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Disney Pixar’s Elemental soars great heights at Box Office | Walt Disney Company

By
Kushal Raut
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Elemental Movie’s soaring success

Disney-Pixar’s Elemental movie started off slowly at the box office. However, as they say with a great movie, things cannot go much wrong. Thanks to word of mouth from whoever watched it before, the movie benefitted to bounce back at the charts. Elemental has not just defied expectations but became a hit at the box office grossing $478 million worldwide.

Pixar’s Elemental movie also introduces Pixar’s first non-binary character which made it a win in the LGBTQIA+ community. The movie is based on a city called “Element” where the residents of air, water, land, and fire live and thrive together leading to a comedy-drama tone.

The film has outperformed the projections thereby ranking 17th on the all-time releases from Pixar. It has also surpassed the recent releases from Pixar. However, it has not soared the heights as high as The Super Mario Bros. However with baby steps, the movie has surely surpassed Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Competition against Elemental 

Elemental was supposedly reported to have a budget of $200 million, and the revenues received are double the budget. According to the statistics and reports, Elemental provided one of the worst openings for Pixar leading to a weak debut. It clearly shows how word of mouth works and the young audiences who prefer quality over quantity any day. The film made $153 million domestically and $325 million from global markets in spite of lackluster openings. 

The Elemental film premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival organized by Disney which shows their confidence in Elemental as well as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Pixar’s Elemental ranks as the 9th biggest film of the year which brings it behind Misson Impossible and Ant-Man and the Wasp. Globally, South Korea, France, and the U.K. were the biggest revenue territories for Pixar in the global film scenes. 

Elemental & Previous Pixar Movies

If one compares Pixar’s Elemental with previous Pixar releases, it stacks up at the 17th position. This puts it ahead of Cars, Cars 3, and Toy Story which had a revenue of $461 million, $383 million, and $365 million respectively. However, Incredibles 2 remains one of the biggest hits by Pixar which brought in about $1.2 billion. This was followed by Toy Story 4 and Toy Story 3 which were about $1 billion. 

Elemental includes the voices of some of the greatest like Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Catherine O’Hara. What do you think of Pixar’s Elemental? Have you watched it? Let us know in the comments below. 

The moon is habitable shows Chandrayaan-3’s findings

By
Kushal Raut
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Chandrayaan-3’s findings say that the moon is habitable!

Since its launch, Chandrayaan-3 is a step closer to exploring the surface of the moon especially the south pole of the moon. Since Vikram Lander touched upon the Lunar surface it has been continuously communicating all the telemetry and data from all the onboarded instruments on the lander and the rover. This received data is of huge importance for understanding a step further about the moon. 

Since the data comes steadily, it is into bits and pieces. However, when you combine all the bits and pieces of information together it can be said that the Moon is much more habitable than we ever knew. One might wonder what data says it so.

Well, when the rover and lander sent a probe down to 10 cm into the lunar surface, it revealed wow data. The temperature was revealed to be 50 degrees Celsius hot, whereas just 8cm below the surface, the temperature is as cold as minus 10 degrees Celsius. Scientists knew the lunar surface was cold, however, with this revelation, it can be speculated that the lunar topsoil acts as an insulator. 

Regolith Shielding

Some 2015 research papers titled “Determination of temperature variation on lunar surface and sub-surface for habitat analysis and design” determined that the outermost layer of regolith fluff has very strong insulating capabilities which causes the temperature to drop 132.3K from the maximum magnitude within the first 30cm at which point it then remains constant with increasing depth. 


Since the moon has no atmosphere, it is directly exposed to the sun. It becomes extremely hot during the day and super cold during the night. And, hence to build a habitat like that, it calls for super insulation. So it can be speculated that this insulation is available on the moon and it no longer needs to be carried from Earth. 

Thus, this Regolith Shielding layer spread over the top can make the inhabitants feel comfortable with the atmosphere. Also, this fluff has low conductivity. 

Pragyan Rover

According to the reports and data collected from Pragyan Rover which was included in Chandrayaan-3, is the presence of Oxygen in the lunar soil. The laser beams that were thrown by the LIBS Instrument of Pragyan Rover analyzed the reflections of the beams. It found that there is the presence of sulfur, calcium, and many other trace materials such as iron, chromium, titanium, magnesium, aluminum, and oxygen. 

The presence of FeTiO3 means one does not have to build the house only near the ice source. Ice is not present everywhere on the moon, but the soil is which makes it a huge relief. 

