8 things you must know before making an online transaction

Online transactions are gaining rapid popularity in the present era and so are the malicious attempts to defraud you. In this article we bring to you some important measures which you should practice while making any online transaction.

Never perform a transaction from a cyber cafe

Never make a financial transactions from a cyber cafe or a  shared PC  or even from a public Wi-Fi system.

Always opt for your home PC

You should always prefer using your home computer installed with firewalls and anti-virus  It is also important to keep your system updated with latest operating systems and security mechanisms.

Avoid easy passwords

While picking a password for your monetary transactions,  rigorously follow the instructions and procedures issued by your bank, mutual fund etc.. Also do not use the date of births, names, anniversary dates or names of people as passwords as they can be guessed easily.

Stay vigilant regarding emails demanding financial details

Always keep a watch on emails demanding your confidential financial  information. Your bank, RBI, government and other regulated financial organizations never ask for confidential details like Passwords, card numbers etc.

Do not click on any links in an email

Never click on any link which comes embedded in an email no matter it is from a genuine source.

Never disclose your password

This goes without saying, never disclose your passwords to anyone nor communicate it over any social platform.

Always look for SSL Link

You should always look for  (Secure Socket Layer)/https security on the login page of bank’s webpage. The ‘s’ after the ‘http’ resembles that the website is safe. Likewise always focus on signs on an online shopping platform like verified identity and SSL security to secure your card details and personal data.

Inform your bank immediately in-case of a breach

Inform your bank or card provider immediately in-case you find any unauthorized use of your card/net banking account.

Rimit

Why former Infosys CFO is demanding Rs 12 crore

Former Infosys Top Executive Demands Rs. 12 Crore Severance Pay: Report

According to sources, Mr Bansal has invoked his rights to an arbitral tribunal and a meeting is scheduled next month.

Infosys had earlier agreed to pay Rajiv Bansal Rs. 17.38 crore as severance amount or 24 months of salary

Bengaluru: Rajiv Bansal, former CFO of Infosys, has dragged his former employer to arbitration to claim the remaining Rs. 12 crore of his severance pay. Infosys had agreed to pay Mr Bansal a severance amount of Rs. 17.38 crore or 24 months of salary, but the company suspended payments after he got Rs. 5 crore as co-founder N R Narayana Murthy and others objected to the severance package as excessive. According to sources, Mr Bansal has invoked his rights to an arbitral tribunal and a meeting is scheduled next month.
This has opened another battle front for Infosys, which is already fighting visa clampdown by US President Donald Trump and global headwinds.
When contacted, Mr Bansal declined to comment.

"The company has already clarified on the severance package for the former CFO Rajiv Bansal through a detailed statement. We do not have anything additional to add at this point," Infosys said in an e-mailed response.
Mr Bansal's severance payout has been one of the issues that Infosys founders had raised to allege governance lapses at the Bengaluru-based firm.
When Mr Bansal left Infosys in 2015, Infosys had agreed to pay him Rs. 17.38 crore in severance pay, equalling 24 months of pay.
In February, Infosys chairman R Seshasayee had clarified that of the agreed amount, only Rs.5 crore have been paid so far and that the remaining was withheld pending clarifications on the terms of the severance contract.
He had also admitted that the "judgement" could have differed if circumstances were different or if certain processes had been in place.
Mr Murthy had raised concerns about the hefty amount and questioned if the same was "hush money".

The first hearing of the court battle between Infosys and its former CFO Rajiv Bansal is scheduled in December. Bansal had involved his rights to an arbitral tribunal from his severance pay. However, Bansal is demanding Rs 12 crore of pending severance pay.

Both the parties will present documented and oral evidence in closed-door hearings. Infosys and Rajiv Bansal, both have submitted various submissions so far. When Bansal was leaving the company in 2015, Infosys had assured to pay him Rs 17.38 crore as severance, which is equivalent to his salary of 24 months.

However, the company disbursed only Rs 5 crore and did not clear the remaining payment. Industry experts believe that the payments were suspending due to certain objections raised by the Infosys board. The statement by Infosys says, “Certain payments to Rajiv under the agreement have been suspended pending certain clarifications with regard to such rights and obligations.”

Infosys co-founder Narayan Murthy publicly stated that such payments should be viewed as “hush money”.The company initiated the investigation led by a third party. Even the new Nandan Nilekani-led board of Infosys stands by the findings of the investigation that found no wrongdoing. Infosys has declined any irregularities in the process even in the past.

The Indian IT firm believes that the severance payout is subjective. Since there is no institutionalized process for granting the severance, nobody can question the decision by Infosys board. Narayan Murthy has castigated the board for not having made all disclosures. Law firm Indus Law is representing Bansal while Infosys is being represented by Nishith Desai Associates (NDA).

Infosys has now standardized its severance pay policy for top executives. Senior vice presidents and executive vice presidents are entitled to only four months of fixed salary as severance.

13-year-old Indian AI developer on mission to train 100,000 coders

A 13-year-old teenager of Indian origin, who also happens to the youngest IBM Watson Developer and a neural network architect, has made it his mission to reach 100,000 aspiring coders to help them innovate and learn along with their journey of coding.

The kid genius in question, Tanmay Bakshi, also urged the youth to be equipped with coding and algorithm skills to operate Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies that already occupy a big part of our modern lives.

Speaking during the first day of the Knowledge Summit in Dubai, the Indian teenager said: “There’s a lack of resources for beginners who want to elevate knowledge of coding to next level of AI and Deep Learning. While knowledge and technology itself are everywhere, the resources to use that technology isn’t, so this gap needs to be filled.”

Bakshi’s family immigrated to Canada from India in 2004, a year after his birth. His father, Puneet Bakshi, is a computer programmer at a trucking company, and also a math and science tutor at night during the weekends. His mother, Sumita, is a housewife. He also has a sister, who studies at university.

He started coding at an early age of five years. By nine years, he had already released his first iOS app in Apple’s App Store. He got into AI at the age of 11 years and developed his first AI project at the age of 12. Bakshi started his own YouTube channel “Tanmay Teaches” six years ago to educate the youth on computing, programming, machine learning, math, science and neuro-network. With over 156,000 subscribers, he has filmed over 150 videos to date.

At the summit, Bakshi said such skills are critical to our future and we are trying to get these skills out for everyone. “With hundreds of data science jobs and neural network architecture available, the appropriate training and skills are required to fill these vacancies,” Bakshi, the author of a textbook on the programming language ‘Swift’, was quoted as saying by media reports.

The teenager, based in Canada, is a coach at the Fourth Industrial Revolution Organization whose goal is to teach youth specific skills identified by Institute of the future for effective participation in future workplaces. So far, he has reached 5,200 young aspiring coders.

When asked how he feels about AI taking over the world, Bakshi said the technology is not being developed to replace humans, but instead it’s been and is being, developed to augment our lives and amplify our skills.

“Artificial intelligence was developed and is continuing to be developed for the sole purpose of augmenting our lives, and amplifying our skills or capabilities in what we do every day,” he was quoted as saying by media reports.

“AI will never overpower humans due to its ability to make naïve mistakes that humans cannot make. Since AI isn’t biological and doesn’t have hundreds of trillions of connections that humans have, it doesn’t own enough abstract or deep enough thinking to replace humans,” noted Bakshi.

Bakshi is currently working on a book about simple beginning to Deep Learning with IBM Watson. His upcoming AI projects include facial recognition systems for security, a crisis-detecting system in businesses and developing cognitive technologies to help communication among people with special needs.

When most of us were making our way through first grade, Tanmay Bakshi was a programming prodigy.

His love affair with computer programming started out as fun and games at the tender age of five. “Computers just fascinated me with how they could do anything. They were like magic,” Bakshi told Quartz in an interview. “Just seeing my name on the screen or just seeing the color of the screen change, it was really fascinating. I wanted to know what went behind it and how it actually worked.”

“At five, everything was like a toy for me. I didn’t know that people did programming as a job, that people were paid to do this,” he said. “My dad [also a programmer by profession] was able to see that curiosity and was able to help me nurture that passion,” Bakshi said. His initial rendezvous with programming included experimenting with simple languages like FoxPro, Bash, and VB (Visual Basic).

After Bakshi forayed into the world of programming, there was no stopping him. He designed his first major application when he was eight. By age nine, when most of us were still learning basic arithmetic, he had released his first iOS app, called ‘tTables,’ that helped kids learn multiplication tables. At 12, Bakshi became IBM Watson’s youngest programmer, even detecting a bug in the system. (Since then, IBM has invited Bakshi to conduct a main-stage session at its annual conference, and he continues to work under mentors at the company.)

Now, the 13-year-old is also an author and a teacher.

In 2011, Bakshi launched YouTube videos—Tanmay Teaches—designed to teach budding coders the tricks of the trade. “I started it with a goal, which was to help and reach out to 100,000 aspiring coders and beginners to help them along their journey of learning programming,” said Bakshi. “I’ve reached around the 3,900 mark there.” He has also authored a book titled “Hello Swift,” a beginners’ guide for iOS app developers.

