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Business Standard
05-07-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
In a first, Indian Navy inducts woman officer into its fighter pilot stream
In a historic moment for the Indian Navy, Sub-Lieutenant Astha Poonia has officially become the first woman to be inducted into the fighter stream, marking a major milestone in the Navy's journey towards greater gender inclusivity in combat roles, news agency ANI reported. Sub-Lieutenant Poonia received the prestigious "Wings of Gold" from Rear Admiral Janak Bevli, Assistant Chief of the Naval Staff (Air), during a ceremony held on Thursday (July 3). She completed the Second Basic Hawk Conversion Course at Naval Air Station INS Dega in Visakhapatnam, alongside Lieutenant Atul Kumar Dhull, who was also conferred the same honour. Defence acquisition council clears key deals On the same day, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), headed by the Defence Minister, approved 10 capital acquisition proposals worth approximately ₹1.05 trillion. The proposals include the procurement of indigenously developed Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missiles (QRSAMs), naval vessels, and other defence systems. The approvals cover armoured recovery vehicles, electronic warfare systems, and an integrated common inventory management system for the tri-services. Surface-to-air missiles were also part of the key items cleared. Navy gets stealth edge with Udaygiri frigate Adding to its modernisation, the Indian Navy recently received Udaygiri, the second stealth frigate of the Project 17A class, from Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL). The advanced multi-mission warship, capable of operating in blue-water environments, was designed by the Navy's Warship Design Bureau. According to MDL, Udaygiri features cutting-edge technologies for stealth, sea-keeping, and survivability, with hull shaping and signature suppression techniques making it comparable to top-class global warships. INS Arnala joins Navy's shallow-water warfare fleet Further strengthening its anti-submarine warfare capabilities, the Navy last month commissioned INS Arnala — the first of 16 indigenously built Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Crafts (ASWSWC). Named after a coastal fort in Maharashtra, the 77-metre-long ship is part of the Eastern Naval Command and is the largest Indian Naval warship to be powered by a diesel engine-waterjet combination. The vessel is equipped with advanced underwater sensors, acoustic communication systems, and a comprehensive weapons suite, including lightweight torpedoes, rockets, decoys, and mine-laying capabilities. It also supports search and rescue operations in coastal waters.
Forbes
24-06-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Bringing Physical AI Robotics: Is It Time For The Jetsons Yet?
circa 1962: Cartoon family the Jetsons, comprised of George, Jane, Judy, Elroy, and Astro, flying ... More in a space car in a space age city, in a still from the Hanna-Barbera animated television show, 'The Jetsons'. (Photo by) To some of us, the rollout of artificial intelligence is fairly reminiscent of the last technology shift with personal computers, small devices and deterministic programming. I'll explain. If you recall in the 1980s in 1990s, as we were seeing computer science developed with languages like Fortran and Basic, the dreamers among us saw how these things could easily be tethered to robotic systems. You could make some kind of physical avatar, like a snail or a little car, move in different directions. You could get robotic arms to pick things up… So it was surprising to some of us that those sorts of applications never really took on. Computing stayed in the digital realm, where it seemed to belong in terms of computer consumer applications. Now in business, robotics took off in a big way, and that's still happening. But on the consumer side, we never really got used to the idea that robots could do human labor. With AI, we stand on the brink of the next piece of what you might call the fourth industrial revolution, where we start to contemplate how smart machines could move around and do things for us, like washing the dishes, or helping a loved one to and from the toilet. In some ways, it comes at the perfect time, as people are worried about underpopulation and a lack of caregiving labor, not to mention all sorts of other economic and labor problems related to things like housework. Could AI solve all of this? I think we all agree that the technology is here. The question is how it will get done. The Fourth Industrial Revolution Some experts talk about characterizing this technology transformation in ways that suggest that robotics are coming sooner rather than later. 'The Fourth Industrial Revolution is … not a prediction of the future, but a call to action,' writes Klaus Schwab in an essay on the subject. 