Thus, all of these findings from the Pragyan Rover and Vikram Lander can lead us to know that the Moon is habitable. 

Shah Rukh Khan travels to Tirupati accompanied by Daughter Suhana & Jawan Co-star Nayanthara

By
Kushal Raut
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0

Shah Rukh Khan at Tirupathi to ask blessings for his upcoming movie Jawan

Amidst the upcoming film “Jawan” by Shah Rukh Khan, he offered prayers at Sri Venkateshwara Swamy temple which is situated in Tirupathi. He was along with his daughter Suhana, Nayanthara (Jawan’s Co-star), and his manager Pooja Dadlani. Everyone was dressed in festive plain outfits. This is indeed to take blessings for the release of Jawan, which is ready to hit the theatres on September 7, 2023.

The trailer of Jawan is already out which made the audience anticipate eagerly for the release. The movie is supposed to have a run-time of 2 hours 45 minutes. Jawan’s story begins with a man who wishes to rectify the wrongs going on in society. All this while keeping the promise that he made to someone years ago. The movie includes a massive outlaw with no fear which later causes extreme suffering to many as the story progresses. 

Previous visits by Shah Rukh Khan

Whereas, a few months ago SRK even visited Vaishno Devi. This was before the release of his movie Pathaan. The following tweeted video shows him wearing a blue hoodie jacket along with a covered face. He was being escorted by some officials, policemen, and personal staff. The officials from the Vaishno Devi Shrine Board aided in smooth escorting amidst the crowds. You can watch the video in the tweet here.

Jawan led Shah Rukh Khan to have a tight schedule due to the shootings and film audio release. He was seen checking into Chennai for the same, while the film’s promotion was carried out in Dubai. Shah Rukh Khan already delivered a smashing hit with Pathaan this year. Along with Jawan, he is expected to star also in the Dunki movie.

It is expected for Jawan to release and gross with a super hit on this Friday. Are you excited for Jawan? Would you be watching it on the first day of release? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

Here’s what actions WhatsApp India took to curb rising cases of online scams.

By
Kushal Raut
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0

WhatsApp banned around 72 lakh accounts to curb rising online scams

The rise of online scams is on the rise every passing day. WhatsApp is one of the most popular apps that fall prey to this because of the massive amounts of WhatsApp users in India. Scammers often approach the victims and people via WhatsApp. In order to curb this, WhatsApp India banned over 72 lakh accounts in July. 

WhatsApp banned around 72 lakh accounts to curb rising online scams

These scams are as simple as enticing users with a work-from-home job offer that allows people to earn some side extra money. Even, users have been facing getting calls from unknown international numbers claiming the same scam. In the WhatsApp Monthly Report for India, WhatsApp also shared the number of report spam requests they received in order to ban these accounts on users’ feedback. 

According to the reports, some users were banned even before they were reported. In terms of numbers, out of 7,228,000 banned users, 3,108,000 were banned before they were reported because of suspicious and malicious activity.

“We are an industry leader among end-to-end encrypted messaging services in preventing and combating abuse. In addition to our safety features and controls, we employ a team of engineers, data scientists, analysts, researchers, and experts in law enforcement, online safety, and technology developments to oversee these efforts,” – says WhatsApp India in their WhatsApp Monthly Report.

Actions to be taken by normal users

If any users come across any such scammer, they can ‘block’ them and even ‘report problematic content’ within the app. WhatsApp claims that it pays close attention to user feedback and engages with several specialists. These specialists help stem misinformation, promote cybersecurity, and preserve election integrity. 

A few months ago, WhatsApp encouraged users to block and report suspicious calls so that appropriate actions could be taken against the scammers. This is because several users were getting unknown calls from different countries which include +251, +60, +62, +254, +84, etc. It included not just voice calls but also video calls and not to further lucrative job offers as well. 

According to a WhatsApp spokesperson statement: “Blocking and Reporting suspicious messages/ calls is an important step to effectively combat scams and when users receive calls from unknown international or domestic phone numbers, WhatsApp provides a convenient way to block and report suspicious accounts. It’s important to report these accounts to WhatsApp so that we can take the required action against them and ban them from the platform. Users can also control who sees their personal details and their online presence by using our privacy controls. Keeping your personal details visible to only your contacts can help safeguard your account against bad actors.”

However, users must note that a call from an international number doesn’t imply that the call is from a different country. This is because the calls are transmitted by the internet. They can call through international numbers via WhatsApp even when right beside you in the same country. Thus, if you come across any such scammer, don’t forget to report them to WhatsApp and block them immediately on your phone.

