I welcome to 2017 can tell us something's different. I'm not going to tell you what it is though. Why are you laughing? I don't know. I don't know why I'm laughing. I'm looking at shoes. I don't need more shoes. I definitely don't need more pairs of black boots and yet that's what I'm looking at. Do you like the black boots, do you? Well, if we can interrupt your shoes for a moment. OK. Would it be OK to do a show? I guess. Do I go with the loafers? Or do I go with the loafers? OK. True to our spirit. Because of the loafing. Loafing. We're not loafing. We're doing a show. We're doing a show. That's the opposite of loafing. All right. Here we go. Daily Tech News Show is powered by its audience to find out more. Head to DailyTechNewsShow.com slash support. This is the Daily Tech News for Monday, January 2nd, 2017. I'm Tom Merritt. You're Veronica Belmont. Hello. Happy 2017. Happy New Year, everybody. It is January 1st observed here in the United States. But not only is Veronica willing to do this show on a day off, but also play in hurt. Yeah, I hurt my tongue. It hurts to talk. Yeah, so if yesterday my tongue was all swelled up in my mouth because I bit it and now it's just. If you're listening and you say, there's something about Veronica's elocution. There you go. That's what it is. That's it. Well, thank you, Veronica, for joining us. We've got a few things to talk about. It's not a huge news day. And we're going to preview what's going on at CES because the Consumer Electronics Show starts this week. So first of all, MS Power User says its sources say Microsoft will finalize the feature set for Windows 10 Creator's Update this month for release in April, not March. That's what their sources say. Now here are some more top stories. Google and Fiat Chrysler announce they will show a Chrysler 300 sedan. It's CES using the Android operating system on board. This is the Android OS 7.0, sporting all the Android apps with some specific car functions built on top of it. Fiat Chrysler calls it UConnect. So this is different than Android Auto. Android Auto works on your phone and then powers the screen. This is your car running Android. Google hopes more automakers will use Android 7 to create customized systems for cars. How is the safety? How is the security? Enquiring minds want to know. We'd all like to know. Yeah, and I'm sure they'll go into that in the announcement at CES later this week. But it's the idea that you shouldn't have to have your phone powering things. You wouldn't rely on a connection. You can do so much more. And more people, third-party developers, can make apps that work, et cetera. And honestly, it might even benefit security-wise from being the entire operating system because you already want Android to be secure for your phones and tablets, et cetera. That's right. Sources tell Korea's Joong Ilbo newspaper that Samsung will announce the results of its investigation into the Note 7 fires later this month. Samsung said in October it was examining all aspects of the phone, meaning there may be more than just one cause. Enquiring minds also want to know this. Done, done, done. Yeah, so we are going to get an announcement, it sounds like, sometime this month from Samsung on this. And I don't know that it matters much in the big scheme of things what it is, but we all want to know. I don't think, you know, more of the hurt to Samsung is image than the definition of this. I don't think people are going to read this announcement and decide then what they think about Samsung that's kind of made up already. But I'm very curious because they thought they had found it. They thought it was the battery getting squeezed and then when they fixed it, it didn't work. So it makes sense that it would be multiple things, right? And of course they would want to know, going forward, so they don't make the same mistake again, especially if they had decided that, oh, it was the battery, okay, we can continue on with manufacturing future phones using different battery sources, but finding out that it might be something else may kind of exacerbate that situation. And towards the end of last month, there was a report that Samsung might be looking at a third battery manufacturer for phones. Right, we talked about that, yeah. Maybe there's something there too. Windows Central noticed a convertible 13-inch laptop called the XPS 13 appeared on the Dell website Sunday and then Monday, Dell announced the XPS 13. Has Kaby Lake, the latest generation, seventh generation Intel processors, you can get it in Core i5 or i7, Intel HD Graphics 615 for the integrated graphics, support for Windows Hello, which can do facial recognition login and a very narrow