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Reliance JIO and Microsoft Come Together to Improve Online Learning During COVID-19 Pandemic

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As the novel coronavirus continues its rampage throughout the world, most countries have been brought to a standstill. With worldwide cases having crossed 3 million, most nations have put in place severe restrictions. Almost all schools, universities and offices in Corona-hit countries have been shut. Therefore, this pandemic has had a significant impact on all our lives, rendering most services null. Most countries are shutting down their businesses and keeping alive only essential services. This has also made things difficult for traditional methods of education. The mass shutting of institutes has left millions without a class. Such dire circumstances have led to most major companies pledging their support to fight this pandemic. Recently, Reliance JIO announced that it would work with Microsoft to help the online learning industry in India. Here’s a look at everything you need to know regarding this partnership and what means to Indian students.

Indian Leaders Step Up

With the number of coronavirus cases in India exceeding the 500-mark, most Indian business houses are coming out with plans to help the government fight this epidemic. For instance, Mahindra and Paytm have already announced plans to help the government in various ways. Following suit was Reliance industries which recently pledged their full support for the government. The company has released a list of strategies they were putting in place. One of the main points here has been the help they have offered the online education industry in India.

With schools and colleges shutting across India, millions have been left without a classroom. In this light, to extend support to such students, JIO will partner with Microsoft to provide facilities to help schools and colleges function digitally. This sizeable digital collaboration will bring together these two tech giants and enable them to combine their resources. Their broad bandwidth and digital capabilities will help support both healthcare and educational institutions. This will go a long way in helping schools and colleges continue to function during social distancing and isolation.

Extended Internet

With most people being at home, internet services in the country are finding it challenging to keep up with service requests. Almost 90% of the country is under strict curfews and bans, resulting in large amounts of people working and studying from home. This has put an undue strain on our existing internet facilities, while also taxing individuals. To help such people, JIO has announced that they will provide the basic JioFiber connectivity at 10 Mbps, to whoever needs it, free of cost. The only requirement being that the area in consideration has enough range for their services.

Furthermore, JIO has also said that it will provide routers to people with a bare minimum refundable deposit. Also, existing users will have access to double the data limit they now have, and the same offer will hold for Jio 4G data vouchers. This move will significantly help the students all over the country who are now turning to online learning platforms for their educational needs.

Long-Awaited Partnership

While JIO and Microsoft have not provided further details regarding their partnership to help the online learning industry in India during such difficult times, this plan has been in motion for over a year now. In 2019, the two giants had decided to collaborate on a ten-year project, to help India go digital. This strategic relationship was to help accelerate India’s digital transformation by combining their capabilities and providing Indians with solutions for universal connectivity and storage issues they faced. The partnership would also lead to higher adoption of analytic services such as data science, artificial intelligence, and IOT in India. Details regarding their plans to help the online learning industry will most likely be along the same lines. Students all over the country are eagerly awaiting further details so that they can continue with their learning and education during these times.

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COVID-19 Helps Raise Income of Online Tutors Around the World

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The COVID-19 is grabbing headlines all over the world for its rampant spread across Europe and North America. With the number of affected and dead keep rising every day, the world will have to wait out this pandemic. Recently, India has gone in for a 21-day complete lockdown to prevent the spread of the virus throughout the country. Around the world as well, most states have opted to implement travel bans, shut offices, and schools and also shut down public transport. The shutting down of schools and colleges has led to millions of students being left without a class. While these times are tough and trying, it has led to a surge in the online learning industry. With almost every student having to rely on online learning technologies to get their education, online tutors are making more money than ever before. Here’s a look at how the COVID-19 has led to a massive rise in income for online tutors.

Online Tutors Getting Rich

Raven Kate De Leon is a Filipino teacher, who is now working harder than ever before due to the COVID-19. She is working more than 10 hours a day from her home, in front of her home computer. Her desk is scattered with stuffed toys, cars and dolls, all of which she uses while teaching English to students from around the world. These toys help her lighten the mood and infuse some energy into her classes. With China having shut down, many students are now relying on teachers like Leon to get their education. Just like her, thousands of Filipino teachers are now cashing in on the disease by working overtime as grade school teachers. Instead of being frustrated due to the lockdown, these online tutors are turning this pandemic into golden opportunities.

