlights, often bypassed by tourists veering for the coast. A hiker’s heaven, the park features a number of trails, from short woodland walks to the more strenuous Slí na Sléibhe route, which bags some incredible mountain views. To stay, Gougane Barra Hotel, overlooking that gorgeous lake and chapel, offers an almost monastic sense of retreat — with luxury — while lunch and dinner menus are a mouth-watering hat-tip to locally sourced produce. From €150 per night; The Ballyhoura region and the Munster Vales have been emerging tourism brands in recent years, but the great outdoors movement may see their po[CENSORED]rity going up a gear this year. Nestled within the region’s foothills and forests, Ballyhoura Mountain Lodges remain something of a secret; their highly-rated cabins are sensitively designed with above par interiors and great views framing nature. Beyond them, you can enjoy forest loops, Ireland’s longest mountain biking trails, and regional attractions from Ballyhass Lakes to Limerick’s soon-to-launch greenway. Also dog-friendly. Summer rates from about €700 per week;

Francophobia has been a persistent part of French history, transmitted and modulated through several centuries. 17thcentury England constructed the first significant layer of Francophobia. The Americans may have borrowed Francophobia from England and then developed its version in the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Muslim world has begun to manufacture its variety of Francophobia. There are common themes in all three cases, though each version is era-specific. The French colonies and the French neighbors, particularly Germany, may also have views about France and its people, partly sharing the Francophobia accounts discussed here.In broad terms, phobias are sore beliefs about things, creatures, events, peoples, and nations. Prominent phobias involve persons and communities. Personal phobias are anxiety-producing states of mind, such as fear of heights, flying, and crowded spaces. By contrast, communal phobias (c-phobias) such as Islamophobia and Francophobia are disdainful stereotypes about race, religion, ethnicity, and nations. Racism, xenophobia, religious fanaticism, and supremacism nurture close bonds with c-phobias. Unlike personal phobias, no therapies are available to resolve c-phobias. As fables, c-phobias carry both elements of falsehood and truth. Exaggerations, miscomprehensions, misinterpretations, skewed observations, and plain lies constitute the organicity of the c-phobias. However, no enduring c-phobia is entirely untruthful. Almost always, the originators of the c-phobias see more truth in them than the target communities. Francophobia is credible for the English, the Americans, and the Muslims, but not for the French. C-phobias are cross-communal, as they arise from intense interaction between the phobia-originators and target communities. Cultural contrast, war, competition, and domination/subordination, all stretched over decades, grow mutually phobic misapprehensions. C-phobias become worldwide if a target community is globally influential. Thus, Muslim Francophobia is likely to acquire an international accreditation given the history of French colonialism, Muslims’ presence in France, and Muslim po[CENSORED]tions’ size and spread globally. Furthermore, c-phobias are mutually solidifying. If the French people are Islamophobic, Muslims are likely to engender Francophobia. One phobia feeds the other. This cross-feeding was most spiritedly present in English Francophobia, as both the English and the French cooked stereotypes about each other, particularly during wars. This article does not examine the French views about the English and Americans. However, the current c-phobias raging between the French and the Muslims warrant a discussion of both sides.Tim Harris, an English historian, explains that 17th-century England had little appreciation for the French people and portrayed them as cowardly, gambling, hypersexual, chomping “Excellent sallats.” That the French are “lewd and immoral by Anglo-Saxon standards” lingers as a modern stereotype. This English stamp on an entire nation originated in part as an adverse reaction to Louis XIV (1643-1715), the Sun King of France, a triumphant King. Louis XIV transformed France into an art-loving and self-respecting nation. The Palace of Versailles is the King’s outstanding contribution to world architecture. Unfortunately, a narrow-minded Louis XIV did not understand religion’s dynamics, particularly the emerging Protestant movement. He first used force to convert Protestants to the Catholic faith. Upon seeing failure, the King arbitrarily revoked the Edict of Nantes (1598), a contract with the Protestants and Huguenots guaranteeing religious freedom. Frustrated more and more in his uneducated mind, the King conducted merciless persecution, forcing thousands to flee France. The English perceived France as essentially a militarized