Indian Federal Bank Releases Feddy Virtual Assistant
The Federal Bank in India officially launched a virtual assistant accessible by voice through both Amazon Alexa, and Google Assistant.
The AI, known as Feddy, is part of a growing trend of banking-focused virtual assistants, a trend that accelerated in the wake of COVID-19 and the limitations put on in-person banking.
Feddy serves to answer questions for banking customers who want to know the basics like the nearest branch for the bank, how to open accounts, or how to receive statements at any time, regardless of whether the bank is open. What makes the virtual assistant stand out is that it's not limited to a website text interface. Alexa and Google Assistant can both be used as intermediaries, answering the questions when the right voice app is installed.
AI Tool Developed to Study Cancer-causing Mutations
Researchers at IIT Madras have developed an AI tool called NBDriver (neighbourhood driver) for use in analysing cancer-causing mutations in cells. By looking at the neighbourhood, or context, of a mutation in the genome, it can look at harmful "driver" mutations and distinguish them from neutral "passenger" mutations.
This technique of looking at the genomic neighbourhood to make out the nature of the mutation is a novel and largely unexplored one. In a paper published in the journal Cancers, the researchers explain that the nature of the mutation depends on the neighbourhood, and how this tool may be used to draw the line between driver and passenger mutations.
Jul 19, 2021
'India Among Nations that Hacked Phones': Global Media Investigation
India is among the countries that used Israeli company NSO Group's Pegasus phone hacking software to potentially target politicians, journalists and activists, an international collaborative investigation involving 17 media organisations including The Guardian, The Washington Post, and Die Zeit said. India's news website The Wire was one of the 17.
The first part of the multi-part investigation, released, said that 38 Indian journalists (according to The Guardian), including those from mainstream publications (three current Hindustan Times journalists are named, as is one from sister publication Mint), and websites, apart from freelancers were targeted.
The 38 are among 180 journalists the report said were targeted worldwide, including the editor of the Financial Times Roula Khalaf, and journalists from the Wall Street Journal, CNN, New York Times, and Le Monte.
India's First Pod Taxi to Operate Between Noida Airport and Film City
Indian Port Rail and Ropeway Corporation Ltd (IPRCL) has prepared a Detailed Project Report or DPR for the pod taxi service between Noida Airport at Jewar and Film City.
There are plans to run a driverless taxi between the two destinations. This will cost about Rs 862 crore, according to the detailed project report (DPR) submitted to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (Yeida). This is a 14 km stretch.
This will be India's first pod taxi service.
Japan Sets Internet Speed Record by Transferring 319 Tb/s over 3,001 km
Researchers in Japan have demonstrated an internet speed of 319 terabits per second, setting a world record.
A team of researchers at Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) used advanced fiber optic technology with a 4-core optical fibre of standard outer diameter of 0.125 mm to perform the speed test, breaking the previous record of 178 Tb/s set by engineers in Japan and Britain a year ago.
To achieve the record speed, the researchers constructed a recirculating transmission loop experimental set-up by combining two kinds of rare-earth-doped fiber amplifiers.
The combination of erbium and thulium doped-fiber amplifiers and distributed Raman amplification enabled a long-distance transmission over 3,001 km.
Jul 17, 2021
2 Million Indian Accounts Banned during May-June: WhatsApp
WhatsApp banned 2 million Indian accounts to prevent harmful behaviour and spam on its platform between May 15 and June 15, according to the company's first monthly transparency report released.
The company identifies an Indian account via +91 phone number.
Stating that more than 95% of such bans are due to the unauthorised use of automated or bulk messaging, the company added that these numbers have increased significantly since 2019 because its systems have increased in sophistication, and hence are detecting more accounts even as it believes there are more attempts to send bulk or automated messages.
Jul 15, 2021
India sent most number of requests seeking account info: Twitter report
India has surpassed the United States as the country that sent the most number of legal requests seeking information about accounts from Twitter, the social media company's latest transparency report covering the period from July to December 2020 said.
The number of legal information requests sent from India accounted for 25% of the global volume and 15% of the global accounts specified, up from 21% and 25% respectively in the January-June, 2020 period.
Elon Musk Congratulates ISRO on 3rd test of Vikas Engine for Gaganyaan
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has congratulated the Indian Space Research Organisation for successfully conducting the third long-duration hot test of the Vikas Engine, as part of the Gaganyaan programme. His one-word tweet also has an Indian flag.
The engine was fired for a duration of 240 seconds at the ISRO facility in Tamil Nadu's Mahendragiri. "The performance of the engine met the test objectives and the engine parameters were closely matching with the predictions during the entire duration of the test," ISRO said.
This was the final testing of one of the three stages of the launch vehicle which will be used in the mission to carry humans to space.
Gaganyaan is ISRO's major project of sending humans to space, to a low earth orbit, onboard an Indian vehicle. The first unmanned mission is planned for December 2021 and the second one is scheduled in 2022-23.
Jul 14, 2021
China Harvests 1st Batch of Seeds that Travelled Around Moon
China has harvested the first batch of Space rice from seeds that went to a 23-day lunar voyage with China's Chang'e-5 in November.
After being exposed to cosmic radiation and zero gravity, these seeds weighing around 40 gram returned and were harvested at the space breeding research centre of the South China Agricultural University in Guangdong province.
The seeds are now 1 centimeter long, reports said. Guo Tao, the deputy director of the research centre, has said that the best seeds will be bred in laboratories and then will be planted in fields.
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