bezel. Also has an SD card slot, but otherwise two USB-C ports, they'll throw an adapter in the box for the old USB-A stuff that you might have. It's 0.54 inches thick at its thickest and the keys have a nice 1.3 millimeters of travel. Convertible XPS 13 starts at 1,000 bucks available later this week, January 5th. Do you think this was an accidental early announcement that they were saving it for CES and someone just published it to the website live too early? Yes, I actually do. Because this happened to Qualcomm as well. We'll talk about that in a little bit, but around the holidays, a lot of times communication, things slip through the gaps and I think somebody published early because they wanted to get out of the office, maybe? I don't know. No, they must have been a miscommunication or must have been just an accident, but yeah, this definitely has all the bells and all the indicators that it might have been an early mistake. But it's a nice looking convertible if you're looking for a laptop that converts into a tablet. This is very nice. I like the travel on the keys. And to those people who pick on Apple for all their USB-C ports, that is kind of the wave of the future. Maybe they are too early, maybe they're not, but we are going to be seeing USB-C on more and more devices this year and that's gonna help everybody because we'll start seeing more USB-C accessories. I'm trying not to be too bitter. Like I really do eventually, we'll need another upgrade to a laptop and I'm turning further and further away from Apple these days. It's just the problem is there's so much software that I rely on that's Mac only at this point. It's gonna be tough. A new law went into effect Sunday in France establishing a worker's right to disconnect. Companies with more than 50 employees must establish hours when staff should not send or answer email. The measure was part of a larger controversial package of labor law changes. I remember this and I remember this being like, oh, I feel like we talked about this actually. Yeah, we did. And the idea of what is the downside, right? Okay, so are we talking about it when it was proposed and whether it should go into effect? Well, now it is in effect. What if you need to get a hold of someone after hours? Now you have to have a very specific policy about how to do that so you don't run afoul of this law. Word, I wonder where Slack and other kinds of communication platforms kind of tie into this too or do they fall under email or are they a different thing altogether? Yeah, and they speak specifically about email but you could make an argument in court. I'm sure that what it means is electronic communication and Slack is electronic communication. It's also a lot about the expectation of answering. So it seems like if you're a worker, you could go into Slack and make a comment but if you're a boss, you wouldn't be able to ask someone to do something after hours. Right, I think there's gonna be some conversations about what qualifies and what's okay and what's not and what fits in under this law as time goes on. Well, and also I thought about not being allowed to send in certain hours would prevent me from, I would have to send it later, like I'm gonna have to have a delay on so I don't forget because sometimes I'm like, I just wanna get this down right now. That's normal. I think that's actually kind of reasonable to start integrating those types of products into it. A lot of email clients have that built in these days. I know mine does. Yeah. GSM Marina spotted a post on Qualcomm Snapdragon blog today on Monday with details on the ASUS Zenfone AR. The second phone to come with Google's Project Tango depth sensing technology. The first was the Lenovo Fab 2 Pro. The Zenfone AR has a Snapdragon 821 processor and will be Google Daydream VR ready. Qualcomm's post was dated for Wednesday and the post has since been removed. And coincidentally, ASUS has a CES press announcement on Wednesday. Well, that happens. Yes, we've seen. So once again, something got published this time, it definitely even had the date of like. That's a nice looking phone. Yeah, it is a nice looking phone. It's got the same processor that the Pixel has in it. So it's got good specs. And I'm still waiting to see, I think we're all waiting to see what cool things Tango can do besides the demo stuff, right? Besides the ability to like map a room and stuff like that. That's very interesting. But what unexpected practical benefits can it bring? And the more phones we get out there using it, the better. Yeah, I'm having a bit of a dog fart situation over here. I'm good. It's fine. If you seem really. I'm really sorry to hear that. Hands around frantically. That's why. Okay. Moving on. Audio people would, you would have never known and be grateful that we only have audio and video versions. And that smells efficient for us. Get all the tech headlines each day in less than 10 minutes. Subscribe to dailytechheadlines.com. All right.  