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Category: eNews

  • Raghav Bahl’s new venture The Quint makes its debut

    Raghav Bahl’s new venture The Quint makes its debut

    MUMBAI: Months ago he introduced his digital baby The Quint on Facebook. Since January after publishing stories on the social media platform, Indian media mogul turned entrepreneur Raghav Bahl’s latest venture The Quint has finally made its online debut.

     

    After their stint with television, Bahl along with his wife Ritu Kapur, co-founded a digital company called Quintillion Media. The mobile focussed digital platform covers a wide array of news sections. These include politics, opinion, technology, world, entertainment, life, India, business and sports. A photo section dedicated to mostly Hollywood and Bollywood content, besides a video and podcast section is also a part of the new-born website. To lend a lighter tone to the content, a WaterQooler section features humourous and interesting anecdotes that are popular from around the world. The website is currently running in its BETA version.

     

    The content for the website is being created by the in-house content team of editorial writers as well as wire stories. A separate section on the website called “QuintEssential” has stories that are exclusive and personal posts that have been written by the founder duo, including the making of The Quint. Another section featuring on the home page, “Trending” includes stories and videos that are have been going viral in the cyber domain.

     

    The website is seeing a growing traction on its social media platforms. For example, its Twitter handle currently has more than 3,000 followers and more than 7,000 Facebook likes. Access to these two media is available above on the top right hand corner of the webpage.

     

    As reported earlier by Indiantelevision.com, the company was registered on 23 August, 2014 with an authorised capital of Rs 130 crore. It invested in a start up venture known as Quintype, based in the San Francisco Bay Area with entrepreneur Amit Rathore as CEO and chief product officer. The website has been powered by Quintype offers cloud based solutions for editorial assignments as well publishing formats for mobile phones, tablets, desktop etc.

     

    Most of those in the news team include former staffers of Network 18, Bahl’s former company that was sold to Reliance Industries for Rs 700 crores. Former Web18 VP Roshan Tamang is the digital media consultant for the venture.

  • PRSI Kolkata, Mayabious Academy to start first diploma course in cyber laws

    PRSI Kolkata, Mayabious Academy to start first diploma course in cyber laws

    KOLKATA: Public Relations Society Of India (PRSI), Kolkata chapter and Mayabious Academy,  an animation and graphical applications as well as IT software skills company, have jointly launched a six-month diploma course in ‘cyber laws’. 

     

    Designed by cyber expert and advocate Bivas Chatterjee, the course will broadly cover diverse types of cyber crimes, hacking, cyber pornography, cyber terrorism, cyber safety, electronic evidence, anti-spam laws and would introduce all facets of cyber law. 

     

    PRSI Kolkata chapter chairman Soumyajit Mahapatra said that the course would be the first of its kind in the eastern region of the country and would cater to investigating agency, lawyers, information technology (IT) and engineering professionals. 

     

    He further said that the communication industry would advance towards digitisation and individuals will have to deal with content and e-commerce on smartphones. 

     

    On the other hand, Mayabious Academy CEO Akhil B Paul said the company would launch more such courses in association with PRSI, going forward. 

     

    Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported about Mayabious Art planning to open six – seven centres of Mayabious Digital Academy in 2014 on the back of India emerging as a significant destination for outsourcing animation related jobs.

  • Demand for skilled cyber security professionals in India expected to rise

    Demand for skilled cyber security professionals in India expected to rise

    KOLKATA: With the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) policy, demand for skilled cyber security professionals in India is likely to rise in the coming years, said a top official of Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), a global information technology (IT) association. 

     

    The Department of Electronic and Information Technology (DeitY), under the Union Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, has defined ‘Internet of things’ as a seamless connected network of devices that enables machine-to-machine communication without human intervention using standard and interoperable communication protocols.

     

    While personal computers, phones and tablets, which require human intervention, are not part of IoT, a wide variety of devices such as heart monitoring implants, biochip transponders, self-driven automobiles with built-in sensors are usually considered globally as part of IoT.

     

    “The ministry has already come up with a draft IoT policy and the final policy is expected soon,” said ISACA international vice-president R. Vittal Raj.

     

    With a major growth in the development of IoT devices, a preventive mechanism to deal with potential cyber crimes needs to be developed in the country, he said.

     

    The ministry has set a target of building an IoT industry of $15 billion by 2020 and is eyeing a market share of five – six per cent of the global IoT industry, which will reach $300 billion, according to Gartner.