With his packed schedule, the one thing the Ontario, Canada, resident doesn’t have time for is going to a traditional school. For the past two and a half years, Bakshi has been homeschooled. When he’s not coding, creating YouTube tutorials, or serving as a keynote speaker for the likes of Apple, Walmart, IBM—and soon, India’s IT industry association NASSCOM—he enjoys biking and playing table tennis.

These days, Bakshi is working on a project, “The Cognitive Story,” that is trying to help a quadriplegic woman communicate. “When she was seven, she could communicate properly. Now she’s twenty-nine and she cannot communicate at all,” Bakshi said about “Boo,” who is named after the only sound she can make. “Now we’re really trying to see how we can use the cognitive tech to augment her ability to communicate with the outside world.” Bakshi’s role in the project is to use cognitive computing, deep neural networks, and artificial intelligence technology to decipher EEG brain waves in order to try and understand what she’s saying.

Below are a few more glimpses into Bakshi’s life from his conversation with Quartz.

Who is your role model?

Steve Jobs, because of how he was so passionate about everything he would do, and how he had this perseverance to stay dedicated no matter what.

What advice would you give to aspiring young programmers with big ambitions?

There are three things I’d like to say here: Start small, start easy, and start playing. First of all, you have to be passionate about programming before you can program. You have to not be afraid of errors and you have to just keep trying. Every time you find a solution to an error, you’re never going to face it again. Every time, you do that, you’re just getting better and better at programming. And, of course, every problem has a solution.

If you were not a programmer, what would you be?

I definitely think a teacher. I absolutely love to share my knowledge. Whatever I learnt here, everybody does not need to spend their time and their energy to learn what I’ve already learnt, that I can show them. And really, why reinvent the wheel of knowledge when you already have someone who can share it with you?

What’s one thing on your wish list that you haven’t done yet?

One of the things I always wanted to do is get my book signed by Amitabh Bachchan.

Why airfares could get higher, the Tata Nano goes electric, and more trending news

Air tickets could become more expensive. The government is mulling a 38% increase in passenger service fee (from ₹130 to ₹180) to fund rising security costs at airports,Economic Times reports, quoting unidentified aviation ministry officials. India spends nearly ₹1,300 crore (largely manpower costs) for guarding its airports, 26 of which come under the “hypersensitive” category. The ministry is compelled to hike PSF as there is a revenue shortfall of ₹500 crore, despite aid from the Consolidated Fund of India.

Apple could release a cheaper iPhone during the first half of 2018, according to China’s Economic Daily News. The iPhone SE 2 would cost roughly $450 and target emerging markets. “Some Apple fans are hoping Apple will put an iPhone X-style edge-to-edge display on the iPhone SE 2, but it sounds like that won’t happen next year. Thedesign on the iPhone SE 2 will allegedly be the same as on the current model,” per Cult of Mac. The company’s revenues from India doubled year-on-year in the September quarter, thanks to rising iPhone sales and the growing popularity of iPads and Macs.

Tata Nano is getting an electric avatar and a new name — Jayem Neo. A product of Tata Motors’ joint venture with Jayem Automotives, the e-car would launch on November 28 with anchor customer Ola, which would operate 400 such cars. Jayem Neo has the ability to clock up to 150 kilometers on a single charge. The original Nano, once billed as India’s cheapest car, is being produced on a subscale level as sales have consistently fallen. The government wants to electrify all vehicles in India by 2030.

India is set to revamp its nearly six-decade-old Income Tax Act. The Finance Ministry has set up a six-member task force to draft a new direct tax law with the aim of bringing more people within the tax base, improving collections and upping the ease of doing business, Livemint reports. The panel would study existing provisions and models in other countries before proposing changes. Just 1.9% Indians pay income tax but salaried citizens pay more tax than high earners in the US and China, data shows.

Moody’s predicts 2018 to be a year of recovery for corporates. Riding on (projected) GDP growth of 7.6% next year, companies could clock a pre-tax growth of 5-6% over the next 18 months, the rating agency said. Their ability to refinance debt would improve significantly because of factors such as GST stabilisation, improvement in production capacity and benign commodity prices. But all this would change if economic growth remains below 6%, Moody’s said. Recently, Moody’s upped India’s sovereign rating for the first time in 14 years.

Idea of the Day: Adelante SCM President Adrian Gonzalez keeps returning to a Thanksgiving story he wrote in 2012 — a story of his family’s hard work and dedication in the face of tremendous odds. Don’t put too much stock in the odds, he says; having them in your favor doesn’t automatically spell success.

“Instead of the odds, I say, give me the will to succeed, the courage to try again whenever I fail, and the love and support of family, friends, and community."

What's your take? Join the conversations on today's stories in the comments.

40 trickiest questions Google asks in its job interview

Tech giant Google is renowned for asking difficult brain puzzling questions to test your knowledge might under pressure. Glassdoor, a career website has come out with a list of top brain teasing questions which Google has asked from its job interviewees in the past-:

1)What is your favorite Google product, and how would you improve it?

2)If you wanted to bring your dog to work but one of your team members was allergic to dogs what would you do?

3)If ads were removed from YouTube, how would you monetize it?

4)What do you know about Google?

5)Design an evacuation plan for the building?

6)Which do you think has more advertising potential in Boston, a flower shop or funeral home?

7)A coin was flipped 1000 times and there were 560 heads. Do you think the coin is biased?

8)What does "being Googley" mean to you?

9)Name a prank you would pull on x manager if you were hired?

10)What is your opinion on whether or not individuals should be required to use their official name when opening a gmail or Google + account?

11)What would you want to do if you didn't have to work?

12)What scares you?

13)How many ways can you think of to find a needle in a haystack?

14)Estimate the number of tennis balls that can fit into a plane?

15)If you could be remembered for one sentence, what would it be?

16)If you could only choose one song to play every time you walked into a room for the rest of your life, what would it be?

17)How do you think the digital advertising world will change in the next 3 years?

18)What three things would you change at your university/work place if you were CEO today?

19)Describe AdWords to a seven-year-old?

20)At this stage what do you prefer -- earning or learning?

21)Model raindrops falling on a sidewalk (sidewalk is 1m and raindrops are 1cm). How could we know when the sidewalk is completely wet?

22)How would you explain cloud computing to a 6 year old?

23)What is the market for driverless cars in the year 2020?

24)You have a grocery delivery service (similar to Amazon Fresh) which delivers food within 24 hours. Estimate how many trucks you need to operate this service?

25)Would you remove the link to an extremist piece of writing?

26)Define a service that would allow you to travel to the future?

27)Tell me a joke.

28)How could you solve humankind's biggest crisis given one billion dollars and a spacecraft?

29)How would I explain the importance of HTML 5 to Larry Page and then to my grandma?

30)How many haircuts do you think happen in America every year?

31)You have a colony on Mars that you want to communicate with. How do you build a system to communicate with them?

32)If I gave you 10 million dollars right now, what would you do?

33)Tell me something about you that isn't on your resume?

34)List six things that make you nervous?

35)How many cars travel across a bridge each day?

36)If you had access to a bank's database, how would you use that information to design an ATM for elderly people?

37)How would you improve a shoe factory?

38)Design a mobile social app for a chain of local orthodontist offices.

39)What are the number of new book titles published in the US each year?

40)Question: How would you solve homelessness in downtown San Francisco?

These Tech companies offering Unlimited Vacation are Hiring Now

Have you ever fibbed about being sick just to get a day off? Are you currently counting how many hours or days you have left in your PTO to see whether you can take Hanukkah off? We know the feeling.

Companies with limited PTO policies can be a pain, especially this time of year. Set yourself up for something different by applying for a job at a company with unlimited vacation days. Monitor your own work-life balance, and take ownership of your schedule.

Depending on location, these companies offer flexible vacation policies that make vacationing far more feasible and enjoyable. Plus, they’re all hiring now!