People already starting to show up. If you're part of the major news organizations, part of the trade show exhibitors, they're in there getting everything set up right now. And all of the previews are out. So triangulating from BBC and Gadget, CNET, et cetera, you could sort of get a sense of what it is we expect to see at CES. Looking over all this stuff, Veronica, what is it that most interests you out of the various categories of things we'll see? I'm still most interested in home stuff, maybe because I'm a recent homeowner.  But yeah, I think the smart things, devices, things working with HomeKit, for example, anything having to do with Google Home or Amazon Echo. I didn't say it, guys. I didn't say it. I didn't say the thing. Amazon Voice Services. That's our New Year's resolution. Anything having to do with those types of devices, I think integrating them into speakers, into lamps, into all the other stuff that we see that sometimes seems a little silly, but I think it's going to become more and more commonplace as time goes on. Yeah, it does seem like what we're going to see is device makers picking a platform, finally. Rather than having the platform wars, they're either gonna be on Brillo, HomeKit, maybe Samsung's smart things, and that's it. And maybe they'll be on multiples of these things. And then the other, like you say, is the voice assistants, the Amazon Voice Services. And she's not joking about the lamp, folks. GE is gonna announce a table lamp with Amazon Voice Service built in. Harmon Kardon is expected to come out with a speaker that has Cortana, which would then be a sort of de facto Microsoft competitor with Google Home and Amazon Echo. There's possibly a toaster coming from Cortana. So we're gonna see a lot of crazy stuff like that. It didn't seem like anybody I read was expecting anything amazing. They're like, it's still that sort of point where people are just sticking connectivity and now voice assistants into things and hoping that people will decide they want it. We're just at kind of a point now, and I've been saying this for a few years at CES and I don't have to go this year, which feels wonderful, I might add. But it's been kind of a period like five years or so when there haven't been a ton of huge technology shifts. I feel like the internet of things is probably the biggest one that's become consumer. Ready? You know me at 4K TV, sure. OLED screens potentially. But the big news items have all been around kind of, in my opinion, around connected home type stuff. Yeah, and we're gonna see a lot of people talking about AI and machine learning, which is part and parcel with those voice assistants that we're talking about. So expect some outlandish claims about that, maybe some computer vision stuff. It'll be interesting to see. I saw this one thing from Bixie that struck me as at least a little different. It was gesture control. So a little bit like leap motion, where they wanna build it into your phone so that you can do gesture controls on your phone without having to touch the touchscreen. Maybe that'll pan out, maybe it won't. I wanna know, I really wanna know the use case for that kind of stuff, though. Like I love all that, the idea of that, but I don't know how often I would use it. Like what do I need, and what do you actually need it for? You know, for accessibility reasons, kind of stuff is great. But for the average consumer, I'm not really sure why I would need that. You mentioned TVs, TV's always a big thing at CES. And essentially what we're expecting this year is a lot of OLED competitors to LG. LG will probably be making their panels, although BOE is apparently gonna be in the game trying to make panels for people. But you may see some OLEDs from Panasonic and Sony. They may have LG OLED panels in them, but they'll be their own models. The OLED prices is something to watch. See if these prices finally start to come down. You'll also see Samsung pushing its Quantum Dot technology, which they call QLED, because that's easy to pronounce. But Quantum Dot with brighter screens is probably gonna be the big competitor to OLED. You'll still see lots of LCD TVs. In fact, LG announced something called Nano Cell LCDs, which they claim will have more consistent and accurate colors. And I thought one of the interesting things I saw repeated in several places was that this year it'll be 4K. In fact, it'll be curious to see who's still