EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio Some East Cleveland city leaders and residents have health and safety concerns about conditions at the East Cleveland city jail.

East Cleveland Councilwoman Juanita Gowdy is demanding the jail be closed and all inmates transferred to another facility in a neighboring city until more extensive repairs can be made.

Gowdy said she's concerned about inmates at the jail, and is also worried the jail is a legal liability for a city that has suffered millions in lawsuit settlements in recent years.

I am surprised and disgusted," Gowdy said. It should be shut down for remodeling and everything else. Nobody should be in there and I am very upset about it. The state already said close it down, so what they have to do is follow what the state says because the safety of the inmates matters.

Gowdy referenced a Jan. 30 inspection report from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections which revealed the jail was not in compliance with 66 separate standards.

The report outlined the jail failed to meet 38 essential standards and 28 standards that were deemed to be important.

The report revealed the jail "did not have a secure booking area," had "old non-functioning CCTV cameras still installed" and "didn't show the equipment necessary to maintain utilities, security and fire protection in an emergency which functioned properly."

East Cleveland community activist Justyn Anderson said the jail would have been shutdown if Cuyahoga County would have continued its effort to regionalize city jail operations, but that has now been put on hold.

I believe that the jail needs to be shutdown immediately, the state has recommended that they house no one in this jail," Anderson said. The residents need to rally and protest and do whatever they need to do to get this jail shutdown. Maybe they should talk with Cleveland Heights about housing the inmates in their jail. They were going to house the inmates in the Euclid jail, but the Euclid jail end up closing.

East Cleveland Police Chief Scott Gardner responded to News 5 and said the jail passed a Cuyahoga County health inspection on Sept. 2.

Gardner said many of the state violations have been corrected to the best of his department's ability, based on the current city budget.

"Many of them listed as deficient were not deficient at all; they were because we had a new jail administrator and were not familiar with uploading the necessary documentation in the State's web site," Gardner said,

In a follow-up statement, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections spokesperson JoEllen Smith acknowledged the effort being made by jail staff.

"The jail is continuing to be actively engaged in the corrective action process," Smith said. "When the process is complete, a final letter will be issued noting the progress."

Still, residents like Stephen Acy, who said he spent one night at the jail on a misdemeanor last month, believes more must be done.

I was placed in a holding cell that was full of blood and when I asked an officer when are they going to clean it up, I was told to mind my own business," Acy said. There are toilets backed up with feces that are flooding the cells and they still have inmate housed in these cells.

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East Cleveland leaders, residents want city jail closed over health and safety concerns - News 5 Cleveland

October is National Cybersecurity Awareness month, which is aimed at raising the publics awareness of the basic steps needed to stay safe online. Throughout the month, Better Business Bureau Northwest and Pacific will be releasing cybersafety tips and articles to help consumers and businesses stay vigilant.

Articles and a cybersecurity toolkit for small businesses and consumers can be found at http://www.BBB.org/BBBSecure and at http://www.bbb.org/cybersecurity.

BBB encourages online users to educate themselves about cybersecurity risks and offers the following tips to stay safe online:

Own your online presence. Set the privacy and security settings on websites to your comfort level for information sharing. Its OK to limit how and with whom you share information.

Get two steps ahead. Turn on two-step verification on accounts when available. This adds an extra layer of security to your account by requiring you to know more than just a password. This is typically a code that is sent to you after accessing your password-protected electronic device. This can also be a fingerprint or facial recognition.

Keep a clean machine. Technology companies such as Apple and Microsoft are constantly making safety updates. Keep all software on internet-connected devices including PCs, smartphones and tablets up to date to reduce risk of infection from malware.

Keep a lid on personal information. Information about your history or location has value. Think about who is seeing the information and how it is gathered by mobile apps or websites.

Think before you post. Take care when posting about yourself and others online. Consider who might see it and how it could be perceived now and in the future.

Better Business Bureau also has some tips for businesses to stay secure while operating in the online world:

Keep your email secure. Make sure that when you are creating passwords to use unique pass phrases and two-factor authentication. Do no use personal emails for company business, and instruct employees to not open suspicious content, even when they know the source. Also, make sure that your employees know how to use the spam filters on their company accounts when in doubt, throw it out.

Restrict your file sharing. As a business, you should restrict the locations where sensitive information can be saved or copied. Make sure to use file names that dont disclose the types of information that a file contains, and ensure that all your organizations computers are equipped with the latest antivirus software and antispyware.

Be careful using USB drives. When using them, be sure to scan them and disable the auto-run function that allows drives to automatically open when they are inserted into a drive. The best practice is to keep sensitive information off USB drives.

Secure those websites. While websites do have a certain amount of security, keeping these practices in mind will save you time, money and frustration. Use scan tools to test your security. Many of them are free. Make sure to use a separate Wi-Fi for guests and secure your internet connection by using a firewall, encrypting information and hiding your Wi-Fi network. Also, prevent direct access to uploading of files to your website and turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when not using your devices.Anyone who feels they may be a victim of a cybercrime should report it to local law enforcement and BBB Scam Tracker at bbb.org/scamtracker.

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BBB Tip of the Week: Emphasizing cybersecurity in October - The Spokesman-Review

New Delhi: A security researcher has found a vulnerability in the download feature of Facebook's Android app that could be exploited to launch remote code execution (RCE) attacks. The social networking giant awarded the researcher $10,000 for finding the bug.

Facebook's Android app uses two methods of downloading files from a group -- a built-in Android service called DownloadManager and a second method called Files Tab.

Security researcher Sayed Abdelhafiz discovered a path traversal flaw in the second method. "I discovered an ACE on Facebook for Android that can be triaged through a download file from group Files Tab without opening the file," he said in a post on Medium.

The vulnerability was in the second method. While security measures were implemented on the server side when uploading the files, it was easy to bypass those.

"First idea that came to my mind was to use path traversal to overwrite native libraries which will lead to executing arbitrary code," Abdelhafiz said. Abdelhafiz explained how the Files Tab flaw enabled the researcher to launch RCE attacks against a target device. The vulnerability in the Files Tab has now been fixed.

In June this year, Ahmedabad-based security researcher Bipin Jitiya won Rs 23.8 lakh ($31,500) from Facebook for identifying a bug in its social networking platform and a third-party business intelligence portal.

Jitiya, 26, identified the web security vulnerability in internal blind Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) in the source code of a publicly accessible endpoint, built using tools from MicroStrategy, that performed custom data collection and content generation.

MicroStrategy has partnered with Facebook on data analytics projects for several years. Jitiya reported the bug to the MicroStrategy's security team, who acknowledged it, saying the issue has been mitigated.

In May, a 27-year-old Indian security researcher Bhavuk Jain grabbed $100,000 (over Rs 75.5 lakh) from Apple for discovering a now-patched Zero Day vulnerability in the Sign in with Apple account authentication.

The Zero Day vulnerability could have allowed a hacker to break into an Apple user's account who log into third-party apps like Dropbox, Spotify, Airbnb and Giphy (now acquired by Facebook) and more.

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Facebook awards $10K for finding bug in its Android app - Free Press Journal

New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at a news conference on September 08, 2020 in New York City.

Spencer Platt | Getty Images

Six months after it was announced, the tech that Apple and Google built for sending Covid-19 exposure alerts to smartphones is finally gaining momentum in the United States.

New York and New Jersey both released Covid-19 alert apps this week, bringing the total to 10 states plus Guam that have published apps using technology from the Apple-Google partnership. Seventy million people, or 21% of the U.S. population, now have access to a Covid-19 app, according to a CNBC analysis using U.S. Census data.

More are coming soon, too. Five other states plus Washington, D.C., have announced plans to use the Apple-Google exposure notification system, and California and Arizona are currently testing apps in pilot programs.

If the system works properly, the apps will provide push alerts to any user who came in close contact with another app user who tested positive for the coronavirus. Users can also use the apps to alert everyone they were near that they tested positive without revealing their name or phone number.

For health bodies and governments, the apps could help slow the spread of the coronavirus by identifying people who might test positive that could be missed by other methods, such as contact tracing.

"It will not only help us do contact tracing but can also get people a sense of security and confidence," New York governor Andrew Cuomo said on Thursdayin a press conference announcing the app. "You know anxiety is very high, everybody is wondering, I was next to this person, I was next to this person, but this can actually give you some data and facts can help reduce anxiety and that is a good thing."

While Apple and Google createdprogramming tools called APIs that enabled these apps to run on most recent iPhones and Android phones, the tech giants are not publishing nor developing the apps themselves. That falls to governments and public health bodies, which have historically had limited funding to invest in new technology.

But the costs for developing these apps have finally come down, which is one reason why momentum is picking up.

Development on New York's app, Covid Alert NY, started in August, and it cost $700,000, a relatively low price that was able to be covered by federal funds and nonprofit groups including Bloomberg Philanthropy.

When Germany's Covid-19 app was released in June, the government said it cost 20 million euros to develop. Officials from England's NHS said in September that the total cost of its app was expected to top 35 million.

But American governments can take advantage of apps built in countries such as Ireland and Canada because the code for those apps is available online and free to use and has already been deployed to millions of people. Instead of building the apps from scratch, they merely have to customize an open-source app with specific local health information, graphics and languages, and don't have to reinvent complicated code for measuring Bluetooth signals or write privacy policies and other legal notices from scratch.

New York and New Jersey's apps are based on Covid Green, Ireland's app, which the government open-sourced in July. The apps for the two states and Pennsylvania were built by NearForm, the original developer of Ireland's app.

"What that does is gives people like in New York the confidence to go, 'Hey, this solution has been out there one of the longest, it's tried and tested, it's getting adoption levels, citizens seem to like it," said Larry Breen, chief commercial officer at NearForm. "You're not trying things for the first time. So people have typically gone before you on the fundamentals."

Covid Alert NY app

Source: Covid Alert NY ap

Another factor aiding momentum is the fact that U.S. apps are now finally able to talk to each other.

The U.S. does not have a national app strategy, unlike other countries, so the development of the apps falls to the state level.

One concern with early apps was that they would not be able to communicate with other exposure notification apps so, for instance, if someone with a Virginia app tested positive for Covid-19 and was close to someone with the North Carolina app, the system wouldn't be able to ascertain the connection, and the person with the North Carolina app wouldn't get a notification.

But the apps from New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Pennsylvania will all be able to exchange notifications, Cuomo said this week. Connecticut will also be supported when it's released.

This is possible because the Association for Public Health Laboratories set up a national key server in July, which gives the states the ability to all participate in a single system with different apps, instead of each state maintaining its own back end.

"This is really the key to interoperability in the United States at this point, because what that means is that anybody who reports themselves as positive, rather than uploading that set of keys to their own state, they're uploading it to the national key server," said Jenny Wanger, head of the Implementer's Forum at the Linux Foundation Public Health, a nonprofit that hosts the Covid Green code and provides assistance to agencies working on exposure notifications.