Hubspot
Policy Details: “Our exciting perks and benefits include unlimited vacation, a retirement savings plan matching program, $5,000 a year for continuing education, and comprehensive health and dental insurance, just to name a few.”
Where Hiring: Cambridge, MA; Boston, MA; New York, NY; Portsmouth, NH & more.
What Roles: Software Engineer of Sales Content, Software Engineer of Reporting Tools, Customer Success Manager, User Success Coach, Implementation Specialist, Global Director of Marketing Operations & more.
What Employees Say: “It allows people to be autonomous and get their work done and still make personal time off decisions.” —Current Employee

See Open Jobs

Dropbox
Policy Details: “Work-life balance is an important aspect of wellness. That’s why we provide generous time off policies for everything life throws your way. Whether it’s a new baby (new parent leave), a family vacation (paid time off), or a nasty cold (trust sick leave policy), we’ve got you covered.”
Where Hiring: San Francisco, CA; Austin, TX; Seattle, WA; New York, NY & more.
What Roles: Lead Talent Moderator, Data Scientist Manager, Executive Assistant to General Counsel, Sales Operations Project Manager, Product Analyst, Growth Manager, Head of Diversity & more.
What Employees Say: “The unlimited paid vacation policy is amazing! The company trusts employees to be reasonable and responsible, which is really empowering.” —Current Employee

See Open Jobs

Student Loan Hero
Policy Details: “Unlimited vacation; flexible hours: work when you’re most productive; work remotely: work from wherever you want in the world (Costa Rica, anyone?)”
Where Hiring: Remote; Austin, TX & New York, NY
What Roles: VP of Marketing, Digital Optimization Analyst, Email Marketing Specialist & more.
What Employees Say: “I love that you can take as much time off as you need. Plus, there is a health stipend and other benefits. I would like to see a health insurance plan, but even without it, the benefits are great.” —Current Senior Writer

See Open Jobs

GitHub
Policy Details: “We encourage Hubbers to build amazing things with a high level of autonomy and self-direction. Work/life balance is important to us, which is why we offer flexible work schedules and unlimited PTO. We believe that if a job allows for it, people should work wherever they’re happiest.”
Where Hiring: Remote & San Francisco, CA
What Roles: Accounting Manager, Sales Operations Manager, Data Engineer, Senior Application Engineer, Director of HR Operations, Enterprise Support Agent, Director of Social Impact & Responsibility, Channel Enablement Lead & more.
What Employees Say: “Health insurance is the best I’ve ever had. Not only does GitHub absorb the costs, they also contribute to the HSA account on my behalf. They match 401K and also any charitable giving I do (up to a certain percent). We have unlimited time off for vacations or sick time. An extremely liberal family leave for new parents (4 months off for either parent). As a remote worker, they will set you up with a home office and give you a new laptop every 2 years. They also contribute to phone charges and have a very liberal T&E policy.” —Current Employee

See Open Jobs

Honeywell
Policy Details: “We also provide competitive benefits programs in every region in which we do business. While our benefits plans vary in availability in our different locations, we offer a broad range of benefits that are part of the value you receive as a Honeywell employee.”
Where Hiring: Phoenix, AZ; Golden Valley,MN; Minneapolis, MN; San Bruno, CA; Atlanta, GA; Nebraska City, NE; Greer, SC
What Roles: Scientist, Sales Manager, Field Service Leader, Product Marketing Manager, Fire Alarm Install Specialist, Assembler, Experienced Mechanical Engineer & more.
What Employees Say: “Vacation is ‘unlimited’ which is to say, ‘take as much as you dare.’ There does not seem to be any problem with arranging vacation time however, I think I would prefer earned vacation days such that the employee ‘owned’ those days.” —Current Senior Optical Engineer

See Open Jobs

Workday
Policy Details: “Sure, we offer a number of awesome benefits—such as unlimited time off, discounted backup child and elder care, dozens of onsite amenities, subsidized ride sharing, and more—to make our employees’ lives easier, but we recognize that life is more than what happens at work.”
Where Hiring: Pleasanton, CA; Salt Lake City, UT; San Francisco, CA & more.
What Roles: HCM Consultant in Payroll, Configuration Management Database Intern, Senior Software Development Engineer, DevOps Engineer, Delivery Assurance Manager, Director of Global Talent Acquisition Solutions, Senior Associate Copywriter, Customer Success Manager & more.
What Employees Say: “Unlimited, which is great. Need to approved by manager.” —Former Product Support

See Open Jobs

Glassdoor
Policy Details: “Salaried employees participate in our Vacation Matters policy that allows employees to take vacation time when they need it without worrying about vacation accruals. Hourly employees receive up to three weeks of Paid Time Off as well as two floating holidays and one day off each quarter to volunteer at the the non-profit of their choice.”
Where Hiring: Mill Valley, CA; San Francisco, CA; Chicago, IL
What Roles: Lead Data Analyst, Director of Product Design, Financial Analyst, Associate of Business Operations, Director of User Experience Research, Lead Full-Stack Engineer, Senior Software Engineer & more.
What Employees Say: “Having paid time off is just a really nice extra bonus to have so I could go on some type of family vacation or visit my parents every year or so.” —Current Senior Account Manager

See Open Jobs

Grant Thornton
Policy Details: “Grant Thornton is the first firm in our industry to offer flexible time off — a testament to our dedication to putting our people first and making sure they are able to enjoy healthy, balanced lives. The policy lets employees take as much time off as necessary to attend to their personal needs. This extra time will allow employees bring their whole selves to work, making them even more effective and focused when they serve clients.”
Where Hiring: Alexandria, VA; Philadelphia, PA; San Francisco, CA; Washington DC; Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC; Dallas, TX & more.
What Roles: Customer & Growth Strategy Manager, Business Analyst, Financial Manager, Tax Accounting, Risk Advisory Services Associate, Internal Controls Senior Associate & more.
What Employees Say: “Grant Thornton has transitioned to FTO. There have been mixed reviews among the employees. Most dislike it and miss their defined days. However, it is a big advantage if your contract permits you to burn at a higher rate and take time off during lulls.” —Current Associate

See Open Jobs

GE
Policy Details: “The US GE Permissive Approach to Paid Time-off is peace-of-mind for my family, my team and me. Of course, I always coordinate with my manager. Permissive time just adds another tool to the toolkit. It is great knowing that we are not being measured on the amount of time we are at work or not, but rather on delivering on our priorities.” -Current Employee in GE Aviation
Where Hiring: San Ramon, CA; Belfort, NY; Boston, MA; Niskayuna, NY & more.
What Roles: Technical Program Manager Analytics, Senior Director Commercial Leader, Summer 2018 Business Finance Intern, Power Electronics Engineer, Lead Controls Engineer, Marketing Intern, & more.
What Employees Say: “Permissive time is offered so you can take as much paid time off as you want as long as your manager approves.” —Current Human Resources Manager

See Open Jobs

Netflix
Policy Details: “Time away works differently at Netflix. We don’t have a prescribed 9-to-5 workday, so we don’t have prescribed time off policies for salaried employees, either. We don’t set a holiday and vacation schedule, so you can observe what’s important to you—including when your mind and body need a break. We believe in working smarter, not harder.”
Where Hiring: Los Angeles, CA; Los Gatos, CA; New York, NY & more.
What Roles: Senior Quantitative Analyst, Product Manager, Senior Manager of Content Strategy, Senior Reliability Engineer, Coordinator of Physical Production, Coordinator of Original Film Publicity, Visual Communications Manager & more.
What Employees Say: “The entire culture at Netflix is like nothing I have ever experienced. Do yourself a favor and read the culture deck online. My wife is having a baby soon and I can take up to 1 year paid leave – they put you and your family first. Open PTO, breakfast and lunch everyday etc. and I could go on and on. However, the most important benefit is not in the ‘package’ but in the culture where you are set up for success, given the right context and autonomy is the standard.” —Current Content Localization Specialist

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Kronos Incorporated
Policy Details: “Benefits like flexible working arrangements, myTime (open time off), and an employee assistance program recognize that you have a life outside of the office and give you the freedom to balance your life the way that works best for you!”
Where Hiring: Lowell, MA; Remote; Indianapolis, IN; San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Lake Mary, FL; Nashville, TN & more.
What Roles: Senior Software Engineer, Services Architect, Principal Scrum Master, Desktop Support Technician, Sales Executive, Senior Financial Analyst, Cloud Incident Manager & more.
What Employees Say: “Unlimited time off with myTime, multiple growth opportunities within the organization, casual fun work environment with large break area and snack bar, various employee activities every month hosted by an employee run group.” —Current Workforce Solutions Consultant

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StitchFix
Policy Details: “There are also general perks like 4 month paid maternity and paternity leave, unlimited vacation, and not overly long hours.” —Current Data Scientist
Where Hiring: San Francisco, CA
What Roles: Marketing & Customer Insights Associate, Digital Merchandising Associate, Associate Planner, IT Network Administrator, Corporate Tax Manager, Manager of Data Science, Technical Recruiter, Retail Warehouse Associate, Warehouse Team Supervisor & more.
What Employees Say: “Great health insurance, unlimited PTO, the best snacks/kitchen I’ve seen, not obscene hours, employee discount, free gym in the building.” —Current Employee

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SADA Systems
Policy Details: “Unlimited PTO. More awesome benefits include competitive and attractive compensation, huge performance based bonuses, holidays, medical, dental, vision, life, short and long term disability insurance, 401K and more.”
Where Hiring: Los Angeles, CA; Bellevue, WA & more.
What Roles: Marketing Coordinator, Business Development Associate, CRM Functional Consultant, Software Engineer, Office 365 Deployment Engineer & more.
What Employees Say: “I love the PTO policy! Unlimited PTO allows me to take a personal day for adult things like doctor and dentists without having to worry about my actual vacation.” —Current Employee

