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[ad_1] What can be a better form of narration if it allows you to control the plot and unfold the mystery in more ways than one? The 2018 science fiction flick Black Mirror: Bandersnatch is one such experience on Netflix which is viewer-controlled, interactive and hybrid (film + game) and one can take control of the storyline and choose multiple adventures. Black Mirror: Bandersnatch became a huge hit around the world. Doubling down on the interactive storytelling, Netflix has taken the wow experience to another level. Recently, it announced video games as a new content category, similar to its expansion into original films, animation and unscripted TV. The streaming platform expects a long runway of increasing investment and growth across existing content categories and the gaming interactivity is included in members’ subscription plans at no additional cost. That’s not all. By making great storylines and incredible characters, the fans of stories also want to go deeper and engage further. “They want to direct a bit where their energy goes. You provide universes that offer a significant amount of time people can engage in and explore. That’s why our subscription model yields opportunities to focus on a set of experiences that are currently underserved by the sort of dominant monetisation models and games,” said Gregory K Peters, COO and chief product officer, Netflix, in an earnings call in July last year. As the pandemic rages, most people are looking for safe entertainment options that are indoors and with family. What can be better than combining both entertainment and gaming to offer a slew of interactive content? In today’s multi-screen world, platforms like Netflix have given viewers ample choice in picking content anytime, anywhere. Entertainment and information overload has upset the work-life balance and is on the verge of a takeover by digital devices. Media and entertainment have to be re-imagined, writes filmmaker and author Amit Khanna in his book Words Sounds Images. Content creators are constantly reinventing themselves to remain relevant either through edgy content or sharply focused subjects. Khanna feels the fight for eyeballs is no longer restricted to one screen as he says, “With OTT platforms providing a new lease of life to films, we appear to be in the midst of another economic upcycle, where the consumer class is investors’ darling.” As new concepts in the entertainment industry are inching closer towards digital as a potential revenue stream, to disrupt the industry and completely alter its outlook, the industry is able to leverage and monetise aptly. According to PwC’s Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2021-2025, India’s entertainment and media industry is expected to grow at 10.75% CAGR to reach Rs 412,656 crore by 2025. Rajib Basu, partner and leader – entertainment & media, PwC India, says in the next five years, India will see significant growth in OTT, online gaming and Internet advertising. “Growth in these sub-sectors spurs from the growing trends around personalisation and increased digitalisation. Today’s consumer can now control their own media consumption through an expanding range of smart devices and curate their personal selection of channels using OTT services. Content is being pitched not at audiences of billions but separately at billions of individuals,” says Basu. Storytelling to story living The stay-at-home entertainment options and endless use of OTT have made families and friends venture into new experiences of live interactive home entertainment. Delhi-based corporate affairs professional Bhaskar Majumdar, who works as head of corporate affairs, communication and digital at Egis, a French multinational, feels Covid-19 has fast-forwarded the adaptation of digital transformation. His 11-year-old son Tanay plays online interactive games which have now become part of digital learning. “Availability of the Internet and with affordable smartphones and other devices have made this easy to play and learn. Social restrictions and lack of interaction with friends have made kids find a world there, their own world where they can create and build the way they like it, and that makes them stick and, in the process, learning happens,” he says. The new-age collaborative ways of entertainment are different from how we might traditionally define and imagine. Advanced features in games have made both kids and adults participate. Nine-year-old Raeca Mandal, daughter of Mumbai-based IT professional Snehanshu Mandal, is hooked on to target games. These are lively and have a two-way feedback mechanism as compared to previous ones which used to be just the score at the end of the game. “All games had a predefined end— win or loss. Now the ending of the game is determined by the various activities performed in the game. Or sometimes, the game has no ending, and it goes on perpetually,” says Snehanshu Mandal. Take for example, Roblox—a 3D computer-animated comedy action/ adventure film based on the video game—on Netflix, which Raeca watches as well as plays. The various characteristics of the game are selected among the multi-players present in the game at that moment of the play. “There’s uncertainty in the game. Kids