| Posted: 05 May 2020 08:32 PM PDT
| Academic IELTS Writing Task 2 Topic 04 Posted: 04 May 2020 05:57 PM PDT You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic: Children today play very violent games. This must be the reason for the increase in violence and crime in most major cities of the world. What are your opinions on this? Give reason for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words. Also check: IELTS Writing Task 2 Model answer 01: Nowadays most children regularly play games on a computer or their television. These games have become more violent over the past few years. In fact, many parents worry about this and the effect these games are having on their children. Some are concerned that playing violent games might encourage them to come aggressive in real life. What we need to establish is whether or not this is actually true. First, it may help to look back at the games that children used to play many years ago before the invention of computers. In those days children would probably have played popular board games such as Monopoly or Chess, or they may have played card games or some type of outdoor sport. These sports or games would probably only have encouraged children to become more competitive rather than violent. However, throughout history children have always played fighting games with toy or pretend weapons. Even now many parents will buy a toy gun or sword for their child. Why do we never read reports in the media about the impact plastic weapons could have on children? Perhaps this is because the link between play fighting and actual fighting is not very strong. In conclusion, the way children play games has changed with the times but the ideas behind those games have actually changed very little. Just as playing at soldiers did not increase violence in the past, I believe that playing computer games will not lead to an increase in violence in the future. I think that if we looked more closely at life in our major cities then we would find there are many other possible causes for the increase in crime and violence. (284 words) THIS TEST IS COLLECTED & IMPLEMENTED BY IELTSMATERIAL.COM ( Free IELTS Practice Tests – Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking Test| IELTS Exam Preparation – Free IELTS material and resources. Download IELTS Preparation Material & Tips) | | IELTS WRITING 2 PRACTICE TEST 19 + BAND 8.0 SAMPLE ANSWER Posted: 04 May 2020 05:57 PM PDT IELTS WRITING 2 PRACTICE TEST 19 The high sales of popular consumer goods reflect the power of advertising but not the real need of the society where such products are sold. Do you agree or disagree? BAND 8.0 SAMPLE ANSWER Advertising is well – known as a method of promotion, a method used by corporations to introduce their products and services to the market, attract the eye of consumers and increase sales. Critics of advertising argue that this is a main drive of soaring sales of some products, inducing consumers to purchase what they do not actually need in their daily lives. From my personal perspective, this contention is self – evident. Also check: IELTS Writing Task 2 Advertisement conquer the audience mainly by sending them the message they are lacking about specific brands or products. And this can lead to a situation where the customers make wrong decision to purchase the things they not really need. The advertisements as to medicine, dietary supplement and other life – enhancing products provide a typical example. Targeting the buyers that are doubtful or worried about health, advertisers have sought to encourage them to think that they are threatened by such problems like malnutrition or dysfunction of any parts of their bodies. Lack of knowledge in this field, the audience will rush to purchase the advertised products. Such cases are ever-present and the audiences expect an immediate positive outcome – disregarding other solutions. Advertising also works to create a best – seller image for a newly – marketed product. The audience is tempted to buy it in the hope that they can thus become one of the eyewitnesses and participants of a fad. It is not uncommon that cell phone users replace their phones every year, although the phone they have abandoned is still in usable conditions. They might not actually need to make purchases so frequently, but advertising spurs them to do so. The power of advertising is too often abused by advertisers, who tend to give an exaggerated account if the popularity of the product. In conclusion, people should stay alert to the influence advertising has on their decision making process. As indicated above, advertising usually has twisted information about what products is needed, or what product is flavored, thereby, driving people to make insensible decisions. | | Academic IELTS Writing Task 2 Topic: Education & Sample Essay Posted: 04 May 2020 05:54 PM PDT IELTS Writing Task 2 Some people think that teachers should be responsible for teaching students to judge what is right and wrong so that they can behave well. Others say that teachers should only teach students academic subjects. Discuss both views and give your opinion. Sample Answer The task of educating children to become useful people is far from easy, especially when parents and education desire for a comprehensive education for them. Some people believe that to be specialized in each educational task , school should be exclusively responsible for arming children with academic knowledge to be ready for job market while others hold onto the idea that moral teaching is also the mission of school. Each idea has its own validity. Also check: IELTS Writing Task 2 It is the first argued that academic teaching is the main duty of schools while teaching children to behave well is the job of parents. It is by dint of dividing clear responsibilities for both parents and schools that teachers feel less burdened to focus on their specialized task that is to equip children with necessary knowledge to become confident in dealing with challenges in workplaces. Parents, in the meantime, who stay by theirs children's side, from the childhood to adulthood, can understand them more than ever. For that reason, their guidance to follow social moral codes to make sure their kids get along with others is sensible. Others, however (Signpost to change to the second idea), point out the fact that so busy are parents with their own career pursuit that some of them make light of inculcating proper codes of behavior in their children whereas some of them are factually not yet good examples for their kids to learn. How could parents who are drunkards or gamblers be fully qualified for teaching their children to behave ethically? Nowhere can kids find their orientation in their behavior more effectively in their teachers' advice and instructions at school. Another reason, nevertheless, in support of the former idea is that moral teaching is the subject children should be imbued through their practical experience in the later life. What their teachers impart about morality at school is sometimes theoretical and proves burdensome for them who are already exhausted in the completion of homework at school. (Signpost to change to the second idea) Yet no sooner do kids graduate from their schools than they begin to undergo extreme depression when faced that fact they can hardly find themselves at ease with other people from all walks of life despite their wealth of knowledge. The truth is to achieve the common goal, there needs more than academic knowledge itself, but rather teamwork, leadership and others which they would be unfortunately deprived of this policy ran into reality. At the same time, to lessen the curriculum overload in all these subjects, teachers can flexibly mix moral and academic teaching. For instance, through the lessons on literature, moral behavior can be highlighted, and by that way, kids can deeply remember and naturally absorb moral behavior. All in all, each view has its own reason, and my belief is that the harmonious combination of these subjects might be the best choice. | | Should You Use All Capital Letters in the IELTS Listening and Reading Tests Posted: 04 May 2020 05:53 PM PDT A few people have raised questions about whether IELTS candidates can use all upper-case letters in the IELTS Listening and Reading modules. Here's my advice: For the reading and listening tests: - Answers can be written on the answer sheet in upper case, lower case or a combination.
For example, the answer "Thailand" can be written as "thailand", "THAILAND" or even "ThAiLanD". All of these versions would be marked as correct. - This is extracted from British Council IELTS website:
"As you listen, write your answers on the question paper. At the end of the test, you will have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet in pencil. You may write your answers either in lower case or in capital letters."
It's the same for the reading, but most of your responses in the reading come from the text, so you should be able to see if it is capitals or not.
For the writing test: - The correct use of capitals IS NEEDED in your writing test answer. So you should try to follow the normal rules for capital letters. You can read the summary of the rules for CAPITAL below:
Also check: IELTS Reading a. Places and monuments: - Tokyo, Paris
- State of Liberty, Fifth Avenue, the White House
b. Personal pronoun "I"  c. Abbreviations and acronyms - G.M.T. or GMT (Greenwich Mean Time)
- AM (Ante Meridian); PM (Post Meridiem)
d. Days, months, holidays - Monday, Tuesday
- April, May
- Christmas, Easter
e. Countries, languages & nationalities, religions - Buddhism, Christian
- English, Spanish
- The United States, Belgium, Sweden, India, Indonesia
- Japanese, Korean
f. People's names and titles - Jesmine Thompson
- Mayor, King, Queen, President, Prime Minister
g. Trademarks, name of company, organization - Coca Cola, Pepsi, Nike
- Microsoft, Oxfam
h. Begin a sentence or to begin speech i. Titles of books, poems, songs, plays, films - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
- The Alchemist Avatar, The Idiots
Hope you find this small piece of advice useful for you. | | Academic IELTS Writing Task 1 Topic : automatic photo booth – Flow Chart Posted: 04 May 2020 05:52 PM PDT The flow chart below shows an automatic photo booth. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features and make comparisons where relevant. Write at least 150 words Autumatic Photo Booth 
Model answer: The flow chart shows the main feature of a coin-operated photo booth, which allows the user to take large or passport-size self-portraits. Also check: IELTS Writing Task 1 Two buttons on the outside of the booth allow you to select the size of photo (large format or passport size). If the large format setting is chosen, you will only receive one photo. Passport-sized photos are issued in sets of four. Two buttons below these let you choose colour or black and white, although you must choose colour for passport photos. There is also a slot on the outside of the booth for the insertion of coins, and a larger slot where the photos are delivered. Inside the booth, there is an adjustable seat to sit on. The seat should be adjusted so that your eyes are level with the arrow on the screen. A mirror allows you to check your appearance before the photos are taken. The curtain in the doorway should be closed when the photos are taken. A light to the right of the screen comes on, telling you to prepare. After this, the flash goes off after three seconds. The photographs are delivered outside within sixty seconds. (193 words) THIS TEST IS COLLECTED & IMPLEMENTED BY IELTSMATERIAL.COM ( Free IELTS Practice Tests – Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking Test| IELTS Exam Preparation – Free IELTS material and resources. Download IELTS Preparation Material & Tips) | | IELTS WRITING 2 PRACTICE TEST 26 & BAND 8.0 SAMPLE ANSWER Posted: 04 May 2020 05:51 PM PDT IELTS WRITING 2 PRACTICE TEST 26 Some people think that museums’ main function is to educate people, the others suggest that they can also serve for entertainment purposes. What is your opinion? BAND 8.0 SAMPLE ANSWER Museums have long been considered as center of education and research. Through the activities of acquiring, conserving, researching and exhibiting a myriad of tangible items like artefacts and specimens, it is not doubtful to confirm that museums are of great education value. However, this notion has been challenged by some people recently, who tend to think that museums are operated for recreation as well. From my point of view, a museum can serve multi – purposes although education seems to account for a substantial part. Also check: IELTS Writing Task 2 No one can deny that museums impart knowledge to visitors through various methods. One of them is collecting and displaying objects of historical, scientific or artistic side from a particular site. People working for museums are usually trained to interpret about those collected specimens to the general public. Viewing these items allows visitors to acquire knowledge of a specific subject, such as art, history, technology and environment. Another approach that can be taken by a museum is to invite specialists to lecture regularly about various fields, which is instructive as well. An entertainment business, by comparison, hardly serves such education purpose. In addition to the way it operates, a museum is distinguished from any other operator in the entertainment industry from some other aspects. First and foremost, museums are usually not-for-profit. Although sometimes charging an admission fee, very often a museum has free entrance, and does not get involved in any profitable activity. It barely targets any specific visitors like an entertainment business usually does. Instead, it is supposed to be open to the general public. In addition, the criteria of selecting displayed items does not based on their commercial values but according to the line of items they mainly concentrate on. For instance, a history museum would focus only on those items that are of historical value, although those items might not have significant market value. However, to some extent the remarkable development of museums lately can be related to some entertainment purposes. Similar to other academic institutions, museums have to balance their budget. Many museums therefore have resorted to operate more activities with a view to attracting more visitors, in order for an additional entry fee to compensate for the costs. In addition to the conventional services, such as exhibiting selected for public viewing, and organizing lectures, a museum is also interested in such entertaining activities like documentary broadcasting, musical or dance performances, most of which are related to the culture of its host region. Art museums, for instance, bear a close resemblance to art galleries, in exhibiting an enormous range of artworks. Museums falling in this category give visitors pleasure, and can be taken as provider of both knowledge and entertainment. As outlined above, there are many benchmarks against which a museum can be made different from a recreation provider. It is indeed almost impossible to give the extreme confirmation to the functions that museums nowadays are serving. | | Academic IELTS Writing Task 2 Topic 07 Posted: 04 May 2020 05:48 PM PDT You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. Write about the following topic: Woman and men are commonly seen as having different strength and weaknesses. Is it right to exclude males or females from certain professions because of their gender? Give reason for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words. Also check: IELTS Writing Task 2
Question Analysis This is quite a difficult question to answer because of the way it is phrased. In order to answer this question correctly we should analyse it carefully. Keywords– Women and men/strengths and weaknesses Micro-Key words– right to exclude/certain professions/because of gender Instruction words– give reasons/relevant examples/own knowledge or experience The first common mistake many students made was answering the question using the keywords and ignoring the micro-keywords. These students wrote an answer about the difference between men and women in the workplace and how certain jobs are better suited to men or women. This is not what the question asks. The second thing most students did wrong was either not supporting their ideas with reasons or not, including examples from their own knowledge or experience. These students just listed lots of ideas about the difference between men and women in the workplace without fully explaining what they mean and how this is linked to the question. A good answer would specifically address the micro-keywords i.e. is it right to exclude men or women from certain professions? The most important words here are right, exclude and certain. Idea Generation Reasons why it is right to exclude men or women from certain professions: - Most men do not have the skills to work in certain professions, such as a nanny.
- Society does not accept men who work in certain professions, such as a beautician.
- Some women do not have the physical attributes to work in certain professions, such as a soldier.
- Society does not accept women who work in certain professions, such as a construction worker.
Reasons why it is not right to exclude men or women from certain professions: - It is unfair.
- People should not be discriminated against because of their gender.
- That view has no place in a modern, free society.
- Excluding women from certain professions harms the economy.