Kaun Banega Crorepati Season 15: Amitabh Bachchan says he is the first contestant to win 1 Crore!

By
Kushal Raut
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0

Kaun Banega Crorepati Season 15’s First Crorepati is here!

In the latest episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati, Jaskaran Singh becomes the first contestant to win 1 crore in Season 15. During the rollover, he successfully answered questions related to diplomatic events, cricketers who had engineering degrees, astronomical questions, Indian history about the viceroy, and many more.

KBC Game with Jaskaran Singh

Jaskaran is from Punjab and he even went on to play the question of 7 crores. However, being unsure of the answer, he did not attempt and chose to quit the game thereby winning 1 Crore and becoming a Crorepati. 

The 7 crore question was as follows:

According to the Padma Purana, which king had to live as a tiger for a hundred years due to a deer’s curse? 

The options were: A) Kshemadhurti B) Dharmadatta C) Mitadhvaja D) Prabhanjana.

Story of Jaskaran Singh 

Jaskaran introduced himself as a graduate of the village Khalra in Punjab. He also mentioned his ongoing preparation to appear for the UPSC entrance exam next year. For the KBC show audition, his father somehow arranged his plane ticket worth Rs. 9-10,000. On the other hand, his friends dropped him to the airport on a scooter. Later, on the show, he also said that this was his first paycheck of his life, and would give the prize money to his father entirely.

Credit: KBCliv

Here is the 1crore question:

Who was the Viceroy of India when the capital of India was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi?

  1. Lord Curzon, B. Lord Hardinge, C. Lord Minto, D. Lord Read Reading.

While playing the question of 1 Crore, Jaskaran wasn’t sure of the answer and he was confused with 2 options. He smartly chose to use the double dip lifeline and won 1 crore in the first shot of the lifeline itself thereby winning 1 crore in Kaun Banega Crorepati Season 15. Even when he reached 7 crore questions, he had 1 lifeline unused which was video call a friend which got disabled as per the rules of the game for 7 crore questions.

Prior to that, he also played KBC Super Sandook where he won Rs. 80,000 and thereby revived the audience poll lifeline. 

Amitabh Bachchan’s emotions on stage

Watching Jaskaran Singh win 1 crore made Big B emotional too. Big B’s eyes got watery with happiness and was visible during the telecast. Later he also revealed that Jaskaran’s grandmother would cook for kids, and grandfather would sell Chole Bhature on the streets just like the KBC Season 11 Winner ‘Babita Tawde.’

Digital e-rupee & UPI QR Code Interoperability: How does it work, advantages?

By
Kushal Raut
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0

Digital e-rupee & UPI QR Code

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently launched the digital rupee with the aim of a cashless economy. Just after that, the banks enabled the interoperability of UPI Code with Central bank digital currency (CBDC). This now allows the users of the digital rupee to make transactions by scanning any UPI QR just like before. This integration is an ongoing pilot project by RBI to push the retail digital rupee along the likes of already successful UPI.

Interoperability with Digital Rupee and UPI QR Codes

With interoperability, users can now clear and settle payment transactions across various systems without participating in multiple systems. According to RBI, it offers and contributes to co-existence, adoption, and increased efficiency.

Image Credits: Ministry of Electronics & IT

In simple words, it means that all UPI QR codes are compatible with CBDC apps. Prior, the users had to scan through separate apps to use CBDC. But now, a single QR code can be used for payments be it UPI or CBDC. 

What is the Digital Rupee or e-rupee | What is CBDC

The Digital Rupee is issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) or CDBC (Central Bank Digital Currency) which is a tokenized digital version of the rupee. It is held in a digital wallet, which is in turn linked to a customer’s existing savings account. Whereas UPI is directly linked to a customer account and involves no wallet service in between. 

Advantages to the interoperability include no need to switch multiple platforms. It provides seamless transactions between a merchant and a customer. The interoperability allows users to use their digital rupee, while merchants also need to maintain a single QR Code as well. 

According to RBI’s Deputy Governor: “We will take advantage of the UPI network to increase transactions in CBDC. There will be one QR code, and you can scan the QR code using the CBDC app. If the merchant has a CBDC account, the payment will be settled in the CBDC wallet. If a merchant does not have a CBDC account, then there will be an option to make payment using UPI,”

Currently, UPI is a widely used payment method, and interoperability allows the e-rupee to get popular among the masses. As of now, banks like the State Bank Of India, Bank of Baroda, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, IDFC Bank, and HDFC Bank have introduced the interoperability feature. It is soon expected to be rolled out into multiple back as time passes.

