Heena Sharma Blog

Samsung has launched a new UV sterilizer with wireless charging that can be used to disinfect Galaxy smartphones , Galaxy Buds and smartwatches. It will be available for purchase from next month for Rs 3,599. "The UV Sterilizer is a perfect and compact device to keep our personal daily belongings germ free, protected and disinfected," said Mohandeep Singh, Senior Vice President, Mobile Business, Samsung India. The device has been manufactured by Samsung C&T, a partner of the Samsung Mobile Accessory Partnership Programme (SMAPP) and is designed to fit a variety of device sizes so you can sterilize many of the products you use the most. According to tests done by two independent certification institutes, Intertek and SGS, UV Sterilizer effectively kills up to 99 per cent of the bacteria and germs that includes E Coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans. Read More

India's Covid-19 recovery rate now stands at 64.54 per cent, said Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan here on Friday. "In the last 24 hours, we have crossed the 1-million mark of patients who have recovered from Covid-19. Today we have 10, 57,805 who people have now recovered. The total number of cases across the country now stands at 16,38,870 cases," Dr Harsh Vardhan said at the Group of Ministers (GoM) meeting here. He added, "Two-third of the cases have recovered and have gone home. The fatality rate is also coming down and today it stands at 2.18 per cent. The recovery rate has improved to 64.54 per cent. The doubling rate is right now standing at 21 days." Vardhan said that close to 6,42,588 samples have been tested in the last 24 hours and in the "last one month, close to 1 crore tests have been conducted in the country. Read More

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Friday said that the 'bhoomi pujan' ceremony of the proposed Ram temple in Ayodhya, scheduled to be held on August 5, is not required amid the COVID-19 pandemic and could be organised later when things normalised. He also rejected Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's suggestion for "e-bhoomi pujan" and said the ground-breaking ceremony should be held with great fervour. Speaking to a Marathi news channel, the MNS chief said, "The bhoomi pujan is not required at this time as people are in a different mindset right now. It could have been held after two months when things normalise. People would have enjoyed the ceremony then." Read More

Tamil Nadu 11th result 2020: The The Directorate of Government Examinations (DGE) Tamil Nadu has announced the TN 11th result today. The candidates who appeared for the TN 11th or Tamil Nadu class 11 exams can check their results on the official website of the board. Apart from the results of class 11, the results for class 12 re-sit candidates will also be released. More than 800,000 students have appeared for the exams that were conducted from March 4 to 23. The final exam scheduled to be conducted on March 26 was cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown. The results would be sent through SMS to students’ registered mobile numbers. Schools recorded 100% pass percentage A total of 2,716 schools have recorded 100 per cent pass percentage. The overall pass percentage touched 96.04 per cent, improved from the last year. Read More

The new system will have 12 years of schooling with three years of Anganwadi/ pre-schooling. The new system will cover four stages -- Foundational Stage (three years of anganwadi or pre-school followed by classes 1-2), Preparatory Stage (classes 3-5), Middle Stage (classes 6-8) and Secondary Stage (classes 9-12). Students can opt subjects across the streams. All subjects will be offered at two levels of proficiency. Vocational education will start in schools from the 6th grade, and will include informal internships. Board exams are aimed to encourage holistic development and to test core capacities and competencies. Students will be allowed to take board exams on up to two occasions during any given school year, one main examination and one for improvement, if desired. Students will take school examinations in classes 3, 5, and 8 which will be conducted by the appropriate authority. The new policy introduces undergraduate degree of either 3 or 4-year duration. Mid-term dropo

A leading candidate of Covid-19 vaccine developed by global healthcare company Johnson & Johnson raised neutralising antibodies and robustly protected monkeys against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19. "This vaccine led to robust protection against SARS-CoV-2 in rhesus macaques and is now being evaluated in humans," said study researcher Dan H. Barouch from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in the US. The vaccine uses a common cold virus, called adenovirus serotype 26 (Ad26), to deliver the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein into host cells, where it stimulates the body to raise immune responses against the coronavirus. Barouch has been working on the development of a Covid-19 vaccine since January when Chinese scientists released the SARS-CoV-2 genome. Read More