The Philippines to the Rescue

Very few Asian countries have what the Philippines have. The country has both the technical capabilities and an ample supply of teaching professionals who speak flawless English. Both these combined help make this country into an online-learning powerhouse, helping out students all over the world. Platforms that mete out virtual learning, such as China’s 51Talk and the Filipino RareJob has grown tremendously in the last few months.

Ever since the COVID-19 hit Chinese shores, these platforms have developed as they serve as one of the few ways to teach students. Teachers who used to take eight classes daily, now take 20 to keep up with the more significant surge in demand. With the children being stressed out themselves, not being able to understand what’s happening around them, these classes also serve as a means to calm them down. Leon usually works from 8 in the morning to 11 at night, and never even takes a day off! A 25-minute session costs the student around $6.36, and most teachers earn $2.53 per hour.

Traditional Education Shuts Down

China shut all its schools and colleges in February in a bid to contain and prevent the further spread of the infection. Once the virus spread to other areas and countries, most of them had to follow suit and put the same measures in place. This led to the complete breakdown of traditional forms of education, with UNESCO calling this a modern-day educational crisis. The organization has stated that the pandemic has left over 290 million children without a school or college to attend. In such trying times, the safest option that people have to get their children educated is online learning.

With the virus being extremely viral and infectious, social distance has become the norm of the day. In such an environment of COVID-19, virtual classrooms and online learning initiatives might be the only option available to students who want to learn. Companies such as 51 Talk is making full use of this migration towards online learning, and the company employs over 20,000 teachers in the Philippines.

As these teachers work from home the entire time, they have also been able to stay clear of the viral infection. The Philippines is battling the disease, with over 400 positive cases. The market share value of the company China Online Education, which is valued at $419-million rose 154% while the NYSE index fell by 34% in the same period. Other platforms such as TAL Education Group, New Oriental Education and GSX Techedu Inc have also witnessed an enormous rise in share values, by 24%, 17%, and 112%, respectively.

RareJob employs over 6,000 Filipino tutors and works mainly in the Japanese market. They have seen a doubling of their customer base, with over 800,000 customers signing up since February. The company charges $60 for Japanese and $100 for English classes, and this is 40 times cheaper than the online learning classes based in Japan. Several companies are unable to keep up with the massive surge in demand. Regardless of whether the schools and colleges will open soon, it is clear to see that online learning institutions have made a long-lasting impact on the world’s education sector.

Stadia Makers

Google Extending Its Support to Indie Developers by Launching Stadia Makers Program

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Google Has recently announced that it will be launching the Stadia Makers Program in collaboration with Unity. There are many independent game developers out there making the game development community stronger day by day. Many people are very much interested in game development but opportunities and time are the greatest issues. With Google announcing in this period of quarantine, game developers would certainly not take their eyes off the computer.

The Big Announcement 

On 23rd March 2020, Google announced the launch of the new Stadia Makers Program for attracting the independent game developers. The company announced at the Google for Game Developer Summit. Google made this strategic move in collaboration with Unity to help attract the best game developers around. Through this program, Google will be looking for developers using Unity 2019.3 for developing games. It is especially those who are trying to launch their games by 2021.

What are Stadia Makers?

Google has launched the Stadia Makers program as an initiative to support independent game developers. Many independent game developers are excelling at their skill for a long time. But, they cannot come up to the surface due to lack of funding or technical assistance. Moreover, though the gaming industry is having an embarking turnover, many people don’t support it. Young students who have shown interest in game development might also be suppressed due to orthodoxy.

So, Google has made this inspiring program to give gamers a little push. And, it will help Google finding the creamy layer of the best game developers for its team. Google has released Stadia Makers in November 2019. Since then it has the game developers has created and launched 30 games and double updates. Google has also announced that 120 games will be shipping in one year.

Stadia Makers’ partnership with Unity

Stadia Makers has come into a joint venture with Unity for releasing this new program and expansion as well. To attract more game developers into the site what can be better than partnering with one of the largest game developing platforms. Even a beginner in this field uses the Unity game developing software and pro as well.

