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Planning to Self-Publish Your First Book? Avoid These 6 Rookie Mistakes at All Costs

Writing a book mightnot be the first thing that comes to mind for growing your business, but this can go a long way in helping entrepreneurs establish their credentials and industry expertise. It helps get your name out there, and can even lead to media coverage for you and your company.

Best of all, the rise of self-publishing has made authorship more accessible than ever for entrepreneurs. You dont need to seek out a deal with a major publisher. Instead, you can self-publish and start selling your book on Amazon or promoting it through your site.

While self-publishing allows you to get your book to market quickly, self-publishing is rife with potential pitfalls. Avoiding these sixrookie mistakes will ensure that you look like a professional, not a novice.

You arent done with your book once you type the end or its equivalent. Books published by major publishers go through several rounds of revisions and edits before they hit store shelves. If you neglect editing your self-published book, you risk coming across as sloppy and unprofessional.

Editing should cover grammar and spelling issues, but it can also reveal flaws in the structure or organization of your book. You might not have put enough emphasis on certain topics, or maybe you repeated certain points multiple times in the text. Enlist the help of a few beta readers to go through your manuscript to get an idea of what is or isnt working.

Related: Why Every Entrepreneur Should Write a Book

A title can make or break any piece of entertainment be it a book, newspaper article or movie. Your title needs to grab the audiences attentionwhile still giving them an idea of what to expect in your book.

One common suggestion for business and other nonfiction books is to combine a creative title with an indicative subtitle that tells readers what your book is about.

As one example, Greenville Universitys Deloy Cole explains, "Eats, Shoots and Leaves: A Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation,is a masterful combination of creative title with meticulous, content-oriented subtitle. The title alone wouldnt make a reader aware of the books subject (apart from actually reading the book), but the subtitle turns the book into something other than an ambiguous scene of gustatory violence.

Few things will drive readers away like an ugly front cover. The visual elements of your books cover will often catch a readers eye before the title does. Unless youre a professional graphic designer, this means you should turn this job over to a professional who will design an engaging cover that matches the content of your book.

Just how important is a book cover, exactly?

A survey by The Book Smugglers found that 79 percent of readers reported that book covers played a decisive role when deciding to buy a book, with 48 percent saying the cover played a major role. With hardcover books, 40 percent said an ugly cover would even keep them from buying a book they were previously interested in.

Many entrepreneurs self-publish a book as a form of marketing for their business. But your book also needs to be marketed to make an impact. In an email conversation, J.J. Hebert, president of MindStir Media, a self-publishing services company, explained, Every book needs a marketing plan that starts before releaseand continues for at least a few months after the book releases. Hundreds of thousands of books are self-published every year. A few social media posts arent going to get you the traction you need to stand out and get meaningful sales numbers.

In addition to social media campaigns, self-published authors should use email lists and newsletters to tell subscribers about the book. Actively participating in online industry groups will ensure that when you talk about your book, you wont come across as spammy. Media outreach (especially on a local level) can also drive momentum for your book release.

Self-publishing is very much a DIY endeavor and that often includes formatting the book. Even if youve thoroughly edited your books content, it will still look sloppy and unprofessional if the text isnt formatted properly. Even seemingly minor details like section breaks or the type of file you upload can make a difference.

Authors should be mindful of all formatting guidelines for the program they are usingand carefully review the text for any issues before publishing. Remember, ebooks and print books often have different formatting standards. Youll want to review all versions of your book to ensure that digital readers dont get an inferior experience.

Related: 3 Lessons Youll Learn by Writing a Book About Your Business

Be careful to avoid overpricing or underpricing your book. Pricing a self-published ebook for over $10 will seem too expensive for many buyers. On the other hand, underpricing could indicate to readers that your book isnt very good. For ebooks, the self-publishing sweet spot is usually around $2.99 to $5.99, depending on the length of the book.

For print books, you can (and should) go higher to cover the related printing costs. Many full-length paperbacks will sell for $14.99, and some business books are even more. Find a good balance between profitability and an attractive price point.

When done right, self-publishing can make a big difference for your personal brand. It can even serve as an additional source of revenue that earns money on its own in addition to driving new leads to your business. By taking the time to do self-publishing right, you will make more sales and make a strong, positive impression on your readers.

Related:8 Questions To Ask Before Hiring A ConsultantPlanning to Self-Publish Your First Book? Avoid These 6 Rookie Mistakes at All Costs'Brands Are Investing In Technology' - Q&A With Richard Huang

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Planning to Self-Publish Your First Book? Avoid These 6 Rookie Mistakes at All Costs - Thehour.com

Till now, youve had to rely on Imgur whenever you wanted to post more than one image in your Reddit post. Thankfully, you wont need to do that anymore. The social network is introducing a new feature thatll allow you to upload 20 GIFs or images in a single post.

Reddit is calling this feature Image Gallery and rightly so. If youre in a food-related subreddit, youll be able to upload multiple images to reference a recipe, or if youre in a subreddit for iPhones (or any devices), youll be able to post more than one pictures or GIFs to indicate whats going on with your device.

In a blog post, the company said this will provide a different method to engage more than 430 million active users:

For redditors, Image Galleries provides an uncomplicated way to take part in Reddits 100,000+ communitiesand simplifies the process of including multiple images or gifs in a single post. It also equips redditors, media organizations, and partners with a different method to engage more than 430 million active users on the platform.

Reddit Senior Product Manager, Tyler Swartz, said this has been one of the most demanded features by the community since the social network added support for images back in 2016.

Currently, youll be able to upload images through the Reddit desktop site or its iOS app; Image Galleries support for Android will be rolling out next week.

Youll be able to caption individual pictures with credit links, and tag image galleries with tags such as NSFW or Spoilers.

Reddit said in future, youll be able to add mixed media images, GIFs, or videos in one post. That sounds exciting.

Read next: This UK intersection emulates Dutch road design to make city cycling safer

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Reddit now supports up to 20 GIFs or images in a single post - The Next Web

How this is done depends on a museums focus. To get a sense of how and what museums are collecting, Mashable spoke with curators and directors organizing collections at the Smithsonians National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and Anacostia Community Museum, the Los Angeles Public Library, the Museum of the City of New York, and the National Women's History Museum.

The NMAAHC, for instance, reached out to 400 organizations and people it has relationships with to collect materials, which focus on the Black experience in the U.S. Curators are asking people to share stories about their social experiences throughout the pandemic. The stories of Black Americans over centuries have been ignored or muted," Bill Pretzer, a curator for the NMAAHC, says, noting that the museum's very existence addresses this.

Curators have also put together a community curation website, which people register for, in order to collect images of things like Black Lives Matter printed masks, protest signs, written stories, or uploaded journal entries. (Others, like the Los Angeles Public Library and the Anacostia Community Museum, have similar online portals.)

At the Museum of the City of New York, Sean Corcoran, the head of prints and photography for the museum, and his team have added another approach. Using the hashtags #CovidStoriesNYC and #ActivistNY, theyve asked people to upload pictures on social media, which Corcoran and his team then comb through. For now, select images submitted to #CovidStoriesNYC will be reposted on the museum's social media channels and its website, while the images submitted to #ActivistNY are being uploaded to the museum's ongoing (and currently digital) collection of the same name. He's found, thus far, that using hashtags allows for a broad interpretation for what can be submitted, which he says welcomes a wide variety of voices and stories. (Corcoran estimates 5,000 to 6,000 photos were uploaded in the first two months of #CovidStoriesNYC's debut.)

Continued here:

How museums are (inclusively) documenting the pandemic, protests - Mashable

In Altered Carbon, the body no longer matters. As one character quipped: You shed it like a snake sheds its skin. Thats because the human consciousness has been digitized, and can be moved between bodiesboth real and synthetic.

The Netflix series takes place hundreds of years in the future, but references versions of technology that have been in development for years, like brain mapping, human and AI neural links, and mind uploading to computers. Millions of dollars has been bumped into technological ideas that promise, one day, our brains will be turned digital. That said, there are those who believe the human mind is too complex, and our consciousness too nuanced, to be recreated in a digital product. And none of that even goes into what would happen if someones digitized mind was placed into real human flesh.

Will we ever be able to upload our minds into other bodies? Furthermore, should we? And honestly, if we ever achieved such a feat, could we even call ourselves human anymore? On this weeks Giz Asks, we reached out to experts in neuroscience, philosophy and futurism.

Department of Philosophy and Cognitive Science Program, The University of Connecticut

An upload would not be a homo sapien, so, strictly speaking, it wouldnt be human, but it may have traits that we think of as human in a loose sense, such as rationality and humanlike concerns and emotions. It could be human-like. It might, over time, morph into something far less humanlike, as it becomes immersed in its new environment.

This may strike one as incredibly cool, and science fiction-like. So, could you even upload your mind into another body? Im skeptical for several reasons.

1. Suppose you go to a brain uploading center, Mindsculpt. Youve just learned you have a terminal illness, and you are eager to upload. There, at Mindsculpt, they aim to measure every feature of your brain that is relevant to your personality, sensory experiences, memories, and so on.

