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There’s little that’s more annoying on the web than videos that start playing automatically and with their volume up. Over the course of the last few years, Chrome and other browser vendors have started to  combat this , but for the most part, those solutions relied on the user explicitly taking action. Now, following the  launch of a similar feature on mobile , Chrome on desktop is also getting much smarter about which sites it’ll allow to autoplay and which it’ll block — and it’ll learn from your behavior to personalize this feature. Google  says a “significant number of autoplays” are paused and muted, or have their tabs closed, within six seconds. I’m actually guessing most people close those tabs faster, but six seconds seems like a good enough measure to know whether a user wanted to hear the sound from a video or not. Going forward, Google will  learn  from your own browsing behavior and learn which sites you’ll want to mute. For users who aren’t ...

We have noted the model of PhonePe, Google Tez and Paytm, whenever there are incentives or cashbacks, the transaction volumes pick up. This is another behavioural change,u201d said a top government official who is aware of the development. The person did not wish to be named. The share of BHIM in total UPI transactions has dropped to 5.75% in February from 40.5% in August last year, according to the latest data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which tracks digital transactions in the country. The official said the move to offer cashbacks and incentives is also to encourage more transactions on the BHIM platform and reduce usage of cash. For this, the incentives for merchants for using BHIM-Aadhaar platform will be significantly increased to 0.5% of the transaction value upto Rs 10,000 against the earlier 0.25% of the transaction value of just Rs 2,000. The government admits that the offtake of the earlier scheme for merchants has been low (just a few lak...

Cryptocurrency exchanges in India are thinking about challenging the RBI’s order which bans entities under its regulation from providing services related to cryptocurrencies. Startups including Unocoin, Coinsecure and Zebpay have expressed their reservations with the order and are considering to mount a legal challenge in the Supreme Court. Coinsecure said that they were talking about the issue with industry stakeholders like Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Committee of India and the Internet and Mobile Association of India. Jincy Samuel, Chief Operating Officer of Coinsecure said, "We, along with the other industry players are in talks with IAMAI and BACC to see if they could help us in getting a hearing at the Supreme Court to see if stay orders are possible on the current decision of the RBI." However, Samuel accepted that the central bank’s order will affect their services and investors will be left with alternatives to move to an alt-to-alt trading or...

India’s first blockchain network has gone live. After years of announcements and pilot projects, the country has finally implemented a solution for blockchain operations.  The blockchain-based network is developed by three platforms that offer trade Trade Receivables Discounting Systems (TReDS) - Receivables Exchange of India, A.TReDS, and M1xchange. These platforms are using blockchain in enterprise financial segment. Receivable financing is considered as the most efficient trade finance mechanisms for small businesses. Blockchain can help in this sector to provide a common platform that is not controlled by any financial institution. The security and confidentiality promise to reduce frauds around receivable financing. The blockchain network is built on Hyperledger Fabric that does not rely on cryptocurrency to operate. Kalyan Basu, CEO of TReDS said, “Our clients are particularly sensitive about their sourcing inputs, and we absolutely could not broadcast any o...

If you think you have to live in California to score perks like free lunch, unlimited vacation and a dog-friendly office, think again! Midwest companies in Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota and Missouri have hopped on the benefits bandwagon to give Silicon Valley businesses a run for their money. Calling all job seekers in the Heartland, here are 11 midwest companies offering Silicon Valley-style perks to employees. Luckily for you, each of these businesses is hiring right now. Get the benefits you deserve by applying today! Total Quality Logistics (TQL)  Perks & Benefits:  TQL offers adoption assistance, remote work, tuition reimbursement, paid job training, legal assistance, identity theft protection, gym reimbursement (a free gym at HQ), and more. TQL also offers its employees access to hundreds of exclusive discounts at some of their favorite local and national merchants. TQL offers a free Kids Club program where employees dependent children receive annua...