state in which no laws bind the King and the institutions under him. The “love of the prince” permeated the French consciousness. The French adored totalitarianism, and to please first the Pope and later the King, the French judges ignored the written law. Judiciary was institutionally unfree as the King sold judicial offices as inheritable property. The English phobia toward the French political and legal system was an English yearning not to allow their kings to impose royal tyranny over the English parliament and judiciary.Unlike the settlers and immigrants from other parts of Europe, the French who migrated to America were more prone to “forget” their homeland and happily assimilate into the dominant Anglo culture and sensibilities. Except for Quebec in Canada, most French immigrants have willingly anglicized themselves, an argument that constructs American Francophobia: The French were happier to leave an oppressive country without religious and economic freedoms. Justin Vaisse, a French historian, argues that the negative American perception of the French crystallized in World War II, as France did not put up a good fight against the Germans. Paralleling the English view that the French are cowardly, American Francophobia did not take kindly the French appeasement of the 1930s. That the French inflate their charm and competence also receives tracking among American ruling elites. Senator John McCain (1936-2018) compared France with “an aging actress of the 1940s who is still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn’t have the face for it.” House Speaker Newt Gingrich (the bigmouth) called France a “malicious” nation. American intellectuals on the left have little confidence in the French democratic order. There is a common perception among academics of all strains that the French laws and courts do not respect minorities. (I share that view). Oppression and disrespect for diversity are parts of Francophobia. American Jews migrating from France brought unpleasant memories, and many Jewish commentators accuse France of anti-Semitism. Even American restaurants joined Francophobia by changing “French fries” (a name that did not originate in France) into “freedom fries.” French sexuality continues to ignite Francophobia. An article in the Paris Review records the views of historians, scientists, sex therapists, and journalists invited to discuss American and French sexual sensibilities. A Stanford feminist scholar says that French love seeks fulfillment in adultery. “Flirting is a civic duty in France,” says another panelist. Older French women entice young men, even teenagers, and carry “repository of sexual history.” For the French, love is not an abstract ideal but “embedded in the flesh.” American Francophobia is much softer than its English counterpart, perhaps because Americans did not fight any hot wars with France. However, as discussed below, Muslim Francophobia may tilt one way or the other, depending on how hard the French ruling elites come down on the French Muslims and how much violence Muslim immigrants commit to vent frustration over disrespect for their families and Islamic identity.Muslim Francophobia is relatively new and under construction. France ruled North African and Middle Eastern countries as a colonial power for decades, leaving behind bitter memories of cruelty. The immigration of North African and Turk Muslims to France has prompted cultural conflict over Islamic hijab, homeschooling, mosque-building, and the Prophet of Islam’s cartoons. Islam is the second-largest religion in France, and no other European nation has a comparable size of the Muslim po[CENSORED]tion. Sporadic violence perpetrated by Muslim juveniles invites stricter laws and state oppression. France is undoubtedly nervous about the influx of Muslims in its cities and towns. However, facts do not demonstrate that post-colonial France is anti-Islamic. In foreign relations, France distinguishes itself as a U.N. Security Council veto-holding member that supports reluctantly and sometimes opposes Muslim nations’ invasions and the global war on terror, provoking American ire. Ayatollah Khomeini, who brought down the Shah of Iran in 1979, planned the Iranian revolution’s final details “in a sleepy village outside Paris.” Nearly 10 Muslim-majority nations, mostly in Africa, use French as an official language, though the French troops in Mali infuriate many Africans. Like everywhere else, the right-wing political parties in France exaggerate the threats Islam poses to French secularism. Jean-Marie Le Pen (1928- ) and his daughter Marine Le Pen have introduced a vicious concoction of Islamophobia and xenophobia, arguing that the French Muslims are corroding the French way of life. In 2015, Marine Le Pen compared Muslims praying in the French streets to the Nazi occupation, a case of hate speech for which she was tried but acquitted. Right-wing Islamophobia and the consequent