|In: Finance|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Term insurance plans are gaining immense popularity among young working individuals because of the flexibility in choosing the insurance term and the low premium costs. Apart from the usual insurance coverage, these insurance policies also grant a death benefit to the family members in case of the untimely death of the policyholder.

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However, the term insurance benefits are not limited to these features only. Some insurance providers also offer a ‘critical illness rider’ along with their term insurance plans.

What is a Critical Illness Rider?

A critical illness rider is an added benefit to your term insurance policy for coverage against a number of critical illnesses. Life is unpredictable, and you may never know when you have to face any urgent medical need. The instances of critical diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disorders, stroke, etc. have increased in the general populace. The medical expenses incurred for treating these diseases are also skyrocketing. For example, Herceptin, a drug for treating breast cancer may cost anywhere between Rs. 75,000 to 1 lakh for a single vial.

Thus, paying for the treatment of such critical disease could dig a significant hole in the pocket, especially if you are the sole breadwinner of the family. As if this isn’t reason enough to buy a critical illness rider with your term plan, below listed are 5 more reasons why you should purchase a critical illness rider now!

Five reasons to buy Critical Illness Rider with your Term Insurance Plan

No change in premium amount

Since the rider is included in your term insurance plan, you do not have to pay a separate premium for the extra medical coverage. Also, the premium does not change in the entire policy term. This means that even if you are diagnosed with a critical disease, there would be no increase or decrease in the premium amount. In fact, some insurance providers offer the facility to waiver off future premiums upon any critical illness diagnosis.

Coverage Against Major Diseases

A competent term insurance policy offers provisions to cover all major disease under its critical illness rider plan. This increases your safety net against most of the major diseases. Besides, under this rider, the insurance provider promises to give a lump sum amount upon the diagnosis of any of the critical illness mentioned in the plan. This upfront amount can even be used by the policyholder to pay his/her daily expenses.

Improved Chances of Survival

In the absence of a critical illness cover, you might get burdened with high medical expenses. Taking such medical cover ensures that individuals do not lose their life because of the unavailability of money to fund the high treatment costs. A critical illness rider, thus, makes sure that you get the medical coverage at the right time, increasing your chances of survival.

Tax Benefits

The premium paid towards a term policy with a critical illness rider is eligible for tax exemptions under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. Not only that, but the benefits received from these insurance covers are also exempted from tax deductions under Section 10 [10D]

Protection Against Disability

Some serious disease conditions might lead to temporary or permanent disability. Any form of disability might hamper a person’s ability to continue with his job, thus threatening his/her monthly source of income. Some critical illness rider offers inclusions to provide financial aid in case of any physical disability to the policyholder.

Conclusion

With our busy day to day life, we often ignore the sign of any dis-ease or distress. Often, this leads to a late diagnosis for a critical illness, by which time, controlling the spread of the disease often becomes next to impossible. Hence, it is always wise to start planning ahead for your future for such unforeseen circumstances.

Buying an added critical illness cover is essential for individuals who have crossed 40 years of age, have a familial history of critical diseases, or are the sole earners in their family. A little planning at the earlier stage could go a long way in saving financial as well as psychological trouble for you and your loved ones.

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Bengaluru-based IamHere, the AI-based hyperlocal social network wins the prestigious Elevate award for 2019. Elevate is a first-of-its-kind programme for start-ups conducted by the Government of Karnataka and selected start-ups get support from the Govt in the form of grants, mentorship and pilot opportunities for Govt projects.

Talking at the event, Gaurav Gupta, Principal Secretary, Department of IT, BT, S&T, Govt of Karnataka said

Over the last few years, the State of Karnataka has emerged as the Start-up Capital of India. As part of the programme, we not only provide funding support, but also provide mentorship, idea validation, and market access.

