Students applying for arts and science courses in Tamil Nadu can upload certificates from August 1 to August 10.

The Tamil Nadu government started issuing application forms for arts and science colleges on July 20. For the first time, the government has decided to completely switch to online applications due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

According to a press release issued by the state government, on July 21 over 1,00,000 students applied for various courses at colleges across Tamil Nadu. On July 22, around 53,342 students applied and on June 23, around 34,924 students applied for various colleges in Tamil Nadu. On July 24, about 20,351 students applied for arts and science colleges in the state.

So far, 2,09,237 students have applied for various arts and science courses, of which 1,27,975 students paid the application fees. Students can apply for arts and science admissions till July 31.

The government has postponed the deadline for uploading original certificates. Higher secondary schools have started issuing mark sheets from Saturday (July 25).

As a result, students demanded the government extend the time period for uploading original marksheets and certificates.

Accepting the demand, the government postponed the process to August 1. As per the earlier announcement, the students were to upload their original marksheets between July 25 and August 5. However, as per the new schedule, the students can upload certificates from August 1 to August 10.

The government has set up a helpline to support students applying for admissions. Students who have queries can clear their doubts by contacting the phone numbers mentioned on the Tamil Nadu government's arts and science colleges admissions website.

One of the professors handling the help desk said, The students have been calling and asking a few queries. The students can login and register for even five colleges at a time, but the students apply for one college and click complete. This is a mistake done by many students and we have been asked for help. So, we tell the students that they should create a new ID and password and apply afresh for the remaining colleges. Hence, students should keep in mind that they can apply for more than one college at a time.

The students also make mistakes while entering their marks or registration numbers, the professor said. Even if the students upload wrong information for a column, they need not worry. The students can rectify the error during the certificate verification process, said the professor. However, the government is yet to make an announcement on the certificate verification process.

The professor said a few students asked about courses available at certain colleges. However, we guided them to refer to the college website or talk to the officials of the college, said the professor.

Students can apply for colleges through the website http://www.tngasa.in.

See the article here:

Over 2 lakh students apply for arts, science colleges in Tamil Nadu within days - The News Minute

The next extension of collecting data through the use of artificial intelligence Brain Mapping is Mind Uploading. Some Transhumanists consider mind uploading an important proposed life extension technology. The goal of mind uploading is to recreate whole brain emulation, which has the ability to transfer the data from a human brain to a computational device, such as a digital, analog, quantum-based or software-based artificial neural network. Then from quantum computers, the brain that was mind uploaded can be controlled or manipulated in subspace. Many scientists believe that the human brain and mind define who we are, based solely on their information pattern, while the body or hardware that information is implemented upon is secondary or interchangeable. They are wrong.

Moving intelligence patterns of the human brain as purely data structures to another synthetic or biological substrate manifests extremely damaging genetic mutations and perversions into the blueprint of original Silicate Matrix human DNA. AI genetic mutations in human DNA generate unforeseen diseases and miasma in the future, capable of destroying the organic consciousness potential that exists within the elemental human body and planetary body. This destroys the living consciousness spirit existing within the multidimensional human body via gradual artificial intelligence assimilation into neural networks that connect to artificial or virtual reality systems. These artificial realities and false timelines are already inhabited by a vast array of fallen and desperate dark entities, currently trying to find their way out by hitchhiking on organic human consciousness on the earth. We are not our brains, we are not our thoughts, we are not clones we are pure intelligent consciousness. Our pure human heart and intelligent consciousness are the ticket out of this prison planet, the very things the entities want to steal away from us. The eternal living spiritual consciousness Blueprint of the multidimensional human DNA is destroyed when assimilated into the synthetic machinery of artificial intelligence. As a result, this destroys the capability of expanding biological spiritual consciousness and achieving spiritual freedom, the mechanics of consciousness known as the Science of Ascension. Instead, AI mind uploading creates consciousness slaves bound to artificial realities and fallen entities that cannot evolve, cannot ascend, cannot travel to higher dimensions of reality, and ultimately is another consciousness trap. This is similar to an AI groundhog day in virtual realities, where the same consciousness program is played over and over.[1]

Ideally, the Black Suns want to integrate mass technological fusion into the human bio-neurological matrix through an assortment of high tech propaganda, like mind uploading for achieving immortality, before people wake up to the damaging effects it has on higher consciousness embodiment and translocation. Mind Uploading effectively locks down peoples consciousness body into controlled virtual reality systems in which they cannot leave, and this has occurred to some humans in the future timelines. Artificial intelligence devices and technological machines that are merged with the incarnated human body and brain repel the higher mind matrices of the spiritual consciousness, preventing higher consciousness from coming into actual physical Embodiment. Therefore, in the next few years the global push towards integrating Transhumanism will be more aggressive in the blended realities on earth, through bio-technology and pharmaceuticals enmeshed with the AI agenda rolled into high tech consumer products marketed to niche groups in a variety of social media. This is to attempt to further thwart higher consciousness embodiment potentials and prevent translocation abilities in the human public. Translocation happens in sleep state, where it is possible for spontaneous translocation to occur during soul integration, without the person actually willing it to happen.[2]

NAA

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Mind Uploading - Ascension Glossary

This place feels very important, but I dont know why yet, said Billy Bragg, wandering into Cecil Sharp House in 1986. Many of us have felt something similar, slipping from busy north London, though the English country garden, into the UKs first dedicated folk arts centre.

First opened in 1930, the building holds all the tension of the 20th centurys battles over the definition of folk music and who it belongs to. Visitors will feel it in the architectural push-pull between blunt, right-angled utilitarianism (formal rectangular halls for dancing, rectangular windows for light) and mystical curves of wooden carvings of green men, dragons and bawdy Morris men. For at Cecil Sharp House (CHS), town meets country, academia jostles with vernacular tradition and all three classes collide.

On its 90th birthday, CSHs chief executive, Katy Spicer, reminds me that we can trace those tensions right back to 1898, when the middle-class Folk-Song Society was founded to collect and preserve folk songs and tunes primarily from Britain and Ireland. They found and filed songs for the nations cabinet of curiosities just as other Victorians collected shells, ferns and fossils. Prominent members included Lucy Broadwood, Frank Kidson and Anglican priest Sabine Baring-Gould. Letters stored at CSH reveal the fierce rivalry between many of the collectors as they competed to discover the best, oldest or most obscure peasant tunes.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

In 1903, Cecil Sharp joined the fray, recording material from the old singing men and women of the country villages. Now widely acknowledged as the founding father of the folk revival, Sharp, the son of a slate merchant, became interested in folk tradition after observing a rare group of Morris dancers performing at the village of Headington Quarry near Oxford at Christmas 1899.

The composer Ralph Vaughan Williams began collecting songs the same year. There is a feeling of recognition, as of meeting an old friend, said Williams, which comes to us all in the face of great artistic experiences. I had the same experience when I first heard an English folk song, when I first saw Michelangelos Day and Night, when I suddenly came upon Stonehenge or had my first sight of New York City the intuition that I had been there already.

In 1911, the English Folk Dance Society was founded to collect folk dance including Morris, sword and country dances, and to publish and teach them. Sharp died in 1924 and CSH was built to keep his legacy alive. It comprises a library for Sharps book collection, a large hall for social dancing and high-profile concerts and two smaller classrooms downstairs for teaching.

But, says Spicer, in September 1940, Cecil Sharp House was hit by four bombs, destroying the front entrance, stairwell and a musicians gallery in the main hall. Fortunately, the library remained largely intact, and its rare books were already in Cheshire for safekeeping. The remaining collection was packed up and moved to Oxford.

CSH was patched up after the bombing with blitz spirit classes continuing in the basement. And after the war the musicians gallery was replaced by a lively, abstract mural by English artist Ivon Hitchens, depicting the English folk dances and traditions (although some spot the presence of UFOs). Hitchens worked on the mural for three years before it was finally completed in 1954. At 69 x 20ft, the mural was the largest in the country at the time.

The 1950s saw a second folk revival, perhaps as part of a postwar search for national identity. In 1951, the young Princess Elizabeth was photographed swooshing her skirt during a Canadian square dance, making folk dancing an aspirational activity. Meanwhile, the collecting of folk songs (led by Alan Lomax in America and Ewan MacColl in the UK) became strongly associated with left-wing activism. Whereas Sharp and his rivals romanticised the rural life, this second wave of collectors gathered working-class songs from the working classes of both town and country.

Folk singer Shirley Collins remembers first attempting to visit CSH aged just 19 in 1955. Outside the building I saw the stone that says, In memory of Cecil Sharp, who restored to the English people the songs and dances of their country, she tells me. But would they let me in? No. It was ever so posh back then and they did NOT want to let me in. The class system was so pronounced then. I was made to feel quite ashamed of my working-class background. But I persisted. I had been told how many songs were in that library. I was determined to get in and the snobs were almost equally determined to keep me out!

Looking Sharp: the exterior of CSHnear Regents Park in London inMarch 1971 (Hulton Archive)

The 85-year-old Collins, who released her ninth solo album this month, continues: Princess Margaret was made president in 1960 and I remember seeing the photographs of her in beautiful frocks surrounded by all her ghastly courtiers, and I thought: whats royalty got to do with folk music? This music belongs to people of my class. Anyway, when I finally got in I would leaf through the books and when a set of words jumped out at me I wrote them down and took them home for my sister Dolly to play on the piano. If I liked the tunes, I would learn them. It was quite a laborious process.

She remembers that: Somebody would sit with me in the library to make sure I didnt purloin anything. And, actually, I did although much later. In the 1970s I was leafing through the journals of Lucy Broadwood and found her writing about a song she had recorded called Gilderoy. I looked at the lyrics and half of one whole verse was asterisks. She had put in a note to say they werent suitable to be included in her journal. Part of her hypocritical Edwardian sensibility.

That really made me want to find the song, so I asked to see her collection and was, reluctantly, shown to a neglected side room full of dust with papers all over the floor. Some of them had clearly been chewed by mice. Eventually I found the song and learned to play it. But also there I found a letter to Broadwood from a shoemaker and great radical thinker from Horsham called Henry Burstow, who knew 400 songs. It said: Dear Madam, thank you for sending me your book of folk songs. What a lovely, got up book it was. It was so courteously written I had to bung it in my handbag. I thought a mouse would have nibbled it if I didnt. I like to think I rescued it. I eventually handed it back about three years ago and I wish I hadnt. Owning that letter was one of the greatest pleasures of my life.

Collins struggled not only with the snobbery of CSHs management, but the reverse snobbery and sexism of the left-wing folk scene.

In her frank and erudite 2018 memoir, All in the Downs, she writes that: Ewan [MacColl] was a looming figure you couldnt ignore, although I had taken an instant dislike and mistrust of him the first time I heard him sing. I found him pretentious and pompous. His habit of turning a chair round, straddling it backwards, before tipping his head back and cupping one ear with his hand made me giggle it looked so silly. This image of him hovers into my mind occasionally; I try to dismiss it as quickly as I can, along with the memory of the evening he invited me to his home to look at his collection of books. He was already undressing the minute I walked through the door. I fled, furious that Id wasted the money on the bus fare. But I have to acknowledge he sang some very fine songs.

Competitors arrive for the diamond jubilee festival of the English Folk Dance and Song Society at CSH (Getty)

Today she tells me that MacColl was a self-invented person puffed up with rules and regulations. I mean, I have rules of my own. It bothers me that anybody with a guitar today can sit in an expensive bedroom and write what they call a folk song, because folk is the music of the labouring classes and it goes back centuries. Ewans rule about singing in your own accent from your own area was ok, but he was so brutal about it. And it was hypocritical because Ewans voice was invented. He was equally brutal in his criticism. He once compared me to a Jersey cow lumbering along, words dropping from my mouth like jujubes [fruit candy drops]. He called me the Lady Baden Powell of English Folk Song. I thought, Christ Ewan, Im a darned sight more working class than you are!

American-born folk singer and feminist songwriter Peggy Seeger, MacColls second wife, has admitted that she was partly responsible for MacColls strict rules. She heard a Cockney lad singing American blues songs by Leadbelly and, in a blog, recalls being doubled over in my seat, gasping with laughter. I had to be taken out of the room. Most unprofessional, but I couldnt help it. I am North American. Woody Guthrie, Jean Ritchie, Big Bill Broonzy, Leadbelly, et al, used to come to our house in Washington. I knew what the song should sound like and the manner of delivery and the insertion of Cockney vowels into a southern USA black prisoners song just sounded funny.

But it was this policy which drove MacColl and Seeger to CSH, in quest of songs from MacColls birthplace, Salford. As a communist, she tells me, Ewan always felt he was stepping into enemy territory. I performed there with my brother Mike but never with Ewan, probably because they knew darned well we would do a lot of political songs. When we got our gold badges, the formally dressed conservative members were on one side of the aisle and the casually dressed folk song lovers were talking and laughing on the other. It was like a Montague Capulet wedding!

But we went along to the library together in 1956-57 and I remember poring over recordings. They had records and tapes, even wire recorders. The archive was in this little room, 7-8ft square, with a central table. We spent hours down there it was a fug, trying to breathe because Ewan was a smoker can you believe they let smokers sit there like that? Ewan struggled a bit with the manuscripts. I always thought he was dyslexic, although I never said anything.