Is this truly feasible, at least at some point in the future? At this point,we do not have a remotely complete picture of what features of the brain give rise to thinking, personality, sensations, etc. If the features involve microscopic, quantum phenomena, then a precise upload of you cannot be created, as there is a fundamental limit on what we can know about a quantum system. (See Heisenbergs Uncertainty Principle). This would mean we you cant really upload your mind. Sorry.

2. But suppose a computational duplicate of your brain can be created. And suppose uploading technology was perfected. Should you go to Mindsculpt? No.

Suppose, while at Mindsculpt, the uploading process does not involve destroying your biological brain. Wouldnt you still be there, on the table, after your brain was scanned and transfered to a program? Why would your mind shift from your brain to the computer, leaving your still working biological brain there? This seems magical to me. A more reasonable hypothesis is that you are still on the table, and a program is created that specifies the workings of your brain. (I discuss this in more detail here.)

If this seems at least plausible to you, you definitely shouldnt sign away your legal rights to an upload, or sign up for the kind of uploading that is likely to be developed (destructive uploading)! Destructive uploading destroys the biological brain in effort to measure its computational features. And nondestructive uploading may simply be a total waste of money, or worse. If the program was downloaded, maybe it creates a duplicate of you that lives in a computer simulation, or in a body like yours, trying to take your job or date your partner. After all, it will be convinced it is you. And you might have legal obligations to take care of it!

3. Finally, we have little sense of whether AI can be conscious. The jury is out. So if you aim to transfer your mind, it may be that your upload isnt consciousit doesnt feel like anything to be them. This again suggests that the upload isnt really you. (See David Chalmers.) (See: Can a Machine Feel?)

And we havent even delved into the question: what is a mind? To know whether you survive uploading, it would be important to have a sense of what a mind is. If the mind is just the brain, then, you do not survive. Some say the mind is a program. But a program, like an equation, is an abstract entity. An equation doesnt exist anywhere, although inscriptions of it do. Presumably, your mind is a concrete thing, having a location. Perhaps you are a program instantiation some thing, running a program (akin to a computer, in some sense). But what is that thing? This just brings us back to my original question: what is a mind?

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Research Fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University

There are two problems with uploading our minds into another body, one philosophical and one technical.

The philosophical problem is whether this is a transfer of personal identity, some kind of cloning/copying making a new person with the same or different identity, or something else entirely. Many people think the answer is intuitively obvious and get very annoyed when others strongly disagree. Myself, I agree with the philosopher Derek Parfit who famously analyzed similar cases (often involving Star Trek-like teleporters) in his book Reasons and Persons (1984): there is no true fact of the matter about who is the real continuation of the original person, what matters is at most psychological connectedness.

The technical problem is of course how to actually do it. Currently our minds emerge from or are our brain activity. We need some way of creating a brain that does the same. I have written a fair bit on whole brain emulation, the hypothetical future simulation of entire brains in software. That would involve scanning a brain (possibly destructively), reconstructing the neural network from the scan, and running the simulation on a suitable computer. In Altered Carbon this is achieved by having a cortical stack implanted, presumably constantly scanning the brain neural network using some form of nanotechnological fiber network.

There is a lot of information in a brain: about 100 billion neurons, each with about 8000 synaptic connections to other neurons we need to keep track of, and quite likely a several pieces of information for each synapse. To scan that you would need a 3D resolution of a few nanometers: actually doable with current microscope technology, albeit only for small (a few micrometers) and frozen/plastinated brain tissue. The connectivity and synapse information may run into maybe 10 petabyte; the actual 3D scan is far bigger. This, and running all the relevant electrochemical processes, may sound like an extremely tall order. Today, it is impossible. But it is relevant to remember that Moores law (in various forms) and science marches onif things continue for a few decades this may not be too hard.

Scanning a living brain is likely much harder than scanning a neatly frozen brain since everything is moving about, there is an active immune system that tries to interfere, and the scanning method better not interfere with function. I think it is physically possible but likely much harder. We need not just great nanotechnology but also a fine understanding of how to interface brains to electronics on a truly vast scale: it is going to take much longer than getting the first uploads to work from frozen scans.

There is an extra issue in Altered Carbon, and that is the recipient bodies. These are either grown clone bodies or donor bodies, nearly totally organic. I can easily imagine (given the above assumptions of technology) how a computer running the brain software could control a biological body, but I have a far harder time imagine how to download a brain network into a recipient brain. Somehow we need to rearrange all the connections to correspond to the downloaded person. That is an extremely tricky thing even with mature nanotechnology, since many neurons stretch across much of the entire brain and now need to be re-routed. This is the part I definitely doesnt believe can be realistic.

There is an obvious ethical issue when using donor bodieswhat do you do with homeless minds? And many other issues easily come to mind: can you lose your right to have a body? Can you sell it? Rent it? Is it a bad thing that you can treat it as disposable? (The roleplaying game Eclipse Phase plays with many of these issues, from refugees who had to flee a disaster by uploading and now are software, over the clanking masses who cannot afford organic bodies and have to make do with shoddy robot bodies, to fancy designer-bodies for those who can afford them). But this does not really say anything about whether it is a moral thing to move between bodies, just that there are a lot of social context that matters. It is like discussing healthcare: how it is provided, to whom, what practice is allowed, mandatory and banned, all these things have huge ethical implications but doesnt really tell us whether medicine itself is moral.

Some people would say the whole idea is wrong because it is against nature: humans are not meant to be immortal body-hoppers. But that something is natural does not mean it is moral or acceptable: we do fight cancer and cruelty, despite both being parts of natural life. A slightly more sophisticated version argues that human life is shaped by its mortality and other features, so a change would make us something not-human and hence it is not good for humans to aspire to it. But this by this argument monkeys should not seek to become humans enjoying art, science, religion, sport etc. since such higher pleasures are not monkey pleasures. This seems backwards to me: we can enjoy monkey pleasures too, and we have removed many of the limitations of being a monkey. Similarly being a potentially immortal body-hopper removes some pretty big limitations in life yet still allows us to limit ourselves if we so chooses. It is possible to turn off ones stack.

Many like to say that it is the human limitations that make us human. But the world of Altered Carbon is full of limitationsjust because people are potentially immortal doesnt mean heartbreak, cruelty, oppression, faulty technologies and all the other bad things worth fighting against have disappeared. I suspect that no matter how advanced we become we will always bump into limitations that we will struggle with.

Some thinkers worry that if we enhance ourselves we will try to control everything in our lives. Everything of ourselves will be a potential object of design and engineering, and this both will make it less authentic and make us frustrated as we constantly tinker with it. There is some truth to this: we are suffering from a fair bit of first world problems today with our free and flexible lives (compared to our ancestors). But that just seem to mean we should culture the virtue of enhancing ourselves wisely and responsibly rather than not being able to enhance oneself.

Would it make sense to call oneself human if one is actually moving from cortical stack to cortical stack? I think so. Being human is about a particular perspective on the world, a human-style mind with its peculiar biases, motivation system, ways of thinking and feeling, and so on. A working mind transfer will transfer our human minds to whatever substrate can run thempure software, a robot, a biological bodyand that means that it will now at the very least house a human mind.

We can hope that this allow us to extend and improve our minds so we can properly call ourselves transhuman and maybe one day even posthuman, but I have a suspicion that even far-future superintelligences may still use the word human to denote what they are.

Neuroscientist and founder of Carboncopies Foundation

Probably, yes. For most scientists the default hypothesis is that everything about our mind and conscious awareness is an emergent consequence of the operations carried out by the biological machinery of the brain. That hypothesis has withstood every test so far. In principle, if we can understand those operations and implement them, then that new implementation will again produce the mind and conscious awareness.

The principal operators in the brain are called neurons. Those tiny processors know nothing except that incoming excitation or inhibition changes their membrane potential. At some threshold they respond with an electric discharge of their own. Together, the orchestration of billions of neurons is the information processor that plays the symphony that is our experience of being.

Uploading a mind involves recording enough data about a persons working brain to replicate its cognitive functions mathematically, then to implement those mathematical functions in another device that will produce the same mind when it is active. Because you can then move a mind from brain to brain (device), we say you have achieved substrate-independence. The neural engineering used to do that is called whole brain emulation.

The biggest challenge is to access the brains relevant data. In neural engineering today, the first steps towards whole brain emulation are efforts to build neural prostheses - replacement parts for small parts of the brain. Examples are retinal prostheses and the ambitious hippocampal neural prosthesis project at the Berger Lab of the University of Southern California, which should enable patients with a malfunctioning hippocampus to regain the ability to create new memories. If you can replace each part of the brain with an equivalent neural prosthetic device that is in essence the same as whole brain emulation. At a later stage, when we know how to recover dynamic function from 3D structure scans as well, there may be wholesale methods for whole brain emulation from such scans, yet another path to mind uploading.

Yes, at Carboncopies we think its very important that we do. Its already pretty easy to see why medical neural prostheses are useful and desirable to cure a patients brain dysfunction. Beyond that, neural prosthesis holds the promise of enhanced abilities. Imagine, for example, that you can explicitly choose which things to remember and which ones to forget when you have a hippocampal neural prosthesis. Its also pretty easy to see why mapping and modeling brain functions is important to science, medicine, and to learn what could be implemented in artificial intelligence.