Unity, since 2005 has created a rich and ethical history in the book of game developers. In 15 years Unity has successfully established a very strong relationship with the developer community. It also provides new platforms and gaming services in a regular interval. Today, it is not only providing support to Stadia Markers but twenty-five other such platforms as well.

Advantages of Stadia Makers program

The program as well the partnership will have numerous benefits for the indie game developers. Initially, when a game developer makes a prototype that is nothing but the skeleton of the actual game. It needs numerous testing and technical supports. Stadia Makers will be providing the game developers with this technical support to launch his or her game. From alpha testing to making it certified, Stadia will take care of everything.

Technicality is not the only issue for any virtual application. Money is also a big factor along with tech support. Funding is a very crucial and sensitive part especially when it comes to launching and developing across a cross-platform. Stadia Makers has declared to offset some of these costs.

Last but not the least, this program will also provide free development hardware. The participants of this program will also be given the varying number of physical development kits depending on the size of the team. But, one most important thing is that the game should be developed using the platform of Unity 2019.3.

Other steps were taken by Stadia

Stadia Makers apart from just establishing a partnership with Unity did many other things. Since the launch of the Stadia didn’t go so smoothly in November, it tried hard to excel afterward. Stadia has declared the acquisition of Typhoon Studio and hiring of Shannon Studstill to focus on exclusive content. Google has also said that this is just the first step to something bigger for the gaming community in the future.

Moreover, in this pandemic of COVID-19, the users have increased not only in Stadia but participation in many other programs. Stadia has not announced any detailed news about the funding to date.

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World Comes Together to Find a Cure for the COVID-19

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It has now been three months since the novel coronavirus went ballistic, spreading across the world and claiming lives. Since the spike in cases started, medical professionals from around the globe have been doubtful when it comes to how to treat the pandemic. Most of them are unclear regarding which drug will prove to be most effective against this viral disease. However, the silver lining here is that this confusion has brought together the entire medical community especially WHO, as they try to find answers. Here’s a quick look at how the world has come together to find a cure for the COVID-19.

Testing Progressing

The virus broke into China early December and then tore the country apart by February. Researchers and doctors then set up multiple testing centers and drug trial centers to test the efficiency of existing medicines. However, data from China has not been successful in pinpointing any particular drug as the final solution. This prompted the Director-General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom to ask top medical professionals from around the world to work together to find a cure. He recently applauded the global effort by stating that such an extensive program against the viral disease would lead to faster results. The WHO, has, therefore, launched a global clinical trial to test four drugs that they feel have the best response against the COIVD-19. These include the experimental Remdesivir, the anti-malarial chloroquine, and hydroxychloroquine, two HIV drugs from a combination pair, and the same two combined with an anti-inflammatory beta drug.

Global Effort

These trials will happen all over the world and will be extremely flexible. As time passes, the centers will add and remove additional treatments and therapies as per their findings. In many ways, this process will resemble the one adopted by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. This facility, which took shape in the US, sometime in February has been testing Remdesivir. However, as of now, the US is not included in this global testing scheme launched by WHO. Nevertheless, hundreds of such trials are now in motion. Here’s a look at the main drugs they are focusing on, as of now.

Anti-Malarial Drugs

Studies have found that both hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine can help in stopping the coronavirus’s spread. Meanwhile, anecdotal evidence suggests that this combination can help patients infected by the COVID-19. An advantage concerning this drug is that since it has been used for years as an anti-malarial drug, scientists and researchers have a lot of experience when it comes to using it. After having used it for years, most scientists have found that the drug affects viruses. The trials are trying to establish whether hydroxychloroquine can help with stopping the virus from developing into more severe conditions within patients. To test this, researchers need to administer the drug to people who are at high-risk locations. By getting the drug into people early on, the team will be able to track how the drug responds to the virus and whether it proves to be effective. Since viruses work incredibly fast, if a drug has a chance of working, that chance is amplified if it reaches the infection early on. While the research is still in its early stages, experts believe that hydroxychloroquine will prove to be an essential drug in the fight against the viral epidemic. However, such news has led to a rise in demand for the drug, inspiring manufacturers to increase production. This rise in demand has led to a shortage of people who use the drug to fight lupus.