Expanding its millennial-centric M-series smartphone line-up, Samsung on Thursday launched the Galaxy M31s in India. The phone brings several first features to M-series, including 64-megapixel camera sensor on the back and 25W fast charging. The phone comes in 6GB RAM + 128GB internal storage and 8GB RAM + 128GB internal storage configurations, priced at Rs 19,499 and Rs 21,499, respectively. The Galaxy M31s will be available at Amazon India, Samsung online store and select retail stores from August 6. Samsung Galaxy M31s specifications and features The Samsung Galaxy M31s has a 6.5-inch super AMOLED screen of fullHD+ resolution protected by Gorilla Glass. It is an Infinity-O display with punch-hole on the top-centre for front camera. The phone has plastic body with reflective gradient design on the back cover. The phone comes in mirage blue and mirage black colours. Read More

Thomson’s brand licensee Super Plastronics on Thursday launched a range of smart televisions, which are touted to be tested and developed in India in partnership with Google. The new range of Thomson smart TVs include models from Path 9A, Path 9R and Oath Pro series with price starting at Rs 10,999. The new range will be available from August 6, exclusively on home-grown e-commerce platform Flipkart. “PATH 9A and 9R series have been completely developed and tested in India; this is the beginning of the vocal for local Android TV. All our customers should feel honored while buying this TV, as its completely developed and tested under make in India initiative. Google has just announced they will invest 10 billion dollars in India, this will assist the Android TV ecosystem as well. With this launch we expect to gain our market share by 7 per cent by the end of 2021-22," said Avneet Singh Marwah, CEO, Super Plastronics Pvt. Ltd., (SPPL) and India Brand Licensee, Thomson Tv. Read Mo

Asus on Thursday expanded its Zenbook and Vivobook laptops series with the launch of the ZenBook 13 (UX325) and Zenbook 14 (UX425), and the VivoBook S14 (S433) and the VivoBook Ultra K14 (K413), respectively. Both the Zenbook and Vivobook are part of company’s thin and light laptop line-up, now powered by 10th Gen Intel Core mobile processors. ZenBook 13/14 (UX325/UX425) features The ZenBook UX325 and ZenBook UX425 have 13.3-inch and 14-inch screen, respectively. Both the notebooks feature Asus NanoEdge screen with thin bezels on three-sides, making for up to 90 per cent screen-to-body ratio. The laptops have all-metal 13.9 mm chassis and weighs 1.07 kg and 1.13 kg, respectively. Connectivity is covered by set of I/O ports, including the DualThunderbolt 3 USB-C, USB Type A, MicroSD card reader, and HDMI. Read More

Over 100 small and medium businesses and start-ups on Amazon.in will be launching more than 1000 new products across 17 categories on Prime Day this year on August 6 and 7. Thousands of local shops on Amazon sellers will be also making their Prime Day debut in India, it said in a statement. Start-ups and small businesses from Amazon's Launchpad programme will be launching unique and differentiated products across categories like health & personal care, beauty & grooming, grocery and home products, it said. Prime Day in India will also see artisans and women entrepreneurs from 'Karigar' and 'Saheli' offer deals on handmade products from Tribes India, Blue pottery by Aditya Blue Pottery and Jewelry from Giva, among others. Read More

In the global race to contain the coronavirus pandemic , there is hopeful news on the vaccine front, with a number of potential candidates being developed and some promising early results. Based on what we know so far, it currently seems likely that most potential vaccines designed to protect against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 will require boosters, perhaps regularly. Why is this? When an infectious agent enters the body, the immune system will notice this and create a memory, so that the next time it encounters the agent there will be a swift, repelling response. In the case of most infectious agents, such as viruses, natural infection produces a long-lasting memory. But this is not always the case. The idea behind any vaccine is to give the recipient a version of the infectious agent which will not cause the disease, but will still create the immune system memory. How we achieve that varies based on the nature of the virus targeted by a vaccine, and how much we kno

