T3 India

Software

Indian Fitbit Sense users will be able to use the Fitbit ECG app, tentatively from November

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Earlier this week, Fitbit announced that their ECG app that helps to assess heart rhythm for atrial fibrillation (AFib) has received clearance from the FDA and CE for use in the United States and the European region respectively. This means that Fitbit Sense users in countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Poland, Belgium, Portugal, Romania, Ireland, Italy, Spain, France and Hong Kong will be able to use the Fitbit ECG app.

Interestingly, India is also on the list, which means if you buy the Rs. 34,999 Fitbit device, you will be able to measure the electrical activity of the heart, read the heart rhythm quickly for atrial fibrillation (AFib). Fitbit expects it to work by November, coinciding with the launch of the device.

Fitbit Sense is Fitbit’s most advanced smartwatch yet that comes with the world’s first electrodermal activity (EDA) sensor that helps to track and manage stress and an on-wrist skin temperature sensor.

Bobble AI introduces a Marathi keyboard with their dedicated ‘Animated Bigmojis’

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Recognising the challenges faced by many across India, who converse primarily in their local languages, Bobble AI have announced the launch of a keyboard designed specifically for those who speak Marathi – making it easier to communicate and send messages during the extremely popular festival of Ganesh Chaturthi.

Dedicated to the 70-million-plus Marathi speaking community in India, the Marathi keyboard is also integrated with dedicated ‘Animated Bigmojis’, which enables users to send magnified emojis from the emoji panel by pressing on the emoji longer. Bobble AI also is the first to introduce this feature into keyboards and for the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi which starts in 2 days, they have also featured special emojis of Ganapati Bappa/Lord Ganesh.

When it comes to functionality, Bobble’s Marathi keyboard is one of the newest Marathi input tools out there for phones running on Android. Users are able to text in Marathi, either by typing in Marathi or through the keyboard’s impressive English to Marathi translator. More so, Bobble’s Marathi keyboard also has the unique capability of autocorrecting, which understands the user’s intent.

Bobble AI have also mentioned that, ‘there is automated word prediction on local phrases like tumcha svāgat aso, tu kasā āhes, su-prabhāt pūnhā bhetū,lavakar barē vhā! Abhinandana, among many others’.

To make life easier, Bobble’s Marathi keyboard has an incredible speech recognition software that can recognise the authentic Marathi accent and convert it into well-versed text messages, thus, allowing users the luxury of not typing at all.

The users can create their personalised cartoon avatar through the ‘Cartoon Head and with merely a selfie can access to 1000’s of stickers and GIFs.

“Bobble AI empowers millions of Indians to communicate in 100+ languages and expressive content. The company is actively creating more stickers, gifs, and memes for regional consumption, as a result, the adoption of regional languages has been taking place in every millisecond. The Marathi keyboard is introduced because there was a need for such medium, after all, there is nothing more authentic and persuasive than what one friend says to another”, says Ankit Prasad, Founder and CEO, Bobble AI.

Bobble AI’s Marathi keyboard is available for Android users and can be downloaded through this link.

For more information, please visit the Marathi keyboard’s dedicated web page or this page.

ViewSonic’s myViewBoard Classroom adapts to the ‘New Normal’ in the pandemic-hit education sector

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Amidst the pandemic and even in a post-pandemic world, different industries and sectors are now forcibly adapting to the ‘new normal’ and everything associated with it. People have adapted to virtual calls and meetings for work-related activities and it is no different in the education sector. With that in mind, ViewSonic have launched ‘myViewBoard Classroom’ that enables teachers and students adapt to the extraordinary circumstances as the idea of reopening schools still seems to be a few months away.

The myViewBoard Classroom is designed by prioritising the teacher as it comes with a complete digital whiteboard canvas enabling them to share it with the students. Teachers also get to control when students can speak, make comments and ask questions. There are engagement options for students as well, with a ‘Hand Raise’ push-to-talk feature and a student’s access to remote writing tools.

Through ViewSonic’s multi-functional tool, it’s also possible for the students and teachers to have independent breakout group discussions via virtual grouping. Each group can be assigned its own canvas to work on. The product video of the myViewBoard Classroom also shows how this is possible but it’s safe to assume that several students won’t receive the product, due to a plethora of reasons, and it’d mainly be in the hands of the teachers. Teachers can also access only a single location which has all the lesson content and the Google Classroom.