When our skills at building neural prosthesis reach the point where whole brain emulation is possible we reach a very special milestone. Up to that point, the need to interact with the remaining biological parts of a brain mean that there are hard limits to the sort of cognitive functions that are possible. For example, biological neurons will never be able to react fast enough to be aware of or to respond to events that happen at the microsecond scale, a dynamic part of our universe that only our machines can presently experience. Overcoming these and other limitations is the human thriving argument for mind uploading. It means that we gain the choice to expand our range of possible experience and capabilities, to participate in more, instead of ceding the bigger picture to our machines as we remain constrained to a narrow subset of what the universe has to offer.

The is also an important survival argument for mind uploading. If we cannot modify our mental abilities then we are constrained to an evolutionary niche. If the history of evolution has shown anything, it has shown that those niches tend to disappear. Present developments, for example in artificial intelligence, suggest that human thought might soon play an ever-decreasing and minor role in the future society of intelligences. Adapting to change may well be a survival requirement.

I cant say that Ive ever thought of a human who uploads as anything other than human. When a person has prosthetic limbs or a cochlear implant we dont call them anything other than human. So, I imagine that we can still call ourselves human, even if we had prosthetic bodies. If anything, augmenting our abilities through technology has always been a uniquely human characteristic.

Professor of Neurobiology, Biomedical Engineering and Psychology, and Neuroscience, Duke University

No, because our minds are not digital at all. It depends on information embedded in the brain tissue that cannot be extracted by digital means.

It will never happen. This is just an urban scifi myth that has no scientific merit or backing. It only diminishes the unique nature of our human conditionby comparing it to digital machinesand instills fear on people who do not know better.

Do you have a burning question for Giz Asks? Email us at tipbox@gizmodo.com.

Clarification: Susan Schneiders first name was incorrectly listed as Sarah. This has been fixed.

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Will We Ever Be Able to Upload a Mind to a New Body?

There is some sort of a thrill going out and doing it, says Logan Williams, a former contractor who filmed videos for Citizen in Los Angeles. Its a rush, it releases endorphins.

In March, Citizen suspended its street team program and stopped all payments to its contractors, citing pandemic-related safety concerns. A Citizen spokesperson said the company hasnt made any decisions about when the program might resume.

Thrilling and Chilling

Hobbyists and hyper-concerned civilians have monitored police radio chatter for decades. There are whole internet forums and communities on YouTube dedicated to following the communications of law enforcement, fire departments, and other first-response agencies. Its an activity that attracts a certain personality type, curious and discerning. Citizen isnt the first app to give these enthusiasts the ability to livestream, but it is the one thats completely dedicated to it. Its no wonder amateur stringers flock to it.

Everybody wants to be the hero, or the source, or a key player in a situation, says Andy Frakes, a former Citizen employee responsible for sending out incident alerts. For better or worseunfortunately, its usually for worsepeople want to be involved, or to just get that catharsis that for whatever reason they need more than anyone else.

For someone like Anthony, its a kick just to get a look at the action.

Seeing the lights and sirens just brings out the little kid inside of me, Anthony says. I don't know. I just kind of like that stuff.

Its not all motivated by childlike wonder. Anthonys time responding to hundreds of emergency calls has molded his aspirations. When he grows up, he wants to be a cop.

This obviously is not a good time to be in law enforcement with everything going on, Hope admits. But my heart goes out for the majority of law enforcement officers. So I feel like, if this is what he really wants to do when he gets older I mean, he's 12, so it could change. He could change his mind 10 times, but as of now, I think you let your kids follow their passion if it's something they like to do.

Thin Blue Line

The relationship between Citizen and law enforcement has always been uneven. When Citizen first launched in New York City, NYPD officials were overwhelmingly against it, frustrated by the idea that the app might encourage aspiring crime fighters. Bill Bratton, the former NYPD commissioner and co-architect of New Yorks controversial stop-and-frisk policy, staunchly opposed the app when he was in office. In an unexpected turn of events, Bratton has now become an adviser on Citizens board.

It has the potential to be a techy breakthrough in community engagement for emergency agencies. But for those not inclined to trust law enforcement, Citizen feels like yet another tool of mass policing.

What the Citizen app is doing is empowering people as law enforcement, and we already know that's a problem, says Nicol Turner Lee, the tech policy advocate. Not everybody can be a vigilante in a country that is already skewed when it comes to race relations. We don't need people, particularly in this highly partisan, highly polarized environment, to have additional means to be able to further discriminate against vulnerable populations."

In March, Citizen added features that have become staples of any standard social media platform: activity notifications, private messaging, the ability to add friends. Around the same time, Citizen reintroduced a feature that lets users create their own incident alerts, instead of waiting for the incident to show up after it's been broadcast on a scanner and added to the app by Citizen's employees.

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Inside Citizen, the App That Asks You to Report on Crimes - WIRED

Global free music streaming platform, Audiomack recently announced its expansion to Nigeria, specifically in Lagos.

To this effect, three Nigerians that have been on the team were selected to oversee the operations. Adeyemi Adetunji was appointed as head operations and commercial partnerships; Charlotte Bwana on business development and media partnerships; and Olive Uche on content strategy. This makes Nigeria the 55th country to have Audiomacks presence.

Before now, Audiomack has been showing interest in Africa for a while. According to this report, the company claims its plays have grown more than 1,600% over the past 14 months in Africa, while it has been a sponsor for Afrochella and Afronation in the past year.

Apparently, the free streaming platform has been favourable towards Nigerian artists in particular. And this is deduced from Techpoint Africas chat with Omoregie Osas Reggie! a Nigerian rap artist. He says Audiomacks choice of Nigeria is not surprising because many Nigerian artists perform a genre it generally supports Afrobeats.

Audiomack is one of the few streaming platforms that recognises Afrobeats as a genre. So, they have playlists, chart countdowns, and many more dedicated to the genre.

For Reggie!, this is simply another global platform recognising Nigeria as a major hub for Afrobeats. And he thinks its only right they start there, he says.

Interestingly, the attention on the Nigerian music industry lately has been encouraging. While the likes of Apple Music, Deezer, and Shazam have been in the green-white-green space for a while, Google-owned YouTube Music only joined in March.

Reggie! attests to how Audiomack has improved engagement and followership on his content even though he only joined the platform about a year ago.

Being a free platform, artists can simply upload their content on Audiomack website, conversely, theres the option to upgrade to premium so that they can get paid.

Reggie! surmises that an artists choice depends on what they want from the platform. For him, his presence there is for generating followership and engagement.

It is quite clear that the Nigerian entertainment industry is still plagued with IP-related violations. Hence, using free streaming platforms to generate attention while in the process of creating content they would like to get paid for seems like a good shot.

While keeping in mind how this global attraction might be affecting African streaming platforms like Boomplay and MusicTime!, it still remains that music consumers in the country seem to know where to look for their preferred content.

Photo by Zarak Khan on Unsplash

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Music streaming platform, Audiomack expands to Nigeria; Afrobeats seems to be the catch - Techpoint Africa

Flight review: Finnair business on the A350, Hong Kong - Helsinki

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Creating an Airbnb listing can take a while to accomplish since you need to provide a lot of information.

However, in general the process can be broken down into three main steps: provide your basic listing information, add photos and any other additional information about your listing, and establish your rates and rules.

Here's an in-depth overview of how to set up an Airbnb listing.

1. Go to the Airbnb listing creation page on your Mac or PC.

2. Fill out your basic listing information, like what kind of listing you want to create (house or apartment, for example), whether the guests would have the place to themselves or if they'd be sharing the space with you, and if the property is primarily for guests or if you keep your stuff there. Click "Next" when done.

Fill out your listing's basic information. Devon Delfino/Business Insider

3. Fill out your guest accommodations, like how many people can stay and the number of beds and bedrooms available. Add the number of bathrooms your space has available for guest use.

Fill out your listing's accommodations. Devon Delfino/Business Insider

4. Fill out the address for your listing. Drag the pin on the map to the correct location, if needed, then click "Yes, that's right" to continue.

Confirm your listing's location. Devon Delfino/Business Insider

5. Add the amenities you will offer guests by ticking the corresponding boxes.

6. Decide which spaces in particular will be available for guest use and then click "Finish" when ready.

7. Click "Continue."

Click "Continue" to move on to the next set of steps. Devon Delfino/Business Insider

8. Upload your photos, or select "Skip for now."

Upload photos or choose to do it later. Devon Delfino/Business Insider

9. Add your listing description, as well as any other information you want to include, like information about your availability or the neighborhood.

10. Add your listing's title.

Choose a name for your listing. Devon Delfino/Business Insider

11. Click "Continue" under "Get Ready for Guests."

Click "Continue" to move on. Devon Delfino/Business Insider

12. Review Airbnb's guest requirements, and add any of your own, if desired.

13. Create your house rules.

Create rules for your listing. Devon Delfino/Business Insider

14. Review your house rules and guest requirements, and click "Edit" or "Review" if you're unsure, otherwise click "Next."