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Monetate
Policy Details: Unlimited vacation policy
Where Hiring: Conshohocken, PA; San Jose, CA & more.
What Roles: Visual UI Designer, Digital Consultant, Software Engineer, Director of Sales Operations, Platform Consultant, DevOps Engineer, Enterprise Sales Director & more.
What Employees Say: “Unlimited PTO, paid maternity leave, stock options, flexible work environment (both in terms of locations and hours). Medical benefits are affordable and comprehensive. No 401K matching. Employees in the PA office get free catered lunches every day.” —Current Employee

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Procore Technologies
Policy Details: “Need to take a vacation? Or maybe you just need a mental break? Procore provides value-driven paid time off. No accruals, no “use it or lose it” game playing with your vacation bank, just straight up openness, ownership, and optimism.”
Where Hiring: Austin, TX; Carpinteria, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Portland, OR; New York, NY; Chicago, IL & more.
What Roles: Enterprise Sales Engineer, Business Development Manager, Business Systems Analyst, UX Manager, Internal Communications Specialist, Executive Facilitator & more.
What Employees Say: “Dogs in the office! Flexible time off that they actually expect you to use (on top of a genuinely healthy view at work-life balance).” —Current Employee

See Open Jobs

CoverMyMeds
Policy Details: “In addition to CoverMyMeds’ unlimited vacation, we also offer leadership training, an on-site chef who serves free/nutritious lunches every day, paid benefits, supportive community involvement, flexible work-life balance and an amazing program called CoverMyQuest (each year, employees have three minutes to present a passion, idea or lifelong dream for a chance to win one of eight $4,000 mini-grants during our week-long CoverMyQuest)”
Where Hiring: Cleveland, OH; Columbus, OH & more.
What Roles: Hiring hundreds of Account Coordinators, Data Analyst, Database Administrator, Contracts Manager, Agile Business Analyst, Director of Specialty Access Programs & more.
What Employees Say: “Flexible PTO policy. This does not mean “untracked” but it means we’re all adults and are treated as such. Paid time off is at the discretion of each supervisor how they go about handling, but technically 3 full weeks are offered. As long as you give your supervisor notice or a decent heads-up, things like doctor’s appointments, events for kids, illness etc. they are very flexible. By allowing this flexibility, we work hard in return.” —Current Employee

People have cancer because of their sins, this is divine justice: says Assam minister

There’s a new way to prevent cancer.

There’s also a new way not to die in an accident.

It’s very simple indeed- Don’t commit sins. Else, ‘divine justice’ will dawn upon you and you’ll die a sorry soul.

Before you start thrashing me, these aren’t my thoughts or views. But Assam’s Health and Education Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma believes that sins committed by your parents can get your cancer.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Assam health minister has kicked up a storm by saying that people get cancer because of their "sins".
• He said that people suffer from life-threatening diseases because of sins committed in the past which he called "divine justice".
• The comments sparked sharp reactions in the political circles and among cancer patients.

Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

The incident occurred on 21 November, Tuesday, when the Health and Education Minister was addressing high school teachers and went on a tangent giving them knowledge about how divine justice causes cancer and accidents.

GUWAHATI: Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has kicked up a storm with his remarks that some people suffer from life-threatening diseases such as cancer because of sins committed in the past which he called "divine justice".
The comments sparked sharp reactions in the political circles and among cancer patients.
"God makes us suffer when we sin. Sometimes we come across young men getting inflicted with cancer or young men meeting with accidents. If you observe the background you will come to know that it's divine justice. Nothing else. We have to suffer that divine justice," Sarma said at a function organised for distribution of appointment letters to teachers here on Tuesday.
"In this lifetime or in our previous life, or perhaps my father or mother... perhaps that young man did not do but his father has done something wrong. It is mentioned even in Gita, Bible about the outcome of one's actions. No point in being sad... all will get the outcome of this life's actions in this life only. That divine justice always will be there. Nobody can escape the divine justice that will happen," he said.
Reacting to the comments, Congress leader Debabratta Saikia on Wednesday said, "It is unfortunate that the health minister has made such a remark on cancer patients hurting their feelings. As he has made the remark publicly, the minister should also apologise for it publicly."
AIUDF leader Aminul Islam asserted that the health minister made this remark to cover his failure to control the spread of cancer in the state.

"He has given up, he can't control," he said.

Some cancer patients said they were saddened by the health minister's remarks at a time when it is an established medical fact that there are scientific reasons and various other parameters responsible for the disease.

State-run Dr B Barooah Cancer Institute's Medical Superintendent Dr B B Borthakur sought to downplay Sarma's remarks.

"I don't think the minister made the remark on scientific basis but in a social context as I understand. I don't think it is a matter to be made into a controversy. It is not a matter to be given so much importance," he told.

most valuable cryptocurrencies the world is excited about

Of the many technological advancements over the last few years, cryptocurrency with its heightened privacy features and decentralised nature has definitely caught the world’s attention.

This new decentralised digital currency, which operates using the peer-to-peer blockchain technology, while gaining popularity has also raised questions about the uses for this kind of unregulated currency. Some, like Warren Buffet, are likening the popularity of Bitcoin (by far the most valuable cryptocurrency) to the dot-com bubble of 20 years ago and insisting that a crippling crash of its valuation is highly likely.

For now, however, cryptocurrencies continue to go from strength to strength with new ones being created seemingly every other day. Investors, undeterred by the possibility of the ‘bubble bursting’, are flocking to this new market in hopes of gaining returns on their investment that just can’t be matched by any stock exchange in the world. If you’re considering taking the risk and investing in this burgeoning sector, here are eight popular cryptocurrencies (chosen based on their price and market cap) that could be worth your while.

Bitcoin

Bitcoin is where it all started. It was the culmination and execution of the idea of a decentralised digital currency, which was built on a peer-to-peer network and operated on the revolutionary blockchain technology.

Bitcoin was released as an open-source software in 2009 by Satoshi Nakamoto, a person or group whose identity is still unknown. It has a market cap of over $134 billion with one bitcoin (1 BTC or 1 XBT) valued at $8,041.33 at the time of writing this.

The value of this cryptocurrency has been increasing exponentially, especially in recent months. In 2010, it was valued at $0.39 and $952 in 2016 — a steep rise which occurred over six years. By comparison, the price of 1 BTC in 2017 alone has gone up from $1,026 on January 2 to $7,319 on November 16 which is a 613.35% increase. Also, Bitcoin was designed to have a fixed supply of 21 million coins out of which 16,682,262 coins are currently in circulation.

Bitcoin is among the most difficult cryptocurrencies to mine today due to its popularity and the fact that it’s the de-facto standard for cryptocurrency. But it has inspired the creation of numerous alternative cryptocurrencies, collectively termed altcoins, which, while being easier to mine, also seek to rectify certain fallacies of Bitcoin. There are, however, trade-offs, including greater risk brought on by reduced liquidity, acceptance, and value retention.

Ethereum

Like Bitcoin, Ethereum operates on the blockchain technology. Unlike Bitcoin, however, it is more than just a digital currency. Ethereum is a decentralised blockchain platform that runs ‘smart contracts’: computer codes that can facilitate the exchange of money, content, property, shares, or anything of value.

Ethereum lets developers create any operations they want which, since they run on the blockchain, run exactly as programmed without any possibility of censorship, downtime, fraud, or third-party interference.

Ethereum is essentially the world’s first blockchain supercomputer which is fuelled by a currency token called Ether. Besides being a tradeable cryptocurrency with a current market cap of over $34 billion, Ether is also used by app developers to pay for services and transaction fees on the Ethereum network. The potential of this technology has garnered much attention and with corporations and individuals rushing to the platform, the value of one ether has risen from $8.24 on January 1, 2017, to $357.18 as of writing this. The currency has a maximum supply of 18 million tokens per year and there are currently over 95.7 million ether tokens in circulation.

Proposed by Vitalik Buterin in late 2013, the Ethereum platform and its development were funded through an online crowdsalebetween July and August 2014. It went live on July 30, 2015, with 11.9 million coins premined for the crowdsale.

In 2016, after a cyber attack on the $150 million+ Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO) project, Ethereum was forked into two separate blockchains — Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC).

Litecoin

Created by former Google engineer Charlie Lee, Litecoin (LTC) was launched in 2011 as an alternative to Bitcoin, which had by then become extremely difficult to mine. Referred to as the ‘silver to Bitcoin’s gold’, it was among the first cryptocurrencies to follow Bitcoin.

Based on a decentralised open source payment network, it uses ‘scrypt’ as a proof-of-work algorithm which can be decoded by consumer-grade CPUs (as opposed to high-performance GPUs, ASICs, and FPGAs which are required to mine Bitcoins).

The Litecoin network generates four times as many coins as its Bitcoin counterpart and has a faster block generation rate which translates to faster transaction confirmations. Litecoin has a maximum supply of 84 million tokens (four times that of Bitcoin’s) of which 53.84 million are currently in circulation. The market cap for Litecoin is around $3.82 billion with one LTC priced at $70.97 at the time of this article. Litecoin can today be easily purchased and sold on several exchanges using all types of currencies around the world.

