The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. The world is full of connected devices–and more are coming. In 2017, there were an estimated 8.4 billion internet-enabled thermostats, cameras, streetlights and other electronics. By 2020 that number could exceed 20 billion, and by 2030 there could be 500 billion or more. Because they’ll all be online all the time, each of those devices–whether a voice-recognition personal assistant or a pay-by-phone parking meter or a temperature sensor deep in an industrial robot–will be vulnerable to a cyberattack and could even be part of one. Today, many “smart” internet-connected devices…
Author: Loknath Das
Mario is a simple guy. He wears overalls and a spiffy cap. He’s got a brother and a couple of close friends. He can run fast and jump high. In his various quests to save princess Peach, he makes use of all of these attributes and relationships, yet none of them tell us anything about who Mario really is. As Super Mario Odyssey has shown us, if you take away the overall, what remains is still Mario, a guy with a fluffy moustache and a pair of delightful nips. What he wears does not define him. Yet most of Mario’s…
This might blow your mind, but one of the most popular games in the world right now is a free one. Fortnite is a free-to-play game with a history that’s very funny and kind of dirty, a game that’s found tremendous success by pivoting from its original goals to capitalize on one of the hottest trends in video games. The gambit was so nakedly a rip off, but it worked! And now Fortnite has completely taking the rug out from under the game that made its whole schtick popular first. It doesn’t hurt that it’s also equally popular among grown-ass adults like yours truly…
Japanese police are investigating as possible suicide the death of an official at a finance ministry bureau that handled a land deal at the heart of a cronyism scandal threatening Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s popularity, media said on Friday. Suspicions that a school operator with ties to Abe’s wife, Akie, got a sweetheart deal on land for a school in the city of Osaka dented the premier’s popularity last year and the opposition has increased pressure on Abe after documents released by a ministry failed to banish suspicion that some had been doctored. A finance ministry employee in the western…
Fortunately, data is now one thing all investors – both private individuals and professionals – have access to in abundance. However, the sheer volume of information from official channels or social media rumours, both structured and unstructured, can be overwhelming. As such, there is a real danger of drowning in data. Smart investors may well be able to filter out the noise and focus on actionable information, although there is no guarantee of success. But for many, the overload of information and the inability to access the true value of this information lends to a dilemma where over-analysis leads to…
Education should be the first priority for the country as it is the “golden key” to ensure constitutional and social security of citizens, especially girls, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Saturday. The Narendra Modi government has been working towards educational empowerment of minorities, especially girls, on a priority basis, the minority affairs minister said. He said education is the “golden key” to guarantee constitutional and social security of girls. “We should take it as a mission to make education our first priority.” Addressing a programme at Anjuman-a-Islam Girls High School in suburban Mumbai, Naqvi said education is a very strong…
The education secretary faced discontent from headteachers in England over school funding as he sought to win over the profession by promising to reduce their workload and avoid introducing new exams or major reforms. In his first major speech since taking over the role in January, Damian Hindsacknowledged to the Association of School and College Leaders annual conference on Saturday that funding was tight for schools, but his efforts to blame staff turnover were met with rumbles of disbelief. “I understand why, for everyone in this room, the funding of our schools and colleges is such an important topic,” Hinds said,…
India ranks 52ndin the index that lists 57 countries NEW DELHI, MARCH 7 India ranked 52nd among 57 countries in the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE), according to the findings of its second edition released on Wednesday. The only comfort is that the latest ranking for India remains unchanged from the previous year. The MIWE focuses on female entrepreneurs’ ability to capitalise on opportunities granted through various supporting conditions within their local environments. India’s low ranking in the index suggest that the underlying conditions for women business ownership/entrepreneurship in the country are less favourable compared to the countries with…
European Commission Vice-Presidents Valdis Dombrovskis (L) and Jyrki Katainen address a press conference on the new initiatives under the Capital Markets Union to promote sustainable finance (EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images) Since the financial crisis of 2008, a common complaint about the world’s financial system has been that it rewards short-term profit at the expense of long-term sustainability. There has been concern that investors are either not informed of or ignoring potential long-term risks in their assets. One of those potential long-term risks has concerned environmental sustainability and regulatory certainty. A coal plant in Poland might look like an attractive investment today,…
Pay discrepancies are bad for business, and yet they are rife in finance. Our inquiry is committed to fixing this for good ‘As part of the Treasury committee’s Women in Finance inquiry, we’re seeking to identify the barriers to women entering and progressing in the financial services industry.’ Photograph: Paul Davey/Barcroft Images The gender pay gap in financial services is astonishing. It’s almost 100 years since International Women’s Day was first observed, and still we find women at some of the country’s top financial institutions are paid half as much as men. Firms with more than 250 employees are required to publish details of their gender…