Now the apps face the biggest challenge yet: getting people to download and install them.

Ireland's app, which New York and New Jersey are based on, has an active user base of 1.3 million, or about 35% of the adult population. Virginia's app was the first to be released in the United States, and it was downloaded 460,000 times in its first month, amounting to 11% of the state's population with a smartphone, Gov. Ralph Northam said in September.

By way of comparison, New York's app had been downloaded approximately 250,000 times by Friday afternoon, a Cuomo spokesperson said. New Jersey's app had been downloaded more than 63,000 times on Friday, according to a tracker inside the app.

Some users may be repelled by privacy considerations, even though Apple and Google designed the system with privacy in mind.

Apps created with the technology don't collect or store any personal information such as the user's phone number or location.

Instead, every phone with a Covid alert app sends out Bluetooth Low Energy signals to detect if two people were close together for an extended period of time. Every day,each phone in the system downloads a list of anonymous tokens corresponding to positive tests, and compares them with tokens on the phone collected when the user was near another person for a certain period of time. For instance, New York's app marks an exposure when two people were within six feet for 10 minutes.

But those privacy provisions won't matter if people don't know about or believe in them.

The system is technical and difficult to explain briefly. Some people have advanced conspiracy theories about the software on social media based on the system's settings inside iPhone or Android software. Users who test positive also must enter a six-digit code to alert others, and governments can't force them to do so.

"If you don't have a really strong user awareness and public trust rollout strategy to go with it, your app is not going to see great success," Wanger said.

States such as Virginia have dealt with these problems by emphasizing the system's privacy in marketing and in-app explanations. New York's app in some areas replaces the accepted jargon for the system, "exposure notification," in favor of the more understandable "closeness sensing."

There's also considerable debate about the number of people in any given region who need to download the apps for the system to work.

A study earlier this year suggested that the number is 60%, but Apple and Google representatives as well as people working on the apps say the study was misinterpreted. The authors of the original studypresented research in September that an installation rate as low as 15% could help suppress Covid-19 if governments are also using traditional contact tracing. Under traditional systems, government health agencies phone everyone who tests positive and asks them to list people they were recently in contact with, then communicate directly with those contacts to tell them they might have been exposed.

Efficacy data on the apps are still being studied, and many regions have yet to publish stats about detected exposures, Wanger said. Still, places where the apps have been available are seeing them pick up potential cases.In Ireland, 1,382 users of the Covid Green app who have tested positive have input the code to alert close contacts, and 2,924 users have received alerts who might not otherwise have been identified, NearForm said.

The current list of states or regions with Covid-19 alert apps is below.

States or districts that have publicly announced plans to release an exposure notification app:

States currently testing the app with a limited population in pilot trials:

See the rest here:

States are finally starting to use the Covid-tracking tech Apple and Google built here's why - CNBC

Sequins at the ready as this years Strictly Come Dancing celebrity contestants show off their glamorous makeovers.

Here is a rundown of who will be putting their best foot forward on the dance floor and what theyre saying ahead of showing off their best moves:

Jacqui Smith

Labour politician Smith, 57, served as the MP for Redditch from 1997 until 2010 and was the first female home secretary.

She quit the Cabinet in 2009 after it emerged that adult films watched by her husband had been charged to the taxpayer.

Smith later took a backbench position but lost her seat in the 2010 election.

She is now chair of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and a Childrens Trust in Sandwell, and has a podcast, For The Many, with broadcaster Iain Dale.

Smith said of her Strictly makeover: Having tried to put on fake tan each summer and have it go all streaky, Im very much looking forward to a proper spray tan which Ive never had before.

Everybody knows that the wardrobe and make-up people on the Strictly team are absolutely fantastic, so having them look after me is going to be absolutely amazing.

HRVY

Harvey Leigh Cantwell, 21, follows in the footsteps of fellow YouTubers Joe Sugg and Saffron Barker in joining the show.

The former presenter of CBBCs Friday Download, HRVY was born in Kent and first rose to fame after uploading his music videos to Facebook.

He signed to Virgin EMI in 2017 and has supported Little Mix and shared the stage with Jonas Blue at Capital FMs Summertime Ball and Jingle Bell Ball.

HRVY also performed at BBC Radio 1s Big Weekend in 2019.

He has more than a billion combined streams to his name and a social media following of more than 10 million globally.

The social media star has been isolating for 10 days after testing positive for coronavirus.

He said of being glammed up: I might stay away from the fake tan but apparently all the boys say that and then by week four are like, I think I might need to be a bit bronzer! I think for now I dont mind, put me in anything, Im there for all the diamonds and dazzle! Im not scared.

Jamie Laing

Made In Chelsea star Laing is returning after having to pull out of last years series in the early stages due to an injury.

The reality TV star and entrepreneur has said he is doing Strictly again in the hopes of making his mum proud.

Off-screen, he has founded his own gourmet sweet company called Candy Kittens, and also hosts a podcast called Private Parts. He is dating his MIC co-star Sophie Habboo.

On being glammed up: Are you kidding me? Dress me up as a glitterball and give me so much fake tan, I cant wait. I want everything; its going to be unbelievable!

Maisie Smith

EastEnders actress Smith is best known for her role as Tiffany Butcher-Baker in the soap. She is no stranger to Strictly, having won the Children In Need Cha Cha in 2019 with professional dancer Kevin Clifton.

However, Smith said she has no technical dance ability and has been staying fit throughout lockdown by making TikTok videos.

She told ITVs This Morning: I did set out to stay fit throughout lockdown and it didnt pan out very well, but once I downloaded TikTok and me and my mum were getting involved, after every video we were in bits, we were sweating and that was good training for Strictly.

On the Strictly sequins and glitter: That is genuinely what I think Im most excited about being glammed up every single week! I remember when Emma (Barton) did it last year; I barely do scenes with her so when I do see her I just saw her as her character Honey.

So watching her every week, she just looked incredible and I cant wait for them to work that magic on me!

JJ Chalmers

Scottish TV presenter JJ Chalmers was the eighth celebrity confirmed for this years Strictly Come Dancing. He is a former Royal Marine and Invictus Games medallist.

Chalmers, 33, was injured in an IED explosion while serving in Afghanistan in 2011. He competed in the 2014 Invictus Games, where he captained the Trike Cycling team. He won one gold (as part of a trio) and two bronze medals.

His TV presenting roles include the Rio Paralympics, as well as the Invictus Games and other stints for BBC Sports.

On Strictly glamour, he said: You cant stand on the sidelines and feel self-conscious in this, because then youre missing the point. Youve got to fully embrace it.

Bill Bailey

The comedian and TV star has appeared on Black Books, Never Mind The Buzzcocks and QI.

The 55-year-old is also a classically trained musician and performed with the BBC Concert Orchestra in 2008 in Bill Baileys Remarkable Guide To The Orchestra.

However, he has joked that his dance skills are a little patchy.

On Strictly glamour and costumes, he said: Over the years, Ive worn all manner of costumes, either for stage, theatre or on TV shows.Ive dressed up as wizards, put spangly suits on, worn all manner of stuff, its all part of the process.

Nicola Adams

The Olympic gold medallist will take to the dance floor as part of the shows first same-sex pairing.

The 37-year-old nicknamed The Lioness retired with an undefeated record and held the WBO female flyweight title last year.

She also became the first openly LGBT person to win an Olympic boxing gold medal, after her triumph at the 2012 Games in London.

Her debut on the show marks the first time a same-sex couple has competed in Strictly.

Johannes Radebe and fellow professional Graziano di Prima made history when they performed together on the BBC show last year.

Adams is dating Ella Baig and has been praised as an LGBT role model.

She said of being Strictly-fied: Ill be out of my comfort zone but Im looking forward to it. I dont really wear too much glitter so its going to be different but exciting for me.

Ranvir Singh

The journalist and presenter has travelled on board the RAF Voyager with the Prime Minister and reported live as the Grenfell Tower fire unfolded.

She has also appeared on daytime TV shows Lorraine, This Morning and Loose Women as well as Good Morning Britain and ITV News.

Born and raised in Preston, Singh attended the University of Central Lancashire and spent 12 years at the BBC as a producer, reporter and presenter.

She co-presented BBC North West Tonight and in 2010 was awarded best on-screen talent at the Royal Television Societys North West Awards.

Singh said of being Strictly-fied: I just hope theyve got really, really, really strong support underwear thats all Im concerned about. As long as they can hold it all in and make me look as streamlined as is magically possible and Strictly is all about the magic then Ill be happy.

Im not even sure I need to breathe. As long as I can hold my breath for three minutes or however long the dance is have St John Ambulance on the sidelines for fainting through lack of oxygen!

Clara Amfo

The presenter and activist is best known for her show on BBC Radio 1, home of the Live Lounge, and her credits also include the Brit Awards and the BBCs coverage of Glastonbury.

Amfo is also a fixture on the judging panel for the Mercury Prize and a regular on the red carpet, hosting premieres for Sir Elton Johns Rocketman, The Crimes Of Grindelwald, Marvels Black Panther, and Disneys The Lion King.

She also appeared on the Activism Now cover of British Vogue, and is a contributing editor to Elle magazine.

In June, the London-born presenter, who has Ghanaian heritage, was praised for making an emotional speech during her Radio 1 show about the death of George Floyd, racism and its effect on her mental health.

Amfo said of Strictly glam: Im a late sequins fan! I only got into wearing sequins a few years ago. My mate is a designer and lent me this sequinned red dress and I was like, Oh, OK, right, I get it; I get what all the fuss is about. So Im definitely a sequin convert.

Caroline Quentin

One of the nations best-loved actresses, Quentin has 40 years of experience in showbusiness.

The 60-year-old found fame as Dorothy in 90s comedy Men Behaving Badly before starring in dramas including Jonathan Creek and crime series Blue Murder.

She has also fronted a number of documentaries and two series of The Worlds Most Extraordinary Homes for BBC Two.

Quentin, originally from Surrey, performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2019.

She was married to Have I Got News For You comic Paul Merton from 1990 until their divorce in 1998.

The same year she met her current husband, Sam Farmer, on the set of Men Behaving Badly, where he was a runner.

They married in 2005 and have two children.

She said of being Strictly-fied: Well, Im not quite sure what its going to entail. But I think some of it might be uncomfortable, some of it might be vaguely embarrassing, and some of it would just be delightful. As long as most of it is delightful, thats a win for me.

Jason Bell

Former American footballer and BBC pundit Bell, 42, finished his career playing for the New York Giants in 2007.

But the California-born sportsman will step into a different arena when he debuts on Strictly this year.

Bell played as a cornerback/safety for the Dallas Cowboys, before moving to the Houston Texans, where he won the Ed Block Courage Award, one of the leagues highest honours.