NEW DELHI: Indian companies are the eighth most optimistic lot globally in terms of  hiring  intentions for April-June with 16 per cent of employers likely to add more staff during the period, while Croatia topped the pack, says a survey. ManpowerGroup  interviewed 58,000 employers in 43 countries and territories and noted that Croatia, where employers were surveyed for the first time, reported healthy hiring intentions based on unadjusted survey data. According to the survey released today by staffing firm ManpowerGroup India, workforce gains were expected across all four regions and seven industry sectors including services, finance, real estate, manufacturing, among others. The survey, conducted among over 4,600 employers across India in various segments of industries, noted that although the hiring pace will slow, few staff reductions are expected. Croatia with a net  employment  outlook of 29 per cent topped the list of being most optimistic i...

Increasing fear of cyber attacks has created new market opportunity in cybersecurity sector. The demand for cybersecurity professionals has gone up by 3x in the last one year. The industry has over 15,000 open positions related to cybersecurity. India’s cybersecurity measures are fairly poor as compared to some of the developed nations. The country needs to put in extra efforts to fight against cyber attacks. The adoption of internet and smartphones will further boost the demand in cybersecurity domain. A report by Belong research suggests a great spike in cybersecurity jobs this year. An outbound recruitment solution, Belong has published a report based on job postings by companies that recruit cyber professionals on multiple platforms. The report states, “As companies seek to bolster their defense against data security breaches, the demand for cybersecurity experts in India has outstripped supply of these professionals by three times over the past 12 months.” The de...

Tata Consultancy Services gets nearly $2 billion in revenue a year from  analytics , the company’s CEO  Rajesh Gopinathan  told ET in an interview, making it the largest chunk of its digital revenue. India’s largest IT company gets over 22% of its overall revenue from digital — a number that will be well over $3 billion for the financial year ending March 2018. This is the first time  TCS  has defined the contribution of the business segment that makes up the overall digital revenue figure. Last year, TCS appointed Dinanath Kholkar, who used to run its $2-billion business process outsourcing business, to head its analytics division. “Analytics in itself will be equal to the portfolio he (Kholkar) was running earlier. Analytics was distributed across a very wide set and once we are done bringing it together, we will have to think how we report it and all, but we run probably one of the largest analytics groups,” Gopinathan said. The IT firm’s $2.5-bil...

The Trump administration decided to delay the decision regarding H4 visa. This is supposed to be a good news, but it has nothing but confused the Indian techies working in the US. The department of homeland security (DHS) deferred issuing the proposal to restrict work permits for H4 dependent visas. The decision was supposed to be taken by February 28 but it has now been delayed to the end of June 2018. The move comes just a few days after the Trump administration announced increased scrutiny for H-1B visa approvals, making it rather confusing for existing H-1B holders. Indian families are largest beneficiaries of H-4 visas. H-1B visa holders that move to the US with their spouses can apply for work permit for their spouses. The provision of H-4 visa has helped many Indian H-1B holders find work for their spouses. The department of homeland security (DHS) was planning to issue the proposal to restrict work permits for H-4 visa holders. The government led by the former...

There are plenty of concerns about the impact of AI and automation on the IT industry. The Indian companies are worried about losing quality revenue due to emerging automation technologies. Indian IT industry heavily relies on Business Process Management (BPM) services that require low skilled professionals. However changing nature of BPM and IT industry, evolving skill profiles and cyber security have created new opportunities for the IT firms. Keshav Murugesh, CEO of Mumbai-based WNS Group believes that companies need to adopt disruptive delivery models to retain the customers. People think that all traditional IT businesses will fall off the cliff and BPM companies will go down. But by adopting disruptive delivery models, BPM companies can still impress and interest new clients. WNS Group operates from 13 countries and employee 35,000 employees. The company is trying to get clients outsource work that is strategically done. New-age competition According to Muru...

It is no news that IT workers are looking at AI and automation as a big threat. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi thinks that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can solve a number of problems in the country In his monthly ‘Mann ki Baat’ radio broadcast, he emphasized on how AI can solve a number of issues in the country. He deliberately focused on how ‘Artificial Intelligence’ can help the country in solving problems like differently abled persons, tracking natural disasters, assisting farmers and extending health services. PMO Modi is keen on learning more about the real-world use cases of AI and automation. If artificial intelligence is harnessed and implemented in a right way, it can add a huge benefit to the society. With the large population and digital literacy, India has a great pool of data that we can use for creating highly-advanced AI technologies. He said, “It was interesting to know about the ongoing miraculous accomplishments in the field of science. Artifi...