     

    For implementing IoT, the government is looking at areas like agriculture, health, water quality, natural disasters, transportation, security, automobiles, supply chain management, smart cities, automatic metering in various sectors.

     

    Raj added that while in India the policy framework is in place, implementation of cyber security is still a major hurdle.

     

    Talking about Kolkata specifically, he said that ISACA is looking to tie up with educational institutions to develop skilled professionals in the sector.

  • ESPNcricinfo launches ‘Insights’ to strengthen its content offering

    ESPNcricinfo launches ‘Insights’ to strengthen its content offering

    MUMBAI: ESPNcricinfo has launched Insights, the go-to destination for fans looking for all kinds of statistics and analysis around World Cup Cricket tournament. A first of its kind, Insights leverages the in-depth coverage and data analysis of cricket happenings across the globe and allows fans to interact with statistics and numbers in an easy and engaging manner.

     

    ESPNcricinfo Insights uses more than two decades worth of world cricketing data points and statistics, mapped at the data and analytics hub in Bangalore, to create a suite of products that aim to engage fans in this multi-screen era. ESPNcricinfo’s data operations, which tracks various data points around a cricket match, has built various levels of analytics suite  to interpret captured data  and add a qualitative perspective to the analytics thus providing an insightful cricketing analysis based on ‘Big Data.’

     

    The data operations map close to 25 variables for every ball bowled during a match that is put through an extensive analytics process that is supplemented by historical data as well as the resident cricketing intelligence of the global ESPNcricinfo editorial team. ESPNcricinfo has tied up with partners like Formcept India for some of these analytics.

     

    Fans will be able to play around with interesting cricket statistics like player versus player comparisons, across game formats and take into account factors like venue, opposition and results of matches for the previous and current Cricket World Cup.

     

    ESPN Digital Media India and ESPNcricinfo head Ramesh Kumar said, “At ESPNcricinfo, we endeavour to constantly innovate and provide cricket fans newer and exciting ways to consume content and engage with game action. We are delighted to announce the launch of ESPNcricinfo Insights, a flagship feature that is poised to deliver the best cricket insights based on cricket data of all cricket matches, the rigour and robustness of our global cricket data operations, decades of cricket analysis expertise and sound analytics offering built around them.  It is a pioneering initiative in the cricket coverage space and is sure to delight fans during the upcoming cricketing season. It will be of interest not just to cricket fans but also various other stakeholders in cricket like players, coaches, analysts.”

     

    ESPNcricinfo, Epson India senior general manager, brand & communication Tushad Talati added, “When it comes to the most comprehensive coverage of online cricket, ESPNcricinfo is the first choice for most Indians. This World Cup, more than any so far, promises to have a strong following online, given not just the increase in internet audiences but also that the timings are not exactly conducive to television viewing in India. The Insight’s center on ESPNcricinfo is expected to be the go-to place for all cricket buffs keen to get all the information and stats around the World Cup.  At Epson we felt that our presence on Cricinfo during this World Cup made imminent sense and would drive visibility for key products, especially our fantastic InkTank Printers and Home Theatre projectors.”

  • Yahoo Cricket ropes in Jonty Rhodes as analyst for World Cup

    Yahoo Cricket ropes in Jonty Rhodes as analyst for World Cup

    MUMBAI: Yahoo India has roped in South African cricketer Jonty Rhodes as its World Cup analyst for the coverage on Yahoo Cricket.  

     

    As part of this, Rhodes will present his take on the World Cup action, as it unfolds, through the pre and post-game analysis. Viewers can also have live chats with Rhodes and get his perspective on specific questions. With in-depth stories, expert analysis, player profiles, game statistics, videos, match forecasts and his perspective on the game to make sense of it all, Yahoo Cricket will keep fans on top of all the cricket news, opinions and insights this season.

     

    Rhodes said, “Cricket in India creates such a high – whether it’s being played or talked about. With Yahoo Cricket, which is hugely popular with cricket fans not just in India but across the globe, I am looking forward to sharing my thoughts with passionate cricket lovers the world over, and also to hearing back from them. Together, this World Cup is going to be much more fun.”

     

    Yahoo India vice president and managing director Gurmit Singh added, “Jonty is one of the most respected names in World Cricket, well loved by cricket fans in India. We believe that his connect with users and his original voice – brought alive through videos, in-depth stories and chat opportunities for fans, across devices – will make Yahoo Cricket the digital hub where users can converge to enjoy the World Cup.”