putting out a 1080P only TV. Because at this point, 4K doesn't really add a lot to the price. And so you can just have your entire TV line be 4K. Yeah, it's frustrating too, because I mean, we've had the same TV for ages and ages, but I'm happy by the time that we do decide to upgrade that 4K will be pretty standard and maybe we'll even be on to the next thing. Yeah, HDR standards are getting more confusing instead of less confusing. HDR10 and Dolby Vision are the two HDR standards. If you're lucky, you're gonna buy a TV that supports both because most can. But now there's the new Hybrid Log Gamma, or HLG standard that needs to be supported as well. So we've got a little bit of a platform war there. And then of course, you may see some next-gen display tech, like what's next after OLED. I remember five or six years ago, OLED was the thing on the show floor that they're like, look at this amazing, low-power, high-color screen. And it was like 12 inches because they just couldn't make it cheap enough at the time. So we'll see some stuff like that. And we'll definitely see a lot of design stuff, curvy things, floating speakers from LG apparently, stuff like that. Well, what do you mean floating speakers? Floating, like it appears to float. Oh, okay. So wall-mounted? No, I don't. Like actually like floating in 3D space? I believe it's magic. Yeah, we'll have to find out, yeah. Cars obviously big at CES. And now more than ever, we're gonna get more car announcements, even though the Detroit Auto Show happens right away after CES, Ford, Nissan, Toyota, Fiat Chrysler, Hyundai, Honda, and BMW all making announcements. Faraday Future will be unveiling its first production vehicle. Not supposedly vaporware, but an actual production vehicle. And the big thing you're gonna see is electric cars competing to have the highest range claim. The Faraday Future story has gotten a lot more interesting recently. There was a big write-up about some of the issues they've had at the company and what their future looks like. But I am excited to see what the first production vehicle actually looks like. We'll see some autonomous car announcements from third parties like Delphi, NVIDIA, and Mobileye.  That's kinda cool. BMW has something called hollow active touch where you can use finger gestures to interact with projected graphics. Sounds very futuristic. I wonder how that fits into the new California law that your phone has to remain docked in an air vent dashboard kind of situation. You can't even be touching your phone at this point while you're driving. While you're driving. I know that it's a built-in system so it might not be impacted by that law. I don't know. Yeah, curious. We're gonna see some robots. Lots of robots. Modular robots like the Modi with function modules like motors and lights and infrared. The Unibot vacuum will have modules for a security camera or air purifier. So it could just roll around purifying your air. Emotech has something called Ollie which is a tabletop robot with a smart assistant. Kinda sounds like it's just the Amazon Echo but Moves. And then wearables. Android Wear 2.0 watches are expected to finally be announced. They were delayed. Remember there weren't any announced for the holidays and loads of health related wearables.  Whether doctors will play along with that or not. I don't know. But we're gonna see a lot of things like this. One that caught my eye was the active protective belt that inflates when it detects you're falling. So when you just like bounce on a big doughnut? It's like a personal airbag, yeah. So I have a question that maybe some of our listeners can answer. Is it about the vibrating genes? No. But it will be. What is, so now that marijuana is legal in a few different states, how will law enforcement agents know if someone is impaired? I think it's going to be new technology that comes out that's similar to a breathalyzer for alcohol that tests for your like, stoned limit. Yeah, I know we have some law enforcement folks in the audience who might know the answer. Like what are the different measures being taken to check safety and things like that? That is an interesting question. Like clearly, if you're super stoned, you're still gonna have trouble doing the same test. There's the old fashioned, say the alphabet backwards. Yeah. If you start giggling uncontrollably while the officer is talking to you, might be a problem. Yeah. Vibrating genes by the way are for directions. So they tie into your GPS and when you're getting navigation, this would be for walking. I never can tell when my Apple Watch is telling me that I have a text message. So if my whole outfit just vibrates at the same time, I feel like I would