Latest news with #VivekanandaCollege
The Wire
10-07-2025
- Business
- The Wire
WTMF Set to Launch Emotionally Available AI Companion for Gen Z: Beta Expected Late August to Early September
Hyderabad, India | July 2025: In a market saturated with AI tools that can search, summarize, and schedule, one homegrown startup is building something radically different — an AI that simply listens. WTMF (What's The Matter, Friend?), developed by Knockverse Private Limited, is gearing up for its beta launch between late August and early September 2025. And already, the app is generating quiet buzz among early adopters, mental wellness advocates, and digital-first Gen Z users across India. Unlike traditional chatbots that aim to 'fix' or provide advice, WTMF is built to be emotionally available — offering judgment-free, culturally fluent conversations that help users vent, rant, or reflect. The app features chat and voice support, mood tracking, and AI journaling, all designed to feel like talking to a close friend, not a therapist or assistant. 'We didn't set out to build the smartest AI. We set out to build the kindest,' says co-founder Kruthivarsh Koduru, a psychology graduate from Bhavan's Vivekananda College, who leads product and emotional design. The idea for WTMF was born from lived experience — long nights, heavy thoughts, and the lack of someone to talk to. Along with Kruthivarsh Koduru Co-founder Shreyak Singh, who also Co-founded the Reel-Making aggregator platform Flashoot (recently valued at ₹22 Cr). The team includes rising talent like Aman Singh, a Flutter developer from Parul University who leads mobile engineering, and Vikas KV, an operations and business strategy lead with an MSc from the University of York, UK. Together, the founding team is combining technical skill, emotional insight, and strategic execution to bring a distinctly Indian emotional AI to life. What makes WTMF unique is its cultural context. The AI understands Hinglish, responds to local idioms like 'mood off hai' or 'uff yaar', and is being trained for multilingual support across Indian languages in future versions. The app doesn't offer toxic positivity or robotic solutions — just presence, listening, and an invitation to feel without being fixed. Currently, over 3,000 users have signed up for early access, and the app's pre-launch community is growing rapidly through Instagram, Discord, and Reddit. As WTMF prepares for its beta, the team is actively inviting early believers, research collaborators, and mental wellness partners to shape the future of emotionally intelligent AI in India. (Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with NRDPL and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.).
Time of India
01-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Telugu actress's birthday bash turns sour over a cake at Hyderabad pub. Who is Kalpika Ganesh?
Kalpika Ganesh, a known figure in the Telugu film industry, recently faced a distressing incident during what was meant to be a joyful birthday celebration. The actress had chosen Prism Pub, located in the Gachibowli area of Hyderabad, as the venue for her special day. However, festivities took an unexpected turn when a disagreement arose between her and the pub staff over the issue of bringing her own birthday cake into the reportedly began when the staff refused her request to carry an outside cake into the premises. The situation rapidly escalated, and Kalpika found herself engaged in a heated exchange with the management. A video later uploaded to her Instagram account captures the confrontation, where she appeared visibly upset as she argued with the staff. The disagreement worsened after the pub's manager justified their refusal by citing a policy against allowing external food items and highlighted that complimentary cakes were not part of their visibly angered by the experience, compared it to her previous visits to other venues that had been more accommodating and customer-friendly. The conflict intensified further when the manager accused her of intentionally causing a disturbance. The video also shows the actress crumpling the bill and discarding it in defiance, declining to make the payment after feeling publicly the ordeal, Kalpika took formal action by filing a complaint with the local police. The Gachibowli police authorities have since registered a case and launched an investigation into the matter. In her social media post, she criticized both the pub's management and certain officers involved, accusing them of poor conduct and lacking empathy. As of now, Prism Pub has not issued any formal response regarding the incident or the allegations made against its Ganesh is a Hyderabad-based actress who began her professional journey as a model. She made her film debut in 2009 with Prayanam, directed by Chandra Sekhar Yeleti. Her filmography includes roles in Sarocharu, Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu, and Sita on the Road. She has also gained recognition for her work in digital content, featuring in web series such as Loser and Ekkadiki Ee Parugu. Coming from an Iyengar family, she completed her graduation with a Bachelor of Arts from Vivekananda College in Secunderabad.
India Today
27-04-2025
- Science
- India Today
Who is Sethuraman Panchanathan? NSF chief resigns amid Trump's funding cuts
Indian-origin US scientist Sethuraman Panchanathan, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2020, has stepped down as Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF), cutting short his six-year term with just over a year remaining. His resignation comes at a time of political headwinds and deep federal cuts targeting agency budgets and the broader federal an all-staff memo, Panchanathan stated, "I believe I have done all I can to advance the mission of the agency and feel that it is time for me to pass the baton to new leadership."advertisementALSO READ: Trump's funding cuts push US researchers to Europe, reversing 20th-century trend While he did not explicitly cite reasons, the timing coincides with mounting pressure from the Trump administration to slash NSF's USD 9 billion annual budget, scale down staffing, and cut funding for programs aligned with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) — priorities Panchanathan strongly is Sethuraman Panchanathan?Born and raised in Chennai, India, Panchanathan is an alumnus of Vivekananda College, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and IIT Madras, where he completed his and before earning his Ph.D. in early academic focus blossomed into pioneering work in assistive and rehabilitative technologies, human-centered multimedia computing, and haptic user leading the NSF, Panchanathan served as Executive Vice President at Arizona State University, where he also founded the Center for Cognitive Ubiquitous Computing (CUbiC). His work earned wide acclaim, including for developing technology that improved accessibility for individuals with by President Trump in 2020, Panchanathan's leadership at NSF saw deepened international collaborations, notably the 2023 US-India Initiative on Critical and Emerging his initial appointment under a Republican administration, his strong advocacy for inclusive science and global research partnerships increasingly clashed with a shifting political climate that viewed many of NSF's initiatives as wasteful.
