scorecardresearch
Home Blog

Tesla exploring to build battery storage factory in India: Report

0

New Delhi, Sep 21 (IANS) Elon Musk-run Tesla is reportedly planning to build a factory for battery storage in India and has submitted a proposal for the same to the government. According to a report in Reuters, citing sources, the electric car-maker proposed supporting the country’s battery storage capabilities with its “Powerwall” during recent meetings.

Powerwall is an integrated battery system that stores solar energy for backup protection when the grid goes down.

The system detects outages, powers your home and electric vehicle with backup energy and automatically recharges with sunlight to keep appliances running for days.

The government may help Tesla create a “fair business model for the company by offering subsidies to those purchasing such products”, the report mentioned.

According to Tesla, Powerwall is a compact home battery that reduces your reliance on the grid by storing your solar energy for use when the sun isn’t shining.

“You can add additional Powerwall units to your system to reduce your impact further and better prepare your home for power outages,” it says.

Musk is finally aiming to build a Tesla supply system in India. The electric vehicle major is planning to source automobile parts worth up to $1.9 billion this year from India, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said this month.

The imports will be around double as compared to auto parts worth $1 billion imported by Tesla from India last year, Goyal said while addressing the annual convention of Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA). The minister said that last year, Tesla had already bought $1 billion worth of components from India and this year their target is $1.7-$1.9 billion.

Goyal’s statement came after reports said that the Musk-led company has held talks with the government, and is exploring the possibility of bringing its auto parts and electronics chain to the country.

–IANS

na/vd

5-8 million Indians suffering from Alzheimer’s

Hyderabad, Sep 21 (IANS) The number of people suffering from Alzheimer’s in India is estimated to be between 5.3 million and 8.2 million, healthcare experts said. World Alzheimer’s Day was observed on Thursday to raise awareness and educate people around the globe about Alzheimer’s and dementia. It is a chronic disease where brain and memory cells slowly start to lose thinking and the ability to carry out simplest tasks.The brain cells themselves degenerate and die, destroying memory and other important functions.

This year’s theme for Alzheimer’s Day is ‘Never too early, Never too late’, which focuses on identifying the factors that cause this disease and taking steps to reduce and prevent dementia. Organizations gather on this day so that they can better understand about this condition and generate more funds for research.

According to Ch Vijay, Consultant Neurologist, KIMS Icon, Vizag, Alzheimer’s disease usually occurs for people who are in their mid 60s, where their brain gets the most effected, resulting in such as memory loss, inability to be independent, poor judgment, loss of spontaneity etc.

Patients with dementia and Alzheimer’s experience pain, but with the help of a proper care system the pain can be manageable.

“Life expectancy for Alzheimer’s patients is around 8-10 years, which can be lesser when diagnosed in the 80s or 90s. It can extend till 15-20 years in some patients. Purple is the colour to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s. Oftentimes, Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia.

In India, people with Alzheimer’s are possibly between 5.3 million to 8.2 million. Because of the usage of curcumin, a powerful anti-oxidant that possess anti-inflammatory properties which helps fight the disease, Indians have substantially managed the increase of Alzheimer’s but since 2005, it has grown more than dementia,” he said.

P. Sravanthi, Consultant Neurologist, SLG Hospitals, said, “There are many myths surrounding Alzheimer’s disease. It does not always happen to older people, most people get this disease in their 60’s but it is a chronic disease where there is a decline in thinking and the ability to carry out simplest tasks.

“About 5 per cent of people in their 30s, 40s and 50s get this disease as an early sign. Another myth about this disease is that it is not always an inevitable part of aging, it can take away someone’s ability to eat, talk and more. The medications that help with Alzheimer’s disease do not help with permanent cure of the disease as there is no current way to stop or slow the ailment. Medications might help with thinking, language, memory, skills and some behavioural problems.”

Talking about the tools that help doctors diagnose this disease, Subhangi Thakur Hameer, Consultant Neurologist, Amor Hospital, said that there are no specific blood tests available in India to determine Alzheimer’s disease.

Performing clinical assessment and a PET scan, CT or an MRI can help diagnose Alzheimer’s. Administrative psychological evaluation to determine whether the person is going through any symptoms such as depression or other related conditions that contribute to the person’s symptoms. People with these memory problems should return to the doctor every 6-12 months.

According to Shraddha Sanghani, Consultant, Internal Medicine, Century Hospital, Alzheimer’s can be caused due to the abnormal build-up of proteins in and around brain cells. Deposits of protein such as amyloid form plaques around the brain cells. Another protein is called tau, which forms tangles within brain cells.

“Seeking support when needed, taking regular breaks, eating healthy foods, joining a caregiver’s support group are methods which can help aging Alzheimer’s patients. It is really important to have self-care practices in place which can be suggested by the doctor,” Sanghani said.

