Tag: Begins

ISRO Launch Live: Online Registrations to Watch PSLV C-46 RISAT 2B Launch Live from Sriharikota Begins

ISRO launch Live from Sriharikota Viewers gallery

ISRO launch live is something space science enthusiasts across the length and breadth of the country look forward to doing. In order to encourage such viewers, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), has opened up the online registrations to watch the take-off of the ISRO PSLV C-46 RISAT 2B launch live from Sriharikota. The ISRO PSLV C-46 RISAT 2B launch is scheduled on 22 May 2019 at 5:27 am IST.

While only 1200 viewers could witness the PSLV-C45 launch live from the launch view gallery last month, this time it is expected that 5000 registrations will be allowed. “1200 people watched and enjoyed today’s PSLVC-45 launch from the new viewers’ gallery at Sriharikota. Next time we will have 5000 people watching the launch,” Dr K Sivan, Chairman, ISRO, had said last month.

The launch view gallery has a clear line of sight to two launch pads along with large screens placed to explain the launcher and satellite features. Also, replicas of all the ISRO launch vehicles like the Sounding Rocket, ASLV, PSLV, Mk-III, SLV, and GSLV will be available at the Space Theme Park along with a provision to go inside. A Space Museum educating viewers of the history of the Indian Space Research Organisation will also be created.

How to Register to Watch the ISRO Launch Live?

Viewers need to log onto to the official website of SDSC SHAR, and go to a microsite “Click here for registering to witness PSLV-C46/RISAT-2B Mission”. Viewers will first need to send a valid email address and get it verified, after which they can proceed with the online registrations to watch the ISRO launch live. Following which, visitor details such as individual or institute, no of people visiting, mode of transport and vehicle number needs to be submitted. Visitor’s contact details need to be provided after which terms and conditions need to be accepted. The final step would be the visitor’s capcha verification. The website mentions that 550 visitors have already registered to watch the ISRO launch live.

ISRO PSLV C-46 RISAT 2B: What is PSLV?

PSLV full form is Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The launch vehicle was developed to allow the country to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites into sun-synchronous orbits. This was commercially available only from Russia service until the advent of the PSLV in 1993. The PSLV-C46 mission, which will be the 72nd launch vehicle mission from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota and 36th launch from the First Launch pad, is the 14th flight of PSLV in ‘core-alone’ configuration, which means without the use of solid strap-on motors.

RISAT-2B, which is a Radar imaging earth observation satellite, will be placed into an orbit of 555 km at an inclination of 37 degree, says ISRO. The satellite possesses day and night as well as all-weather monitoring capability, thus helping in providing the country with real-time information.

[“source=dqindia”]

Foodpanda Begins Operating in 13 More Cities

Foodpanda Begins Operating in 13 More Cities

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Cities include Jaipur, Chandigarh, Kanpur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad, etc.
  • Foodpanda wants to get an additional 60,000 delivery partners on board
  • Foodpanda now operates in 20 cities

As part of its aggressive expansion across the country, food delivery platform Foodpanda on Thursday announced its entry into 20 cities. In addition to the 7 cities where Foodpanda had an active delivery partner network in place, 13 cities have gone live starting today with Foodpanda’s delivery partner network on ground. The app has started operations in Jaipur, Chandigarh, Kanpur, Lucknow, Indore, Ahmedabad, Nashik, Nagpur, Mysore, Bhubaneswar, Guwahati, Visakhapatnam and Coimbatore.

With Foodpanda’s robust delivery partner network on ground, consumers and restaurant partners will benefit from a seamless experience, it said in a statement.

“We are thrilled to expand Foodpanda’s delivery network to 20 cities across the country. We are in the midst of a fast-paced nationwide expansion with an ambition to serve a billion Indians. We are confident that our cutting edge technology and unique local insights will make Foodpanda, India’s largest and most preferred food experience platform,” said CEO at Foodpanda India, Pranay Jivrajka.

“Being a part of the Ola platform, Foodpanda will explore opportunities to synergise its services and efforts of delivering superior food experiences to cater to a wider pool of customers across these cities,” added Jivrajka.

Foodpanda had also announced its intent to on board an additional 60,000 delivery partners on to its network by the end of October. Tens of thousands of delivery partners have already been on boarded over the past month with Foodpanda expecting to achieve this target well ahead of time.

 

[“Source-gadgets.ndtv”]

Syria war: Evacuation begins in besieged towns

A rebel fighter stands near buses carrying people evacuated from the two villages of Kefraya and Foah

Dozens of buses are being used in the evacuation

The Syrian government and rebel groups have begun an operation to move people away from four besieged towns, activists say.

People from Foah and Kefraya, two government-held towns in the north-west, have arrived in Rashideen, west of Aleppo, AFP news agency reports.

Similar operations have begun in rebel-held Madaya, near Damascus. It is not clear if nearby Zabadani, included in the deal, is also being evacuated.

More than 30,000 people will be moved.

Last month, the UN described the situation in the four towns as “catastrophic”, with more than 64,000 civilians “trapped in a cycle of daily violence and deprivation”.

Many people are reported to have died as a result of shortages of food or medicine.

  • ‘Starving to death’ in Madaya
  • Madaya, where children resort to suicide
  • Why is there a war in Syria?
People evacuated from the two villages of Kefraya and FoahImage copyrightREUTERS
Image captionPeople evacuated from Foah and Kefraya have been taken to Rashideen

Foah and Kefraya, most of whose residents are Shia Muslims, have been encircled by rebels and al-Qaeda-linked Sunni jihadists since March 2015.