'It is a vision for developing, diffusing, and governing technologies in ways that foster a more empowering, collaborative, and sustainable foundation for social and economic development, built around shared values of the common good, human dignity, and intergenerational stewardship. Realizing this vision will be the core challenge and great responsibility of the next 50 years.' It does seem like referring to the prior industrial revolution, and how AI builds on that, is a good way to frame it. Researching Robotics Some sciences are taking a technical approach to measuring the development of robotics. Here's a paper where scientists discuss some of this method – they're actually taking manufacturing information and other sources to come up with some kind of synthesis. 'The spread of robots and artificial intelligence has raised concerns about automation technology-driven innovation,' authors write. 'This paper investigates the role of robots as a source of unconventional innovation and empirically analyzes the relationship between robots and firm innovation from unconventional and sustainable perspectives. We build a unique dataset containing detailed information on firm characteristics with firms' patent data and merge it with data on robot adoption in Chinese manufacturing.' Presumably, we'll need more of this to really understand what robotics is doing in our markets. Body and Brain I want to go to something that my colleague Daniela Rus said in a recent IIA panel about just this particular thing – physical AI and robotics. 'In order to have a functional robot, you really need to have a good body, and you need to have a good brain,' she explained. 'The brain controls the body to deliver its capabilities … right now, from the point of view of the hardware, we still don't have all the sensors that are needed in order to get the robots to do more than navigate the world. So if we want the robots to do interaction in the world, we need better sensors (for) navigation.' I think that's very on point, and a good way to think about all of this. More Thoughts on Physical AI Rus was part of a panel discussing all of the ways that we can facilitate the advent of robotics endowed with AI capabilities. 'It turns out that it's frustratingly difficult to develop a robot with what I would call 'AI spatial understanding,'' said panelist John Leonard. 'A lot of our AI approaches are based on human-annotated data sets … Facebook/Meta has a data set technique trained on a billion images. That's not how children learn. I think that navigation and exploring the world lends itself to robots that can learn from their own experience, from much smaller numbers of samples of data, exploiting the kind of spatial, temporal context of the data that they acquire.' Talking about something called the Moravec paradox, considered by Minsky and others (see definition here), Leonard suggested we need a sort of 'language of physics' to facilitate the robot boom. Panelist Thomas Baker had this to say about robot operations: 'If I send a robot to a planet, can I say, hey, build a house? Does it understand what it needs? Does it understand the materials that are around it? Does it understand how to construct everything necessary, to then build what's necessary, and then handle dust storms and radiation and whatnot? So the problem expands quite a bit.' Caleb Sirak talked about the impact of such physical systems, asking: 'How do we take the more efficient architectures that we know, the computations in AI, matrix multiplication … how do we take that, and apply that onto a chip that we can produce at scale from anywhere around the world, and then provide that to people that need to use it, and typically in AI, how do we do that at a fast enough speed that we can get it in real time?' The result, he noted, has a big effect. 'That's been a tremendous impact in all around the world, in rural countries,' Sirak said, 'and seeing that drones are being able to deliver medicine and be able to fly autonomously is incredible. And seeing that we're able to distribute this around the world is really powerful.' Panelist Annika Thomas talked about her experience using AI in a rapidly changing era. 'I went to undergrad at the time where we didn't have ChatGPT,' she said. 'Learned a lot during that time, but I also learned how to interpret information faster, and that's something that I want to be able to teach our robots to do as well. I want our robots to be able to parse through the spatial environment and figure out what information is most important to keep, especially when we're looking at these things from a multi-agent setting.' The panel also took questions, and discussed other aspect of this phenomenon - check out the video for more. Robots in our World Once again, we're invited to think about what this will actually look like. Back in the 1980s, we had the Jetsons – a cartoon with flying cars, robot maids, and all kinds of high-tech gee-whiz gizmos that we've never seen actually manufactured for our homes. Will that change? Stay tuned.