We now need to think about which ideas to choose. I personally believe that women should not be excluded from any profession, but my personal feelings do not matter in an IELTS writing test. I should choose the ideas I feel confident explaining and supporting with examples. I will therefore write about why I think it is right to exclude men or women from certain professions. Structure The task is to answer a direct question and it is therefore an opinion (agree/disagree) essay and I will follow this structure: Paragraph 1- Introduction Sentence 1- Paraphrase Question Sentence 2- Thesis Statement Sentence 3- Outline Statement Paragraph 2- Supporting Paragraph 1 Sentence 1- Topic Sentence Sentence 2- Explain Topic Sentence Sentence 3- Example Sentence 4- Concession Sentence Paragraph 3- Supporting Paragraph 2 Sentence 1- Topic Sentence Sentence 2- Explain Topic Sentence Sentence 3- Example Paragraph 4- Conclusion Sentence 1- Summary Model Essay 1: Women and men are commonly seen as having different strengths and weaknesses. Is it right to exclude males or females from certain professions because of their gender? Males and females are often viewed as having differing skill sets. It is agreed that it is correct to exclude people from certain jobs on the basis of their gender, but only in very limited circumstances. This essay will first discuss how physical attributes prevent women from excelling in particular roles; secondly discuss how society at large rejects men from undertaking certain careers, followed by a reasoned conclusion. For many years the general consensus in the armed forces is that women should not be allowed to participate in combat missions. This is because most women lack the brute strength required for this particular occupation and it is therefore right to prevent them from joining the ranks. For example, the American Army recently allowed some women to fight on the front line and the Department of Defence deemed the experiment a failure, due to lack of fighting effectiveness. Despite this, many women have fought in many wars, famously on the Eastern Front for Russia and the Viet Cong in Vietnam, so maybe it is men's' attitudes that prevent them performing rather than their stature. Society has yet to accept men in many traditionally female positions, such as nanny or beautician. Businesses feel that it is fine to not hire men for these posts because most of their customers would not be willing to have a man perform that service. I personally know of one example when a friend failed at the interview stage when applying to become kindergarten teacher because he was the wrong sex. To summarise, in limited circumstances it is just to prohibit people from certain occupations, but only if they cannot physically perform or if the general consensus is that it is a single sex post. (288 words) | | Academic IELTS Writing Task 2 Topic: Digital Communication & Sample Answers Posted: 04 May 2020 05:44 PM PDT Some people think that increasing communication usage of computers and mobile phones by young people has had a negative effect on their reading and writing skills. To what extent do you agree or disagree? Sample Answer Digital communication methods such as emails, text-messaging and virtual social networks have been helping billio30ns of people write and read messages on a daily basis. At first glance, this appears to support reading and writing skills. However, I believe that these means of communication have a negative impact on one’s overall ability to read and write. Also check: The most important reason for my opinion is the proclivity to use informal language in communication via mobiles and computers. Whereas serious reading and writing involve the exposure to formal language, most of the messages exchanged using mobiles and computers are rather short and contain spoken expressions. This is because on a digital platform, time saving and convenience, rather than the sophistication of language, are the utmost priority of people. In brief, the more frequently people use a form of mobile and computer-based communication, the more likely informal expressions would dominate their use of language. Another reason for the exacerbation of reading and writing abilities is the over-dependence on technological assistance. This is the case because users of mobiles and computers are usually aided by spell-check and automatic proofreading services when writing a message. Some computer programmes can also find the best word choice to avoid vocabulary mistakes. As these processes are continually repeated, users’ sense of spelling and grammar and lexical range may gradually erode. Eventually, this erosion leads to the degradation of both the writing and reading skills. In conclusion, due to the tendency towards using spoken language and the over-reliance on proofreading software when communicating via computers and mobiles, I am convinced that digital communication has an adverse impact on one’s overall reading and writing level. By IPP IELTS | | Academic IELTS Writing Task 2 Topic 06 Posted: 04 May 2020 05:40 PM PDT You should spend about 40 minutes on this task. In today's competitive world, many families find it necessary for both parents go out to work. While some say the children in these families benefit from the additional income, others feel they lack support because of their parents' absence. Discuss both these views and give your own opinion. Give reason for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. Write at least 250 words. Also check: IELTS Writing Task 2 Sample Answer 1: In the past, it was a custom for fathers to be the only back bone of the family. Fathers would go out to work and earn money to fulfill the families' daily needs and mothers would stay home to take care of the children. However, nowadays, it is not rare to find both parents going out to work. Whilst the additional income might bring benefits to everyone especially the children, there are a number of drawbacks that cannot be overlooked. This essay will confer whether or not it is necessary for both parents to go out to earn money for a living. In some families, both parents are required to work not because of their own will, but because circumstances demand them to. As living cost and everything is getting more expensive in today's competitive world, some families might not earn enough to cover their living cost if only one parent goes out to work. That being the case, there is nothing anyone can do to help. However, the benefit of the extra income for the children still remains unchanged. With more income, parents will be able to afford more new toys, the latest gadget, and even vacation abroad. On the other hand, children might feel abandoned due to their parents' never being there for them. It is also proven that children's, whose parents are never at home, are more prone to behavioral problems. For instance, my friend, Elaine, whose parents is always working overnight and is never there for her when she needs them, has to battle with her insecurity of being unwanted every day, she in turn tries to seek the attention of her teachers by behaving badly in the class. From my example, you can see how parents' absence can affect children in the long run. As far as I am concerned, there is no need for both parents to be working unless it is really necessary. While additional income is benefiting for the children, the presence of a mother will be best for the children's well-being in the long run. ( Written by – Jaclyn – 344 words) THIS TEST IS COLLECTED & IMPLEMENTED BY IELTSMATERIAL.COM ( Free IELTS Practice Tests – Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking Test| IELTS Exam Preparation – Free IELTS material and resources. Download IELTS Preparation Material & Tips) | | Academic IELTS Writing Task 2 Topic: Education & Band 8.0 Sample Posted: 04 May 2020 05:34 PM PDT Task 2 Topic: In schools and universities, girls tend to choose arts while boys like science. What are the reasons for this trend and do you think this tendency should be changed? It is undeniable that scientific domains of study seem to be preferred by schoolboys whilst schoolgirls are inclined to show fancy for ones related to arts. From my perspective, several reasons could explain this tendency and it should undergo a change. Also check: IELTS Writing Task 2 There are two main causes responsible for the difference in subject selections between boys and girls. First and foremost, it derives from natural strengths of each gender. It is an inescapable fact that various male students are better at rational and logical thinking in science; hence, they reveal preference for mathematical and physical realms while the other sex may be more emotional and sensitive to have advantages in perceiving arts or languages. Equally importantly, the traditional belief is another contributing factor deciding that divergence. In fact, a number of parents orientate their girls towards the choice of artistic fields to become elegant and their sons to pursue science subjects for their future career. I believe that there is a necessity to change the aforementioned trend. Both male and female children should be encouraged to find the right balance between arts and science subjects. Several scientific studies prove that learning arts could boost children’s creativity and imagination power, enabling them to get insight into scientific subjects with greater efficiency; meanwhile, majors namely maths or physics also generate opportunities for female learners to develop their left brain and enhance problem-solving competences. Furthermore, as regards numerous female students who have a flair for maths and engineering, forcing them to specialize in artistic scopes may produce counterproductive outcomes. This compulsion is likely to cause resentment and negative attitudes towards their study, followed by low levels of academic performance. To conclude, that girls prefer arts but boys tend to choose science subjects for education could be justified for several above-mentioned reasons. Nonetheless, I argue for a change of this situation. |   |
| Posted: 05 May 2020 08:06 PM PDT
| Indian Government Jobs Posted: 05 May 2020 02:47 PM PDT h1 a:hover {background-color:#888;color:#fff ! important;} div#emailbody table#itemcontentlist tr td div ul { list-style-type:square; padding-left:1em; } div#emailbody table#itemcontentlist tr td div  | | Job Daily : Your Source for latest jobs Posted: 05 May 2020 10:47 AM PDT h1 a:hover {background-color:#888;color:#fff ! important;} div#emailbody table#itemcontentlist tr td div ul { list-style-type:square; padding-left:1em; } div#emailbody table#itemcontentlist tr td div  | | Part-time Consultant at Fusion BPO Services and 37 more Bpo jobs for you! Posted: 05 May 2020 08:57 AM PDT Accenture, Mphasis, and Fusion BPO Services have new jobs. <!--[if (gte mso 9)|(IE)]> <![endif]--> 30+ new Bpo vacancies  | | Manager at Airtel India and 18 more Telecommunication jobs for you! 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| economic news of india - world economic news - economics news for students - indian economy news Posted: 05 May 2020 07:47 PM PDT
| No free lunch, let's be realistic, says CEA on coronavirus bailouts Posted: New Delhi: Chief economic adviser KV Subramanian said India's gross domestic product (GDP) will contract in the first quarter, but is likely to grow 2% for the full financial year and that a stimulus is expected "soon". But he cautioned against demands for government support similar to that provided by other nations as the cost would be too high."One of the first things that anybody learns in economics is that there is no free lunch," he told ET in an interview. "If you are going to monetise (the deficit), that will have some impact on macro fundamentals… We cannot pretend to do policy as if there are no costs."Comparisons with stimulus packages in other countries were invalid, he said. He drew parallels with the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, suggesting a sharp revival."From an epidemiological perspective and from the magnitude of the pandemic, the Spanish flu is a reasonable proxy to use... and because there was a V-shaped recovery, I think it is reasonable to say that we can expect the same," Subramanian said. 75566547Most independent experts expect the economy to shrink in the current fiscal year after the second extension of the lockdown to May 17. Ratings agency ICRA said the economy could contract 1-2% in FY21.Subramanian agreed there would be a decline in the first quarter, but expects a strong bounce-back in the second half of the fiscal.'Global Financial Crisis was Different'"Q1 there will be a decline, Q2 I think should be better than Q1, given that we are opening up the lockdown gradually. Q3 and Q4 there should be acceleration," Subramanian said. "So overall, I think we may end up with about 2% in real terms. But this is all with the real caveats that an uncertain episode like this demands."Given the nature of the Covid-19 pandemic, there's very little knowledge about the disease and therefore about its impact."The global financial crisis was a period of uncertainty, but that was all a completely economic phenomenon, so one could make estimations," he said. "There is a lot of uncertainty, unknowns that we are dealing with."He warned against calls for stimulus measures as large as 10% of GDP, or ?20 lakh crore, and funding of that through monetisation or printing money.'CAN'T GET CARRIED AWAY'India cannot get carried away by the kind of numbers being floated and industry should be realistic, he said."If you look at the stimulus packages that have been given within the sovereign rating category that India belongs, the actual numbers are far lower," he said, warning against creating improbable expectations.He pointed to the UK package, which included £350 billion of loans guaranteed by the government. "The actual cost of that loan guarantee is certainly not going to be £350 billion. It is going to be a fraction," he said. "It's going to be at most £35 billion. So now, if you add that £35 billion instead of £350 billion, the actual package is 3.7%."Similarly, for the US, the package is about 6.7% of GDP, he said."This is a time when we have to get the actual stimulus package right," he said. "We cannot get carried away by incorrect numbers."He said the US has the ability to provide massive stimulus measures because the dollar is the global reserve currency."So bottom line, I think there has to be some stimulus and at the same time also some liquidity measures to ensure that firms can tide over their short-term troubles," he said.COVID BONDSAsked about the possibility of Covid bonds, he said there are many proposals that the government has received. "There are ideas and each of these ideas has their pros and cons, and we are evaluating them," he said.He wasn't worried about the recent spike in Covid-19 numbers, saying the percentage increase was slowing.There was a trade-off between the economic cost and the need to battle the disease in the short run, but the medium to long run effects have to be kept in mind. "I would rather go by carefully done research which shows, for the US during the Spanish flu, that those geographical regions that were quick to implement lockdowns and continued it for a little longer to ensure the pandemic effect was minimised, so focus on the health side, were the ones that recovered far more," he said."The long-run effect in those counties that only focused on the short run, for them the mortality rate was much higher and at the same time, the economic recovery was far more tepid," he said, explaining how India has managed the issue. "We were very quick to impose those measures… It's also reflected in the numbers. Compared to other countries, it's far lower and especially the mortality rate is lower." | | Mumbai short of hospital beds and patience Posted: MUMBAI: Mumbai is on the verge of an unprecedented public health emergency crisis as both public and private hospitals in the city are swamped with huge numbers of Covid-19 patients, even as ICU care facilities of almost all hospitals are getting exhausted and a shortage of nearly 400 doctors and healthcare professionals is turning the situation alarmingly grim.Despite lockdown, Mumbai is witnessing 400 cases daily on average. The city's medical infrastructure is finding it difficult to meet their needs, forcing a few to wait on roads overnight before the administration makes arrangements. ET has got details from both private and public hospitals which show that the city, which has a population of about 2 crore, is running out of ordinary beds, ICU beds and doctors to treat Covid-19 and other patients. Till May 1, in BMC-run RN Cooper Hospital located in Mumbai's suburbs, there were just 11 beds for Covid-19 cases; at KEM Hospital in Parel, there are just 6 beds; at Kasturba hospital, there are just 12 beds. Similar is the case in private hospitals –– PD Hinduja Hospital had 42 beds reserved for Covid-19 patients but all of them are occupied; Wockhardt Hospital has just one bed available for Covid-19 patients; Lilavati Hospital in Bandra also has just one bed available; only Sushrusha in Vikhroli has 73 beds available and Seven Hills Reliance has 42 beds available. The situation is so dire that people with non-Covid-19 ailments are struggling to get admitted . For Covid-19 patients, the situation is worse. A 45-year-old woman from Govandi could not be shifted for three days in spite of being symptomatic. 75566327Similarly, a 63-year-old woman had to spend a whole night on the road near her building as there were no beds. She was finally taken to Seven Hills Hospital in Andheri. What is worse, the city has almost exhausted its ICU care facilities in both public and private hospitals. The BMC and the Maharashtra government are doing what it can to make space for more beds, but officials involved said: "Having more beds now is like putting band-aid on a fractured hand. We don't have enough medical personnel, doctors, nurses for the new patients coming in." "Beds are not the solution. We need more healthcare personnel," said a BMC doctor. BMC officials said they would need at least 400 more doctors and other health care personnel in the city for now. | | India's states unlock genie in the bottle Posted: Bengaluru | Mumbai: After Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal raised the duty on alcohol citing the Covid crisis, liquor companies fear other states will follow suit, further damaging the category already impacted by the lockdown and a cutback in discretionary spends.On Monday, Delhi allowed liquor shops to reopen, resulting in long queues of tipplers. But this was accompanied by the state levying a 'Special Corona Fee' of 70%. The overcrowding outside liquor shops has spooked authorities. Late on Tuesday night, civic authorities in Mumbai said these shops will not be allowed to open in the city from Wednesday.Meanwhile, Andhra and West Bengal raised taxes by 75% and 30%, respectively. Haryana and Rajasthan have hinted at similar hikes, said industry officials.Soon after the tax-hike announcements, the share prices of top three listed liquor firms — United Spirits, United Breweries and Radico Khaitan — fell 6-8%."Such a steep hike in duty will be a dampener. It will hit volumes. There is an apprehension that other states, too, will raise duties," said Shekhar Ramamurthy, MD of United Breweries. 75566585Liquor Sales Major Revenue SourceIn India, several state governments either control liquor retailing or wholesale distribution or both, and taxes form a major source of their revenues. In FY20, the states earned a total Rs 1.75 lakh crore from excise, and liquor accounted for 10-12% of the overall revenue. More than 50% of the retail price goes to state and central governments by way of VAT and excise duty."We expected tax hikes, as state coffers are empty and governments are in dire need of funds. However, a 70% hike (in Delhi) in taxation is too steep," said Deepak Roy, executive vice chairman of Allied Blenders & Distillers, and chairman of the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies.The spirits and beer segment saw subdued sales growth of 3% last calendar year, hurt by high excise duties in some states and regulatory changes. Companies said growth could decline further due to higher price tags."The premium segment, which was driving sales for the past four years, will erode. How long will the government milk the cow? Revenues will turn negative at this rate of year-on-year increase in taxes on liquor. This contagion of a corona tax will spread to other states, and we fear a minimum of 30% increase by other governments," said Rakshit Jagdale, managing director of Amrut Distilleries, the single malt maker.Amar Sinha, COO of Radico Khaitan, warned that the government may lose out on a significant chunk of revenue as prices go up due to higher levies. "Liquor companies are also facing cost inflation, and it is time the government takes a relook at the viability of manufacturers and affordability along with the tax hikes," he said. | | Now debating: Can India afford a tax holiday? Posted: | | Coronavirus fee: Cash-strapped states rush to raise taxes on alcohol Posted: Bengaluru | Mumbai: After Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal raised the duty on alcohol citing the Covid crisis, liquor companies fear other states will follow suit, further damaging the category already impacted by the lockdown and a cutback in discretionary spends.On Monday, Delhi allowed liquor shops to reopen, resulting in long queues of tipplers. But this was accompanied by the state levying a 'Special Corona Fee' of 70%. The overcrowding outside liquor shops has spooked authorities. Late on Tuesday night, civic authorities in Mumbai said these shops will not be allowed to open in the city from Wednesday.Meanwhile, Andhra and West Bengal raised taxes by 75% and 30%, respectively. Haryana and Rajasthan have hinted at similar hikes, said industry officials.Soon after the tax-hike announcements, the share prices of top three listed liquor firms — United Spirits, United Breweries and Radico Khaitan — fell 6-8%."Such a steep hike in duty will be a dampener. It will hit volumes. There is an apprehension that other states, too, will raise duties," said Shekhar Ramamurthy, MD of United Breweries. 