Madaya and Zabadani, which are predominantly Sunni, have meanwhile been besieged since June 2015 by the Syrian army and fighters from Lebanon’s Shia Islamist Hezbollah movement.

The evacuation deal has been brokered by Iran and Qatar. But critics say it amounts to forced demographic change.

Some 4.7 million people live in hard-to-reach and besieged areas in Syria, including 644,000 in UN-declared besieged locations.

Map showing control of Iraq and Syria (13 March 2017)

Meanwhile, the foreign ministers of Russia, Syria and Iran are due to meet in Moscow in the first meeting of the three allies since the US fired 59 cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase near Homs.

The US says its strike was in response to a Syrian government chemical attackin the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun, in which more than 80 people were killed.

Media captionMr Assad, in an interview approved by the Syrian presidency: “A 100%… fabrication.”

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has denied carrying out a chemical attack, calling the reports “fabricated”.

The ministers meeting in Moscow are expected to consider their next move, including what sort of investigation they might back, the BBC’s Ben James in Beirut reports.

[“Source-bbc”]

With Sony PlayStation VR Now Out, the Search for Virtual Reality’s Killer App Begins

With Sony PlayStation VR Now Out, the Search for Virtual Reality's Killer App Begins

With Sony PlayStation VR Now Out, the Search for Virtual Reality’s Killer App Begins
Sony Corp.’s release of the PlayStation VR on Thursday brings virtual reality to the cusp of mainstream adoption. To make it a must-have home entertainment device, the gadget will need a breakaway hit like Angry Birds or Pokemon Go.

A list of the challenges faced by virtual-reality developers offers hints of what a killer VR app or game might look like. While it could borrow techniques from traditional games, virtual reality’s potential starts to become clearer at the point where conventional approaches start to fall short.

(Also see: Sony PlayStation VR Goes on Sale, Brings Virtual Reality to the Masses)

Consider mobile gaming, which required developers and gamers to think in new ways. The use of touch screens and sensors, short play time and free-to-try business models helped to make smartphone games unique and fueled success in the genre. In the same way, creators are now developing the building blocks for VR.

“These are things that have never been invented before-you can’t look them up,” said Andy Moore, chief executive officer of Radial Games, one of the developers of Fantastic Contraption, a game that lets users build virtual gizmos.

Whatever the first VR mega hit may be, it will most likely use a motion controller. One of the first things people do in virtual reality is look at their hands. Playing with a regular gamepad would shatter the illusion, and that’s why PlayStation VR, Facebook Inc.’s Oculus and HTC Vive all come with controllers that track 3-D hand movements.

Motion controllers are tracked by an outside camera or a sensor to directly translate your movements into VR. See something you want? Reach out and grab it, there’s no need to memorize complex button combinations. This ease of use brings virtual reality to a much a broader audience.

“Manipulating objects with your hands in VR brings out a childlike wonder,” said Alex Schwartz, CEO of Owlchemy Labs, which developed Job Simulator.

(Also see: PlayStation VR First Impressions)

The Exit Burrito
PC-based user elements, such as digital buttons, dials and rectangular menus, also don’t translate well into virtual reality.

“If you want a volume slider, then put an actual speaker in the world with a physical slider that you can grab with your hand,” Moore said. “Don’t do menus. Menus suck.”
For example, in Fantastic Contraption, where users create virtual machines by connecting engine parts and structures together, the toolbar is a cat. The feline is always nearby, ready to help. Menus also lead to clutter. That’s why in the game, magic hats are used to quickly change avatars. To quit a level in Job Simulator, take a bite out of an virtual exit burrito. And another bite to confirm.

(Also see: PlayStation VR India Launch to Be ‘Confirmed in Due Time’; Public Demos Set for IGX 2016)

To teleport or not
One of the thorniest problems is preventing nausea in virtual environments. Base jumping off a skyscraper or tumbling around in zero-G environment usually don’t work well. That’s because much of the sense of presence, the feeling of being somewhere else, comes not from what people see, but the their innate sense of balance. There’s a technical term for when those senses don’t line up: vestibular mismatch.

The challenge has already led to a new technique that’s quickly gaining in popularity-teleportation. While it feels as natural as blinking and doesn’t cause motion sickness, zooming around enemies and obstacles at will can also undermine the illusion of being in a realistic physical space. Budget Cuts, a stealth game that has you sneaking around an office building, has an elegant solution: you can only teleport as far as you can throw.

“Navigation is just a way to get from point A to B, it’s not a game mechanic itself, so why not shortcut it?” said Nicolas Doucet, producer of Playroom VR for Sony’s headset. “Do we really need it?”

What’s most exciting about VR is that many of these tools and techniques are being invented right now. By solving these problems, developers may be doing more than just laying the groundwork for a Clash of Clans in virtual reality. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, for one, believes virtual reality will usher a new era in computing.

(Also see: Facebook Unveils VR Rooms for Socialising; Testing Standalone VR Headset)

“This is the most rewarding work I’ve ever done,” said Moore. “Everything I touch is brand new.”

© 2016 Bloomberg L.P.

Tags: Sony, PlayStation VR, PS VR, Virtual Reality, VR, PlayStation 4, Wearables, Gaming

[“Source-Gadgets”]