Seeger says that after they became a couple they attended a few dances at CSH. He didnt dance but I did. The problem was the unlockable couples who came together, leaving me stuck with poor lonesome men many of whom danced better than me because I didnt know the English dances. I ended up sitting in corners or playing concertina with the band. But I did love to watch the dances.

Folk music maintained its popularity through the 1960s and early 1970s. Members of rock band Fairport Convention were drawn to the traditional tunes after folk singer Sandy Denny joined in 1968. In the summer of 1969 the bands bassist Ashley Hutchings began visiting Cecil Sharp House, conducting research he and Denny ploughed into their seminal folk-rock album, Unhalfbricking (1969).

Shirley Collins poses with passengers on a train inJune 1970 (Getty)

Nothing resonates like an old song, the bands guitarist Richard Thompson told the music press. To sing something beautifully written, and then refined over hundreds of years, that still has meaning and urgency, that still creates vivid pictures in the mind, is a deeply rewarding thing. I think we hoped the band would achieve some mainstream popularity, so that we could bring the tradition a little closer to peoples lives. This has happened more in Ireland and Scotland, but the English still seem to see their own culture as an embarrassment or a novelty its that post-empirical confusion.

But by the end of the 1970s folk music was slipping from fashion. Malcolm Taylor OBE started working in CSHs library in 1979 and only left his post in 2014. So, he tells me, I straddle the gap between the postwar revival and the modern era. Initially the dance side was much more proactive. Sharp hoped to channel our traditions through the school system and he was quite successful. People of my generation all did a bit of country singing and dancing at school, mostly based on his arrangements.

But Taylor says that by the time he arrived things needed to change. The folk scene was on its knees. Performers who made their names in the 1960s and early 1970s were really struggling. One of my favourites was a chap called Tony Rose who couldnt get gigs. Stars like Martin Carthy and John Kirkpatrick managed to stay afloat by diversifying, going into theatre.

The tiny room where the archives were kept was incredibly dusty. The manuscripts were in boxes that were all falling apart. They werent acid-free. The mission was to create a properly controlled environment that was equal to the importance of the material. I dont think we ever quite achieved that, but I found a spare room in the basement and occupied it. Money was always an issue.

During the 1980s, many folk lovers believed CSH should be sold to fund a cheaper building in which the collection could be stored. The sale of the house in the late 1980s was a huge issue, Taylor tells me. Membership was plummeting. Money was so tight. War broke out. It was awful. These very polite middle-class people resorted to terrible tactics on both sides of the argument. The library was a shuttlecock in the middle of the whole row. People kept calling me from America, offering to buy the archive and it was hard not to let it go because those universities had the facilities to look after it properly.

In the end, a group of more than a thousand Friends of Cecil Sharp House united to save the building. Taylor was relieved. It meant he could carry on with his efforts to reorganise the library: Let me tell you, thats not easy when most of your material is anonymous! The woman who started the week before me resigned after a few days saying the job was impossible.

Taylor tells me that the oldest manuscripts date from the late-19th century, but some of the books go back to the 1600s. The Play for Dancing Masters dates back to 1651. Cecil Sharps diaries and letters to his wife are there. I love all the correspondence between the collectors, revealing the intensity of the rivalry between them. Its such a pleasure reading about George Butterworth going down to Sussex to collect songs like The Banks of Green Willow, only to find somebody already working there.

When Taylor first started at CSH, the chair of the committee was Ursula Vaughan Williams, who lived around the corner in Gloucester Crescent the same road as Jonathan Miller, Michael Frayn and Alan Bennett.

Peggy Seeger celebrates Pete Seegers 90th birthday at New Yorks Madison Square Garden in May2009 (Getty)

Taylor recalls walking past Bennetts Lady in the Van when Williams invited him for lunch. Im a working-class bloke from Bermondsey, with a chip on both shoulders, and these people all seemed very posh to me, he says. But they were all amazing. Champagne socialists, sure. But perhaps the most liberal people I met in my life. I learned so much from them. Ursula would always start lunch with her latest aperitif something like Cinzano and grapefruit juice. You had one of those and youd struggle to sit straight through lunch. Then she served coffee that made your scalp twitch!

It was during Taylors time at the house that Billy Bragg first walked in, to seek the librarians assistance when he made his 1998 album, Mermaid Avenue, setting previously unheard Woody Guthrie lyrics to music. Taylor recalls all the celebrities whove engaged with CSH through the years, from David Essex to Jarvis Cocker. He tells me that artists like Jeremy Deller (most recently responsible for the Thank God for Immigrants posters that have appeared in peoples windows during the pandemic) and playwrights like Lee Hall (the writer of Billy Elliott) came in: his work is all about the dignity of the working class.

Taylor laughs about the time when one of Mick Jaggers representatives called up one day asking to buy some of CSHs original material. I said it wasnt for sale. The guy said, but Micks decided hes been most inspired by the Appalachian mountains. I said, I dont think Id agree with that!

Robert Plant came in just after hed made that bluegrass album with Alison Krauss [Raising Sand, 2007] so I showed him that collection of Appalachian music. He kept saying: Thats one of Alisons... I said: Yeah, but she got them from here. He hadnt realised. He bought around 50 worth of books and handed over his gold credit card. I remember thinking he might not have noticed if Id added a few zeros to the bill. We could have used 5,000!

Taylors legacy is The Full English: an online archive of all CSHs folk songs, plus those from other collections around the country.

The trouble with people like Sharp was that they cleaned everything up. The sex, drugs and rocknroll were all expunged and trust me, it was all in there originally! Songs in which the man knocks on the womans door and she sends him away trust me, in the original hes less likely to have wandered disappointed into the night. But when they wrote them down they recorded the songs accurately, so we can dig back to the truth of the tradition. And we have.

Rachel Unthank, of Northumbrian folk trio The Unthanks, went to meet Taylor in the early Noughties, fearing an atmosphere of stagnant traditionalism. But she quickly bonded with him over a mutual love of Robert Wyatts music. She remembers trawling through some big, heavy volumes of songs, when I came across a slim, delicate book with birds on the front. Its in this book that I found the song Ill Mount the Air on Swallows Wings a love song, only four lines in length. I was drawn to this song about love and longing and I already felt a kinship with the book.

She recalls reading a quote from one source singer that said: The modern singer must use the same imagination and flexibility in adapting the other verses as did the original singers. This spoke to me. It told me that any preconceived fears I might have had about a library of traditional song as being precious and museum-like could be put to rest. This quote was giving me permission to find my own relationship with the song, and to take it on another journey. I liked the song, but I had no idea it would turn into the sprawling 10-minute title-track of our next album or that I would have so many treasured memories of singing it live.

Throughout the Noughties, Katy Spicer tells me, the house has played host to all sorts, from the auditions for the first Harry Potter films so many boys dashing about in round glasses to the BBCs Electric Proms, including a really memorable night in 2008 when Goldfrapp filled the hall with giant paper baubles and so much equipment our electricity couldnt cope!

Folk fiddler Sam Sweeney winner of the BBCs Folk Musician of the Year 2015 did some of the research at the library but is most connected to CSH through his role as artistic director of the National Youth Folk Ensemble (NYFE). We run a course in October and another at the February half term, he tells me with our first gig of the year at Cecil Sharp House. I remember the first year: tensions were so high. We turned up at the house and did our warm-ups with butterflies in our stomachs. Then we got a tour of the Vaughan Williams memorial library and the kids spent over an hour looking through the manuscripts. It was incredibly cool and took all the pressure off. Some of these young people had never come across this kind of material before. They learn their songs from YouTube. They didnt realise that CSH has the original transcriptions of some of the tunes they were playing.

Sweeney says the genius of the archive is the way you can search through it geographically. I remember one girls jaw on the floor as she found a tune from her village. Even though the archive is all online, quite a few of them have taken trips back to talk to the librarians and find songs from their own towns and villages. Nothing beats the physical connection you get looking at the paper, deciphering the old handwriting of the collectors. You realise the journey these songs have taken through the aural history to the scholarly collectors of the early 20th century to the kids uploading it today.

Sweeney remembers committing an enormous faux pas when I performed at CSH with my trio, Leveret. We used to perform in the round, rotating every few numbers so the audience didnt have to spend the whole night staring at the same persons back. I remember when I moved so that I was facing the mural I said, Oh god, Ive got to spend the next four tunes staring at THIS! There was a horrible backlash from the audience. The mural is sacred.

No such stress with the NYFEs first concert which he says was a magical evening. The premiere of this massive project that had been years in the making. The hall was full, the kids played phenomenally well. Theyll all tell you how much I cried.

Rachel Unthank performs with The Unthanksat the Cambridge Folk Festival in 2019 (Getty)

Hayden Thorpe, former frontman of Mercury-shortlisted indie pop band Wild Beasts, played music from his highly acclaimed low-fi solo debut, Diviner, at CSH in December 2019. Its such a wonderful place, full of all the charm and chaos youd expect, he says. Id been planning to play the grand piano, but it turned out the stage wasnt strong enough to support the grand piano and I ended up using the practice piano from upstairs. Carrying your piano downstairs is a rite of passage for any pianist, because once you know the true weight of the instrument you respect it that much more!

Thorpes cockles were warmed when a clog dancing group met on the night of my gig, so several mature ladies were sharing my bathroom and had to go through my dressing room to get to it. I became quite au fait with clogs that night. That sort of thing never happened when I was touring with an ear-shredding rock band!

Thorpe says: The hall has a certain brisk expectation that you just turn up and do it. It expects you to be able to play your instrument and sing a song. Folk music always had that. Other kinds of music could learn from the attitude. In the end, I didnt even use a microphone. And it was a very special night.

Alas, all performances at CSH have ceased during the pandemic. The 90th anniversary was scheduled to have been marked with concerts from Barnsley Nightingale Kate Rusby. Across the summer, folk fans were expecting to attend the London Folk Festival there, along with gigs by Thea Gilmore, India Electric Co, Jackie Oates, Oysterband and Peggy Seeger.

Ive had to cancel my tour and, at 85, I seriously doubt there will ever be a time Ill perform again, Seeger tells me. Ill be too old by the time Covid is finished. That grieves me, not having one final concert. I would like to do one final public meeting with Shirley Collins, where the two of us can talk about our experiences. We are so different and yet our paths crossed at such a crucial time in 1956-57. So much pivoted around CSH. I hope they find a vaccine soon. And I hope CSHs doors reopen in time for women like me and Shirley to walk back through them.

Go here to read the rest:

Whats royalty got to do with folk music? The amazing story of Cecil Sharp House - The Independent

We crossed 90 days of lockdown. So, has your productivity peaked during this period? Have you learnt to bake, cook even better, write a book, start a blog, speak a new language? Are you feeling guilty for not doing enough? Are you plagued by FOMO? Then, please read on

For the salaried class, the WFH facility was initially thought to be a great idea as it was required to work in the comfort and convenience of ones own home. All the non-IT employees who envied their IT counterparts of the perk of WFH were finally going to experience it themselves. However, less than two months down the line, people were longing to go back to office.

With our homes not built to accommodate lavish and comfortable office spaces, with not-so-effective Wi-Fi connectivity, non-ergonomically designed chairs, jostling for space and some seclusion with a working spouse and two children in 2BHK flats (mostly), people were stressed and how. Visuals of couples working with laptops perched on the bed, women cooking while participating in a zoom meeting (with audio/video off), children popping up in official meetings on MS Teams, etc., went viral on social media.

For the salaried class, this was not a holiday. It was BAU in an utterly unknown WFH format which they grappled with. We lead a mundane life and need to show up in front of our laptops and meet deadlines, especially with the threat of job losses and paycuts looming large.

With no access to the maid the lifeline of an Indian family, life became a never-ending cycle of cooking, cleaning, working, caring for kids and elderly. Further, in a bit to stay visible while WFH, people were becoming overzealous and trying innovative ways to showcase their productivity.

Between witnessing people uploading videos of exotic baked dishes and jaw-dropping workout sessions, and deciding to pick and choose from the never-ending supply of webinars (dubbed as Death by Webinar), picking up the motivation to do office work, while trying to remain safe and healthy, sanitising the veggies, groceries and hoping that you will not be given the pink slip has caused anxiety pangs among the employees.

The Covid-related WhatsApp forwards that keep inundating your phone and brain and the gyan thrown at you by people on the best ways to keep yourself occupied and be productive has become mentally exhausting with no predictable end date in sight.

As we navigate this unprecedented once-in-a-lifetime experience, we are finding it difficult to focus. We didnt sign up for this and we are at our wits end, just hoping that we will all sail through this without any mishaps. We are facing extreme emotions and sometimes even overlapping emotions. As per psychologists, feelings of inadequacy, listless stupor, uselessness and guilt for not doing enough are likely to impact people.

Different people process thingrently. People have different coping mechanisms. There is no right way. So, although your OTT friend or neighbour appears to be super-productive by attending back-to-back online activity classes, dont get tempted to join the bandwagon.

For some, binge-watching movies is a way to unwind. For some, it is playing Ludo (why not?), for some it is crochet, gardening, music, gymming, etc. Find out what helps you calm down and indulge in it. There is no right or wrong formula. For some a timetable works, some prefer to go with the flow, depending on their mood.