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, paving the way for foreign universities to set up operations in India, among other measures. While experts are unsure about the immediate impact, allowing the top 200 foreign universities to operate in India could raise the standards of their Indian counterparts, many believe. A single regulator for higher education institutions, multiple entry and exit options in degree courses, discontinuation of MPhil programmes, low stakes board exams, and common entrance exams for universities are among the other highlights of the new National Education Policy (NEP) approved by the Union Cabinet on Wednesday. The policy, which was framed in 1986 and revised in 1992, had not been revised since then. The Cabinet also approved changing the name of the HRD Ministry to Education Ministry. Read More

The new coronavirus appears to have circulated unnoticed in bats for decades, scientists have found. Horseshoe bats are the most plausible origin of the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen , researchers led by Maciej Boni of Pensylvania State University’s Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics said in a study published Tuesday in Nature Microbiology. The virus’s origins have been at the centre of much debate as the pandemic continues to stymie economies and the death toll surpasses 654,000. Read more here Let’s look at the global statistics: Total Confirmed Cases: 16,741,049 Change Over Yesterday: 477,001 Total Deaths: 660,248 Total Recovered: 9,751,608 Nations hit with most cases: US (4,352,084), Brazil (2,483,191), India (1,531,669), Russia (822,060) and South Africa (459,761). Read More

Tech giant Microsoft has launched the Family Safety app , designed to help protect a family's digital and physical safety. The new screen time and parental controls app help you customize your kids' web access and balance healthy screen times. The application is available on iOS and Android. "Introducing the Family Safety app. Customize your kids' web access, balance healthy screen times, and stay connected to what matters most--all in one place. Available on iOS and Android," Microsoft tweeted. With the help of the Family Safety app, one can use web and search filters to block adult content and set browsing to kid-friendly websites with either allowed or blocked websites list. This feature helps in maintaining healthy digital habits and works in a tight concert with the Microsoft Edge browser on Windows, Xbox, and Android. Read More

The Vivo X50 Pro is one of the two camera-centric smartphones that Chinese smartphone brand Vivo recently launched in India. Besides multi-optic set-up for versatile imaging, the phone brings industry first gimbal stabilisation technology, which boosts the phone’s primary sensor performance with regard low light photography and videography – according to the company. The phone does not cut corners on other parameters and boasts a premium AMOLED screen of 90Hz refresh rate, Qualcomm Snapdragon 765G system-on-chip, fast charging, etc. On paper, the phone seems to be an all-round package aimed at shutterbugs. But is it? Let’s find out: Vivo X50 Pro: Design and Display From two-side curved screen to slim profile and lightweight (181.5g) build, the X50 Pro overall design is premium and nothing short of what you expect from a flagship smartphone. The phone’s front is dominated by a 6.56-inch fullHD+ AMOLED screen of 90Hz refresh rate. It is slightly curved from the sides and boasts a pu

Drug firm Hetero on Wednesday said it has launched genericoral antiviral drug Favipiravir used forthe treatment of patients with mild to moderate Covid-19 ,in India under the brand name 'Favivir' at Rs 59 per tablet. The company has been granted the manufacturing and marketing approval for Favipiravir from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI), Hetero said in a statement. Favivir is the second drug developed by Hetero after Covifor (Remdesivir) used in the treatment of Covid-19, it added. Themedication has demonstrated positive clinical outcomes. It improves treatment accessibility to a significant amount of Covid-19 patient population, which have mild to moderate symptoms, Hetero said. Read More

Maharashtra SSC result 2020: Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE) has declared Maharashtra SSC result 2020 Students can now check their Maharashtra 10th result 2020 at mahresult.nic.in. Earlier Maharashtra HSC Result 2020 was declared with 6 with a 90.66 per cent pass percentage. The SSC Board examinations 2020 started on March 3, 2020 and were scheduled till March 23, 2020. Around 1.7 million students appeared in the class 10 board exams this year. Apart from the official website, students can also visit result websites like examresults.net, indiaresults.com and results.gov.in to check their result. Maharashtra SSC result 2020: Pass percentage The Maharashtra State Board has announced the pass percentage of Maharashtra SSC results. The overall success rate (freshers and repeaters) for the state is 93.32% up from last year’s 75.53%. The freshers recorded a success rate of 95.30% while 75.86% of repeaters passed. Read More