Francophobia, as the synergistic opposites, bolster each other. French values and Islamic values, despite noted similarities, are portrayed as mutually exclusive. Right-wingers see French Muslims as stubborn foreigners, unwilling to dilute their faith in favor of secularism, a concept central to modern Frenchness. They maintain that France cannot accept a view of Islam that, in addition to faith, imports the Arab and Turkish culture. What is most worrisome is the spill-over effect of the right-wing ideology into mainstream politics. A significant majority of the French lawmakers are willing to pass legislation that would allow mosques’ surveillance and curb homeschooling. This legislation justified under the national security pretext will spawn a wide-reaching disdain against France. Already, Muslim governments have communicated their displeasure with the bill. Though not exclusively related to Muslims’ surveillance, a new Security Bill bans the filming of police activities. Such oppressive legal measures breastfeed Francophobia. Elsewhere, I have argued that anti-religious secularism, a formula practiced in the Soviet Union, is far less sustainable than non-religious secularism, a form adopted in the First Amendment. Secularism that allows religious freedom to individuals and communities but prevents state institutions from adopting any “official” religion is empirically superior to a model that condemns religion as non-scientific or anti-development. Like the Soviet Union, France will fail to impose anti-religious secularism under which both the state and ordinary individuals must be non-religious. As the prior versions of Francophobia assert, the 21st-century French judiciary has been, for the most part, subservient to political forces (the King). Muslims have been unable to find relief in domestic courts. From trial courts to the highest courts, the judges uphold Islamic clothing restrictions and acquit politically influential hate-mongers. After exhausting local remedies, Muslims, their French sympathizers, and human rights organizations have challenged several discriminatory laws in the European Court of Human Rights, located in Strasbourg. This trend will continue as France legislates even harsher measures to suppress homeschooling, mosques’ surveillance and the Islamic notions of privacy and sexuality. If anything, Francophobia’s sexual notions will likely become part of Muslims’ critique of the French culture. The French sexuality tied to adultery will gain a wider negative press in the Muslim world, portraying the French as morally decadent, just as the Anglo-Saxons did in the prior centuries. The French laws prohibiting the Islamic hijab even in private schools will be propagandized as a state-sponsored policy to corrupt Muslim families and lure Muslim women into debauchery (what the French might call sexual enlightenment).Francophobia has lingered over the centuries, particularly in Anglo-Saxon countries. Among frivolous insults, Francophobia contends, carrying hints of truthfulness, that the French laws do not respect diversity, that the French judiciary is submissive to political forces, and that the French sexuality is unfettered, bordering compulsive sexual disorder. Though partly inflated, unfortunately, these claims are likely to become parts of widespread Francophobia. How badly the French ruling elites treat the French Muslims and how much violence the French Muslims perpetrate to protest their existential marginalization will further forge Francophobia.

The growing demand from investors and society at large for corporate compliance with environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices are pushing companies from different verticals to adapt their working methods and business procedures. With this in mind, Argentine software group Globant launched the Sustainable Business Studio to help customers gradually transition their businesses to the new green economy. “I decided it was a good and important challenge to twinning the digitalization and the sustainability aspects,” geologist Elena Morettini (pictured), who is head of Globant’s initiative, told BNamericas. The Sustainable Business Studio, whose LatAm neural center is located in Buenos Aires and the global operation in London, aims to provide organizations with tools to support climate action and to act with a more responsible business model. It will offer analysis of climate risks and opportunities, diagnostics and environmental, social and corporate governance reports, in addition to climate due diligence. Globant will also provide technical knowledge, digital tools and fundamental changes to support customers on the path to carbon neutral certification. Finally, there is also consultancy and training for senior executives and training programs across the organization. According to Morettini, a former geoscience advisor to Argentina’s state-owned oil and gas firm YPF, the initiative is