15. Review how guests will book your place. You can click "I want to review every request," if desired.

Click "Next." Devon Delfino/Business Insider

16. Tick the box next to, "Got it! I'll keep my calendar up to date."

17. Say whether you've rented your place out before, and how often you want to have guests.

18. Decide how much notice you want for bookings as well as check-in information.

19. Add how far in advance guests can book your place.

20. Create your minimum and maximum nights' booking requirements.

21. Add your availability to your calendar.

Fill out your calendar settings. Devon Delfino/Business Insider

22. Decide your various pricing information.

Decide your pricing. Devon Delfino/Business Insider

23. Decide if you want to offer a deal to first-time guests.

24. Add desired discount information for longer stays. Click "Next."

25. Review your local laws and tax information, then click "Finish."

Click "Finish" to finish setting up your listing. Devon Delfino/Business Insider

Keep in mind that you may also be required to register your listing with your city before it can be published.

Axel Springer, Insider Inc.'s parent company, is an investor in Airbnb.

Insider Inc. receives a commission when you buy through our links.

Read more:

How to create an Airbnb listing and list your home or apartment on the platform - Business Insider - Business Insider

In Greg Daniels's 'Upload', we witnessed a future where the virtual world is not just a healthy option but a powerful source to fulfill all our needs. Jumping a couple of years into the future, humanity has found a way to dodge death. Leaning further into this idea, 'Upload' shows what happens when the wealthy can upload their loved ones into a virtual world, pay for their services and interact with them. Their mortal remains are frozen till there's a hope of resurrection.

The Amazon series follows the story of Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell), who dies in a car accident. His girlfriend Ingrid uploads him into a luxurious afterlife called Lakeview. He's assigned the angel Nora (Andy Allo) and the two strike up a close friendship and fall in love. Throughout the course of the series, Nora tries to help Nathan discover who was responsible for his accident.

At Comic Con 2020, the 'Upload' panel discussion will be held on July 23 at 2 pm EST. During this discussion, creator, executive producer and director Greg Daniels and stars Robbie Amell, Andy Allo, Kevin Bigley, Allegra Edwards and Zainab Johnson will discuss the show and hint on what to expect in the panel that will be moderated by Engadget's Cherlynn Low.

Season 1 ends on an emotional cliffhanger, leaving fans waiting with bated breath for Season 2.

Though Season 2 has been confirmed, there has been no release date as yet, as all film and television studios are shut due to the coronavirus pandemic. The first season aired on Amazon Prime.

At the end of Season 1, Nathan's ex-girlfriend Ingrid has uploaded herself into Lakeview. Meanwhile, Nora has left town, thinking that Nathan doesn't reciprocate her feelings. The truth is, that his 2G had run out, and he couldn't respond to her. It was clear that he felt the same, as one tear rolled down his cheek. Season 2 would probably address Nora's return, their love story, and the remaining questions surrounding Nathan's death. There is now a love triangle, as Ingrid is there too.

Robbie Amell

Robbie is a Canadian actor and is the main protagonist of 'Upload'. Robbie is also famous for his roles in 'The X-Files', 'The Babysitter', 'Code 8' and 'A Series of Unfortunate Events'.

Andy Allo

Andy is a singer-songwriter and actress and had played the role of Nora in 'Upload'. Allo is famous for her roles in 'Pitch Perfect 3', 'The Hero', 'The Game' and 'Attack of the Show!'. She is expected to return for Season 2.

Allegra Edwards

Allegra Edwards is expected to return as Nathan's girlfriend Ingrid in 'Upload' Season 2. She is known for her roles in 'Briarpatch', 'Alternatino with Arturo Castro' and 'Friends from College'.

The show has been created by Greg Daniels, the mind behind 'The Office' and 'Parks And Recreation'.

There is no trailer yet. Check out this space for updates.

'Black Mirror'

'Abre Los Ojos'

'Vanilla Sky'

'Once in a Lifetime'

Follow this link:

'Upload' Season 2: Release date, plot, cast and all you need to know about the Amazon Prime show - MEAWW

Once Google has solved the problem that many users of the old Play Music had to keep their libraries on the new platform, some wonder if they can continue updating it with new content to have offline in the future. And the answer is yes since those of Mountain View continue to respect all the requirements that they already had in place with the previous app.

And we could summarize those limitations in three important points: we can only have a maximum of 100,000 songs stored in the cloud, it is only possible to enjoy this function in the event that our YouTube account is personal (and not branded) and, finally, that these uploads can only be done through the computer. Never from the official app for smartphones or tablets.

It must be said that this time, the upload process has been simplified, or rather, it is more efficient than the previous one from Play Music that it was failing a lot. While in that one an external app was necessary that we had to install on our computer (the drag and drop gave many errors), now Google has forgotten about that to manage everything through the web. Chrome preferably.

The first of the methods is that of touch on the image of our avatar and in the menu that appears in the account, choose Upload music. Then a computer window will appear so you just have to go find the location where we have stored the topics that we want to save in the cloud. In this way, it is possible to choose a few, or all the albums and songs.

The second is, as you can see just below, an old acquaintance of Google that we can also use in Photos, which is the drag and drop. You will simply have to take the folder, or folders, that you want to upload to YouTube Music to start the process. When finished, they will appear in the most recent ones, in case it is necessary to edit the artists name, album title, year of publication, cover, etc.

As always, and to avoid mistakes on the upload, keep in mind that the allowed formats are the FLAC, M4A, MP3, OGG and WMA, And that all those files will be mixed with the ones that the platform itself has in such a way that there will be occasions when what you are listening to will be the theme that YouTube Music has and not yours. Anyway, there is the possibility of accessing only the uploads, leaving aside the content that the platform has.

Related

Excerpt from:

These are all the ways you have to upload music to YouTube Music - InTallaght

YouTube has a massive reach across the globe. It is one of the most influential social media platforms for video streaming across the world. Apart from online video watching, the platform allows its user to do a live stream.

Going live on YouTube is a way to stand out from the crowd and draw a crowd. Live streaming on YouTube help creators to directly interact with the audience and make more personal connection.

Here is a step-by-step guide you can follow to go live on YouTube using a computer.

But before you follow steps keep in mind that you need to have no live streaming restrictions in the past 90 days and you need to verify your channel.

You can follow the below-given steps to go live on YouTube using a computer.

Step 1: Open any browser and visit http://www.youtube.com.

Step 2: On the home page, click the Create button in the top right corner.

Step 3: From the given options, select Go Live.

Using a webcam is an easy way to go live on your computer. A webcam is compatible with Chrome 60+ and Firefox 53+. You can follow the below-given steps to create a live stream via webcam.

Before you go live, make sure you have prepared a title, description, and thumbnail image.

Step 1: First, go to http://www.youtube.com.

Step 2: Next, on the homepage, in the upper right, click Create option.

Step 3: From the given options click Go Live.

Step 4: From the left select Webcam at the top of the screen.

Step 5: Enter a Title, Description and select a Privacy setting.

Note: You can also schedule your live stream for a later date. You can even click More options and select Advanced Settings for more settings.

Step 6: Click Next, your camera will then take a thumbnail for the Livestream. (You can retake it or upload an image afterwards)

Step 7: At last, click Go Live.

When you're done streaming, click End Stream at the bottom. Hence, by following the above-given steps, you can easily create a live stream via webcam. Remember, all streams under 12 hours will be automatically archived.

If you are going live with a webcam then you don't need streaming encoding software. You can easily access all your previous, current, and upcoming streams in the YouTube Live tab.

(Source: Google support)

READ | How to make YouTube channel subscriptions public or private: Know steps

READ | How to hide YouTube channel temporarily, step by step guide

READ | How to download YouTube videos for offline viewing: Step-by-step guide

Read this article:

How to go live on YouTube using computer: Step-by-step guide - India Today

"The longer Ive been around the more and more I appreciate the people that have come before us that have done so much"

Rooted is all about the people and places that make us proud to call our community home.

There is no shortage of opportunities to coach at some level of athletics in North Bay. Between all the minor sports, high school level, major junior and College/University ranks, there are people who year-round are teaching and helping athletes fine-tune their craft.

Of all the coaches within the city of North Bay, only one gets recognized every year by the North Bay Sports Hall of Fame Awards Committee as the Al Brennan Memorial Trophy winner for the Coach of the year in North Bay and District.

Peter Handley, Bert Templeton, Bill Jacko and Larry Sheppard are just a few of the recognizable names that have been honoured with this award since its inception in 1977 and in 2018, long-time St. Joseph Scollard Hall Bears Coach John Whittet was bestowed with that award.

It was quite an honour, certainly wasnt expected, says Whittet.

I was happy to get it and my family was happy for me too.

Whittet says he might not have gotten into coaching in the first place had it not been for a few influential people in his life during high school.

Ive always felt everything happens for a reason, saidWhittet.

I remember in grade 10it was a combination of my dad telling me that I have to find a job that Im going to like, because it's going to be something you will spend a lot of time doing. And I had two Phys Ed teachers at Scollard, Mike Doyle and John Elkins who just seemed to be having the time of their life and that kind of all hit me as something I would really like to do. Combining sports and a good job. So, I pretty much had my mind made up then.

Whittet is most well known for his play calling as the Head Coach of the Bears football team, but thats not the only team he has had the pleasure of drawing up game plans for. In fact, it started with a community-based team.

I started coaching with the North Bay Legion Track Club when I was going to University and it didnt really stop after that point.