Lifestyle factors also account for Alzheimer’s disease. People with low social engagement, sleep, physical activity and nutritious diet have the possibility of getting Alzheimer’s disease. If people stay healthy, the factors might reduce, but not permanently cure.

–IANS

ms/arm

Peso Pluma cancels concert in Tijuana after receiving death threats from Mexican cartel

0

Popular Mexican rapper-songwriter Peso Pluma isn’t taking any chances with the Mexican cartel, and is doing his best to avoid them. This comes after the rapper cancelled his show in Tijuana after receiving death threats made to the singer were spotted in the city.

The cancellation was announced on Instagram by the music labels Double P. Records and Prajin Music Group.

The two labels jointly issued an official statement and said: “Our goal is to protect the fans and the team. For the safety of everyone involved, we will cancel our show in Tijuana.”

After the threat was issued, it’s been a week since the 24-year-old singer was caught in the clutches of notorious cartels, more so when banners were spotted within the city warning Peso to not come to Tijuana and perform, TMZ reported.

The banners read: “This goes to Peso Pluma, don’t bother showing yourself on October 14 because if you do, it will be your last show due to your disrespect and loose tongue. If you show up, we are going to f***** beat you to death.”

The threat was signed by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, an organisation based in the city of Zapopan, the birthplace of Peso.

The songwriter is just one among the several rappers who has referenced the notorious cartel in his songs.

The Mexican cartel has gained immense infamy for being some of the most ruthless, devious, malicious and dangerous cartels in the world.

Primarily drug smugglers, the cartel is also involved in numerous murders, assaults, kidnappings, robberies, bribing the police and even killing political officials in Mexico and even Canada and the US.

After the threat was issued, Tijuana Mayor Montserrat Caballero said that the prosecutor’s office was investigating the threats and that an unnamed suspect had been arrested already.

She also pointed out the fallout of the singer’s style of music, stating: “It is up to me to protect the citizens of Tijuana, and therefore in the next few days we will determine if the concert will take place or not.”

“Singers such as… Peso Pluma make apologies for crime, so there are certain groups that get upset. Unfortunately, those who suffer the consequences are the citizens who want to attend their concerts.”

Pluma has sung about the cartel and their operations many times and has been accused of glorifying the crime culture of Mexico and even praising the cartel.

Microsoft bets big on AI with Copilot-driven Windows 11, new Surface devices

0

San Francisco, Sep 21 (IANS) Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella on Thursday doubled down on the role of generative AI in the company’s product portfolio, starting with Windows 11 that will include the new AI-powered Copilot feature, along with launching a powerful new Surface laptop lineup.

With over 150 new features, the new Windows 11 Update will be available starting September 26, bringing the power of Copilot and new AI-powered experiences to apps like Paint, Photos, Clipchamp and more right to your Windows PC.

“Microsoft Copilot will uniquely incorporate the context and intelligence of the web, your work data and what you are doing in the moment on your PC to provide better assistance — with your privacy and security at the forefront,” said Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President & Consumer Chief Marketing Officer.

“It will be a simple and seamless experience, available in Windows 11, Microsoft 365, and in our web browser with Edge and Bing. It will work as an app or reveal itself when you need it with a right click,” he told the gathering.

Microsoft 365 Copilot will generally be available to commercial customers starting November 1 with a more powerful version of M365 Chat, new capabilities for Copilot in Outlook, Excel, Loop, OneNote, OneDrive and Word.

The company also announced new features in Bing and Edge.

Bing Chat Enterprise will also get a few upgrades including support for multimodal visual search and Image Creator now available in the Microsoft Edge mobile app, the company announced.

Microsoft said it will soon add access to OpenAI’s DALL-E 3 image generator for users to create images right in a chat.

“We are entering a new era of AI, one that is fundamentally changing how we relate to and benefit from technology. With the convergence of chat interfaces and large language models you can now ask for what you want in natural language and the technology is smart enough to answer, create it or take action,” said Mehdi.

Additionally, the company introduced new Surface laptops. The Surface Laptop Studio 2 with 14.4-inch display starts at $1,999 and runs on Intel’s 13th generation chips.

Turbocharged with the latest Intel Core processors and cutting-edge NVIDIA Studio tools for creators-with up to 2x more graphics performance than MacBook Pro M2 Max, the device brings together the versatility to create and the power to perform, said Microsoft.

The Studio 2 also offers some big new connectivity options: it has two USB-C ports, one USB-A port, a microSD card reader, and the Surface Slim Pen 2.

Microsoft also announced Surface Laptop Go 3 that comes with a 12.4-inch touchscreen and offers up to 15 hours of battery life, along with one USB-A port, one USB-C port, and a headphone jack.