directed not only to energy firms, which tend to be the most obvious and immediate focus of the "green IT" discussions, but to companies from other segments as well. Launched in December, the Sustainable Business Studio has not yet booked any specific projects but initial talks have started, Morettini said. “Budget matters, but it’s above all about changing culture. We’re entering the so-called decade of action to deal urgently with climate change, which means that we need to readjust and rethink mentalities and practices in favor of business legitimacy,” said the executive, to whom major corporates in the region are increasingly in tune with the ESG agenda. Practical sustainable examples that Globant promotes internally range from unnecessary email responses (such as “thank you” replies) to the adoption of carbon neutral certified partners and suppliers, said Morettini. Prior to YPF, where she spent 12 years, Morettini was president of energy transition at the Argentine oil and gas institute (IAPG). Her past roles also include reservoir geologist at Shell. In 2018, Morettini also led the B20 Argentina task force on energy, resource efficiency, and sustainability. B20, or Business 20, is the G20’s private sector initiative. Morettini left YPF last year to found a consultancy called: because energy matterS. And in November she was hired by Globant to lead the Sustainable Business Studio.The COVID-19 pandemic did not have an incremental impact on Globant's Q4 performance, according to CFO Juan Urthiague. In Q4, the group reported revenues of US$233mn, with an increase of 26.2% year-over-year. For the full year, revenues amounted to US$814mn, up 23.5%. Around 66% of Q4 revenues came from North America, 24% from Latin America and “others" and 9.8% from Europe, Urthiague told an earnings call. Latin America showed continued strength, growing at 54% year-over-year and 22.4% sequentially. “We are seeing very good traction there [in Latin America]. The operation in Brazil and Mexico also keeps improving. Brazil was a challenge for a while and we were able to make it happen and we keep on growing there and Mexico,” said Urthiague. “Then, all the other countries more or less stayed the same. All of them grew in absolute numbers. Argentina decreased a little bit, as a percentage of the total headcount, but also grew in an absolute number," he said. Globant’s top three industry verticals by revenue contribution are banks, financial services and insurance; media and entertainment; and consumer retail and manufacturing. One of the major clients in Latin America is AB InBev, the world's largest consumer beverage company. Globant has been working on their digital transformation in parts of the region, applying AI to help with revenue management, sales and operations. In December, Globant teamed up with Argentine e-commerce giant MercadoLibre on a joint program known as Certified Tech Developer, a training program designed to achieve rapid job placement for young Latin American developers in the tech industry. The program will be carried out together with Digital House. Globant and MercadoLibre aim to provide 2,500 scholarships and train more than 15,000 people throughout the region.

PLI in IT hardware: The government is also estimating production worth Rs 3.26 lakh crore and exports worth Rs 2.45 lakh crore in four yearsAmid huge reliance on imports for IT hardware including laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs, and servers, the union cabinet has approved production link incentive for IT hardware products. The total cost of the proposed scheme is pegged to be approximately Rs 7,350 crore over four years. "PLI for IT Hardware products will be a game-changer for the electronic manufacturing industry. The scheme will help in generating more value add in the country and exports too. We hope to see a strong electronic component chain also developing alongside with the help of these schemes," says Manish Sharma, Chairman, FICCI Electronics and White Goods Manufacturing Committee. As the scheme proposes a production linked incentive to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in the value chain of IT Hardware, it is likely to benefit five major global players and 10 domestic champions in the above-mentioned hardware categories. "Government is trying to attract large scale setups in India in an effort to make India as the preferred manufacturing and importantly export hub. To do that, large scale setups are needed which showcases long term commitment, huge financial investment in the country along with other key benefits like giving an impetus to innovation, R&D and employment generation," says Navkender Singh, Research Director, Client Devices & IPDS, IDC India. According to the details shared by the ministry, the scheme shall extend an incentive of 4 per cent to 2 per cent/1 per cent on net incremental sales (over base year i.e. 2019-20) of goods manufactured in India