Whittet says after finishing with his education in teachers college at Nipissing University, he got a job in Collingwood where he taught at the elementary level for nine years.

I coached everything I could," Whittet reflected.

"It was a great way to interact with students and get to know people and then in 1999 I got hired at my alma matter at St. Joseph Scollard Hall and again, I coached whatever, and wherever they needed me to. Football, Baseball, Track and Field, Curling. And then in town, I got involved with minor hockey, and Stingers Baseball.

For those keeping count at home thats a different sport for every season; with some of those even overlapping. Dedicating that kind of time to cultivate those young athletic minds is no easy task, and once you do that for a while, Whittet says, the thought always crosses your mind, about possibly entering the professional ranks.

Whittet adds, I really like my job, I like being a teacher and coaching at the high school level. But you go to some of the clinics. We went to one in Michigan State, and York University, and one at Guelph, and you just see the level of commitment from the professionals they bring in to speak at those clinics and that in itself is amazing. Those people that coach at that level is just another step above. When you get to see what they do, its a completely different level. In my personal life though, I dont think I was ever thinking of pursuing that. Maybe as a younger person first getting into it, but I was 30 years old when I moved back home and started coaching football.

It really does show the amount of work and dedication there is at that stage. The amount of work, the amount of video, the amount of everything that they do is mind-boggling really.

But coaching at the high school level can require just as much background work, video and dedication.

Whittet says, in football, we all film our games and well share that with each other. And there are websites that you can upload the film to, and it will break down the games using analytics. So, were using that at the high school level. We could be looking at a play that is second and eight and it will calculate the probability of what kind of play the other team will do. It depends sometimes on if well have that for regular season games but come playoff time its amazing how much you will watch film and you will have your players watch film as well in preparing for that upcoming game.

Using an advanced technology system to coach minor sports might be a newer model but Whittet says he found it easy to adapt to this method because of the help he had with some of his assistants.

We had three guys that had just recently finished playing CIS football. And they will bring what they learned and teach dinosaurs like us how to structure practices on how to be more efficient, saidWhittet.

Going to clinics and conferences you also learn so much, but it was such a pleasure to have a couple of new young coaches join our staff, and really they teach you and we learn from each other. It's amazing how much people are willing to share.

Getting to teach and coach at the school he went to as a high school student is something Whittet is tremendously proud of and says it was a way to give back to a city that has a vibrant and historic sports scene.

North Bay is such a great sports city, Whittet says.

There are so many good people that are involved in it. The longer Ive been around the more and more I appreciate the people that have come before us that have done so much to start it and build it up.

Going back to my old high school was like a dream come true, he continues. Thats what I had always been inspired to do. Theres a long tradition there because its been around so long and theres been some pretty historic coaches that have come prior and you have some big shoes to fill and, obviously you cant fill them, but there are certain expectations that people hold you accountable to and if youre not doing to well you hear about it pretty quickly.

Of all the different sports Whittet has been a part of he says, I never thought I would coach curling and that was more out of necessity than due to knowledge.

But Whittet says that comes along with the territory of being available as a mentor and as a leader and doing whatever you can to help out your school and your students wherever they may need you to.

It opens up your eyes to a whole different realm. Different athletes and different people and it was awesome. And we got to host the OFSAA Curling back in 2014 which was a wonderful experience, he says.

But the gridiron is where he felt his true calling always was.

I remember watching as a five-year-old. Whether it was playing, just sitting and watching as a fan, or being a part of it in some other way, I just find it the most diverse sport you can have. People from all different walks of life can enjoy it and play it. People with different talents, different abilities and different body types can come together as one unit and finding a way to make all that work is what I truly enjoy.

Between his years as a track coach and his years as a football coach, Whittet understands how vital it is to have a state-of-the-art facility to play and practice on. Thats why one of his fondest moments as a Bear was when they were able to open Cundari Field in 2015.

Whittet says, we were just so fortunate to have the perfect storm I guess, when we were looking to upgrade some of the facilities. There was a group of gentlemen associated with the Scollard Hall Foundation and they had some money and along with the school board we all worked together to create the turf facility, the track and the bleachers that you see today.

To host events and meets and track events, it's outstanding. We welcome all the other high schools to come and train on it, and it is good for our athletics program. I really do believe there has been an uptick in student enrolment because they see this facility and they want to be a part of it and use it, and its been a real win-win for everybody.

And when people like John Whittet come along and dedicate themselves to your school and city in any area, youre going to find a lot of those win-win situations.

If you have a story suggestion for the Rooted series, send Matt an email at matthew.sookram@rci.rogers.com

Continued here:

John Whittet dedicated to excellence in community coaching - BayToday

In this period of quarantine, the world has changed and things are rapidly shifting from transactional style to the transformation in the system by going virtual. There is a lot of room in our courts which can be transformed by using the technology of digitalization. There are many countries in the world that are practicing the E-courts model by using the technology. Let me give you a perspective from my personal experience and analysis on how we can make a difference in order to make an impact with sustainability.

There are different perspectives of every side but in our legal system there are three dimensional takes that we have to look into and address. The First is the facilitation of judges, the second being the facilitation of prosecution/plaintiff lawyers and the third is the facilitation of the defense/defendant lawyers.

Let me give you a brief glimpse of the areas where we can use the digitization of technology to benefit the lawyers and the common man.

Lahore High Court is already using the application part of the technology but it has to be upgraded with the virtual Courts and Webinars. Adding value to the same application by adding the E-Hearing portal where the E-court access can only be given to the registered bar members across the country in order to facilitate the new, young lawyers who wants to learn from the Honorable Judges and discussion/ arguments of the senior lawyers fighting the cases. The secure two way process of One Time Permission may be given to every lawyer with his personal cell number and email every time they want to appear in the E-court in order to keep the privacy of the E-Court room. The system will also mark the lawyer who once attended the proceeding of the E-Court in order to facilitate him the next time.

This is not easy in the beginning as there will be high resentment form the senior lawyers and many will oppose the transformation of this system who are not welcoming or not adapted to the change. This is handicap in the lawyers as many senior lawyers, who are very good in preparing and arguing the case in the court, might not able to cope up with the process of digitalization as most of the senior and even the new young lawyers are not really used to of using the technology. Keeping in mind the future and the digitalization of the economy and governance in most of the countries in the world this has to be carried forward and adopted in order to keep the pace with the world. In future, Artificial intelligence and robotics are a big threat to the lawyers as the research, preparation of the cases and arguments will be conducted through AI and robotics.

This is the need of the hour and it has to be done and decided by the approval of the High Courts and the Supreme Court for implementing it across the country. The technology and the system have to be very friendly so every lawyer should enjoy using it and refer it to others in order to make it a norm.

The things which need to be done are the upgradation of the system and upskilling of all the resources which will facilitate the accountability and transparency of the cases. The problem in adaptability of E-systems is resentment from the Bar Councils as they may feel that this might result in losing the influence of the office bearers but in reality this is not the case. This will enhance their respect and honor for upskilling the lawyers community for the rest of their life and it will benefit them for future endeavors by increasing their followers in their community.

The relation of bar and bench is very important for building confidence of lawyers and building consensusamong the lawyers. For those lawyers who feel that their face value will make a difference in the court while arguing the case in person, a mechanism can be developed that in every case a lawyer should mark his consent to appear before the Honorable Judge while other lawyers may appear through web or in person it should be left for him to decide. Things can be managed all we need is the Will, which is most important of all, for initiating the process.

Every court must have all the required facilities for the E-appearance of lawyers and to hear their arguments on merit. This can only be achieved when the training of everyone is done who are a part of the process and will prove to be a great learning for development of lawyers and judges so they enhance their knowledge and learning.There are certain roles which are important to be defined for digitalization of E-Courts where E-stands for electronic.

E-filing is very important part of the process which will take time to be learnt and adopted by the lawyers community. A batch of special resource persons should be trained that help lawyers and facilitate them initiallyfor filing the cases along with the documentation after scanning the documents. The process to upload attachments of the documents must be user-friendly so lawyers feel happy and facilitated to upload the case filing documents. All lawyers must be allowed to submit the hard copy of the new case till they get used to the process of uploading. Every lawyer and his clerk must learn to file the new case online so once the facility of hard copy is closed they will not be having a problem in it.

Trial and error period should be allowed for filing the cases so that all the problems faced by the lawyers in E-filing should be identified and resolved.

E-Witness may be given a choice either to take appointment from the court before time to record his witness or to appear online and record his full statement which should be made a part of the record.

On the issuance of E-notice there will many reservations from the lawyers that the process written in CPC should be followed but I am not saying that the regular process should be stopped or by passed, in fact the addition of E-notice asa regular message on the cell, email, WhatsApp and other necessary applications which is being used by everyone now a days should be made the part of the process so in coming times people will give high importance to the above mentioned mediums and will not ignorethem. In India, Delhi High Court is very much in practice of using the official court notices and summons through the WebEx meeting invitation where date of hearing for E-appearance along with an invitation to join via audio or a video link with the access code / meeting number and meeting password is given for their facilitation. In England, E appearance for criminals in jail is being exercised via Prison Video Link PVL where one of the parties can join via CVP. It does require every prison to have that facility.

