Bayer Initiates Drone Trials In Agricultural Operations Across India

 * Conducted a field demonstration on the use of drones in agricultural operations at Bayer’s multi-crop breeding center in Chandipa; graced by senior officials of Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Civil Aviation and other dignitaries

* Drone farming aims to enable sustainable farm productivity, access to real-time advisory and better farmer crop yields and incomes

Bayer, a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of healthcare and agriculture, conducted its first drone trial today at its multi-crop breeding center in Chandipa, near Hyderabad. The on-ground event, showcasing a field demonstration on the use of drones in agricultural operations, was attended by eminent partners and industry stakeholders, including representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Indian Council of Agricultural Research. The Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar also shared a message on this occasion.

The agriculture landscape is evolving rapidly, yet India’s smallholder farmers continue to face several challenges. These include labour shortages, low productivity, limited access or know-how to mechanize the agricultural processes, in addition to environmental challenges like unpredictable weather fluctuations. Adopting digital technologies, such as drones, can help overcome these obstacles and support more targeted applications of insect, weed and disease-control products. This ensures correct dosage and also limits the risk of accidental exposure to chemicals. Besides, drones also offer real-time agronomic advisory to farmers, enhancing farm productivity and fostering sustainability.

Bayer has been working closely with the Government of India, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Civil Aviation, industry bodies, regulators, policymakers and drone manufacturers over the last few years to introduce a conducive policy framework for the implementation of drone technology in Indian agriculture. With the recent encouraging announcement made by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, all stakeholders related to the segment are eagerly looking forward to the swift adoption of drone technology. Bayer has now secured approvals to conduct R&D and agriculture spraying operations to make the drone technology available for smallholders.

The Hon'ble Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar in his message said, “I’m really happy to learn that Bayer is organizing a pilot project on the use of drones in agriculture. India is making giant strides in technology and digitalization and adopting these for enhancing agricultural purposes is a step forward in our efforts to provide a strong impetus to farmers’ prosperity. Usage of drones in agriculture will revolutionize farm operations and empower our farmers especially the smallholders with information and applications that will help them enhance their yields and income in the long run. I appreciate Bayer’s efforts in early adoption of this technology for the growth and transformation of agriculture in India and convey all my good wishes.”

"The Ministry of Civil Aviation appreciates the importance of drone technology in nation building. It has been the Government’s endeavour to create a liberalized policy framework that facilitates more participation by industry, academia and startups. This collaboration will create solutions at the grassroot level. We look forward to seeing the commercial application of agri-drones for the betterment of our farmers", said Shri Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India.

D. Narain, CEO & Managing Director, Bayer CropScience Limited said, “With a legacy of 125 years in India, we are committed to enhancing access to sustainable digital farming solutions, enabling greater operational efficiency to ultimately enhance smallholder farmers productivity and income. Drone applications are operating in other small farmer countries in Asia and have the potential to deliver significant value to smallholders in India, as well as for the economy and the planet. We are proud of the results of our drone trial in Hyderabad. It showcases the potential of the future of farming and we are grateful to play a role in bringing a positive, revolutionary change to this vital agriculture sector in India.”

Bayer has partnered with innovative drone startup, General Aeronautics Pvt. Ltd. and conducted several in-house and external R&D trials with universities and central research institutions to generate data to make drone-based services available to farmers.

Based on the initial achievements of drone farming, growers may be able to explore the technology’s capabilities in aiding paddy, corn, sugarcane, wheat, vegetables, fruits and plantation crops and harvests in the future. Such innovations can shape the roadmap of sustainable farming in India, while spurring smallholder support and food security. 

About Bayer

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of healthcare and agriculture. Its products and services are designed to help people and the planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to drive sustainable development and generate a positive impact with its businesses. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability, and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2020, the Group employed around 100,000 people and had sales of 41.4 billion euros. R&D expenses before special items amounted to 4.9 billion euros.

10 Best ColorOS 12 Things You Should Know About The Security And Privacy Features

 1.       100% integrated with Android 12

On ColorOS 12, OPPO has achieved 100% integration with stock Android 12 to enhance security and privacy features. With the Privacy dashboard, permissions for apps to use the camera, microphone, and location data, along with the actual data used, are displayed clearly for users to review and manage. Permissions and limits can be decided for each application to ensure the prevention of data misuse, allowing the users to use apps with better peace of mind.