IamHere is a hyperlocal social network to discover and connect with hobbyists, professionals, causes and events in your neighborhood. With over 50K users in Bengaluru, the IamHere app has helped people form cricket teams, lounges find guitarists and singers, art lovers connect with artists, small businesses hire sales executives, NGOs get volunteers; people have even formed start-ups through the app.

Talking about the award, Naren Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO of IamHere said

While we are helping nearby hobbyists connect with each other, the real social impact comes when we are able to touch the lives of people at the bottom of the pyramid. In our efforts to build a brokerless, borderless neighborhood marketplace, we have started aggregating farmers, artists and other professionals on to our platform. We are committed to creating social impact through technology and the Elevate award takes us one step closer to realizing this larger dream.

If the IT revolution in the 1990s made India the IT Capital, the Startup revolution in the current decade is certainly putting India on to the global entrepreneurship map. Startups like IamHere are not only innovating for the local market through technology but are also having tangible social impact. It is not a far cry from proclaiming that the next Google or Facebook is going to come out of the Indian startup ecosystem!

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Microsoft SMS Organizer will now make travelling by train more convenient. SMS Organizer app can be used to track the live status of an Indian Railways train anytime, anywhere even with intermittent connectivity.

Features on SMS Organizer that will make train journey more convenient

Smart reminders

SMS Organizer automatically picks up details of your travel like your train number, date of travel, point of boarding and destination, PNR number, reservation status, and seat details to create a reminder action card that can be easily accessed from the reminders tab.

Track PNR status

SMS Organizer reminds you to check your status starting two days before the date of journey and provides a single click option to check the status.

Track train status even when you are offline

Access live status of the train to know latest arrival/departure timings.

Book food in advance 

SMS Organizer automatically picks up all the food options at stations on your journey route and shows them in an easy to choose interface.

On-coach services

With SMS Organizer, you can raise complaints like coach cleaning, malfunctioning AC, absence of linen, lack of water, toilet cleaning and more at the click of a button.

To find out complete details on these new features, visit Microsoft News Center.

Apart from organizing your train journey, SMS Organizer can also organize the SMS inbox of your Android smartphone to surface offers; create a passbook of all your bank accounts and mobile wallets; remind you of upcoming bookings like restaurant reservations, movies, flight or bus tickets, doctor appointments, bill payments, and much more.

|In: Finance|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Ready-to-move-in homes have remained the preferred choice for several homebuyers. With new launches picking up pace, Mumbai has seen demand for new homes. Be it resident individuals or NRIs, there is a slow but steady demand for purchasing a home. With a set of upcoming real estate properties shining on the Mumbai skyline, these may be the hottest projects for home-buyers like you.

We take a look at 5 projects that are RERA approved and help you narrow down your search for the ideal home. If you are looking to take a home loan for your house, you would want to know more about hot properties in the areas you prefer. Read on to know more.

  1. Lodha Amara

Situated on the Kolshet Road, Mumbai Thane area, the Lodha Amara offers 1,2,3,4,5 BHK Apartments at about Rs 8490 / Sq.Ft. onwards. The homes in this project cost anywhere between Rs 53 lakh to Rs 2.9 crore. Phase 1 is ready, while others are undergoing construction. The  Lodha Amara project comes with Next Gen homes with advanced automation facility, 30 acres of open spaces and a world-class sports arena, among others. With easy eligibility for home loan, now getting one today is an absolute breeze.

  1. Wadhwa Wise City

Located in the Panvel, Navi Mumbai Navi area, this project offers 1 and 2 BHK, and 1 RK [studio] apartments at a price of Rs 8205 / Sq.Ft. onwards. The newly launched residential project is witnessing ongoing construction for 8 phases. The minimum price of the homes here starts at Rs 24 lakh. One can expect possession by May 2025. Designed by a team of urban designers and architects, the Wadhwa Wise City project promises to be a harmonious balance of green and grey.