The E-Trail can vary for different courts of law; for criminal trials in case a criminal is in jail he can appear from there as a E-appearance and rest of the witnesses can be given a choice either to appear online or in person. There are a lot of innocent people in jail whose trail isbeing delayed on the reason that they cannot be brought to the court andtheir trail has been lingering on for a long time now these kind of cases should be given priority so no innocent person should suffer this loss unless they are given fair and proper opportunity to present their case.

In civil cases, for this Covid world, the court will have to fix the time

in situation of E-appearance in Civil Cases or in all other courts of law the basic requirement must be fulfilled and followed in order to ensure fair trial. As mentioned about the courts of law, for some time in the beginning, all the lawyers must have this option of appearing online or in person and the rest of the people, such as witnesses, plaintiffs, defendants etc., must be given this option to be a part of online hearing in case of a special permission from the court.

There should be strict SOPs to be made in order to ensure the safety and security of the life of the lawyers, judges and the courts-staff. The entry of private persons should only be allowed with the proper permission of the court.

It saves energy, environment, money, time and resources. This all will make and create an impact by creating, using and facilitating the technology to benefit the lawyers and the common man.

By implementing and transforming this all does not mean that the transactional norm of the lawyers practice is given up but in fact this technology will enhance and add value to the whole justice system and the due process of law.

Earlier, the use of technology was initiated by the now Honorable Judge of the Supreme Court, Mr. Mansoor Ali Shah. People remember him for his initiatives. Now again this is an opportunity for the one or ones who want their name to be written in golden words and their work to be remembered by people for all times to come.

Follow this link:

The Grand Agenda: Digitalization of Courts - Daily Times

Police brutality

Thank you so much for the work you are doing. Ive been a reader for at least three years now and became a subscriber recently (Watch: Scenes from protests against the custodial deaths of Jeyaraj and Fenix in Tamil Nadu). Please amplify the case of Jayaraj and Bennixs custodial deaths. This instance of police brutality and bureaucracy deserves more attention and it would be a shame if this were to remain a South Indian or Tamilian issue only because most of the coverage is in Tamil. Again, thank you for your time and work. I wish the very best to Supriya Sharma and your organisation against the baseless first information report by the Uttar Pradesh police. Nayantara Joseph

***

That our films have been adversely affecting the society has always been debated and left inconclusively (Comment : Bad cop, worse cop: Tamil cinema needs to acknowledge its endorsement of police brutality). Its not just police brutality but so many other social mores that need to be refined in films. Glorifying crimes against women or the society at large because of personal trauma, as you rightly point out, has desensitised us to the victims while sympathising with the arbitrators.

I highly doubt that films will change this. This too shall pass in a few weeks or months, and we will lay low only to cry foul at the next ugly crime. Its not the actors, scriptwriters or directors alone at fault. We, the public, who have made megahits out of such films also carry blame. But will we learn? Vasanthi Rajiv

***

We should understand that real life and reel life are completely two different worlds (Comment: Bad cop, worse cop: Tamil cinema needs to acknowledge its endorsement of police brutality). Having said that, I do agree to an extent that cinema has contributed to social wrongdoings. But we must admit that cinema is simply based on imagination, for the purpose of entertainment.

Almost all movies portray violence and sexuality to a certain extent, regardless of which language, actor, director or nation they belong to. From Sholay to Avengers, there is some or the other kind of violence in film content. Its impossible to make movies without portraying fights, revenge, injustice, retaliation, protests unless its a complete religious film focusing on spirituality.

So what can be shown and not shown to the public? Where is the line drawn? That is a question answerable by the government through the censorship board.

Your article on police brutality, which focusses only on one industry, is unfair. The recent killing of George Floyd in America is a proof that these brutality happens in every part of the world. Did the American journalists blamed Mel Gibson for acting in Lethal Weapon? Did they blame Will Smith for acting in Bad Boys? Why do Tamil actors need to take this much burden when theyre just doing their job? What can Rajinikanth do if there are few rotten apples in a basket? Is Rajinikanth truly in charge of the Tamil Nadu Police?

I am not a fan of violence. But on this issue, the blame should go to the government, not the cinema industry. Plucking petals wont kill the plant find the root. Overall, the article was an interesting read even though I disagree with some of its content. Steven Subra

***

#BlackLivesMatter was a movement founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martins murderer. Since then, the movement has been used by protesters worldwide to fight racial injustice. Most recently, the murder of George Floyd sparked a new wave of these protests (George Floyd: Medical examiner classifies African-American mans death as homicide). But this is not just a protest for George Floyd, it is a protest for all those people who are made to suffer because of the colour of their skin. It is a protest to end racial inequality, something that should have never happened in the first place.

Political leaders are seen as role models for the youth of today, so what should an ideal leader do in this type of a situation? Donald Trump showed us just that. Instead of expressing any kind of remorse or guilt over the polices despicable actions, he has taken to threatening protestors over Twitter. He also thanked the National Guard for what they did in Minneapolis, before calling it to be used in other democrat-run states. He used a series of authoritarian and controversial words such as thugs, vicious dogs and when the looting starts, the shooting starts to express his obvious disregard for the situation at hand.

Compare him to Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, who has repeatedly spoken out against racism and even attended protests. In the 2016 Presidential Elections, America elected its first president without any political or military background and while he managed to more or less skirt past disaster for the first three years of his term, this year has really shed light to his character and ill qualifications for his job. Is this really the kind of leader the United States needs? Someone who is known for weak moral leadership, racial divisiveness, crass and vulgar rhetoric and civil crimes and calls himself the opposition to Barack Obama, who is famous for his deep reading, empathy, cultural sensitivity and smart decisions? The past six months have given us further insight to the Trumps character and the entire nation should be questioning their choices before even thinking about thrusting the fate of the biggest democracy in the world into his hands yet again. Saanya Anand

***

It was a pleasure to read the articles on Hindustani Classical music by Aneesh Pradhan (Listen: Hindustani songs in which the cry of the papiha reminds us of separated lovers). His latest article has thorough research about bandish on birds. I hope he continues to write these articles and upload tracks from Hindustani Classical music. Thank you, Scroll.in for publishing these articles. Vijay Pandya

***

This article is beautifully written and I had goosebumps reading it (How a Bihari lost her mother tongue to Hindi but is now trying to get it back). I didnt have any knowledge about Angika, but I could relate to this article. The experiences written about in this article is something that keeps happening, especially with kids when they want to gel with others and fit in. Sometimes it happens with Hindi-speaking people too as well as with other regional languages or dialects. The only exception to this are people from South India and Bangla-speaking people. Thanks for making me look back and understanding the importance of our roots. Neelam Bhatt

***

Kanishka Gupta has done an amazing job curating the series of articles on publishing and the pandemic. I want to mention two the one by Bhaskar Bhatt and Priya Doraswamy (First person: How a publishing executive started helping migrant labourers during the lockdown; How the literary agent will be affected as post-pandemic publishing tightens its belts).

Both articles cover completely different aspects of the publishing business. Bhaskars story about his encounter with books and the book publishing industry, and rise to a senior position as a merchandiser of a reputed firm through hard work is inspirational. More impressive is his humanitarianism which should be a lesson to those of us who think What can I do? After all, I am only a frog in a small pond and there is a pacific ocean of need out there. Bhaskar, may you be forever blessed.

In the other article, Priya has explained how literary agents function clearly and candidly. I had very little idea about the role of a literary agent and was always wary of approaching one. This article opened my eyes and my mind. Thank you for this invaluable series. Keerti Ramachandra

***

For decades, the English Premier League was dominated by the big boys Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal (The Jurgen Klopp way: How the charismatic German led Liverpool to long-awaited Premier League glory). What a breath of fresh air to see the EPL title go to Liverpool this year, never mind that the pandemic took the fun out of the celebrations.

All credit goes to the Liverpool Coach, Jurgen Klopp. Behind his professorial look (thanks to those outsized glasses), his salt-and-pepper beard and trademark LFC cap, lies a shrewd footballing brain. Knitting together a fantastic team of talented players, Klopp was able to achieve the unthinkable, dislodging the big boys of the League and establishing a new kid on the block. Congratulations, Liverpool on a fantastic win. You are the champions. Sharath Ahuja

Continued here:

Readers Comments: The Jayaraj-Bennix case is more than just a South Indian issue - Scroll.in

The transition between normal and remote work can be quite tough, especially for those with less technological experience. Fortunately, this change is a lot less scarier with a few appropriate tools. Read on to discover how you can take advantage of them.

1. Zoom

One of the most important aspects for successful remote work is good communication. Zoom is a video conferencing tool that has seen a huge popularity spike in the recent months due to its high quality audio and video services. The platform allows users to record meetings, schedule webinars, exchange content with a minimal amount of downtime. Zoom itself is very scalable due to its cloud-native infrastructure that houses all of the most demanding administrative elements.

Another main advantage is the user friendliness of Zooms interface and all of its functionalities. The tool combines all of the features in a self explanatory, graphical manner so that even the most novice of users can quickly get comfortable with it. Additionally, Zooms free version comes with almost all of the important features right out of the box so that you dont have to pay a dime.

2. Google Drive

Youll need a safe and reliable way to store/share your files once you start working remotely. While there are many options available, Google Drive has some of the most generous features for its free version. This includes 15GB from the get-go, a 128-bit encryption standard, offline mode, a document scanner and much more capabilities. You can choose which people have access and the capability to edit your files, with each and every change being shown in real-time.