Alongside fellow NFL alumni Osi Umenyiora, he presents The NFL Show on the BBC and The Jason & Osi Podcast.

Bell had a daughter, Anaiya, with Girls Aloud star Nadine Coyle in 2014 but they later split after an 11-year relationship.

On Strictlys sequins and glitter: Ive been wearing tight uniforms my whole life! Ive been putting face paint on to block the sun and all kinds of stuff. Im ready for it. Its going to be fun. The show has the greatest stylist and costume designers in the country, you just got to let them do their thing.

Max George

Manchester-raised George, 31, started out as a footballer for Preston North End but, after an injury ended his sporting career, he decided to pursue music.

He found fame as a member of pop group The Wanted, who scored two number one singles in the UK before going on indefinite hiatus in 2014.

George, who has dated actress Michelle Keegan, moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting, appearing in the sixth season of Glee as Clint, before returning to the spotlight as a solo musician.

He follows in the footsteps of former bandmate Jay McGuiness, who won Strictly in 2015 with professional partner Aliona Vilani.

He said of being given a Strictly makeover: Great, lets go for it! Its all part of the show, you might as well embrace it.

Strictly Come Dancing returns to BBC One for the launch show on October 17.

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Strictly Come Dancing 2020: See all the celebrities glammed up - Aberdeen Evening Express

The Google Pixel line pushed the limits of what a phones camera could do, but the Pixel 5 looks like just a refinement, not a leap forward. The rumored specs for the iPhone 12 are similarly boring, particularly for regular photography. Is this setting the stage for real cameras to rise like a phoenix?

Apple, Google, and Samsung have started to run into the hard challenges of physics. For a sensor and lens combo that can realistically fit into a phone, you can only gather a certain amount of light. Sure, Sonys IMX363 is an impressive bit of semiconductor engineering, cramming 12 megapixels onto a 1/2.55 sensor. The stacking and backside illumination have further boosted its performance, but its telling that this sensor is a couple years old and still being used for devices nothing better has really come along.

Now, the spin on this sensor reuse is that its allowed the software engineers to refine the algorithms that power all the cameras computational imagery tricks, but I think thats an implicit acknowledgment of the actual issue, that software improvements have to be relied on over hardware. Dont get me wrong, the software that powers smart HDR functions and things like Night Sight/Night Mode is incredibly impressive, but as everyone knows, you cant always save a photo via Photoshop.

A parallel can be drawn to another area of the semiconductor industry, processors, where clock speeds and IPC gains generation over generation have diminished. In the case of processors, some incredible work by TSMC has breathed life back into the space via AMDs Ryzen line. Before that point, however, it was thought that better written, more readily parallelized software would be left to pick up the flag of Moores law.

This reliance on software to pick up the slack of hardware has been the same trend shaping the last year or two of camera phones. To my mind, the addition of a quality ultra-wide angle lens has been the last significant hardware change in cellphone cameras. The periscope telephoto options are of very limited use and quality, while the 3D/Lidar rumors seem to be AR, not photography focused. For a very unscientific example, find a non-photographer friend with a veteran Instagram presence: those grainy, yellow tinged photos from 2012 are a far cry from what youd get in 2016, while 2016 to 2020 is a much smaller improvement.

Bringing it back to cameras and photographers, consider how many more people have been inspired to get into photography via the accessibility of Instagram and camera phones. The number of photos taken in a year varies by source, but most put it in the trillions, a huge increase from just a few years ago. All of this has been happening at the same time that camera sales have cratered.

Theres a myriad of reasons why people would prefer to shoot with their cell phone over a compact, mirrorless, or DSLR camera, and for many of those reasons, a phone will still remain the best option. For even a small percentage of that population of new photographers, however, they might want more from their hobby. Whether its more resolution, more editing potential, more lens options, real depth of field control, or something else, its likely that only a real camera will offer it.

Whether or not camera companies are actually poised to capture (or is it recapture?) this market is an open question. If youre used to the shoot and share convenience of a phone, shooting, pulling a memory card, importing it into software, exporting it back to your phone, and finally uploading to IG can seem archaic. Tighter integration with computers, editing software, and the ubiquitous phone wouldnt just benefit those picking up a camera for the first time, but also existing photographers.

The old guard of the camera industry also faces challenges in getting the marketing pitch fine-tuned and in front of the potential customer. Consider the buzz thatll be generated by the upcoming iPhone announcement. Watch the immediate connection even an inexperienced photographers can draw between the new features and their photos, as can be seen in that keynote announcing the iPhone 11.

Im not saying it has to be a trendy SV presser, nor have the polish of a trillion-dollar company renowned for their marketing, but they can definitely do better than what theyve been doing. Take this quote from Nikons Z 5 announcement, a full frame mirrorless camera that would be perfect for a burgeoning influencer to step up their Instagram game with:

The Z 5 is a full frame mirrorless camera basic model that inherits the superior power of expression and reliability of the Nikon Z 7 and Z 6, while also balancing high-cost performance. It enables the rich expression of a wide variety of scenes, with an FX-format sensor capable of superior image quality and rendering capabilities in dark or dimly lit situations, and support for NIKKOR Z lenses that allows users to take advantage of beautiful blur characteristics (bokeh) to achieve a three-dimensional appearance with their imaging.

Is that going to make sense to anyone who isnt already well versed in photography (and even Nikons existing camera lineup)? Its a further five paragraphs before you even reach the singular line about Snapbridge, a potentially key feature for photographers tied to their phones.

It's not just Nikon either. The last focused marketing message for a camera in my mind would be something like the video of the 5D MarkII or the ISO supremacy of the D3. What contemporary camera marketing seems to lack is a clear picture of what problem their product actually solves. "This is a cheaper model of another camera we make"isn't going to connect in the same way that this camera deliversmore creative possibilities with our 100+ compatible Nikkor lenses ranging from fisheyes to sideline-ready telephotoscould.

Phone sales arent going anywhere. Analysts figure that the 5G rollout could spur a huge cycle of upgrades, while the prevailing pandemic conditions have really dampened the boyfriend holding girlfriends hand on a beach Instagram market. Instead, what this period should be is a final wakeup call for camera companies. As things return to normal, they have the opportunity to refine their message and reach a market segment thats looking for something more than their increasingly stale camera phone. This wont just happen by chance, though. Camera manufacturers need to make a deliberate effort to appeal to them, to potentially change up everything from their marketingto their software and hardware design considerations.

I, like many photographers, started out with just a compact camera. As my passion for the hobby grew, I found that I was running into the technical limits of my gear and upgraded from there. I believe the same opportunity exists for this massive group of photographers who got started with their iPhone, Galaxy, or Pixel;camera companies just have to seize it.

Lead image courtesy of Devano23 and Nate_Dumlao

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Phone Cameras Are Stagnant: Is This Good News for Real Cameras? - Fstoppers

After two years of its launch, IGTV, the long video form platform on Instagram is still having significant popularity, it is still seeing more usage from people as they look for entertaining, funny, and informing videos to watch every day.

A year ago, Instagram has added IGTV to the main page that increased the usage of IGTV by 300%! However, this year, it updated the previews of its Stories, with integration in its main application to increase the viewers number.

It might not be competing with YouTube until now. However, IGTV is gradually establishing its own niche, which has created a more attractive option for viewers and creators.

Thus, that makes it more of a relevant option for brands too.

If you are thinking about using IGTV, then, this article is perfect for you, here is a full guide and the main information you have to know to create a great IGTV content.

Most of IGTV videos are viewed in a vertical feed, like Instagram Stories. So, you have to align your IGTV content with the viewers behavior as users get in your IGTV automatically when they start playing any video on the platform.

When you upload your video, you can add a cover photo, sounds, or cut the video. Also, you have to edit your video BEFORE uploading and its a very important step you have to not miss.

The first and main thing is to make sure your video is less than 650MB max for videos less than ten minutes, and 3.6GB max for videos less than an hour.

All videos have to be in MP4 format, and the dimensions have to be 10801920 pixels or in the ratio format 9:16 which is the same as Stories.

These dimensions are great if you are uploading your videos on the IGTV platform, yet when you upload it in your feed, remember to cut the video to be 4:5 ratio. So, if you want to show the full video in your IGTV preview, check out the image below the dimensions you have to use:

To start a channel on IGTV, first, you have to download the IGTV application and login with your Instagrams username and password to sync the app to your account. Then, upload your video, watch, share, and enjoy! Its very easy and simple.

Now, Instagram permits to upload IGTV by desktop and you have the same features of the app. However, with the comfort of the desktop. Keep in mind, this is allowed if only you have uploaded at least one video on IGTV before, if not, you have to use the application itself at least once.

If you have uploaded a video already before, go to your account on the desktop, click IGTV, and you can see a blue Upload in the options.

Apply these practices in order to increase your reach

The cover image is the first thing that will grab users attention to your video while they are scrolling down on IGTV. If the image is catchy, they will open the video instantly.

Your video would look unprofessional without the cover image, and users will have to read your description to know what is the content about, which is less likely to happen. Make it easier for users to click and watch your IGTV with an attractive cover image.

Posting regularly is a tip that will be forever important. The more content you upload, the more people will watch, engage, and share regularly.

IGTV is just like YouTube, they will show you content that you are more likely to like, from the previous engagement with other posts. Also, it motivates you to see new ideas and structures to maximize your views. So, it doesnt matter how perfect your videos are if no one will watch it anyway.

Add text to your video so you can increase viewer numbers, and you have to add on screen texts too.

Canva is a good tool to create IGTV videos and Instagram stories and its super easy to use. You can also just choose one of thousands templates to create your cover from a to z!

Adobe Premiere Pro is perfect for editing videos. You just add your IGTV dimensions, music, text, and export your videos to the size you want. Its super easy even if you dont have an experience with video editing.

Wave is similar to Canva, but for video editing. Upload your file, edit it, and create your IGTV video in a few minutes. Also, you can keep your videos more organized, and use them again.

If you want a fast application for video editing, Inshot is the perfect choice. You can add music to your videos, resize them, and download them in high quality as well. The application is available on both Android and iOS stores.

Snappa is an online tool that makes you able to store, create, edit, and share Instagram graphics. If you want a platform that can do everything, you have to consider Snappa and give it a chance.

To create content for your IGTV does not necessarily be a regular problem. Basically, if you created these 5 IGTV ideas as a start, you are going to strike gold, for sure.

The post The Complete Guide to IGTV Dimensions, Best Practices, and Creation Apps first appeared on Digital Market News.

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The Complete Guide to IGTV Dimensions, Best Practices, and Creation Apps - Armenian Reporter

Launched in 2004 by a group of filmmakers, Vimeo is an online video streaming and editing site built with artists and creatives in mind. Whether you're a certified auteur or just starting to dip your toes in the content creation realm, Vimeo has something to offer everyone one.