The main question that still remains is why the e-rupee when UPI is working and flourishing so well in India. What difference does it bring to the table other than a wallet? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.  

Mahabharata Characters reimaged as Bollywood Actors By AI: Take a look at these pictures!

By
Kushal Raut
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0

AI reimagines Bollywood Actors as Mahabharata Characters

AI has become a buzzword with the rapid advancement along the likes of ChatGPT and Google Bard. Every day a lot of new AI Projects are unfolded for the masses. What if we told you, that AI has also reimagined Bollywood Actors as Mahabharata Characters? Yes, this is the world of AI-generated art, voices, and content. 

It is good to see that many artists are turning to the realm of AI to carve out inspiration from AI. Surely, they are more dynamic in nature and capture the attention as the users become fascinated seeing an AI do such tasks. These Mahabharata Characters provide a fusion of ancient Indian Mythology along with Indian Cinema. This breeds freshness in the Bollywood actors along with the uniqueness of Mahabharata characters.

Mahabharata Characters played by Bollywood Actors via AI

The man behind this work is a photographer and digital artist named “Gokul Pillai”. He took it all out into his Instagram account and shared his pictures. It begins with the lead characters like Lord Krishna as Shah Rukh Khan, Draupadi, Arjuna, Duryodhan, and Karna. You can have a look at these AI generations just below. These illustrations from AI are so creative and fit most of the characters so well. It also includes older characters like Bhishma, Shakuni and Dronacharya.


Dronacharya aptly fits with the portrayal of Amitabh Bachchan. While Kamal Hasand becomes unrecognizable in his transformation into Bhishma with his beard. Shah Rukh Khan beautifully justifies the avatar of Lord Krishna. The all-round personality of Nawazuddin Siddiqui matches up with the role of Shakuni.

Entire Cast of Mahabharata Characters

Even the title is created in the last slide as Mahabharat: The Mother of All Wars. The entire reimaged cast is Shah Rukh Khan as Krishna, Dulquer Salmaan as Arjun, and Chiyaan Vikram as Karnan. Further, it includes Alia Bhatt as Draupadi, Hrithik Roshan as Duryodhana, Nawazuddin Siddique as Shakuni, Kamal Hasan as Bhishma, Suriya as Yudhisthira, Big B as Dronacharya.

Thus, this was the entire cast of Bollywood Actors to be into Mahabharata if ever done. AI generation has come a long way forward. What do you think of this reimagination of Bollywood Actors as Mahabharata Characters? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. 

Brain-Computer Interfaces: AI Turns Brain Signals into Audible Speech Voice!

By
Kushal Raut
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0

Brain-Computer Interfaces

Radbounds University and UMC Utrecht researchers achieved a remarkable milestone in the field of Brain-Computer Interfaces. It uses brain implants and AI to decode the brain signals to translate them into audible speech. The accuracy rate is also found to be ranging from 92% to 100%. 

This sounds very remarkable because this might hold the potential to give paralyzed individuals a way to speak and get their voice back in other forms. A study published in the Journal of Neural Engineering also made a huge leap in BCI technology. 

Views & opinions from others

brown brain decor in selective-focus photography

Berezutskaya put forth his words, “Ultimately, we hope to make this technology available to patients in a locked-in state, who are paralyzed and unable to communicate. These people lose the ability to move their muscles, and thus to speak. By developing a brain-computer interface, we can analyze brain activity and give them a voice again.”

One of the things to note is, that this research is based on a relatively small dataset. Even with that, the model uncovered the intricate connection between brain activity and speech. Imagine the same, when it is fed an optimum dataset, the reconstructed speech might even resemble the tone of voice and manner of speaking as well. One can read the entire research here.

Limitations 

Currently, there are limitations to be addressed such as volume. It focuses on predicting words individually and not sentences. It is less complex than predicting entire sentences as a whole. For sentences, more extensive experience, advanced brain implants, datasets, and refinements are needed. 

The road ahead is long for sure, but further continued research might take it in the right direction. Thus, this research marks an amazing milestone in developing BCI’s ability to restore speech and voice for individuals who are no longer capable. 

With more robust research and technologies, there might soon be a day when it can do sentences than just words. It will not just revolutionize the speech but carry forward into other wide applications as well. 