Google Drive also gives users access to a word editor Google Docs. Its also interconnected with pretty much all other Google apps such as Gmail, Maps etc.

3. Audext

For those people who rely on recorded and filmed material, remote work can become quite tedious. Listening, rewinding and trying to write everything down word for word is something that journalists often face. Automating the process would skyrocket productivity, while also leaving room for tasks that have to be done manually. Audio to text converter Audext was created with this goal in mind. Through the use of AI technology and machine learning, Audext can convert audio to text through accurate speech recognition. Since journalists often rely on speaker labeling, the tool also has an automatic speaker identification feature. All you have to do is upload a file, type in the names of the people involved and thats it.

After the conversion is done, Audext provides a built-in editor so you can make any wanted changes right on the spot. Even the editor has some quality-of-life features such as find & replace, playback speed modifier and others. Audext has a 30-minute free trial after it expires, users can choose between hourly, monthly and yearly subscription plans.

4. Timezone.io

Remote jobs often employ people from all around the world. This means that theres a high chance of your working hours being someone elses resting hours. To help you get a better idea of how to organize with your team, Timezone.io lets you set up a profile where you can add each individual team member as well as his/her location. After youve got it all arranged, simply placing your mouse over a coworkers icon will show you his local time. This is especially useful when youre working with someone whos constantly on the move.

Timezone.io is completely free to use. All you have to do is register an account, create your team and youre ready to go.

5. Time Doctor

If you cant organize your time properly, youre going to find it hard to stay productive. Time Doctor is built to monitor activity, prevent distractions and provide regular reports so that you can easily track your own and your teams progress. If you have trouble with staying on track and being attentive, Time Doctor can observe your activities. Once you start procrastinating on social media or any other website, the app will warn you with a pop-up alert. Also, your team can create tasks and assign them correspondingly each report will show the exact time spent on each separate task.

Time Doctor has a free 14-day trial, after which the prices start at $10/user each month.

6. Slack

Similarly to Zoom, Slack is a remote communication tool. However, Slack puts its main focus on instant chat messaging, file sharing and compatibility with many different platforms and apps. The tool allows interaction through different channels each conversation is divided based on a specific project or a team. Even though its biggest strength is chatting, Slack also supports video and audio calls. File sharing is fully secured and in compliance with some of the highest industry standards. Also, the tool can connect with your phone so that you dont ever miss a single notification.

If you want to integrate a third-party app, Slack is compatible with over 2200 apps right out of the box. If you dont find the one to your liking, theres open API access to help you build your own integration.

7. TickTick

While its often overlooked and neglected, task organization and management can make your job a whole lot easier. One of the most effective, old-school methods are to-do lists. Even though TickTick looks fairly simple at first glance, it comes with many features to complement its main functionality. Add a task, set the due date and appropriate reminders. Each task can contain smaller subtasks and you can share any of them with other people. The tool has an integrated Pomodoro timer which can be used to set a timer for work and a timer for breaks, ultimately increasing your productivity.

TickTick is very easy to use and the free version has more than enough features. If you wish to upgrade to the premium plan, its quite cheap at only $27.99 per year.

8. GitHub

At its core, GitHub is a project repository that works hand-in-hand with Git, a version control system. Although its mostly popular among developers, GitHub also works for documents, notes and any other files prone to regular change. GitHub can be slightly complicated for beginners due to multiple new terms for example branches, repositories, forks, clones etc. Even so, extensive knowledge isnt necessary for the main use of GitHub. By creating different branches of the same project/file for each specific user, people can submit their changes without worrying about overwriting the originals. This helps users work remotely on different projects, with the ability to ultimately connect them all.

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Improve Your Remote Work Productivity With These Eight Utilities - Star of Mysore

As July begins, most schools are close to announcing reopening plans, though their doors wont open until August.

However, as summer continues, a different type of school is already in session: Vacation Bible School.

And in the wake of COVID-19, churches are adapting their VBS programs in a number of different ways to deal with the changing times.

For Asbury United Methodist Church, this summers VBS will be entirely online. Their three-day program, BOLT, comes from GO! Curriculum.

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Their catchline is, Instead of bringing your kids to VBS, were bringing VBS to your kids, said childrens and family ministry director Heidi Warren.

Warren said that while the BOLT programming is designed to be completed over three days, the links and videos will be available to registered families throughout July.

You dont have to do them consecutive days, she said. It could be once a week, it could be all three days in a row. Warren added that the activities presented in the BOLT curriculum utilize common household items that are easy to find.

Warren said that, the church had different curriculum planned for VBS. And once the pandemic hit, they discussed pushing VBS back or even moving it to winter. However, they ultimately decided on using the BOLT curriculum, as it was purposefully created to be a backyard VBS, according GO! Curriculums website.

We feel great, Warren said. Were close to our numbers. Weve had a lot of participation, a lot of excitement about it.

A longer stretch

For the First United Methodist Church of Columbus, this summers VBS will last a bit longer than three days. According to director of youth and family ministries Jennifer Riddle, FUMCs VBS program is a five-week experience that began the week of June 29.

Riddle explained that the church has instruction packets for families, and there will be videos that accompany the packets. The activities in the packet will be completed at home. However, the VBS is not entirely an at-home experience; there is also a chance for kids participate in-person each week.

You have an entire week to do the activities that are in the packet, Riddle said. And then, on Friday, each week were getting together at the green space at the church at 10 a.m. to just do some activities that are a part of the packet. So families, if they dont feel comfortable coming in person, they can do those activities on their own.

Riddle added that, because of health concerns, in-person time will be limited to one hour. Furthermore, every family that attends will need to have at least one adult present to watch their children. All adults are required to wear masks, but for children its optional.

Were going to keep people in their family groups as much as possible, Riddle said.

Similar to the BOLT curriculum, Riddle said that the suggested crafts in the packets will require common household items or objects that are easily found in nature.

But I have bought extra of some of those things, especially for folks that may be struggling economically, so if they need things like that, Im supplying for whoever might need those, Riddle added.

Before planning out VBS, Riddle sent out a survey to see what families wanted to do.

A lot of them, I think, are kind of overwhelmed with online opportunities but understand that because of COVID, we kind of need to find a safe balance as best we can, she said. And so, they were really interested in trying to do some face gatherings (sic) such as doing something outside.

Riddle said the curriculum, Compassion Camp, was chosen because it was designed to be flexible for both online interaction and in-person interaction. She added that having the program take place over a longer period of time is a good way to include families who might be out of town for some of July.

In-person and virtual

While First United Methodist is doing a mostly at-home VBS with weekly in-person gatherings, St. Paul Lutheran Church has chosen a different approach: a three-day VBS from July 20 to July 23, with the option to either attend in-person or participate virtually.

For those that opt to do the virtual option, well be making videos and recordings that feel as much like they were here as possible, Director of Christian Education Cheryl LaBelle said. We will also have bags of student activities that they can take home with them, picked up ahead of time, and have with them so that they can participate. Like snacks with recipe cards, and crafts. Well have videos that lead and show them how to do that.

LaBelle said that she and some of the churchs VBS volunteers will record these videos in advance and upload them to YouTube.

So itll still be a lot of the same faces, the same personalities coming across, so that it will feel as if they attended, she said.

On the other hand, the in-person VBS will be similar to programs of years past, albeit with new health guidelines.

Well be sanitizing, day-to-day, after theyve left and give them their own designated space so that its not shared space, LaBelle said. Were going to be doing a lot of things outside, too.

She added that there will be prepackaged snacks and that children will be asked to bring their own water bottles to avoid the spread of germs.

Well still set it up so that activities can be had where they still have fun, LaBelle said. They will still interact with one another, still (have) some healthy competition as well as good fellowship and hopefully some laughs

And then the same thing with our other rotations, too the music, the Bible story, all of that stuffitll be interactive. So theyll fully get to participate, but still taking into consideration some social distancing.

She said that the church set up its VBS with flexibility in mind, so that the church could be prepared in case any new COVID-19 security measures or considerations arose.

But we did believe that people would desire coming together, LaBelle said. Weve been having in-person church services, and weve been seeing a lot of families coming. And so we see that that is important to those families to have that socialization. So, we knew it was important for kids to be able to come together.

But for those families that were more concerned, we did want to give a virtual option so that they can still participate.

Where to learn more about VBS

To find out more about VBS at your local church, ask a leader, check the churchs website and/or social media, and look through the Republics Saturday religion listings.

How to register for the programs mentioned in the article:

All three of these programs are free and open to all children within their age ranges, regardless of whether or not these children attend the church in question or live in-state.

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In person or in spirit: Local churches offer different approaches to VBS during COVID-19 - The Republic

ISC Result 2020 Announced | As the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is yet to announce the results for Class 10 and 12 Board Results 2020, the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations has taken a step ahead. The CISCE has released the board results for Indian Certificate of Secondary Education and Indian School Certificate on Friday, July 11.

The ISC Class 12 Board Result 2020 is declared on the official website at cisce.org and results.cisce.org. The CISCE scheduled the ISC Exams in the month of February and March this year, however the board has to postpone the examination of a few subjects due to the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.