     

    Widely regarded as the first fielding superstar of the cricketing world, Rhodes has enjoyed outstanding success throughout his career, in which he played 52 Test matches and 245 One Day Internationals. His first shot at fame was during the 1992 World Cup, when he flew through the air to memorably run out Pakistan’s Inzamam-ul-Haq, thus creating one of cricket’s most iconic moments. 

     

    Rhodes has served as South Africa’s fielding coach. He is also an advisor-cum-fielding coach at the Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.

  • US to launch new cyber security agency after Sony hacks

    US to launch new cyber security agency after Sony hacks

    MUMBAI: In the wake of the Sony Pictures Entertainment cyber hacks that took place last year, the US government is forming a new agency to monitor cyber security threats, pooling and analyzing information on a spectrum of risks.

     

    The Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC) will act as a central place to coordinate cyber threat intelligence from the FBI, the National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies.

     

    Quoting a government official on condition of anonymity, a Forbes media report said that the new agency will be called Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center (CTIIC), which will ‘connect the dots’ between various cyber threats to the nation so that relevant departments and agencies are aware of these threats in as close to real time as possible.

     

    US president Barrack Obama gave utmost priority to cybersecurity after the recent hacking attacks against Sony Pictures as well as the federal government.

     

    The White House counterterrorism coordinator, Lisa Monaco said that cyber threats to national and economic security are increasing in sophistication, scale, severity of impact. As of now, no single government agency is responsible for coordinating cyber threat assessments, sharing information among existing agencies, and providing timely intelligence to policy makers.

     

    “The cyberthreat is one of the greatest threats we face, and policymakers and operators will benefit from having a rapid source of intelligence. It will help ensure that we have the same integrated, all-tools approach to the cyberthreat that we have developed to combat terrorism,” Monaco told The Post.

  • BBC.com users hit 100 million mark

    BBC.com users hit 100 million mark

    MUMBAI: BBC.com, the BBC’s international website, has started 2015 on an all-time high. More than 101 million unique browsers used the website and news app globally during the month of January, generating a record 1.35 billion page views, as per Adobe Analytics new figures.

     

    The figures come after a year, which saw BBC.com achieve sustained growth, with more unique browsers every quarter. Mobile and tablet usage of BBC.com has increased, with year-on-year unique browsers up 67 per cent and 45 per cent respectively, as greater choice and responsive technology encouraged users to turn to BBC.com for news on the go. A fully responsive tablet version of the site launched in late 2014 and a new feature-packed update to the BBC News app is due to launch in the coming months.

     

    The driving factors for January’s figures were coverage of major global news stories, such as the Paris attacks, along with human interest stories including the resurgence of a piece about why Finnish babies sleep in boxes. Features sections such as BBC Capital and BBC Earth achieved new peak figures for page views of 7.1 million and 5.1 million, respectively, with stories on the world’s best places to retire and the Earth’s biggest turning points proving particularly popular.

     

    In India, unique browsers for January were 3.9 million (monthly average is 3.7 million) and unique page views for January stood at 19.7 million (monthly average is 16 million).

     

    BBC World Service Group director Fran Unsworth said, “These fantastic figures demonstrate the global demand for comprehensive coverage of world events. Our ambition is to ensure audiences are able to access world-class, up-to-the-minute news and in-depth analysis across both text and video, regardless of which platform they’re on – as the stories break and beyond.”

     

    BBC Worldwide CEO Tim Dave added, “It is tremendous news that BBC.com has been enjoyed by over 100 million browsers in the past month. The fact that audiences are responding positively to the innovation that we have delivered across the site is particularly encouraging. Specifically, our investments across genres as well as our increasing availability across all devices, is driving strong growth.” 

     

    The BBC’s digital success also extends to social media where it was the most-shared news brand on Twitter every single month last year according to NewsWhip, with stories being shared up to four million times a month. 

  • Ronnie Screwvala enters digital biz; B Sai Kumar to head venture

    Ronnie Screwvala enters digital biz; B Sai Kumar to head venture

    MUMBAI: Media and broadcasting veteran Ronnie Screwvala has joined hands with B Saikumar to form a new age ­digital media company. Based out of Mumbai, in its first phase, the venture aims at launching a digital brand, which will offer multi-genre­, multi—lingual content across video, audio, text and other traditional and new age art forms. The investment envisaged is an outlay of up to Rs 150 crore across two phases. While the first phase would be largely domestic-f­ocused, the platform will evaluate new geographies and verticals in its second and subsequent phases. 