Around 80 million users and nearly 1 million paying subscribers can upload, host, and share their original and custom video content daily. With a sleek and artsy front-facing aesthetic, Vimeo focuses on customizing the video editing and sharing experience, unlike any of its competitors.

The video platform offers multiple storage, management, post-production, collaboration, marketing, and monetization tools. Users can upload their content from any device or even a cloud storage platform, password-protect videos, make bulk changes to embed settings and licensing, exchange time-coded notes, select custom end screens, determine domain and geo-restrictions, and more. Viewers can use the player's speed controls, download content, or watch it in 4K Ultra HD.

The kind of features you and your viewers have access to depends on your membership level.

For those who are new to Vimeo, here's a rundown of the platform's perks by tier, from the ones available to all using their "freemium" model to their exclusive offerings for paid subscribers.

If you're not yet a serious content creator, Vimeo Free is probably your best bet.

Despite its more limited offerings, you're given 500 MB of storage per week toward uploading videos. Basic members can also make their uploads password-protected a feature YouTube doesn't grant.

At just $7 a month, you're allocated more weekly storage, capped at 5 GB storage per week. Unlike the free plan, Plus members are also granted unlimited bandwidth in the Vimeo player, 4K & HDR support, and no ads on your video. You're also given the ability to embed your videos anywhere and customize the player's elements and your video's end screen.

Vimeo lets you know the day and time your weekly upload limit resets by hovering your cursor in your screen's bottom-left corner, over the "i" symbol. Melanie Weir/Business Insider

Additional privacy offerings include private link sharing and video file transfer permission, which lets you and your collaborators privately and securely share and download your videos at various video qualities. If you want to share your videos natively across social platforms, Plus members can do that on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Pinterest. You can also embed your videos as a single playlist on your website.

This tier also gives you access to an analytics dashboard where you can see how people play, like, reshare, and post your video, in addition to receiving custom reports on those social sharing stats.

Rounding out the options designed to be used by individuals is Vimeo Pro. Although the service will run you $20 a month, your viewers will thank you you get to present the pristine-quality video to your audience.

This tier includes all the features and tools of Vimeo Plus, with even more helpful tools and features. At this tier, you can create and publish unlimited videos up to 20 GB per week, also with no caps on bandwidth. It also comes with unlimited access to stock photos, videos, and licensed music. When it comes to video customization, you can add your logo and video chapters to your page, offer playback speed control for viewers and get third-party player support.

Some of Vimeo Pro's most significant advantages lie in its collaboration options. Not only can you host private team projects, but have up to three team members upload, manage, and collaborate directly through your account, with you setting their various levels of permission. Review and approval tools let you privately share your work review pages, get time-coded feedback, track approvals, and keep old versions organized.

Those looking for more analytics support are in luck, as the Pro tier offers engagement and duration grapes to track how your videos perform over time. You can also see their location, what devices they're watching on, and how they find your content.

A few other upgrades include selling your videos directly to fans worldwide and distributing your video on streaming apps like Roku and Amazon Fire.

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What Is Vimeo? A guide to the platform's tiers and features - Business Insider - Business Insider

This weeks update includes information about mental health resources, spring planning, registration and withdrawal dates, testing, and student conduct. Visit the Universitys Coronavirus website for the most up-to-date information and guidance. Questions can be emailed to coronavirus@ilstu.edu.

In August, the CDC released a study confirming that young adults, racial and ethnic minorities, essential workers, and unpaid caregivers for adults reported having experienced disproportionately worse mental health outcomes in association with COVID-19.

Director of Student Counseling Services Sandy Colbs reminded students that mental health resources are available to them through Student Counseling Services. Thinking about our students well-being means thinking about mental as well as physical health, said Colbs. I urge students experiencing anxiety or other mental health challenges to take part in programs, counseling, and initiatives. We are here for you.

Some resources include:

It is normal to feel overwhelmed by the many impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, which has created additional stress for many people and their families. In addition to resources specifically for students, there is a wealth of information on the Student Counseling Services website regarding approaches that can assist anyone with finding new, creative, and effective coping resources. In addition, Human Resources provides a variety of resources specifically for employees such as those provided through CMS/Magellan and information provided on the Redbirds Keep Thriving Faculty/Staff website.

Spring Planning

Provost Aondover Tarhule said, There is much anticipation for decisions about spring 2021, which is understandable. Planning for the spring term is progressing. A team of faculty and staff have been charged with exploring a variety of topics related to spring such as, but not limited to, virtual instruction and the spring academic calendar. In addition, a survey will be sent to gather feedback from students, faculty, and staff about the options under consideration.

Registration and Withdrawal Dates

Registration for winter and spring semester will open October 19. This is a week later than usual in order to give students more time to meet with their advisors. Registration appointments will be posted inMy.IllinoisState.eduon October 1. Keep in mind that the modality of each course has not been finalized. Changes may be made based on the number of positive on-campus cases, testing, and public health guidance. The date to withdraw (WX) from a course and the University has been extended to October 6 for first half semester courses, November 20 for full semester courses, and December 1 for second half semester courses.

Testing

The University will soon require testing of students living in on-campus housing. More information will be provided to residential students as the process is finalized in the coming days. Currently, about 30 percent of students living in on-campus housing have participated in on-campus testing. The University has the capacity to expand testing in this way as the number of tests conducted at on-campus testing sites have decreased in the last week after higher than anticipated numbers of tests were completed in the first weeks of the semester. Expanding the Universitys ability to test and requiring students to test has always been part of our testing plan, said Professor of Chemistry and University Testing Coordinator John Baur. We faced some logistical challenges as a result of last-minute changes beyond our control to our testing program, but we are in a good position to move forward with requiring testing of various student groups, such as on-campus students, in the very near future.

Plans to put in place saliva-based testing developed by the University of Illinois are also moving forward. We are very fortunate to be in a city with a university, that has a lot of the resources needed by the U of I sites, such as labs and research capabilities, said Vice President for Finance and Planning Dan Stephens, who is working on agreements with the U of I.

Asymptomatic testing for students provided by Reditus Laboratories continues at two on-campus testing sites, currently located in the Brown Ballroom in the Bone Student Center and the former fire station at 602 N. Adelaide St., from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Students experiencing symptoms should call Student Health Services at (309) 438-7676 for an initial screening and to make an appointment to be tested.

Testing is also available for students, faculty, and staff at the Interstate Center testing site. Students testing at this site should share positive test results with Student Health Services by uploading them to the Secure Patient Health Portal. Sharing test results will ensure students have proper documentation for classes, housing, and/or employment.

See more about testing and testing results in the September 10 update.

Student Conduct

In the wake of an incident last week that reportedly drew students to off-campus gatherings in violation of Town of Normal ordinances, Illinois State Universitys Vice President for Student Affairs Levester Johnson reported nearly 100 students have been issued letters of possible Student Code of Conduct violations. We have received information from students and other community members specifically about people who allegedly were involved in that incident, said Johnson. We have worked with the Normal Police Department and the Illinois State University Police Department in this investigation. We appreciate the collaborative approach between the Town and the University in addressing this issue. Johnson said repercussions for those found responsible could range from educational training to suspension.

Johnson stated no names of students will be released as that would be a violation of privacy laws.

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Weekly Update, September 17: Mental health resources, spring planning, registration and withdrawal dates, testing, and student conduct - Illinois...

The Paycheck Protection Program's forgiveness portal has debuted, leaving bankers and their borrowers with a big decision.

Those who participated in the $659 billion program must determine if they are ready right now to navigate the complex system for having loans forgiven, or if it makes sense to wait and see if Congress intervenes and simplifies the process. That decision was complicated over the weekend when talks about a new round of stimulus collapsed, casting doubt on when or if PPP will get an overhaul.

A number of banks, including JPMorgan Chase, the program's biggest participant with $29.2 billion in PPP originations, plan to hold off on processing applications. The $3.2 trillion-asset banking giant will start the forgiveness process next month, said Kimberly Hooks, a vice president at Chase Business Banking.

JPMorgan Chase is backing a push for automatic forgiveness as it would help thousands of small business owners get back on their feet, Hooks added.

Holtmeyer & Monson in Memphis, Tenn., is taking a similar wait-and-see approach with the 12,000 PPP loans it is servicing for 450 banks.

We had hoped today to actively start taking applications, but we made the decision to hold off, said Arne Monson, the firms president and a co-founder. Were hoping like hell we get automatic forgiveness for loans of $150,000 and below, and maybe a streamlined [process] for those up to $2 million.

An SBA spokeswoman confirmed Monday that the agency's platform began accepting forgiveness applications on schedule, though she did not provide any statistics on opening-day activity.

The SBA stopped accepting applications for new Paycheck Protection loans on Saturday, after Congress failed to extend the programs operating authority. Lawmakers are considering a number of proposals for a revived PPP, including increased funding and letting the hardest-hit small businesses obtain a second loan.

Lenders' willingness to procrastinate, even if it means delaying resolution of billions of dollars in loans, comes as little surprise to many industry observers.

The SBA approved about 5.2 million PPP loans for more than $525 billion before the portal's closure. The program offers low-interest loans to small businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Funds spent on basic operating expenses are eligible for forgiveness, making the program even more attractive to struggling entrepreneurs, but the process has been rocky, characterized by delays and unclear guidance.

The forgiveness process has been stressful for borrowers and lenders.

The SBA did not release a forgiveness application until mid-May, nearly six weeks after it began approving loans. A month later, following criticism that the original 11-page application was too long and complex, the agency released a streamlined form for self-employed borrowers and those that did not reduce employees wages by more than 25%.

Before July 23, when it released news of the forgiveness platform, the SBA had never indicated where lenders could submit their applications.

Confusion surrounding the process prompted bankers' groups to lobby for blanket or automatic forgiveness for smaller loans. Lawmakers are considering several bills to that effect.

At the same time, a growing number of lenders have opted to bypass the issue by selling their PPP portfolios.

Others, like Holtmeyer & Monson and the $19.8 billion-asset Atlantic Union Bankshares in Richmond, Va., opted to largely outsource the forgiveness process. Monson said his firm turned to a team of certified public accountants in Boston for help answering clients questions; it contracted with Summit Technology Consulting Group in Mechanicsburg, Pa., to package applications for submission.

The arrangement offers our clients a Cadillac solution, Monson said.

Not every bank is waiting for Congress to act on forgiveness.

The $2.2 billion-asset First Choice Bancorp in San Diego opened its online forgiveness portal to borrowers on July 2 and plans to begin uploading applications to SBA in the near future, said Lorraine Lee, its chief strategy officer.

First Choice, which approved nearly 1900 loans totaling $400 million, is definitely submitting forgiveness applications right away, President and CEO Robert Franko added. We want to provide peace of mind to our clients who have their information ready to submit.

For another community bank, the $1.7 billion-asset Greene County Bancorp in Catskill, N.Y., there are no one-size-fits-all forgiveness solutions. The company is ready to split the difference between submitting and holding on to its Paycheck Protection loans.