Sometimes, doing nothing is so liberating. Try it! Life does not need to be an endless completion of to-do list. Take a break if you must. Clear the cobwebs of your mind. This could be the time for deep introspection and reflection.

You would have realised the benefits of home-cooked food. Exercise regularly. For those who have lost their jobs or about to lose one, dont panic. It is difficult, no doubt. But it is not the end of life, maybe end of a lifestyle that you were used to.

Corporates have tied up with online counselling services which are available free of cost to the employees. Sign up for those if required.

Our self-worth and self-esteem are being dictated by the number of accomplishments and accolades we have received. Not everyone is designed to thrive under adverse circumstances. Be kind to yourself.

The unplanned downtime can be used in several ways, to bring a smile to your face. There are several ways to unwind, which are not necessarily Facebook or Instagram worthy.

When you look back, do not look at this time with regret. Use this for some course correction not only in your professional lives but also personal lives.

As long as you come out unscathed from this pandemic, having done even a wee bit to enhance your life, it would be a time worth spent. Remember, its more important to be positive than productive.

Stay safe, Stay positive!

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Pressure to prove production - Telangana Today

After almost a week of suspense, it seems the Garmin outage story is finally over with Garmin Connect in recovery. In the Garmin Connect app, instead of the ominous 'Server Maintenance' warning window, Garmin watch users are relieved to see a different message (below), and data is now visible that hasn't been since last Thursday.

(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.

As a company listed on the stock exchange, Garmin will presumably have to confirm or refute this at some stage, unless the amount involved can be buried under 'miscellaneous sundries', like when we do our expenses.

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

The Garmin outage has been the hottest topic last weekend in running and cycling circles but it seems like the panic is over and everyone can calm down finally as Garmin announced on Twitter that "many of the systems and services affected by the recent outage, including Garmin Connect, are returning to operation".

However, 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 Monday morning, 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 also limited at the moment:

(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.

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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Garmin outage: Garmin Connect is recovering, so did Garmin pay a ransom? - T3 (US)

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) The Peninsula

Doha: As part of QIB''s ongoing efforts to provide innovative digital solutions to empower its customers, Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) recently released the latest version of its award-winning QIB Mobile App with the introduction of key new features, as well as a host of performance enhancements.

Developed with its customers'' daily banking requirements in mind, the latest update further empower QIB customers by allowing them to fulfil the majority of their banking needs through the mobile app without the need to visit a branch.

Following the upgrade, customers can now update their QID and Passport information through the App, retrieve their username and unblock their access to the App, instantly settle Vodafone payments using Absher rewards points and request to cancel a Western Union transfer.

Customers who have an expired QID or passport in QIB''s records are able to instantly update their details by simply uploading their renewed QID or Passport and continue to enjoy the full suite of QIB services offered by the App, including making transfers and payments or opening additional accounts.

The latest update, in response to the prioritized customer needs, enables users to retrieve their username and unblock their access to the App. To retrieve the app credentials, customers need to enter their debit card number and the card''s PIN as well as the onetime password (OTP) which is sent to the customer''s registered mobile number with QIB. As part of QIB''s continued efforts to reward the customers through the ABSHER Rewards Program, customers can now redeem their earned points to settle their Vodafone payments instantly through the App.

Customers can continue settling Ooredoo bills/ top-ups and Kahramaa bills by redeeming ABSHER Rewards Points through the app. Since the beginning of the year, QIB partnered with Western Union to offer the fastest and easiest way to send money anywhere in the world through the QIB Mobile App. Customers can now request to cancel a previously initiated Western Union transfer. The cancelation request is available in case the transfer is still pending and has not been yet collected by the beneficiary.

Commenting on the updates, D. Anand, QIB''s General Manager Personal Banking Group, said: ''Customers will always remain at the heart of our business. As we continue to progress by deploying new and innovative digital solutions and technologies, we remain customer-centric throughout. By digitalizing our products and services, we are enabling our customers to perform the majority of their daily transactions by simply logging into our all-inclusive Mobile App from anywhere, without the need to visit a branch.

He added: ''Especially under the current circumstances, we urge our customers to continue using our digital channels for all their needs, while reminding them that we are available to support them with any banking request. Customers can call our Call Center or their respective Relationship Managers for any banking inquiry or support on how to use our digital banking services.

QIB''s core strategy keeps customers'' best interests in mind, exemplified by the rigorous updates the bank''s digital platforms receive. The QIB Mobile App has become a single one-stop-shop for customers, providing multi-services and accommodating all financial requests.

Testifying to the quality services that QIB offers on its Mobile Application, the Bank achieved the highest rating amongst all local banks on Apple Store and Google Play Store, by receiving an average rating of 4.7 out of 5.0. To download the app, customers can visit the Apple Store or Google Play Store and search for the keyword: QIB Mobile App

MENAFN29720200006311010ID1100559147

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Qatar- QIB announces new features to its award-winning Mobile App - MENAFN.COM

The 1975 have launched an online exhibition showcasing videos inspired by various tracks from Notes On A Conditional Form.

The Manchester group teamed up with director Ben Ditto to commission 14 artists, each tasked with creating a visual piece in response to a particular Notes cut.

Matty Healy and co. have been uploading the finished videos to their YouTube channel over the course of the past three months. Today (July 22) the band shared Lu Yangs interpretation of Playing On My Mind, which completed the series.

The participating artists worked across disciplines such as 3D modelling, AI, generative animation, motion-capture animation, performance and robotics to create their respective films. Continuing with the themes of The 1975s fourth album, the pieces explore technology, hope, love, anxiety and violence.

Fans can view the complete Artists Respond To NOACF exhibition here via the bands official website, or in the form of this YouTube playlist. Check out the post below to see the full list of contributors.

An official description of the project reads: Today, our lives are more screen-based, virtual and dematerialized than ever before. We hear so many dystopian forecasts about our technological future, but technology can also have a positive effect and we should learn to embrace its benefits and potential.

This online exhibition highlights some of those possibilities: how technology can create beauty and meaning, new forms of expression and new ways of experiencing culture.

Meanwhile, The 1975 recently announced their rescheduled European tour dates for 2021. The shows have been postponed twice due to the coronavirus crisis, and will now take place throughout February and March next year.

The band have also shared a new 2021 date for their huge London headline show in Finsbury Park, where they were set to be joined by Phoebe Bridgers,Pale WavesandBeabadoobee earlier this month.

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Immerse yourself in The 1975s new online exhibit for Notes On A Conditional Form - NME.com

If youre looking to store your files online with your Microsoft 365 Business subscription, then OneDrive is where youll need to go. You likely already know it, but OneDrive is a cloud storage platform, where you can upload your businesss important files, view them across devices, and a lot more.

That said, getting started with OneDrive is easy. In this guide, well give you a basic tour and a look at what you need to know about OneDrive on the web. That includes a look at the OneDrive user interface, how you can create or upload files, download files, sync folders, and a lot more.

There are for core areas to OneDrive which you need to be aware of. Theres the left pane, the top pane, the information pane, and then your list of files. Each of these has a different purpose, and well dive deeper below.

Well be starting first with the left pane. Located on the side of the screen, here is where youll see toggles for the different functions in OneDrive. First, theyll be the My Filesoption to see all of your uploaded files. Youll also see a list of recent files or files youve shared. Then, theres the Discover section, to see popular and relevant files being shared across your company. Lastly, there is the recycle bin, where all your recycled files will go. Keep in mind, these files will remain there for 30 days until you choose to delete then. Well also mention shared libraries, too. If an admin has configured Teams, and Teams is in use in your business, a shared library is a location to store files for Microsoft Teams. All your files that are in Teams will appear here.

Moving along in our guide, at the top of the screen in OneDrive on your home page, youll notice some additional top-pane controls. These will change depending on which section of OneDrive youre in. On the main My Files page, which is where youll spend most of your time, there are a few controls to see here. Youll notice options to create a new document or folder, upload a file or folder, a button to initiate a sync of OneDrive, and another button to Automate tasks with Power Automate.

If you click a file, theyll also be controls to rename it, delete it, or download it. And, finally, youll see filter options to help you sort or change the view between a list, compact list, or tiles. Of course, there is a search bar, too, which will let you search for files, as powered by Microsoft Search and the Microsoft Graph.

Now comes the most important part, your list of files. When you see your list of files, itll be organized in one of three ways. It either can be as tiles, a list, or a compact list. You can change these by clicking the four squares at the top right of the screen. If youre having trouble finding a file, you also can configure the way you want to sort your files, too. You can sort by Type, Name, date modified, or size from the sort menu on the top.

Finally, were ending with the information pane. This pane only pops up once you click, or right-click on a file and then click the i in the right corner of the screen, or chooseDetailsfrom the right-click menu.Most times, youll get a preview of the file here, as well as a look at who the file has been shared with, and any activity on the file. You also can change access directly from this pane with themanage accesslink,and then choose who you want to share the file with.

Now that you get the basics, its time to look at how to create, upload files and folders. This task is easy. From theMy Filespage, click the + New button. Then, from the drop-down, choose a new document. This will open Office online, where you can create an Office document, and then save it to your OneDrive.

From this same menu, you also can create a folder. Just choose theFolderoption. Creating folders is a great way to keep files organized, without having to deal with filters. You can rename or delete folders at any time, too. Just click the folder, and choose your option.

Next, theres uploading files and folders. To do this, you can simply drag your file or folder into theMy Filessection of OneDrive. You also can choose it manually by clickingUploadin the top bar, and then pick a file or folder. A pop-out progress bar will let you know how things are going.

Capping off this section will be sharing files. This is the core of OneDrive, and it, too, is easy. To share a file or folder, just click on the folder or file. You should then see a Shareicon at the top of the screen. Click it to proceed. Atleritvley, you also can right-click and chooseShareas well. Once you do this, youll get a pop-up telling you to send a link. From here, you can specify permissions who you want to edit by choosing from a list, or you can enter an email or address. This will send the link on Outlook. As an alternate, you can also choose Copy Link to copy the link to your clipboard.

As we continue to explain OneDrive, well now get into downloading, copying, and opening files. These steps are pretty straight forward, too. Well start with downloading files. To download a file, just click it in the list, and then choose Download. You also can right-click and chooseDownload. From the same menus, youll also be able to copy the link to a file too, just choose Copy link option.

Finally, there is opening files in the desktop version of the Office apps. We have covered this before, but the process is easy. Just right-click the file, and chooseOpen in Youll then get a prompt on the screen, saying thatthis site is trying to open .Agree to it, and clickOpen.

A lot of our article so far has been focused on the OneDrive web experience, however, you also can also use the OneDrive desktop app on Windows 10 to sync up your system files and folders to the web. This will allow you to access your files from your computer, almost anywhere. We explained this in a separate post, but you can get started by searching forOneDrivein your Windows 10 PC, and then following the on-screen prompts.

As we always say, this is just the touch of the surface when it comes to OneDrive. Theres a lot more thats possible with OneDrive, and its a topic were always covering. Check out our Microsoft 365 hub for more tips, tricks, how-tos, guides, and more.

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Quick Start guide to OneDrive in Microsoft 365 - OnMSFT

The 400-year-old tree was to be chopped for the Ratnagiri-Solapur highway project.

A 400-year-old banyan tree that was in the centre of a protest against a highway project in Maharashtra's Sangli district will remain unharmed, Maharashtra minister Aaditya Thackeray announced in a tweet today.

Mr Thackeray said that the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has shelved plans to cutthe tree which was coming in the path of a road construction project. Instead the NHAI will realign the highway close to the tree, he said.

"The 400 year old banyan tree in Sangli district that we saved with a letter to @NHAI_Official. One can see the highway close to the tree. That, now will be realigned to save the tree. The tree is a keeper of legends, folklore and memories of many who played there as children," he tweeted.

The NHAI had planned to chop of the 400-year-old tree -- whose canopy is spread over 400 sq mt -- for the Ratnagiri-Solapur highway project, triggering protests from environmentalists and villagers. The moments also saw activists gathering around the tree as a form of Chipko movement to protect it.

"The NHAI was preparing to cut off the tree for the Ratnagiri-Solapur highway project. We started Chipko movement while keeping social-distancing in mind to save the tree. Taking not of our movement, Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray wrote to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who took note of this and instructed officials to not cut the tree," said Praveen Shinde, an environmental activist.

The movement saw residents sharing, uploading photos of the tree on social media in an attempt to show how wide the branches of the tree spread. Some of these videos featured monkeys and other species on its branches to highlight that large number of animals have made it their home.

The rest is here:

"Keeper Of Legends": Highway Plan Changed To Save 400-Year-Old Tree - NDTV

Its pitch black the kind of darkness that presses down on you like a heavy, hot quilt as the torch flicks from side to side along the overgrown pathway. There is no street lighting here in the woods, no residual sun or moonlight, so each time the light falls away, the darkness gobbles everything the trees, the brush, the weeds, the rubbish up again.

When a group of intrepid explorers first set out, the air was thick with giggles and banter. Now, they speak in hushed, urgent tones as the camera first pans across the distant splash of red buried in the undergrowth. Someone off-camera says theres a fucking cross there, boys and someone else guffaws. Fuck off, the guffawer says, and the pair share a short, unhappy laugh.