75566585Liquor Sales Major Revenue SourceIn India, several state governments either control liquor retailing or wholesale distribution or both, and taxes form a major source of their revenues. In FY20, the states earned a total Rs 1.75 lakh crore from excise, and liquor accounted for 10-12% of the overall revenue. More than 50% of the retail price goes to state and central governments by way of VAT and excise duty."We expected tax hikes, as state coffers are empty and governments are in dire need of funds. However, a 70% hike (in Delhi) in taxation is too steep," said Deepak Roy, executive vice chairman of Allied Blenders & Distillers, and chairman of the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Beverage Companies.The spirits and beer segment saw subdued sales growth of 3% last calendar year, hurt by high excise duties in some states and regulatory changes. Companies said growth could decline further due to higher price tags."The premium segment, which was driving sales for the past four years, will erode. How long will the government milk the cow? Revenues will turn negative at this rate of year-on-year increase in taxes on liquor. This contagion of a corona tax will spread to other states, and we fear a minimum of 30% increase by other governments," said Rakshit Jagdale, managing director of Amrut Distilleries, the single malt maker.Amar Sinha, COO of Radico Khaitan, warned that the government may lose out on a significant chunk of revenue as prices go up due to higher levies. "Liquor companies are also facing cost inflation, and it is time the government takes a relook at the viability of manufacturers and affordability along with the tax hikes," he said. | | Aarogya Setu app has no vulnerability; no data, security breach has happened Posted: The developers of the Aarogya Setu App said that there was no security vulnerability in the contact tracing application after a French security researcher Robert Baptiste, better known as Elliott Alderson, pointed that it could potentially leak data of the nearly 9 crore users who have downloaded the app"No personal information of any user has been proven to be at risk by this ethical hacker," Aarogya Setu said in a statement on its twitter handle. ""We are continiously testing and upgrading our systems. Team Aarogya Setu assures everyone that no data or security breach has been identified"..The government has mandated public sector and private employees who go to offices to download the app, as also people who are in the containment zone - localised areas where there is a Covid-19 positive case detected.Statement from Team #AarogyaSetu on data security of the App. https://t.co/JS9ow82Hom— Aarogya Setu (@SetuAarogya) 1588707209000"I'm waiting a fix from their side before disclosing publicly the issue. Putting the medical data of 90 million Indians is not an option," Baptiste said on the microblogging platform Twitter. The French ethical hacker has been checking the app since late Monday, when he asked users who have not downloaded the app to share their number so that he can verify the content. He Hi @SetuAarogya,A security issue has been found in your app. The privacy of 90 million Indians is at stake. Can y… https://t.co/llLAf0ZHdd— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) 1588691434000"A security issue has been found in your app. The privacy of 90 million Indians is at stake. Can you contact me in private," he had Tweeted and later added, "49 minutes after this tweet, @IndianCERT and @NICMeity contacted me. Issue has been disclosed to them."Baptiste did not specify the vulnerability. The researcher has earlier written about security issues with the Aadhaar database. | | Expect sharp correction before market forms a bottom: Bagga Posted: Right now there is more risk than reward in these markets, says the market expert.What are you making of today's market movement? We are in for some more correction. I am a little skeptical about the markets. I would be careful and it is more global. It doesn't have much to do with the domestic situation. We saw a very poor manufacturing PMI number, which is literally the historical worst PMI we have seen on the manufacturing side. Tomorrow, you will have the service PMI, which will again be quite poor given the lockdown that we have had in April. So we will see a very poor second quarter for the global economy. The cues for the markets will come from the global situation and that is very clear. The Indian government has not put together a fiscal stimulus; it seems like they will wait for the lockdown to end before the stimulus is announced. They will assess the situation further. But all the leading indicators are showing that you will probably get a minus 30% kind of print on the GDP; this will mitigate against fast recovery. But overall, our markets will follow the global markets and personally my thesis is we will see one more correction before we form a sustainable bottom, which could be quite sharp. So I am in cash. I sold out most of my holdings and I am waiting out now for these markets to stabilize and to get some semblance of three things. One is containment of the further spread of the disease globally and in India. Second, what is happening on the cure front; is there any good news coming on the multiple tests that are happening, and third will be, how soon are we seeing the leading indicators showing that something is coming in terms of recovery. I think markets will gauge that much faster than all of us. They will move faster than us but I am willing to let go some of that recovery because right now you have more risk than reward in these markets.I want to focus on aviation. Are you in the camp that is possibly betting on some kind of a bounce back even if it is a little later in the year? Or would you be very wary as we have had the likes of Warren Buffett completely sell out these names?Even when Warren Buffett for the second time in his life went and bought airlines, we were quite surprised because they are very high on capex. The accounting is very complex with all the sales and lease backs. There is a lot of jugglery that happens on the accounting front. So you have huge orders placed and all of a sudden profits go up when actually the expense line should have gone up and it should have led to a lower profit. So what we saw in airline stocks was a hope trade, especially in India. Government has done a small part in reducing the cost of aviation fuel. It is at historic low again over the last 10 years. If you compare it, we have really gone down but there is no demand as such. Tell me will you and I fly if tomorrow the airlines open? Only out of necessity people will fly. If somebody has to reach back home, he is stuck somewhere or if they have some very essential office work; otherwise on vacations and on leisure travel, you will not see travel coming back in a rush till you have vacations available and a better understanding of this virus. So airlines I would say avoid; sell on every rise and get out. You will have other defensive sectors available if you insist on investing but airlines definitely are not looking too good. The kind of demand growth that was factored into these stocks are not going to come back. Of course, if they fall sharply, there might be some value that emerges but as a sector, I have stayed away because of the very high capex and very high regulatory impact and running cost that they are facing always. What was helping these stocks was the huge demand and the growth in airports in India and the linking of tier-II cities. I think all that goes back by two years because of this lockdown and the kind of economic damage that we are seeing, people are going to go back one to two years in their net worth and you will not see that kind of demand growth coming in so fast. So poorer margins, difficult environment and uncertainty on demand returning are not a very good recipe for investments. How are you looking at FMCG names currently?If you see the global flows, they are going into healthcare, FMCG staples and are going into the big technology companies; that is the biggest US market as well as the Japanese inflows into the US markets. In our markets, after the last fall, we saw the sharpest rise in pharma and FMCG has held up. So FMCG is a defensive play normally and it tends to hold value. The valuation piece is there, but will you get very high returns at these valuations? Normal investment theory says no; do not get in at such high PEs as your chance to get returns diminishes. But India has been a counterintuitive market to some extent on the FMCG and we have made money on the FMCGs at these high multiples earlier as well. That is what gives confidence. My personal situation is I am not investing and I am counselling people against investing. It may not be a very sharp selloff but you are going to see very strident voices globally. One part is the virus and the impact and second part is the economy and how soon it can recover. The third big part is Putin is in trouble, Xi Jinping is in trouble. Trump will not get re-elected as per the historical precedents; Gerald Ford lost the elections when he fought coming out of a recession, Jimmy Carter lost to Ronald Reagan in a recession year, Bush Senior lost the election because the US economy went into a recession. Here we are talking of a -30% cut; Trump understands that very well and you are going to see a lot of finger pointing and xenophobia taking over which will again make the markets very nervous. So today I cannot say what will be the catalyst but before this year ends, I see these markets having one more sharp selloff and given that, I would rather protect capital for now because I cannot see where it will come from. The virus is known, the economic damage is known but this trade war 2 or this kind of very xenophobic nationalism we really do not know where it will lead to. So that is the only reason I am staying on the sidelines. Otherwise if you ask me to invest today, I would say pharma is clearly looking like it will really outperform. Financials, please do not touch because already three months of deferrals have been given to companies and individuals. Unlike the US where we know that as of April 1, 31% people did not pay their landlords the rent, as of May 1, it is nearly 51% people not paying their rents. In India, we do not have the data. It is a black box for investors. What we know is that banks have asked RBI for a further dispensation. NBFCs have asked till December to have a loan moratorium till then; so how do you value these companies? What are the NPAs for these companies? The market will not like this kind of uncertainty; so financials after multiple years are not a buy in India rather you should avoid them. Pharma, FMCG are the defensives; select IT which will hold value and also midcap IT has shown some very good results last week. Midcap IT is looking resilient. I think those are the stocks you could pick up. Again, no index investing because there will be enough laggards in this market; there will be enough sectors which will see huge destruction. Coming out of the lockdown, what we have seen from the Chinese example is that industries went back faster, but services did not come back. Services are taking much longer. People will not go to restaurants, people will not travel, no tourism, normal health checkups are suffering and education has still not come back. So big parts of the service economy have not returned to China even after 30 days of opening the lockdown. Industries have returned faster but the issue there is demand and in services, the issue is demand and supply. So we will see that play out in India also come June. So do not be very optimistic of a V-shaped recovery; that is my only caution. I am sorry. I am normally very optimistic. I am known as a perma bull but right now, the situation is looking quite grim to me; so I am trying to speak what my heart is saying. | | Time for pullback, but Nifty will get sold off on higher side Posted: In our previous note, we had mentioned about the possibility of Nifty continuing with the downward move as it had ended Monday's session outside the lower bottom of the Rising Wedge. The market saw a gap-up opening following a favourable global trade setup.However, while trading precisely on the analysed lines, Nifty opened right near the resistance point of the lower end of the wedge and got sold out at those levels. The index came off over 260 points from the intraday high and ended with a net loss of 87.90 points, or 0.95 per cent.Despite some intraday swings that Nifty witnessed, volatility index India VIX eased a bit as it declined 0.14 per cent to 43.60. Nifty has finally fallen out on the downside from the Rising Wedge formation. Any up-move from now on will remain limited in extent, and the market will continue to exhibit a bearish bias over the immediate short term. Derivatives data showed long unwinding from higher levels as declines have come with a significant amount of reduction in open interest in Nifty futures.Nifty is likely to see the 9,245 and 9,335 levels act as the overhead resistance in Wednesday's session, while supports will come in at 9,160 and 9,065 levels. The upside may remain capped, but any move on the downside is likely to widen the trading range.75559316The Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the daily chart stood at 48.52. It remains neutral and does not show any divergence against price. The daily MACD continues to remain bullish as it trades above the signal line. The histogram slop is declining, and this shows a deceleration in the ongoing momentum. A strong black body emerged on the candles; it signified the consensus on the trend on the downside.Pattern analysis showed Nifty has expectedly fallen out on the downside from the Rising Wedge formation. In the previous session, it had ended outside the lower boundary of the area pattern, and now it has continued with its slide.Given the over 650-point decline in Nifty in two days, there may be a mild technical pullback. However, such pullbacks will continue to be shortlived and limited in their extent. Any move on the upside will make some room for more selloff from higher levels.Some amount of volatility may make its incremental presence felt. It is recommended to avoid making purchases on any pullback and approach the market with a great amount of caution.(Milan Vaishnav, CMT, MSTA, is a Consulting Technical Analyst and founder of Gemstone Equity Research & Advisory Services, Vadodara. He can be reached at milan.vaishnav@equityresearch.asia) | | Aarogya Setu app has no vulnerability; no data, security breach has happened Posted: The developers of the Aarogya Setu App said that there was no security vulnerability in the contact tracing application after a French security researcher Robert Baptiste, better known as Elliott Alderson, pointed that it could potentially leak data of the nearly 9 crore users who have downloaded the app"No personal information of any user has been proven to be at risk by this ethical hacker," Aarogya Setu said in a statement on its twitter handle. ""We are continiously testing and upgrading our systems. Team Aarogya Setu assures everyone that no data or security breach has been identified"..The government has mandated public sector and private employees who go to offices to download the app, as also people who are in the containment zone - localised areas where there is a Covid-19 positive case detected.Statement from Team #AarogyaSetu on data security of the App. https://t.co/JS9ow82Hom— Aarogya Setu (@SetuAarogya) 1588707209000"I'm waiting a fix from their side before disclosing publicly the issue. Putting the medical data of 90 million Indians is not an option," Baptiste said on the microblogging platform Twitter. The French ethical hacker has been checking the app since late Monday, when he asked users who have not downloaded the app to share their number so that he can verify the content. He Hi @SetuAarogya,A security issue has been found in your app. The privacy of 90 million Indians is at stake. Can y… https://t.co/llLAf0ZHdd— Elliot Alderson (@fs0c131y) 1588691434000"A security issue has been found in your app. The privacy of 90 million Indians is at stake. Can you contact me in private," he had Tweeted and later added, "49 minutes after this tweet, @IndianCERT and @NICMeity contacted me. Issue has been disclosed to them."Baptiste did not specify the vulnerability. The researcher has earlier written about security issues with the Aadhaar database. | | CSS Corp rolls out pay hikes, to hire 1000 people this quarter Posted: Bengaluru: Mid-size IT services firm CSS Corp has rolled out a high-single digit pay hike for its 7000 odd employees, at a time when the majority of its large tech services peers and BPM companies have decided to delay increments and promotions. The company is planning to hire 1000 employees by the end of June across markets. Companies such as Infosys, Wipro, TCS, WNS and others have delayed pay hikes and put promotions on hold as they see uncertainty over business growth in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak across key markets. CSS Corp has also paid 100% of variable salary to the majority of its employees. "We are in challenging times and the organization has responded with great resilience in moving to a 100% WFH model early in the cycle. So it was important for us to ensure they are certain about their future. At the lower bands, which constitute 70% of the workforce, the variable payout was 100% and at higher levels where metrics are a little more stringent, the payout was around 80%. We have also handed out promotions to all eligible employees," said Nishikant Nigam, chief delivery officer and Head of HR, CSS Corp, adding that its appraisal cycle was not different than that of last year. The company, which enabled 100% of its employees to deliver services remotely, has given special incentive for those employees who played a critical role in shifting work to homes in March.CSS Corp will carry out virtual onboarding for fresh hiring meant for India and other countries."We are seeing demand from clients and fresh deals have also been signed," said Nigam. |  |
| telugu news headlines telugu news hunt Posted: 05 May 2020 06:12 PM PDT
| పారితోషికం తగ్గించుకున్న హీరో Posted: 05 May 2020 05:32 PM PDT లాక్ డౌన్ తో సినీ పరిశ్రమలన్నీ సంక్షోభంలో చిక్కుకున్నాయి. వేల కోట్ల రూపాయల నష్టాలు చవిచూస్తున్నాయి. తెచ్చిన డబ్బుకు వడ్డీలు కట్టడానికి నిర్మాతలు అష్టకష్టాలు పడుతున్నారు. మరోవైపు షూటింగ్స్ లేక సినీకార్మికులు అల్లాడిపోతున్నారు. ఈ నేపథ్యంలో హీరోలు తమ రెమ్యూనరేషన్ తగ్గించుకుంటే బాగుంటుందనే వాదన మొదలైంది. దీనికి చాలామంది మద్దతు కూడా తెలిపారు. ఇలాంటి కష్టసమయంలో హీరోలు ఎంతోకొంత తమ పారితోషికాలు తగ్గించుకుంటే ఇండస్ట్రీకి మంచిదంటూ చర్చావేదికలు కూడా నిర్వహిస్తున్నారు. ఇందులో భాగంగా తొలి అడుగు పడింది. […] | | దేవరకొండ బర్త్ డే స్పెషల్ ఉంటుందా? Posted: 05 May 2020 08:43 AM PDT హీరోల పుట్టినరోజులకు సినిమా విశేషాలు మోసుకురావడం ఆనవాయితీ. ఈ విషయంలో చిన్న హీరో, పెద్ద హీరో అనే తేడా లేదు. హీరోలంతా తమ పుట్టినరోజు నాడు కొత్త సినిమా సంగతుల్ని మోసుకొస్తుంటారు. ఈ క్రమంలో మరో 4 రోజుల్లో విజయ్ దేవరకొండ పుట్టినరోజు రాబోతోంది. దీని కోసం ప్రేక్షకులంతా ఆసక్తిగా ఎదురుచూస్తున్నారు. ఎందుకంటే ఆ రోజున కొత్త సినిమాపై ఓ క్లారిటీ వస్తుందని అందరి ఆశ. ప్రస్తుతం పూరి జగన్నాధ్ దర్శకత్వంలో ఓ సినిమా చేస్తున్నాడు విజయ్ […] | | జూన్ నుంచి షూటింగ్స్? Posted: 05 May 2020 06:30 AM PDT తెలంగాణలో వచ్చే నెల నుంచి షూటింగ్స్ కు లైన్ క్లియర్ అయ్యే అవకాశాలున్నాయని తెలంగాణ సినిమాటోగ్రఫీ మంత్రి తలసాని శ్రీనివాస్ యాదవ్ ఆశాభావం వ్యక్తంచేశారు. వచ్చే నెలలో పరిస్థితిని సమీక్షించి ఆ వెంటనే షూటింగ్స్ కు అనుమతి ఇస్తామన్నారు మంత్రి. సినీపరిశ్రమ నుంచి వచ్చిన విన్నపాలన్నింటినీ స్వీకరించిన మంత్రి.. లాక్ డౌన్ ఎత్తేసిన తర్వాత తెలంగాణ ప్రభుత్వం ఓ మంచి ప్యాకేజీతో పరిశ్రమను ఆదుకుంటుందని ప్రకటించారు. అయితే దీనిపై ముఖ్యమంత్రి కేసీఆర్ తో చర్చించాల్సి ఉందన్నారు. దాదాపు […] | | త్రివిక్రమ్ మనసులో మాట ఇది Posted: 05 May 2020 05:45 AM PDT లాక్ డౌన్ తో ఈక్వేషన్స్ మారిపోతున్నాయి. ఒకరితో చేయాల్సిన సినిమా మరొకరికి వెళ్లిపోతోంది. ఆల్రెడీ అనుకున్న సినిమా సెట్స్ పైకి వస్తుందో రాదో కూడా తెలియని పరిస్థితి. ఈ నేపథ్యంలో ఎన్టీఆర్-త్రివిక్రమ్ సినిమాపై కూడా చాలా అనుమానాలు వ్యక్తం అవుతున్నాయి. ఇప్పటికిప్పుడు వీళ్లిద్దరూ కలిసి సినిమా చేసే పరిస్థితి లేదంటూ కథనాలు వస్తున్నాయి. లాక్ డౌన్ తో ఆర్ఆర్ఆర్ ఆలస్యమౌతోంది. అది మళ్లీ ఎప్పుడు సెట్స్ పైకి వస్తుందో తెలీదు. సెట్స్ పైకి వచ్చిన తర్వాత ఎప్పటికి […] | | లోకేష్ విఫల నాయకుడు – బండ్ల గణేష్ ఘాటు వ్యాఖ్యలు Posted: 05 May 2020 05:37 AM PDT నిర్మాత బండ్ల గణేష్ ట్విట్టర్లో నారా లోకేష్ వ్యవహారశైలిపై సంచలన వ్యాఖ్యలు చేశారు. చంద్రబాబునాయుడికి కుమారుడిగా మినహా నారా లోకేష్కు ఎలాంటి అర్హత లేదు అంటూ వ్యాఖ్యానించారు. తన దృష్టిలో నారా లోకేష్ ఒక ఫెయిల్యూర్ నాయకుడు అని గణేష్ వ్యాఖ్యానించారు. గౌరవనీయులైన నారా లోకేష్ గారికి ప్రేమతో అంటూ ట్వీట్లు మొదలుపెట్టిన బండ్ల గణేష్… ప్రపంచంలో అతి కొద్దిమందికి మాత్రమే దక్కే అదృష్టం చంద్రబాబునాయుడికి కుమారుడిగా నారా లోకేష్కు లభించిందన్నారు. మీ తండ్రి మీ గురించి […] | | ఏడాదిలో 33 శాతం తగ్గిన వైన్షాపులు… వ్యవసాయానికి ప్రత్యేక జేసీ Posted: 05 May 2020 04:02 AM PDT మద్యాన్ని సేవించేవారిని నిరుత్సాహ పరిచేందుకే ధరలు పెంచామని స్పష్టం చేశారు ఏపీ సీఎం జగన్. 25 శాతం పెంచి… తగ్గించాలనుకుంటే ఢిల్లీలో 70 శాతం పెంచారని, అందుకే ఏపీలో 75 శాతం పెంచామని చెప్పారు. మద్యం షాపుల సంఖ్యను మరో 13 శాతం తగ్గిస్తామని ప్రకటించారు. ఇప్పటికే 20 శాతం తగ్గించామని, తాజా 13 శాతంతో మొత్తం 33 శాతం తగ్గించినట్లు అవుతుందన్నారు. పర్మిట్ రూమ్లను ఇప్పటికే రద్దు చేశామని గుర్తు చేశారు. అధికారంలోకి వచ్చిన వెంటనే […] | | నెలాఖరులో వాట్సాప్ పే లాంచ్ Posted: 05 May 2020 04:00 AM PDT వాట్సాప్ పే యాప్ ఈ నెలాఖరులో అందుబాటులోకి రానుంది. ఇప్పటి వరకూ మేసేజ్ యాప్గా ఉంది. ఇప్పటి నుంచి పే సర్వీసు కూడా అందిస్తోంది. ప్రస్తుతం బీటా టెస్టింగ్లో ఉంది. ఈ నెలాఖరులో లాంచ్ చేసేందుకు ప్లాన్ చేస్తున్నారు. యాక్సిస్, హెచ్డీఎఫ్సీ, ఐసీఐసీఐ బ్యాంక్లతో ఇప్పటికే వాట్సాప్ ఒప్పందం చేసుకుంది. త్వరలోనే ప్రభుత్వ రంగ సంస్థ ఎస్బీఐతో కూడా ఓ ఎంవోయు కుదర్చుకోబోతోంది. ఈ నాలుగు బ్యాంకులతో కలిసి పేమెంట్ సర్వీసులు అందించబోతుంది. ప్రస్తుతం ఐసీఐసీఐ బ్యాంకు […] | | మధ్యప్రదేశ్ లో వలస కార్మికులకు బాత్రూంలో క్వారంటైన్ Posted: 05 May 2020 01:03 AM PDT మధ్యప్రదేశ్లో క్వారంటైన్ సదుపాయాలపై పెద్దెత్తున విమర్శలు వస్తున్నాయి. వలస కూలీ దంపతులకు బాత్రూంలో క్వారంటైన్ కల్పించిన ఫొటోలు బయటకు రావడంతో దుమారం రేగింది. వలస కార్మికుల కోసం ఒక స్కూల్ వద్ద క్వారంటైన్ ఏర్పాటు చేశారు. ఇద్దరు దంపతులకు బాత్రూంలో వసతి కల్పించినట్టు ఫొటోలు బయటకు వచ్చాయి. బాబాత్రూంలో దంపతులు ఉండగా అక్కడే తాగేందుకు నీటి సదుపాయం కూడా ఏర్పాటు చేశారు. ఈ ఫొటోలు బయటకు రావడంతో దుమారం రేగింది. వెంటనే అధికారులు వారిని స్కూల్లోని మరో […] |  |
| How to of the Day Posted: 05 May 2020 06:10 PM PDT
| How to Make a Margarita Posted: 05 May 2020 05:00 PM PDT Nobody seems to know exactly who invented the margarita. [1] The drink has many origin stories, so it's only fitting that it also has many forms. Its myriad variations make the margarita a drink worth experimenting with! [Edit]Making a Classic Margarita - Gather the following ingredients:
- 1 to 2 parts 100% agave tequila
- 1 part freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 part triple sec
- coarse kosher or sea salt
- lime for garnish
- ice
- Tabasco sauce (optional)
- Wet the rim of your glass with a lime. Cut a small slit into a slice of lime and place the lime on the rim of your glass. Run the lime around the rim of your glass to wet it.
- Salt your glass's rim. Pour some coarse (kosher or sea) salt onto a plate. Holding your glass parallel to the plate, let its rim touch the salt and then slowly turn it.
- Don't just place the glass face-down into the salt like a cookie cutter. You want to make sure the salt is only on the outside of the glass.
- Alternatively, you can use sugar instead of salt to rim the glass.
- Fill a cocktail shaker 2/3 to 3/4 full with ice. Use large ice cubes, as smaller ones will melt more quickly and dilute your drink.
- Pour 1 to 2 parts tequila into the shaker. For 1 margarita, you'll add 1 to 2 shots of tequila. How much tequila you use will depend on your own personal tastes.