In a country like India, where high-speed internet is a privilege, it is very difficult for many students to access online lectures and this problem has also been prominent in the news nowadays. myViewBoard Classroom, however, has a ‘low-bandwidth’ feature too, which can potentially help students who don’t have high-speed internet connections at home. But it still remains to be seen on how effective this feature really is.

“We at ViewSonic decided to develop a hybrid teaching tool that provides teachers and students a virtual space to keep going during the pandemic and offers teachers the capabilities to continue teaching and inspiring their students to learn regardless of their location and the current situation. The education sector is one of the worst-hit sectors in this pandemic, and to ensure it doesn’t affect the education system, the best and only option is virtual/online learning,” said Mr. Eric Wei, Senior Sales Director Asia Pacific.

ViewSonic also mentioned that, “In a show of support for schools during the initial outbreak, ViewSonic provides myViewBoard free-of-cost to schools, colleges, and universities as of March 2020. After receiving positive feedback from schools and educators, ViewSonic decided to make myViewBoard Entity for education complimentary to all education institutions permanently”.

For more information of myViewBoard Classroom, please visit this page.

Byju’s launches Early Learn App for kids aged 4 and 5

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Byju’s has introduced an interactive learning app and a fun way of concept building for children aged 4 and 5 entering the formal education system. And to be fair, this was a timely update for kids in India. With no idea when schools would open up, parents can spend some time helping their kids learn during the lockdown.

The Early Learn app strives to work on the concept-building outlook of learning and helps teach Math and English to kids through interactive videos, sing-along rhymes, simple worksheets, and fun stories featuring Disney’s classic and modern characters from Mickey and Friends, Frozen, Cars, Jungle Book, and more.

The program has some important and helpful features like – an adaptive, personalised engine and a learning map that ‘depicts the most important information a child should learn next’, a computer-vision framework that allows offline and online interactions through ‘digital worksheets’. It also has a ‘parental reporting system’ that allows parents to track their child’s progress.

Vinay MR, Chief Content Officer, Byju’s said,“Our programs aimed at children in LKG and UKG are designed to give a strong head-start to the way children start their learning journey in India. Byju’s pedagogy, engaging videos and content expertise combined with Disney’s world-class storytelling are aimed at fueling curiosity and the love for learning in children from their formative years. We strongly believe that concept building from a young age plays a crucial role in the way a child approaches learning in the future.

The Byju’s Early Learn app is available on the Google Play Store for Android devices and is available on the App Store for Apple’s iOS devices.

Apple will virtually host its Worldwide Developers Conference from June 22, 2020

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This is the 31st year of Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) and this year, even with restrictions due to the pandemic, Apple estimates that this will be their biggest conference yet, virtually bringing together approximately 23 million developers across the globe. The WWDC20 will begin in June 22, 2020, and it’s going to be hosted for a week on the Apple Developer Website and in the Apple Developer app – and it’s free of cost for all developers.

Developers around the globe and at Apple indulge in creating breakthroughs by conjuring apps in the iOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS and the iPadOS. Apple have also announced a ‘Swift Student Challenge” which is a fantastic platform for student developers to flaunt their skills and talent in coding by creating their own Swift playground – which is an app on the iPad and Mac that has interactive and fun tutorials on the Swift programming language.

“We can’t wait to see this next generation of innovative thinkers turn their ideas into a reality through the Swift Student Challenge”, says Craig Federighi, Apple’s Senior VP of Software Engineering.

Student developers who wish to participate can do so by submitting their entries to the Swift Student Challenge until 11:59 p.m. PDT on May 17, 2020. Participants are expected to ‘’create an interactive scene in a Swift playground that can be experienced within three minutes’’. For more information on this challenge, check this link. 

As the large community of developers around the globe will have an unprecedented access to the future of the five Apple platforms, they will also be able to learn from Apple engineers.

“We can’t wait to meet online in June with the global developer community and share with them all of the new tools we’ve been working on to help them create even more incredible apps and services. We look forward to sharing more details about WWDC20 with everyone as we get closer to this exciting event”, says Phil Schiller, Apple’s Senior VP of Worldwide Marketing.

We hope developers and students from India make the most of the free-to-attend virtual WWDC20 as things may seem uncertain at this point of time and lockdowns are constantly extended. More information on the WWDC20 like the speakers, lab schedules and more will be shared in June on the Apple Developer App and the Apple Developer Website.