Ripple

While all other cryptocurrencies primarily cater to individuals, Ripple is geared mainly towards banks, payment providers, and digital asset exchanges. But there’s more that sets Ripple apart from other cryptocurrencies.

The native Ripple cryptocurrency — XRP — doesn’t have an intrinsic value of its own. Instead, it serves as a token to protect the network, called RippleNet, against spam. Ripple is essentially a real-time global settlement network that offers instant, fail-safe, cross-border payments with maximum transparency and minimum costs.

Ripple uses a consensus ledger as its method of confirmation which is a structure that doesn’t require mining for tokens. This translates to reduced usage of computing power and minimum network latency. The downside is that XRP tokens are created and distributed at will by Ripple themselves.

This cryptocurrency has a market cap of just over $9.1 billion but the price of one XRP token is a paltry $0.23. While the cryptocurrency community has issues with Ripple being pre-mined and a poor store of value, banks and other financial institutions are adopting it in droves to bolster their payment infrastructures.

Dash

Dash (a portmanteau of ‘Digital Cash’) is an open-source peer-to-peer cryptocurrency that operates on a decentralised mastercode network. Maintained by an autonomous self-funded organisation, Dash has enjoyed immense popularity in the cryptocurrency market since its launch in 2014. Its success is attributed to its incorporation of certain improved features vis-a-vis Bitcoin such as InstantSend (instant transactions), PrivateSend (private activity history and balances), and decentralised governance.

Dash was initially released as XCoin in 2014 and renamed to Darkcoin a month later before gaining its current moniker in 2015. It has a market cap of over $3.4 billion with one DASH priced at $443.60 — a massive increase from its price of $11 at the start of 2017.

Dash has a maximum supply of 18.9 million tokens of which over 7.69 million are already in circulation. Due to its ease-of-use and scalability, it is among the most widely accepted cryptocurrencies in the world with several merchants – including web stores, web hosting services, and debit cards – accepting it as payment.

IOTA

IOTA is a cryptocurrency created solely for the emerging machine-to-machine economy of the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) sector. IOTA goes beyond blockchain through its invention of a block-less distributed ledger termed the ‘Tangle’. This technology enables IOTA to offer zero-fee transactions and no fixed limit on transactions per second.

The Tangle ledger also enables micro-/nano-payments, failsafe data/energy transfer, and leasing of smart devices. Furthermore, the scalability of the distributed ledger technology is expected to garner several more applications in the coming months, with the IOTA team stating that the technology has barely scratched the surface of its potential.

IOTA coins (MIOTA) can’t be mined; all the tokens have already been generated (there are over 2.77 billion coins currently in circulation). This translates to reduced complexity, centralization, and energy use. The market cap for IOTA is over $2.5 billion with one MIOTA currently valued at $0.92.

Monero

Monero (XMR) is an open-source cryptocurrency that is secure, private, and untraceable. While it operates on the blockchain technology, it utilises extra privacy features that make Monero transactions completely untraceable via the blockchain, unlike Bitcoin.

Monero makes use of a cryptographic technique called ‘ring signatures’ to mandatorily conceal all transaction amounts, origins, and destinations. This means that transactions on the Monero blockchain can never be associated with the real-world identity of a user, a major boon in today’s world where cyber attacks pose a very real and immediate threat.

While Monero was first launched in 2014, it didn’t witness any growth in price until late 2016. Since then, however, its price has steadily risen and one XMR is currently valued at $132.57 with a market cap of over $2 billion. This cryptocurrency, which has over 15 million tokens currently in circulation, has been lauded by several members of the community for its enhanced security features.

Zcash

Zcash (ZEC) is an open-source permission-less cryptocurrency that can ‘fully protect the privacy of transactions using zero-knowledge cryptography.’ Unlike Bitcoin, Zcash offers additional privacy through the selective transparency of transactions whereby all transactions are recorded on the blockchain but the sender, receiver, and amount are shielded. The Zcash team makes a distinction between the two cryptocurrencies in the simplest terms: “If Bitcoin is like HTTP for money, Zcash is https.”

It was launched in October 2016 with one ZEC initially priced at $4293.37. The price quickly dropped to $48.63 by December 31st but has since witnessed a gradual increase albeit with a few fluctuations. The market cap of Zcash is currently over $793 million with one ZEC valued at $298.44. With the need for privacy in online transactions gaining importance with each passing day, Zcash has become one of the most popular emerging cryptocurrencies in the sector due to its enhanced security features.

This year has been one of good fortunes for cryptocurrencies, and their rise has surprised many analysts and enthusiasts. But it’s important to remember that the market is a volatile one and sudden drops in price may occur out of the blue. So, if you are planning to invest in cryptocurrencies, make sure you study and understand the market thoroughly before investing your money in it.

Blockchain technology will make or break your business in the future

With governments and corporates world over slowly realising the value in blockchain, it is indeed an exciting time in the financial world right now.

Blockchain is the new kid on the block. The term has been bandied about in financial circles and is slowly becoming a buzzword in the business world as well. Its ardent supporters laud its safety features and  speak of how it will address concerns associated with security of financial transactions. So let us understand what exactly blockchain is. The shortest definition is:

Blockchain = Distributed Ledger

or list of all transactions across a peer-to-peer network. Data in a blockchain is stored in fixed structures called ‘blocks’.

Blockchain Technology

Before we dig deeper, let us first understand a few  concepts :

Cryptocurrency is a digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency, and to verify the transfer of funds operating independently of a central bank.

Distributed Ledger is a database that is consensually shared and synchronised across the network spread across multiple sites, institutions or geographies. It allows transactions to have public “witnesses”, thereby making a cyberattack more difficult.

Smart contracts are agreements that are encoded in a computer program and automatically executed upon certain criteria being met. Advantages of smart contracts include improved quality, reduced contract execution costs and increased speed. Smart contracts can be stored on the blockchain.

Hashing, in simple terms, means to take an input string of any length and give out an output string of a fixed length.

What is a blockchain?

A blockchain can be defined as an anonymous online ledger that uses the data structure to simplify the way we transact. Blockchain allows the users to manipulate the ledger in a secure way and without the help of any third party.

In case of a bank the ledger is connected to a centralised network. A blockchain is anonymous, thus protecting the identities of the users. This makes blockchain a more secure means to carry out financial transactions.

The algorithm used in blockchain reduces the dependence on the people to verify the transactions. This technology, used for recording various transactions, has the potential to disrupt the financial system.

A blockchain is a kind of transparent, independent, and permanent database coexisting in multiple locations and shared by a common community. This is also why it is referred to as a mutual distributed ledger (MDL).

Who controls blockchain?

It depends on the type of blockchain, which ranges from permissioned (where the verification blockchain is preselected by a central authority or consortium), to permission-less (where anyone can participate in the verification process). At present it is the permission-less blockchain that supports bitcoin, which has caught media’s attention.

Why are financial services companies excited about it?

Cryptocurrencies have been in existence since Bitcoin was launched in 2008. But the concept of blockchain has really taken off over the past 12 months, as it can help to:

• Reduce or eliminate the need for certain intermediaries
• Automate manual tasks;
• Security: It is secure as any interference with transactions on the blockchain is extremely difficult, and every participant in the blockchain can view any of the changes made.
• Distributed ledger stores the entire ownership history of an asset.

The many uses of the blockchain are explored in the areas of:

1. Know Your Customer (KYC),
2. Anti-Money Laundering (AML),
3. Trade surveillance,
4. Smart contracts,
5. Collateral management,
6. Settlement and clearing,
7. The ability to capture historical and current ownership of high-value items.

Cryptocurrency exchanges are websites where you can buy, sell or exchange cryptocurrencies for other digital currency or traditional currency like US dollars or euros. Some of the reputed cryptocurrency exchanges are Coinbase, Kraken, Cex.io, ShapeShift, Poloniex, Bitstamp, CoinMama, Bitsquare, LocalBitcoin, Gemini, Bitsane, and Bittrex.

Applications of blockchain:

1. This year, the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) announced that it would move Australia’s equities clearing and settlement system onto blockchain.
2. Nasdaq, in October 2015, unveiled Linq, a solution that enables private companies to digitally represent share ownership using blockchain-based technology.
3. The land records have been put on a public ledger by the Honduras government. The minute there is a change in ownership, it immediately gets recorded publicly.
4. Sony is seeking blockchain patent for User Authentication System as the Japanese technology major filed a patent application for a blockchain-based, multi-factor authentication system (MFA).
5. Cargo security is one fantastic application for blockchain; it could help prevent identity theft and ‘fictitious pickups’.
6. As per a patent application released by the US Patent and Trademark Office, Verisign is considering using blockchain technology as part of a potential new DNS Security Extension (DNSSEC) project.
7. Blockchain courts will offer effective dispute resolution in smart contracts where issues are resolved by a panel of jurors on a decentralised arbitration system on the blockchain. Users on this platform can create deals and have them registered on the blockchain as immutable and transparent smart contracts. This enables every fact and detail of the deal to be available and traceable in case of any dispute. To settle eventual disputes, judges are chosen randomly from a pool, unless the involved parties unanimously select a particular judge over themselves whose decision will be binding over the issue at hand.