Greene County, which made more than 1,260 PPP loans for $100 million, believes many of those deals are ready for forgiveness right away. In some cases, however, it may make more sense for some of our clients to wait for further announcements, said Sean DuBois, vice president commercial lending and business development.

Read more from the original source:

Why banks are putting PPP forgiveness on the back burner - American Banker

Commentary: Of all the things I haven't expected in my life, I didn't expect that I'd need to retake second grade. But, thanks to COVID-19, here we are. Here are many of us, back to thinking we escaped worksheets and algebra, only to be pulled back in like an old and tired Michael Corleone in his kitchen.

I remember my first go-around with the second grade, almost 30 years ago. I remember friends. I remember first crushes. I remember being exasperated with the amount of busy work that we did, culminating in a refusal to partake in making a hand-shaped cardboard turkey. The thought still peeves me.

In March, when the bottom dropped out of schooling for my daughter, we made do with her morning Zoom calls. She used my home office, seeing her familiar classmates in small little rectangles on a screen, and came out looking a little dejected. Fall will be better, I assured her. I suspected in May that wouldn't be the case and stopped saying that.

Honestly, I had been slightly ignoring the start date of school creeping up, but about three weeks ago, I received a phone call that I let go to voicemail as I worked. It turned out there was a spot open in a school to which we applied for our daughter during the Before Times. The school had held a lottery back in March. Did we still want her to attend?

I quickly consulted with my husband. Yes, we did. "Great, they said; we're in our second week of classes, so let me send you the teacher email, her new logins, and you'll get codes for getting online." OK, then. Suddenly, all the schooling was in our laps.

Yet, there wasn't just one online system. It wasn't just Zoom and uploading shots of worksheets to a mobile app previously used for reminding me about the monthly school calendar. It was two completely different systems used congruently, one for assignment management and one for doing the assignments sometimes. I think. I still haven't figured that out completely.

With my work, there was a combination of slowly digging out of the quarantine depression and someone else's retirement that hefted more responsibility on my shoulders. I started making a dedicated To Do list to wrap my mind around everything.

On the same day, I got another call offering my son a spot in pre-K. Did we want it? Both schools had already extended their in-person start dates and assured us that if we didn't feel comfortable and we wanted to stay in remote learning for a while longer, our kids wouldn't lose their spots. Deep breaths for me. Yes, we can figure this all out; I can figure this all out. If quarantine toxic positivity Instagram posts tell me anything, it's all about To Do lists. Maybe color-coded ones would be needed.

The following week, after a few emails back and forth with my daughter's new second grade teacher in which we promised we'd catch up and set up a learning area complete with U.S. and state flags, I received very polite emails from another teacher, her coach. My daughter had missing assignments. Were we registered with her online class system?

It might have been the 30 years I don't know. But in a flood of horror, I did more scrolling. She didn't just have one second grade teacher; she had an art teacher, a music teacher and a coach. All with worksheets or activities. All of whom skipped between online programs where we uploaded material, watched videos and uploaded work. And the Zoom links and groups kept coming, none of which my kiddo can do alone.

I came out of my office and put my head down on the kitchen table for a few minutes. More deep breathing. More pushing away the word anxiety mantra of how this was "unsustainable."

Check on your friends with Zoom-age kids. They're not going to be OK soon. They're starting to be knee-deep in an unsustainable lifestyle, complete with one or more eye-rolling mini co-workers stealing their computer and snacks. There are no water coolers for gossip. There are no happy hours. There will, however, be plenty of To Do lists with the hope that we can pull it off as we are pulled back in.

Cassie McClure is a writer, wife/mama/daughter, fan of the Oxford comma, and drinker of tequila. Some of those things relate. She can be contacted at cassie@mcclurepublications.com. To find out more about Cassie McClure and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at http://www.creators.com.

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Making A List And Checking It Twice - KRWG

Jadavpur University will decide on how to send study materials and class notes to students in the coming semester during this pandemic situation, keeping in mind that many of them do not have smartphones, a senior official said on Thursday.

The university will certainly do something to bridge the digital divide, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof Chiranjib Bhattacharya said.

Jadavpur University Teachers Association recently urged the institute authorities to reach out to students who cannot afford smartphones and hence will be deprived of study materials if online classes are taken in the coming semester, JUTA General Secretary Partha Pratim Roy said.

JUTA also submitted a proposal of holding classes through phone calls where a student will interact with the teacher over the phone at a particular time, Roy said, adding that modalities to implement this can be chalked out in consultation with every stakeholder.

We will certainly arrive at a decision in the best interest of students but within our financial ability, Bhattacharya told PTI.

Asked about the possibility of the university arranging smartphones for students not having one due to financial reasons, Bhattacharya said, There are issues like arranging funds for this. We also need to know the number of such students. The pro-VC said that the varsity had not done any survey concerning the number of students not having smartphones, while student unions of arts, science and engineering faculties have carried out a fact check on their own.

We have asked the student unions to share with us the details. We will hold a meeting by next week to discuss these issues and how to make class lectures and other academic activities accessible to the students, he said.

Another varsity teacher said that as per the survey done by students unions, around three per cent of the students in engineering and science faculties do not possess any smartphone.

The figure is higher in the arts stream in which many students hail from remote areas of the state, the teacher said.

Bhattacharya said that the university is also positive about JUTAs proposal for uploading audio or video of teachers lectures in the JU portal which can be downloaded by students of the department concerned.

However, this too will not help students with no internet connection, he said.

Roy said that they had also suggested that the university could make an arrangement with a company so that students can get quality handsets. The varsity could fund the project partly or fully with the help of any grant.

On this, the pro-VC said that there are lots of financial issues involved and We cant take a decision on this in a hurry. Vice-Chancellor Prof Suranjan Das had earlier pointed out that online classes do not reach a sizable section of students as they do not have internet connections.

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Jadavpur University says it will do something to reach out to students with no smartphone - Hindustan Times

This Augustnormally a bountiful month in which tomatoes ripen on the vine, hydrangea bushes sag with extravagant blooms, and the sunsets can be nearly psychedelicI have found it difficult to hold on to a good feeling. For a lot of Americans, this particular summer has been a season of fear and concernor, at best, a kind of endless, anxious boredom. But one small, pure, reliable pleasure remains: the giddiness of hearing a completely awesome song for the very first time.

For almost a year, Tim and Fred Williams, twenty-one-year-old twins from Gary, Indiana, have made videos of themselves listening to famous songs, and then uploading the videos to their YouTube channel. They sit in elaborate, side-by-side desk chairs, situated in front of a sometimes-unmade bed. Posters of the rapper Tupac Shakur and the boxer Deontay Wilder are taped to a wood-panelled wall behind them. Most of the songs that they choose to play have been suggested by subscribers, and they range from very recent hits to genuine oldies. When I was a teen-ager, certain songs were simply inescapablethey were played endlessly on the radio, or at the mall, or on boom boxes at the community poolbut now listening has become a far more individual and bespoke experience. Its not unusual for a young person never to have heard a hit that people in their thirties or forties might believe to be ubiquitous. (Earlier this summer, a TikTok video of two young women unable to identify pop singles, mostly from the late nineteen-nineties and early two-thousands, caused a brief explosion of consternation and pearl-clutching on Twitter.)

For me, the twins videos are bewitching for many reasons: their sweetness and good humor, the way they quickly recontextualize (and thereby reinvigorate) songs that I have heard thousands of times, andperhaps most importanttheir curiosity and receptivity. These days, voices loudly espousing some self-declared expertise far outweigh the ones saying, Hey, teach me something. The way that the twins remain so open to unfamiliar experiences (they came of age listening to Lil Wayne and Twista but appear genuinely interested in all kinds of music) seems like a rare gift. Graciously and eagerly receiving a recommendation is often a far more generous act than giving one.

Even when the Williams twins do not seem especially worked up about a track, they listen carefully, with a kind of openhearted earnestness. They recently cued up the country singer Blake Sheltons Happy Anywhere, a love song featuring backing vocals from his girlfriend, Gwen Stefani. Part of the songs video appears to have been filmed in a cornfield on Sheltons ranch in Oklahoma, where the couple have been isolating. Tim pauses the video. Grass is really that big? he asks, incredulous. Its as tall as them! Hold up! And hes, like, six-somethingbro, you would not see me in a cornfield. For real, bro. Usually, by the end, they agree that whatever track they have been listening to is pretty great.

In mid-June, they tried Dolly Partons Jolene. Tim has the kind of face that collapses fully into happiness, like a babys expression after he successfully knocks down a tower of wooden blocks. He pauses the song halfway through. Dollyyou got it. You got it! he announces. This is a banger. He and Fred resume the video. By the end, Fred has grown quiet and vaguely melancholy. Dont take her man, man, he says. There is a whisper of Beavis and Butt-Head in the twins videos, but instead of a knee-jerk cynicism and a deep fear of excitementthe exaltation of apathy was a cornerstone of the nineties gestaltthe twins seem eager to be thrilled by something new.

Which is all to sayif you are feeling especially bummed or burned out, fully exhausted by the contents of your home or your own mind, take a moment to watch the twins listen to Phil Collinss In the Air Tonight, from 1981. (Its their most popular video to date, and on Friday it briefly caused Phil Collins to start trending on Twitter.) If you know the song, you know to wait for the very loud and excellent drum fill that arrives, unexpectedly, a little over three minutes in. (We were playing with psychological things. The audience is there going along with you, and then suddenly you knock them on the head with this thing: Bvoom-bvoom! Collins said in a recent interview.) The drum fill on In the Air Tonight is one of the most dependable thrills I knowa very quick path to a certain kind of heady, metaphysical elation. I wish that I had a video of the first time I heard itwhat my face did, whether I made a noise. Connecting instantaneously with a piece of music can feel like happening upon a different world. The twins like the song almost immediately. Yeah, they say, bobbing their heads. O.K.

Phil Collins, hes killing it, Fred declares. They each periodically pound their hearts, as if to reiterate, I feel this.

Eventually, the drum fill arrives. It takes a moment for Tim to process it. He gasps as if hes seen a ghost and then rolls back in his chair. Freds response is more understated, but not by much. Now theyre deep in the pocket, dancing, exhilarated, happy. They pause the clip to gather their thoughts.

That was cold! I aint gonna lie, Philyou got me on that, Tim says, laughing.

I have never seen anybody drop a beat three minutes into the song, Fred adds. Thats unique!

I have rewound this particular sequence many times, simply to revel in its hope. What if there is a song you have never heard before that could still topple you? Maybe its out there, waiting, the twins suggestjust keep listening.

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The Addictive Joy of Watching Someone Listen to Phil Collins - The New Yorker

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The use of hybrid cloud environments for office productivity, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), and other business applications is no longer an exception increasingly it is becoming the rule. Yet, until recently, hybrid cloud backup and recovery had remained an outlier in the movement to hybrid cloud environments. But were on the cusp of it becoming mainstream.