- You may want to start with 1 part tequila and, if that doesn't taste strong enough for you, you can always add more.
- Add 1 part triple sec to the shaker. For 1 margarita, you'll add 1 shot of triple sec.
- Add one part fresh lime juice to the shaker. For 1 margarita, you'll add 1 shot of lime juice.
- Shake vigorously. Do this for at least 15 seconds to ensure that the ingredients are fully mixed.
- Pour the drink from the shaker into your glass. If you'd like to add ice to your margarita, be sure to add the ice cubes to your glass before pouring the drink (just to avoid splashing).
- Garnish with a lime and enjoy! If you'd like, you can also add a splash of Tabasco sauce.
- Experiment with other ratios. If you're unsatisfied with the suggested ratios in this recipe, consider trying some of the following ones (tequila: triple sec: lime juice):
- 3:2:1
- 3:1:1
- 7:4:3
- 8:1.5:3 (to reduce the triple sec flavor)
[Edit]Making a Simple 3-ingredient Margarita - Gather the following ingredients:[2]
- 1 to 1.5 parts freshly squeezed lime juice
- 2 parts water
- 1 to 2 parts 100% agave tequila
- 1/2 to 1 part agave nectar, to taste
- ice
- kosher or sea salt
- Salt the rim of your margarita glass. To do this, wet the rim of the glass with a lime, then place the cup in a shallow saucer filled with a coarse-grained salt such as kosher or sea salt.
- Add lime juice to your cocktail shaker. For 1 margarita, you'll want 1 to 1.5 shots of lime juice, which equals roughly 2 medium to large limes.
- Add water to the shaker. For 1 margarita, you'll add 2 shots of water. To ensure that any dissolved minerals or additives don't interfere with the flavor of your drink, use filtered or bottled water.
- Add tequila to the shaker. For 1 margarita, you'll use 1 or 2 shots of tequila, depending on how boozy you want the margarita to be.
- Add agave nectar to the shaker. For 1 margarita, you'll need between 1/2 of a shot and 1 full shot of agave nectar, depending on your taste.
- Add a generous scoop of ice to the shaker. You'll want to add more ice than fluid: aim to fill the shaker between 2/3 and 3/4 full of ice.[3]
- Shake vigorously. Do this for at least 15 seconds so that the ingredients are well mixed.[4]
- Remove the lid from the shaker. If the lid is stuck on, tap the bottom of the shaker with the heel of your hand.
- Pour the margarita into your glass.
- Add any final garnishes to the glass, and enjoy! If you want to add a lime garnish or a tiny umbrella to your margarita, now's the time to do it. Once that's done, enjoy!
[Edit]Making a Frozen Margarita from Scratch - Gather your ingredients:
- 10 to 12 medium to large limes
- 6 to 8 medium to large lemons
- 1.5 parts tequila
- 1/2 part triple sec
- coarsely ground salt or sugar
- ice
- Make your own bar (sweet and sour) mix. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of warm water and stir until the sugar dissolves. Next, add 1 cup of fresh lime juice and then 1 cup of fresh lemon juice.
- Another way to combine the sugar and water is to put them together in a jar and shake them vigorously until the sugar has dissolved into the water.
- Prepare your glass. Use a freshly cut lime to wet the rim of a chilled glass, then dip that glass into a saucer of coarsely ground salt. For a sweet-savory taste, dip the glass into a salt-and-sugar mixture.
- Add 1.5 parts tequila to a blender. For 1 margarita, you'll add 1.5 shots of tequila.
- Add 1/2 part triple sec to the blender. For 1 margarita, you'll add 1/2 a shot of triple sec (Cointreau is the most popular recommendation).
- Add 3 parts bar mix to the blender. For 1 margarita, you'll add 3 shots of bar mix.
- Add ice and blend. Add just enough ice that it sits just barely above the liquid. Blend until the mixture reaches a smooth, slushy consistency..
- Serve and enjoy! You can garnish your glass(es) with a lime wedge. You can also add a splash of fresh lime juice (or simply squeeze the fresh lime garnish into your drink) before drinking.
[Edit]Making a Frozen Limeade Margarita - Get a tupperware container that can hold 66 ounces of fluid. Make sure that the container has a tight-fitting lid, and that it will fit in your freezer.
- This recipe is based on the use of 6-ounce Limeade cans. if you're using 12-ounce cans, the ratios still work; you may just want to cut them in half if you don't want to wind up with 132 ounces of margarita.
- Mix your ingredients together in the tupperware container. You'll use the empty Limeade cans to measure out your other ingredients (hence the use of "cans" as a measurement). What to add to the container:
- 2 cans frozen Limeade concentrate
- 6 cans water
- 2 cans tequila
- 1 can triple sec
- Wait for it to reach a slushy consistency. This can take 4 or more hours. You can keep the mixture in the freezer overnight; the alcohol content will keep it slushy — it won't freeze solid.[5]
- Prepare your glasses. Before serving your drinks you'll want to prepare your glasses by wetting their rims with fresh lime juice and dipping them in coarse salt.
- Remove the mixture from the freezer. Remove the container from the freezer. If it has a tight lid on it, you can shake it vigorously to break up the ice and ensure that all the ingredients are properly mixed.
- If you're unable to tightly seal the container and shake it, open it up, place it on the counter, and stir it with a whisk.
- Serve with a ladle. The recipe makes 66 ounces: you should be able to make roughly 8 to 12 margaritas from it, depending on the size of your drinks.
[Edit]Trying a Corona Alternative - Gather your ingredients:
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup light beer (Corona is a good choice)
- 1 cup gold tequila (the white versions don't mix well with beer)
- triple sec to taste (the sweeter the better)
- juice from 1/4 to 1/2 of a lime
- 1 tbsp sugar
- carbonated water
- chipped ice
- Prepare your glass(es). Use a freshly cut lime to wet the rim of chilled glass. Dip the glass rim-first into a saucer of coarsely ground salt or sugar.
- Note that this recipe will make enough for at least a couple of drinks.
- Add tequila, triple sec, lime juice, and sugar to a cocktail shaker. Give it a stir and let it sit for 30 seconds to help dissolve the sugar.
- How much triple sec you add, if any, will depend on your tastes. Try starting with a 1/2 cup of triple sec.
- Add ice and shake vigorously. Fill the shaker 2/3 to 3/4 full with ice, close the lid, and shake vigorously for at least 15 seconds.
- Pour the shaken mixture into your glass. Once the ingredients are well mixed, remove the lid from the shaker and pour the mixture into your chilled, salt-rimmed glass.
- Add beer to the glass. Add 1/2 to 3/4 a cup of beer to your glass. You may want to start with 1/2 a cup of beer and then give the drink a taste before you add more.
- Stir and taste. Stir the ingredients together and give the drink a taste. Adjust it to your liking and stir.
- At this point, you may want to add some carbonated water to the mixture to make it more fizzy.
- Add chipped ice to your drink, stir, and enjoy. Once you're happy with your drink's flavor, add some chipped ice, give it a stir, and enjoy!
[Edit]Choosing the Best Ingredients - Know how to select a good tequila. Tequila is the best when it is 100% agave. Tequila that isn't 100% agave may contain corn syrup, sugar, and artificial flavors and colors. It should say 100% agave on the label.[6][7]
- Know which triple sec you want. Regular triple secs range in alcohol content from 15% (30-proof) to 40% (80-proof). For a boozier margarita, choose a triple sec with a higher alcohol content such as Cointreau (40% alc/vol).
- Triple sec comes in a variety of brands — popular ones include Curaçao, Grand Marnier (actually an orange-infused cognac), and Cointreau.[8]
- For a simpler margarita recipe you can skip the triple sec all together.
- Choose the perfect limes. Ripe limes have thin, shiny, soft skin; when you rub them, they should be quite fragrant.[9]
- For an authentic Mexican flavor, use key limes, which are more tart and bitter than the larger Persian limes.
- Alternatively, use fresh lemon juice (try sweet Meyer lemons!) for a softer taste.
- Use a high-quality sweetener. Common sweeteners for margaritas include agave nectar (if it's not available at your grocery store, check a health food store), simple syrup, and honey.
- You can make simple syrup at home by mixing water and sugar in a jar and shaking it, or by heating the sugar and water together in a pan — in both cases until the sugar dissolves. Depending on your tastes, you can mix 1.5 to 2 parts sugar with 1 part water.
- A sweetener isn't 100% necessary — some people use no sweeteners at all, instead letting the orange liqueur do the sweetening.
- Use big ice cubes. Unless you're making a blended margarita, use big ice cubes (i.e. when shaking one up in a cocktail maker). Big ice cubes won't melt as quickly as crushed ice or smaller cubes; the less the ice melts, the stronger and more flavorful your drink will be.[10]
- Choose a high-quality salt to rim your glass with. Sea salt and kosher salt are the most commonly recommended types of salt for rimming your margarita glass. Kosher salt will make for a slightly saltier rim than sea salt.[11]
- Avoid using table salt, which will create a fine-grained, clumpy rim on your glass, and make for an overly salty drink.[12]
- You can also purchase pre-made salt mixes specifically for margaritas at grocery and liquor stores.
[Edit]Salting the Rim of Your Glass - Pour salt into a small saucer. Recommended salts are kosher and sea salt, as the larger grains are more pleasing both to the taste buds and the eyes. Aim for a 1/4-inch thickness of salt.[13]
- For a tasty savory-sweet salted rim, add some sugar to your salt mixture before salting the rim of your glass.
- Wet the rim of your glass. A popular way to do this for margaritas is to cut a slit into a lime wedge, place the lime on the glass as if to garnish it, and then run the lime around the glass's rim.
- Be careful not to squeeze the lime too hard as you move it around the glass's rim, otherwise its juice may drip down into the glass. If it does drip down, it's not the end of the world, it'll just look a bit messy.[14]
- Salt the rim of your glass. There are two popular methods to salting the rim of your glass. One method is to simply place the mouth of your glass onto the saucer and give it a twist — as you would use a cookie cutter.
- The other method is to hold the rim of the glass parallel to the saucer and, letting it lightly touch the salt, turn the glass in your hand so that only the outer rim is covered in salt. This method ensures that the salt only ends up on the outside of the glass so that no additional salt winds up in your drink. [15]
- How good a margarita is depends greatly on the quality of the ingredients, so don't skimp!
- Chill your glasses beforehand to keep your margaritas cool and refreshing for a longer period of time.
- To make a "blue margarita", use blue curaçao (made from dried peels of the laraha citrus fruit, which are similar to oranges in flavor) in place of triple sec in your margaritas.
- For reference, standard shot glasses range in volume from 1 to 1.5 ounces.
- Consider experimenting by adding herbs like mint, basil or cilantro to your margaritas — though not all three at once.[16]
- Some people recommend squeezing fresh lime juice 4 to 10 hours before you intend to use it; this can help reduce the juice's acidity and boost its lime flavor.[17]
- Some margarita aficionados suggest trying the recipe without orange liqueur.[18]
[Edit]Related wikiHows [Edit]References [Edit]Quick Summary | | How to Give Yourself a Pedicure Using Salon Techniques Posted: 05 May 2020 09:00 AM PDT Pedicures are a relaxing and rejuvenating way to keep your feet in great shape. While countless salons offer this service, you can save money by soaking and moisturizing your feet at home. Once you've exfoliated away any rough skin and cleaned off the surface of your nails with rubbing alcohol, you're ready to apply some polish! Start with a clear base coat, followed by 2 layers of colored lacquer. Finish off your salon-quality pedicure with a clear top coat. After letting your polish dry for 1 hour, you'll be ready to go out and about with refreshed and pampered feet! [Edit]Soaking and Exfoliating Your Feet - Remove any old polish from your toes with acetone. Soak a cotton swab or pad with acetone and begin dabbing it over the surface of your nails. Work on each nail individually, swiping over the surface nail repeatedly until all old polish is removed. If your toenails are bare to start, wipe them down with acetone to remove any excess oil that's built up on the nail surface.[1]
- If you'd prefer to use a product that doesn't dry out your skin, try using other vinegar, hydrogen peroxide, or other household products. You can also look for a polish remover without acetone.
- You might have to use more than 1 cotton ball or pad to successfully remove all of the old polish.
- Fill a basin or bowl with warm water. Keep this container in your bathroom, or wherever you plan on doing your pedicure. Run your fingers under the water first to ensure that the water is pleasantly warm, but not boiling. As you prepare the basin, check that you're using a basin that's large enough to fit both of your feet at once.
- If you're worried about any water overflowing, consider laying a towel beneath the basin ahead of time.
- You can also fill your bathtub with several inches or centimeters of warm water if you don't have a basin on hand.
- Add a large scoop of epsom salts to the basin. Stir the water with a large spoon until the salts dissolve completely. While you don't have to add any salts to your foot soak, you'll have a much more relaxing experience with this product include in your at-home pedicure.[2]
- Bath salts are known for relieving pain, as well as having relaxing qualities.
- Soak your feet in the salt bath for 10 minutes to soften the skin. Place both feet in the basin and submerge them completely. Sit back and relax for at least 10 minutes, allowing your skin and nails to soften in the warm water. Pass the time by reading a book or magazine, or by watching some TV.[3]
- Try setting a timer so you can remember how long you've kept your feet in the salt soak.
- Exfoliate your heels with a large file to remove dead skin. Take a large foot file and rub along the roughest portions of your skin in short, quick motions. Spend extra time on the heels and balls of your feet, and any other place where rough skin cracks occur. Only file 1 foot at a time—feel free to leave your other foot in the soaking basin while you work.[4]
- Be patient as you file away at the rough skin. While it may seem more time-consuming, try working on your feet in slow, buffing motions.
- Check your local beauty store for other filing tools. Some brands make filing equipment specifically for pedicures.
- A pumice stone is a great way to keep your feet smooth after the pedicure.[5]
[Edit]Trimming and Grooming Your Toenails - Clip away any dead skin around your toenails. Examine your feet to see if your nails are digging into the skin below. Use a pair of nail clippers to pry off any pieces of overgrown nails and dead skin, which can interfere with your pedicure in the future. Work gently as you remove any large and unwanted pieces of dead skin around the nail.[6]
- Make sure that the skin you're trimming away is dead, and not healthy skin that's still connected to the toe.
- Push back your cuticles with an orange stick if they're too high up. Avoid cutting or trimming your cuticles, as this can invite loads of bad bacteria into your nails. Instead, use an orange stick to nudge your cuticles backwards, forcing them against the base of the nail.[7]
- Only push back your cuticles after your feet are soaked and the skin is softened.
- Clip your toenails in a straight line. Use a sanitized pair of clippers to trim your nails in a straight, even line. Don't cut around the corners, or try to shape your nails into a curve, as this can create ingrown nails later on.[8]
- Polish is less likely to chip from nails that are trimmed in a straight line.
- Wipe off or soak your tools in a disinfectant before storing them. Use disinfectant wipes or a disinfectant solution to clean off your nail clippers, orange stick, and other reusable pedicure tools. Check that the solution kills most common bacteria, including athlete's foot and staph. Read the label on the disinfectant to see how long it takes for your equipment to be sterilized, and wait for that amount of time.[9]
- Rubbing alcohol works fine as a disinfectant.
- Always sterilize your nail equipment after using it.
[Edit]Moisturizing Your Feet - Apply a foot mask to soothe and moisturize your feet. Look at your local beauty or drug store to find a foot mask. If your feet are dry, invest in a moisturizing product; if your skin is thick and covered with callouses, opt for peeling mask treatment instead. Rub the product in a thin layer all over your skin, then prop your feet up on a flat surface, like the edge of a bathtub. Keep the mask on for the time recommended by the product's label.[10]
- Rinse the mask off your feet by soaking them in the salt bath for 10 minutes. Place both feet in the basin to remove the thin layer of mask product. Swirl your feet around in the tub, letting the salt soak rinse the mask away. During this time, feel free to sit back with a book, magazine, or some other relaxing activity.
- Dry off your feet with a clean towel. Remove both feet from the salt soak and surround them with a clean, fluffy towel. Next, focus on blotting away any water dripping from your feet. Continue towel drying, working the towel in between your toes to get rid of any excess moisture. You can set the towel aside once your feet feel dry to the touch.[11]
- If you don't have a towel on hand, feel free to use a wash rag or paper towel instead.
- Rub lotion around your feet and toes to lock in moisture. Take a coin-sized amount of moisturizing lotion and rub into your fingertips. Use your fingers to massage the lotion all over your feet, working over the top and bottom of each foot. Continue working the lotion between your toes, and on the base of your nails.[12]
- For a full pedicure experience, rub lotion over your ankles and lower calves as well.
- Use a lotion that works best for your skin type. For instance, if your feet are especially dry, look for a lotion that's moisturizing.
[Edit]Applying Nail Polish - Clean off the nail surface with a Q-tip dipped in rubbing alcohol. Soak the tip of a cotton swab in rubbing alcohol, then rub it along the surface of each individual toenail. Don't worry about scrubbing the nail—just focus on cleaning off any excess oils or product that may have stuck to the nail during the bath soak. Wait a minute or so for the alcohol to dry off before you continue.[13]
- Place a separator tool between your toes. Take each individual toe and rest it in a single groove of the toe separator. If you aren't experienced with applying toenail polish, use this tool to keep your toes apart while you apply the clear and colored lacquer.[14]
- If you're experienced with nail polish, feel free to disregard this.
- Spread a layer of clear base coat over your toenails. Take the polish applicator and rub a strengthening layer of base coat on each individual nail. Start on your big toe and work outwards, painting in the same order that you plan to paint your toes. Wait 3-5 minutes for the base coat to dry, or however much time is specified on the bottle.[15]
- Base coats prevent the polish from staining your base nail later on.
- If you prefer to use dark nail polish shades, base coats can keep your nails from looking yellowed.
- While you're shopping at your local beauty supply shop or drugstore, look for a base coat formula that's labeled as moisturizing.
- Paint on 1 coat of colored polish over the base coat. Dip the polish brush into the bottle slightly, then place the brush in the center of your nail. Let the polish pool over the surface of the nail, then use the brush to nudge the polish to the left and right. Don't excessively brush over the product, as this can make your polish look bumpy and unprofessional.[16]
- Ideally, you only need to use 3 swipes of your polish brush to apply a single coat of polish.