However, it is not a rosy picture all around. A significant drawback of blockchain is that their distributed nature demands constant computational power at multiple locations, and all the ongoing accumulated (electrical) power entails massive amount of usage of power.

Nevertheless, if experts are to be believed blockchain architecture can significantly bring down the costs and reduce inefficiencies in the financial sector. The next 4-6 years will be very exciting in the financial sector. Technology, if treaded carefully, will transform the way we use currencies, and usher in a new era in the financial world.

(Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of YourStory.)

It's not just Google and Tesla: Walmart is quietly testing a self-driving vehicle, but this one scrubs floors

With its orange caution light, red bristles and bulky frame, the device looks like any other late-night floor cleaner, with one exception: No human is needed to operate it.

Walmart has quietly begun testing an advanced, autonomous floor scrubber during overnight shifts in five stores near the company's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., a move that could free workers from hours of drudgery, but that has already raised alarm among some employees. As the U.S.’s largest private-sector employer, Walmart is watched carefully for any shifts it makes to its workplace.

The machine resembles a traditional scrubber but comes equipped with similar technology used in self-driving cars: extensive cameras, sensors, algorithms and Lidar for navigational mapping. Think of it as a Roomba crossed with a Tesla. A human must first drive the device to train it on a path; it can then operate largely independently, including when a store is open to customers. If a person or object gets in its way, it momentarily pauses and adjusts course.

The device is the creation of San Diego-based Brain Corp., according to a person familiar with the matter. The company, which will employ about 100 by year’s end, develops autonomous software and raised $114 million in Series C funding in July, led by Softbank’s $93 billion Vision Fund. A Brain Corp. representative said the company doesn’t comment about specific clients. A Walmart spokesperson, Kory Lundberg, confirmed the test but said it is still in a “proof of concept” phase. If successful, it could be rolled out to more stores.

“We’re always testing new ideas and new technology,” Lundberg said. “We still have a lot more to learn about how this technology will work best for our different retail locations.”

Multiple employees who work at the retailer's 24-hour Supercenter in Pineville, Mo., about 20 minutes north of Walmart's home office, confirmed the use of the device to me this week, saying it had been tested in their store for about a month this fall. In a private Facebook group earlier this month, someone who claims to be a worker at the Pineville store shared a photo of the greyish vehicle making a turn near a display for $78 deer feeders. No one is seated in the driver’s seat, and two “caution, cleaning in progress” banners are shown on both sides of the device. An ICE logo is also affixed; Holland, Mich.-based International Cleaning Equipment, a Brain Corp. partner, manufactures the scrubbing equipment itself.

Walmart has said it wants to automate tasks that are “repeatable, predictable and manual,” giving its people more time to focus on higher-value work like customer service and selling. It is putting shelf-scanning bots in 50 stores to more accurately check prices and inventory, it announced last month. The company said the bots would not lead to a drop in headcount.

Walmart’s test of the robotic floor cleaning device has not been previously reported.

“Retailers are looking for opportunities to automate processes and stop paying people,” said Richard A. Feinberg, a professor of consumer sciences and retailing at Purdue University, who predicts automation will ripple through the retail industry over the coming years, touching everyone from delivery people to cashiers.

He said Walmart deserves credit for being willing to test and learn from new technology, and added it’s unclear if its experiment with the robotic cleaning machinery would ultimately cost jobs or affect workers’ hours.

“It changes the nature of the jobs; it may not mean fewer jobs, it may mean they can retrain the people to do things that are more useful for them, business wise,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if it reduces headcount, but I don’t know.”

In a Q&A with reporters in June, CEO Doug McMillon said that the retailer may need fewer people in the future as technology changes how its 1.5 million U.S. employees function. But he also added that the growth of the company’s online business had created thousands of new roles that did not previously exist in its stores and ecommerce fulfillment centers.

While many retailers have retrenched this year, Walmart has surged. Last week, shares hit an all-time high of $99.62 Thursday after the company reported some of its strongest sales in years. Online sales from sites like Walmart.com, Jet.com and Bonobos rose 50 percent. In a sign that it is increasingly open to testing new technology, Walmart also said Friday it had pre-ordered 15 of Tesla’s new electric tractor trailers, to be released in 2019.

Yet its vast footprint of physical stores remains its biggest differentiator in its competitive battle with Amazon. In stores, overnights have long been a time for employees to restock shelves and tidy up with few interruptions from customers. Cleaning aisle after aisle can take hours in particularly cavernous locations, and would seem to be a job that fits Walmart’s description of a repeatable, manual task ripe for automation.

The Brain Corp. device used at Walmart is named EMMA, a human, feminine moniker for what is ultimately an acronym: “Enabling Mobile Machine Automation.”

Phil Duffy, the vice president of innovation for Brain Corp., wouldn’t comment on whether the Walmart machine was made by his company, but explained that the 1-year-old EMMA is meant not as a replacement for humans but as a way to address challenges in the labor market.

Many companies struggle with high turnover and difficulties in hiring maintenance and janitorial staff to work third-shift positions. At retailers, typically only 20 percent of an overnight employee’s job is dedicated to floor cleaning, Duffy said, meaning the worker could also easily be repurposed elsewhere.

“[An employee] is spending three hours sitting on a machine, driving it around, when he could be used on much more higher-value tasks,” Duffy said.

Working with the robot also introduces hourly staffers to autonomous technology; they’re no longer riding a scrubber, they’re helping direct it, which could help employees gain new skills, Walmart's Lundberg said.

Brain Corp. makes the software that powers the robotic components for the machinery. It partners with existing cleaning equipment manufacturers to provide the scrubber itself.

While the company describes its product as part of a new wave of collaborative robotics — and refers to it as a “she” in marketing materials (“she keeps your neighborhood store clean”) — some Walmart employees see EMMA as more interloper than friend, at least for now.

At the Pineville store, one overnight employee told me that the device didn’t get close enough to the edges of some walls or could not fit in some spaces; another bemoaned that too many employees were frequently watching it. "Nobody in my store likes it," the person who identifies as a Pineville employee wrote in a private Facebook group in early November, suggesting the machine could lead to less work for overnight staffers.

Duffy said that “99 percent of the time, the reactions are phenomenal” and that employees want to focus their attention elsewhere. “They don’t want to be scrubbing the floor,” he said. “Floor care is dull and monotonous.”

The machine, with its top speed of 2.5 miles per hour in autonomous mode, slinks through stores, emitting a beep when it turns a blind corner. It will adjust its route if it encounters an obstacle, like a shopper or stocking cart.

Should it become trapped in an aisle, unable to exit on either end, it sends a distress signal, texting a photo of what its cameras see so a store employee — a human — can rescue it.

After note ban, Govt to ban the use of cheque books

 

While demonetization was a big disruption it itself, the central government is exploring new ways to boost digital transactions. The Modi government is likely to withdraw the cheque book facility to improve digital transactions.

The probability of banning the cheque book facility is predicted by a prominent trade body. Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said, “In all probability, the Centre may withdraw the cheque book facility in the near future to encourage digital transactions.” He was talking at the launch event of ‘Digital Rath’.

Digital Rath is a joint initiative by CAIT and Mastercard. The trade body is trying to encourage the traders to adopt new modes of digital transactions and promote the cashless economy. The rise of digital wallets, NFC-based payments, virtual cards, unified payment interface (UPI) has already boosted the digital transactions.

However, most of the hyperlocal businesses are still relying on the traditional way of payments through cheques. Traders prefer cheque-based payments as they get the confirmation of the delivery of goods. The supplier often asks for the advance cheque to secure the future transaction from customers. In many cases, cheque transactions offer the convenience that digital transactions cannot.

Landlords prefer taking rent via cheques as they can accept the advance payment. But with the rise of the cashless economy, there are easier options to collect the payments in a secure manner. Digital transactions recorded in September reached 877 million. The banking sector had recorded the highest digital transactions in December post the demonetization.

The ban on cheque book can heavily boost the digital transactions. According to the RBI data, more than 95% of transactions still happen via cash and cheques. After the limit on cash transaction was introduced post demonetization, businesses have shifted their focus to cheque-based transactions.

The RBI data suggests that before the demonization, the cash in circulation was at Rs 17.9 lakh crore. The latest data of cash in circulation is Rs 16.3 lakh. Which is still at 91% as compared to pre-note ban days. The government has a target of reaching 25 billion digital payments by end of this fiscal year. A ban on cheque book will help the government get closer to the target.

After deciding to revoke the legal tender of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes in November last year, the Narendra Modi -led central government might now be working on another disruptive step to boost digital transactions — banning the cheque book. A senior functionary of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on November 16 said the Centre might withdraw the bank cheque book facility in the "near future" to encourage digital transactions.

CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said the government needed to encourage the use of debit and credit cards. "In all probability, the Centre may withdraw the cheque book facility in the near future to encourage digital transactions," he said.

Demonetisation was a big disruption for most Indians, right from poor labourers to big industrialists. Now, the withdrawal of the cheque book facility could have a massive impact as well. Most business transactions are conducted through cheques. According to experts, 95 per cent transactions currently take place via cash or cheques.

Since cash transactions have declined, transaction by cheque might have increased after demonetisation.

Use of cheque in India

Cheques are fairly popular in SME payments. By taking a PDC (post-dated cheque) against the delivery of goods, a supplier secures payments due in future from its customer. People pay by cheques while buying land and house, too.

Many landlords now take rent from tenants via cheque. Since November 8, 2016, digital payments like BHIM have grown. However, their sweet spot has been small-value payments (two to three figures). The retail and commercial payment usage strongly suggests that cheque is a very compelling method of payment for large-value payments (four figures and above).

Growth of digital transactions

The Narendra Modi-led BJP government has been pushing for a less-cash society. While digital transactions have shown mixed trends since demonetisation, overall cashless payments are much higher than in the pre-demonetisation months.

Centre's #CashlessIndia drive has multiplied visibility of preexisting digital payments and led to the launch of several new digital payments. Among the former category were web A2A electronic fund transfer (NEFT, IMPS, RTGS), mobile wallet (PayTM, PayZapp), credit card and debit card (Visa, MasterCard, RuPay). Among the latter category were mobile A2A electronic fund transfer (BHIM) and interoperable QR code POS payment (Bharat QR).

Nigeria mosque attack: teenage suicide bomber kills dozens

Suicide bombing in Nigeria mosque kills at least 50; police suspect Boko Haram behind attack

Maiduguri: At least 50 people were killed on Tuesday when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a mosque in northeast Nigeria, police said, in an attack blamed on Boko Haram jihadists.

The blast happened during early morning prayers at the Madina mosque in the Unguwar Shuwa area of Mubi, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) by road from the Adamawa state capital, Yola.

"So far we have at least 50 dead from an attack at a mosque in Mubi," Adamawa state police spokesman Othman Abubakar told AFP.

"Several people were injured. We don't have the figure now because they have been taken to several hospitals for treatment.

"It was a (suicide) bomber who mingled with worshippers. He entered the mosque along with other worshippers for the morning prayers.

"It was when the prayers were on that he set off his explosives."

File image of people transporting body of a suicide attack victim for funeral in Maiduguri, Nigeria. AP

Asked who was responsible, Abubakar said: "We all know the trend. We don't suspect anyone specifically but we know those behind such kind of attacks."

The attack bore all the hallmarks of Boko Haram, the Islamist militants whose insurgency has left at least 20,000 people dead and more than 2.6 million others homeless since 2009.

Haruna Furo, head of the Adamawa state emergency management agency, and Musa Hamad Bello, chairman of the Mubi north local government area, both confirmed the attack.

They gave lower death tolls but both said the number of those killed was likely to rise.

Another emergency services official described the blast as "devastating". He said only that there were "high casualties".

Roof blown off

Abubakar Sule, who lives near the mosque, said he had just returned home when he heard the blast.

"I was there when the rescue was on and 40 people died on the spot and several others were taken to hospital with severe and life-threatening injuries," he added.

"The roof was blown off. People near the mosque said the prayer was mid-way when the bomber, who was obviously in the congregation, detonated his explosives.

"This is obviously the work of Boko Haram."

Boko Haram briefly overran Mubi in late 2014 as its fighters rampaged across northeastern Nigeria, seizing towns and villages in its quest to establish a hardline Islamic state.

The town's name was changed temporarily to Madinatul Islam, or "City of Islam" in Arabic, during the Boko Haram occupation.

But it has been peaceful since the military and the civilian militia ousted them from the town, which is a commercial hub and home to the Adamawa State University.

In recent months, Boko Haram activity has been concentrated on the far north of Adamawa state, around Madagali, which is near the border with neighbouring Borno state.

Earlier this month, at least two civilians were killed when dozens of Boko Haram fighters tried to storm the town of Gulak but were repelled by soldiers.

There have been repeated suicide bombings in the area, which lies not far from the Sambisa Forest area of Borno, where the militants had a base.

Boko Haram fighters are also said to be hiding in the Mandara mountains, to the east of Adamawa state, which forms the border with neighbouring Cameroon.

Nigeria suicide bombing kills 50 in Adamawa state

At least 50 people have been killed in a suicide bombing in the eastern Nigerian state of Adamawa, police say.

A bomber struck inside a mosque packed with worshippers during morning prayers in the town of Mubi.

Witness Abubakar Sule told AFP news agency that it appeared the bomber was part of the congregation.

No-one has said they were behind the bombing but the Islamist militants Boko Haram typically target crowded places in northern Nigeria.

Some 20,000 people have been killed in Boko Haram's eight-year insurgency.

The BBC's Ishaq Khalid reports that Boko Haram militants have recently stepped up suicide bombings in Nigeria's north-east after the military recaptured territories previously controlled by the group.

At least 45 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack in the same state last December.

In that attack two female suicide bombers detonated their explosives in a busy market.

Boko Haram at a glance

• Founded in 2002
• Known locally as Boko Haram, meaning "Western education is forbidden"
• Launched military operations in 2009 to create Islamic state
• Designated a terrorist group by US in 2013
• Declared a caliphate in areas it controlled in 2014
• Most territory recaptured by army

OnePlus 5T to go on sale in India today for the first time

HIGHLIGHTS

• 6.01-inch display with 18:9 aspect ratio
• 6/64GB and 8/128GB variants available
• 16+20MP rear and 16MP front camera

OnePlus’ recently announced flagship device, OnePlus 5T will go for sale for the first time in India today from 4:30 pm IST. The sale is exclusively available for Amazon Prime customers while the open sale will start from November 28. Interested buyers can take part in the early access sale from Amazon India, Oneplusstore.in and OnePlus Experience Store. OnePlus 5T is a bezel-less smartphone from the Chinese manufacturer and will go for sale in US and UK simultaneously.

OnePlus 5T Price And Launch Offers

The OnePlus comes in two variants – 6GB RAM/64GB internal storage and 8GB RAM/128GB internal storage- priced at Rs 32,999 and 37,999 respectively. The phone is available in only on colour variant i.e. Midnight Black.

Launch offers includes Rs 1,500 cashback on purchase from HDFC Bank credit and debit card, 1-year free membership to Zomato Gold and one year Servify accidental damage insurance plan from Kotak (requires installing Kotak 811 app and activating account with a Rs 1,000). Telecom offers include 1008GB 4G mobile data from Idea that gives access to Rs 347 per month pack offering 2GB data per day for a period of 18 months. Other offers include Rs 500 Kindle store credit, Rs 300 Amazon Pay balance. Cashback offers include Rs 300 Amazon Pay balance cashback for new Amazon Prime customers.

The company has also introduced a Referral Leaderboard which provides Rs 1000 off on OnePlus accessories to referred OnePlus 5T buyer on OnePlusStore.in, valid from November 21 to November 30. Also, each referrer will get 200 redeemable points on every referral.

OnePlus 5T Specifications

OnePlus 5T features a 6.01-inch AMOLED bezel-less display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels. The display comes with an aspect ratio of 18:9 and a pixel density of 401ppi, protected by 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass 5. It is powered by an octa-core Snapdragon 835 SoC clocked at 2.45GHz coupled with 6GB or 8GB of RAM. The phone runs on Android 7.1.1 Nougat atop OxygenOS 4.7 and will receive the Android 8.0 Oreo by the end of December this year.

In terms of optics, the OnePlus 5T sports a dual camera setup on the rear with a 16-megapixel with Sony IMX398 with 1.12-micron pixels wide-angle lens and an aperture of f/1.7. The second sensor is a 20-megapixel Sony IMX376K telephoto lens. The phone features a new ‘Intelligent Pixel Technology’ for capturing beautiful images even in low light conditions. There is a 16-megapixel Sony IMX371 sensor for capturing better selfies and video calling. The phone is powered by a 3300mAh battery that supports Dash Charging, company’s fast charging facility.

‘Bharat Bandh on Release Day’: Rajputs Protest Padmavati in Mumbai

Hundreds of protesters from several Rajput groups swept into Mumbai’s Azad Maidan on Monday, 20 November, protesting against Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s upcoming film Padmavati.

The protest was led by Rajput Karni Sena chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi, who reiterated that his organisation would not allow the movie to be released at any cost.

I found out that the movie’s release has been postponed, but no matter what date is set for its release, we will call for a Bharat bandh on that very day.Lokendra Singh Kalvi, chief, Karni Sen

Karni Sena chief Lokendra Singh Kalvi led the protest held at Azad Maidan against the release of Padmavati.
BJP MLAs Ram Kadam and Raj Purohit too joined the protest against the film.
Rajput women holding anti-Padmavati placards.