Hybrid clouds have popped up all over the place, and are no longer anomalies in enterprise IT environments. For example, according to Flexeras recent State of the Cloud 2020 report, 87% of enterprises today have a hybrid cloud strategy.

Companies are embracing hybrid cloud environments because they offer the best of both worlds for their business applications. They offer the scalability, flexibility, and ease-of-management of the cloud, as well as the regulation of on-premises infrastructure for workloads that require high performance or control that cloud services have difficulty delivering.

With hybrid cloud environments companies can choose to use on-premises infrastructure or a cloud service for a workload, allowing them to select the one that will provide them with the best possible outcome for the workload at a given time, while offering them the opportunity of switching to the other if their business needs change.

(a-image/Shutterstock)

But the focus on hybrid cloud environments hasnt extended to the backup and recovery realm. Understandably so before adopting a hybrid cloud approach to backup and recovery, companies wanted to be convinced that the cloud had matured to the point where it could be trusted as much as an on-premises infrastructure to protect their organizations most critical data.

However, with even the U.S. Department of Defense signing a $10 billion contract with Microsoft to move many of its applications to the cloud, it is safe to say the cloud has now matured to the point where hybrid cloud environments can be trusted for the backup and recovery of most, if not all, enterprise data.

Still, two key questions remain for companies as they begin to evaluate hybrid cloud backup and recovery solutions:

1) What tangible, real-world benefits will my organization realize from a hybrid cloud approach to backup and recovery; and

2) How can I implement a smart, unified hybrid cloud backup and recovery strategy that maximizes these benefits?

A hybrid cloud approach, though, still provides companies with the ability to use on-premises infrastructure for workloads where it has advantages over cloud services.

For example, restoring data from on-premises infrastructure can often be completed much faster than from the cloud, because the key bottleneck is the speed of the companys WAN connection. In fact, for some companies, on-premises infrastructure might be the only way for them to meet the Recovery Point Objectives (RPO) and Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) that they have for certain critical workloads.

In addition, on-premises infrastructure allows companies to avoid high (and sometimes hidden) data transport charges assessed by some cloud providers a particular concern when a company has large files that it thinks it might need to recover on a frequent basis. There are also some companies who are still not comfortable with storing particularly sensitive data in the cloud and prefer to keep this data on-premises.

A Schematic representation of the terms RPO and RTO. In this example, the agreed values of RPO and RTO are not fulfilled. (Reprinted from Wikipedia)

With a hybrid cloud approach to backup and recovery, companies have the flexibility to use the cloud, on-premises infrastructure, or both to protect their data. They can use the cloud to back up data where scalability is a key consideration, where the data is already located in the cloud, or in cases where they do not think the cost and hassle of buying and managing on-premises hardware to back up the data is warranted.

But they can still use on-premises infrastructure to protect more recent, large files that they might need to recover very quickly, or for sensitive data that they want to control completely. They can even use both the cloud and on-premises infrastructure to protect their workloads for example, they might have a more recent backup stored on-premises, and an older backup stored in the cloud.

And, as their business conditions and needs change, they also have the flexibility to move data from on-premises backup to the cloud, or vice versa.

For companies that want to implement a hybrid cloud backup and recovery strategy, there are several important things to keep in mind to maximize the benefits of this strategy.The first is to evaluate which data they want to back up to the cloud and which to back up to on-premises infrastructure.

One of the key advantages of hybrid cloud backup and recovery is that it provides companies with the ability to choose their backup target but this also means they need to carefully weigh the pros and cons of the cloud versus on-premises infrastructure when developing policies that will determine where they back up their data.

Companies should also look for solutions that allow them to implement a smart, unified approach to hybrid cloud backup and recovery that minimizes the amount of time they have to spend configuring and managing the solution. For example, some new SaaS-based backup and recovery solutions reduce data protection administration by enabling companies to set them up in minutes. These solutions often further lower administration costs by managing all the cloud infrastructure required to protect a companys data.

(Roman Rybaleov/Shutterstock)

Of course, if they want to implement a smart, unified strategy for hybrid cloud backup and recovery companies also need to make sure their solution is truly hybrid, and actually allows them to store data on-premises, rather than just caching data on-premises temporarily before uploading it to the cloud. In addition, the solution should provide a unified view of their backups by allowing them to set-up, configure, and manage both on-premises and cloud backups from a single pane of glass. The solution should not lock them into only using the solution providers cloud, but enable them to back up to other cloud services so they can maximize the ROI of their cloud spend.

Companies should also look for opportunities to learn about and implement hybrid cloud backup and recovery strategy best practices. For example, some SaaS-based backup and recovery come with preconfigured backup and recovery plans that have many data protection best practices built-in. In addition, by collaborating with their resellers and other trusted IT advisors on the development and roll-out of their hybrid cloud backup and recovery strategy, they can tap into these experts experience implementing these strategies for other companies. This knowledge will help them avoid common mistakes and maximize the benefits of a hybrid cloud approach to backup and recovery.

As it has for other workloads, a hybrid cloud approach to backup and recovery offers companies the freedom to use the cloud or on-premises infrastructure for different workloads. For some workloads, they can benefit from the clouds scalability, simplicity, and other advantages. For other workloads, they can use on-premises infrastructure if they need the speed to achieve short RPOs and RTOs, if they have large files that might lead to high data transfer charges, or if they want complete control over particular types of sensitive data.

By carefully evaluating which data to backup where, selecting the right hybrid cloud backup and recovery solution, and adopting hybrid cloud backup and recovery best practices, these companies can implement a smart, unified hybrid cloud backup and recovery strategy that allows them to protect their data in a manner that realizes the best of both the cloud and on-premises worlds.

About the Author: is a 22-year veteran of Commvault and serves as the Vice President of Products and Engineering for Metallic, the SaaS division of Commvault. David joined Commvault after graduating from Rutgers University and has held roles in Development, Office of the CTO, and Professional Services. He started as a developer and led the Windows development group, during which time he was granted a number of patents. He went on to lead engineering alliances with strategic partners, such as Microsoft and NetApp before joining the Office of the CTO and leading cloud and virtualization efforts. Prior to joining the Metallic group, David established the Remote Managed Services group.

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The Best of Both Worlds Why a Hybrid Cloud Approach Makes Sense for Data Backup and Recovery - Datanami

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw's youngest daughter, Audrey, turned 18 in December, which means this is the first year she's eligible to vote. This week, Audrey exercised her right to do just that and voted in the Tennessee primary election, a decision her proud parents praised on social media.

On Thursday, Hill used Instagram to post a photo of Audrey, clad in jeans, a white tank top, red cardigan and a black mask, posing outside and pointing at the "I voted" sticker on her stomach. "First time voter over here!!!!!!!!!" Hill gushed with a string of heart emojis and the hashtag #proudmom. "I feel good knowing such an intelligent generation is helping shape our future by exercising their rights," commented Rita Wilson. McGraw reposted his wife's photo and caption on his own account, adding, "My baby girl! #prouddad."

Along with voting, Hill and McGraw also celebrated another milestone for Audrey earlier this year when she graduated from high school. Their middle daughter, 21-year-old Maggie, also graduated, from Stanford University. In June, McGraw shared his girls' achievements with an Instagram post featuring two photos of Maggie and two of Audrey, which he captioned, "Our class of 2020 girls! Stanford 2020. EHS 2020. Boom! Great work ladies! Mom and I are so proud of yall!!!"

"So proud of you both!!!! Love you," Hill commented. She also shared her own posts on her own Instagram page, first uploading a video of a young Audrey singing. "There is no doubt in my mind little sparrow that you will always be YOU. Wherever you land," the proud mom wrote. "Now a high school graduate and a part of the extraordinary class of 2020!!!!!!!!"

Her next clip was a video of herself and Maggie driving together and singing along to the radio during what Hill shared was a road trip to visit the university. "Congratulations Maggie and to all of your sweet friends as well!!!" she gushed. "We love you!!!!!! Go Cardinal!!!!! Stanford Class of 2020."

Hill and McGraw also share oldest daughter Gracie, 23, who spent her quarantine in Los Angeles. Maggie and Audrey were at home in Tennessee, where they got to spend plenty of time with their famous dad since he was off the road. "We're doing well. We're spending a lot of time with family together," McGraw told Entertainment Tonight in May. "We have gotten to spend some time cooking and hanging out and just enjoying each other's company."

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Faith Hill Praises Daughter for First-Time Voting in Tennessee Primary - PopCulture.com

Any startup business wants an initial recognition or a break or a message you want to send to the world. So the first 30 days of your company is critical, so you should have a big company directory of sites. It helps to introduce the company to all potential founders, seed investors, venture capitalists, advertisers, etc. The following product submission list has been curated based on traffic, brand visibility, page rating, and listing capacity.

Also, make sure that you dont flood this list and send out your message with straightforward and creative facts about you. To get the full value out of this list, please make sure that you strictly follow their submission guidelines. And it certainly lets you get identified easily on the pages.

Official Website: https://yourstory.com/Founder(s): Shradha SharmaFounded in: October 1, 2008Startups Listed: 60k

Yourstory.com is Indias one of the largest media-tech company for covering the startups story. YS would be a great boom for your startup as their official site claims that they are getting 120M content views per month. Besides this, YS has a strong social media fan base, which is around 4.6M.

Pros: YourStory has a very high social media following as well as a massive amount of monthly views.

Cons: You need to pay high fees to get your startup listed on YourStory.

Official Website: https://www.startuptalky.comFounder(s): Shubham KumarFounded in: 3 April 2014Startups Listed: 11k

StartupTalky is an Indian based startup listing site where you can publish your startups success story. To begin the process of the same, you need to mail them on their official mail id. The site claims to have 50k monthly traffic and they also have a good Alexa ranking.

Pros: StartupTalky has an active Facebook community of around 100k+ members so that you can build up your network.

Cons: Foreign traffic is a bit low compared to the Indian audience on the site.

Official Website: https://nextbigwhat.com/Founder(s): Ashish SinhaFounded in: 2009Startups Listed: 12k

NextBigWhat is an Indian based online portal that reports news on entrepreneurship and technology. NBW is one of the largest Indian portals in startup listing. The portal is ranked on 88,000 by Alexa with 76% Indian traffic. Started as Pluggd.in, which was a result of hobby and passion to help budding entrepreneurs, the media platform went out to become Indias largest and meaningful platform for startups.

Pros: If your targeting audience is Indian, then you must submit your startup here.

Cons: The majority of the audience is Indian ( 76% ), so if you are targeting Foreign audiences for your business, then NBW is not what you are looking for.