don’t know what character they are going to play, and they have free will on how to handle that role-play. The feedback mechanism or the interaction is working both ways. And kids can also decide the end result based on how they handle the role/ character assigned,” he explains. Innovation and action Globally, interactive and creative entertainment is the next big thing. Accenture estimated in April 2021 report that global sales related to games are higher than the combined revenues from movies and music, driven by a surge in mobile gaming and an emphasis on social interaction during the pandemic. The report said that the gaming industry has increased by half a billion players in the past three years, totalling 2.7 billion people globally. The report predicts more than 400 million new gamers are expected by the end of 2023. Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) in July 2021 announced that its newest generation game console, PlayStation5 (PS5), surpassed 10 million units sold and remains the fastest selling console in interactive entertainment history since first

[ad_1] This popular ABCmouse discount is available again! This deal is a great opportunity to try this at-home educational program at a low price! Psst! You can also get an Adventure Academy discount right now! And don’t miss this BIG list of free educational programs available for kids right now. ABCmouse Annual Subscription Discount ABCmouse.com — an online Early Learning Academy that specializes in full online curriculum for children ages 2 to 8 — is offering over 70% off an annual subscription right now as a special New Year’s deal! That means you’ll pay just $45 total for an entire year — which is like getting eight months for FREE. You’ll pay just $3.75 per month!! And since this covers up to 3 children per household, you could pay as low as $1.25 per child. (And you’ll lock in the $45 annual price after your initial year until you choose to cancel!) This is the best ABCmouse discount you’ll find right now, and this was the top purchased iOS kids education app for the past three months. What do you get with ABCmouse? When you sign up for this deal, you get access to their full online curriculum program in multiple subjects including reading, math science, and art. You can use the program on a computer, tablet, or smartphone. Each child’s progress is completely individualized with over 850 lessons across 10 different levels. With ABCmouse, learning is varied with animations, games, puzzles, songs, art, books, printables, and more! But the best part is that the subscription cost covers up to three children per household! Even at the regular price of $12.99 per month, that’s such a great deal. But right now you can get it for just $3.75 per month — so if you have three kids, that’s just $1.25 per child per month! Are there any other ABCmouse discounts? If you’re not ready to commit to a full year or you’re looking to try it for free first, there are of a couple of other great ABCmouse deals: Sign up for a FREE ABCmouse 30-day trial. Try two months of ABCmouse for just $5. With either of these deals, you’ll automatically be billed $12.99 per month after your introductory trial if you wish to continue. So just be sure to cancel before your trial is up if you find that it’s not a good fit for your child. If you’re looking for the best ABCmouse discount, though, the annual subscription deal is the way to go! Go here to get the lowest price on an annual subscription! [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] Cointelegraph Consulting: Crypto events of 2021 in retrospect [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] We are all aware of computers playing chess, but was it conceivable even a decade back that chess could be played without human intervention or any programming? This is AI or artificial intelligence where AlphaZero, a programme developed by Google, kept winning games without any pre- programmed moves. AI also has been used to create medicines that can destroy bacteria or a virus. And GPT-3—generative pre-trained transformer—can generate humanlike text without any prompting. Welcome to the world of AI. One may recollect that when we all eagerly waited for the epic serials, Ramayana and Mahabharat, we had seen the warfare between the good and bad with weapons on both sides being demolished mid-air. The producers of these epics had conceptualised what divine intervention could do. But today AI can do the same, and this is where there can be a threat to global peace. This warning is given by Henry A Kissinger, one of the authors of the book, The Age of AI and Our Fuman Future. Kissinger, who was not a pro-India diplomat, has his share of experience in the political world and understands that just like nuclear warfare is mutually destructing, the same holds for AI warfare. Drone warfare is a milder version, which has human programming. But AI left to its own would have its own strategies for invading other countries, which cannot go unchecked. The Age of AI, by Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt and Daniel Huttenlocher describe in some detail the prevalence of AI and its inevitability in future where every aspect of our lives will be guided by this force. Today, even little things like what