2.       Privacy Features

The permission usage (camera, microphone, and location) of apps is recorded and will be displayed clearly on the dashboard for users to check and manage easily. Even when apps use camera or microphone permissions, the corresponding icon will be displayed on the right of the status bar via indicators. When an app requests location permission, users will have two options—approximate location and precise location—to choose from. Furthermore, the anti-peeping feature has been further enhanced. The operating system automatically recognizes when only the owner is viewing the screen, if so, notification content is displayed, otherwise the content is collapsed.

3.       Improved Performance and Battery Life

With ColorOS 12, OPPO has optimized a lot of things under the hood to improve performance. The company claims to have reduced background power consumption and memory usage by 20% and 30% respectively, leading to a 12% increase in battery life. OPPO has also improved the one-tap Power Saving mode by adding more customization options to it. You can now turn off the mobile hotspot, reduce the screen refresh rate, turn on Night mode, and more to further extend the battery life of your OPPO device.

4.       Inclusive Design

An all-new framework to present information in a way that takes internationalization into consideration and offers a seamless experience on devices of different shapes and sizes. The UI layout is simplified to reduce redundancy and give more prominence to key information. ColorOS 12 supports 67 languages (including 13 Indian languages), covering 430 million users in more than 140 countries worldwide; its UI copy was improved in 22 languages.

5.       3D Rendering

The new 3D icons are as clean and clear as those on previous ColorOS versions, with the same geometrical patterns and modern design. This time, OPPO went a little further. We added light and shadow to the icons to make them look more three-dimensional, like physical objects in the real world.

6.       Wallpaper-Based Theming Engine

Now, you can express your personality by making the colors of all settings on your phone remain consistent. The theme color of the wallpaper can be detected by the algorithm automatically. A corresponding color theme will be generated and applied. 

7.       Google Lens Integration

This is an existing feature, which leverages on Google Lens, to let you make one-click full-screen translation when calling out the sidebar to display the translation result in the form of a pop-up window; both plain text and text in pictures—between 105 languages—can be translated. Effectively, when viewing foreign language websites, you can translate with one click, thus breaking the language barrier. ColorOS integrates with Google Lens to allow you to translate text found in apps, webpages, and images into your preferred language. You can easily activate Google Translate when using 3-finger screenshot to take a partial screenshot, or from the Smart Sidebar.

8.       Stream Video in the Background

Background stream is one of the features in Smart Sidebar that shows up automatically after the user opens a supported video app. It allows the video app to run in the background and when the screen is locked, letting you listen to the audio without staying in the app all the time.

9.       Better Nearby Share Integration

An entry for Nearby Share is added on the QR code sharing page of Wi-Fi passwords so that you can share the password of the Wi-Fi that you have connected to with your friends around quickly, while avoiding the risk of password leakage.

10.   Quick Return Bubble

The new bubble animations allow you to quickly reply to messages and switch conversations without opening the app on full screen. So, when you receive a message, you can directly open the bubble animations to reply and switch between different conversations.

Gartner Says Global Smartphone Sales Declined 6.8% In Third Quarter Of 2021

* Smartphone Market Negatively Impacted by Supply Disruption

Global smartphone sales to end-users declined 6.8% in the third quarter of 2021, compared to the same time period in 2020, according to Gartner, Inc. Component shortages disrupted production schedules, leading to lower inventory and delayed product availability, which eventually impacted sales to end-users.

“Despite strong consumer demand, smartphone sales declined due to delayed product launches, longer delivery schedule and insufficient inventory at the channel,” said Anshul Gupta, senior research director at Gartner. “Supply constraints impacted the production schedule of basic and utility smartphones much more than premium smartphones.”

The current shortage of components, such as radio frequency and power management integrated circuits, delayed smartphone production globally. This disrupted the supply-demand equilibrium and end-users were burdened with limited choices at point of sale. Sales of premium smartphones continued to grow even though overall smartphones sales declined in the quarter.

Apple reclaimed the No.2 position in sales to end-users and Xiaomi moved back to No.3 in the third quarter of 2021 (see Table 1). Samsung maintained its overall lead in smartphone sales, though its market share declined 1.9% year-over-year. Even with the overall decline, Samsung experienced growth of its premium smartphones, led by strong demand for revamped foldable smartphones. Chinese smartphone vendors Xiaomi, Vivo and OPPO increased their market share 1%, 2.4% and 1.7% respectively, year-over-year.