Scottish Sun
13-06-2025
- Scottish Sun
Aldi's £4.99 foldable cabin bag is perfect for easyJet flights & keeping your clothes tidy on summer hols
WEIGHT OFF Aldi's £4.99 foldable cabin bag is perfect for easyJet flights & keeping your clothes tidy on summer hols Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) TRAVEL lovers will be planning their summer holidays and looking forward to the sun and sea. But there's nothing worse than getting caught out by militant measures - and here's the answer. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 Aldi's £4.99 foldable cabin bag is perfect for easyJet flights this summer Credit: Getty 2 The Basic foldable cabin bag comes in at only £4.99 Credit: Aldi To avoid paying for an overpriced cabin bag or finding somewhere to store it in your hotel - Aldi has the solution. Aldi's £4.99 foldable cabin bag is perfect for easyJet flights & keeping your clothes tidy during your summer break. So whether it is a cheeky weekend away, or luggage for that family holiday - check this out. The Basic foldable cabin bag comes in at only £4.99 with the dimensions of 44 x 33 x 16cm. Made out of durable water repellent ripstop material, it has a main compartment, and a water repellent zipper with double puller. It also comes with a mesh pocket at both sides, a trolley sleeve and a carry handle making it perfect for all your holiday essentials. Travel lovers have also been lapping up a big brand cabin bag that's even more penny-pinching than Primark's own version. The Robert Dyas Underseat Cabin Bag is available in black/red, it comes in at a savvy £7.99 and is ideal for short breaks or business trips. The travel companion is priced even lower than Primark's £12 Underseat Bag. It also has an additional sleeve section on the back to fit over trolley case handles. Adjustable shoulder strap and top carry handle. Shopper urges others to nab £8 Morrisons case perfect for EasyJet flights and a breeze to take through the airport Happy customers reviewed online: "Great bag to take on plane." A second added: "Underseat travel bag. Perfect size to use when travelling. Strong bag, easy to fold and store away." A third praised: "Looks good and roomy, ideal to take onboard a plane and lots of compartments for important stuff." Amazon is also selling a cabin bag that is EasyJet and Jet2 compatible. Luggage Rules for Major Airlines British Airways Cabin Baggage: 1 cabin bag (max 56 x 45 x 25 cm) and 1 personal item (max 40 x 30 x 15 cm), total weight up to 23 kg. 1 cabin bag (max 56 x 45 x 25 cm) and 1 personal item (max 40 x 30 x 15 cm), total weight up to 23 kg. Checked Baggage: Economy allows 1 bag up to 23 kg. Premium Economy, Business, and First Class allow more. EasyJet Cabin Baggage: 1 small cabin bag (max 45 x 36 x 20 cm), no weight limit but must fit under the seat. 1 small cabin bag (max 45 x 36 x 20 cm), no weight limit but must fit under the seat. Checked Baggage: Fees apply, up to 23 kg per bag. Passengers can pay for additional weight up to 32 kg. Ryanair Cabin Baggage: 1 small bag (max 40 x 20 x 25 cm). Priority boarding allows an additional larger cabin bag (max 55 x 40 x 20 cm, up to 10 kg). 1 small bag (max 40 x 20 x 25 cm). Priority boarding allows an additional larger cabin bag (max 55 x 40 x 20 cm, up to 10 kg). Checked Baggage: Fees apply, options for 10 kg or 20 kg bags. Virgin Atlantic Cabin Baggage: Economy and Premium allow 1 cabin bag (max 56 x 36 x 23 cm, up to 10 kg). Upper Class allows 2 bags. Economy and Premium allow 1 cabin bag (max 56 x 36 x 23 cm, up to 10 kg). Upper Class allows 2 bags. Checked Baggage: Economy Light has no checked baggage. Economy Classic, Delight, and Premium allow at least 1 bag up to 23 kg. Upper Class allows 2 bags. Emirates Cabin Baggage: Economy allows 1 bag (max 55 x 38 x 20 cm, up to 7 kg). Business and First Class allow 2 bags (total up to 12 kg). Economy allows 1 bag (max 55 x 38 x 20 cm, up to 7 kg). Business and First Class allow 2 bags (total up to 12 kg). Checked Baggage: Economy Class varies by fare type (from 20 kg to 35 kg). Business and First Class allow up to 40 kg and 50 kg respectively. Its available in both grey and black and is waterproof - which is an extra travel bonus. And for those after check in luggage, Dunelm is selling a tough shell, metallic large suitcase for £45.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Yahoo
WWDC 2025 LIVE: Apple reveals its new iOS design