Earlier, the pending examinations for CISCE Class 12 2020 were scheduled to be conducted in July. However, keeping the Covid-19 situation in the country in the mind, the board decided to cancel all the examinations for the academic year.

CISCE ISC Assessment Process

CISCE has to cancel the pending examination for both ICSE and ISC students. For the subjects whose pending exams were cancelled, the board will assess students on the basis of internal exams. If a student fails to obtain the minimum marks to pass the subject, he/she will be getting the option to re-appear for the exams on a later date.

CISCE ISC Marksheet and Passing Certificate

The CISCE Board will upload the marksheet and the passing certificate for ISC Class 12 Results 48 hours after the declaration of the result. If a student is not satisfied with his or her marks, they are free to apply for the rechecking or revaluation process. A fee of Rs 1,000 will be charged per subject per student. The re-evaluation window is open from July 10 to 16.

CISCE ISC Exam Results

The students can check CISCE ISC Results online through the official website using their registration number. To check the ISC result 2020 through SMS, students need to type ISC roll number and send their test to 09248082883.

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ISC Result 2020 Released at cisce.org and results.cisce.org: How to Check CISCE Results Online, via SMS - News18

Since its introduction in 2013, the Sword Art Online anime has garnered a huge number of fans worldwide. Its easy to see why, with its colorful cast of characters and exploration of the psychological effects of virtual reality. Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris, out tomorrow, allows players to experience the animes latest arc in JRPG form. We spoke with Lead Producer, Yousuke Futami, to get the inside scoop on the latest addition to the Sword Art Online game series.

Q: This game follows the Alicization arc of the anime. What made you decide to follow the canon anime storyline instead of creating a game-specific storyline?

When describing the Alicization Arc, in order to express the vast world of the original work and the anime, we came to the conclusion that the opening part should be the same between the anime and the game. We wanted to explore themes of the original work such as Kirito and Eugios friendship, Artificial Intelligence, the differences among humans, what defines a spirit and so on. It is straightforward even for those who watch the anime or read the original work but havent played the previous games, so I think it is easier to jump in.

Q: Were there any challenges in adapting the anime storyline into a video game?

As you know, the volume of the first half of the Alicization anime is colossal. I assumed we could actually make a game out of the first 24 episodes. With that massive volume in mind, it was challenging to adapt the story in a way that it could coexist with the gameplay. We made sure players can play the anime story in the game without feeling stressed.

Q: Medina Orthinanos is a new game-original character. Can you take us through the process of creating a new character for a story that is already established?

We made her appear in the game sooner than many of the fans would probably expect. Kirito and Eugeo meet her just when they leave Rulid Village, but she goes to the Academy like Eugeo and the important point is that this spins into the later part of the story. Medina is a very strong and honest character. As AI lives are almost like the humans in the Under World, we set her character as someone who would explode their feelings.

In the anime and the original work, Alices struggle is shown, and in the game, there are friends like Kirito and Eugeo to share with. Media is a contrast; she is looked down on by different people. She was created to express the feelings, essential as an AI in this world. Medina has a very important role in the game version of the Alicization arc. Without her, the games theme cant be told. I really hope you can experience the games message throughout the journey with Medina.

Q: Did you have any reservations about adding an original character into the story?

As a daughter of a noble family, Medina is burdened with the dark side of the aristocracy and the humans. This part follows the original work or the anime settings, so we did not have reservations with adding her into the game.

Q: Should fans expect more Sword Art Online games that will follow the anime storyline?

Of course! I hope that young talents yet to come will create new SAO games for the next generation.

Q: What do you think sets Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris apart from previous SAO games?

The battles feature the AI quite a lot. Your partner character will memorize their move sets as they fight more and more enemies. You can set and customize your partners memorized moves on your own, upload it, download from other online players partner AI, and so on.

Since it grows quickly as you fight, you can feel the members becoming stronger. Compared to past SAO games, this title has evolved for you to experience more SAO-like battles. I hope you enjoy playing the game with many of the partner characters you can choose from.

Q: What are you most excited about for fans to experience in this game?

I hope that fans will enjoy the world of SAO Alicization, experience the SAO story only told in this game with their favorite characters, and also have fun exploring the world of Underworld in general. I hope they can sense the meaning of the games catchphrase: The world will never forget you through their gameplay experience.

Sword Art Online Alicization Lycoris comes out tomorrow, July 10. Pick up a digital copy of the game for PS4 before August 13, 2020 to receive four bonus costumes.

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Adapting Sword Art Onlines massive world into a JRPG - PlayStation.Blog

In a bombshell video, YouTube beauty guru Tati Westbrook countered Shane Dawson's recent claim that he had no part in planning or orchestrating her 2019 expos about James Charles titled "Bye Sister." According to Westbrook, Dawson "used, coerced, and manipulated" her into filming the infamous video with the help of polarizing makeup mogul Jeffree Star. Dawson, Westbrook added, personally offered to help her edit and title the video, in which Westbrook alleged that Charles, a superstar in the world of beauty influencers, was a bad friend who'd repeatedly engaged in inappropriate behavior with straight men.

"He even offered to design the thumbnail and help title it," Westbrook said in the June 30 upload. "I declined his offer, but his gesture reinforced and supported for me that he was telling the truth. Why else would he jeopardize his career? So surely Jeffree was telling the truth, too. Keep in mind that up until this point, I didn't even know I was making a video. So how is it that so many editorial outlets knew that something was coming before I had even made a decision to film?"

The release of "Bye Sister" in May 2019 is widely considered to be a tipping point in the multi-part community-wide flame war known as "Dramageddon" and "Dramageddon 2.0." After the release of "Bye Sister," Star chimed in with unsubstantiated allegations of his own and called Charles a "predator" and a "danger to society." Charles denied these claims in a response video titled "No More Lies."

Nevertheless, lines were drawn between friends and rivals, and across social media, many creators and fans chose sides: that of Charles, or that of Westbrook and Star. Since 2018, Dawson and Star have benefitted from a lucrative joint rebrand that has spawned many successful collaborations, including a docuseries and a best-selling, conspiracy-themed makeup collection. Recently, Dawson published a lengthy statement in which he admitted to knowing Westbrook was "thinking about making a video" but denied having any idea how "intense" it would be. Dawson also denied playing any role in planning or orchestrating the expos.

"I struggled with the decision to film my video for days," Westbrook continued in her latest video.

Westbrook called her decision to film "Bye Sister" one of the biggest regrets of her life, and since then, she had made private and public amends with Charles. But at the time, Westbrook said she was vulnerable to the alleged manipulati0n of Star, Dawson, and "others" because she was upset with Charles for doing sponsored content for Sugar Bear Hair Care, a competitor of Westbrook's Halo Beauty vitamin brand. Star, Westbrook said, was obsessed with talking about Charles' supposed indiscretions.

"Over the course of the next few weeks, he [Dawson] and Jeffree fed me so much information that I felt sick. Almost every day there was more information and new allegations," Westbrook said. "Eventually I believed what they were saying because they said they had evidence. By the time the drama around James Charles' promotion of Sugar Bear Hair reached its peak, I was beyond gaslit."

On Tuesday, Dawson live-streamed his reaction to Westbrook's video on Instagram, in addition to calling her version of events a "f---ing lie" on Twitter.

"You are so manipulative," Dawson said while watching Westbrook get emotional on camera. "You're fake crying. You are fake crying, that is not real. Oh my god."

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Tati Westbrook claims Shane Dawson offered to edit her 2019 video that set off a YouTube beauty war - Insider - INSIDER

By: Tech Desk | New Delhi | Updated: June 30, 2020 7:26:58 pm CamScanner is now banned in India.

CamScanner is a nice app to scan documents but it got banned in India along with other 58 apps from Chinese companies following the governments order. One of the popular apps on this list, TikTok, has been taken down from the Google Play and Apple App Store but CamScanner is still available at these stores. However, it could also follow suit considering it is now banned in the country.

If you are a user of the application, you will probably need a replacement. We have curated a list of CamScanner alternatives based on their efficiency and positive reviews they received on the app stores.

Adobe Scan comes to the mind first when you think about CamScanner alternatives. As the name suggests, the app is developed by Adobe and comes with loads of features, which is expected from a document management conglomerate like Adobe.

Developed Microsoft, the Microsoft Office Lens is another powerful CamScanner alternative. The application lets you scan all kinds of documents and export them to word or powerpoint directly. The app works even better for those who are already into Microsofts ecosystem.

The PhotoScan is developed by Google that not only lets you scan documents but comes quite handy if you want to scan printed photos and save them as digital copies. The PhotoScan is pretty good at creating digital photos from physical ones and does cropping work on its own.

Also read | Explained: How will the ban of TikTok and other Chinese apps be enforced; what will be the impact?

TapScanner is also a good alternative to the CamScanner app. The unique thing about this app is that it takes multiple photos to create a detailed scanned document. You can export the scanned copies in a number of formats and upload them to the cloud as well.

TurboScan lets you do almost all the work CamScanner is capable of. The application features auto edge detection, multiple scanning, and more features along with a sharpening mode that created better scanned copies.

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CamScanner banned in India: 5 alternative apps you can use - The Indian Express