  1. Dosti West County

Launched by the Dosti Group Builders, Dosti West County is located in the Balkum, Mumbai Thane area. It offers a choice of 1,2,3 BHK Apartment with prices of Rs 13000 / Sq.Ft. onwards. This pegs the price of a home under construction anywhere between Rs 63 lakh to Rs 1.9 crore. Three phases are ongoing. One can expect possession by June 2021. The Dosti West County project is spread over 14 acres, has 19 towers with homes across 33 storeys. NBFCs like Tata Capital offers home loans for up to a maximum of Rs 5 crore, with a loan tenure of up to 30 years so that EMIs are manageable.

  1. Godrej Tranquil

This real estate property is located near the Kandivali (East), Mumbai Andheri-Dahisar area. Coming from the prestigious Godrej group, the project offers a chance to own a 1,2,3,4 BHK apartment. The price is Rs 20500 / Sq.Ft. onwards. The under-construction flats come between Rs 84 lakh to Rs 2.51 crore. Possession is expected by June 2022. The apartments at Godrej Tranquil are available in the size ranging from 400 sq ft to 715 sq ft. Key amenities offered include a clubhouse and 24X7 security system, as per project details. NBFCs like Tata Capital offer highest home loan eligibility guarantee will help you own a piece of mental peace in Mumbai. What’s more, you get a housing loan beginning 9.25% per annum.

  1. Runwal My City

This project is situated in the Dombivli (East), beyond Thane area. Spread across 156-acres, the Runwal My City property has central residential area flanked by commercial and retail spaces on two sides. Offering 1,2,3 BHK apartments at a price of Rs 8200 / Sq.Ft. onwards, there are 4 phases ongoing. The project is within 5 km from Dombivli, 3 km from Diva, and 2 km from Dativalis [on Panvel-Diva-Vasai corridor]. It is also 30 mins from the upcoming international airport. Use the home loans route, to live life on your own terms.

If you find these properties interesting, availing a smart and flexible home loan can make this dream possible for you.

|In: IOT|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Subex, a leading telecom solutions provider released the findings of its State of Internet of Things [IoT] Security Report for the second quarter [April-June 2019] of this calendar year. The report, based on threat intelligence data gathered from across 15 cities all over India, outlines key sectors being attacked, the methods of attack, malware, and variants deployed, key cities that are being attacked and studied by hackers, malware developers and hacktivist groups.

The report was released by Minister of State for Home, Krishna Reddy at a function in New Delhi.

Key findings of the report include

  • Mumbai, New Delhi, and Bengaluru are attracting the maximum number of cyber-attacks
  • Smart cities, financial services, and transportation sectors lead the sectoral rankings in terms of cyber-attacks
  • The number of cyber-attacks registered a 22 percent jump in the quarter
  • There has been a significant rise in reconnaissance attacks
  • A range of sophisticated malware is being deployed by hackers to target critical infrastructure projects
  • IoT projects are being targeted at the proof of concept stages itself and many malware samples isolated showed a tendency to persist and listen to the network traffic

The study identified over 2550 unique malware samples in the country which is the highest reported so far. Modular and military-grade malware is often used by specialist hackers and groups with budgets and access to research and development facilities or online shops that develop and sell such sophisticated malware. Increase in the number of attacks with a geopolitical motivation is also a trend the study has reported.

The high level of malware persistence reported is indicative of a larger trend. Hackers are becoming more patient and willing to wait to attack or steal data. Also, the newer malware variants being detected are stealthier and can evade detection for a longer duration of time than before the study found. Such malware operates by staying silent while keeping their footprint and signature below detection thresholds. They can also streamline their behavior to match network traffic and stay dormant until certain thresholds are breached.

P Vinod Kumar, CEO, Subex, said

By releasing these findings we intend to increase awareness and provide decisionmakers and other stakeholders sufficient data points to frame appropriate interventions. We hope this report will serve its purpose and help India secure its infrastructure and connected components. Today, our honeypot network is active in 62 cities around the globe.