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. And just like that, the opening WWDC keynote is over for another year. As ever, many of the rumours turned out to be true. Apple revealed a new, glassy software design (one that's already raising eyebrows), switched to a new yearly naming system (goodbye iOS 18, hello iOS 26), and announced a smattering of updates for poor old Apple Intelligence. Despite the rumours of a dramatic new design turned out to be somewhat unfounded – while it features translucent new elements, Liquid Glass doesn't completely flip the script on iOS design. But while it was indeed an event filled with iterative updates, WWDC has left users plenty to unpack. Here are the main announcements: Liquid Glass: a new universal design across all platforms. The aesthetic is translucent and behaves like glass in the real world. Its colour is informed by surrounding content and intelligently adapts between light and dark environments. iOS 26, featuring new Apple Intelligence capabilities, redesigned Phone and Messages apps, and updates to CarPlay, Apple Music, Maps, and Wallet iPadOS 26, featuring a brand new windowing system for better multitasking macOS Tahoe 26, featuring the new Liquid Glass design and an overhaul of Spotlight search with new Browse views You can watch the WWDC keynote right here in the video below, and check out our blog updates below for our thoughts as it happened. Hello and welcome to Creative Bloq's annual WWDC live blog! And what better to kick things off than WWDC bingo, lovingly created as ever by Basic Apple Guy. While Apple Intelligence was launched to great fanfare last year, the whole thing has proven rather embarrassing for the company, with headline features including long overdue Siri upgrades long delayed. The situation is apparently so dire that it's causing internal tension at Apple. What comes after iOS 18? Possibly not iOS 19. If rumours are to be believed, Apple could be switching to a year-based naming convention this year. But is that enough to make the iPhone feel exciting again after last year's underwhelming iOS 16 launch? As for what iOS 26 might look like, rumour has it we're in store for a VisionOS-inspired redesign. Think transparent object and glassy textures, and perhaps even circular icons. Fans have been searching for hints of the future of Apple's iOS design language in beta updates over the last year, but this might be one of the most legitimate examples we've seen.... We can probably expect some software updates to AirPods, with new camera controls rumoured to be hitting Apple's earbuds. But what I really to know is if we're ever going to see those rumoured teeth controls. Of course, we can probably expect another California-inspired name for the next iteration of macOS. Previous names have included Big Sur, Monterey, Ventura, Sonoma, and Sequoia, and this year, Apple is rumoured to be calling the new macOS "Tahoe", after Lake Tahoe of course. One rumour that was doing the rounds last month is that WWDC 2025 will see the announcement of a new Apple gaming app. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the app would work across the Apple ecosystem – so iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple TV – replacing the dated Game Center (above) as a central hub for gaming with a storefront, highlights, leaderboards, achievements and multiplayer options and integration of the Apple Arcade subscription service. It sounds like it would be inspired by Microsoft's approach with Xbox, and Apple's also reportedly looking at connecting the app with FaceTime and iMessage. While the app wouldn't be released in September, it's been noted how close the timing would be to Nintendo's launch of the new Switch (see our Switch 2 review just in). We've mentioned the rumours about an expected iOS design inspired by VisionOS. We'll surely also see some news about VisionOS itself at WWDC. It's been suggested that visionOS 3, or visionOS 26, will add a new eye-scrolling feature for Vision Pro, which will use the built-in eye tracking features. That sounds like a logical extension of the existing mechanism that allows navigation by looking at something on the display and then gesturing with your hand to tap it. Going back to gaming, we recently learned that Apple's Vision Pro team is working on a VisionOS plugin for Godot Engine in a bid to lower the barrier to XR game development for the device. For iPadOS 26, one intriguing feature that we're hoping to hear about at WWDC is Apple Pencil reed calligraphy. A galam, or reed pen, is a traditional Arabic writing tool used in calligraphy to create flowing strokes that vary in thickness. It's rumoured that Apple will introduce new software that takes advantage of Apple Pencil Pro hardware features, such as its squeeze gestures, barrel roll detection and haptic feedback, to create a digital equivalent. Apple's main aim would be to support expansion in countries like the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, but it sounds like something that could be popular with calligraphy artists everywhere. There are just three hours to go until the keynote. As in recent years, we expect it will be a mix of pre-recorded segments rather than an all-live event. You'll be able to watch in the video above from 10am PDT / 1pm EDT / 6pm in the UK. We'll be posting on context and responses throughout. Severance fans are hoping that WWDC might tease something about what's next for what's become Apple TV's biggest draw. It's too early to expect a Severance season 3 teaser but I wouldn't be surprised if we get some kind of confirmation that filming has started or will start soon. Over on X, regular Apple tipster Ming-Chi Kuo is suggesting that despite the criticised roll our, Apple's AI strategy is going to take centre stage at WWDC today, with UI and OS updates playing only a secondary role. He suggest that there won't be big new announcements in this area