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COVID-19: Indian Internet infra not prepared for shift to online teaching-learning, says QS report

The report titled "COVID-19: A wake up call for telecom service providers" is based on a survey conducted by QS I Guage, which rates colleges and universities in India with complete operational control held by London-based QS.




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Covid-19 Impact: Top retailers urge government to open non-essential retail to reset the Indian economy

The Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI), said only 8% of its members have funds to pay salary next month since 90% of all apparel retail is still at physical stores.




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Covid-19 impact: Jeff Bezos takes back the wheel at Amazon

After years of working almost exclusively on long-term projects and pushing day-to-day management to his deputies, Bezos, 56, has turned back to the here-and-now problems facing Amazon, the company said, as the giant retailer grapples with a surge of demand, labor unrest and supply chain challenges brought on by the coronavirus.




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India has over 500 mn active Internet users, 14% of 5-11 yrs: IAMAI

​​ According to IAMAI's 'Digital in India' report, India had 504 million active Internet users, who logged onto the web at least once in the last one month, at the end of November 2019. In rural India, the number of accessing Internet daily had grown by 30 million from March 2019, it added.




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Google purged 2.7 billion bad ads in 2019, Covid-19 fake ads next target

Google blocked and removed 2.7 billion bad ads more than 5,000 bad ads per minute and suspended nearly 1 million advertiser accounts for policy violations, the company announced on Thursday.




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131 percent increase in viruses targeted towards remote workers: Fortinet

Cybercriminals are unleashing a surprisingly high volume of new threats in this short period of time to take advantage of inadvertent security gaps as organizations are in a rush to ensure business continuity.




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Covid-19 has wiped out the goodnight sleep of a CISO

The stratospheric rise in phishing and identity attacks since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic is give sleepless nights to CISOs across the world making them the Digital Security Warriors




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Hacking attacks on educational portal tripled in Q1 amid online learning

DDoS attacks during the first three months of this year have seen a significant spike in attacks on educational websites.




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Indian government asks social media firms to curb Covid-19 fake news

The government asked social media platforms to start awareness campaigns, remove misinformation from the platform and promote authentic information




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Facebook expands Community Help feature for COVID-19 efforts

Facebook has announced to expand its Community Help feature as part of COVID-19 efforts which will help people offer help to those affected by the new coronavirus pandemic, as well as donate to nonprofit organisations.




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Facebook displayed warnings on 40 million posts related to Covid-19 in March

Facebook said that when people saw those warning labels, 95% of the time they did not go on to view the original content. To date, the social media giant also removed hundreds of thousands of pieces of misinformation that could lead to imminent physical harm.




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Twitter lets developers study real time COVID-19 conversations

Twitter has introduced an update to its API platform to allow developers and researchers to study crucial public conversations around COVID-19 in real time.




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Data-crunching investments by insurers rise 20% in 2019

The driving force is the challenges that are emerging due to substandard and unstructured data




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Virus takes a toll on blue collar staff; no pay for 12 crore

Jobs are also expected to nosedive in the remaining quarters of the year unless demand picks up by the festive season later this year, experts tracking the sector said. Travel, hospitality, tourism, aviation, retail, outdoor entertainment, food and beverages and real estate sectors have been hit the most, staffing agency TeamLease said.




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IT, BPO firms get work-from-home relief till July 31

This was a key demand by IT industry lobby group Nasscom, which had argued that it needed policy stability instead of a month-by-month extension.




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B-schools turn a page with COVID-19

At IIM-A, starting this summer, the macroeconomics course will include examples like the Supreme Court’s capping of Covid-19 testing to discuss price controls and infection transmission.




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Covid-19 impact may set India's smartphone production back by four years

India's contribution to global smartphone production had jumped to 16 per cent in 2019 from 9 per cent in 2016, as several handset makers cut down output in China or moved out due to the US-China trade war and received heavy incentives by the Indian government to beef up manufacturing in the country.




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PC demand surges but shipments fall 8% due to a supply chain hit by COVID-19: Canalys

Strict lockdown measures around the world has caused severe delays and logistical issues leading to worldwide PC shipments falling by 8%, technology market analyst firm Canalys said.