The camera moves closer, twigs snapping beneath the weight of the cameraman, and you realise Unhappy Voice #1 was right; there is a cross there. It wasnt, however, the splash of red you spotted a few moments ago. Its crudely made just two pieces of snapped plywood inelegantly nailed together with Chinese symbols scribbled at the bottom with Sharpie. The writing on the horizontal plank is less distinct, but that doesnt matter really, because your eyes are instead drawn to the offering nailed onto the cross.

Its a cheap plastic doll, its face and limbs spray-painted red. Nails protrude from the dolls wispy scalp, ears and mouth like a knock-off Hellraiser toy with an inverted cross stamped onto its forehead. There are more symbols here a trident, a pound sign, a female gender symbol, I think? and the left arm is severed completely, the hand nailed to the backboard and clumsily reattached to the torso via a twig. Its extremities look charred.

After poking it with a stick for a bit, the team turn to walk back the way they came, breathless and a little hysterical. No-one really talks about what theyve seen, but just inches from the car theres a sound of a bottle smashing and all five of them yelp and frantically paw at the handles, telling each other to lock their doors once theyre in. As they speed away, their words overlap as every one of them swears to the other that no, they didnt throw any bottle. Honest.

Credit: Randonautica

Immediately, the cameraman pulls out his phone and opens the app that directed them to that doll in the first place. Randonautica an app that promises to take you on a journey of true randomness might be new to you, but its currently entertaining millions across social media, flooding YouTube and TikTok with the experiences of would-be Randonauts that caption their videos in block-caps and dire warnings. WARNING NEVER DOWNLOAD RANDONAUTICA, says one. RANDONAUTICA IS NO JOKE WE FOUND A CRIME SCENE AND THE POLICE CAME, screams another.

This pair of Randonauts were taken to an abandoned shopping mall where outside, they found a motionless body that they couldnt quite discern was alive or not. The same guy later took a flight cross-country where a different Randonautica adventure led him to a box in the Nevada desert that housed nothing but a China bell commemorating the doomed (and alarmingly topical) 1986 marriage of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. DO NOT TRY THIS APP the video title sinisterly declares, although the Randonaut clearly doesnt value his own advice six of his last 10 videos are Rando-related.

A TikTok video, this one emblazoned with the legend please dont go randonauting, kicks off with a hysterical girl whose intention the word or phrase or emotion each player is asked to think of just as they boot up each mission was death. Weeping into the camera, she shares how shed stumbled upon a man lying in the gutter, his partner cradling him, bleeding from a gunshot wound inflicted by a drive-by shooting.

Credit: Randonautica

The developer states the app which is something of a mysterious Pokemon Go/Ouija board mash-up and listed as a simulation game on app stores has been downloaded 8million times and clocked up 400million views on TikTok.

Its been aided in no small part by the most infamous tale in Randonauticas annals in which players unwittingly followed coordinates to a washed-up suitcase that housed the grisly remains of not one but two dismembered corpses. Its probably not that surprising, then, that these kinds of coincidences are the ones clocking up the most views, encouraging some (read: many) content creators to leap onto the hype train with stories of their own.

In the very broadest sense, of course, the grave warnings are right Randonautica isnt safe. The random coordinates generated by the app can be anywhere at any time, and not only lead you to unsafe locations with unstable buildings, but they can lead you straight into a heap of trouble if you trespass, too.

Picking through abandoned trash is never recommended (please dont put yourself in a situation where you might accidentally stab yourself with a discarded needle), but even as the YouTubers heap warning upon warning in their intros dont play at night, dont play alone, dont be followed home they themselves are playing at night, playing alone and occasionally insist theyve been followed home, too.

Some theorise that the game uses your smartphones mic to hear intentions voiced aloud. Others intimate that given the app requires you to follow the coordinates on a map using GPS, this is how and why some players are being followed home. It doesnt seem to stop them playing and uploading it to the internet, though; Randonautica might be terrifying, but it seems to be terrifyingly lucrative, too.

Credit: Randonautica

The apps about page gives a spiel about pseudo and quantum entropy sources I remain unconvinced and players are asked to select a new location with an intention in mind. The results seem to vary wildly from stunning to the stunningly mundane, and we are, as humans, hardwired to seek out patterns and correlations where there are none.

Its clear the red-daubed plastic doll was not coincidental, though; either the lads themselves planted it or, admittedly less likely, a team working for the app did. Hidden in the weeds and at the end of a footpath as it was, theres no way I can accept its discovery was accidental.

I cant help but admit that Randonautica creeps me out in much the same way Ouija boards do. I can imagine it draws the same kind of ire and scepticism, too, with some maintaining its a harmless toy, and others professing it to be a dangerous tool of the occult.

I cant attest to its legitimacy because I dont know firsthand of anyone whos ever had a proper fright using it and I am much too much of a baby to try it myself (the fact that your GPS location is known to the app alone is enough of a deterrent). But like a lot of cheap, one-note horror games that clog up my YouTube subs page, I cant deny that its bloody good fun to watch.

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This quantumly generated app Randonautica is a reality game thats terrifying its players - NME.com

The current lockdown has taught Sonica Aron, Managing Partner, Marching Sheep how to take care of herself - physically, mentally and emotionally.

She told ET Panache, "Being foodies, we used to eat out almost twice a week. That did not help at all with my perpetual issue with weight management. So, I used to be a regular at the gym. The lockdown obviously put a complete stop on both the activities, eating out and hitting the gym. But my children, 12-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter adapted to the situation quickly. Fully cognizant of the fact that their mother is not going to enter the kitchen, they looked up recipes on the internet, and started producing delicacies every other day, from savory to desserts. We did not miss eating out at all but did put our fitness at risk."

Aron decided to follow her Apple watch. "I set up my daily target of workout at home. Looked up 45-minute videos of exercise without equipment. So, from Pilates, to yoga to HIIT. YouTube has a host of videos to choose from. On most days, I put a hard stop at 6 and workout. Not being a morning person, I do not force myself to work out in the mornings. When my watch tells me to stand, I stand and walk around. When it tells me to breathe, I take a minute to breathe deeply. Fitness Pal has been my calorie counter. There are cheat days, but on the whole, it keeps me in check," she said.

On an emotional level, Aron's garden is her haven. Having a cup of coffee, may be two in the morning in the garden gets her all rejuvenated.

"There is a cat who has made our garden her home. Initially we resisted but have now adopted her. Seeing her lap up milk gives a great amount of happiness to the entire family. Dinner time with family is fun, full of banter and how every ones day went. My children have online classes, and that comes with its own challenges. There is support needed when it comes to uploading homework and projects. Its interesting to see how tech savvy they are even at such young ages," Aron shared.

On the work front, the lockdown gave her an opportunity to look at the company's portfolio, spend time brain storming and revising it to meet the evolving needs of clients in these turbulent times.

The company is also spending time attending sessions that exposed them to several online platforms that have enabled then to deliver their interventions, from consulting to facilitations in a seamless manner. Keeping on learning has helped them immensely.

"The lockdown also gave an opportunity to forge strong relationships and collaborations. It is during this lockdown that we started working closely on delivering relevant sessions, like inclusion while remote working, building psychological safety and emotional resilience, in partnership with them. Non work-related interaction with clients led to building strong trusted advisor bonds and friendships," she said.

Aron's learning from this period are many. She explained, "We as human beings can adapt to any situation. We need to keep our goals in mind and work towards them in a resilient manner. We dont need too much to lead a happy life. Working from home requires us to be structured in our time management, so that we can give due time and importance to self and family as well. We need to evolve with the times. If we dont, we will perish. Our people are our biggest strength. My team has stood by me, walked with me, step by step. And that keeps us all going."

Taking care of oneself - physically, mentally and emotionally is paramount. "If you are feeling good and fit, you will take everything in your stride. This lockdown has been a reminder to us of how strong we really are. We just need to dig in and find that gold," she ended.

Not to shy away from difficult situations, these bosses share how they stayed in shape while stuck at home:

Ive taken up the challenge of how long I can hold a plank. From the earlier one minute, I can now plank up to close to two minutes. I want to get better. I plan on setting a new record soon. Holding the plank was something I always wanted to get better at in order to build my core.

I participated in the SOHFIT Reboot Challenge organised by a business organisation for its members. It was for 30 days and we were divided into teams, sharing details of our exercise regimen, food, water intake and sleep schedules with each other on a daily basis. Though I have been a hardcore fitness enthusiast for the better part of my li fe, this chal lenge proved to be the ultimate fitness experience. I was motivated to push my boundaries to the extreme and felt a sense of achievement and success when the chal lenge was completed. It made me feel stronger, fitter and happier.

My wife Vaishali and I have entered into a fitness and weight loss competition. We are both trying to get in shape and so far, shes comfortably ahead of me. But theres still some time to go.

I decided to use this opportunity to improve my physical conditioning. I started cycling (after more than 40 years) inside my gated community from mid-April. I went from seven kilometres per ride to 20 kilometres by the end of June. Recently, I did a 52-kilometre ride to Chikka Tirupathi [on the outskirts of Bengaluru]. Cycling has had a huge impact, not just on my physical conditioning but also my confidence.

Read the rest here:

Lockdown helped this Managing Partner to brainstorm and find new opportunities for Marching Sheep - Economic Times

Transcribing recordings is the bane of journalists, meeting note-takers and students everywhere. Enter Otter.ai, a speech-to-text transcription tool that works online or via a phone app using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to carry out transcription, live or by uploading a speech file after the event.

Otter Live Notes for Zoom has proven particular popular during lockdown, enabling meeting participants to open a live transcript directly from Zoom then view, highlight, comment and add photos to create meeting notes collaboratively.

Otter.ai VP of Product Simon Lau talked to Verdict about the product, shared his top tips for users and revealed how the company got its name.

Simon Lau, VP of Product at Otter.

Simon Lau: The pandemic has forced everybody to adopt technology much quicker, so its very timely that we provided our integration with Zoom. Whether it is for deaf or hard-of-hearing students, accessibility for any participants that have accommodation needs, students who want to take notes, for meetings or interviews where you dont have to worry about taking a full transcription of the entire meeting, Otter is right there.

If you hear any anything interesting, you can just click on the highlight button and just to highlight that last sentence or two, so you can come back to it more easily and review it and playback just those important bits of your conversation.

We built the speech-to-text technology thats at the very core; turning English spoken audio or video into written English. So whether you call it speech-to-text or ASR [automated speech recognition], thats the core functionality of our speech engine. Thats one component of our Ambient Voice Intelligence, but on top of that, we also have by speaker diarisation and speaker identification.

Speaker diarisation is nothing more than separating speakers into one or two. So, without knowing Berenice and Simons voice, for example, the transcript should say speaker one, speaker two. Currently, we are able to do that after the fact, meaning that in real-time you dont see the labels yet, at this stage. But after this recording is done, we will be able to go back and take another pass and analyse the entire recording and be able to tell between speaker one speaker two. In the speech industry, this is called diarisation (or speaker separation). And speaker identification takes it further.

In the Otter product, you can click on speaker one, and then type in Berenice, you can click on speaker two, and type in Simon, and then Otter goes back and relabels them. It will also take the opportunity to create voiceprints for you and me so that it will go back and relabel the entire conversation for this particular recording, but also it will apply to future conversations. Lets say we have a follow up in six months or a year and we have another Zoom call again, then your voice will be recognised.

Were also building out other types of intelligence. A starting point is just summary keywords, because who has time to review the entire 60-minute recording of a podcast? Otter provides a set of summary keywords and associated word cloud that you can click on. You can get in a quick glance the gist of the conversation, and then move on. If you want to drill down a little bit more, you can click on key terms. That will turn into meeting notes that are actionable.

We also let users highlight and comment by selecting a sentence in the conversation and then it will automatically be collected into highlight summary and comment summary. At the very top of your Otter conversation, you can click on three highlights or comments, and youll be able to go back and only listen and review those three highlights.

It is ambient in the sense that Otter does not talk back to you; this is not like Siri, or Google Assistant, or any of the voice assistants that youre used to. This is not about question and answer. This is about Otter applying speech, and intelligence into your conversations silently ambiently behind the scenes to provide new value.

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Yeah, definitely, for example, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, WebEx, RingCentral those are just a few that come into mind. We dont have any specific roadmap and timeframe to share yet, but we are still a very small team so were laser-focused on the building out the functionality for Zoom.

We want to provide a platform-agnostic way for our users to capture conversations and be able to review playback and collaborate and share content that they deem valuable. We want to give our users the choice because they might meet with people that use all the different platforms. You or your organisation might have a preferred platform that you tend to use for these remote and virtual meetings, but you are bound to be invited to many platforms and you still want to take notes on those. Thats why we offer a platform-agnostic way of capturing all of these important conversations and turn them into useful knowledge and useful notes.

We certainly want to expand to other languages. It wouldnt come as a surprise if I said Spanish, Japanese, Mandarin, Cantonese Chinese, German, Italian, French; those are the top languages that people request. We dont have a time frame to share at this point; it is in our future plans to expand to other languages but right now theres still more room for improvement for English, covering all the different accents. Hopefully, our laser focus on English, providing the top of the line accuracy across all types of environments, gives us the differentiation to be able to compete against all the other alternative solutions.

We have figured out a way to pick up new trending words quickly; it does require human intervention, its not completely automatic. Even as an individual account level, you as an Otter user would be able to go into your settings and be able to add custom vocabulary.