- Wait 2 minutes for the first layer of polish to dry. Let the base color layer dry before you add a second layer. Don't wave your toes around to speed up the drying process, as this can cause the wet polish to smudge or warp. Instead, leave your toes flat, so the polish can dry evenly.[17]
- While it may be tempting to only apply 1 coat of colored polish, the second coat can make the color of your pedicure look bolder and more striking.
- Add a second coat of colored polish to your toenails and let it dry. Take your applicator and spread on another layer of the same colored lacquer. Work the polish over the nail in 3 strokes again, letting the product naturally spread over each nail. Once you've applied the second coat, rest your feet on a flat surface and wait at least 2 minutes for the polish to dry.[18]
- Check the label on your bottle for exact drying instructions. Some formulas might dry faster than others.
- Protect your nails with a quick-drying top coat. Finish off your pedicure with a thin swipe of top coat polish. Work the clear lacquer over each nail, using just 3 strokes to spread the polish along the surface. Wait 1 hour for the polish to completely dry, so it doesn't smudge when you go outside.[19]
- Don't skip this step! A top coat helps your pedicure last longer, without chips and nicks in the surface.
- Spread cuticle oil over your toe cuticles after the polish dries. Take the brush applicator and spread a liberal amount of oil along the curves of your cuticles. If you apply too much, use a paper towel to blot up any obvious excess. Let the oil soak in—you don't need to wipe it off.[20]
- Always apply cuticle oil at the end of your pedicure. If you apply it early on in the process, your polish might not stick to your nails as well.
[Edit]Things You'll Need - Acetone
- Cotton swab or pad
- Plastic basin
- Bath salts
- Foot file
- Toenail clipper
- Orange stick (optional)
- Disinfectant
- Foot mask
- Towel
- Lotion
- Q-tip
- Rubbing alcohol
- Toe separators
- Base coat polish
- Colored nail polish
- Top coat polish
- Cuticle oil
- Paper towel (optional)
[Edit]References [Edit]Quick Summary | | How to Hang Out with Your Friends During the Coronavirus Crisis Posted: 05 May 2020 01:00 AM PDT The latest coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak has forced many people to socially distance themselves from others to prevent viral transmission. Even if you feel isolated from your friends during this tough time, you can still spend time with them safely over the Internet. If you and your friends feel healthy, you can try getting together in person, but be sure to limit your group size and the amount of physical contact between you. [Edit]Staying Connected - Send text messages to keep in touch with one another. Either send individual messages or make a group chat if you want to involve all of your friends. Reach out to your friends often and ask them how they're doing. Limit how much you talk about coronavirus so you don't feel anxious or stressed out by it. Instead, try playing fun games like 20 Questions, Would You Rather, or Never Have I Ever to pass the time and get your mind off the emotional toll of this turbulent situation. [1]
- You can use your phone's standard messaging app, or you can use apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or another texting service.
- Reach out to extroverted people that you usually see out in public since they may be having a more difficult time adjusting to social distancing.
- Use social media to reach out to all of your friends. Post statuses or photos on apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Snapchat so if you want to communicate with all of your friends at the same time. Write something to let your friends know that you're doing okay or update them about what's happening in your life. Try to share funny images or posts to help lighten the mood. You can also send direct messages to individual friends or groups of people if you want to communicate more privately.[2]
- Social media is a great way to reach friends that you only see occasionally.
- Call your friends on the phone to hear their voices. While messaging a friend is a nice gesture, it can be comforting for you to hear each other's voices. Give your friend a call to see if they answer. Ask your friend how they're doing and have a casual conversation with them to catch up. You can also try playing games over the phone, such as Would You Rather or telling a story 1 sentence at a time, to help pass the time and have fun.[3]
- Many messaging apps, like WhatsApp and Skype, also offer free voice calling services so you can still contact your friends if you don't have phone service.
- Try a video chat service when you want to see your friends. Even if you can't see your friends in person, you can still spend face-to-face time together from your phone or a webcam. Make 1-on-1 calls if you only want to talk to one friend, or try doing a group call so you can see multiple friends at the same time. Have fun together by telling stories, playing charades, or trying to draw each other.[4]
- Try using apps like Skype, Discord, Marco Polo, or FaceTime.
- Some text messaging apps, like Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, also offer video chat services.
- Leave your video chat running in the background while you do other things around your home so you can chat with your friends throughout the day.
- Write letters to your friends for a more personal way to communicate. Take time to write your letter by hand since it will show that you sincerely care about your friend. Try asking thought-provoking questions or just describing how you're feeling to them. You may also try making a collaborative art project or story where each person adds a little bit before sending it again.[5]
- You can also exchange personal emails if you're unable to send physical letters.
- Try planning out what you want to say on a scrap sheet of paper or word document so you don't make any mistakes when writing your letter.
- If you don't know your friend's address, ask them. Otherwise, try looking it up online if you want your letter to be a surprise.
[Edit]Planning Remote Activities Together - Host an online movie night if you want to watch something together. Try to find a time when you and your friends have a few hours of free time, and decide on a movie you all enjoy that's available to stream online. Once you each have the movie loaded up, count down together so you all click the play button at the same time so it's synced up. Comment on the movie or make jokes so you can have fun together.[6]
- There are many browser extensions, such as Kast or Netflix Party, that automatically sync the movie so you're all watching it at the same time.
- You can also use Facebook Watch, but you can only watch videos that have been uploaded to Facebook.
- Play video games online if you and your friends have the same systems. Many video games have online cooperative or competitive modes, so find out what games you and your friends both own. As you communicate, talk about your days and make jokes to help lighten the mood. Make sure you also plan and strategize about the game so you all can win together.[7]
- You can still play online games even if you don't have voice chat.
- If you don't have a strong Internet connection, you may disconnect from your friends or experience lag.
- Try digital board games for a friendly competition. Many board games have dedicated mobile and web apps that help streamline gameplay so they're easier to learn. Start a voice or video chat with your friends and choose a board game app to play. Try a variety of game genres, such as goofy party games or fun strategy games, to see what works best in your group.[8]
- If you want to play standard board games, try using sites and apps like Tabletopia or Tabletop Simulator.
- If you want to play a roleplaying game like Dungeons & Dragons, you can use sites like Roll20 to run your campaign.
- Enjoy a virtual happy hour if you want to have drinks with friends. Start a video chat with your friends when you all finish work for the day and have a drink. Use the time to talk about your day and socialize with one another like you normally would at a bar or restaurant. Spend as long as you want together, but be sure to drink responsibly.[9]
- Don't drink alcohol if you're feeling sick since it may make you feel worse.
- Cook or enjoy meals over video chat to relax and destress with friends. Pick a recipe with your friends that you're all able to make at the same time. Set up a video call in your kitchen with your friends so you can all cook at the same time and chat about it. Share any cooking tips or adjustments you made to the recipe with your friends to help them out. When you finish cooking, eat together over the video chat so you can talk about the flavors and carry on casual conversation.[10]
- Try picking simple recipes that only require a few ingredients so you don't have to go out and buy groceries.
[Edit]Getting Together in Person - Avoid going out and seeing others if you feel sick. If you have a fever, shortness of breath, coughing, or sneezing, opt to stay home and let your friends know that you're not feeling well. Take time to rest and distance yourself from other people so you don't spread any bacteria to other people. Continue monitoring your symptoms and contact a doctor if you start feeling worse or your condition doesn't improve within 2 weeks.[11]
- Coronavirus can spread even if you aren't showing symptoms, so use caution when planning to meet up with friends in person.
- Keep your group less than 10 people. Since coronavirus spreads easily through the air, it's more likely to transmit in large gatherings. If you're planning get-togethers, only plan for a maximum of 10 people so you're less likely to catch COVID-19. Make sure each of your friends feels healthy as well before getting together with them to reduce the chance of infection.[12]
- Try planning outdoor activities so you have more room to spread out. It may be hard to give people personal space if everyone is inside, so look for things you can do outside. Try biking or hiking so you can split up and space yourselves out to prevent transmission more. Avoid activities that have a lot of physical contact, like sports, since you can spread bacteria more.[13]
- Limit physical contact between you and your friends when you're together. Avoid shaking hands or hugging one another while you're together. Instead, give each other personal space to keep everyone safe. If you're providing food and drink, make sure everyone has their own plate and drink. Wash your hands frequently and encourage your friends to do the same to prevent any bacteria from spreading.[14]
- Don't share any dining ware with another person to limit any viral transmission.
- Disinfect surfaces once your friends leave to keep things clean. Use a disinfectant that is registered by the EPA or has at least 70% alcohol content to ensure that you kill viruses and bacteria effectively. Clean any surface that someone touched or came into contact with using soapy water before spraying them with your disinfectant.[15]
- Wash your hands for 20 seconds immediately after you clean to kill any germs left on your hands.
- Reach out to your friends frequently to make sure they're doing okay while social distancing.[16]
- Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds after blowing your nose, sneezing, coughing, or going out in public to limit how much you spread bacteria.[17]
- The bright side of hanging out with friends virtually is that despite technological glitches, it may take much less effort and hassle than traveling to go see them (and you don't emit the C02 that you would from driving!).
[Edit]Warnings - If you feel sick, avoid going out in public unless you're seeking medical care. Wear a facemask if you have one to help prevent transmitting bacteria to others.[18]
- Coronavirus can spread even if you aren't showing symptoms so use caution if you're planning on meeting your friends in person.[19]
[Edit]Related wikiHows [Edit]References [Edit]Quick Summary | | How to Choose Hats for Your Face Shape Posted: 04 May 2020 05:00 PM PDT Most of you may have had trouble buying a hat: The hat looks absolutely incredible and super chic on the mannequin, and you realize painfully later that the hat worn around your head looks infinitely unsatisfactory. Then you are stuck in the vicious cycle wherein every hat seems odd or silly on you. You have become hat-paranoid. It's time to turn over a new leaf and resume the adventure. By picking a flattering hat based on your face shape, you can add flair and sharpness to your appearance. [Edit]Measuring Your Face - Measure your forehead. Using a tape measure, measure across your forehead. Measure from the peak of one eyebrow arch to the arch-peak of the opposite eyebrow. Write down that number.[1]
- Measure your cheekbones. Using a tape measure, measure the distance across your upper cheeks. Start and end at the bump below the outside corner of each eye. Write down that number.[2]
- Measure your jawline. Using a tape measure, measure from the bottom tip of your chin to the bottom of your ears. Stop at the place where your jaw angles upward. Multiply that number by two. Write down that number. This is your "jawline."[3]
- Measure your face-length. Using a tape measure, measure from the center of your forehead (at your hairline) to the bottom tip of your chin. Write down that number.[4]
- Ask yourself three questions. Using these measurements as a guide, ask yourself the following:[5]
- What is the widest part of my face?
- What is the shape of my jaw?
- How long is my face? Is it longer than it is wide, and if so, by how much?
[Edit]Determining Your Face Shape - Look for an "oval face." An oval face will have a length that is roughly one and half times greater than your face width. The forehead is a bit larger than the jawline, and the angle of the jaw is a bit more round. An oval face will look like an egg.[6]
- Look for a "round face." A round face will be the same width and length. A round face has a round chin, full cheeks, and a round hairline. It makes you look younger than other shapes.[7]
- Look for an "oblong face." An oblong face will be longer than it is wide. The forehead, cheekbones, and jawline of an oblong face will be similar in size. Oblong faces may feature high foreheads.[8]
- Look for a "heart-shaped face." This face shape is very common. In a heart-shaped face, the chin is the narrowest part. A heart-shaped face has a broad forehead and/or wide cheekbones, and pointy chin.
- Look for a "square face." A square-shaped face has a length almost equal to its width. The distance from forehead to chin and from cheek to cheek are roughly the same.[9]
- Look for a "triangle face." Triangular faces will be characterized by a large jawline, slightly smaller cheekbones, and smallest forehead. A triangle face may be any length. Triangle-shaped faces are also known as pear shaped faces.[10]
[Edit]Selecting a Hat for Your Face Shape - Choose hats for an "oval face." Feel free to try all kinds of hats! You are blessed with a very versatile look! Pick up whatever suits your mood, as long as the hat is in harmony with your outfit. Women with oval faces can top off any hat.[11]
- The possibilities are limitless! It only depends on your personal preferences.
- Experiment with earrings, necklaces, and bracelets.
- Choose hats for a "round face." Add some asymmetry to your look. You can perfectly handle a fedora, a newsboy hat, or a baseball cap. This symmetrical face cries out for a new angle: asymmetry. The roundness requires a slimming treatment.[12]
- Steer clear of round crowns, which can emphasize the roundness of your face.
- It is wise to select a hat with a high crown and straight brim in order to give your face more angles.
- Your main goal is to choose a hat that helps distract people's attention from your facial curves.
- Slanting your hat forward draws out your face and gives a touch of definition.
- Choose hats for an "oblong face." Try a hat with a flared brim and low crown, such as a sunhat, a cloche, or a fedora with a large brim. The large brim of a sunhat may well offset the length of a long face.
- Avoid any hats with tall crowns, which only elongate your face even more.
- A cloche worn low to your eyebrows can help conceal your high forehead, and, like sorcery, create an impression of shortened face.
- The large brim of the fedora also counterbalances vertical curves.
- Choose hats for a "heart-shaped face." Go with a medium brimmed hat, such as a fedora with a medium sized brim, a boater, a cloche, a homburg, a beanie, or a beret. These are all good choices! These hats balance out the width of your forehead.[13]
- Slanting the hat to one side will slim your face and draw attention to the eyes.
- Actually, any type will work well on you except those with large brims.
- Avoid shapes that accentuate the shape. Stay away from wide brims which only accentuate your forehead and narrow your chin.
- Choose hats for a "square face." Experiment with circular styles. Your defined and symmetrical face requires circular features to soften the edges of the face. Round crown and brim will do the trick, smoothing a boxy face and inducing the illusion of height and roundness.[14]
- Opt for a sunhat, a cowboy hat, a homburg, a cloche or a toque, which gives you a feminine and flirty touch.
- A beret will elongate and cushion your facial contour.
- Tilting the hat off to one side breaks up the symmetry pattern of your square face.
- A sunhat with a pair of sunglasses and a flowing maxi dress adds boho-chic to your ensemble. It is a perfect combination for your beach vacation.
- Don't wear a hat with a short brim, no brim or a square hat. These two types of hats will both emphasize your angular face shape.
- Choose hats for a "triangle face." Feel free to try many hats. A triangle face is like an oval face shape that the options are virtually endless when it comes to a hat. Make sure your hat brings balance to your shoulder line, and accent to your garment.
- Never get close to a crown that is narrower than the cheekbones.
[Edit]References [Edit]Quick Summary |  |
| Govt declares dates: JEE July 18-23, NEET July26 Posted: 05 May 2020 05:35 PM PDT Govt declares dates: JEE July 18-23, NEET July26 Source: TIE  |
| May 1 marks the beginning of early trend of reversal in dipping Covid growth rate Posted: 05 May 2020 05:35 PM PDT May 1 marks the beginning of early trend of reversal in dipping Covid growth rate Source: TIE  |
| Not having Aarogya Setu on phone is a punishable offence, say Noida police Posted: 05 May 2020 05:35 PM PDT Not having Aarogya Setu on phone is a punishable offence, say Noida police Source: TIE  |
| Re-engaged railway staff may face the axe Posted: 05 May 2020 05:31 PM PDT Re-engaged railway staff may face the axe As many as 368 employees working in workshops have been served notices via SMS and WhatsApp Source: TH  |
| Today Crunch News, News Updates, Tech News Posted: 05 May 2020 05:26 PM PDT
| Volkswagen to start sales of first edition all-electric ID.3 hatchback in June Posted: 05 May 2020 04:42 PM PDT Volkswagen plans to start selling the launch edition of its ID.3 vehicle next month to customers who placed pre-orders of the all-electric hatchback. Customers who made reservations for the launch edition, known as ID.3 1st, will be able to order their vehicle starting June 17, according to a tweet posted by Volkswagen board member Jürgen Stackmann. Volkswagen has registered more than 37,000 reservations for the first edition, which will be limited to 30,000 units. Orders for right-hand drive markets will open up in July, Stackmann said. The announcement follows the automaker’s decision last month to restart production of the ID.3 at its Zwickau, Germany factory, which had been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Production of the ID.3 1st resumed April 23, initially with reduced capacity and slower cycle times. The ID.3 is the first model in the company’s new all-electric ID brand and the beginning of its ambitious plan to sell 1 million electric vehicles annually by 2025. The ID.3 will only be sold in Europe. Other models under the ID brand will be sold in North America. The four-door, five-seater hatchback is as long as VW Golf. However, thanks to the ID.3’s shorter overhangs, its wheelbase is larger, giving the vehicle a roomier interior. The special edition version will start under €40,000 in Germany, the company has previously said. Volkswagen will fulfill its orders for the special launch edition of the ID.3 first. VW customers paid a deposit of €1,000 ($1,122 based on conversion last year) to pre-order the special edition vehicle. Volkswagen said that the ID.3 1st will include free electric charging for the first year, up to a maximum of 2,000 kWh, at all public charging points connected to the Volkswagen charging app WeCharge and using the pan-European rapid charging network IONITY. Volkswagen plans to produce the ID.3 in three configurations — the Pure, Pro and Pro S. The ID.3 Pure is the entry-level model that will be equipped with a 45 kWh battery pack that can travel up to an estimated 260 miles under the WLTP standard. The entry-level version will be priced under €30,000 on the German market and come standard with 18-inch steel wheels, LED headlights with automatic lighting control and LED tail light clusters. The ID.3 Pro has a larger battery than the Pure, increased range, more power and shorter charging times and will start at under €35,000 in Germany. The Pro S sits at the top of the model range and includes sportier equipment, including 19-inch Andoya wheels and “Play & Pause” design pedals. | | A worker at Amazon’s New York City fulfillment center is dead from COVID-19 Posted: 05 May 2020 04:24 PM PDT Earlier this week, Amazon informed staff members at its Staten Island fulfillment center that a worker had died from COVID-19. The news was first noted by The Verge. The employee began to exhibit symptoms in early April, before being placed on quarantine April 11. He never returned to the site. “We are deeply saddened by the loss of an associate at our site in Staten Island, NY,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch. “His family and loved ones are in our thoughts, and we are supporting his fellow colleagues." Amazon says it doesn’t believe any of the individual cases at the Staten Island facility are directly linked. It notes that the employee was not contact-traced to any others in the warehouse. Classified as an essential service, Amazon never shut down operations amid local stay at home orders. Last month, the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post reported in mid-April that workers in at least 74 of Amazon's warehouse and fulfillment centers have tested positive for the virus. In late-March, an employee at the company's facility in Hawthorne, Calif. died from the virus a few days after exhibiting symptoms. The company has been criticized for failing to provide proper protection against the spread of the virus, as workers push to get packages out to house-bound consumers. It's an accusation Amazon has flatly denied, both in statements and in Jeff Bezos's shareholder letter, which laid out safeguards and plans to build a testing facility exclusively for Amazon employees. The company began offering guidelines after a Staten Island worker tested positive in mid-March. It’s not clear how many workers have tested positive for or died from the virus. The company was one of several prominent retailers targeted in last Friday's May Day protests, while earlier this week, VP Tim Bray left the company out of protest over the firings of multiple whistleblowers. JFK8, the massive Staten Island facility that serves as a hub for New York City, has been a focal point for multiple Amazon protests during the pandemic. 