HIV Drug Trials

Two Thai doctors in February claimed that a combination of lopinavir and ritonavir, two drugs used for the treatment of HIV helps COVID-19 patients. This has led to the WHO issuing testing centers to run clinical trials on the effectiveness of this combination. A separate test is running to test the effect of the blend with an anti-inflammatory interferon-beta. The most promising news here is that this combination proved successful in the fight against the SARS and MERS pandemics. However, some bad news has come out from China, wherein trials revealed that the combination did not prove successful. But, the test occurred in people who were in the later stages of the disease, meaning that this might be why the combination proved to be ineffective.

Antiviral Remedies

The drug remdesivir first gained attention as a useful tool against Ebola. Later on, research showed that the drug also works against MERS and SARS. Now, recent lab tests have shown that the drug can also help in curbing the novel coronavirus. While anecdotal evidence backs the remdesivir drug, clinical trials will aid in substantiating this evidence. Further trials are testing various other drugs; some backed by WHO, some without, in a way to quickly fight the virus. Japan is testing an anti-flu drug called favipiravir, which they say is effective in treating the COVID-19. While clinical trials take time to collect data, this global effort will help in building concrete evidence faster than ever before. As the world comes together to fight this pandemic, let us all hope that a cure is found soon.

Tim Cook

Apple Has Responded To The Need Of The Hour By Donating Masks

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The deadly consequences of the novel coronavirus have shaken up the entire world. Every citizen from every nation should be grateful to the healthcare sector, all doctors and nurses. But, with the rising number of affected people, every country is suffering from a major crisis of masks. Tim Cook, CEO of Apple has announced a donation of 2 million masks to the healthcare workers of Europe and the USA.

Shortage of masks 

The demand for masks has surely increased in a few days. The common citizens also use masks every time they are stepping out of the house. But, people who are working in the healthcare sector need proper masks. The doctors and employees at the medical units are putting their life at stake and working. This has led to the acute shortage of masks and the demand for it is growing exponentially. Moreover, the acute shortage in the production of masks has also resulted in black marketing.

Responding to this Apple CEO Tim Cook has tweeted on 21st March 2020 that the company will donate 2 million masks to the medical professionals. Everyone stood by this gesture and other companies are trying as well to donate masks to them.

N95 Respirators

Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services in association with the Federal Emergency Management Agency has ordered millions of N95 Respirators. Mike Pence, Vice President of the United States confirmed the news but he was not specific about when these masks will reach the medical units.

N95 Respirators are easy disposable masks but not fit for all common people. Though these masks provide a proper seal and keep the infected droplets away, people should take proper precautions. With the terror of coronavirus increasing day by day, you should learn about the right thing and practice it. The production of N95 Respirators is for meeting the need in the health care units and not for common use.

The N95 Respirators should be used under medical supervision. As much as it is effective in sealing your mouth and nose area from outside droplets, it can cause breathing problems. So, patients with chronic respiratory, cardiac, and other medical complications should not use it without consultancy. It is also imperfect for children to use as well.

Donating the construction masks

Masks that are used in the construction sites are very effective in infiltrating pollutants. These masks have proved to be very useful as a barrier against the impure droplets of air. So, Pence called a meeting to notify the companies that construction masks should be donated to the hospitals and medical units. The construction masks are perfect and replaceable during this time of shortage.

Moreover, the industrial companies are also ordered to not order any more masks. All the produced masks will be supplied to the medical professionals in this time of emergency. He also said its better to take all the preventive measures rather than going mask free to the danger zone. Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said that within a week the shortage of masks will be covered.

Donation of other companies

It is not only Apple that is making donations for the healthcare sector. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla is known for donating 50,000 N95 Respirators for the healthcare workers. A UW medicine physician, Dr. Kristina Adams Waldorf received it a day ago. Along with the N95 masks he has also sent plenty of special helmets to fight this deadly pandemic.