flashes when we are on the Internet is based on past searches and is driven by AI. Facebook on its own will not be able to sift through millions of messages every minute to blank out offensive material if not for AI. Supermarkets can track what we look for and which products we touch to conclude our areas of interest and then continuously flood our phones with the right messages that are linked to our tastes. Therefore, it is there to stay and proliferate. Does AI have any feeling? Probably not as of today, though there is considerable development in the field of robotics where robots can spend time with senior citizens and talk with empathy. Driverless cars are already on the forefront of innovation that use AI to guide the vehicles. Clearly substitution for human beings is being seen everywhere and soon we would play second fiddle to AI. What about education? With several applications like Siri already present, would children require teachers, or can they manage with such help? One cannot be certain as several solutions can be found through these means that do not involve human beings. We have seen that AI completes sentences we are texting, identifies the book or store we are searching for, which is quite revolutionary and scary at the same time. Someone is watching us for sure. The authors take us through the history of change starting from the ancient times to the reformation, renaissance, industrial revolution, technology revolution and the latest advances in human evolution. The advent and spread of AI is a reality and society must cooperate not only to comprehend but adapt as it is changing human history. The power of AI is immense, especially when we look at it from the point of view of medicine and other applied sciences. It is being used in almost every sphere starting with manufacturing to advertising, art and culture. AI can be used to predict and mitigate natural disasters. Therefore, it is something that cannot be brushed aside for sure. An interesting aspect of AI that the authors rightly stress is that, unlike human beings, AI does not have intention, morality, motivation, or emotion. Hence AI tends to be rigid and goes on the basis of inputs and outputs and cannot stop and make judgments. In a way AI does not have common sense. Therefore, the use of AI in warfare can be dangerous. AI does get constrained in several ways. For instance, the code sets the parameters for its action. Further, AI gets constrained by its objective function which designs what is to be optimised and hence it can only process inputs that it is designed to recognise. But this technology is being brought to another level, which is ‘artificial general intelligence’, where it can complete any intellectual task humans are capable of. The authors argue that when reality can be predicted and simulated by an AI that can assess what is relevant to our lives, the role of human reason can change. This means that senses of our individual and societal purposes will also get altered. This may not always be fulfilling, especially if a scholar is told about the answer by AI before the research begins or for a driver who changes the lane based on some unexpected development in traffic. The jury is still out on the net gains. For several humans AI will be empowering, as the experience of surpassing traditional reasoning through specialised technology gives superior solutions such as in medicine, chemistry and physics. In modern times, getting AI to suggest optimal solutions helps in decision making where human deficiency is covered for. This can be extending to discovering new products and solutions. AI has already helped in becoming tools for fostering information intermediation where TikTok and YouTube promote some videos over others. Therefore, the authors believe that while traditional reason and faith will persist in the age of AI, their nature and scope will be affected by the introduction of new machine-operated form of logic. AI can lead to progress on questions that have proven beyond our present ability to answer. This will be the final confluence of human and artificial intelligence. We need to prepare for this transition for sure. Madan Sabnavis is an independent economist The Age of AI and Our Human FutureHenry A Kissinger, Eric Schmidt & Daniel

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[ad_1] Calisto Tanzi, Parmalat founder convicted over huge 2003 bankruptcy, dies at 83 [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] Future Retail on Saturday said it has missed the due date for payment of Rs 3,494.56 crore to banks and lenders as it could not sell assets due to its ongoing litigation with amazon, impacting its monetisation plans. Future Retail had last year entered into a one-time restructuring (OTR) scheme for COVID-19 hit companies with a consortium of banks and lenders and was to discharge “an aggregate amount of Rs 3,494.56 crore” on or before December 31, 2021. Kishore Biyani-led Future group firm would be “co-operating for completing the monetisation of the specified business within next 30 days” as per directions of the banks to resolve the current situation, said a regulatory filing by Future Retail. “Due to ongoing litigations with Amazon.com NV Investment Holdings LLC, the Company was not able