The threat intelligence generated from these cities is crunched in our IoT lab in Bengaluru to generate actionable intelligence on the threat environment surrounding IoT deployments. The threat intelligence compiled points to a high level of hacker interest in projects in India and this is indeed a matter of concern.

|In: Entrepreneurship|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

9th August marks a special day in the co-working industry worldwide. Christened International Coworking Day it was an occasion to celebrate co-working, collaboration, creativity and community.  On this special occasion,  91springboard celebrated the essence of co-working through a unique campaign titled Happy Birthday Co-working. As a part of the celebrations, people were invited to experience the marvels of a community driven co-working space at 91springboard hubs across Gurgaon.

Anand Vemuri, CEO, 91springboard said

It is certainly exciting to see the growth and evolution of co-working in India. Although International Co-working Day has been celebrated across the world for the last 13 years, the celebrations by 91springboard, Gurugram brought the attention back to the birth of co-working and gave people an understanding of how and why it works. Our ‘Happy Birthday Co-working’ campaign was a creative expression that gave attendees an actual experience of co-working in all its glory.

The campaign began with an interesting event titled “Founders’ Catch Up” where founders & entrepreneurs of startups from across sectors came together for a curated networking session.  With around 30 co-founders attending the event, the focus was on moderated discussions where learnings were shared and attempted to provide effective solutions for common problems. Prominent moderators included Sambhav Mehrotra, Founder of Startup Movers, who solved for compliance issues for startups, Puneet Sharma, Founder of Krenovate Solutions, who focused on digital marketing as an effective tool, and Saumya Sharma, Founder, The Butterfly Effect, who talked about coping with the emotional pressures of being a Founder.

The second day began with yet another innovative event titled, ‘Life’s a pitch’ where 11 startups from various stages and across categories presented their idea in a three minute elevator pitch  to 15 investors. The startups that presented their pitches include Invacia Labs Private Limited – A Fintech blockchain startup, Aker Foods Agrotech Pvt. Ltd – a supply chain startup for hospitality brands, GoAyu – a legal tech brand, Perfume booth – an e-commerce platform for perfumes, Agrotech – a blockchain operator, Revolt – a service provided for EVs [charging, emergency assistance], Refer Hire, a peer to peer social hiring network, Zoo Fresh Food – an e-commerce platform for meats, Womaniya – website dedicated to women and Rhymly – a content and entertainment platform. More than 100 entrepreneurs attended this event

Speaking about the event, Anurag Kapoor, Investor, Greenhouse Ventures  said

Life’s a pitch is a great platform for startups as well as investors.  It reflects upon the fact that investing is not all about deal sourcing but it is also about understanding the technological revolutions happening at the ground level, the evolution of the startup ecosystem, scope of potential collaborations and much more.

Sanchita Bamnote, Investment team, Blume Ventures added

Life’s a pitch was a great event. I was excited to see startups presenting a three minute elevator pitch that was amazingly crunched, concise and to the point. Another thing that I was happy to see was the curation of startups  that ranged from Agritech, EV, future of work and not all of them were at the same stage. It was a great mix of seed, series A & B.

The last day saw the Big Birthday Bash roll out an experiential flea market with a great mix of freelancers, SMEs and Startups coming together to not only celebrate International co-working day but also do some serious networking.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

At the Huawei Developer Conference, Huawei launched HarmonyOS – a new micro-kernel-based, distributed operating system designed to deliver a cohesive user experience across all devices and scenarios.

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Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s Consumer Business Group, explained the company’s thoughts behind developing this new OS.

We’re entering a day and age where people expect a holistic intelligent experience across all devices and scenarios. To support this, we felt it was important to have an operating system with improved cross-platform capabilities. We needed an OS that supports all scenarios, that can be used across a broad range of devices and platforms, and that can meet consumer demand for low latency and strong security.