notice it a lot more. Yeah. Well, the right leg vibrates, then you turn right. Left leg vibrates, yeah. Mobile wise, we're gonna hear lots about 5G even though we're really not gonna get 5G service this year. There's gonna be a lot of people talking about 5G ready devices and services and what they'll be able to do once 5G finally rolls out. TCL is gonna be showing off some Blackberry phones. Remember TCL got the contract to make the Blackberry phones now. Xiaomi is expected to have their first global launch but otherwise it's gonna be AI and VR in the mobile space. Most of the big handsets await until Mobile World Congress to be announced but as we heard, Asus is gonna announce that Google Tango phone. We're expecting a 4K phone from Sony now that 4K is a little cheaper and the BleaTab tablet with a tactile Braille screen. Yeah, so it's a bigger version of what we've seen before where the bubbles can rise up and it can actually change dynamically to deliver Braille. That's super cool. What about gaming? You interested in gaming there, Veronica? You don't know. No, not waiting for the show to be over so you can go back to playing Civ right away. I am, that's gonna happen for sure. But I just, I love, I was looking at some of the announcements for upcoming VR stuff and the thing that always strikes me is how they tried to make VR headsets look like they're cool to wear in certain environments. So there was like one announcement which was like a good looking couple, like sitting at a nice table with like glasses of wine and grapes and cheese and stuff. And then the woman's just wearing a VR headset and it's so silly. It's like, no one's ever gonna do that. You're gonna spill the wine. This is what's gonna happen. Yeah, that's what's definitely gonna happen. Yeah, we're probably gonna see a bunch of VR and probably a lot of augmented reality stuff or really, yeah, augmented reality stuff. Intel's Project Alloy will probably be there. That's the one that lets you see your hands in real world objects in VR. HTC Vive has a similar capacity. Oxypital is expected to introduce their HoloLens-like mixed reality headset. There's gonna be a lot of 4K gaming announced now that Sony is out with theirs and Microsoft's coming with Project Scorpio this year. And we might see some Windows 10 VR headsets now that Microsoft is promoting Windows 10 for VR. The FOV, FOV-E crowdfunded headset with the eye tracking should be out as well. And then VR accessories. It's always about accessories at CES. So foot controllers, sensor shirts, all kinds of haptic devices so that you can feel things while you're in virtual reality. And I am excited about that. That's something I've wanted for a really long, that that's the one, that's the picture that Roger's showing right now. They look so happy. Oh, of the, yeah, go check out the show notes. Roger put that in the show notes for us of the lady having, well, she's not having wine, she's just got water actually, so it's much safer. That's true, that's true. I've definitely spilled water all over my desk because of VR in the past. Wine would make it a lot worse. We might get the new HTC Vive, a lot of rumors about that. Huawei is supposed to have their own VR thing. NVIDIA, RO-CAT, ASUS, Razer. Razer always comes up with cool stuff at CES. And then wrapping up, PC wise, this used to be the PC show for many years. We'll definitely see a lot of PCs with Kaby Lake, the new Intel processor in there, like the Dell XPS that we heard about earlier. A lot of stuff with NVIDIA GTX 1070 and 1080, some things with Intel's Optane 3D storage system. Possible Qualcomm systems, that's something to keep your eye out for now that Windows announced ARM support for Windows 10. And of course, Windows Hello being built into everything. And most of the people I read said, don't expect a lot of MacBook imitators as much this year as Surface Studio imitators. And finally, Miscellaneous. There's always the things that are meant to allow your local news to have something fun to show in its kicker segment based on CES. The wackiest and wildest stuff at CES 2017. Hoverboards were that, and apparently there are new hoverboards that don't explode, they'll be announced, yeah. There's apparently a rideable suitcase. I've seen that, it's hilarious. Yeah, lots of unmanned aerial vehicles, you call them drones, quadcopters, et cetera. Beauty tech, apparently, big trend there. 3D printing still around, so we may see some interesting things there, something to keep your eye out for. A device to record smells, great. Just what we were not watching.  