Apps for your web browser

Google Chrome can be a lot more than just your gateway to the Internet—the correct set of add-ons can make it even more productive.

Google Chrome is a tremendously popular Web browser. Research by Web analytics firm Netmarketshare in June showed it has a global market share of 48.65%, with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Edge, Mozilla’s Firefox, Opera and Vivaldi fighting for the rest of the pie.

But Google Chrome is much more than just a Web-browsing app. It has its own app store, called the Chrome Web Store, from where you can download apps and extensions that can be bolted on to the Chrome browser on your PC or Mac computer, adding functionality to the browser. For most tasks and purposes, the Chrome ecosystem, with its add-ons, can be a wholesome computing environment in itself. But if you want an even better browsing experience, try these free apps and extensions.

Google Docs

Google Docs is pretty much the ultimate app for any professional, since it is a capable alternative to the Microsoft Office suite. The Google Docs suite allows you to edit, view and create new documents, spreadsheets and presentations from within the Web browser. You can open any file created in the Office suite and edit it here. The fact that Google has integrated the Drive cloud storage makes this even more productive.

Gmail Offline

It might be one of the most popular email services, but one of the headaches of Gmail is that when you are accessing it through a browser, it is mainly a Web service—you need to be connected to the Internet to access your mailbox and get new mails. And that is exactly the problem that this extension tries to overcome. It synchronizes with your Gmail account when you first use it and, thereafter, works just like an offline client within your browser. Though it will download and send new mails when you go online again, what it will let you do is search through your mails and read them even when you are not connected to the Internet. The extension is still in the beta-testing phase, but it’s worth a try.

Kindle Cloud Reader

The jury may still be out on the popularity of e-books, but one cannot deny the sheer convenience that they provide—allowing people to read books without having to carry them around physically. And if you add Kindle’s Cloud Reader to your Chrome browser, you will be able to access your library and read any book from your e-book collection right within the browser. The feature set allows you to tweak fonts, make notes, insert bookmarks and check the meanings of words from a dictionary, just as you can on a regular Kindle e-book reader.

Momentum

Opening a new tab in a browser can be a relatively routine experience. Momentum ensures that it isn’t. When you click on a new tab, what you get is a colourful background image, a weather update, an inspiring quote, links to your favourite websites, and your to-do list for the day. Definitely a step up from the default blank “new tab” that you see on Web browsers.

Hover Zoom+

This is the perfect addition for those who find themselves squinting at the thumbnail-sized images on some websites. This app allows you to see an enlarged version of the image (you can specify how much in the settings) whenever you hover your mouse over it. It’s a great option for social networking and e-shopping addicts who hate to click on images and wait for their enlarged versions to load.

MightyText

Pretty much a must-have app/extension if you use an Android phone as well, MightyText allows you to send and receive text and multimedia messages from your Chrome browser instead of your phone. You can see your Android app notifications, sync the photographs on your phone, even get alerts when your phone is running low on battery. This is pretty much the app for those who do not want to be distracted every time the phone rings.

Noisli

Noisli ensures that you have just the right ambient noises to help you get along with your work, whether it is the sound of birds trilling in the forest or the sound of raindrops. All you need to do is tap an icon for peace to descend. You can even create your own blend of sounds.

Gestures for Google Chrome

If you would like to add gesture support to your browser, just download this handy little app, specify the gestures you would like on the PC’s touch pad and the tasks these gestures should execute. So you can make a three-finger swipe shut all open tabs except for the one you are currently browsing. Or ensure another gesture opens a blank tab in the background. It is a bit geeky, but very handy once you get the hang of it.

WHAT ABOUT ANDROID APPS?

Reports suggest that Google is thinking of allowing Android apps—at least some of them—to run within the Chrome browser. There are some apps that already let you do this (including Google’s Arc Welder tool), but given the fact that Google is extending the Google Play store to Chrome OS devices such as the Google Chromebook, chances are Google will allow Android apps on the Chrome browser officially too. You will, of course, need a PC with a touch screen for optimum use—Android apps are tailored for touch controls.

SOURCE: http://www.livemint.com/Leisure/eKNlCtWBKkIVqXFdLHSkPL/Apps-for-your-web-browser.html

Engineering colleges to impart skill training to 10 lakh in 3 yrs

The scheme- 'PMKVY by Technical Institutions', comes under the larger umbrella of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana.