These were our goals with HarmonyOS. HarmonyOS is completely different from Android and iOS. It is a microkernel-based, distributed OS that delivers a smooth experience across all scenarios. It has trustworthy and secure architecture, and it supports seamless collaboration across devices. You can develop your apps once, then flexibly deploy them across a range of different devices.

Traditionally, new operating systems are released alongside new types of devices. As early as 10 years ago, Huawei envisioned a future where intelligence would seamlessly integrate with all aspects of our lives, and it began exploring how it might deliver this experience – one that would transcend the boundaries of physical space and span different hardware and platforms.

HarmonyOS is a lightweight, compact operating system with powerful functionality, and it will first be used for smart devices like smart watches, smart screens, in-vehicle systems, and smart speakers. Through this implementation Huawei aims to establish an integrated and shared ecosystem across devices, create a secure and reliable run-time environment, and deliver a holistic intelligent experience across every interaction with every device.

HarmonyOS – Four distinct technical features

An all-scenario, intelligent experience sets a high bar for connectivity, so HarmonyOS was designed with four distinct technical features to deliver on its promise to consumers.

Seamless – First-ever device OS with distributed architecture, delivering a seamless experience across devices

By adopting distributed architecture and distributed virtual bus technology, HarmonyOS offers a shared communications platform, distributed data management, distributed task scheduling, and virtual peripherals. With HarmonyOS, app developers won’t have to deal with the underlying technology for distributed apps, allowing them to focus on their own individual service logic. Developing distributed apps will be easier than ever before. Apps built on HarmonyOS can run on different devices while delivering a seamless, collaborative experience across all scenarios.

Smooth – Deterministic Latency Engine and high-performance IPC

HarmonyOS will address under-performance challenges with a Deterministic Latency Engine and high-performance Inter Process Communication [IPC]. The Deterministic Latency Engine sets task execution priorities and time limits for scheduling in advance. Resources will gravitate toward tasks with higher priorities, reducing the response latency of apps by 25.7%. The micro-kernel can make IPC performance up to five times more efficient than existing systems.

Secure – Microkernel architecture that reshapes security and trustworthiness from the ground up

HarmonyOS uses a brand-new micro-kernel design that features enhanced security and low latency. This micro-kernel was designed to simplify kernel functions, implement as many system services as possible in user mode outside the kernel, and add mutual security protection. The micro-kernel itself provides only the most basic services like thread scheduling and IPC.

Harmony OS’s micro-kernel design uses formal verification methods to reshape security and trustworthiness from the ground up in a Trusted Execution Environment [TEE]. Formal verification methods are an effective mathematical approach to validate system correctness from the source, while traditional verification methods, such as functional verification and attack simulation, are confined to limited scenarios. Formal methods, by contrast, can use data models to verify all software running paths.

HarmonyOS is the first OS to use formal verification in device TEE, significantly improving security. In addition, because the HarmonyOS micro-kernel has much less code [roughly one-thousandth the amount of the Linux kernel], the probability of attack is greatly reduced.

Unified – Multi-device IDE allows apps to be developed once and deployed across multiple devices

Powered by a multi-device IDE, multi-language unified compilation, and a distributed architecture kit, HarmonyOS can automatically adapt to different screen layout controls and interactions, and support both drag-and-drop control and preview-oriented visual programming. This allows developers to more efficiently build apps that run on multiple devices. With a multi-device IDE, developers can code their apps once and deploy them across multiple devices, creating a tightly integrated ecosystem across all user devices.

The HUAWEI ARK Compiler is the first static compiler that can perform on par with Android’s virtual machine, enabling developers to compile a broad range of advanced languages into machine code in a single, unified environment. By supporting unified compilation in multiple languages, the HUAWEI ARK Compiler will help developers greatly improve their productivity.

Developer plan and ecosystem development

Huawei also announced the evolution roadmap for HarmonyOS and its kernel. HarmonyOS 1.0 will be first adopted in its smart screen products, which are due to launch later this year. Over the next three years, HarmonyOS will be optimized and gradually adopted across a broader range of smart devices, including wearables, HUAWEI Vision, and head units for your car.