| | The rise of the human-centric CEO Posted: 05 May 2020 04:15 PM PDT Romeen Sheth is president of Metasys, a workforce-management firm based in Atlanta. Steve Schlafman Contributor Steve Schlafman is founder, coach and angel investor at High Output, a boutique leadership-development company based in NYC. Peacetime CEO/Wartime CEO by Ben Horowitz is one of the most commonly cited management think pieces of the last decade. And for good reason; Horowitz surfaced a fundamental distinction in operating philosophy that is necessary for companies to survive, reinvent and ultimately win when macroeconomic environments shift. The framework is especially useful given how counterintuitive the advice is — behaviors of a peacetime CEO and wartime CEO are often on diametrically opposite sides of the spectrum; it is rare to find a CEO who can successfully emulate both personas. While in concept it is easy to understand these principles, as with most things in life, nothing can replace the visceral comprehension that comes via learned experience. We are at the onset of enduring the most challenging startup environment of (at least) the last 15 years. COVID-19 is an indiscriminate event that is systematically wiping out businesses, whether "atoms" or "bits." For most startup operators, this is the first taste of true systematic adversity. The undercurrents of frothy valuations, the social milieu of early-stage investing and stores of excess capital are coming to a grinding halt as the bull market of the last 12 years is dramatically disrupted. We have an entire generation of founders/CEOs who may conceptually understand the peacetime CEO/wartime CEO ethos, but now, they’re going to actually live it. At the same time as every other founder/CEO. Brutal. Since the onset of COVID-19, we have spoken to more than 100 founders and CEOs. Naturally, we are hearing frequent allusions to peacetime CEO/wartime CEO as a framework to help navigate the landscape. We've even used it over the last few months. While we believe it is a helpful framework, it is also incomplete. Further, we believe its application can lead to deeply problematic outcomes. At a micro level, the misplaced application of peacetime CEO/wartime CEO can fundamentally change a company for the worse. A wartime CEO, as Horowitz notes, is "completely intolerant, rarely speaks in a normal tone, sometimes uses profanity purposefully, heightens contradictions, and neither indulges consensus building nor tolerates disagreements." In the strictest application, we are seeing this align with a common false trope that has plagued the tech industry: "To change the world like Steve Jobs, I need to emulate all aspects of Steve Jobs' personality." A classic logical fallacy many founders/CEOs have learned the hard way — if you emulate all aspects of Steve Jobs' personality, it doesn't mean you will change the world like he did. Each company is driven by its own unique culture and values — in a crisis situation, while it is important to be adept and agile, it's equally, if not more important, to triple down on the strongest elements of your culture established pre-crisis. Many of the strongest founders/CEOs we have had the pleasure of coaching and investing in are uniquely world-class in their patience and tolerance, their ability to make the abnormal normal and their commitment to inspire with clarity. It is the adherence to these principles that will help carry their companies through this time. At a macro level, peacetime CEO/wartime CEO conjures outdated themes that are at best inaccurate, and at worst, counterproductive. War implies "destruction, ruthlessness, blood, death;" there is an innate sense of machismo and bravado in this language reinforcing a homogeneous tech community. This type of vernacular and attitude increases barriers to a more inclusive community excluding women and underrepresented minority participation. Now is the time for us to propagate community, resourcefulness and generosity. One of the most common takeaways we have heard in reference to the framework is, "now is the time when real founders are made." If Rent the Runway, ClassPass, Away, the Wing and the countless other women-led/minority-led startups that have been adversely affected by COVID-19 are not able to bounce back, we highly doubt it is because "they weren't able to cut it as real founders,” a ridiculous assertion to make under any circumstance. The peacetime CEO/wartime CEO framework is clearly valuable — it forces us to dissect the behavioral shifts necessary to survive in a crisis. That being said, it needs to evolve. Being firm, decisive and staring down an existential crisis is not mutually exclusive with applying empathy, gratitude and generosity. You can be an intense, laser-focused and paranoid CEO without losing yourself or fundamentally changing the culture of your company. We know dozens of leaders who are leading their companies through these challenging times without leaving a wake of carnage or damage to the foundation they have spent years building. They are leading with their heart and values and will be remembered for how they carried themselves, treated their employees and guided the company through the crisis. COVID-19 presents us with a unique opportunity as an industry. Now is the right time to retire the false dilemma of peacetime CEO or wartime CEO and empower the rise of the human-centric CEO: - The human-centric CEO considers and balances the needs of her organization, employees, customers and other stakeholders in good and bad times;
- The human-centric CEO recognizes she cannot change the macro environment or competition so she focuses her effort and energy on what she and the team can control and manage;
- The human-centric CEO internalizes his mission, vision and values in the face of difficult challenges and critical strategic decisions;
- The human-centric CEO views and manages her company as a complex and dynamic human system with nuanced inputs and interdependencies;
- The human-centric CEO believes employees are the single most important stakeholder — that is reflected in how the organization hires, coaches, trains, incentivizes and retains;
- The human-centric CEO orients around decisive and bold decisions that impact employees rather than a series of micro maneuvers that damage culture and trust;
- The human-centric CEO creates shared meaning and purpose by reiterating the mission and vision over and over and over again;
- The human-centric CEO fosters an organization that values and cultivates psychological safety;
- The human-centric CEO develops self-awareness and inner resilience to weather the emotional ups and downs of company building;
- The human-centric CEO invests the time and energy to go deeper with her employees at strategic junctures and times of crisis;
- The human-centric CEO distills and simplifies issues, strategies and tactics to help employees reduce noise and increase focus;
- The human-centric CEO communicates frequently and articulates expectations with humility and confidence to avoid uncertainty, prevent anxiety and achieve alignment;
- The human-centric CEO recognizes he has a range of communication mediums at his disposal and selects the most appropriate one based on the magnitude of the situation;
- The human-centric CEO believes in the power of company rituals such as one-on-ones, exec team meetings, all-hands, stand-ups, retrospectives and off-sites;
- The human-centric CEO expresses empathy, appreciation and gratitude for the work performed by existing, outgoing and former employees;
- The human-centric CEO listens intensely and empathetically with her full self — ears, eyes and intuition;
- The human-centric CEO takes out time for self-care because she understands she cannot serve others and be highly effective unless she is mentally and physically healthy.
There's no way to mince words. COVID-19 is having a devastating impact on the startup community. The inevitable is unfortunately occurring every day — many startups will never come back from this. As eternal optimists, however, we see opportunity in this crisis for the broader industry: the rise of the human-centric CEO. Now is the time for us to propagate community, resourcefulness and generosity. It's the time to be ever thoughtful about employees, colleagues, stakeholders and fellow founder/CEOs in need. Individual startups may not survive this crisis, but it is our hope that an everlasting mentality does. By no means is this list exhaustive, but it captures the behaviors and attributes from the top leaders we are working with. We believe CEOs should strive to become human-centric. Not only because it's the right thing to do, but also because we believe it will lead to healthier organizations and better results over time.
| | Twitter rolls out changes to threaded conversations following tests in its prototype app, twttr Posted: 05 May 2020 04:13 PM PDT Twitter announced today it’s introducing a new layout for replies that will use lines and indentations to make it easier to understand who you’re replying to and how the conversation is flowing. The company will also test putting engagement actions — including likes, Retweet and reply icons — behind an extra tap to make replies to conversations easier to follow. These features have been in testing for just over a year in Twitter’s prototype app, twttr, affectionately dubbed “little T” internally at the company. The app was introduced at the Consumer Electronics Show in January 2019, as a way for Twitter to try out new ideas in space outside its public network. Twitter wanted to understand if an updated user interface would help people to better follow the conversations taking place on its platform — particularly those longer threads where the original poster also participates in the back-and-forth, and users end up replying to the wrong comment. In its prototype app twttr, Twitter tried out a variety of styles, including, at one time, a design where the individual responses were more rounded — similar to chat bubbles. The design that’s stuck around the longest, however, is the one that’s now making its public debut on Twitter.com and Twitter’s iOS app. It involves branching lines that connect the different parts of the conversation threads together. The lines are more subtle than the chat bubbles had been, appearing as a lighter gray when Twitter’s default white theme is applied. Extra replies are also hidden beneath the “Show replies” label, which you have to tap to continue to read through a given thread. The overall experience is something that’s more akin to a discussion board site, like Reddit. In addition to the branching lines, the idea to hide Twitter’s engagement buttons was also something originally tested in twttr. The company said in January 2020 that it intended to soon bring twttr’s experiments in threaded conversations to its main app. "We're taking all the different branches — all the different parts of the conversation — and we're making it so it's all in one global view," explained Suzanne Xie, Twitter's head of Conversations, speaking to reporters at CES 2020 earlier this year. "This means you can easily understand, and get a pulse of what's happening in the conversation," she added. Twitter says the features will initially roll out to a portion of Twitter users on iOS and the web. | | Social network for women Peanut raises $12M Series A amid pandemic Posted: 05 May 2020 04:01 PM PDT Peanut, an app that began as a tool for finding new mom friends, has evolved into a social network now used by 1.6 million women to discuss a range of topics, from pregnancy and parenthood to marriage and menopause, and everything in between. On the heels of significant growth in online networking fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, the company is today announcing the close of a $12 million Series A round of funding, led by EQT Ventures, a multi-stage VC firm that invests in companies across Europe and the U.S. Index Ventures and Female Founders Fund also participated, bringing Peanut’s total raise to date to $21.8 million. The round itself closed just weeks ago — arriving at a time when the coronavirus pandemic is impacting the startup world, often drying up venture capital for emerging companies. Some startups, as a result, have laid off employees to self-sustain, while others have sought exits or even folded. Peanut, on the other hand, has seen rapid growth for its platform as women looked for a supportive online environment to discuss their own concerns over how COVID-19 was impacting their lives. Many women participating in Peanut’s newer “Trying to Conceive” group, for example, worried about their canceled IVF rounds and how to plan for the future. Current moms-to-be wanted to hear from others about how COVID-19 would impact their hospital delivery plans. And others stuck working at home with kids looked for advice and coping strategies. 
Since the outbreak, Peanut has seen engagement across its app increase by 30% and content consumption increase by 40%. Its total community also grew from 1 million users in December 2019 to now 1.6 million, as of April. “We’re really lucky in that we’re growing and that we are, for the most part, untouched by what’s happening,” says Peanut founder and CEO Michelle Kennedy. “And actually, if anyone needed community more, it’s now,” she added. Though the pandemic has sent the app’s usage skyrocketing, it has also readjusted Peanut’s priorities with regard to its roadmap. Most notably, its friend-finding feature needs a rethink. 
Peanut originally worked as a sort of “Tinder for mom friends” — an idea that arose from Kennedy’s personal experience with how difficult it was to forge female friendships after motherhood. As the former deputy CEO at dating app Badoo and an inaugural board member at Bumble, she brought her extensive experience in matchmaking apps to Peanut, which uses a similar swipe-based mechanism. But COVID-19 has up-ended this side of Peanut’s business. Today, Peanut users are meeting in Zoom chat rooms to hangout or play games, but not in person. Kennedy says the company will try to meet these users where they are with the development of more video networking features, potentially with technology built in-house. Other plans for the new capital include improvements to the social discovery aspects of its app, the development of a web version of Peanut, and the creation of more groups beyond those focused on fertility and motherhood, which have so far been core to the Peanut experience. 
Specifically, the company soon plans to launch a new community focused on women living with menopause, an experience that will reach more than a billion women by 2025. Despite the fact that all women with ovaries will go through menopause, there are relatively few online communities dedicated to it — which Peanut sees as an untapped market. Peanut’s real strength, however, is not in the types of communities it grows on its platform, but how they’re created. There has not yet been a social network that focused on “building a platform for women, thinking about women’s needs and built by a women,” explains Kennedy. “So what we end up doing is using things that already exist — trying to twist them and mold them into what we need, and never getting it exactly right,” she says. “We can do better than that.” One small example of this is the recent launch of Peanut’s “Mute Keywords” feature that allows women to remove certain types of discussions from their feeds and notifications. Some women used this to create a coronavirus-free news feed that focused on other aspects of motherhood. Others who were trying to conceive muted conversations around “pregnancy,” which they found emotionally triggering. 
With the Series A’s close, Peanut says Naza Metghalchi from EQT Ventures joins the company’s majority-female board, alongside Hannah Seal from existing investor Index Ventures. “Peanut's user engagement metrics are a testament to the app’s ability to act as a true emotional companion throughout women’s journeys,” said Naza Metghalchi, venture lead and investment advisor at EQT Ventures, in a statement. “The EQT Ventures team is excited to partner with Michelle and continue to grow Peanut into a platform that serves all women at different life milestones, exploring topics beyond fertility and motherhood which have already seen such huge traction.” The additional funding allows London-based Peanut to expand its business and hire more engineers to join its current team of just 16. “I think having closed a round in this climate is great for the team,” says Kennedy. “It’s also great for the community because it means that we can grow the team, build quicker, build faster and develop the product more quickly,” she adds. | | The future of deep-reinforcement learning, our contemporary AI superhero Posted: 05 May 2020 03:50 PM PDT Rish is an entrepreneur and investor. Previously, he was a VC at Gradient Ventures (Google's AI fund), co-founded a fintech startup building an analytics platform for SEC filings and worked on deep-learning research as a graduate student in computer science at MIT. It was not long ago that the world watched World Chess Champion Garry Kasparov lose a decisive match against a supercomputer. IBM's Deep Blue embodied the state of the art in the late 1990s, when a machine defeating a world (human) champion at a complex game such as chess was still unheard of. Fast-forward to today, and not only have supercomputers greatly surpassed Deep Blue in chess, they have managed to achieve superhuman performance in a string of other games, often much more complex than chess, ranging from Go to Dota to classic Atari titles. Many of these games have been mastered just in the last five years, pointing to a pace of innovation much quicker than the two decades prior. Recently, Google released work on Agent57, which for the first time showcased superior performance over existing benchmarks across all 57 Atari 2600 games. The class of AI algorithms underlying these feats — deep-reinforcement learning — has demonstrated the ability to learn at very high levels in constrained domains, such as the ones offered by games. The exploits in gaming have provided valuable insights (for the research community) into what deep-reinforcement learning can and cannot do. Running these algorithms has required gargantuan compute power as well as fine-tuning of the neural networks involved in order to achieve the performance we've seen. Researchers are pursuing new approaches such as multi-environment training and the use of language modeling to help enable learning across multiple domains, but there remains an open question of whether deep-reinforcement learning takes us closer to the mother lode — artificial general intelligence (AGI) — in any extensible way. While the talk of AGI can get quite philosophical quickly, deep-reinforcement learning has already shown great performance in constrained environments, which has spurred its use in areas like robotics and healthcare, where problems often come with defined spaces and rules where the techniques can be effectively applied. In robotics, it has shown promising results in using simulation environments to train robots for the real world. It has performed well in training real-world robots to perform tasks such as picking and how to walk. It's being applied to a number of use cases in healthcare, such as personalized medicine, chronic care management, drug discovery and resource scheduling and allocation. Other areas that are seeing applications have included natural language processing, computer vision, algorithmic optimization and finance. The research community is still early in fully understanding the potential of deep-reinforcement learning, but if we are to go by how well it has done in playing games in recent years, it's likely we'll be seeing even more interesting breakthroughs in other areas shortly. So what is deep-reinforcement learning? If you've ever navigated a corn maze, your brain at an abstract level has been using reinforcement learning to help you figure out the lay of the land by trial and error, ultimately leading you to find a way out. | | Creatively helps designers and other creative talent showcase their work Posted: 05 May 2020 03:22 PM PDT Creatively was supposed to launch this summer, according to CEO Greg Gittrich. And then COVID-19 happened. “We made the decision to fast-track the launch when the pandemic hit, because we felt like launching as a beta would really help the creative community,” Gittrich told me. The startup was founded by Stacey Bendet and Joe Indriolo, who also serves as chief product officer. Indriolo told me that Creatively was designed to address a problem that Bendet had as founder and CEO of designer clothing company Alice + Olivia — finding the best freelance creative talent to work with. “Finding creatives is really, really difficult,” he said. “At the same time, showcasing your work is also really difficult as a creative.” And those problems are likely to get worse as social distancing forces more creative work and collaboration to happen remotely, and as a troubled economy means that more artists, designers, architects, filmmakers and other creative types are looking for work. There are places where artists can post their work, but Indriolo argued that none of them allow the creative to control the presentation in the same way — not unless they’re building their own website.  Image Credits: Creatively So Creatively says it’s designed to showcase photography, film, fashion design, branding, illustration, animation, CGI, app and web design, product development, interiors and architecture and emerging technologies. Creative talent can upload their portfolio and arrange it as they choose. They can divide the work into different albums, and even nest albums within other albums in creative ways. (Indriolo showed me an architect’s album that allowed visitors to navigate their work by drilling down into specific regions and locations.) Artists can also annotate the images and videos to explain their work, as well as listing their past jobs and their specific skills. Brands and other potential employers can post job listings, which then get tagged with the artist who’s hired for the job, which in turn builds the artist’s résumé and portfolio. Brands can also search the site based on the skills they’re looking for, or based on who’s done work for another company that they admire. The platform allows users to follow each other, but Indriolo said there’s an equal emphasis creating connections based on the work you’ve done and your past collaborations. “We believe it’s a social platform, and that creatives will connect with one another … and find opportunities in a world that’s increasingly remote and global,” Gittrich added. To get started, Creatively is working with schools like Parsons, Pratt, the Savannah College of Art and Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology to help their new graduates find work. The platform is free for both businesses and individual creatives; the plan is to eventually start charging businesses to post jobs. | | Student Discount: Join Extra Crunch for $50 per year Posted: 05 May 2020 03:09 PM PDT Graduation season is here, and to celebrate we are offering annual Extra Crunch memberships to students for half price. That's a full year of Extra Crunch for only $50 (plus tax). To sweeten the deal, you'll be grandfathered in at the discounted price for future years until you cancel. Take the summer to focus on getting ahead with Extra Crunch intelligence at your disposal. How to claim the discount: - Use a .edu or university email address and send a message to our customer support team at extracrunch@techcrunch.com. Please let them know that you are seeking the student discount.