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India phone exports more than doubled on-year to 3.6 crore units in FY19-20

“We have attracted interest from companies such global giant Samsung and Chinese OEMs in the mobile phone segment coupled with the right set of incentives for them,” said Faisal Kawoosa, founder and chief analyst, TechArc. “The mass domestic market, which was underpenetrated for long, has provided an opportunity to these players to address local demand as well as set-up base here,” he added.




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How Facebook’s Reliance deal upends a $1 trillion digital arena

Reliance and Facebook know a friction-less payments service is key to successful online commerce — but so are mom and pop shops. JioMart and WhatsApp’s embryonic Mumbai service is intended to first get Indians accustomed to messaged transactions with local businesses known as kirana: the tiny neighborhood stores where most Indians buy daily essentials.




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Covid-19 to bring India software market growth down to 4.1%

The decline in growth rate is likely because enterprises relook at their buying decisions owing to increased focus on profitability, said IDC's report.




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Technology services and its changing role during the Covid-19 era

Since ‘virtual’ is the new normal, get imaginative on how you work, how you stay in touch and use technology to make this unique experience also a memorable on.




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UK offers virtual cyber school for teens in Covid-19 lockdown

The UK government on Friday launched a new virtual cyber security school aimed at encouraging teenagers to learn new skills while stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown. As part of the free lessons, youngsters can learn how to crack codes, fix security flaws and dissect criminals' digital trails while progressing through a game as a cyber agent.




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How Covid 19 dashboards are helping people make sense of the pandemic

People are actively seeking information on Covid-19’s impact — to stay updated and avoid panic.




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IMPS transactions fall by 43.51% in April as NPCI reports dismal counts for all platforms barring AePS

NPCI consecutively reported dismal figures for April 2020 for its UPI, IMPS, NETC and Bharat BillPay platforms – as AePS emerges as an outlier.




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91% Indian firms rebalancing their Cloud Strategy: Report

Realising that Public Cloud is not the single solution towards their digital journey, 91 per cent of Indian enterprises are already in the process of rebalancing their Cloud strategy, a new report said on Thursday.




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Technologies that can enable a smooth remote working environment during Covid19

Thanks to the intervention of Cloud-based tech tools, professionals no longer need to visit their offices to engage in business transactions.




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Covid-19: Cloud native enterprises see an edge over competitors

While the cloud was seen as a good technology to adopt until some time ago, it has now become a must in order to navigate through these challenging times. Companies that are 100 percent on the cloud have been able to transition far more rapidly than others, making them more agile than their peers.




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Is Covid-19 the long awaited catalyst for cloud adoption?

As remote work and collaboration intensifies, cloud computing has emerged as an ally for enterprises. Is this the catalyst that technology companies longed for?




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Covid-19 Heroes Beyond Borders: How being a digital-only bank helps in a pandemic

TONIK Financial, Asean’s first licensed digital-only bank, is leveraging cloud to mitigate the risks of Covid-19.




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Microsoft to invest $1.5 billion in Italian cloud business

Microsoft Corp. said on Friday it would create its first datacentre region in Italy under a $1.5 billion investment plan as the U.S. company expands its cloud computing services to more locations across the world.




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Vista Equity Partners to invest Rs 11,367 crore in Jio Platforms for 2.32% stake

With the latest deal, Jio Platforms is set to net a combined Rs 60,596 crore for the unit of Reliance Industries which comprises mainly its telecom business under Reliance Jio Infocomm




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Role of a CIO post Covid-19 pandemic

CIOs role is set to evolve post-Covid-19 with new demands coming in from the business. Here’s how they can be prepared.




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Value-driven Indian firms to sustain as pandemic impact to last till early 2021

As Indian firms realign their focus on revenue growth, they need to leverage customer and market behaviour to place their bets on long-term, sustainable growth, a new report said.




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Covid-19 Impact: Demand for data centers surge as remote working catches up

The emergence of new business environment in the wake of Covid-19 is expected to boost cloud services and digitisation as companies overhaul their digital infrastructure to deal with new ways of working, they said.




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Cognizant net profit falls 17%, revenue in line

IT firm says margins to remain under 16-17%, sees a $50-70-million hit from ransomware Maze attack




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Microsoft to invest $1.5 billion in Italian cloud business

Microsoft Corp. said on Friday it would create its first datacentre region in Italy under a $1.5 billion investment plan as the U.S. company expands its cloud computing services to more locations across the world.




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Hacking attacks on educational portal tripled in Q1 amid online learning

DDoS attacks during the first three months of this year have seen a significant spike in attacks on educational websites.