Bhansali has already screened the film for certain sections of the media. Why hasn’t he shown the film to the Rajputs?
Ram Kadam, BJP MLA

The Karni Sena chief spearheading the protest.
Protesters from various Rajput groups across the city made their way to the protest
Kadam added that they would not allow any other filmmaker to ‘alter’ history this way in then future.
Padmavati was to be release on 1 December initially. On Sunday, 19 November, Viacom18 announced its decision to postpone the release.
Deferring  the release date of Padmavati, without announcing a fresh date, was not a decision taken by filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali

It was  the producers of Padmavati who  decided to inform Bhansali that they had decided to postpone the release of the film “for  a more suitable Friday in the next couple  of months”. Sanjay Leela Bhansali said , ‘Ok,’ and  disconnected the phone.

For the filmmaker, the battle to get into the theatres on schedule, and thereby not succumb to the fringe bullying, had just ended.
“No explanation was given, none demanded by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The fight has gone out of his spirit. He has poured his blood, sweat and tears into Padmavati. He is  now done. Now he has left the matter in the hands of his very capable  producers Viacom 18 Motion Pictures,” says an informed source.
Viacom 18’s sudden announcement on Sunday, about postponing Padmavati’s 1 December release has surprised the film’s entire team.
So, what prompted  to take this hasty decision?
Apparently, the complete failure of attempts  to pacify the protesters even after Bhansali recorded a video vowing there was nothing even remotely slanderous in his film had begun to worry Viacom 18.
Says a source, “The concern was not just restricted to the Indian bosses at Viacom 18. It went all the way to the headquarters in the US.”
According to a source, the command to defer the release came after all attempts to assuage suspicion about the content of Padmavati failed.
Says the source, “The final straw was the ‘special’ screening of Padmavati for two television journalists (Arnab Goswami and Rajat Sharma). On Friday, Shobha Sant, the CEO of Bhansali Productions flew to Delhi to screen Padmavati for Arnab Goswami and Rajat Sharma. What was meant  to be  a move  to influence  public opinion in favour  of the film turned out to be a futile PR exercise.

The protestors wouldn’t buy Arnab’s verdict on the film. His  taunting “I’ve-seen-THE FILM-you-haven’t” approach simply backfired. Worse of all, the CBFC chairperson, Prasoon Joshi, turned his face away from the glare of the controversy, berating the Padmavati team for jumping the gun and showing the film to key media persons before  the CBFC”.

Joshi  probably  expected Bhansali to approach him  directly. This didn’t happen.
In their defence a source close to the Padmavati  producers says the CBFC is not to blame for  the delay. “Prasoon Joshi is clearly under pressure. It  was very clear to that they would not be allowed to release the film before the Gujarat elections. Rather than wait for one more week and let the publicity costs escalate,  ordered by the high command, decided to  pull the plug on the release without further delay.”

The  fresh release date won’t be announced in a  hurry.“We are in  no hurry to announce the new date, we will do so only after gauging the situation,” says a source.

Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe resigns, ending four decades of rule

Zimbabwe's long-time president Robert Mugabe has finally resigned, moments after the country's parliament started deliberation on his ouster.

The parliament erupted in cheers as Speaker Jacob Mudenda announced the resignation, halting the impeachment proceedings midway to say they had received Mugabe's resignation "with immediate effect."

"I Robert Gabriel Mugabe in terms of section 96 of the constitution of Zimbabwe hereby formally tender my resignation... with immediate effect," said speaker Mudenda, reading the letter.

Mugabe was the world's longest-ruling leader remaining 37 years in power after he took over in 1980, after the British colonial rule ended.

Robert Mugabe resigned as president of Zimbabwe Tuesday, parliament speaker Jacob Mudenda told lawmakers, ending a 37-year rule defined by brutality and economic collapse pic.twitter.com/pnCVBHJxqW

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 21, 2017

Zimbabwe's parliament had started the impeachment process against Mugabe on 21 November. In the last week, Mugabe had clung on in the face of a collapse of his authority and a 20 November deadline to quit.

The army seized power a week ago and there have been mass protests against him and calls to resign from many sides including on 21 November from the ruling party's favourite to succeed him Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Parliament speaker said he received a motion to impeach and the parliament would adjourn for a hotel to start the proceedings on 21  November afternoon. Zimbabwean law says a joint sitting can take place anywhere. Thousands of people demonstrated outside parliament urging Mugabe to quit.

File image of Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe. AP

Mugabe led Zimbabwe's liberation war and is hailed as one of Africa's founding fathers and a staunch supporter of the drive to free neighbouring South Africa from apartheid in 1994.

But many people in Africa and beyond also say he has damaged Zimbabwe's economy, democracy, and judiciary by staying in power for too long and has used violence to crush perceived political opponents.

South African president Jacob Zuma and his Angolan counterpart, Joao Lourenco, will travel on Wednesday to Zimbabwe in a fresh sign of diplomatic pressure, South Africa's state broadcaster said.

Mugabe held his weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday but only five ministers and the attorney general turned up; 17 others opted to attend a meeting to plan the impeachment.

“The people of Zimbabwe have spoken with one voice and it is my appeal to President Mugabe that he should take heed of this clarion call...to resign so that the country can move forward and preserve his legacy,” Mnangagwa said in a statement.

In the draft impeachment motion, the ruling ZANU-PF party said Mugabe is a “source of instability”, flouting the rule of law and presiding over an “unprecedented economic tailspin” in the last 15 years.

It also said Mugabe had abused his constitutional mandate to favour his wife Grace. On 18 November, hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Harare to celebrate the ruler's impending fall.

No, Cotton Swabs Aren't the Most Common Cause of Eardrum Rupture

 

Every day, countless people perform a task so dangerous that many doctors urge them to reconsider: They clean out the wax out of their ears with a cotton swab. This simple act is responsible for 40 percent of cases of ruptured eardrums, a new study from Israel finds.

But cotton swabs aren't actually the most common cause of eardrum rupture , according to the study. Instead, blunt trauma is the leading reason for the injury.

The eardrum, or tympanic membrane, is the narrow layer of tissue in the ear that vibrates like a drum or speaker, allowing us to hear better. But the eardrum also acts as a barrier between the outer and middle ear. When it's punctured, the injury can cause pain, hearing loss and increased susceptibility to infections, because germs can travel deeper into the ear, according to the National Library of Medicine (NLM).

In the new study, researchers looked at the medical recordsfrom 2012 through 2016 of 80 patients, 20 of whom were children, who reported perforated eardrums. The researchers reported information on the cause, location, severity, and recovery for each case, depending on availability.The study was published on Oct. 28 in The Journal of Emergency Medicine.

"I decided to look into eardrum injury statistics, because I hoped that by understanding the main causes we would be able to help eliminate some of them," said lead study author Dr. Doron Sagiv, an ear, nose and throat doctor (ENT) at the Sheba Medical Center at Tel Aviv University in Israel. "I hope our study will encourage more physicians to recommend their patients to avoid using these swabs for cleaning their ears."

Dr. Sagiv said that he was surprised by how many injuries were caused by cotton swabs, 5 percent of which required surgery to repair.

But Dr. Erich Voigt, an ENT at Langone Health at New York University, who wasn't involved in the new research, said that the paper's findings were par for the course.

ENTs "encounter this problem on a regular basis," Voigt told Live Science. "Unfortunately, parents have done this to their children with overzealous cleaning."

Blunt trauma, often as the result of assault, accounted for 56 percent of the cases. This can lead to a ruptured eardrum because a large amount of pressure is generated against the ear, Voigt said. Blunt traumu could occur when someone is hit on the ear by a hand or an airbag, or walloped with a large wave in the ocean.

When this happens, a great deal of air or water is compressed into the small space inside the ear. This causes a huge amount of pressure on one side of the eardrum, with much less pressure on the other side, where there's empty space, Voigt said. To equalize the pressure throughout the ear canal, the eardrum pops and perforates, he said.

This intense pressure buildup can happen on either side of the eardrum, Sagiv noted, and rapid changes in pressure are more likely to lead to ruptured eardrums, as opposed to a slow buildup of pressure over time.

Extreme "over-pressure," referring to pressure that could be caused by blunt trauma, or extreme "under-pressure," which occurs when the pressure on the outside of the eardrum rapidly drops, can lead to eardrum perforation, Sagiv said. One example of a cause of extreme "under-pressure" could be a strong kiss on the ear, according to the report.

Blunt trauma and cotton swabs made up most of the cases analyzed in the report (96 percent). The remaining 4 percent of cases were listed as "iatrogenic," suggesting a physician caused them accidentally, the researchers said.

Voigt noted that he expected to see some cases of perforated eardrums caused by the changes in air pressure when flying in an airplane, something that he said he encounters in his practice that wasn't mentioned in the new research. He said he suspects that the researchers excluded it because the paper focused on physical trauma rather than barometric pressure changes.

The study also found that all 20 of the injured children in the study for whom the researchers had follow-up information had healed on their own, but four of the 40 injured adults required surgery.