     

    The venture, with Sai Kumar as managing director, has also roped in former Network18 COO Ajay Chacko as CEO and has begun a global search for talent in creative, product and technology functions across entertainment, current affairs and infotainment spaces.

     

    Digital media across the world has been competing with the traditional broadcast television, radio and print in terms of choice of consumers and marketers. With over 300 million Internet users and around 200 million of these using mobile, India is slated to become the world’s third largest digital media market. This is expected to get a further boost with the government’s Digital India plan and the launch of pan-India ­broadband services by existing operators and well-cap­italized new players.

     

    At a time when the world is witnessing a range of digital-first ­media brands and companies generating tremendous stickiness, impact and value across markets, Screwvala’s new venture aims at becoming a valuable Indian digital media company with  footprints across geographies and content spaces. 

     

    Over the last two and a half decades, Screwvala has built some of the country’s valuable media businesses and has been an entrepreneur known for disruption and innovation across many verticals and genres; from cable to broadcast, from animation and gaming to motion pictures.

     

    Sai Kumar has been instrumental in taking Network18 from a single channel company to a $1 billion plus enterprise, while Chacko played a pivotal role in the launch of many of Network18’s flagship brands across print, TV and digital.

  • Ronnie Screwvala enters online education space; to invest Rs 100 crore

    Ronnie Screwvala enters online education space; to invest Rs 100 crore

    MUMBAI: Bitten yet again by the entrepreneurial bug after selling UTV to The Walt Disney Company, Ronnie Screwvala has entered the education sector with the launch of UEducation, an online portal focusing on higher education.

     

    Screwvala has earmarked an outlay of Rs 100 crore in the first phase, which goes mainly into content, interactivity, platform, technology, assessments, adaptive learning, marketing and building a national footprint.

     

    “India has the largest college going age cohort in the world, yet only one out five of them enroll into higher education, resulting in one of the lowest higher education enrolment ratios, even among most developing nations. If we have to meet our GDP growth targets, we need to at least double the participation rate immediately, otherwise we will miss out on our demographic dividend,” he said.

     

    With a decade of experience in the education sector across India, China, Latin America, SE Asia, Middle East and Africa, Mayank Kumar has come on board as co-founder and MD of UEducation. “Our goal will be to foster the next level of degree education / learning and train the next generation Indian workforce to take on the industries of the future,” Kumar said.

     

    UEducation aims to capitalise on the fast increasing demand for digital learning and online education, leveraging technology and working to exceed the experiences and rigour even of on campus programs, whilst focusing on employability.

     

    The new venture will cover sectors such as management, law, marketing, finance, technology, engineering, entrepreneurship, new economy expertise, sports, media, fashion, travel, hospitality and tourism.

     

  • Raghav Bahl on why digital is the next big medium for journalists

    Raghav Bahl on why digital is the next big medium for journalists

    MUMBAI: Raghav Bahl, who recently launched his venture The Quint, is quite bullish about the booming digital ecosystem in India. In a self written note published on social media, the media mogul lists the various opportunities offered by social media platforms.

     

    According to Bahl, first and foremost there is immediate threat to the editor but in order to survive, he must adapt to evolving needs in the digital environment. For starters, he will have to ensure that content is not text heavy but crisper and sharper and focused towards the consumption patterns of “millennials”. For the uninitiated the term stands for those individuals reaching young adulthood by the year 2000 or simply known as ‘Generation X’.

     

    In his second point, Bahl explains how in the current day “journalistic scoops,” which give an exclusive edge and add the “I broke it First” feeling to a journalist, will be over time replaced by scoops that are released first online and distributed to the public. He provides examples of how infamous outfits like the Boko Haram have been releasing detrimental videos online.

     

    Moving further Bahl is of the opinion that social media and its blue eyed platforms namely Facebook and Google, will be an independent journalist’s best friend instead of a newspaper and TV, which have limited reach. He compares the strength of the digital medium a force that offers ‘viral velocity’ to a newsman’s work.

     

    In his fourth point, Bahl elaborates about the two way communication model involved in the cyber space, which allows content creators, journalists and opinion leader to receive real time feedback. Thanks to the algorithmic trend sheets and tools a journalist can very well be equipped to know exactly how to spark argumentative conversations that can help fuel fruitful debates.

     

    In conclusion, Bahl says that the new team at Quint has taught him to learn valuable lessons at daily edit meets as he grasps the new lingo of Generation X.

     

    The full article can be read here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/quint-six-months-flat-raghav-bahl?trk=mp-reader-card