The Surface Laptop Go 3 starts at $799, with availability starting October 3.

–IANS

na/

Olivia Wilde calls Justin Bieber 'greatest singer on Earth'

0

Actress Olivia Wilde has her own favourite singer which is pop star Justin Bieber who she proceeded to call the ‘greatest singer on Earth’. The actress and director, 39, appeared on an episode of ‘SubwayTakes’, a one-minute talk show set on the New York City subway, and revealed her very own hot take: ‘people who are good at singing shouldn’t be allowed to do karaoke’, ‘People’ reported.

Wilde explaining her reasoning behind her statement, told show host Kareem Rahma after being asked a hypothetical question that mentioned Justin Bieber, prompting the ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ director to interrupt and say “The greatest singer on Earth,” referencing Bieber.

Wilde — who famously dated pop star Harry Styles for nearly two years before their split last November — previously made waves back in 2013 after a rash of Bieber fans came after her on ‘X’ for writing that the then-19-year-old singer needed to “put your f*****g shirt on” after he was photographed sans top out in London.

She later clarified during an appearance on ‘The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ that she was simply “concerned” about Bieber in the freezing London cold, and that her post was “misunderstood” and was “said with love”.

While Bieber’s take on karaoke remains to be seen, he has made several notable appearances on ‘Carpool Karaoke’ with James Corden, singing everything from his own hits to Alanis Morissette’s ‘Ironic’, which he called his “shower song”.

Elsewhere in the ‘SubwayTakes’ segment, Wilde explained her position, arguing that karaoke simply isn’t made for people who are actually vocally blessed.

“They can go get paid to do that. We in the non-good singing community paid to be able to go and sing. We pay good money to be able to go and sing… badly,” she said.

“I’m terrible at karaoke, but that’s the point. I take pride in being booed off because that’s great. You just get the turnover and that’s the next song now. We don’t need to sit through a cover. If I wanted to hear a cover, I would just listen to the real song.”

She continued: “It doesn’t even matter how good you are. Like there’s no singer good enough that I want to see them do karaoke well.”

Lana Del Rey clarifies viral Waffle House video, says she wished her album became as viral

0

Pop singer Lana Del Rey has addressed a viral moment that depicted her as an employee at the Waffle House. Addressing the viral video, she jokingly said that she wished her album could go viral.

When asked if she was surprised such a harmless thing generated so much attention, Lana joked that she wished the same things had happened to her album.

She laughingly said: “I wish my album had gone as viral. I woke up to, like, 10,000 texts the next morning — some from folks I had not heard from for 10 years. ‘Saw your picture at the Waffle House!’ (Laughing.) I was like, ‘Did you hear the new album?’ “

Months after creating an online buzz with photos of her wearing the Southern chain’s familiar uniform, she has cleared things up that she never intended to work a shift at the popular restaurant chain in Alabama, but she was offered a shirt.

“We were on our third hour, and the servers asked, ‘Do you guys want shirts?’” to which she said “Hell yeah! We were thrilled,” Aceshowbiz reported.

The manager of the Waffle House posted a short clip of the 38-year- old — ‘Young and Beautiful’ singer on Facebook back in July. A fan account also shared some snaps of the singer preparing coffee and posing with fans to Instagram.

Though brief, Lana managed to get a taste of taking on a regular job.

“This guy, a regular, comes in every day and orders two things, so they were like, ‘Just go get it for him!’ I brought him a Coke. No ice. And an empty cup,” she recalled.

After being recorded, the singer insisted that she wasn’t aware at the time that she was being filmed.

“For dip,” she clarified, miming a spit of chewing tobacco over a Coke of her own.

“I didn’t see anyone take a video of me.”

Vicky Kaushal says his mom’s reviews always match with the box-office

0

Bollywood star Vicky Kaushal, who is gearing up for the release of his upcoming film ‘The Great Indian Family’, has shared that his mother Veena Kaushal has a terrific sense of what film will work for the masses.

Vicky discussed if he has seen the recent Shah Rukh Khan-starrer blockbuster ‘Jawan’. While Vicky may have not seen the film, his friends and everyone in the family have seen it and his mother particularly loved ‘Jawan’.

Vicky said, “Main toh khair nahi dekh paaya hoon ‘Jawan’ kyunki jab se picture release hui hai, main ‘The Great Indian Family’ promotions mein busy chal raha hoon. I really wish to see the film. However, my mom has seen the film and she loves it.”

He further mentioned, “She also saw ‘Gadar 2’ and loved it as well. And there’s this thing with my mom that her reviews always match with the box-office, she has a terrific streak when it comes to that. ‘Jawan’ dekh ke bhi she said, ‘bahut maza aaya, bahut acchi picture hai’. She knows the pulse of what will work with the larger audience. She always has a very one word review which matches with the desi audience.”