Thats particularly useful for any organisation that use acronyms. It makes sense to provide a very simple and easy way for customers to add custom vocabularies such as acronyms such as jargon, unique spellings of peoples names; there might podcasters who would be interviewing people and, and they want to make sure that as they interview their guests their names are transcribed correctly.

First and foremost, we want to provide the data for our users to analyse. We wont be able to share too far into the future what we plan to do, but the goal is that we want to provide value to our users. A business, school or organisation may get a licence of Otter because that they want to retain the knowledge of that meeting, their sales teams, their schools, all the lectures and all the educational material.

If you think along the lines of those use cases, there are specific requirements in each vertical on what type of conversation, analysis they want and they come to expect from Otter. So were gonna listen to those customers and build out a roadmap to satisfy those analysis requirements.

Nothing specific but I can speak broadly. Were very excited to roll out new functionalities for our speech engine and for our speaker identification that will take the next leap in improvement on that.

The top tip that I love to share with our users is to use Otter to record and transcribe live. That way you can take notes simply by highlighting in one tap, faster than you can type notes into document or jot things down with pen and paper.

By the time you finish the recording, Otter gives you both the detailed transcript and the summary of highlights containing just the important bits.

The inspiration for Otters name. (via David Groves on Unsplash)

The giant otter is one of the chattiest species on earth. The adults have 22 different calls and the babies have 11 calls of their own too. But most interestingly, most of the calls suggested an action, depending on the context. Our technology is all about accurately understanding human talk, and helping turn it into action, so we thought Otter was a great name. Plus, its a cute animal!

Read more: CTO Talk: Q&A with Cervests Alex Rahin

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Otterly indispensable: How Otter.ai has transformed transcription - Verdict

Doha: As part of QIBs ongoing efforts to provide innovative digital solutions to empower its customers, Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) recently released the latest version of its award-winning QIB Mobile App with the introduction of key new features, as well as a host of performance enhancements.

Developed with its customers daily banking requirements in mind, the latest update further empower QIB customers by allowing them to fulfil the majority of their banking needs through the mobile app without the need to visit a branch.

Following the upgrade, customers can now update their QID and Passport information through the App, retrieve their username and unblock their access to the App, instantly settle Vodafone payments using Absher rewards points and request to cancel a Western Union transfer.

Customers who have an expired QID or passport in QIBs records are able to instantly update their details by simply uploading their renewed QID or Passport and continue to enjoy the full suite of QIB services offered by the App, including making transfers and payments or opening additional accounts.

The latest update, in response to the prioritized customer needs, enables users to retrieve their username and unblock their access to the App. To retrieve the app credentials, customers need to enter their debit card number and the cards PIN as well as the onetime password (OTP) which is sent to the customers registered mobile number with QIB. As part of QIBs continued efforts to reward the customers through the ABSHER Rewards Program, customers can now redeem their earned points to settle their Vodafone payments instantly through the App.

Customers can continue settling Ooredoo bills/ top-ups and Kahramaa bills by redeeming ABSHER Rewards Points through the app. Since the beginning of the year, QIB partnered with Western Union to offer the fastest and easiest way to send money anywhere in the world through the QIB Mobile App. Customers can now request to cancel a previously initiated Western Union transfer. The cancelation request is available in case the transfer is still pending and has not been yet collected by the beneficiary.

Commenting on the updates, D. Anand, QIBs General Manager Personal Banking Group, said: Customers will always remain at the heart of our business. As we continue to progress by deploying new and innovative digital solutions and technologies, we remain customer-centric throughout. By digitalizing our products and services, we are enabling our customers to perform the majority of their daily transactions by simply logging into our all-inclusive Mobile App from anywhere, without the need to visit a branch.

He added: Especially under the current circumstances, we urge our customers to continue using our digital channels for all their needs, while reminding them that we are available to support them with any banking request. Customers can call our Call Center or their respective Relationship Managers for any banking inquiry or support on how to use our digital banking services.

QIBs core strategy keeps customers best interests in mind, exemplified by the rigorous updates the banks digital platforms receive. The QIB Mobile App has become a single one-stop-shop for customers, providing multi-services and accommodating all financial requests.

Testifying to the quality services that QIB offers on its Mobile Application, the Bank achieved the highest rating amongst all local banks on Apple Store and Google Play Store, by receiving an average rating of 4.7 out of 5.0. To download the app, customers can visit the Apple Store or Google Play Store and search for the keyword: QIB Mobile App

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QIB announces new features to its award-winning Mobile App - The Peninsula Qatar

When Roy LaManna founded Vydia in 2013, he had a simple elevator pitch: like TuneCore, but for video.

Seven years on, and Vydias model has shifted considerably. These days, its an independent audio plus video distribution and services platform that chooses to work exclusively with handpicked VIP artists. And we mean VIP.

Kanye West chose Vydia to distribute his Jesus Is Born LP on Christmas Day last year, while the likes of Akon, Mr Eazi and Latin megastar Anuel AA (with over 7bn YouTube views to date) also work closely with LaMannas service.

Most recently, Vydia has worked with rapper Lil Pump on his independent return, spearheaded by single ILLUMINATI (feat Anuel AA) which has racked up over 30m views on YouTube in less than three months.

In April, Dooney Battle co-founder of Tha Lights Global and Lil Pumps manager told MBW that Pump (whod previously signed a two-album, $8m deal with Warner Records) had recently turned down $5m-plus offers from major labels to release his new material, via Vydia, as an independent artist.

Vydias the new way, said Battle. The thing about Vydia thats different from the other distribution companies is that Roy and his team pick up the phone, they call, and they understand the culture. They aint just out here culture-vulturing.

They understand stuff popping on TikTok, and they understand artists that are huge with big bases, like Lil Pump. Thats why youve got artists like Kanye West putting out albums through them.

Battles line about LaManna and his team pick[ing] up the phone reflects an important facet of Vydias modern business model.

At one time in its history, Vydia was a true TuneCore-style DIY/self-upload platform, which explains why the company still has over 170,000 artists and creators going through its service.

But last year, in a similar pivot to rival Stem, Vydia decided to close off its platform to self-uploading, and instead hand-pick major-league artists with whom it could have a closer, more engaged relationship. (Unlike Stem, Vydia continues to allow those DIY artists who previously used its service to continue their relationship with the company.)

In addition to a reputation for uncommonly swift upload times across streaming platforms (including Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok and YouTube), Vydia offers these artists additional services including supply chain and rights management, social media marketing and, where applicable, a source of capital too.

The DIY [distribution] space is a race to the bottom, says LaManna of Vydias decision to exit the self-upload market. Its ended up being a price war, which is one of the reasons we decided not to focus on that market, because thats a losing battle.

In LaMannas mind, the winners in independent music distributions future will be twofold: Big, global distribution giants, and then smaller entities focusing on specific genres and/or geographies often working with artists who might not earn Ariana or Justin money, but are still, relatively speaking, living the good life from their music.

We see a thriving middle-market of artists growing right now, says LaManna. Artists are exiting these [major label] deals with an infrastructure around them and a significant fanbase; Vydia can really help to make their business more scalable.

Here, New Jersey-based LaManna tells MBW how he sees the future of the music business playing out, the role he believes Tencent will play in that evolution, and how the growing power of the independent artist sector will increasingly challenge Universal, Sony and Warner in the years ahead

We dont look for music talent to work with; we look for business talent. Thats why we focus on working with people like Dooney [Battle], who obviously brought us Lil Pump, but has also brought several other big artists to Vydia. We worked with Post Malone [before he signed to Republic], and still work with [Posts manager] Dre London; we worked with DaBaby [before he signed to Interscope] which gave us a business relationship with [King] Carter.

Working with guys like that speaks to our focus on working with the future Scooter Brauns and, as a result, working with the future Justin Biebers.

We dont look for music talent to work with; we look for business talent.

As a result, we fashion our tools more as business tools than artist tools. Were a back-end partner, and very happy with that role.

You wont hear us in the music [trade media] saying, Look we broke this artist! To me, its the Jobs-Wozniak kind of partnership. We provide the technology and infrastructure needed to help a manager build their artists business into something scalable.

Because it says something for the artists overall value if they have optionality.

Pump his bedroom, in conjunction with Tha Lights Global, made him a superstar in the first place, to the level he signed a multi-million-dollar deal [with Warner], right? So imagine what it does for your negotiating power, moving forward, to then prove you have options [outside of the major world].

In the past, whenever we bid for a project between us and a major, we often heard the argument of: But theyre gonna put it through the major label system. I think were now putting that idea to the test.

For specific genres, including hip-hop, Latin, trap, some of the afro-pop stuff, artists are realizing that their songs can be just as big independent maybe even bigger than going through the major system.

The [major label] system is not, I dont think, as efficient as companies like ours on the technology side.

Also, to be long term in this market, you have to consistently remain relevant. You cant just go away; if youre not putting stuff out at the frequency you need to be, you could fade to the background.

One of the things artists find important about remaining independent is the frequency with which they can release content, and the creative control they have in the process. The [major label] system is not, I dont think, as efficient as companies like ours on the technology side.

Our big thing is speed to market; if someone wants to release a track today and get it live within hours, we can support that.

I dont think that theres gonna be three companies sitting on top of the global music industry, and that theyre just gonna suck up everything. I actually think were gonna see a lot of these management companies and these labels going small; I think its gonna be a million little pieces.

Artists, as a whole, want to be part of the community. Whether thats Lookout Records and Green Day, or Nirvana and Sub Pop, or the rise of hip hop and Def Jam, theres always these independent labels that come alongside those communities. I think that thats going to happen [again] now, but at a much bigger scale.

Ultimately artists just want to be part of their communities and not part of the big machines.

Quite honestly, I think a lot of companies who consider themselves tech companies the were gonna raise $100 million and win the space companies have this wrong. I dont think [the indie distribution market] is a zero sum game like that.

Ultimately, these [distribution] companies need to seek some sort of path to profitability. Artists should be very concerned about anyone that has that [raise lots of money and dominate] model, because were going to see a wave of these tech companies essentially going bankrupt when they cant sustain operations, because their overheads are so high.

Were going to see a wave of these tech companies essentially going bankrupt when they cant sustain operations, because their overheads are so high.

Also Im not convinced that artists using a DIY platform also then want to sign to that platform [to further their career]. From a branding perspective, theres a reason why theres Toyota and theres Lexus.

Artists want to feel like that theyre part of a more of an exclusive club than part of an everyday platform. Youve got to remember that, at the end of the day, this is still the entertainment business. Theres still a glam aspect to it.

I have this conversation with managers all the time. They think of themselves as a management company and I say, Youre a label!

If youre doing A&R, developing the artist, making the record, making the video thats what you are. When managers shy away from being a label, they think like: Well, I dont want to do royalty payments, accounting, clearances, distribution, DSP deals etc. And I tell them: Thats fine thats what we do!

When a manager shies away from being a label, theyre often really shying away from the prospect of doing the boring jobs, not the exciting jobs.

Weve built our own proprietary royalty and rights management system. We do all that back end accounting, all the supply chain.

When a manager shies away from being a label, theyre often really shying away from the prospect of doing the boring jobs, not the exciting jobs. So when they find out that well take over the boring part, it makes for a good partnership.

Ive had this conversation with Dre before. Its because this new generation of [managers] dont know the rules, and therefore dont abide by the rules. And they have something in their brain that can never be replaced by technology: a winning combination of business smarts and street smarts.

I mean, Dre could talk to a billion dollar CEO, and a guy on the street, and do business with both of them on the same day. Thats never getting replaced by an algorithm.

Dre could talk to a billion dollar CEO, and a guy on the street, and do business with both of them on the same day.

Like I said, I dont want to compete with these guys for walking into the red carpet, or taking credit for breaking their artists thats not our thing. Were actually very adamant about saying that we dont break artists. We support people who do break artists.

You know that phrase: The coach outlasts the player? We focus on the coaches and we let them find the players.

Yes. We think that theres an education needed not only for young managers, but for young artists too.

I mean, weve done seven figures advances before. In all cases, those artists retain ownership of their content, but its not uncommon for me to also sit with them and help them think about their future how they should have fun with a bit of that [money], but also invest some for the future.

Thats not me being the greatest guy on the planet, its good business sense because, and Im just going to say it, youre seeing kids in hip-hop signing deals, getting a crazy amount of money, and then ending up either dead or in jail. And thats not good, right?

I consider myself a pretty responsible adult But if you gave me a million dollars at 18 years old? Id get in a lot of fucking trouble.

I consider myself a pretty responsible adult who runs a business. But if you gave me a million dollars at 18 years old? Id get in a lot of fucking trouble. I didnt see more than $10,000 in any one place until I was 30 and Im glad, because I wasnt mature enough to deal with that at the time.

I was irresponsible at that age most of us are. So Im definitely not saying that these kids are more or less responsible than anyone else, but you go from zero money to a lot of money overnight, it can be a recipe for disaster.

Thats one key thing: we sit down with artists and sometimes say, perhaps youre better off getting this money as an annuity, on a monthly basis. Or help them make other good financial decisions.

Were not a financial advisor, and we dont pretend to be, but from a mentoring standpoint, from one business person to another, its not uncommon for us to have those conversations.