- The team will respond within 24 hours with a unique link to claim your discount.
With Extra Crunch membership, students receive more than 100 exclusive articles delivered per month, including weekly investor surveys, market analysis and how-tos and interviews on fundraising, growth, monetization and other work topics. You also can browse and use TechCrunch.com more efficiently without the distraction of banner ads, and stay up-to-date through our Extra Crunch members-only newsletter. Another benefit of Extra Crunch is discounts on events and services. If you have interest in attending TechCrunch events, you'll be able to save 20% on tickets. Once you join, all you have to do is reach out to our customer service team to receive a discount code for any TechCrunch event. If you are interested in purchasing software or workplace tools, we have a series of benefits called Partner Perks that unlock discounts on AWS, Typeform, DocSend, Crunchbase and more. Extra Crunch is currently available in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and select European countries. If you are outside of the supported regions, you will not be able to take advantage of this deal. | | Unpacking why Wayfair’s stock popped 23.7% today Posted: 05 May 2020 02:55 PM PDT In the midst of the day’s news chaos both political and business-oriented, you might have missed Wayfair’s big moment: In regular trading today, shares of the online home goods retailer shot 23% higher. It was an eye-catching gain during a period when the domestic economy is troubled, unemployment is rising and consumer spending is slowing. Why did Wayfair shares rise so much in a single day? In a word, earnings. But there’s a bit more nuance to understand, so let’s talk about the company’s Q1 earnings report and what it can tell us about consumer spending trends in the COVID-19 era, because they just might impact a startup or two. Q1 results We’ll start with the basics: Wayfair reported Q1 revenue of $2.33 billion, up 19.8% from $1.94 billion in the year-ago quarter. The company’s gross profit rose a sharper 23.1% to $579.1 million, boosting Wayfair’s gross margins in the first quarter of this year. The rest of Wayfair’s income statement is less attractive. The company’s operating costs, including customer service, merchant fees, advertising and a bucket of costs it calls “selling, operations, technology, general and administrative,” came to $841.2 million. That figure is far larger than reported gross profit, meaning that Wayfair’s losses for the period were large. The company’s operating loss in Q1 2020 rose to $284.5 million (+42.4%), and its net loss totaled a slightly worse $285.9 million. Its operating cash burn also rose sharply — over 215% — to $256.3 million in the period. Wayfair closed Q1 with more than $624 million in cash, meaning that it was still well-capitalized at the end of the period. Why did shares of Wayfair rise when its losses popped as much as they did? The expectations game, essentially. | | A security expert says India’s contact-tracing app has flaws; New Delhi says they are ‘by design’ Posted: 05 May 2020 02:50 PM PDT The Indian government has said that its contact-tracing app Aarogya Setu “by design” fetches the location data of its 90 million users and allows them to view the concentration of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in their vicinity. New Delhi issued the statement after France-based security researcher Baptiste Robert found what he argues are design flaws and privacy issues. The government said it has always disclosed that it fetches users' location data, a feature that critics say falls short of the privacy protections offered by similar technologies, including the joint project run by Apple and Google. Aarogya Setu’s privacy policy says the app — in addition to collecting location data of a user at the time of registration — also “continuously collects your location data and stores securely on your mobile device a record of all the places you have been at 15-minute intervals.” The app uploads this data to its server along with the user’s digital ID if they test positive for COVID-19, or self-declare seeing symptoms that indicate that they might be infected with the infectious disease, it says. Collecting location data is a complicated subject, regardless of the good intention of its developers and operators. On Monday, Google and Apple banned the use of location tracking on their coronavirus-tracing technology. While some developers have argued that they need access to location data to track how outbreaks move and identify hotspots, privacy advocates have cautioned that if this data ever gets exposed, it could ostracize those who are affected. Robert’s other concern is that Aarogya Setu, which was launched early last month, allows anyone to view the concentration of people in 500 meters to up to 10 kilometers who are either suspicious they have coronavirus, or are certain that they have the disease. He told TechCrunch that he was able to develop a script and view similar data for any nook and cranny of the world’s second most populous nation. He said the government, which introduced a nationwide lockdown in late March, could have kept the radius limited to 500 meters. In response, New Delhi said that its system is designed in a way that would prevent any script from making bulk requests. Additionally, it said, “getting data for multiple latitude and longitude this way is no different from asking several people of their location's COVID-19 statistics.” “All this information is already public for all locations and hence does not compromise on any personal or sensitive data,” the response said. Some people argued today that at a crisis like this, when thousands of people are dying, these “flaws” were the least of their concerns and that the app served a much greater purpose. But Aarogya Setu, which has amassed 90 million monthly active people in less than 35 days, has also ruffled some feathers for the way it is being scaled up. New Delhi said earlier this month that all government and private sector employees need to have this app installed on their smartphones. On Tuesday, local authority in Noida city, home to more than 640,000 people, on the outskirts of Delhi, said those who did not have the Aarogya Setu app installed on their phone would be fined or sent to prison.
| | TechCrunch’s top 16 picks from Techstars April virtual demo days Posted: 05 May 2020 02:44 PM PDT Like other accelerators, Techstars, a network of more than 40 corporate and geographically targeted startup bootcamps, has had to bring its marquee demo day events online. Over the last two weeks of April, industry-focused accelerators working with startups building businesses around mobility technologies (broadly) and the future of the home joined programs in Abu Dhabi, Bangalore, Berlin, Boston, Boulder and Chicago to present their cohorts. Each group had roughly 10 companies pitching businesses that ran the gamut from early-childhood education to capturing precious metals from the waste streams of mining operations. There were language companies, security companies, marketing companies and even a maker of a modular sous vide product for home chefs. The ideas were as creative as they were varied, and while all seemed promising, about two concepts from each batch stood out above the rest. What follows is our completely unscientific picks of the top companies that pitched at each of these virtual Techstars demo days. In late May or early June, expect to see our roundup of the next batch of top picks from the their next round of demo days. Techstars’ inaugural cohort for its accelerator run in conjunction with Abu Dhabi-based technology incubator Hub71 included a number of novel businesses spanning climate, security, retail, healthcare and property tech. Standouts in this batch included Sia Secure and Aumet (with an honorable mention for the novel bio-based plastic processing and reuse technology developer, Poliloop). | | More than 40 top security execs have formed an investing syndicate to back startups Posted: 05 May 2020 02:07 PM PDT Ensuring that a company’s information assets and technologies are protected remains a tall order for many a chief information security officer (or CISO). Cybercriminals can be both persistent and creative. Now, a group of 46 of these professionals is taking the wraps off a syndicate that allows them to compare notes and war stories and will see them advising — and making small financial bets on — some of the nascent cybersecurity startups whose tools can potentially keep the bad guys at bay. Called Silicon Valley CISO Investments, or SVCI, the idea is to identify these startups, fund them, advise them on pitfalls to avoid and introduce them to potential customers, including their own employers in some cases. In fact, one of newest bets, Orca Security, an Israeli cloud security firm that focuses on giving enterprises better visibility into their multi-cloud deployments, just announced its Series A round today, with participation from the group. To learn more about how the whole thing operates, we talked yesterday with two of the founding members of the syndicate: former Splunk CISO Joel Fulton, who has more recently co-founded a stealth startup, and Oren Yunger, who is today a full-time investor with GGV Capital but previously worked as the CISO of two Israel-based companies. They’d previously come together for a working group focused on helping early-stage executives to address security well before the point where they typically hire a head of security. As Fulton explains it, the more each CISO contributed to the project, the more they appreciated the strength of their collective insights, so they decided to form this investing syndicate. SVCI is invite-only, and members must be recommended by others in the group. “We prefer quality over quantity,” Fulton says. Even so, it’s growing fast. While the group began last fall with eight individuals, it now has 46 members, including the chief security officer of ServiceMax, Al Ghous; David Tsao, who is the vice president of security engineering at Marqueta; and Jonathan Jaffe, who is the head of information security at People.ai. How it’s all supposed to work: one team of people will act as scouts, another will focus on due diligence. These roles change over time. “We had to have forced volunteerism” at the outset, jokes Fulton. “You don’t have to dedicate 10 hours a week” to SVCI,” adds Yunger, “but you have to be included in the conversation. There are no passive members.” After settling on roughly 40 companies per quarter, the group winnows down their favorites to four, which present to the group. The companies can have just raised money or be about to raise again, but they have to be willing to leave a small portion of one of these rounds open to SVCI, should its members opt in. If the startup gets the green light, the group will contribute roughly $200,000, no matter the number of SVCI members who want to participate in the deal, which is entirely optional for each person. (The capital is bundled into special purpose vehicles so the startup isn’t stuck with potentially dozens of people on its cap table.) It’s a small amount, obviously, just enough to form a relationship with a startup that the group wants to help — and that it thinks will make the group look smart as it works to establish its reputation. It’s also just enough to form potential conflicts of interest on both sides of the table. You might imagine that Yunger’s ties to GGV could translate into signaling risk for a startup whose Series A doesn’t involve GGV, for example, though Yunger insists this shouldn’t be a concern, saying the two operations are “mutually exclusive.” Companies might also be concerned about revealing too much about their products to a room full of security pros from big companies that could potentially replicate their offerings. Fulton says that SVCI first filters out startups that “have an unreasonable expectation” of privacy, and that when it does invite companies to lay out what they do, founders can “stay mum” on certain things, as well as drop out of the process at any time. There is always the risk, too, that members of the group will promote to their employers startups in which they have an interest for their own gain, but Fulton says that to avoid it, all members agree to work within their companies’ conflict of interest policies and to disclose financial stakes where they exist. In the meantime, none of the members is exclusively committed to working with SVCI or funneling deal flow its way. Some have and will continue to advise other venture outfits that are focused on cybersecurity startups. In fact, in addition to seeing what’s bubbling up in their world, many advantages to members of SVCI are largely personal. Yunger notes that while everyone “has a day job,” it’s a “really nice mesh of people” to be more tightly connected with, from execs at Fortune 500 companies to those at largely privately held outfits. Fulton echoes the sentiment, saying the “interconnectedness” it provides is “greater than a Slack channel.” Besides, he adds, there is intellectual strength in numbers. “I love learning how CISOs who don’t think like me do think and stealing tools from their toolboxes.” In addition to Orca, SVCI has so far made two other investments. One remains in stealth mode. The other is Tonic, a two-year-old, San Francisco-based synthetic data provider created by former Palantir and Microsoft engineers and that has raised roughly $2 million in seed funding to date. | | Virgin Galactic is partnering with NASA to develop supersonic point-to-point air travel Posted: 05 May 2020 01:05 PM PDT Virgin Galactic today revealed a new partnership with NASA, in pursuit of the goal of developing a high-speed vehicle for point-to-point travel across Earth. NASA has been pursuing development of high-mach air travel itself, with the development of its Supersonic X-59 low-boon supersonic test plane built by Lockheed Martin, but this new partnership agreement with Virgin Galactic and its subsidiary The Spaceship Company specifically seeks to figure out a sustainable way to apply high-speed transportation technologies to civil and commercial aviation. Virgin Galactic thinks it will be able to get a head start on this project specifically because of the work it has done to date on developing, engineering and flight-testing its existent vehicles, which include the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, and the SpaceShipTwo winged spacecraft that launches from the carrier to reach the edge of space. The design of the company’s system uses traditional runways for take-off and landing, while the rocket-propelled SpaceShipTwo skims the outer edge of Earth’s atmosphere at the boundary of space to provide its commercial tourist passengers with a trip that includes stunning views and a few minutes of weightlessness. In fact, Virgin Galactic’s technology does seem like a good fit for point-to-point high-speed travel. Perhaps best popularized by SpaceX and one of their many ambitious plans for their forthcoming Starship, point-to-point envisions traveling between two places on Earth at very high speeds either extremely high up in the atmosphere (much higher than current commercial planes go) or even potentially through space. The advantages of doing this are that you can go much faster as the atmosphere thins and friction and air resistance lower. The International Space Station, for instance, performs a full orbit around Earth once every 90 minutes. A trip from NYC to Shanghai using Starship would take just 40 minutes, SpaceX has said, rather than the 16 hours it takes today. Virgin Galactic and NASA aren’t yet near the stage where they’re talking about trip times, but for comparison’s sake, consider that SpaceShipTwo travels at a top speed of around 4,000 km/h (nearly 2,500 mph), while a Boeing 747 maxes out at about 988 km/h (just under 615 mph). The new partnership between Virgin Galactic and NASA was formed under a Space Act Agreement, which is a type of agreement that NASA uses to work with organizations it deems able to help it fulfill its various goals, missions and program directives. It’s early yet to imagine what this will look like exactly, but Virgin Galactic says in a press release that it will be “seeking to develop a vehicle for the next-generation of safe and efficient high speed air travel, with a focus on customer experience and environmental responsibility,” and that it will be doing so in cooperation with its “industry partners.” | | NASA confirms work on a Tom Cruise movie to be shot aboard the International Space Station Posted: 05 May 2020 12:34 PM PDT NASA is indeed working with actor Tom Cruise on a film to be shot in space — aboard the International Space Station (ISS), it turns out. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed the news, which was detailed in an earlier report, via a tweet today. The ISS setting is a new detail to the plan, which was first reported by Deadline, and which also named SpaceX as a potential partner on the film project, which is said to be in an early preparatory phase. NASA has previously talked about how it would like to open the ISS to more commercial ventures, and offering it as a filming location is definitely one way to do that. Bridenstine notes that including scientific endeavors like the floating orbital platform in popular media serves as a way “to inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists” that can help the agency achieve its goals. SpaceX will presumably take part as Cruise rides to the ISS (assuming the actor is actually going to be the one heading there to film on site, but I have a hard time imagining Cruise would pass that up). The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule is set for a final demonstration mission later this month to establish its ability to carry humans to and from the ISS with a crew launch of two NASA astronauts. NASA and SpaceX have planned to make part of the Crew Dragon’s passenger capacity available to commercial entities. The spacecraft can carry up to seven passengers, but NASA will only ever book four of those seats, according to the agency’s plans. The idea is that commercial bookings can help the agency offset the cost of launches further still. Paying for an actor (or two?) and a film crew to take a trip to the ISS will definitely help with sharing the cost of gas for the ride. No word yet on when this will actually take place, or how set in stone the plans are, however. SpaceX has previously announced that it will be offering private tourist flights aboard Crew Dragon, with the current plan to start those either late next year, or in 2022. | | What the new VC show-and-tell means for signaling risk Posted: 05 May 2020 12:32 PM PDT A month ago, we asked several venture capitalists if they planned to change the way they invest or lead rounds during COVID-19 — most said no, but they noted that valuations were coming down and founders in their portfolio companies were responding to the crisis. Northzone's Paul Murphy predicted fewer FOMO rounds because investors will "take more time to get to know and diligence the business… and it might also take a bit more time to close deals,” adding that he would “continue to lead rounds and back great founders." But, as other investors call their bluffs, firms are looking for tangible ways to show they are open for business. First Round Capital At least that was the case with First Round Capital. On Thursday, the seed-stage firm announced that when it leads a first round in a company, it will always take pro rata in the next outside-led venture round with a commitment of up to $3 million. Pro rata is a clause in an investment agreement that gives the investor a right to participate in future financings. If investors don't invest in a company's pro rata, that might negatively signal they don't believe in the company's future. I asked Brett Berson, a partner at First Round, to offer more context about the announcement. "The question ‘is your investor taking their pro rata’ is not necessarily a checkbox answer," Berson said. "And I think in a time of maximum uncertainty, what a given investor was doing 12 months ago might not be what he or she is doing today." | | Citing revenue declines, Airbnb cuts 1,900 jobs, or around 25% of its global workforce Posted: 05 May 2020 12:12 PM PDT This afternoon Airbnb, a well-known private company that connects travelers with places to stay, announced that it was laying off around a quarter of its workforce. The company cited revenue declines and a need to curtail costs in a memo that TechCrunch viewed. In the note, written by Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky, the company said that 1,900 employees will be laid off, or 25.3% of its 7,500 workers. The layoffs will impact a number of internal product groups, including Transportation and Airbnb Studios, efforts that will be placed on hold, and its Hotels and Lux work, which will be “scale[d] back.” The company declined to break down per-country totals for the layoffs in a phone call with TechCrunch, but its memo did note that its staffing cuts are “mapped to a more focused business.” The former startup appears to be narrowing its efforts, targeting core operations and shedding more experimental and costly endeavours. According to Chesky’s missive, Airbnb anticipates its 2020 revenue coming in under 50% of 2019’s total; Airbnb saw around $4.8 billion in revenue last year, according to reports. Airbnb had previously admitted that layoffs were a possibility in light of the COVID-19 pandemic impacting tourism and travel. The company has rapidly added capital in recent weeks including two $1 billion tranches of debt, providing extra liquidity as the world came to a standstill, freezing travelers in-place and decimating global travel spend. Airbnb couldn’t dodge a trend that hits its world directly. In an effort to keep both the demand and supply sides of its marketplace healthy enough to survive hibernation, Airbnb has allowed users to cancel some reservations without penalty, and provided financial succor to its hosts. Presumably part of its new capital went to fund those efforts, along with providing the firm with enough cash to reach 2021 in reasonable shape. The company had previously promised a 2020 IPO; many expected the previously wealthy and occasionally profitable firm to pursue a direct listing instead of a traditional IPO as it had a sufficiently strong financial footing heading into 2020. While those days are now behind it, the company did state plainly in its note that it expects that its business “will fully recover” in time. The question now is when. Airbnb was a long-touted example in Silicon Valley of a highly-valued, lavishly-funded unicorn that could make money and go public on its own terms. None of those expectations had a pandemic written into them. Separated employees will receive 14 weeks of pay, and one more week for each year served at the company (rounding partial years up). The firm is also dropping its one-year equity cliff so that employees who are laid off with under 12 months of tenure can buy their vested options; Airbnb will also provide 12 months of health insurance through COBRA in the United States, and health care coverage through 2020 in the rest of the world. | | Twitter runs a test prompting users to revise ‘harmful’ replies Posted: 05 May 2020 11:57 AM PDT In its latest effort to deal with rampant harassment on its platform, Twitter will look into giving users a second chance before they tweet. In a new feature the company is testing, users who use “harmful” language will see a prompt suggesting that they self-edit before posting a reply. The framing here is a bit disingenuous — harassment on Twitter certainly doesn’t just happen in the “heat of the moment” by otherwise well-meaning individuals — but anything that can reduce toxicity on the platform is probably better than what we’ve got now. Last year at F8, Instagram rolled out