and covered under the target segment, to eligible companies, for a period of four years. This will enhance the development of the electronics ecosystem in the country and position India as a global hub for Electronics System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) on account of integration with global value chains, thereby becoming a destination for IT hardware exports. This scheme is expected to lead to the total production of up to Rs 3.26 lakh crore over the next four years and is also expected to boost exports significantly. Out of the total production in the next four years, more than 75 per cent is expected to be exports to the tune of Rs 2.45 lakh crore. It will bring additional investment in electronics manufacturing to the tune of Rs 2,700 crore. And the direct and indirect revenues generated from production under this scheme are expected to be Rs 15,760 crore over the next four years. "Over a third of laptop or tablets are locally assembled as compared to 95 per cent in mobile phones. And hence a push is required and PLI is coming at the right time when the global supply chain is looking at various alternatives than depending on one country or nation. It presents India a great opportunity to position itself as an alternative," Tarun Pathak, Associate Director at Counterpoint Research The government is also estimating production worth Rs 3.26 lakh crore and exports worth Rs 2.45 lakh crore in four years. While it will encourage local product manufacturing in the PC segment, industry leaders foresee a few challenges too. "At Acer, we believe, the production-linked incentive scheme is a great start and is going to fuel the entire manufacturing ecosystem in India for IT products. However ITA-1 is still a handicap and in future, we hope the government will increase the outlay to enable higher levels of investment in IT manufacturing by both global and domestic IT hardware companies," says Sudhir Goel, Chief Business Officer, Acer India. The announcement of the scheme gives an impression that localising electronic products in India will not just drive true local value addition but also will lead to more jobs in the country. Given the momentum India has, PLI on more consumer electronic products will drive more players to set up operations in India. Also read: Cabinet approves PLI scheme for manufacturing laptops, tablets, PCs, servers locally Also read: Cabinet approves PLI scheme for pharmaceuticals, to bring Rs 15,000 cr investment Read More

Tomorrow marks 25 years since the first Pokémon titles debuted on Nintendo’s Game Boy in Japan – and developer Game Freak has announced two new games to mark the occasion, both inspired by 2006’s Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. The first releases are Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, remakes of the Nintendo DS originals for Nintendo Switch, out later this year. Pokémon Legends Arceus, an adventure set in the region of Sinnoh’s past, and resembling a blend of Pokémon Stadium and Breath of the Wild, will be released in 2022, also on Nintendo Switch. It is a significant diversion from the usual turn-based fights and tightly controlled exploration of a Pokémon game, with free movement and wild creatures roaming an open world. These nostalgic new games tap into the immense fondness that an earlier generation of Pokémon players, now in their 20s, feel for the original Nintendo DS games and their stable of cute creatures. Like Nintendo’s other venerable series Mario and Zelda, which are celebrating their 35th anniversary, Pokémon is becoming cross-generational, as players who first enjoyed these adventures on monochrome Game Boys have children of their own. Pokémon is one of the world’s bestselling video games series, selling over 368 million copies across all its many titles as of March 2020. It has remained po[CENSORED]r since surging to the forefront of pop culture in the late 1990s, and then again in 2016, when Niantic’s Pokémon Go had millions roaming their neighbourhoods catching critters on smartphones. This year will also see the release of New Pokémon Snap, a sequel to 1999’s Pokémon photography game on the Nintendo 64, on 30 April. I'm one of those people in their "twenties" (31) who grew up on the old Pokemon games. I got really into the Switch thanks to lockdown but I when played Sword and Shield I thought they were a bit crap, to be honest. The idea of releasing a remake alongside a bold new iteration is a clever one. Diamond and Pearl weren't the best in the series but they were good, and the new open world is a chance for Gamefreak to actually spread their wings a little. I know they basically print money but they can't be all that creatively satisfied at churning out the same game over and over. I love the idea of an instalment set in the Meiji era, and though I'm a little bit underwhelmed at the graphics and performance above I would assume a lot will change in a year.