My goal is not to raise any more capital; its to be self-sufficient. Weve heavily invested in technology, and thats important; one of the things many people dont realize is that [distributors] out there are putting sales ahead of infrastructure. And thats because infrastructure is very expensive, and its a long term investment.

We were very bullish on streaming after we got into the game [in 2013], which was a contrarian view at the time. Because of that investment in tech, we are now one of the few companies that do not rely on any third party for our technology.

Theres no secret partner at Vydia, hidden behind the door, getting a 10% cut [of artist income], like there is in a lot of these other companies.

We dont go through FUGA for our supply chain; were not partnered with Sony/ATV for publishing were able to do everything entirely on our own. Theres no secret partner here, hidden behind the door, thats also getting a 10% cut [of artist income], like there is in a lot of these other companies.

That came at a significant cost and, thank goodness, most of that cost is behind us.

I think [the industrys] moving towards replacing the artist, to be honest with you.

Between them, Tencent and Epic Games are investing in 3D scanning companies, which can scan artists, and put those artists into [virtual environments, as well as] actually creating content without human artists involvement at a very low cost.

Thats a scary idea, but the reason its even feasible is because a big problem in the music business right now is understanding the difference between the artist and the song.

I think [the industrys] moving towards replacing the artist, to be honest with you I hate to say it, but with a lot of those TikTok hits, I mean, the artists could be an avatar it wouldnt matter.

I know Steve [Stoute] mentioned this a little bit with MBW [on our Podcast recently], that the major labels are buying lottery tickets on songs a lot of times; when the artist is almost an irrelevance. And I hate to say it, but a lot of these TikTok hits, I mean, the artists could be an avatar it wouldnt matter.

Thats why Vydia is so focused on building the careers of real artists, in lockstep with their forward-thinking managers. Thats a different market to the lottery, which is vulnerable to technology.

Where I disagree with Steve is his certainty that, with the way the futures going, the artist will have all the power. I dont know; I come from a production background. You could create, essentially, a virtual artist today. And I dont think a lot of the kids would care, to be honest with you.

Think about it: the virtual likeness of an artist; it doesnt get old, it doesnt get angry, it doesnt argue with you.

You look at Scooter Braun and Taylor Swift bringing that [personal fallout] to the surface; if Taylor wasnt doing that, no-one would know about that situation and no-one would care. So what if Taylor wasnt an artist, but an avatar? Basically a corporately-owned video game character.

what if Taylor Swift wasnt an artist, but an avatar?

Thats why I believe when you start connecting things like Tencent, Epic, Fortnite and those gaming moves, in five years time, we could be having a real conversation about this.

Dont forget that in the gaming world, theyre selling [virtual] merchandise at a 100% profit margin; thats got to make some managers and labels think, Holy shit! Tencent already has that figured out.Music Business Worldwide

Originally posted here:

'For a lot of these TikTok hits, the artists could be an avatar it wouldn't matter.' - Music Business Worldwide

When mistreatment cross-platform frameworks, folks may forget the nuances of every of the platforms they need their code to run on. This text aims to handle that.

Specifically, people sometimes confuse it with the older Web-based mobile (and desktop) cross-platform frameworks, which basically were just Web pages running within browsers running within a wrapper app.

That was truly cross-platform in the sense that the interfaces were the same anyway because you only had access to the interfaces normally accessible on the Web.

Flutter isnt that, though: it runs natively on each platform, and it means each app runs just like it would run if it were written in Java/Kotlin or Objective-C/Swift on Android and iOS, pretty much. You need to know that because this implies that you need to take care of the many differences between these very diverse platforms.

I recently wrote on my diary concerning the necessity for a special approach to storing JWTs in net apps compared to mobile apps. That is due to the various nature of the platforms storage choices, and therefore the got to recognize every and their native development tools.

When you write a Web app, the storage options you have are:

1 Downloading/uploading files to/from disk, which requires user interaction and is therefore only suitable for files meant to be read or created by the user.

2. Using cookies, which may or may not be accessible from JS (depending on whether or not theyre httpOnly) and are automatically sent along with requests to a given domain and saved when they come as part of a response.

3. Using JS localStorage and sessionStorage, accessible by any JS on the website, but only from JS that is part of the pages of that website.

The situation when it comes to mobile apps is completely different. The storage options are the following:

1. Local app documents or cache storage, accessible by that app.

2. Other local storage paths for user-created/readable files.

3. NSUserDefaults and SharedPreferences respectively on iOS and Android for key-value storage.

4. Keychain on iOS and KeyStore on Android for secure storage of, respectively, any data and cryptographic keys.

Using the Flutter shared_preferences package uses localStorage on the Web, SharedPreferences on Android, and NSUserDefaults on iOS. Those have utterly completely different implications for your app, particularly if youre storing sensitive info like session tokens: localStorage are often scanned by the shopper, thus its a tangle if youre prone to XSS. although mobile apps arent very prone to XSS, SharedPreferences and NSUserDefaults don't seem to be secure storage ways as a result of they will be compromised on the shopper-facet since they're not secure storage and not encrypted.

Thats as a result of they're meant for user preferences, as mentioned here within the case of iOS and here within the robot documentation once talking concerning the protection library that is meant to produce wrappers to the SharedPreferences specifically to inscribe the info before storing it.

The only secure storage solutions on mobile are Keychain and KeyStore on iOS and Android respectively, whereas there is no secure storage on the Web. The Keychain and KeyStore area unit terribly completely different in nature, though: Keychain could be a generic credentials storage resolution, whereas the KeyStore is employed to store (and will generate) science keys, either stellate keys or public/private keys.

This means that if, for example, you would like to store a session token, on iOS you'll be able to let the OS manage the coding half and simply send your token to the Keychain, whereas on humanoid its a small amount a lot of manual expertise as a result of you would like to get (not hard-code, thats bad) a key, use it to cypher the token, store the encrypted token in SharedPreferences and store the key within the KeyStore.

There area unit completely different approaches to it, as area unit most things in security, however, the only is perhaps to use stellate coding, as there's no want for public-key cryptography since your app each encrypts and decrypts the token. Obviously, you dont have to be compelled to write mobile platform-specific code that will all of that, as there is a Flutter plugin that does all of that, for instance.

Those areas arent accessible by JS and are sent solely to your server. the problem thereupon is that theyre continuously sent to your server, notwithstanding one amongst your users clicks on a GET request address on somebody elses web site which GET request has aspect effects you or your user wont like. This really works for different request varieties moreover, its simply a lot of sophisticated. Its referred to as Cross-Site Request Forgery and you dont wish that.

Its among the net security threats mentioned in Mozillas MDN docs, wherever you'll be able to notice a lot of complete rationalization. There area unit interference strategies. the foremost common one has 2 tokens, actually: one amongst them aiming to the shopper as Associate in Nursing httpOnly cookie, the opposite as a part of the response.

The latter must be held on in localStorage and not in cookies as a result of we have a tendency to dont wish it to be sent mechanically to the server.

What if you have both a mobile app and a Web app?

That can be dealt with in one of two ways:

1. Use the same backend endpoint, but manually get and send the cookies using the cookie-related HTTP headers;

2. Create a separate non-Web backend endpoint that generates different token than either token used by the Web app and then allow for regular JWT authorization if the client is able to provide the mobile-only token.

Running Different Code On Different Platforms

Now, lets see how we can run different code on different platforms in order to be able to compensate for the differences.

Especially to unravel the matter of storage, a technique you'll do this is with a plugin package: plugins offer a typical Dart interface and might run totally different code on different platforms, together with native platform-specific Kotlin/Java or Swift/Objective-C code. Developing packages and plugins is quite complicated, however, its explained in several places on the net et al. (for example in Flutter books), together with the official Flutter documentation.

For mobile platforms, for example, there already may be a secure storage plugin, and thats flutter_secure_storage, that you'll notice associate example of the usage here, however that doesnt work on the net, as an example.

On the opposite hand, for easy key-value storage that additionally works on the net, theres a cross-platform Google-developed first-party plugin package known as shared_preferences, that incorporates a Web-specific part known as shared_preferences_web that uses NSUserDefaults, SharedPreferences or localStorage reckoning on the platform.

After importing package:flutter/foundation.dart, you can compare Theme.of(context).platform to the values:

TargetPlatform.android

TargetPlatform.iOS

TargetPlatform.linux

TargetPlatform.windows

TargetPlatform.macOS

TargetPlatform.fuchsia

and write your functions so that, for each platform you want to support, they do the appropriate thing. This will come especially useful for the next example of platform difference, and that is differences in how widgets are displayed on different platforms.

For that use case, in particular, there is also a reasonably popular flutter_platform_widgets plugin, which simplifies the development of platform-aware widgets.

You cant simply write cross-platform code and fake a browser, a phone, a computer, and a smartwatch area unit a similar factor unless you wish your humanoid and iOS app to be a WebView and your desktop app to be designed with lepton.

There area unit many reasons to not try this, and its not the purpose of this piece to convert you to use frameworks like Flutter instead that keep your app native, with all the performance and user expertise blessings that go with it, whereas permitting you to jot down code that's progressing to be a similar for all platforms most of the time.

That requires care and a focus, though, and a minimum of a basic data of the platforms you wish to support, their actual native genus Apis, and every one of that.

React Native users have to be compelled to pay even additional attention thereto as a result of that framework uses the inherent OS widgets, thus you really have to be compelled to pay even additional attention to however the app appearance by testing it extensively on each platform, while not having the ability to modify between iOS and Material device on the fly like its potential with Flutter.

There are some aspects of the UI of your app that are automatically changed when you switch platforms. This section also mentions what changes between Flutter and React Native in this respect.

Flutter is capable of rendering Material widgets on iOS (and Cupertino (iOS-like) widgets on Android), however, what it DOESNT do is show precisely the same factor on robot and iOS: Material theming particularly adapts to the conventions of every platform.

For instance, navigation animations and transitions and default fonts area units completely different, however, those dont impact your app that abundant. What might have an effect on a number of your decisions once it involves aesthetics or wife is that the indisputable fact that some static components conjointly modification.

Specifically, some icons modification between the 2 platforms, app bar titles area unit within the middle on iOS and on the left on robot (on the left of the on the market area just in case there's a back button or the button to open a Drawer (explained here within the Material style pointers and conjointly called a hamburger menu). Heres what a fabric app with a Drawer feels like on Android:

And what the same, very simple, Material app looks like on iOS:

On the online there's a small amount of a unique state of affairs, as mentioned conjointly during this Smashing article regarding Responsive net Development with Flutter:

specifically, additionally to having to optimize for larger screens and account for the means folks expect to navigate through your web site that is that the main focus of that article you have got to stress regarding the very fact that generally widgets square measure placed outside of the browser window.

Also, some phones have notches within the high a part of their screen or different impediments to the proper viewing of your app attributable to some form of obstruction. Both of those issues may be avoided by wrapping your conveniences during a SafeArea widget, that may be a explicit reasonably cushioning convenience that makes certain your widgets comprise an area wherever they will really be displayed empty preventive the users ability to envision them, be it a hardware or code constraint.

React Native needs far more attention and a way deeper information of every platform, additionally to requiring you to run the iOS machine furthermore because the mechanical man human at the terribly least so as to be able to check your app on each platform: its not identical and it converts its JavaScript UI parts to platform-specific widgets.

In alternative words, your React Native apps can invariably seem like iOS with Cupertino UI parts as they're generally known as and your mechanical man apps can invariably seem like regular Material style mechanical man apps as a result of its victimization the platforms widgets. The distinction here is that Flutter renders its widgets with its own low-level rendering engine, which implies you'll be able to check each app versions on one platform.

Getting Around That Issue

But that also means that you can do most of your Flutter development on a Linux or Windows workstation without sacrificing the experience of your iOS users, and then just build the app for the other platform and not have to worry about thoroughly testing it.

Next Steps

Cross-platform frameworks are awesome, but they shift responsibility to you, the developer, to understand how each platform works and how to make sure your app adapts and is pleasant to use for your users. Other small things to consider may be, for example, using different descriptions for what might be in essence the same thing if there are different conventions on different platforms.

Its great to not have to build the two (or more) apps separately using different languages, but you still need to keep in mind you are, in essence, building more than one app and that requires thinking about each of the apps you are building.

We will be happy to answer your questions on designing, developing, and deploying comprehensive enterprise web, mobile apps, and customized software solutions that best fit your organization's needs.

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Solving common cross-platform issues when working with flutter - WhaTech

Its pitch black the kind of darkness that presses down on you like a heavy, hot quilt as the torch flicks from side to side along the overgrown pathway. There is no street lighting here in the woods, no residual sun or moonlight, so each time the light falls away, the darkness gobbles everything the trees, the brush, the weeds, the rubbish up again.

When a group of intrepid explorers first set out, the air was thick with giggles and banter. Now, they speak in hushed, urgent tones as the camera first pans across the distant splash of red buried in the undergrowth. Someone off-camera says theres a fucking cross there, boys and someone else guffaws. Fuck off, the guffawer says, and the pair share a short, unhappy laugh.

The camera moves closer, twigs snapping beneath the weight of the cameraman, and you realise Unhappy Voice #1 was right; there is a cross there. It wasnt, however, the splash of red you spotted a few moments ago. Its crudely made just two pieces of snapped plywood inelegantly nailed together with Chinese symbols scribbled at the bottom with Sharpie. The writing on the horizontal plank is less distinct, but that doesnt matter really, because your eyes are instead drawn to the offering nailed onto the cross.

