For Kris Halpin, a disabled musician who delivers music lessons in schools, the thought of being in front of a room full of students used to be terrifying. But he knew what it would have meant to him at 14 to see a disabled person teaching his class. “My experience in education [in the 1980s] was not immensely positive,” Halpin says. “I was bullied a lot at school because of my disability. Not by my peers but by the staff … When I had to flag an access [problem], I was told I was only disabled when it suited me. It…
Author: Loknath Das
You don’t have to follow up-to-the-minute reports on Silicon Valley to be aware that 2018, thus far, has been anything but smooth for the tech industry as a whole. Tesla and Uber are grappling with fatal self-driving crashes, Facebook is finally facing long-delayed comeuppance for its willingness to throw even the most basic user privacy under a bus in pursuit of revenue, the rise of so-called “deepfakes” suggests video may not be trustworthy much longer. And if we take a jaunt back into 2017, we’ve got arguably the worst security breach in history. Into this proud moment in history comes Mozilla, with its…
This week, three Osaka video game bars announced that they were closing. The reason, it seems, was copyright violation. According to IT Media, the three game bars—1Up, Catena and Clan—will cease operation on July 29 when their lease ends. 1Up opened in 2013, while Catena and Clan both opened in 2016. The bars allowed customers to play games for free, while charging them for drinks. The Association of Copyright for Computer Software (ACCS) pointed out that not getting permission from the creators violated copyright. In 2011, ACCS called on game bars across Japan to adhere to copyright law. An ACCS spokesperson told IT Media…
If there’s a niche that I occupy that very few other people do, it’s that I love video games based on 14th-16th century Chinese novels. That’s not a pre-requisite for me enjoying a game, but given on my enjoyment of games based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it doesn’t appear to hurt. Which brings me to Suikoden, a now sadly defunct video game series which is loosely (and I mean loosely) based on the Water Margin novel, written by Shi Nai’an in the 14th century about 108 outlaws (read: probably criminals) who form an army to overthrow the government but then are actually sent to…
That didn’t take long. After announcing that LawBreakers wasn’t living up to expectations (and making enough money), and teasing a new project on Friday, developer Boss Key has revealed the “passion project” it teased. Try to feign surprise when you find out that it’s a free-to-play battle royale game. On the surface, Radical Heights stands out from the crowd with a vibrant, quasi cel-shaded, retro-futuristic game-show vibe that hearkens back to the ’80s. Meaning, there are a lot of extreme pastels and hot pink triangles complementing its over-the-top Saturday morning cartoon tone. Based on the trailer below, the game looks like it’s every bit an Early Access title. There’s footage of…
Three non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ruled southern states on Tuesday demanded reframing the terms of reference (ToR) of the 15th Finance Commission for devolution of funds to states, saying it was in contradiction to the principles of federalism enshrined in the Constitution. In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the finance ministers of south Indian states that stare at drastic cuts in central transfers in the wake of the ToR meet in Thiruvananthapuram to discuss the challenges ahead, observing it was against the interests of the progressive states. At the conclave, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh as well as the Congress-ruled union territory of…
Three non-BJP ruled southern States on April 10 demanded reframing the Terms of Reference of the 15th Finance Commission for devolution of funds to States, saying it was in contradiction to the principles of federalism enshrined in the Constitution. In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Finance Ministers of three south Indian States and the Union Territory of Puducherry that stare at drastic cuts in Central transfers in the wake of the Terms of Reference (ToR) met in Thiruvananthapuram to discuss the challenges ahead, observing it was against the interests of the progressive States. At the conclave, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh as well as the Congress-ruled…
We met the management of Shriram Transport Finance (SHTF) and returned with renewed optimism on its business prospects. Over the past few years, while CV volumes have been stagnant, there has been a marked shift in mix towards higher-tonnage vehicles. In addition, price hikes in the past two years have been healthy (18-20% on new vehicles). While the addressable market size for SHTF in terms of volumes will remain largely stable, we believe better pricing and mix will drive disbursement and AUM growth. AUM is likely to grow 18-19% in FY18 as compared to the management’s earlier guidance of 15%…
An audit last year by an independent arm of the U.S. Education Department questioned whether the teaching model of Western Governors University, built around competency-based learning, ran afoul of a federal law. Western Governors begged to differ. Now it has data, in the form of a new survey by Gallup Inc., to make the case that its mentor-based model produces graduates who are more likely to be “thriving” in work and life than are graduates of other colleges. A report on the survey will be presented on Tuesday at an event at Gallup headquarters, in Washington, D.C. (This reporter will be part of a…
Ican’t say that I’m a regular reader of New Zealand’s Education Act, but when I heard that it gives universities a statutory duty to be “the critic and conscience of society” I have to admit that my curiosity got the better of me. According to the act, a university must have the principal aim of developing intellectual independence; its research and teaching should be closely interdependent; and most of its teaching must be done by people who are active in advancing knowledge. All very admirable, and in danger of getting lost in the focus on mass-produced vocational learning. But it’s the…