Mark Zuckerberg also announced the donation of 720,000 masks for the same cause just like Apple and Elon Musk. He also donated the stacked up wildfire masks for a greater emergency. And, along with that he also donated $1 million to help report news from the areas of the virus outbreak.

Mask shortage in Amazon

Meanwhile, Amazon is struggling to meet the masks need for its employees. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon declared that Amazon is currently facing a major crisis of masks. While other companies are donating masks to the healthcare units, Amazon cannot secure their employees. It has ordered millions for those who cannot work from home, but the delivery is questionable.

digital robots

Diligent Robotics to Help Hospitals by Providing Assistant Robots

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Studies show that almost 28% of a professional nurse’s working time goes into tasks that require low-skill and less technical knowledge. These tasks include taking medical tools from places and handing them over to the doctor-in-charge. Being a nurse is an essential job that requires a lot of other complex operations, which require care and compassion. When they are put under stress working on low-skill tasks, this affects the overall productivity and efficiency. The present COVID-19 attack has seriously put the medical profession under severe pressure. With doctors and nurses having to work around the clock to save lives, the least we can do is use science to make their lives easier. In this article, we will be taking a look at what the start-up Diligent Robotics is doing to help these nurses out.

Robots to the Rescue

Diligent Robotics is trying to give back to the medical community by providing them with a helper robot to carry out low-task jobs. This robot will function as a sort of assistant to these nurses, helping them with errands around the clock. The company’s helper bot, called Moxi has a flexible gripper-equipped arm, which allows it to pick and drop things. This incredibly mobile robot can navigate its way through a hallway, clinical room or ward and assist nurses diligently. It can be put to use to transport resources from one department to the other, and hand over necessary documents to doctors. Since the world is facing a massive shortage of human resources with regards to the healthcare industry, this robot will help save lives. Using this robot will lead to medical professionals having more time to tend to the sick, instead of engaging in low-intensity tasks. This will help raise the overall efficiency and productivity of the hospital and its staff. Furthermore, since robots cannot get themselves infected with COVID-19, they cannot be carriers, making the entire process a lot safer.

Funding on Board

The company Diligent Robotics announced its plan to scale operations and deliver more robots to hospitals, thanks partly to a $10 million received via Series A funding. Diligent Robotics CEO Andrea Thomaz has said that the robot Moxi was designed by taking input from hospital customers and users so that it can provide more solutions than just material management. The company plans on making the robot a frontline staff in this fight against the disease. This round of funding led by DNX Ventures ensured that the company gained $15.75 million in total funding. This has pushed development works into fifth gear as far as Moxi is concerned. Two such robots are working in Dallas, within two top hospital networks inside the United States.

Road to the Formation of the Rescue Team

The new cash which has come in from companies and investors such as DNX, Ubiquity Ventures, Grit Ventures, and E14 Fund has helped in expanding Moxi’s capabilities. Andrea Thomaz came up with this idea when she was working on her Ph.D. from MIT Lab in the field of social robotics. Co-founder and the company’s CTO, Vivian Chu has a Master’s from UPenn. She then joined forces with Thomaz at Georgia Tech and realized just how much time nurses waste on menial tasks. This study led them to win a National Science Foundation grant amounting to $750,000. This money proved that stepping stone that led to the prototype of Moxi being built. Since then, the company has grown from strength to strength, expanding into an 18-member team. They worked with over a hundred nurses from all over the US, to study their needs and requirements. Thomaz believes that such movements will help in the integration of robots into everyday lives like never before. Hence, such service robots will benefit the entire field move from shop floors and industries to our homes and essential services. Rather than trying to replace humans, the company is trying to focus on building robots with unique human elements in them.

Moxi the Bot

Moxi is almost as big as a human but looks more like an 80’s inspired movie robot so that it does not make people feel weird. It has a pair of eyes that move as per signal transmission, with a command system that responds to voice commands from nurses. It has a control system inside it, which allows it to adjust its height, while its robotic arms will enable it to pick up and place items whenever necessary. Hospitals buy Moxi by paying a standard fee and then continue to pay a small monthly fee for the services it provides. While hospitals find it difficult to adjust to new technologies, the start-up believes that tough times will inspire more companies and hospitals to adopt new technologies to fight the pandemic.