BMW Motorrad India has launched the new BMW R nineT and BMW R nineT Scrambler in India for Rs 18.50 lakh and 16.75 lakh respectively. The motorcycles are now available at BMW Motorrad dealerships across India and are available as completely built-up units (CBU).Both motorcycles are a throwback to the classic BMW motorcycles of yore and bring them back to the modern era with the latest technology and reliability underneath the retro styling. Smarter design cues include modern tech like the newly designed circular instrument with analogue speedometer display and integrated indicator lights, housed in a high-quality metal casing and bearing the BMW logo. The models now have state-of-the-art LED headlamps including daytime running lights. The motorcycles use the 1,170cc, air and oil-cooled, 2-cylinder boxer engines keeping true to their lineage. The engine gets a new DOHC cylinder head with four valves per cylinder and power is transferred to the wheels via a 6-speed transmission and a shaft drive. The engine produces 109bhp and a maximum torque of 119Nm helping the motorcycles accelerate from 0-100kmph in 3.5 seconds, going on to achieve a top speed of 200kmph.The R nineT and R nineT Scrambler also get two standard riding modes, Rain and Road that make use of the Automatic Stability Control or BMW’s traction control system. Dynamic Brake Control (DBC) along with ABS Pro helps the 4-piston calliper brakes not only stop with assurance but also aid braking while cornering. The rear suspension is also new and is preload adjustable although the R nineT sports upside down forks while the Scrambler sticks to a traditional fork setup.

Most people have seen the hashtag #vanlife on social media and the image it conjures up is of young millennials in shiny, decked-out campers waking up to a sunrise in Big Sur. But in Chloé Zhao’s new film, Nomadland, an older woman named Fern goes on the road after her husband dies and the company-owned mining town she used to live in is left abandoned as a casualty of 2008’s Great Recession. Based on a book by the same name, the movie gives audiences a glimpse into the nomad community of America. To make it more realistic, the director chose to cast a lot of real-life nomads to play versions of themselves in the film. One such person is nomad Bob Wells, the vlogger and author who's arguably the most famous of these real-life nomads featured in the film. But for those who aren’t initiated into the nomadic lifestyle, who exactly is the real Bob Wells? Bob Wells has been a full-time nomad for the past 12 years. He’s the founder of CheapRVLiving, a website where he shares tips for how to live on the road, and he also runs a non-profit called the Home on Wheels Alliance, which funds programs in service of the nomadic community. Before he became committed to a nomadic lifestyle, Bob lived in Anchorage, Alaska, where he worked as a union clerk. He enjoyed all the usual perks of modern life until his divorce at the age of 40. Suddenly, Bob was paying child support and alimony, which left him in dire financial straits. One day, as he was worried about his finances, Bob came across a van for sale. He bought it, gave his landlord notice, and started to live out of the van. At first, Bob was devastated that his life had come to living out of a vehicle. But after a while, he had a change of heart and “fell in love with the freedom, simplicity, frugality, independence, and earth-friendliness of the nomadic way of life.” After the first month of not having to pay rent, his finances started to improve, and soon, Bob was able to customize his van. He also didn’t have to work as many hours in the week to keep up with his expenses and was consequently able to start spending more time with his sons. Realizing the better quality of life the van had afforded him, Bob started Cheap RV Living in 2005 so he could share his valuable knowledge. He started to grow a loyal following and after the Great Recession, Bob realized the community was bigger than ever. He went on to create a live meetup group called Rubber Tramp Rendezvous, a version of which is featured in Nomadland. The event started out with 45 vans in 2011, but by 2018, it had grown to an estimated 10,000. And Bob sees the nomad community continuing to grow in the years to come. “If the Great Recession was a crack in the system, Covid and climate change will be the chasm,” he told The Guardian. But with his YouTube channel and the Home on Wheels Alliance, Bob hopes to be able to guide many more people in their pursuit of a nomadic lifestyle.

Having whittled down proposals from over 200 artists after January’s open call for submissions, four individuals aged between 18 and 25 will now create works inspired by an English Heritage site of their choice. Charged with rethinking what heritage means in a modern context, the quartet will explore their selected historic setting – digitally at first, in person when restrictions allow – to draw out ideas for a new work. “Inevitably it was incredibly difficult to narrow down to the four successful artists,” says Dr Dominique Bouchard, head of learning and interpretation at English Heritage, who served on the judging panel. “Across more than 400 of the country’s most important historic places, English Heritage’s sites have been offering inspiration to artists for more than 6,000 years. Now, we are excited to get a new perspective on these places through the lenses of these exciting young artists. I can’t wait to see how they use their creative energy to engage the next generation with the stories they have to tell.” The commissions form part of England’s New Lenses, a broader partnership between Photoworks and English Heritage’s Shout Out Loud national youth engagement programme. The scheme is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and supported by the UK Government’s Youth Accelerator Fund.