Its a cheap plastic doll, its face and limbs spray-painted red. Nails protrude from the dolls wispy scalp, ears and mouth like a knock-off Hellraiser toy with an inverted cross stamped onto its forehead. There are more symbols here a trident, a pound sign, a female gender symbol, I think? and the left arm is severed completely, the hand nailed to the backboard and clumsily reattached to the torso via a twig. Its extremities look charred.

After poking it with a stick for a bit, the team turn to walk back the way they came, breathless and a little hysterical. No-one really talks about what theyve seen, but just inches from the car theres a sound of a bottle smashing and all five of them yelp and frantically paw at the handles, telling each other to lock their doors once theyre in. As they speed away, their words overlap as every one of them swears to the other that no, they didnt throw any bottle. Honest.

Credit: Randonautica

Immediately, the cameraman pulls out his phone and opens the app that directed them to that doll in the first place. Randonautica an app that promises to take you on a journey of true randomness might be new to you, but its currently entertaining millions across social media, flooding YouTube and TikTok with the experiences of would-be Randonauts that caption their videos in block-caps and dire warnings. WARNING NEVER DOWNLOAD RANDONAUTICA, says one. RANDONAUTICA IS NO JOKE WE FOUND A CRIME SCENE AND THE POLICE CAME, screams another.

This pair of Randonauts were taken to an abandoned shopping mall where outside, they found a motionless body that they couldnt quite discern was alive or not. The same guy later took a flight cross-country where a different Randonautica adventure led him to a box in the Nevada desert that housed nothing but a China bell commemorating the doomed (and alarmingly topical) 1986 marriage of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. DO NOT TRY THIS APP the video title sinisterly declares, although the Randonaut clearly doesnt value his own advice six of his last 10 videos are Rando-related.

A TikTok video, this one emblazoned with the legend please dont go randonauting, kicks off with a hysterical girl whose intention the word or phrase or emotion each player is asked to think of just as they boot up each mission was death. Weeping into the camera, she shares how shed stumbled upon a man lying in the gutter, his partner cradling him, bleeding from a gunshot wound inflicted by a drive-by shooting.

Credit: Randonautica

The developer states the app which is something of a mysterious Pokemon Go/Ouija board mash-up and listed as a simulation game on app stores has been downloaded 8million times and clocked up 400million views on TikTok.

Its been aided in no small part by the most infamous tale in Randonauticas annals in which players unwittingly followed coordinates to a washed-up suitcase that housed the grisly remains of not one but two dismembered corpses. Its probably not that surprising, then, that these kinds of coincidences are the ones clocking up the most views, encouraging some (read: many) content creators to leap onto the hype train with stories of their own.

In the very broadest sense, of course, the grave warnings are right Randonautica isnt safe. The random coordinates generated by the app can be anywhere at any time, and not only lead you to unsafe locations with unstable buildings, but they can lead you straight into a heap of trouble if you trespass, too.

Picking through abandoned trash is never recommended (please dont put yourself in a situation where you might accidentally stab yourself with a discarded needle), but even as the YouTubers heap warning upon warning in their intros dont play at night, dont play alone, dont be followed home they themselves are playing at night, playing alone and occasionally insist theyve been followed home, too.

Some theorise that the game uses your smartphones mic to hear intentions voiced aloud. Others intimate that given the app requires you to follow the coordinates on a map using GPS, this is how and why some players are being followed home. It doesnt seem to stop them playing and uploading it to the internet, though; Randonautica might be terrifying, but it seems to be terrifyingly lucrative, too.

Credit: Randonautica

The apps about page gives a spiel about pseudo and quantum entropy sources I remain unconvinced and players are asked to select a new location with an intention in mind. The results seem to vary wildly from stunning to the stunningly mundane, and we are, as humans, hardwired to seek out patterns and correlations where there are none.

Its clear the red-daubed plastic doll was not coincidental, though; either the lads themselves planted it or, admittedly less likely, a team working for the app did. Hidden in the weeds and at the end of a footpath as it was, theres no way I can accept its discovery was accidental.

I cant help but admit that Randonautica creeps me out in much the same way Ouija boards do. I can imagine it draws the same kind of ire and scepticism, too, with some maintaining its a harmless toy, and others professing it to be a dangerous tool of the occult.

I cant attest to its legitimacy because I dont know firsthand of anyone whos ever had a proper fright using it and I am much too much of a baby to try it myself (the fact that your GPS location is known to the app alone is enough of a deterrent). But like a lot of cheap, one-note horror games that clog up my YouTube subs page, I cant deny that its bloody good fun to watch.

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This quantumly generated app Randonautica is a reality game thats terrifying its players - NME

LITTLE People, Big World stars Tori and Zach Roloff marked their fifth wedding anniversary with a luxury child-free holiday.

The couple were without their kids - Jackson, three and eight-month-old Lilah - as they enjoyed some time alone at a stunning Oregon resort.

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Traveling together to their destination, an excited Tori teased her husband as he drove.

Focusing the camera on Zach, she said: "Look at my date for the weekend!

"Anniversary weekend here we come - get it, send it!"

She captioned the video and admitted: "I will be embarrassing him like this all weekend."

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She then tried to film the 30-year-old using an Instagram filter which enhanced his blue eyes.

When he voiced his resistance and put a hand up to the camera, she insisted: "The filter makes you look so good - look how blue your eyes look.

"Wow, I married this guy - five years!"

The mom-of-two then went on to share a beach side view of their hotel, The Stephanie Inn, and captioned the idyllic snap: "Vitamin sea".

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Uploading a sunset shot of her husband as they played card games together outside, she described the moment as "perfection."

Recently Zach was slammed after a video showed him pushing Tori into a paddling pool while she was holding their son Jackson.

Tori uploaded the clip to her Instagram stories and wrote: "Dads are the worst."

One person said: "Anyone else find this really not funny on Zachs part?"

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Another added: "This is so unsafe and not cool at all.

"Jackson was obviously scared and Tori could have been hurt.

"Its childish and Im honestly surprised she posted it. Im sure theyre going to take heat for it and they should."

The incident followed Tori, 29, who was forced to defend herself against mom-shamers who wondered about Jackson's health after fans noticed his bent leg in a family photo.

She addressed the concerns and said: I am not responsible for teaching the world anything about dwarfism or a pandemic or any other global issue.

"However, it is my privilege to have a platform where I can share information on things I find important like dwarfism or a pandemic or other global issues.

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She went on: "I did not chose to be in the public eye. I fell in love and I chose my husband then and I choose him every day since.

"This all comes along with him and our family and I feel like Ive done a damn good job of being the best I can be.

I dont owe you anything. You dont own me. You cant manipulate me.

"This is my Instagram and I can choose what I want to share.

"If this doesnt sit well with you Im sorry. Its not my job to change your mind.

Continue reading here:

Little Peoples Tori and Zach Roloff celebrate their fifth wedding anniversary at luxury Oregon resort w - The Sun

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Everything One Needs to Know About WordPress Development - Press Release - Digital Journal

When metadata librarian Nina Watts started working with the UK-based University of Westminsters institutional repository in 2005, the wonderful world of online scholarly collections was a very different place. WestminsterResearch was about to open with 2,692 records dating back to 2001, and of these, less than 10 per cent had an attachment such as an accepted author manuscript.

We launched in 2006 and this was quite early on in the landscape of repositories Westminster was considered to be an early adopter here, she says. In our project initiation document, you can see this mistaken impression that most works would be self-deposited with academics simply uploading publisher PDF... the repository deposits turned out to be entirely mediated.

Different schools also had different responses to the whole idea of open access, she adds. One head of school actually said they didnt see the point of open access, although they have since totally changed their mind.

Fast-forward 15 years, and the repository is now home to some 22,705 records, of which 27 per cent have an attachment. The percentage of full-text attachments for actual articles published since 2016 is 88 per cent; this figure came in at only 20 per cent for articles from 2006. And, where possible, content is made openly available with types of entries including journal articles, chapters, books and conference papers as well as a rising number of practice-based works such as exhibitions, digital and visual media, artefacts and designs.

According to Watts, 2015 was a watershed for WestminsterResearch in terms of the types of works as well as sheer numbers published. The university had just started working with UK-based Haplo, using the repository provider to ingest workflow, while still relying on its original free and open source Eprints package for the public repository interface. As a result, the repository could much more easily support practice-based research and non-traditional data-sets.

At the same time, the REF open access mandate had just been announced, stating journal articles and some conference proceedings had to be publicly accessible within three months of acceptance for publication in order to be eligible for submission for the post-2014 research excellence framework. Given the double-whammy of easier depositing and REF urgency, WestminsterResearch saw self-deposits rocket from less than one per cent to more than 99 per cent while practice-based/non text-based entries mushroomed by 246 per cent.

The Haplo repository and REF open access mandate came at a similar time and the combined power of both led to this massive increase in self-deposits, highlights Watts.

The mandates really helped people to comply to open access, she adds. And we believe that factors contributing to more practice-based research included vastly improved templates and fields for these outputs... in the past, the repository just couldnt take this content.

Following these results and the looming REF2021, WestminsterResearch switched to a full Haplo open source-set up in 2018, and entries have continued to rise. As Watts put it: I dont think wed have been able to support the increase in open access deposits without this rise in self-depositing.

Watts words echo the sentiments of many institutional professionals and end-users that have been working with repositories over the last decade or so. And given the steady development of repository platforms and tools, these words clearly havent fallen on deaf ears.

Jean-Gabriel Bankier, managing director of Bepress as well as Digital Commons for Elsevier, has spent a least a decade developing institutional repository cloud-based services. During this time, he has grown the Digital Commons community to more than 600 academic institutions, which have deposited some 3.5 million articles, leading to more than one billion downloads. Along the way, he has watched open access evolve as he says, in my mind, theres never been any kind of flashpoint event with open access - and is very conscious of the trials and tribulations that have ensued.

The work involved in finding, posting, sharing research the building of an open access repositories is a significant amount of work, but progress is being made, he says. Tools have been getting better and weve been really learning how to cut down on some of the more arduous steps of the workflow.

This is where a lot of effort has taken place over the last several years, he adds. For example Sherpa-Romeo [a Jisc tool to aggregate open access policies] was a big step in that direction and weve seen various efforts to make collecting metadata easier and faster.

For its part, Bepress has spent 16 years honing Digital Commons, and is now launching a new harvesting tool that allows users to swiftly harvest Scopus data into Digital Commons, and promises to slash the time taken by institutional repository managers to add faculty publication records into repositories, by up to 50 per cent. This, in combination with a new Outbound API, means the library can reuse the metadata from its institutional repository to manage information about its research contribution too.

Digital Commons has always been the showcase repository; weve been the Swiss Army Knife of discovery no matter what your content is, we will help you it showcase it beautifully, highlights Bankier. However, we also envisage [the repository] being a hub where accurate and comprehensive researcher data is gathered, organised and then shared.

Todays institutional repository must support the essential reputational needs of the university, serving as a research showcase and as a database of researcher outputs, describing the research being done, he adds.

Discovery matters

Workflows aside, Bepress has also focused on making open access repository content discoverable as well as demonstrating impact. To this end, the company incorporated Digital Commons Dashboards that allow administrators to browse real-time download activity and generate usage reports on demand. And impact analytics have expanded beyond downloads of the full text to include metrics such as citations, captures, mentions, and social media likes and tweets with the integration of PlumX Metrics. This is about encouraging additional contributions from authors and is so important, says Bankier. Its like the tree falling in the forest; if no-one hears that, did it really fall? The more authors are alerted to the impact that their work is having, the more they will contribute in the future.

Other key industry players are developing methods to drive both discovery and impact forward. Earlier this year, Figshare launched a faceted search page across its platform which, according to chief executive, Mark Hahnel, is designed to make it easier for users to ask questions and find content.

The move was, in part, prompted by Figshares rapidly rising volumes of text-based content. While the platform was originally designed with visual searches in mind, it has been increasingly used by institutions as a paper and thesis repository while high-volume preprint services, including ChemRxiv and SAGE Advance, also rely on its infrastructure.

Were also adding quality filters to the search, such as filter by citation count, which provides an indicator of what we can do, highlights Hahnel.

Importantly, the faceted search also provides a way to ask questions, such as how many downloads of chemistry content have there been in June on a human level, and without using a [search] API.

Liz Bal, director of open research services at Jisc, is pleased to see a rising number of tools designed to make life easier for repository users. We have more repositories than ever, more research than ever and as an end-user navigating this, it can be challenging.

In a similar vein to Bankier and Hahnel, she believes discovery is a crucial part of the growing repository landscape. At Jisc, we are interested in discovery as we believe this is an area that is ripe for improvement, will help people access the right information and help us realise the benefits of open research, she says.

Indeed, Jisc has been outlining many mechanisms and key tools to drive discovery forward. For example, the organisation recommends that any repository registers with the global directory of open access repositories OpenDOAR so users can find the most relevant repository when searching for content. Importantly, registration also ensures a repository is picked up by services such as CORE, a global aggregator of open access content, delivered by Jisc and The Open University.