Official Website: https://angel.co/Founder(s): Naval RavikantFounded in: 2010Startups Listed: 25k

AngelList is another Indian platform for the listing of startups. It was started by two serial entrepreneurs Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi. In May 2020, AngelList has a global ranking of 8k ( Alexa ). AngelList Jobs connects talents with startups, with over 35,000 recruiting companies, more than 2,000,000 candidates, and 5 million registered users.

Pros: It is one of the prominent startup listing platforms in India that started back in 2010.

Cons: One has to try a bit hard to get his startup listed on AngelList.

Official Website: http://www.killerstartups.com/Founder(s): John RuhlinFounded in: January 2007Startups Listed: 88k

Launched back in January 2007, their market value is tracked at $1m-$2 m and it may not be shocking to discover your startup listed and evaluated without your actual action, as the website has been observed to participate in coverage efforts beyond active listing by business owners. The group has more than 125,000 active members and has analyzed more than 88,000 start-ups since 2007, the notable finds being Uber, Plum, Wego, etc.

Pros: Beyond a startup directory, KillerStartups provides training and other services mainly for website owners and entrepreneurs.

Cons: Its a foreign-based site, so if you are looking to attract the Indian audience then this one is not for you.

Official Website: https://www.producthunt.com/Founder(s): Ryan HooverFounded in: November 6, 2013Startups Listed: 11k

With hundreds of thousands of users, product hunt is one of the best sites to share and explore new technology products, applications, websites, etc. Apps on the app will check your product for free and give you accurate reviews as soon as they see it on the website. The website also provides a regular email list that delivers the tech searches of the day to registered customers. When youre in the gaming industry, this could even be a perfect spot to put your company because it really is among the best directories out there.

Pros: The website allows the submission of MVP and beta versions of the product as long as detailed data (explainer video, walkthrough, blueprint, etc.) on its use and efficiency are provided.

Cons: Its a bit hard to come on the top of the listing on ProductHunt as there are tons of submissions every day.

Official Website: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/Founder(s): Vitaly FriedmanFounded in: 2006Startups Listed: 35k

Smashing Magazine offers important and creative tips to web designers and developers. The goal is to educate our readers of the latest developments and techniques in web creation. Here you can advertise your product or your business by uploading your info. After checking your commercial, your submitted image and definition will be reflected in the shattering magazine.

Pros: This platform is wholly dedicated to web developers, so if your startup is from the same sector then this is a must-have to you.

Cons: In case, you are running a non-developer startup, then Smashing Magzine is of no use to you.

Official Website: https://www.crunchbase.com/Founder(s): Michael ArringtonFounded in: 2007Startups Listed: 55M

Started more than 12 years ago and back in July 2007, Crunchbase is a successful start-up directory. Crunchbase has about 50 million registrations, including investors as well as market researchers and salesmen and women, apart from their already-expected and strong entrepreneurial base. The website is proud of more than 3,700 major investment companies providing monthly portfolio reports. Crunchbase is the one-stop repository for seeking company knowledge for both private and public organizations.

Pros: If youre running a startup or an MNC, listing your business on Crunchbase should be your number one priority.

Official Website: https://www.google.com/intl/en_in/business/Founder(s): Sundar PichaiFounded in: 2017

Do you ever wonder how certain businesses will place them about us, contact information and other things on the right side of the Google search results as you search for their name? Thats because theyve put their company on Google My Business. Listing on Google My Company is actually more relevant to your internet history than your mind can actively remember. This is primarily via this platform that companies are able to view their About information section and contact details to the right of the search results from Googles search page, while still being displayed, in a way, on Google Maps.

Pros: The benefit of using this service is its local SEO advancement, which makes companies easily accessible to customers in the search area as soon as they look for businesses with the close me app. Even if you might not have posted your company yourself, you may be late in the game and demand a current entry, which is a huge added bonus.

Official Website: https://index.co/Founder(s): Jonathan WallFounded in: 2012Startups Listed: 112k

Index.co bills itself as a venue for entrepreneurs to show off, for tech fans to have their daily news sorted, and for experts to use our data to prospect, track rivals, and work with their teams. The network uses artificial intelligence to link entrepreneurs to corporate brands and investors. Its a data mine to find for news and data linked to a business. The free version is also linked to three different paid plans, including the cheapest $25 / month fee for workflow automation through app connectivity.

Pros: Index.co provides a free plan

Official Website: https://ziipa.com/Founder(s): Hugo Aponte, Lee StarustaFounded in: May 2008Startups Listed: 98k

Ziipas proprietary algorithm allows users to rate and link smartphone and web apps based on user interest. Our special Patent Pending process of predicting device change of interest links consumers and devices in real-time. The Ziipa platform would allow the underdog, fresh and underfunded to be discovered more easily by balancing the playing field and offering an incentive to be discovered on the basis of user interaction.

Pros: Ziipa is a platform which completely dedicated to smartphones and web apps. Hence, its a must one for startups in web or smartphone app development.

Cons: Its a niche-specific platform, so you need to be careful while listing your startup

To list a startup on any startup listing site is a mandatory practice. Without this, the game of success becomes a lot harder. Therefore, we have listed down all the giants of the industry above. Just check which platform matches your need and list your startup there.

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List of 11 most popular, top websites Startup Listings in India - The Indian Wire

JU to reach out to students with no smartphones 

Jadavpur University will decide on how to send study materials and class notes to students in the coming semester during this pandemic situation, keeping in mind that many of them do not have smartphones, a senior official said on Thursday. The university will certainly do something to bridge the digital divide, Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof Chiranjib Bhattacharya said.

Jadavpur University Teachers' Association recently urged the institute authorities to reach out to students who cannot afford smartphones and hence will be deprived of study materials if online classes are taken in the coming semester, JUTA General Secretary Partha Pratim Roy said.

JUTA also submitted a proposal of holding classes through phone calls where a student will interact with the teacher over the phone at a particular time, Roy said, adding that modalities to implement this can be chalked out in consultation with every stakeholder. "We will certainly arrive at a decision in the best interest of students but within our financial ability," Bhattacharya told PTI.

Asked about the possibility of the university arranging smartphones for students not having one due to financial reasons, Bhattacharya said, "There are issues like arranging funds for this. We also need to know the number of such students."

Also Read |Model IAS Officer! Aishwarya Sheoran- Ace model, Miss India finalist cracks UPSC Civil Services 2019, Ranks 93

The pro-VC said that the varsity had not done any survey concerning the number of students not having smartphones, while student unions of arts, science and engineering faculties have carried out a fact check on their own.

"We have asked the student unions to share with us the details. We will hold a meeting by next week to discuss these issues and how to make class lectures and other academic activities accessible to the students," he said.

Another varsity teacher said that as per the survey done by students unions, around three per cent of the students in engineering and science faculties do not possess any smartphone.The figure is higher in the arts stream in which many students hail from remote areas of the state, the teacher said.

Bhattacharya said that the university is also positive about JUTAs proposal for uploading audio or video of teachers' lectures in the JU portal which can be downloaded by students of the department concerned. However, this too will not help students with no internet connection, he said.

Roy said that they had also suggested that the university could make an arrangement with a company so that students can get quality handsets. The varsity could fund the project partly or fully with the help of any grant.On this, the pro-VC said that there are lots of financial issues involved and "We can't take a decision on this in a hurry."

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Jadavpur University to reach out to students with no smartphones as it gears up for new semester - Times Now

A boxing poster and a shot of iconic rapper Tupac beautify the wall guiding them. They strike enjoy on Phil Collins strike from 1981, In the Air Tonight.

It appears like a rain entrance or one thing, Tim says. The two nod their heads to the conquer.

Then, about halfway by means of the online video, the famous drum solo hits. Tim and Fred are visibly stunned, yet thrilled they start dancing in their chairs, pausing the video clip to swiftly focus on.

I have never ever noticed nobody drop a defeat a few minutes in the tune! Fred exclaims, chatting to the digital camera.

Their joy is delightful. And in the previous 7 days, the movie has seemingly exploded with far more than 1.7 million sights.

Tim, pictured in most of the videos sporting a durag, failed to even know the movie experienced blown up. A good friend instructed him later.

When we do video clips, I dont be considering absolutely nothing of it due to the fact I be considering, Oh, we gotta do that subsequent movie, Tim stated.

We wasnt imagining this was gonna hit, Fred added.

Tim and Fred, 22-yr-old twins from Gary, Indiana, have been uploading response movies for about a year. At initially, they caught to a ton of rap new music, they claimed, but then someone requested Frank Sinatras I have Obtained You Beneath My Skin.

That track GOES, he states now, remembering the video. It can be what bought them accomplishing extra older music, he claimed, generally what ever individuals asked for.

The channel has been on the up for a even though. In January, it currently experienced 20,000 subscribers. By the stop of June, they strike 100,000. Now, they are closing in on 250,000.

No place in begging, she wrote. Jolene now stole these two.

Element of their accomplishment, it appears, is that watching them hear to a track for the initially time can make viewers bear in mind their personal first situations with tunes. The responses sections of their videos, amid the various suggestions, are crammed with tales of fans possess ordeals with the artist or the music.

When requested why they assume their video clips resonate, Fred is brief to respond.

Since we are Black, he claims merely. Were Black, and they dont assume us to listen to that variety of audio.

We are young, as well, Tim adds. Its just unusual to see people open these times. Men and women you should not open to stage exterior their ease and comfort zone and just react to new music they do not know.

They grew up in a Black neighborhood, they demonstrate. Rap, they know the intro track to their videos is Polo Gs My Tale, which numerous presume is their very own tune.

When I was a kid rising up, all we listened to was rap, Tim claimed.

Now, by their channel, the two have been released to more audio. Tim loves Radioheads Creep, and Fred likes to pay attention to Linkin Parks Lying From You although operating.

Creating video clips offers them a opportunity to open up up a lot more, Fred suggests. And they get to master a good deal when doing it, also, heading deep into artists discographies and learning much more about their do the job.

At the finish of the working day, amid a community wellbeing pandemic and mass protests, their films convey pleasure. They know that, and it is 1 explanation why they carry on.

For that two, a few minutes having said that very long the movie is we just want to just have fun, just together. We just smile, snicker jointly and all the things, Tim claimed.

You could be possessing a undesirable working day, and watch a person of our videos and be uplifted, Fred adds.

That uplifting, in a calendar year seemingly loaded with undesirable times, is rare but at the very least we have their channel.

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These are the twins whose response films have captured the online - The Press Stories

5 mins read

Posted by Meghna Sharma

The judicial responses to cases, especially when it comes to womxn exercising their autonomy and rights over their bodies, never cease to amaze. Activist Rehana Fathima was recently in news for trying to educate her children about the female body and liberate their minds of hyper-sexualisation of women. She chose an unconventional method of getting them to paint on her semi-nude body and posting a video on social media featuring the act of her children engaged in painting. The video led to a public outcry, accusing the activist of portraying obscene representation of children. Rehana Fatima, having been charged under Section 13 of POCSO and Section 67B of the Information Technology Act, sought anticipatory bail from the Kerala High Court.