Apple continued to experience strong demand for iPhones led by compelling feature upgrades and underpenetrated 5G installed base. Upgraded bionic A15 sensor, improved battery life and camera sensor optimization for improved photography are the leading features that drove iPhone upgrades. Apple continues to revamp its online channel and position trade-in programs to accelerate demand for its 5G iPhones through the rest of 2021.

Xiaomi’s strong online channel-led strategy for market expansion in Europe and the Middle East and partnering with communication service providers (CSPs) in these regions helped the company increase its global smartphone market share in the third quarter of 2021.

Vivo registered the highest year-over-year growth (20.9%) among the top five global smartphone vendors in the third quarter of 2021. The company introduced 13 new smartphones in the quarter to try to gain advantage while entering new markets, including Europe and the Middle East, along with the addition of new offline retailers and experience stores to its strategy.

Gartner clients can read more in "Market Share: PCs, Ultramobiles and Mobile Phones, All Countries, 2Q21 Update".

About Gartner for High Tech

Gartner for High Tech equips tech leaders and their teams with role-based best practices, industry insights and strategic views into emerging trends and market changes to achieve their mission-critical priorities and build the successful organizations of tomorrow. Additional information is available at www.gartner.com/en/industries/high-tech. Follow news and updates from Gartner for High Tech on Twitter and LinkedIn..

About Gartner

Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) delivers actionable, objective insight to executives and their teams. Our expert guidance and tools enable faster, smarter decisions and stronger performance on an organization’s most critical priorities. To learn more, visit gartner.com.

School EdTech App Major LEAD To Upskill 40,000 Indian Teachers

* Announcement made at LEAD Innovation Conference held virtually for 4000+ schools

With an aim to deliver best-in-class affordable education in country, LEAD – India’s foremost School EdTech player – has announced a new initiative to upskill 40,000 teachers across the country & free up 150 teaching hours for each teacher in 2022. The announcement was made at the LEAD Innovation Conference held virtually for 4,000+ schools on November 19.

The LEAD Innovation Conference ’22 was conducted by LEAD to discuss path-breaking innovations for schools, students & teachers which will further disrupt the schooling in India. Through its innovations, LEAD is looking at improving student learning in the classroom, boost student learning at home, and improve teachers lives by giving them super powers. The conference was attended by LEAD partner schools & teachers across the country.

LEAD is constantly upskilling teachers at its partner-schools through the LEAD Academy, a first-of-its-kind initiative in School EdTech. The LEAD Teacher App allows teachers to access 200+ hours of training and certification material about teaching practices, methodologies and soft skills, such as communication, work ethics, interpersonal skills and adaptability. Training is customised to suit the needs & gaps of every teacher.

The School EdTech major also announced the launch of iHomework  that will help teachers save 1 hour everyday i.e. 150 hours for each teacher in a year that they can now use for something more productive.

Teachers spend considerable time preparing and evaluating homework on a daily basis. iHomework changes that by allowing teachers to access a variety of ready-made homework options (MCQs, Videos, Quizzes, Fill in the blanks etc.) & send daily instructions with just a click using their app. The innovation helps them track who has completed the homework, who hasn’t & trigger reminders accordingly. It also has the ability to correct objective questions & small word answers by reading almost any handwriting. In other cases, teachers can zoom in to read & correct on the app & give reward students for their performance. The feature also suggest learning gaps in students & gives a remedial plan basis the tasks.

LEAD Co-founder and CEO Sumeet Mehta said, "At LEAD, we are constantly innovating to empower each stakeholder in the School EdTech space - Students with better learning in the classroom & at home, Teachers with relevant skills & resources and schools with the required tools to manage their admissions effectively.

For Teachers , our goal in 2022 is to upskill them with relevant skills & free up 150 hours per teacher which can be used for something much more productive & meaningful. With our upcoming innovations, we hope we are able to empower them to become super teachers and in turn help students become future leaders."

About LEAD

LEAD is India’s foremost player in the School EdTech category promoted by Leadership Boulevard. LEAD was started in 2012 by Sumeet Mehta and Smita Deorah, with the mission to transform school education in India. It combines technology, curriculum and pedagogy into an integrated system of teaching and learning, thus improving student learning outcomes and teacher performance in schools across the country. Today, LEAD serves 2000+ schools across 400+ cities, and reaches 8 Lakh plus students and empowers 10k plus teachers. LEAD’s innovative and highly-effective Integrated Learning System significantly strengthens the role of schools, teachers, and parents in advancing the overall growth and development of every child by providing highest quality education.