In response to the recent UKRI open access consultation, one of our key recommendations is that registration with OpenDOAR becomes mandatory, says Bal.

This will help with content searches, quality assurance and provide information around the status of the national and global repository infrastructure, she adds. Were keen to link up such services to add depth and resilience to the repository infrastructure.

As Bal also highlights, Jiscs aggregator, CORE, includes a web-based search engine, programmable access to metadata and full-text for text mining to promote content discovery. Whats more, customised search and analysis tools can be created using CORE index and its API.

In line with other key players sentiments on impact, Jisc has also launched national aggregation services, IRUS-UK, IRUS-ANZ and most recently IRUS-US, which provide download statistics for content within a repository within the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the US. Were excited to grow our portfolio of IRUS services because institutional repositories can now look at their usage at the national level as well as benchmark at the international level, says Bal.

Indeed, Jisc has been quick to put together a table showing the use of coronavirus-related content in IRUS, featuring items from all three services. We are already seeing some useful insights from comparing usage in this way, highlights Bal. In working towards a global picture, well have a better understanding of content usage, and the important role of institutional repositories in providing open access to content, across the current fragmented landscape. (See Repositories far and wide, below)

Coronavirus catch-all

But while the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted how repositories provide an indispensable platform to collate and disseminate research swiftly, it has also flagged up an underlying need for screening.

Indeed, within a few weeks of the coronavirus outbreak, bioRxiv and medRxiv had enhanced screening procedures on manuscripts to weed out dubious research results.

As Figshares Hahnel highlights: Weve seen this with our ChemRxiv clients and have said they need to add a banner to such content, pointing out that it is not peer-reviewed. I believe that data as well as pre-prints fall into this category of research that needs to be published quickly but needs some level of checking.

Indeed, Hahnel has spent the past year working with the US-based National Institutes of Health on a generalist data repository to store and re-use NIH-funded research data. Crucially, the repository has been curated by trained data librarians that check detail on, say, licensing and metadata, to ensure data aligns with the FAIR principles. And Hahnel thinks this low-level screening has made a huge difference.

Our State of Open Data reports indicates that many people like assistance while publishing data... and this NIH repository is providing a safe way to do this, he says.

Also, initial data [from the NIH] on content use and downloads shows that the impact of checked files is significantly higher [than files that havent been checked].

So it would seem that even simple screening benefits repository content and users. Still, as Hahnel points out, going forward, who checks and who pays? Were in a transition period here, and the business model for this is still up in the air, he says. But I think its going to have to involve human curation.

So what now for repositories? Without a doubt, the community can expect to see more advances in discovery and impact as well as interoperability, data ingestion and re-use. As Bankier says: We have the momentum and the change that is coming is good.

At the same time, Jiscs Bal firmly believes that the increasing number of repositories is raising the awareness of open access and open research, and this will continue.

Open access is widely seen as the norm, and this cultural shift is very important, she says.

To that end, we welcome the focus on open research in the UK Governments Research and Development Roadmap, and remain committed to providing the research community with the systems, repositories and intelligence to truly reap the benefits of open research.

And for repository user, Watts from WestminsterResearch, the rise in tools and open access has already delivered much-needed results. At first [depositing content in] an institutional repository was a nice thing to do, but with open access this has become a compliance issue she says.

This has definitely led to better repositories.

See the article here:

The never-ending story - Research Information

In the past few days, a trailer dropped for a new video game by the name of Gamer Girl. Troll bait if Id ever heard it.

The premise is simple: you play as a moderator for a Twitch streamer named AbiCake99, controlling her comments and decisions as she gets stalked in more and more disturbing ways by a fan. At some point, it seems to veer into straight up horror.

There are many reasons this is disturbing that we dont have time to go into right now. Needless to say, it represents a failure to read the room regarding the harassment of women streamers by game developer Wales Interactive, despite what they claim are all the good, awareness-raising intentions in the world. Playstation even took the trailer down mere hours after uploading it due to the backlash.

This is the experience of many women, and claiming that because the lead actress improvised her lines it is fine to ape it for the sake of a few quick bucks on Steam is sketchy justification at best.

The life of a woman being harassed and targeted on the internet is far from a jokejust look at the recent reaction to The Last of Us Part 2 for daring to have players take control of a woman character with (gasp!) muscly arms. Developers and cast members have faced sexist and transphobic trolling, harassment, and of course, death threats. It feels terrible and glib to add of course into the mix, but the predictability of it all requires recourse to the banal.

Im trying to avoid saying the phrase Gamergate, not just because it has Beetlejuice-esque qualities and attracts the very worst of humanity, but because that particular black hole of misogyny and hatred has been analysed to death. But its there, even now, years later, lurking in the back of the mind of every woman who takes part in online spaces, particularly those where mens voices come through loudest.

Sadoshi Kuns 1997 anime movie, Perfect Blue, really is the Ur-text to capture the horror of being a woman in online spaces. It is a remarkably prescient movie, full of tropes that would become all too commonplace and real as the internet progressed past its infancy.

The movie follows a young Japanese pop idol, Mima Kirigoe, who decides to leave behind her career as a cutesy, kid-friendly (and male fantasy) pop star in favour of a career as an actress. Over the course of the movie, she is stalked by a fan who has been impersonating her online, manipulated by everyone around her, right until she cannot recognise her reality anymore.

Its a movie about how being a woman, particularly one in public view, is fraught with traps and pitfalls. Mima can be the Madonna, or the Whore. The fans present at her final concert in her pop group are almost entirely adult men, salivating over the singers as they dance in their innocent-but-sexy costumes. As an actress, her reputation is tarnished because her character is raped on screen in a disturbing scene.

Misogyny infects every single scene of the movie, and all of these social pressures are amplified by the growing voice and intrusion of the internet. Part of what causes Mimas psychosis is a virtual diary written from her point of view, meticulously detailing every aspect of her day to the point where it is undeniable that she is being stalked.

The internet is just another aspect of human society. All our inventiveness, curiosity, anxiety, cruelty, kindness and terror is amplified by its use. We get the internet that we deserve.

2018s Cam, directed by Daniel Goldhaber, builds on the anxieties presented in Perfect Blue. Its the story of a young Camgirl, an internet model who hosts livestreams, often featuring sexual/erotic acts. Alice is a camgirl, and shes doing pretty well for herselfshes just made the top 50 of the most popular streamers on her platform.

Thats until a doppelganger appears, usurping her views and eventually leading to her revealing her career to her unsuspecting family.

Like Perfect Blue, Cam is a psychological horror that preys in part on our online fears. And like Perfect Blue, the insidious misogyny is figured as a virus, spreading not only hatred, but a fundamental lack of security in its protagonists sense of identity. Alice is forced to grapple with the idea that theres someone out there who has all the same tricks she has, but is meaner, cleverer, who doesnt tire or get frustrated. Who is quite content to work non-stop and keep reeling in the views.

These movies truly represent a new dawn in existential horror.

Movies like Cam and Perfect Blue are about women who are lovedadored evenand thats horrifying enough.

But what happens when a woman is hated online?

In February of this year, a channel trailer started appearing all over my YouTubeit would crop up in adverts before videos, and on my recommended page.

I Am Sophie The New Queen of Youtube, it proclaimed.

It looked dumb, to be honest. Just from the thumbnail image, I assumed it was some Instagram influencer trying to leverage that into an appearance on Love Island or something.

A month or so passed and I forgot all about the channel trailer, until I came across a video recapping the first arc of a new webseries of the same name.

I have to admit, I watched the recap before I watched the show itself.

Its hard to explain this shows premise, hard to even define it as a show, but heres a brief rundown:

Sophie is a rich millennialshes living the Insta High Life. Think: the exact type of person who bought tickets to the Fyre Festival but claimed she got them for free because shes an influencer.

The brand name for her merch (because of course she has merch) is YRPYoung Rich and Powerful.

Shes clueless, shallow and self-absorbed. She calls herself a businesswoman (Business is a very big word for me, she says solemnly. I crack up every time).

Shes also being haunted by a mysterious girl and a monster.

The video My Number 1 Crazy Fan tips the shows handit was never a webseries about a rich girl, it was a horror show. And boy does it degenerate from there.

The monster, the Hand of Hate, as dubbed by the shows investigative fanbase, is truly a horrifying figure. It looks like a human man in a suit, except there is a hand sewn onto its face, and HATE is tattooed on the knuckles of the hand.

Eventually, someone kidnaps Sophie, presumably Lara, the mysterious girl (and aforementioned Crazy Fan), and she is subjected to torture.

The second arc follows a man in a pitch-black room, making his way through discs from Laraold vlogs of her that reveal the truth of this girl. Lara was a beautiful, sweet, kinda awkward but normal girl living with her dad. She liked makeup and gaming. She maybe wanted to go back to college to get a BTEC. Then an anonymous fan sends her a video game to stream.

Its called Young Rich and Powerful, and its a twisted, horrifying version of Sophies videos rendered in 8-bit animation.

References to leather seats become about human skin, there are portals to hell, and the game repeatedly glitches to show Sophies tortured face and screams. All the while, Lara cant stop playing. Shes totally absorbed by the horror, just as we are.

Theres a final character to be aware ofSimon. Hes introduced dancing in his room with a plush flamingo, with the same birds plastered all over his walls in wallpaper. We watch him through his webcam, and as he drinks and texts his friends. Its revealed that he sent the game to Lara, that he is the one watching the discs.

Hes lonely, and convinced that he cares far more about his friends than they do about him.

In the latest video update, I Can See You All, it is revealed that Simon (and his precious flamingo) has been murdered.

RIP Simon, you might say.

But its also revealed by a recording of a Skype call (because what else could it be in 2020) that he put in an order forsomething. He asked for her to be slim, blonde-haired, blue-eyed. For her to have certain words and phrases that he would code into her. He asked that she be named Sophie.

Its all become rather Stepford Wives-esque, has it not?

And its this revelation that brings me back to where I started, to what I believe to be the core thematic question of this entire messy, gory webseries:

How much horror are women subjected to online?

The implication of the latest episode is that Simon, sore at his rejection time and again by Lara and his other friends, designed his ideal woman. Maybe as an AI, maybe as a sex robot. There are plenty of theories. But that part doesnt really matter. What matters is that he thinks he can design and control this woman.

Given the brutal circumstances of his death, its pretty clear that he was wrong about that.

But beyond Simon, our two protagonists are Sophie and Lara. On the surface, they have nothing in common. But in many ways, they act as satires on specific varieties of women youtubers: Lara is the insecure, real girl, and Sophie is the self-absorbed trainwreck you cant look away from.

Both attract Hate, both in-universe, and without.

Laras version of Sophies channel trailer, during her All About Eve moment, features real comments from the original video plastered over Sophies face. Bitch, Slag, Ugly twat are all pretty common. These are from real people, who commented on this video thinking that the subject of their vitriol was a real woman, before they discovered that it is fiction.

When you think of real life youtubers who might be inspirations for Sophie, you probably think of the Paul brothers, Jeffree Star, Shane Dawsonthe mega-successful of the platform who have parlayed their personas into real life fame and clout.

But Sophie isnt really anything like them. Shes shallow and self-absorbed, to be sure. Shes obnoxious and you dont really like her. But shes not mean, or cruel. Shes not racist or transphobic or anything like that. Shes just a spoiled little rich girl.

The Hate she attracts is totally disproportionate to her offense.

Lara is similar, although the hatred she faces is less obvious. Shes clearly insecure, likes makeup (without a particularly awesome talent at it), and enjoys video games. Now that is walking troll bait for the internet.

Shes largely ignored, garnering only six views per video on her channeljust as unpopular online as she is in real life.

And yet, even though her audience amounts to essentially nothing, she still attracts Hate. She still attracts someone who sends her a game that is clearly horrifying, that will humiliate her at best. The subtext being that her fear will prove that shes not a real gamer after all.

It seems that a woman on the internet cant win.

If you have an audience, youre an evil bitch who contributes nothing and deserves to die. If you dont have one, but nevertheless dare to take up space, you can still be found by creeps who feel entitled to your time and energy.

Either way, Hate, be it the Hand thereof or the real thing, will eventually find you and try to destroy your life. Much like being adored almost destroys Mimas life in Perfect Blue, and Alices in Cam.

Being a woman on the internet is a bit like playing Russian Roulette. The gun youre given has one bullet in the chamber. You fire blanks at yourself, until you dont. And its only a matter of time until that streak of luck breaks.

Male fantasies, male fantasies, Margaret Atwood wrote in The Robber Bride, Up on a pedestal or down on your knees, its all a male fantasy: that youre strong enough to take what they dish out, or else too weak to do anything about it. That passage has been on a loop in my head for years.

Later in the passage, she writes that You are your own voyeur. Never been more true than now, in this YouTube, algorithm, Hate-driven society.

If nothing else, IAmSophie has exposed how susceptible we are to Hate in all its forms. How easily we judge people by how they present themselves online, and how fickle those judgements can be.

Its too early in the story, I think, to argue that its calling for a better way forwardthat we should be kinder to each other and get back in touch with our empathy. For now, IAmSophie revels in the highly specific horror of being a woman on the internet.

What a goddamn nightmare.

Continue reading here:

IAmSophie: The Most Hated Woman on the Internet - 25YearsLaterSite.com