‘The Great Indian Family’ releases on September 22 in cinemas.

YouTube ‘Dream Screen’ tool to soon let AI create videos for Shorts

0

New Delhi, Sep 21 (IANS) Google-owned YouTube on Thursday announced a new feature for its short-video making platform Shorts that will allow users to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) tools to create videos.

The feature, called ‘Dream Screen’ and expected to roll out early next year, will allow users to create an AI-generated video or image background just by typing in what they want to see.

“Our new experimental feature allows creators to dream up AI-generated video or image backgrounds to their YouTube Shorts. Simply type an idea into a prompt and watch what it creates,” the company said in a statement.

At the company’s event “Made on YouTube”, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan showcased the new feature, saying it will allow more people to join Shorts.

YouTube Shorts is currently registering over 70 billion daily views.

“We want to make it easier for everyone to feel like they can create and we believe generative AI will make that possible,” Mohan said at the event.

To streamline the production process, the company also launched a new mobile app called YouTube Create.

Currently in beta on Android in select markets, this free app can be used to make Shorts or longer videos, allowing creators to edit, soundtrack, add captions and more — all from their mobile phones.

Another tool called ‘AI Insights’ has been designed to “help spark your next idea and outline suggestions based on what your audience is already watching on YouTube”.

In YouTube’s initial test, more than 70 per cent of those surveyed said it’s helped them develop and test ideas for videos.

YouTube said it is also bringing an AI-powered dubbing tool that will help creators open up their content to viewers across the world.

–IANS

na/

Kareena Kapoor receives B’day wishes from Alia Bhatt, Soha Ali Khan, Kunal Khemmu

Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan is celebrating her 43rd birthday in style and has been receiving a plethora of wishes from various B-Town celebrities such as Alia Bhatt, Soha Ali Khan, Karisma Kapoor, among others.

Alia Bhatt, took to her Instagram stories, and posted a throwback picture of her and Kareena from the latter’s wedding last year with Ranbir Kapoor.

Sharing the picture, she wrote: “To the ultimate queeeeeeeen. birthday bebo.. love youuuuu.”

Kareena’s sister-in-law and actress Soha Ali Khan also took to social media to wish her with unseen family pictures.

She captioned the post: “Happy birthday bebo bhabi! May you continue to light the way as an inspiration to so many — and may you truly enjoy this birthday and year as one filled with love, good health, family, work, holidays and celebration!! You deserve it, missing you but see you soon! @kareenakapoorkhan.”

Soha’s husband and actor Kunal Kemmu uploaded a collage of several pictures, featuring him alongside the actress.

He captioned the post: “To the many hats you wear and many roles you play on screen and off it too. You are Aces all around. We love you and cherish you. Happy Birthday Bebo Bhabi.”

Amrita Arora shared a picture of the two and wrote: “Beebo KP(Kya plan)today ?? Are you napping?what’s lunch?what’s dinner? May ur inquisition never stop Happy birthday my beautiful jaane jaan, gonna spend today watching you on Netflix ! Come back soon ! Love you so muchhh @kareenakapoorkhan n may we always have the best laughs to inside jokes.”

Shah Rukh Khan seeks blessings at Lalbaugcha Raja with Abram

0

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who is currently basking in the success of his recently released film ‘Jawan’, visited the famous Lalbaugcha Raja in Mumbai’s Parel area on Thursday. The actor was spotted with his youngest son AbRam and his manager Pooja Dadlani seeking blessings from Lord Ganpati as Mumbai celebrates its famous Ganpati festival.

Videos from the pandal show Shah Rukh in a white shirt. A priest can be seen putting a tilak on SRK’s forehead as the actor made an offering of coconuts and sweets.

Earlier, the Bollywood superstar posted a photo from Ganpati celebrations at his Mannat home and wished fans.

He wrote, “Welcome home Ganpati Bappa Ji. Wishing you and your family a wonderful day honoring Lord Ganesha. May Lord Ganesha bless all of us with happiness, wisdom, good health and lots of Modak to eat!!! (sic).”

He also graced the Ganpati celebrations at Mukesh Ambani’s home in Mumbai which also saw a host of B-town celebs.

Amid many stars, SRK arrived with his wife Gauri Khan and kids Suhana and AbRam. The family was seen performing aarti in one of the many viral videos.

Apart from this, an inside video from the event has emerged online which had Nita Ambani lovingly hugging SRK. The video also had a glimpse of Deepika Padukone caressing AbRam’s hair. As a part of the festivities, SRK was given a saffron scarf to put around his neck, which he gracefully accepted.