but that Apple will focus on clearly explaining how its AI features work and clarifying its development timeline. And he suggests that this might include rebranding Apple Intelligence and Siri and integrating AI at the OS level to improve the user experience. The former Apple QuickTime dev Maynard Handley has some strong words for Apple in response to Ming-Chi Kuo's predictions, and reminds us what WWDC is supposed to be about. "This is a DEVELOPER conference! The single most important thing that matters is an AI assistant in XCode that can analyze and write Swift. If they have that, other things can wait a year, they're at least in the game. If they don't have that, it's time to conclude that they just don't understand the stakes. And expect big drama at the next board meeting." With a brand new design language rumoured to be launching today, we're wondering if the next generation of iOS could be the biggest visual refresh since 2013. That was when iOS 7, which heralded Apple's wholehearted embrace of flat design, hit the iPhone. But with liquid and glassy textures rumoured to be arriving today, perhaps things are finally coming full circle – all the way back to skeuomorphism. This being a software-focussed event, we're not expecting to see much, if anything, in the way of hardware. The iPhone 17 line up, for example, probably won't materialise until September. That said, with rumours that Apple is planning to shake up its release cycle, and the iPhone 16e debuting in February, it seems the company might be a little more open to shaking up its usually rigid calendar. Maybe we could get a glimpse at one of the rumoured models, like the polarising iPhone 17 Air? Now here's a simple but effective concept we'd love to see become a reality in iOS. With all that AI under the hood, couldn't Apple show us how long it'll take for the iPhone to fully charge? Actually, judging by the current state of Apple Intelligence, possibly not. With only 30 minutes to go, let's take a look back at one of the best fan-made iOS 19 concepts we've seen, complete with those rumoured VisionOS-inspired rounded icons. It's time! You can watch Apple's live stream right here - the above video is also embedded at the top of this page. Apple honours its new F1 movie by turning the top of its circular HQ into a race track. Not a bad idea. Here it is, iOS's new look, featuring Apple's brand new 'Liquid Glass' design language, which "brings a new level of vitality" to the software. App icons now feature "multiple layers" – farewell, flat design! You had a good run. As ever, the rumours were true – Apple has rebranded its entire operating system suite, naming them all after the coming year. iOS 19 is dead, long live iOS 26. As well as Light Mode and Dark Mode, there's a new translucent mode that makes icons, er, translucent. Is it weird that the most exciting new feature I've seen so far is Hold Assist, which lets you silence annoying hold music during a call? Uh oh... judging by the response on Twitter, sorry, X, it looks like iOS 26's Liquid Glass is giving people major Windows Vista vibes. It's 2007 all over again! After several attempts, has Apple finally cracked multitasking on iPad? The new windowing system in iPadOS 26 certainly looks more intuitive and, dare we say, Mac-like.
India Today
02-06-2025
- Business
- India Today
NPS pensioners to get more benefits under Unified Pension Scheme. Details here
In a major relief for retired central government staff, the Finance Ministry has announced extra benefits under the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS). This is especially for those who have retired under the National Pension Scheme (NPS) on or before March 31, CAN GET THESE BENEFITS?If you're a central government employee who retired under the NPS and has completed at least 10 years of service, you are eligible. If the retiree has passed away, their legally wedded spouse can also claim UPS benefits will be given in addition to your existing NPS pension. As per a press release dated May 30, 2025, 'The Central government NPS subscribers who retired on or before 31/03/2025 with minimum 10 years of qualifying service or their legally wedded spouse can claim the following additional benefits under Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), over and above the NPS benefits already claimed.'WHAT ARE THE ADDITIONAL BENEFITS?Eligible NPS retirees can either get a one-time payment based on their last drawn Basic Pay and Dearness Allowance (DA) for every six months of service, or receive a monthly top-up if their current pension is less than what they'd get under UPS with Dearness if any, will be paid with simple interest, as per the PPF interest TO APPLY?advertisementThe Ministry said that retirees can apply either online or offline, they need to visit their Drawing and Disbursing Officer (DDO) and submit the form. Those applying online can do so through the official website. The deadline to apply is June 30, earlier this year, government data showed that over 6.4 crore people joined the EPF and ESI schemes between September 2017 and November 2019, while more than 16 lakh individuals enroled under the NPS during the same Watch
