armstrongvazblogsfromgoa

We have a fantastic story about something that Google is doing. It’s a little complicated. But fear not. Because I have the perfect example. A few years back, some enterprising folks founded a company called Sigmoid Labs in Bangalore. It had just one product - an app to help rail commuters find out the status of trains, tickets and schedules. The app, thoughtfully named ‘Where is my train’ is a work of art. Perhaps you have used it. Not only was it built at a time when IRCTC was as helpful as an orange, but it also packed a bunch of great features. Offline train schedules. Live updates without GPS. No sign-up. And one more important feature. Instead of connecting to IRCTC (when it wasn’t down) to find out the latest status of your ticket, the app…read your text messages instead. Very convenient. It got popular. Quickly. 10 million downloads later, it was the number 1 app in the travel category on the Play Store. Then two months back, Google made an announcement. Apps could ...

Goa Foundation 1 hr How you can assist in the implementation of the Bombay High Court's order on cleaning up the blackspots of Goa. On 14 January, 2019, a bench of the Bombay High Court (Goa) comprising Justices Mahesh Sonak and Prithviraj Chauhan directed all the Village Panchayats to ensure that the (garbage) black spots and the littered waste, found within their respective jurisdiction, are cleared latest by 10.02.2019. The Village Panchayats should thereafter make their report to the Directorate of Panchayats latest by 15.02.2019. The report should specifically state the number of black spots cleared and the location from which such black spots were cleared. Want to assist in this exercise? Tomorrow is Sunday. Simply take a walk in the village with your mobile phone and take pictures of every blackspot you see. Ensure the pictures are delivered to your panchayat. If the panchayat has done its work, the blackspot should be removed and you should find all this me...

Portuguese who speak the language poorly will have specific monitoring Portuguese nationals living in the United Kingdom but poorly spoken Portuguese, notably of Indian or Timorese origin, will have a specific follow-up to Brexit, the Portuguese Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities promised. Manchester, UK – Portuguese nationals living in the United Kingdom but speak Portuguese poorly, notably of Indian or Timorese origin, will have a specific follow-up to Brexit, the Portuguese Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities promised today. José Luís Carneiro told the Lusa agency that the consuls of Manchester and London were given “the chance to diversify the typology of consular stays”, namely using translators and intermediaries who master their languages. The Secretary of State admitted that there are “very specific communities that are completely unaware of the Portuguese language because of their national origins and that have much to do with the historical p...

Perhaps the best scene of the 1997 Julia Roberts-starrer, My Best Friend’s Wedding, was the one where she’s distraught on the phone with her gay best friend, George. Michael, her best friend since childhood and someone she loves, is chasing his would-be bride Kimmy. George: Michael's chasing Kimmy? Julianne: Yes! George: You're chasing Michael? Julianne: Yes! George: Who's chasing you? Nobody. Get it! Welcome to 2019! We missed you.  I’d argue the scene above is the best analogy for predicting what happens in 2019 in the Indian startup ecosystem. Young startups are chasing early stage VCs. Early stage VCs are chasing LPs. LPs are chasing larger, late stage funds. Late stage funds are chasing unicorns like Swiggy, Oyo, Ola and Paytm. The unicorns are chasing SoftBank.  If there was a George in this scene, he’d ask, “Who’s chasing you?” (But he could just as well be asking SoftBank, “Who are you chasing?”) In today’s story, Sumanth and Ashish have ...

A vicious nexus By Sunita Narain Public science and research, and the threats that it faces HOW NOT to allow inconvenient public research: this has to be a case study that all corporates are taught in business schools. Why do I say this? Because there is a pattern that corporate India follows when it comes to ensuring that such research is besmirched to the point that scientists, who in any case are resistant to join discordant discourses, are pushed to the point to even greater reticence and retirement. We saw this when it came to pesticide contamination in our food. First, when the issue of pesticide toxicity broke, it was government scientists, weaned on the idea of using pesticides for growth that came to the assistance of the beleaguered pesticide industry. Then when scientists broke rank to do research on the toxicity of pesticides and their link with human health, industry went ballistic. Their strategy was always to ensure that they targeted each researcher individ-ually; they...

The Katowice collapse DECEMBER 16, 2018  A decision that wasn’t Katowice fails. Its decision and the Paris Rulebook agreed here are un-ambitious, anti-science and dilute the Paris Agreement, says CSE  The Paris Rulebook that was finalised at Katowice on Saturday dilutes the Paris Agreement, especially in terms of finance, loss and damage & differentiation Developed countries backtrack on their commitment to provide finance Loss and damage utterly neglected; vulnerable developing countries largely left on their own to address the impacts of climate change  Katowice decision weak on ambition; no decision to raise ambition in light of IPCC’s 1.5oC report Big push for a weak carbon market; market mechanism emerges as main instrument for countries to meet climate targets UNFCCC now a venue for collecting and synthesizing information, facilitating discussions; most top-down elements of the Paris Agreement to increase ambition diluted Katowice, Poland,...