Women Safety Matters By Shevolve And Hoote In Support Of UN’s International Elimination Of Violence Against Women

Shevolve is India’s first personalized mentoring platform for women with over 2000+ members focusing on elevating diversity and Women leaders with our simple objective to “Lift as we rise”.

In partnership with Hoote - India’s First Voice-based Social Networking Platform, Shevolve is launching “Women Safety Matters - 30 Speakers | 30 Topics | 3 Minutes" in support of UN’s International Elimination of Violence Against Women from November 25th to 27th  2021.

The speakers' three minute content would be available exclusive on the Hoote app.

"Many use their voices everyday—to talk to others, to communicate their needs and wants—but the idea of ‘voice’ goes much deeper. Having a voice means the ability to express ones beliefs. We at Hoote have tried to provide you with a platform where you can voice your belief." - Soundarya Rajinikanth, Co-Founder of Hoote.  

There will be 30 topics related to domestic violence, mental and physical trauma, awareness techniques, signs of your friend undergoing violence which will be voiced out by celebrities, influencers, leading counsellors and psychologists and women role models.

“Violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread, persistent and devastating human rights violations in our world today remains largely unreported due to the impunity, silence, stigma and shame surrounding it. We, at Shevolve are taking this opportunity to help these women to raise their voices and help them” – Bhaduri SaravanaKumar, Co-Founder, Shevolve India Pvt Ltd. 

For more details on this initiative, contact us at 9790911907 or 9790991864.

Manipal Academy Of Higher Education Researchers Are Among The Top 2 Percentile Rank

Manipal Academy of Higher Education(MAHE) is proud to announce its recent achievement of its researchers being recognized in the top 2 percentile rank of scientists worldwide in the study by researchers from Stanford University. Six researchers from the Manipal Academy of Higher Education are in the prestigious list of researchers. In an official function, they have felicitated by Lt General ( Dr ) MD Venkatesh, VC –MAHE, Dr PLNG Rao , Pro –VC MAHE , Dr Narayana Sabhahit, Registrar - MAHE  along with other senior officials of MAHE.

Further to this achievement, Lt. Gen. (Dr.) M. D. Venkatesh, Vice-Chancellor, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, said, “Our hearty congratulations to Dr Raja Selvaraj, Dr Raghavendra U, Dr Ali Tanweer, Dr Acharya, Shashidhar, Dr Mutalik Srinivas, and Dr Satheesha Nayak B for being recognized in the top 2 percentile rank of scientists worldwide in the study by researchers from Stanford University. We at MAHE are extremely proud of our researchers who all are making a mark in the global level. This is a great moment of celebration for us as our researchers have repeatedly proved to be among the best in the world. Our best wishes to all the researchers and we look forward to more such achievements in the near future.”

Dr Raja Selvaraj from Chemical Engineering figured in Biotechnology - Inorganic and Nuclear Chemistry subject.  Dr Raghavendra U from Instrumentation and Control Engineering figured in Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing - Biomedical Engineering- Information & Communication Technologies subject. Dr Ali Tanweer from Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering was listed in Networking & Telecommunications - Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing - Information & Communication Technologies subject. All these three researchers are from the Manipal Institute of Technology, Manipal campus. 

Dr. Acharya, Shashidhar from Manipal College of Dental Sciences featured in Dentistry- Pharmacology & Pharmacy- Clinical Medicine subject area while Dr Mutalik Srinivas from Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences was figured in Pharmacology & Pharmacy- Medicinal & Biomolecular Chemistry- Clinical Medicine subject and Dr. Satheesha Nayak B from Melaka-Manipal Medical College has listed in Anatomy & Morphology - General & Internal Medicine - Clinical Medicine.