The Kerala High Court took the view that the activist had used her children for sexual gratification and the children are represented in the video uploaded in an indecent and obscene manner because they are painting on a naked body of their mother. The Court further opined that if the act of painting was done within the four walls, it would not have constituted an offence. However, the offence, according to the High Court, has been committed by uploading the video on social media platforms.

The Kerala High Courts decision in activist Rehana Fatimas case seems to have revived the debate surrounding womens autonomy, female nudity and obscenity.

Also read: The Laws Differential Treatment Of Men And Womens Voluntary Intoxication

The High Courts decision seems to have revived the debate surrounding womens autonomy, female nudity and obscenity. Many would disagree with the choice of the activist to use her body as a canvas to educate her children or spread awareness of the female body or liberate the mind from hyper-sexualisation. But that would not necessarily make it obscene. Nudity is not in appearance but in thoughts. The message in a picture overpowers the not so visible nudity and expresses how female nudity is not just about sexualisation. The Delhi High Court considered in Maqbool Fida Husain (2008) case whether the nude portrayal of Bharat Mata by the artist should be considered obscene. The Court held that the aesthetic touch to the painting dwarfs the so-called obscenity in the form of nudity and that the art makes the nudity so insignificant that it can be easily overlooked.

Again, the Supreme Court in Aveek Sarkar (2014) had, while quashing a case against the publication of a nude picture, held that only those sex-related materials which have a tendency of exciting lustful thoughts can be held to be obscene.

The High Court seems to be influenced by the fact that the act of the children painting on their mothers body was circulated on the internet instead of being confined in a private space. The offence is believed to have been committed by uploading the video and not by creating it. This raises a question if the act per se is not an offence, then could the circulation of its video be an offence? In any case, it is difficult to comprehend how the activist could be said to have used her own children for sexual gratification. The activist has now moved the Supreme Court challenging the dismissal of her anticipatory bail petition. It remains to be seen how the Apex Court deals with such challenge.

It is sad that female public nudity and womens autonomy over their expressions is still treated as a moral offense and is a cause for concern. If a child, through such seemingly radical means, is liberated of hyper-sexuality right from the childhood, it will probably eradicate this notion which is prevailing since ages. Breaking such stereotypes will lead to liberty of woman in the real sense.

This is not a case in isolation. There are a number of judgments that reflect judicial insensitivity to the autonomy of a woman, even to the extent of affecting her liberty. For instance, the Magistrate in the Araria District Court in Bihar construed the outburst of a gang rape survivor in Court as contempt and sent her into custody.

This is not a case in isolation. There are a number of judgments that reflect judicial insensitivity to the autonomy of a woman, even to the extent of affecting her liberty. For instance, the Magistrate in the Araria District Court in Bihar construed the outburst of a gang rape survivor in Court as contempt and sent her into custody. The outburst by the survivor was said to have been after she had to stand for hours in humid conditions in close proximity of an accomplice of her alleged rapists. Be that as it may, the very fact that the survivor was remanded to custody by the Magistrate speaks volumes of his lack of empathy towards her. It was only about a week later on 17 July 2020 that the survivor was granted bail.

In a bizzare move, a former priest of the Roman Catholic Church in Kerala who was jailed for the rape of a minor girl four years ago moved to the Kerala High Court. The convict filed an application seeking suspension of the sentence to marry the victim. The application is still pending in the High Court of Kerala. However, various activists and advocates were seen raising their voice against allowing bail to the convict.

In another case, the Orissa High Court granted bail on 24 July 2020 to a man accused of rape of a minor after he revealed that he, while availing the interim bail, had married the victim, who had now attained majority. The fact that a rape accused married his victim was treated to be the consideration for granting bail was shocking, for lack of better words. It seems to have been overlooked that the offence of rape is a crime against society and not just against the victim (Shimbhu, 2013). Such a conduct might eventually encourage the accused to pressurise the victim into a marriage to save himself from the troubles of litigation and punishment.

Also read: Unpacking The Reasonable Woman Standard A Case To Respect Survivors Lived Experience

These pronouncements underscore that in our legal system, especially the fate of a womans liberty and dignity depends on the sensitivities and the bias of a judge and his or her subjective thoughts and beliefs on what ought to have been an appropriate conduct. That, by itself, reflects a sorry state of affairs as far as womens autonomy and emancipation in India are concerned.

Meghna Sharma is a keen researcher and a writer. She has been writing on Womens rights, environmental and constitutional law. Currently, she is also pursuing a degree in law.She can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Featured Image Source: Aasawarni Kulkarni for Feminism In India

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The Quest For Liberty And Dignity: Against Judicial Insensitivity To A Womans Autonomy - Feminism in India

The panic is over: Garmin Connect is back online and most subsystems are working properly too, after some of them going offline at the end of last week. And although it's great to have our Forerunner and Fenix watches working properly again, it would be great to know what exactly happened during the 'Garmin outage' event and how will Garmin ensure this won't happen in the future.

ASICS Runners Face Cover review: an excellent running face mask that you can drink through

We can only assume the major shareholders of Garmin must know more than us regular people as the share prices are pretty much where they were before 23 July, after the dip in interest during the first few days of the alleged attack. Despite what Bleeping Computer says, the site that originally reported on the alleged ransomware attack, until Garmin actually puts out a statement saying "our systems have been hijacked by Russian hackers", we can only speculate what really went on and how the issue was resolved eventually.

Garmin vvomove HR, Onyx Black with Tan Suede Band | On sale for 149.99 | Was 299.99 | You save 150 at GarminWhat a better way to celebrate the return of Garmin Connect than buying a new Garmin watch: for half price that is! The vivomove HR is not your average Garmin running watch but a hybrid watch, meaning it sort of looks like a regular watch but it also has a hidden digital screen to display additional information such as heart rate, steps taken, calories burned etc. With up to 5 days of battery life, you can rest assured the vivomove HR's battery won't die unexpectedly in the middle of the day, even if it doesn't get charged every day.View Deal

Truth to be told, the combination of secrecy and recovery was probably the best thing Garmin could do to avoid panic and make sure people won't abandon their Garmin running watches after hearing the bad news. That said, now that the issue has been resolved, Garmin should to do at least these three things:

Given the size of the company and its reputation, we are sure all this information will be released eventually, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Garmin Forerunner 945 | Buy it for 489.99 at AmazonProbably the most competent running watch on the market today, the Garmin Forerunner 945 encompasses everything Garmin has to offer for runners and triathletes: precise heart rate sensor, quick GPS chip, storage for music, Garmin Coach, Garmin Pay and many more.The Forerunner 945 is choke-full of features yet it weighs approx. 50 grams. Battery life is up to 2 weeks in smartwatch mode, 10 hours in GPS mode with music or up to 60 hours in ultratrac mode.View Deal

(Image credit: Future)

As relieved as we all are, we can't help but wonder: did Garmin pay the $10 million ransom, as requested by the 'Evil Corp', or have the developers found a way to eliminate the threat somehow without paying the money? The Times suggests "Garmin must have paid a large ransom to recover computer files stolen by hackers", but until any official communication is received from Garmin, we can't be sure.

How much the outage has actually affected Garmin we might never know, although it is clear that the issue had a broader effect on the company's broader ecosystem, including the aviation services, such as flight planning and mapping, Wired writes.

ASICS Runners Face Cover is a running face mask you can drink through

The Garmin outage has been a hot topic two weeks ago in running and cycling circles but not long after the rumours started circulating, Garmin announced on Twitter that "many of the systems and services affected by the recent outage, including Garmin Connect, are returning to operation".

However, at the time, the company also added that "some features still have temporary limitations while all of the data is being processed".

The ransomware attack on Garmin thought to be the work of 'Evil Corp', a group of Russian hackers who allegedly mainly targets US corporations, The Guardian reports. Garmin services started to go offline Thursday 23 July 2020 and many of the most popular services, including Garmin Connect and most of the Strava integrations, were unavailable to users over the weekend period.

Check out Garmin's 'Outage FAQ'

As reported by The Independent on the morning of 27 July 2020, Garmin Connect was supposedly coming back to life, although at that point most users still reported issues with Garmin Connect. The website and the Garmin webshop was available, however.

Garmin issued a few statements on Twitter, stating the outage also affected its call centers and that they were unable to receive any calls, emails and also couldn't fire up online chats either, making a lot of Garmin watch users rather anxious.

In case you are worried about your personal information being leaked due to the attack, on its FAQ page, Garmin reassured users that there has been "no indication that this outage has affected [the users] data, including activity, payment or other personal information." That is not the same as saying your data definitely hasnt been stolen, but its a lot better than nothing. But never mind that, what about your run and cycle data? Is it lost forever?

The following services and features are online:

The following services and features are online but might have limited functionality:

Strava services are back online, including:

(Image credit: Garmin)

As many people also pointed out, workouts can be directly uploaded to Strava using a USB cable but we wonder how many people actually went through the hassle of manually uploading their workouts this way when they could have just waited five days for the issue to be resolved.

Despite the fact you can't upload data to Garmin Connect, most Garmin watches have the ability to store training data on the device so you can still log exercises and sync them with Garmin Connect once you can.

The Garmin Fenix 6 Pro, for example, has 32GB of internal memory, plenty of space to store hundreds of workouts. Cheaper Garmin watches have way less, of course, so maybe dont try for any personal bests until this gets fixed.

(Image credit: Garmin)

The Garmin Outage has been going on since last Thursday when initially users noticed that certain Garmin online services are unavailable (making my life harder too as I was halfway through writing up my Garmin Instinct Solar review). Since then, Garmin issued the following statement on its Garmin outage FAQ page:

"Garmin Ltd. was the victim of a cyber attack that encrypted some of our systems on July 23, 2020. As a result, many of our online services were interrupted including website functions, customer support, customer facing applications, and company communications. We immediately began to assess the nature of the attack and started remediation.

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We have no indication that any customer data, including payment information from Garmin Pay, was accessed, lost or stolen. Additionally, the functionality of Garmin products was not affected, other than the ability to access online services. Affected systems are being restored and we expect to return to normal operation over the next few days.

As our affected systems are restored, we expect some delays as the backlog of information is being processed. We are grateful for our customers patience and understanding during this incident and look forward to continuing to provide the exceptional customer service and support that has been our hallmark and tradition."

Fitbit Versa 2 Special Edition | On sale for 174.68 | Was 219.99 | You save 45.31 at AmazonDon't fancy a Garmin watch after all the bad news? Get a Fitbit instead. Feature-wise, the Special Edition is identical with the standard Fitbit Versa 2 and comes with built-in voice assistant, 24/7 heart rate tracking, smart notifications, over four days of battery life and even integrated memory for music. The difference is the fancy strap and considering that both variety are roughly the same price with the current discounts, you might as well get this version.View Deal

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