a similar test for its users that would “nudge” them with a warning before they post a potentially offensive comment. In December, the company offered an update on its efforts. “Results have been promising, and we've found that these types of nudges can encourage people to reconsider their words when given a chance,” the company wrote in a blog post. This kind of thing is particularly relevant right now, as companies conduct moderation across their massive platforms with relative skeleton crews. All of the major social networks have announced an increased reliance on AI detection as the pandemic keeps tech workers away from the office. In Facebook’s case, content moderators are among the employees they’d like to bring back first. We’ve reached out to Twitter for more information about the kind of language that triggers the new test feature and if the company will also consider the prompt for regular tweets that aren’t replies. We’ll update the story if we receive additional info about what this experiment will look like. | | A new Oculus Quest headset is reportedly on the way Posted: 05 May 2020 11:52 AM PDT Facebook has been struggling to keep its VR hardware supply chains open for months, but at the same time they’ve reportedly been hard at work on the next generation of their popular Quest headset. According to a report in Bloomberg, Facebook had been planning to release a new version of the Oculus Quest later this year, though the smaller, lighter headset is now likely being delayed to a 2021 launch due to the coronavirus pandemic. The report largely focused on the new device’s form factor and aesthetics. The big updates in the next-generation reportedly include a 10-15% reduction in size, a similar reduction in weight, an updated display and possibly a shift to a plastic housing. We’re reached out to Oculus for comment on the report. The most surprising thing in this report is that Oculus was planning a follow-up release to the Quest around 18 months after the first device launched, but what’s also interesting is that none of these updates seem to push new capabilities in the device’s next generation. There’s always been a question on how Oculus would decide how to update its hardware. While phone manufacturers deliver updates on an annual basis like clockwork, game console makers have stuck to 5-7 year timelines for pushing big updates. In interviews I’ve had with Oculus execs, they’ve seen this as a bit of an open question themselves, largely inferring that the refresh cycle would sit somewhere in between that of consoles and phones. For early tech platforms, it isn’t really in the best interest of the dominant player to meaningfully update the hardware very often because the devices fork the user base: Developers create games for differently powered hardware, users can’t play games online with their friends because they have a different iteration device, network effects lessen for an already new platform, etc., etc. What pushes early hardware forward past this uncomfortable stage of progressions is competition, but just four years into the consumer VR industry, Oculus doesn’t really have much competition to one-up. The company’s Rift S headset has almost no competition, as Oculus has essentially priced out competitors like Samsung and HTC, really only leaving Valve competing on the PC high-end in a niche of a niche. Sony is the only real threat, though its user base is tied to the PlayStation 4. With the Quest headset, there really is no worthwhile competition, leaving Oculus in a more pleasant position when it comes to planning its future. This gives Oculus some breathing room to focus on aesthetic and usability-driven updates, as they did with the Rift S, and as it sounds like they may be pursuing with this new reported Quest successor. This may make life a little easier for Facebook’s hardware engineering teams, but it proves most beneficial on the content side, giving titles developed for the system longer shelf lives with users getting a bigger library of games to choose from when they enter the ecosystem. An “S” or “Pro” update schedule certainly makes sense for Oculus devices right now. While nobody is buying a new headset every 18 months, going three years between updates is an eternity when you’re aiming to court the first generation of users to a platform. The question will be how this shifts once a worthwhile competitor enters the space and disrupts this approach. They’ve probably got some time before this happens. | | RWDC Industries is a new startup hoping to become a bioplastics giant in Athens, Ga. Posted: 05 May 2020 11:11 AM PDT Daniel Carraway spent his entire career working in paper and bioplastics. The serial entrepreneur began his career at International Paper working in their research division before founding two previous companies that became cornerstones of the bioplastics industry. His latest venture, RWDC Industries, has raised $133 million in recent financing to build a new sustainable manufacturing juggernaut in the small city of Athens, Ga. With offices in Athens and Singapore, RWDC is the fruit of a partnership between Carraway and Roland Wee, an engineer with decades of experience in the chemicals and construction business across Asia. The two men met through mutual connections as Carraway sought new opportunities to pursue his longtime vision of commercializing bioplastics. The serial entrepreneur had just stepped away from his work with Meredian Holdings Group and its subsidiary, Danimer Scientific — companies that sprung from work Carraway started at his kitchen table with his wife back in 2004, he said. In 2019, bioplastics represented a $95 million opportunity, according to a report in Market Data Forecast, but the small size of the current market belies how big the opportunity can be, according to Carraway. RWDC, Danimer and Kaneka are all pursuing an opportunity to replace plastic packaging, which was a $234.14 billion market, according to Grand View Research. It’s that potential market for plastics that has drawn countless companies over the years — including Carraway’s own — to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. Several of those companies failed. Perhaps the most successful of the early high-flyers was Metabolix, which had a public offering before the financial crisis hit in 2008. That company sold its bioplastics division to CJ CheilJedang for roughly $10 million and pivoted to crop science. Carraway insists that the market has changed over the last few decades and the time is finally right for biology to supplant chemistry in industrial manufacturing. “If you look back at the history of new materials development… especially polymers… there has never been a new polymer that had been invented that didn't take 20 to 30 years for it to make wide-scale adoption,” said Carraway. “When a polymer is first developed it takes a while to get the manufacturing right to get it at wide scale. [And] it takes time for polymer converters to understand how to use a new material… it's not that technologically is not viable, it's about figuring out how to use the new material.” Scale is important too, said Carraway. “You have to reach a certain critical availability in metric tons available in the global market to create a situation where people can use the new material,” he said. RWDC can already make about 5,000 tons of PHA and expects to grow its capacity to make half a million tons of material, but that barely scratches the surface of available capacity for traditional plastics. “For the next decade we’re going to be in a mad scramble to grow production capacity because we’re going to be behind the demand curve,” said Carraway. Industry observers have seen this story before. Because the new material Carraway is talking about isn’t actually all that new. For at least the past 20 years companies have been working on ways to cheaply manufacture polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). The material is produced by the fermentation of oil or sugars and serves as a replacement for the chemicals that are made from cracking ethane (a product of oil processing) to make plastic. However, as concerns continue to mount over the environmental degradation caused by plastic pollutants and the contributions the plastics industry makes to emissions causing global climate change, the push for replacing plastics with more sustainable products has gained momentum. Regulations in Europe will ban many single-use plastic products next year, forcing companies to build out their supply of bioplastic alternatives or abandon the use of plastics altogether. Market moves like these have the potential to spur the bioplastics industry and shift production into high gear. Carraway said demand hasn’t been effected by the collapse of oil prices, which has driven down the costs of chemicals and plastics. “Even though our materials are initially more expensive… the amount that they cost over the commodities in normal circumstances isn’t that much,” Carraway said. “Every customer we’re working with has asked us to speed up and give them more. No one has said we want to slow down or scale back or change our plans.” And propelling the industry forward could provide a lift to local economies that have been financially ravaged by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. At least, that’s what Carraway is hoping will happen in Athens, Ga. The company is using some of the money it raised from international and U.S.-based investors — including the Singapore-based venture capital firm Vickers Venture Partners; Ikea’s investment company; a Swiss pension fund; a Northeastern energy provider; and an industrial chemical company owned by Koch Industries — to revive an old factory in the city as its new production plant. RWDC said the new facility will bring in 200 jobs to northeastern Georgia. "We are excited to see RWDC expand its operations in Athens and add a substantial number of new well-paying jobs," said Athens-Clarke County mayor, Kelly Girtz. "Athens is the home of the University of Georgia, and we have a long record of supporting innovation and industry. Like communities across America and the world, we want to see a reduction in plastic pollution, and we have high hopes that RWDC, with the help of the Athens community at their new facility, will be able to solve that problem." | | NHS COVID-19: The UK’s coronavirus contacts-tracing app explained Posted: 05 May 2020 11:08 AM PDT The UK has this week started testing a coronavirus contacts-tracing app which NHSX, a digital arm of the country’s National Health Service, has been planning and developing since early March. The test is taking place in the Isle of Wight, a 380km2 island off the south coast of England, with a population of around 140,000. The NHS COVID-19 app uses Bluetooth Low Energy handshakes to register proximity events (aka ‘contacts’) between smartphone users, with factors such as the duration of the ‘contact event’ and the distance between the devices feeding an NHS clinical algorithm that’s being designed to estimate infection risk and trigger notifications if a user subsequently experiences COVID-19 symptoms. The government is promoting the app as an essential component of its response to fighting the coronavirus — the health minister’s new mantra being: ‘Protect the NHS, stay home, download the app’ — and the NHSX has said it expects the app to be “technically” ready to deploy two to three weeks after this week’s trial. However there are major questions over how effective the tool will prove to be, especially given the government’s decision to ‘go it alone’ on the design of its digital contacts-tracing system — which raises some specific technical challenges linked to how modern smartphone platforms operate, as well as around international interoperability with other national apps targeting the same purpose. In addition, the UK app allows users to self report symptoms of COVID-19 — which could lead to many false alerts being generated. That in turn might trigger notification fatigue and/or encourage users to ignore alerts if the ratio of false alarms exceeds genuine alerts. Keep calm and download the app? How users will generally respond to this technology is a major unknown. Yet mainstream adoption will be needed to maximize utility; not just one-time downloads. Dealing with the coronavirus will be a marathon not a sprint — which means sustaining usage will be vital to the app functioning as intended. And that will require users to trust that the app is both useful for the claimed public health purpose, by being effective at shrinking infection risk, and also that using it will not create any kind of disadvantages for them personally or for their friends and family. The NHSX has said it will publish the code for the app, the DPIA (data protection impact assessment) and the privacy and security models — all of which sounds great, though we’re still waiting to see those key details. Publishing all that before the app launches would clearly be a boon to user trust. A separate consideration is whether there should be a dedicated legislation wrapper put around the app to ensure clear and firm legal bounds on its use (and to prevent abuse and data misuse). As it stands the NHS COVID-19 app is being accelerated towards release without this — relying on existing legislative frameworks (with some potential conflicts); and with no specific oversight body to handle any complaints. That too could impact user trust. The overarching idea behind digital contacts tracing is to leverage uptake of smartphone technology to automate some contacts tracing, with the advantage that such a tool might be able to register fleeting contacts, such as between strangers on the street or public transport, that may more difficult for manual contacts-tracing methods to identify. Though whether these sorts of fleeting contacts create a significant risk of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus has not yet been quantified. All experts are crystal clear on one thing: Digital contacts tracing is only going to be — at very best — a supplement to manual contact tracing. People who do not own or carry smartphones or who do not or cannot use the app obviously won’t register in any captured data. Technical issues may also create barriers and data gaps. It’s certainly not a magic bullet — and may, in the end, turn out to be ill-suited for this use case (we’ve written a general primer on digital contacts tracing here). One major component of the UK approach is that it’s opted to create a so-called ‘centralized’ system for coronavirus contacts tracing — which leads to a number of specific challenges. While the NHS COVID-19 app stores contacts events on the user’s device initially, at the point when (or if) a user chooses to report themselves having coronavirus symptoms then all their contacts events data is uploaded to a central server. This means it’s not just a user’s own identifier but a list of any identifiers they have encountered over the past 28 days — so, essentially, a graph of their recent social interactions. This data cannot be deleted after the fact, according to the NHSX, which has also said it may be used for “research” purposes related to public health — raising further questions around privacy and trust. Questions around the legal bases for this centralized approach also remain to be answered in detail by the government. UK and EU data protection law emphasize data minimization as a key principle; and while there’s flexibility built into these frameworks for a public health emergency there is still a requirement on the government to detail and justify key data processing decisions. The UK’s decision to centralize contacts data has another obvious and immediate consequence: It means the NHS COVID-19 app will not be able to plug into an API that’s being jointly developed by Apple and Google to provide technical support for Bluetooth-based national contacts-tracing apps — and due to be release this month. The tech giants have elected to support decentralized app architectures for these apps — which, conversely, do not centralize social graph data. Instead, infection risk calculations are performed locally on the device. By design, these approaches avoid providing a central authority with information on who infected whom. In the decentralized scenario, an infected user consents to their ephemeral identifier being shared with other users so apps can do matching locally, on the end-user device — meaning exposure notifications are generated without a central authority needing to be in the loop. (It’s also worth noting there are ways for decentralized protocols to feed aggregated contact data back to a central authority for epidemiological research, though the design is intended to prevent users’ social graph being exposed. A system of ‘exposure notification’, as Apple and Google are now branding it, has no need for such data, is their key argument. The NHSX counters that by suggesting social graph data could provide useful epidemiological insights — such as around how the virus is being spread.) At the point a user of the NHS COVID-19 app experiences symptoms or gets a formal coronavirus diagnosis — and chooses to inform the authorities — the app will upload their recent contacts to a central server where infection risk calculations are performed. The system will then send exposure notifications to other devices — in instances where the software deems there may be at risk of infection. Users might, for example, be asked to self isolate to see if they develop symptoms after coming into contact with an infected person, or told to seek a test to determine if they have COVID-19 or not. A key detail here is that users of the NHS COVID-19 app are assigned a fixed identifier — basically a large, random number — which the government calls an “installation ID”. It claims this identifier is ‘anonymous’. However this is where political spin in service of encouraging public uptake of the app is being allowed to obscure a very different legal reality: A fixed identifier linked to a device is in fact pseudonymous data, which remains personal data under UK and EU law. Because, while the user’s identity has been ‘obscured’, there’s still a clear risk of re-identification. Truly ‘anonymous’ data is a very high bar to achieve when you’re dealing with large data-sets. In the NHS COVID-19 app case there’s no reason beyond spin for the government to claim the data is “anonymous”; given the system design involves a device-linked fixed identifier that’s uploaded to a central authority alongside at least some geographical data (a partial postcode: which the app also asks users to input — so “the NHS can plan your local NHS response”, per the official explainer). The NHSX has also said future versions of the app may ask users to share even more personal data, including their location. (And location data-sets are notoriously difficult to defend against re-identification.) Nonetheless the government has maintained that individual users of the app will not be identified. But under such a system architecture this assertion sums to ‘trust us with your data’; the technology itself has not been designed to remove the need for individual users to trust a central authority, as is the case with bona fide decentralized protocols. This is why Apple and Google are opting to support the latter approach — it cuts the internationally thorny issue of ‘government trust’ out of their equation. However it also means governments that do want to centralize data face a technical headache to get their apps to function smoothly on the only two smartphone platforms that matter. Technical and geopolitical headaches The specific technical issue here relates to how these mainstream platforms manage background access to Bluetooth. Using Bluetooth as a proxy for measuring coronavirus infection risk is of course a very new and novel technology. Singapore was reported to be the first country to attempt this. Its TraceTogether app, which launched in March, reportedly gained only limited (<20%) uptake — with technical issues on iOS being at least partly blamed for the low uptake. The problem that the TraceTogether app faced initially is the software needed to be actively running and the iPhone open (not locked) for the tracing function to work. That obviously interferes with the normal multitasking of the average iPhone user — discouraging usage of the app. It’s worth emphasizing that the UK is doing things a bit differently vs Singapore, though, in that it’s using Bluetooth handshakes rather than a Bluetooth advertising channel to power the contacts logging. The NHS COVID-19 app has been designed to listen passively for other Bluetooth devices and then wake up in order to perform the handshake. This is intended as a workaround for these platform limits on background Bluetooth access. However it is still a workaround — and there are ongoing questions over how robustly it will perform in practice. An analysis by The Register suggests the app will face a fresh set of issues in that iPhones specifically will fail to wake each other up to perform the handshakes — unless there’s also an Android device in the vicinity. If correct, it could result in big gaps in the tracing data (around 40% of UK smartphones run iOS vs 60% running Android). Battery drain may also resurface as an issue with the UK system, though the NHSX has claimed its workaround solves this. (Though it’s not clear if they’ve tested what happens if an iPhone user switches on a battery saving mode which limits background app activity, for example.) Other Bluetooth-based contract-tracing apps that have tried to workaround platforms limits have also faced issues with interference related to other Bluetooth devices — such as Australia’s recently launched app. So there are a number of potential issues that could trouble performance. Being outside the Apple-Google API also certainly means the UK app is at the mercy of future platform updates which could derail the specific workaround. Best laid plans that don’t involve using an official interface as your plug are inevitably operating on shaky ground. Finally, there’s a huge and complex issue that’s essentially being glossed over by government right now: Interoperability with other national apps. How will the UK app work across borders? What happens when Brits start travelling again? With no obvious route for centralized vs decentralized systems to interface and play nice with each other there’s a major question mark over what happens when UK citizens want to travel to countries with decentralized systems (or indeed vice versa). Mandatory quarantines because the government picked a less interoperable app architecture? Let’s hope not. Notably, the Republic of Ireland has opted for a decentralized approach for its national app, whereas Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK but shares a land border with the Republic, will — baring any NHSX flip — be saddled with a centralized and thus opposing choice. It’s the Brexit schism all over again in app form. Earlier this week the NHSX was asked about this cross-border issue by a UK parliamentary committee — and admitted it creates a challenge “we’ll have to work through”, though it did not suggest how it proposes to do that. And while that’s a very pressing backyard challenge, the same interoperability gremlins arise across the English Channel — where a number of European countries are opting for decentralized apps, including Estonia, Germany and Switzerland. While Apple and Google’s choice at the platform level means future US apps may also be encouraged down a decentralized route. (The two US tech giants are demonstrably flexing their market power to press on and influence governments’ app design choices internationally.) So countries that fix on a ‘DIY’ approach for the digital component of their domestic pandemic response may find it leads to some unwelcome isolation for their citizens at the international level.
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