By: PTI | New Delhi | Published:July 25, 2016 11:39 am

The faculty of engineering colleges will provide training to unemployed youth, including school dropouts, as the government kicks off an ambitious plan that aims at imparting skills to over 10 lakh people to make them employable in the next three years.

The scheme- ‘PMKVY by Technical Institutions’, comes under the larger umbrella of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, officials in the HRD ministry said.

A key aspect of the programme is that there is no age bar for candidates who will not only be trained but also will also be provided placement assistance and counselling.

Beginning from the academic year 2016-17, the scheme aims to rope in 2,500 colleges initially to provide skills training to 100 people each.The number of colleges would be raised to 3,000 in the next academic year and to 5,000 in 2018-19. At least 10,12,500 youth should acquire the skills and training which will help them gain employment, officials said.

The technical institutions have to utilize their infrastructure for offering various kinds of courses during the off-college hours so that the unemployed youth enrolled shall acquire adequate skills for certification under the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) and find placement or self employment, an official said.

Officials said under this initiative, funds would be released to cover the cost of teaching and learning activities directly to the institutions by the Centre.

The scheme envisages colleges and polytechnics which come under the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) to be utilised for its implementation.

The AICTE has come up with the guidelines for the scheme and many institutes have applied for it. A national-level committee headed by Secretary Higher Education V S Oberoi in the HRD ministry will supervise the implementation of the scheme. In addition, there will be state committees as well.

The infrastructure and lab facilities of the existing institutions will be utilised for implementation of the scheme. The institutions can take the help of either their own faculty for the programme or call those from outside.

The AICTE will provide grants under set terms to institutions which participate in the programme, officials said.

According to the guidelines, admission may be done round the year, depending on the duration of the programmes, to facilitate a steady stream of learners joining the college and moving out as trained workforce.

On successful completion of training for 250 hours, the certificate for skilling component would be awarded by the Board of Technical Education or Technical University of the respective state where the institute is located.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/education/engineering-colleges-to-impart-skill-training-to-10-lakh-in-3-yrs/

Revised Grading System in National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC)

The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has informed that it has reviewed and revised its grading system from a four grade system to a seven grade system. More number of letter grades within the same CGPA range will lead to further differentiation in quality of accredited institutions. The details of the revised grading system, being implemented from 1^st July, 2016 onwards, are as follows:

CGPA	Letter Grade		Status
3.76 – 4.00	A++		Accredited
3.51 – 3.75	A+		Accredited
3.01 – 3.50	A		Accredited
2.76 – 3.00	B++		Accredited
2.51 – 2.75	B+		Accredited
2.01 – 2.50	B		Accredited
1.51 – 2.00	C		Accredited
≤ 1.50	D		Not Accredited

The NAAC has further informed that the present system of descriptors for letter grades, i.e., Very Good, Good, Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory, has been discontinued in the revised grading system.

Source: http://www.naac.gov.in/docs/NOTICE-Revised%20grading%20system.pdf

Talking with your hands

A student, Deepak Ram, demonstrates the gesture ‘please’ using MUDRA. Photo: Special Arrangement

A team of engineering undergraduates has developed a prototype of a 'smart glove' that converts hand gestures based on sign language into spoken English

Students at the Bengaluru-based Amrita School of Engineering’s Amrita Robotics Research Lab have developed a prototype of a “smart glove” called MUDRA that converts hand gestures based on Indian Sign Language (ISL) into spoken English. The glove is made of plastic and much larger than the kind you’d slip on before a bikeride.

The glove is less ungainly than the jangle of wires protruding from it which are connected to a personal computer, from where various gestures are electronically decoded and translated into speech using the machine’s speakers. Here the device works because of sensors placed on each finger. Various signs which correspond to letters and concepts are interpreted based on how these sensors interpret the varied shapes formed by the fingers.

The glove can recognise numbers from 1 to 10, and ISL gestures corresponding to words such as ‘morning’, ‘night’, ‘goodbye’, ‘thank you’, etc. It can detect four different states of each finger and configure as many as 70 gestures.

“Going ahead, these speakers will be in-built into the glove,” says H.R. Nandi Vardhan, who led a team of engineering undergraduates to develop the apparatus. “The big challenge, however, is to teach the system to recognise a much larger database of gestures and adapt it to be used in regional languages,” he adds.