Realme C11 goes on sale at 12 noon on July 29 through Flipkart and Realme online portal. Price at Rs 7,499, the smartphone will be available in rich grey and rich green colours. It will be available in 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage configuration. A budget smartphone, the Realme C11 features dual camera set-up on the back, HD+ screen, 5000 mAh battery, and more. Realme C11 price in India The Realme C11 comes in two colour variants but in one RAM and internal storage configuration. The phone will be available in rich grey and rich green colours, both in 2GB RAM and 32GB internal storage configuration, priced at Rs 7,499. The sale will start at 12 noon at Flipkart and Realme online portal. It is a flash sale, therefore, valid till stock lasts. Read More

The all-important Governing Council meeting of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is set to take place on Sunday. IPL Chairman Brijesh Patel had already informed that the meeting would take place this week and the notice has now been sent to the GC members. Speaking to news agency IANS, an official of the IPL GC confirmed that the meeting will be held on August 2. "We have been informed that the IPL GC will take place on Sunday and all matters related to the organisation of the IPL 2020 will be discussed in the meeting," the official said. The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed on Monday that they have received the official Letter of Intent from the BCCI to host the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). Read More

The Bombay Flying Club has become the first DGCA-approved drone training school of the country, the Civil Aviation Ministry said Monday. "Good news for drone users. Want to be a professional drone pilot? If yes, then register at the Bombay Flying Club as Bombay Flying Club becomes the first DGCA-approved drone training school of India, the ministry said on Twitter. In an order dated July 20, the DGCA approved the club's application "for conducting remote pilot training for remotely piloted aircraft systems". However, it said the club will have to fulfill certain conditions regarding aerial photography, safety, insurance and take clearances from local administration, the Defence Ministry, the Home Ministry, the Indian Air Force and the Airports Authority of India. Read More

Levels of nitrogen dioxide fell by more than 70 per cent during the lockdown in New Delhi, a UN policy brief said on Tuesday, warning that the environmental gains could be temporary if the cities re-open without policies to prevent air pollution and promote de-carbonisation. The UN Secretary-General's Policy Brief on ' Covid-19 in an Urban World' said that with an estimated 90 per cent of all reported Covid-19 cases , urban areas have become the epicentre of the pandemic. It also pointed out that several new scientific studies suggest that poor air quality is correlated with higher Covid-19 mortality rates. The size of their populations and their high level of global and local interconnectivity make them particularly vulnerable to the spread of the virus. Read More

After a net addition of over 47,000 new cases, India’s coronavirus tally has risen to 1.48 million, while the death toll stands over 33,000. In the course, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have both crossed the 100,000-case mark, while Tamil Nadu's Covid tally has risen to 220,716. Read More

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday conducted extensive search operations at the residence and office premises of GVK group Chairman G V K Reddy and his son G V Sanjay Reddy in Mumbai and Hyderabad, in connection with the alleged Rs 705-crore Mumbai airport scam . The move follows the money laundering case registered against the promoters of the GVK group of companies, officials of Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL), and a few other entities early this month. Confirming the development, an ED official said the searches are underway in about nine locations in Hyderabad and Mumbai, including some entry operators connected to the MIAL. Read More

Celebrated on July 28 each year, the World Nature Conservation Day acknowledges that a healthy environment is the foundation for a stable and healthy society. To ensure the well-being of the present and future generations, we all must as responsible human beings participate in protecting and conserving our nature. Here are some simple habits to implement in your daily life to make a huge difference in conserving the environment. Starting a home vegetable garden comes with many benefits. Not only does it help you save money but it also ensures the supply healthy unadulterated veggies and fruits. Don't have space? Make it in your kitchen or your balcony to grow organic fruits and vegetables that are mostly consumed domestically. Driving is one of the biggest causes of pollution and yet there seems to be no control over it. If you want to use your car, first consider walking or using your bike if the journey is a short one. However, if you do need to use your car, try carpooling.