Oxbotica is a U.K.-based company that takes care of the navigation, perception, user interface, fleet management, and other intricate features and software required to power self-driving vehicles. This startup was launched in 2014 by Paul Newman and Igmar Posner, both professors at the Oxford University. From then onwards, this company has grown from one strength to another. The main aim of Oxbotica is to create software that drives autonomous vehicles without having to depend on any third-party for the conduction of operations. Oxbatica recently raised $47 million of funding in the Series B round, taking the net funding to about $76.4 million. This funding would be primarily utilized towards accelerating the commercial deployment of the software in the leading industries and markets all over the globe. Self-driven cars have captured millions of people’s attention, but these cars have not been deployed on a large scale due to safety concerns. Oxbotica aims to bridge this gap and provide software that acknowledges all the situations. The basic technology in play here is a general adversarial network (GAN) based simulation technology-selenium. The GAN works as a generative model that employs two neural network models where one model is known as the generator, and the other is the generative network. This technology, when applied successfully, generates photorealistic images within a brief time. The technology can reverse the road signage and even change a particular image’s lighting to demonstrate the different times of the day or even the seasonal change. For example- it can replace a tree with a building in the photorealistic image while also ensuring that the reflection indicates precisely what it should. These synthetic images are deployed to teach the software aptly and to verse it well with reality. The technology generates every possible experience down to even raindrops.The platform that Oxbotica is developing seeks to include mapping, simulation, indexing, logging, diagnostics, and vehicle to vehicle communication. This software will also need less computing power and would easily blend in with cloud management. Safety will be the primary concern in the development of this software. For that purpose, lidar sensors, radar for localization and perception have been put into place. All these will increase the fleet’s intelligence, and therefore the safety of any individual will not be put into jeopardy by the self-driven vehicle. This software has been practically implemented on private roads, test tracks, and simulations for hundreds of thousands of miles. It has been found to work in almost all scenarios across the American, European, and Australian tracks. Oxbotica also plans to retain the vehicle’s manual control, thereby making the vehicle function dually. The company also conducts regular penetration testing to look out for potential hackers who could wreak havoc. With the world facing a pandemic, this technology’s deployment is likely to take place sooner than expected. Self-driving cars, vans, and trucks will help control the pandemic as it will reduce person-to-person contact. This could also potentially assist in establishing the trust of people with autonomous vehicles.

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved a production-linked Incentive scheme for IT Hardware. The scheme proposes an incentive to boost domestic manufacturing and attract large investments in the value chain of IT Hardware. The target segment under the proposed scheme includes laptops, tablets, all-in-one PCs, and servers said Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. The total cost of the proposed scheme is approximately Rs.7,350 crore over 4 years, which includes an incentive outlay of Rs.7,325 crore and administrative charges of Rs 25 crore. "Rs 30,000 crore worth of laptops and Rs 3,000 crore worth of tablets are currently sold in India. Of this, more than 80 per cent is imported. As a result of the latest PLI, the government hopes to draw to India the top 5 global companies which control 50 per cent of the international market. A total Rs 3,26,00 crore worth of production will be achieved, of which 75 per cent will be made up by exports," Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, said. The scheme has an employment generation potential of over 1,80,000 (direct and indirect) over 4 years. The Scheme will provide impetus to Domestic Value Addition for IT Hardware which is expected to rise to 20% - 25% by 2025. Government further extended the PLI scheme worth Rs 15,000 crore for pharmaceuticals, to reduce imports and boost domestic production. The minister said the pharmaceutical industry is $40 billion and our global contribution is 3.5 per cent but high-end patented drugs still come through imports. The PLI scheme will make India's pharmaceuticals globally competitive. Prasad further said that the Production-Linked Incentive Scheme for mobile phones and components which was announced in April during the height of Covid-19 delivered production worth Rs 35,000 crore, created 22,500 jobs, and brought around Rs 1,300 investment.