The success of HarmonyOS will depend on a dynamic ecosystem of apps and developers. To encourage broader adoption, Huawei will release HarmonyOS as an open-source platform, worldwide. Huawei will also establish an open-source foundation and an open-source community to support more in-depth collaboration with developers.

China is home to a strong app ecosystem and a massive user base. Moving forward, Huawei will lay the foundations for HarmonyOS in the Chinese market, and then expand it further to the global ecosystem. With a focus on providing new and unique value, Huawei will open up and share its core capabilities in areas like connectivity, cameras, and AI. It will work closely with ecosystem partners to deliver apps and services that provide consumers with the best possible experience and bring new life to the industry.

HarmonyOS will bring incredible new benefits to consumers, equipment vendors, and developers. For consumers, it will bring a cohesive and powerful intelligent experience across all aspects of their lives. For equipment vendors, it will help them gain a first-mover advantage in the age of holistic intelligent experience, where 5G, AI, and IoT will see explosive growth. At the same time, HarmonyOS will enable developers to win over more users with less investment, and rapidly innovate services across all scenarios.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Email is the most commonly used tool for communication and collaboration at work. Consequently, most inboxes are noisy and way too crowded. Almost 50% of the employees surveyed said they spend at least an hour a day checking emails, including 16.2% employees that spend more than 4 hours on their inboxes, according to a new research conducted by Hiver, a SaaS based email collaboration tool that improves visibility and information exchange across organizations using shared inboxes.

This survey exhibits a worrying number of employees exercising emails and how a colossal amount of time is spent by them on checking emails. More than 61% working professionals between the age of 25-32 choose to open their emails every time a new email notification appears, whereas 33% of the employees tend to check their emails every few hours.

Hiver conducted a survey in order to gauge how effectively employees working across different organizations consume emails. Among those surveyed, about 80% are working in startups and 20% are working in corporates. The survey was conducted among 450 respondents in India.

Interestingly, while 60% of the employees surveyed agree with the need to clean their inbox time and again, almost 40% of the employees don’t wish to clean their inboxes at all. Employees choose different techniques and procedures to clear their mailboxes. 32% of employees used email based filters, and about 37% employees wish to move the important events to the calendar. About 35% convert tasks into a to-do list, making it possible for the employees to use their mailbox effectively.

The report also indicates that 76% of respondents say that they read more than 40% of the mails they receive and 55% of the respondents act on every email as soon as it comes in. Given that almost a third [32.4%] of the respondents receive more than 50 emails a day, ample time is spent by them on only checking their emails.

To add to that, half of the respondents say that the maximum number of emails received are from their own organization, either from the members of their own team or others working within the organization. This raises the question –  is internal email communication cluttering up employee inboxes? And how is this affecting employee productivity? This finding is particularly interesting, given that employees can often feel quite productive just by having cleaned out their email inbox, despite perhaps not creating any value for the organisation.

Niraj Ranjan Rout, Founder of Hiver, said

Professionals across organizations rely heavily on email for communication and exchange of information. Our survey highlights how email impacts work-life for many, and while it can be a tremendously useful tool, it can also deter productivity. Our inboxes are packed with valuable information, and in order to organize our work better, we must manage, classify and prioritize emails in an efficient manner. If not, the email overload can tend to become a roadblock in reaching the desired results. It’s about how to work smarter, not just harder.

About Hiver

Hiver is a leading provider of email collaboration solution. Hiver transforms Gmail into a collaboration tool by enabling teams to easily manage shared email accounts, like support@. Co-founded by Niraj Ranjan and Nitesh Nandy, Hiver is based out of Bengaluru and San Jose. Hiver has over 1,400 customers across 30 countries, including Hubspot, Harvard University, Vacasa and Shutterstock.