The list of these top scientists was generated by Professor John P. A. Ioannidis from Stanford University and his research collaborators based on the single-year impact of the research work in the year 2020 extracted from Scopus on 1st August 2021. The exhaustive list includes the top 2 percentile scientists of the world from different fields based on scientific publication standardized citation indications and was assessed based on parameters like the number of citations, H -Index, co-authorship, and a composite indicator. This research and database has been published recently by Elsevier titled “Updated Science-wide Author Databases of Standardized Citation Indicators” (Web Link: https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/btchxktzyw/3 )

Cybersecurity No Longer Seen As A Cost Center, But As A Business Enabler: Trend Micro

* The company will take a SaaS-first approach in India to address the cybersecurity needs of enterprises 

CLOUDSEC 2021, one of the industry's biggest cybersecurity events hosted by Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE:4704), attracted thought leaders and technology experts across sectors speaking at the virtual event this year. The speakers opined that Modern Architecture, Security by Design, Attack Surface and Business Enabler are the four key aspects that will play a pivotal role for organisations in defining their cybersecurity posture. 

The panelists emphasized that the need of the hour is to develop a platform-based approach than having a single point-based approach. With innovation fueling the change in enterprise architecture, unsecure innovation could lead to data loss and breaches. Hence, it is important to create a culture of cybersecurity where business leaders talk about the importance of cybersecurity within the company, and this is where Security by Design comes into picture. With an increased adoption of DevOps and Infrastructure as Code security, there is an explosion of the attack surface. A good starting point for enterprises would be to quantify their attacks and focus on what to protect. The time has come wherein cybersecurity can’t just support the business but has to be a business enabler. 

During the event, Trend Micro also outlined its cloud-based solutions and its traction in India. This year, the company has acquired more than 200 customers from BFSI, retail and healthcare sectors. Trend Micro provides identity centric risk insights for organisations and with Zero Trust networks, it is important to ensure tighter security controls and right kind of visibility across different security layers whether it is endpoint, network, email or cloud. 

Vijendra Katiyar, Country Manager, India & SAARC, Trend Micro said, “With a major focus on cloud, Trend Micro’s commitment to India market has grown tremendously. We have made significant investments in setting up XDR and Cloud One data centers hosted out of India to drive data localisation in a big way. This growth will continue to happen and as far as the roadmap is concerned, Trend Micro will take a SaaS-first approach and our vision is around innovation in technologies, that will benefit our customers in addressing their cybersecurity needs.” 

Sharing his advice to government sector organisations, Himanshu Gupta, Director – Government Business India, Trend Micro added, “With government segment being targeted more often nowadays, the ideal model for cyber resilience is – ‘Adapt, Anticipate and Evolve’. Security shouldn’t be an afterthought and needs to be built early and brought into the framework. It is recommended for organisations to implement an adaptive security control mechanism that can also be automated and understand the risks that they can take. As they have budget constraints, they should opt for an optimal security approach and do a right cost benefit analysis to get maximum ROI.” 

It was noteworthy that most of the customers in India were considering deploying resources towards a combination of hybrid and multi-cloud strategy. With Trend Micro Cloud One, a SaaS-based, single sign-on powerful all-in-one solution, organisations can meet and manage the cloud security needs today and in the future. 

‘If cybercrime was an economy, it would be the third largest in the world, after the US and China; that’s the scale at which it’s exponentially growing’, was one of the observations made. Though enterprises have invested in technologies like SEIM and SOAR which are very good platforms, they are still struggling to prioritise the early alerts and vulnerabilities. Trend Micro has a very interesting approach to contain these risks with Vison One which goes beyond XDR by analyzing and correlating security telemetry from endpoints, servers, cloud workloads, emails, and networks—enabling SOC teams to prioritize and respond to threats more effectively. 

To explore on-demand keynotes and panel discussions of CLOUDSEC 2021 India, please visit - https://bit.ly/3CGVFbd  

About CLOUDSEC 

Founded in 2011, CLOUDSEC has established itself as a global community for cyber security experts and professionals. The event aims to inspire technology professionals and users to embark on a continuous learning journey to explore and learn about industry trends, best practices, and new technologies to secure the digital infrastructure and manage the technological risks of their organizations in safely supporting their corporate goals. 

With the tagline – ‘Reimagine Your Cloud’, CLOUDSEC 2021 won't just be a singular global experience, it will also promote local engagement, where each region will bring forth their region's specific issues and prerogatives. For more information, please visit www.cloudsec.com. 

About Trend Micro 

Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fueled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro's cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organizations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. As a leader in cloud and enterprise cybersecurity, the platform delivers a powerful range of advanced threat defense techniques optimized for environments like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, and central visibility for better, faster detection and response. With 7,000 employees across 65 countries, Trend Micro enables organizations to simplify and secure their connected world. www.trendmicro.com.