Slow growth for sign language

According to various government and independent reports, there are 5-7 million hearing-impaired people in India though there aren’t firm estimates of how many of them are formally trained in sign language. There has been a lot of work over the years to standardise signs and gestures, used across several Indian languages, and use them to develop educational material for the hearing-impaired. However, there has been relatively little progress in enabling users of sign language to reach out to a wider audience, which is where applications like a smart glove can be handy.

In April, two students at the University of Washington bagged a $10,000 prize for designing a set of gloves that translated gestures into speech using a sensor system similar to the one Nandi Vardhan’s team used. ‘MotionSavvy Uni’ is another gesture-driven technology tool for sign language-users that can translate nearly 300 of the American Sign Language’s 50,000 signs to text via a tablet interface.

The students associated with the Amrita project, Abhijith Bhaskaran, Anoop G. Nair, Deepak Ram and Krishnan Ananthanarayanan, say that affordability and the efficiency of the underlying algorithms powering the system are a key differentiator for their glove. “The glove is much cheaper compared to similar gesture-sensing products available today. The prototype took us 16 weeks to build and costs Rs.7,500,” says Mr. Bhaskaran.

India has its very own alphabet of signs and symbols called ISL. In 2001, the Ramakrishna Mission released the first Indian Sign Language Dictionary, which documented over 2,500 signs from 12 States, to provide a common sign language code. The Ramakrishna Mission and other organisations involved with hearing-impaired communities have since systemised ISL teaching materials, degree programmes and training sessions to popularise it in India.

Institutions such as the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, and the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Allahabad, have dedicated laboratories to use technology that can help sign language users communicate more effectively with those who use spoken language.

Last September, the Union Cabinet cleared a proposal to set up a dedicated research and training centre for sign language users.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/talking-with-your-hands/article8891310.ece

Four engineering students develop slate for blind kids

Hubballi: Normally, blind persons depend on others to learn Braille. Now, four engineering students of KLES' BVB College of Engineering and Technology have developed a slate for learning English with Braille (SLEB). Sagar Betgeri, Varun Deshpande, Pradeep Hubli and Ayyappa Pujar, now in the 6th semester in industrial and production engineering, have donated it to students of the Government School for the Blind Boys.

Speaking to TOI, Betgeri and Deshpande said that their consideration was that blind children should be given the reassurance that there are alternate ways for them. "This would result in a positive attitude to these media, particularly when they realize that these media are just as valuable as the print medium," they said.

"When we decided to help visually challenged students, we visited the school and learnt that teaching students, especially those who are newly admitted, was a major problem. Usually, these students use a slate and stylus to read and write. To help them use the slate and stylus, teachers make use of a plywood board with six holes, on which small balls are placed, and make them practice regularly. Another method to teach them is by use of boxes which make different sounds. Based on the studies we conducted, we designed the SLEB, over a period of six months," they said.

Hubli and Pujar credited their head of the department V N Gaitonde and faculty members Praveen Petkar and Vinayak Kuklarni for their guidance.

"This SLEB has 6-dot Braille system which is interfaced to a ps/2 keyboard and controller. As of now, this has been a good experience for us. There is a lot of scope in future if this product is improved further. We have donated this system to the Government School for the Blind. We have received order for 2 sets from visually challenged individuals. If we get eight more orders, we can provide it at the cost of Rs 8,000-9,000," they said.

"This SLEB has minimized hurdles of teaching our students. Students are learning English faster with the help of this slate," said Annappa G Koli, teacher, government school for the blind boys, Hubballi.

SOURCE: Times of India| Hubbali

Unesco heritage tag for Sikkim nat'l park, Chandigarh Capitol

Rohit Mullick





Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier's creation Ca pitol Complex in Chandigarh secured the coveted Unesco world heritage tag on Sunday along with 16 other buildings in six countries. This puts the unique cluster of three buildings and two monuments on the world map, providing it the opportunity to attract more funding for conservation and increase tourism.Unesco's world heritage committee announced the decision in Istanbul, Turkey , to place the complex on its `modern heritage site' category , taking the total number of heritage sites built in the 19th and 20th centuries to 25. A first of its kind global nomination from seven countries -India, Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany , Japan and Switzerland -pitched Le Corbusier's architectural works for Unesco's prestigious heritage list.
Though all the important buildings designed by the Swiss-French architect figure in the list, Capitol Complex is called the crown of his creations. The group of buildings -the assembly , the secretariat, the tallest structure of the city, and the high court -re presents Le Corbusier's most significant creation and one of the best expressions of Purism and Brutalism in architecture.
The significance of the complex to the world heritage can be gauged from the fact that in 2011 when it was not part of a transnational dossier on Le Corbusier, the Unesco had rejected it for not including “one of the major urban works of Corbusier“.
Rajnish Wattas, a heritage expert, called it a historical day . “We lost Lahore in Partition, but today we have got a world heritage city . But with this status, there will also come a greater responsibility for protecting our heritage,“ said Wattas.
In another major recognition, Sikkim's Khangchendzonga National Park -home to the world's third highest peak -also made it to the list.The park represents a unique diversity of plains, valleys, lakes, glaciers and snow-capped mountains.
A world heritage site is a place (such as a building, city, complex, desert, forest, island, lake, monument, or mountain) that is listed by the Unesco as being of `special cultural or physical significance'.
source:

Jul 18 2016 : The Times of India (NaviMumbai) -  http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/index.aspx?eid=31840&dt=20160718

Alejandro Aravena of Chile receives the 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize

He practices architecture as an artful endeavor in private commissions and in designs for the public realm and epitomizes the revival of a more socially engaged architect.


Chicago, IL (January 13, 2016) — Alejandro Aravena of Chile has been selected as the 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, Tom Pritzker announced today. Mr. Pritzker is Chairman and President of The Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the prize. The formal award ceremony for what has come to be known internationally as architecture’s highest honor will be at United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 4, 2016.

The 48-year-old Aravena is an architect based in Santiago, Chile. He becomes the 41st laureate of the Pritzker Prize, the first Pritzker Laureate from Chile, and the fourth from Latin America, after Luis Barragán (1980), Oscar Niemeyer (1988), and Paulo Mendes da Rocha (2006).

Mr. Pritzker said, “The jury has selected an architect who deepens our understanding of what is truly great design. Alejandro Aravena has pioneered a collaborative practice that produces powerful works of architecture and also addresses key challenges of the 21st century. His built work gives economic opportunity to the less privileged, mitigates the effects of natural disasters, reduces energy consumption, and provides welcoming public space. Innovative and inspiring, he shows how architecture at its best can improve people’s lives.”

• Biography
• Jury Citation
• Ceremony
• Selected Works

Source: http://www.pritzkerprize.com/

Alejandro Aravena of Chile receives the 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize

He practices architecture as an artful endeavor in private commissions and in designs for the public realm and epitomizes the revival of a more socially engaged architect.


Chicago, IL (January 13, 2016) — Alejandro Aravena of Chile has been selected as the 2016 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate, Tom Pritzker announced today. Mr. Pritzker is Chairman and President of The Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the prize. The formal award ceremony for what has come to be known internationally as architecture’s highest honor will be at United Nations Headquarters in New York on April 4, 2016.

The 48-year-old Aravena is an architect based in Santiago, Chile. He becomes the 41st laureate of the Pritzker Prize, the first Pritzker Laureate from Chile, and the fourth from Latin America, after Luis Barragán (1980), Oscar Niemeyer (1988), and Paulo Mendes da Rocha (2006).

Mr. Pritzker said, “The jury has selected an architect who deepens our understanding of what is truly great design. Alejandro Aravena has pioneered a collaborative practice that produces powerful works of architecture and also addresses key challenges of the 21st century. His built work gives economic opportunity to the less privileged, mitigates the effects of natural disasters, reduces energy consumption, and provides welcoming public space. Innovative and inspiring, he shows how architecture at its best can improve people’s lives.”

• Biography
• Jury Citation
• Ceremony
• Selected Works

Source: http://www.pritzkerprize.com/

Trust in Navi Mumbai to disperse educational financial assistance to needy students

Indira Rodericks| TNN | Jul 13, 2016, 12.17 PM IST

Navi Mumbai: The Shreeram Radhakrishnan Memorial Trust will be providing financial assistance to around 125 needy students to help them to pursue their studies. The financial assistance provided for school students ranges from Rs 4,000 for Class I to Rs 8,000 for Class X students.

For students in Class XI it is Rs 10,000, Rs 15,000 for students doing their graduation, and the minimum of 60 per cent of college fees or Rs.50,000 for engineering students.

The total amount of financial assistance provided will be around 11 (eleven) lakhs.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/navi-mumbai/Trust-in-Navi-Mumbai-to-disperse-educational-financial-assistance-to-needy-students/articleshow/53187946.cms