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Nokia bags deal from Airtel to automate data center networks in 15 circles

India has been recording unprecedented growth in data and this requires that service providers, like Airtel, increase the number of data centers, the telecom gear maker said.




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India server market revenue hits $280.1 mn in Q3 2019

The overall server market in India witnessed a Year-over-Year (YoY) growth of a dismal 0.8 per cent in terms of revenue to reach $280.1 million in the third quarter (Q3) versus $277.8 million in Q3 of 2018, a new report by International Data Corporation (IDC) said on Wednesday.




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STT GDC India opens 15th data centre facility

This expansion adds up to 15 data centres under STT GDC India’s ownership and management, and increases the power capacity to more than 90 megawatt of critical IT load across eight cities, further strengthening its market-leading position, said the company.




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Covid-19 Impact: Demand for data centers surge as remote working catches up

The emergence of new business environment in the wake of Covid-19 is expected to boost cloud services and digitisation as companies overhaul their digital infrastructure to deal with new ways of working, they said.




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Covid-19 Heroes: How Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance transformed business to meet changing needs

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance’s Chief Information & Digital Officer, Goutam Datta leveraged technology for enabling all business functions and meeting the digital demands of its employees, partners and customers amid lockdown and enabled new services to prevent any impact on business.




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Insect-eating bats save global maize farmers €0.91 billion a year from crop damage

Insect-eating bats are estimated to be worth US$ 1 billion (€0.91 billion) a year to maize farmers around the world, a new study has revealed. Not only do bats reduce crop damage by eating adult corn earworm crop pests, they also suppress fungal infections in maize ears. Bats and their habitats need to be better protected for their ecological and economic contributions, say the study’s authors.




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Research for environmental policymaking: how to prioritise, communicate and measure impact - March 2016

Up-to date scientific and technological research is vital to allow humans to adapt appropriately to our changing global environment, and current rates of environmental degradation and resource depletion. Effective research policies are essential to maintain or improve the standard of life for future populations – in Europe and globally.




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No Net Land Take by 2050? – April 2016

Land and soil are limited natural resources essential to all human life. One of the major environmental challenges facing Europe is an increasing demand for development, which threatens ecosystem services. This Future Brief focuses on how land and soil could be used efficiently to continue to provide these functions and services for generations to come.




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Half of the land area in Europe is within 1.5 kilometres of transport infrastructure, with large-scale impact on wildlife

Transport infrastructure is so widespread in Europe that half of the land area is within 1.5 kilometres (km) of paved roads and railway lines, researchers have calculated. The researchers found that in Spain, transport infrastructure has an impact on the abundance of birds in almost half of the country and is affecting the abundance of mammals across almost all of the land area.




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Taking stock: progress in natural capital accounting – November 2017

The growing human population and a shift to more resource-intensive habits and behaviours are increasing the demands on global ecosystems. Natural capital is a way to describe Earth’s natural assets, including soil, air, water, and living things, existing as complex ecosystems, which provide a range of services to humans. Depleting and degrading these reserves may irreversibly reduce the availability of benefits to future generations. This In-Depth Report presents an overview of ideas, debates and progress so far in natural capital accounting, in particular in accounting for ecosystems and their services.




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Flying insects in west German nature reserves suffer decline of more than 76% (1973–2000)

Insect numbers in west German nature reserves have fallen by more than 76% in just 27 years, according to a new study. The fall was even higher in the summer months, with 82% on average fewer insects being recorded. The reasons for this dramatic fall are unclear. The researchers ruled out changes in weather, plant cover and local landscape playing a significant role in the observed decline, but suggest that intensive agriculture and pesticides in fields near to the reserves could be responsible. Whatever the cause, the catastrophic fall in insect numbers will inevitably lead to knock-on effects on ecosystems in the long term, particularly due to their essential role as pollinators and their position in the food web. The researchers say that preserving and protecting insects should now be a priority for conservation policies.




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Analyzing Novel Corona Virus COVID-19 Dataset

As the threat of novel corona virus COVID-19 spreads through the world, we live in an increasingly anxious time. While healthcare workers fight the virus in the front line, we do our part by practicing social distancing to slow the pandemic. Today's guest blogger, Toshi Takeuchi, would like to share how he spends his time by analyzing data in MATLAB.... read more >>