to complete the planned monetisation of the Specified Business as contemplated in OTR Plan to discharge the aforesaid obligations to banks/Lenders, on Due Date. “The Company has a review period of 30 days (from the Due Date) in terms of the RBI circular dated 06th August 2020 and further in terms of provision of the above Agreement to make the payment of the above amount due to identified bankers/lenders,” the filing said. Lenders of Future Retail had in April 2021 had approved to restructure the existing financial debt of the company under an RBI announced resolution framework for COVID-19 related stress. The said restructure had covered FRL’s working capital demand, loans, term loans, cash credit, short term loans, NCDs, purchase bill discounting limits, other working capital loans and unpaid interest, which became overdue. There were 28 banks, which have lent money to the group’s retailing firm and were part of the exercise, Future Retail had informed in April last year to exchanges after getting approval. After the loan structure exercise, Future Retail had expected to recover within the timeframe. In August 2020, Future group had announced a Rs 24,713 crore deal for the sale of the retail and wholesale business, and the logistics and warehousing business to Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd. However, e-commerce major Amazon is contesting the deal through its 49 per cent stake in Future Coupons Pvt Ltd (FCPL), which is a shareholder in Future Retail. The matter is presently in dispute before the Supreme Court and Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC). Reliance Retail Ventures had for the second time extended the timeline for completing its Rs 24,713 crore deal with Future group to March 31, 2022, as it still awaits regulatory and judicial clearances. In October 2020, an interim award was passed by the EA (the emergency arbitrator) in favour of Amazon that barred FRL from taking any step to dispose of or encumber its assets or issuing any securities to secure any funding from a restricted party. This was also upheld by SIAC last month and said FRL is a party to the ongoing arbitration between Amazon and Future group in the dispute over the sale of its assets to Reliance Retail. In this deal, the Competition Commission of India (CCI), in an unprecedented move, revisited its more than two years old approval granted to Amazon to acquire a stake in Future Coupons, through which the global e-Commerce major is claiming rights over Future Retail. On December 17, the CCI had suspended its approval for Amazon’s deal to acquire a stake in Future Coupons Pvt Ltd and also imposed a Rs 202 crore penalty on the e-commerce major for certain contraventions. [ad_2] Source link

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[ad_1] Cathay Pacific sacks two aircrew for breaching COVID-19 rules [ad_2] Source link

[ad_1] Omicron Variant Cases and Deaths in India Live, Covid-19 Booster Vaccine Registration Latest Updates: With the onset of New Year 2022, many parts of the world cancelled celebrations and festivities keeping in view the rapidly spreading cases of Omicron variant and the increasing number of Coronavirus infections. India too had imposed fresh curbs in many states as a precautionary measure. Patrolling teams in Gurugram, Haryana, were seen evacuating malls and other public places in adherence to night curfew from 11pm to 5am, news agency ANI reported. Heavy deployment of police personnel was also seen in various places in Delhi, including the Cannaught Place. While the Maharashtra government did not completely ban New Year celebrations, it did impose several restrictions. Only 50 per cent attendance was allowed at events in confined spaces. The state government had earlier issued detailed guidelines to ensure low-key celebrations to ring in the New Year. Also Read | Here is how you can register your child for vaccination on CoWIN The Union Health Ministry on Saturday morning updated its data and recorded 1,431 cases of Omicron variant across 23 states, Union territories so far. India recorded a single-day rise of 22,775 new Coronavirus infections and 406 related fatalities. Number of active Covid-19 cases in the country has increased to 1,04,781, as per the official data. Maharashtra has recorded the highest number of 454 cases, followed by Delhi with 351, Kerala 118 and Gujarat 115, news agency PTI reported. The daily rise in Covid-19 cases crossed the 16,000-mark in India after around 65 days, taking the infection tally to 3,48,61,579, while the count of active cases increased to 1,04,781, as per the data updated at 8 am on Saturday. #Unite2FightCorona#LargestVaccineDrive#OmicronVariant ???????????????????? ????????????????????https://t.co/1PHH03oYra pic.twitter.com/AYImiF6pQb — Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) January 1, 2022 It has been observed that the arrival of Omicron has brought a surge in Covid-19 cases in many countries around the world. Global infections hit a record high over the past seven-day period, with an average of just over a million cases detected a day worldwide between Dec 24 and Dec 30, according to Reuters data. Watch this space for the latest updates Covid-19 and Omicron surge in India and around the globe: [ad_2] Source link