Best Bollywood Songs to jam out during Janmashtami! 

By
Kushal Raut
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0

Go Go Govinda! Bollywood Songs to play during Janmashtami

The clay pots filled with curd, and butter are ready as Janmashtami is just around the corner. Soon people would be hung up at the top where the people climb on each other to create human pyramids with the aim of breaking the pot. 

The intention behind celebrating Janmashtami i.e. Birthday of Lord Krishna is also to make and recreate his childhood notoriety. It is said that, Dahi Handi as we call it today, Lord Krishna as a child would do the same with his friends in order to steal butter from their neighbourhoods.

Janmashtami needs a perfect playlist as people celebrate it with joy. It is celebrated all around with great devotion and reverence. Lord Krishna is an eternal symbol of righteousness, love, and divinity. We must seek to know his teachings about Dharma, Karma, and Bhakti. It is believed that on Janmashtami,  Lord Vishnu reincarnated in the avatar of Lord Krishna. Below are some of the best song playlists for the Janmashtami and Dahi Handi celebrations:


  1. Go Go Govinda 

This is an evergreen song where Sonakshi Sinha and Prabhudeva shake a leg together. The song is packed with energy. The upbeats set up the whole vibe and mood for the Janmashtami celebration. This song was also starred in the movie OMG: Oh my God! 


  1. Mach Gaya Shor

Mach Gaya Shor is one of the oldest iconic songs one can ask for during the Janmashtami celebration. Since then, it has become one of the most popular songs to be played during Dahi Handi. It features the Big B of Bollywood aka. Amitabh Bachchan. If you are a Dahi Handi fan, you’ll never get enough of this song while it fills up your mood and body with tremendous energy.


  1. Radha Kaisa Na Jale

Janmashtami celebration is incomplete without including this song. Composed by A.R. Rahman, this song has no bounds. It magnificently captures the relationship bond between Lord Krishna and Radha. It was originally sung by the iconic singers Udit Narayan and Asha Bhosale.

Entire Song playlist for Janmashtami 

Other notable mentions of songs and playlists include Woh Kisna Hai by Sukhwinder Singh, Chaandi ki Daal, Govinda Aala Re Aala, Bada Natkhat Hai, and many more. Here are the links to the complete playlist from us. Playlist 1, Playlist 2 for Janmashtami.

Rapid Sea Level Rise Threatens Coastal Habitats, Study Warns

By
Kushal Raut
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0

The rapid sea level rise experienced during the end of the last Ice Age may recur as the global temperatures continue to rise according to researchers. Scientists from over a dozen institutions put forth this scary scenario in a study that was published in a journal.

Journal Study

In this journal study, the scientists examined sediments that were from ancient shorelines that date back over 10,000 years. These provided information about ancient shorelines that these coastal habitats have adapted to the melting of ice sheets which are based in the North Hemisphere. It is indeed based on the quality and type of sediments found in these sediments. The scientists also gained valuable insights about the future of coastal ecosystems. This was done by drawing parallels between past events and current information available to them.

Professor Bob Kopp put forth that carbon emissions are directly responsible for the global rise of sea levels. “Every ton of carbon dioxide human-kind emits turns up the global thermostat. All of which in turn increases the pace of global sea level rise”. A number of tidal marsh ecosystems are at significant risk because of the impact of sea level rise. All of which is in turn driven high by global warming. It also includes mangrove forests, and coral reefs as well.

According to the findings from the journal, there is a severe need to establish thresholds. These thresholds are mostly specific to about 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial level. One must note that these levels are meant to be central to the Paris Agreement. Climate change has harmful effects that can be mitigated by reducing carbon emissions. Also, they can be reduced by limiting global warming as per the limits decided.

As per the research, most tidal marshes may withstand sea level rise under 1.5 degrees Celsius. Though, under 2 degrees Celsius of warming, around 2/3rds of them are at risk as they are not keeping up with the rising waters.

Neil Saintilan, a professor at Macquarie University in Australia, already put forth the critical role of mangroves and tidal marshes in the ecosystem. They act as buffers against ocean impacts. It also leads to erosion prevention and biodiversity conservation. It was even warned that under the worst-case scenarios, these habitats which are already vulnerable, may shrink or vanish. Eventually, in the worst case, it echoes all the way back to past geological events.

In light of these, climate mitigation efforts are needed to ensure the preservation of these coastal ecosystems from getting worse and the communities that rely on them for their daily lives.

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