If you so choose. And self-cleaning litter box as part of the robots. They've been around forever. The cat genie has been around for years. No, but this is the robot that comes and just scoops it for you. Oh. Yeah. Oh. Oh. I don't know, I don't know how that's gonna work. Anyway, this is just, this, all of this that we've been talking about is just the Surface, right? Every year that I've ever looked at CES, what you expect to be the big trends usually don't all hold up throughout the course of the week. So be sure to check in with us every day at Daily Tech News Show. We'll be keeping an eye on this. And that actually reminds me, we will have a little bit of an odd schedule for the live viewers. Tuesday, tomorrow, DTNS will be at 11 a.m. Pacific, 2 p.m. Eastern, so that I can get a flight to CES. Wednesday show will be at 4 p.m. Eastern, 1 p.m. Pacific, so a half hour earlier, from CES. And then Thursday will be a little later in the day because I'll be flying back from CES. That show will be at 6 30 p.m. Eastern, 3 30 p.m. Pacific. What are you most excited for? Now that we've gone through the whole thing. That's a typical person who's been to CES before his reaction.  So you want an Internet of Things device with a motion sensor camera and facial recognition and a robot that will go out and gently remind him. Just a little tap in the back of the head. Just like nothing too intense. Just a little smack. Hey, hey, don't do that. I don't even need it to clean up the dog poop. I want it to tell the guy. Yeah, you want to train. You want to teach him to fish or in this game pick a poop. Thanks everybody who participates in our subreddit. You can submit stories and vote on them at DailyTechNewsShow.Reddit.com. And like I said, we will be here all week talking about all the hot stuff from CES. Veronica Belmont, thank you again for joining us today. Anytime, thanks for having me. And I'm so honored to be the first show of the new year. Yes, we are proud to have you in the pole position as we start our fourth year at DailyTechNewsShow. You know what we're having? Our fifth year of vaginal fantasy. And Tom, we are having our 10th year of sword and laser. 10th year of sword and laser this year. 10 years? Yeah. Wow. So that means it's going to be our 12th year of East meets West. Wow. With Roger. And that means we were on Buzz Out Loud 40 years ago. I, you know, I'm not very good at math, so I have to accept that that's true. And I feel that old as well. Well, thank you. Veronica Belmont of course can be found at swordandlaser.com. What else you got to tell folks about? Anything before we go? No, grobot.io, swordandlaser.com, vaginalfantasy.com, all the regular places you can find me. DailyTechNewsShow.com slash support is the place to make sure that we keep doing the show. Huge thanks to everyone who supports the show, including Kara Moore, Reen Lanniser, apologies for the pronunciation, Manuel Sanchez and big thanks to Charles Cleary, John Matthews and Lap, who are among the folks who just raised their pledge at patreon.com slash DTNS. Like I said, different live schedule. So 2 p.m. Eastern Tuesday, 4 p.m. Eastern Wednesday, 6 30 p.m. Eastern Thursday. And of course, coming into your feeds shortly after each show. Our email address is feedback at dailytechnewshow.com. We're live Monday through Friday, normally at 4 30 p.m. At alphageekradio.com and diamondclub.tv. And our website is dailytechnewshow.com. Back tomorrow with Patrick Beja, he's been testing out a thin client service that he loves. Find that out tomorrow. Talk to you then. Which button do I press now? This show is part of the front pants network. Get more at frogpants.com. Diamond Club hopes you have enjoyed this program. If it's called muscle memory, is it then muscle abnesia? Would you? When it doesn't happen? I think you probably thought about it too hard. I guess so. You were consciously thinking to do it. And that's what happens. Screwed me up.  Don't think so hard, Merit. If I had a nickel for every time I heard that, I'd have five cents today. Fifty cents. Titles. What do we got? It has to be a CES preview thing, but do we get any good ones? We got your four starts now. That's pretty good, actually. There's dog farts, smack upside the head. Of course, the obligatory CES. I'm just here for the fun. Obligatory CES 2017 colon. What to expect? Your colon. Alexa toast my bagels. Taking high measures. That's unnecessary. It feels really unnecessary, the bagel thing. Yeah, don't say the name. Oh, they put the title. Sorry. GPS jeans.  Oh, yeah? Learn how to play keyboard. That was a Yamaha. I need a cheap one. That's a good cheap one. Oh, you're going to buy an external one, though, right? Yeah, like a musical keyboard. Yeah, yeah. Eileen's got an electronic piano, which bought from a friend of mine. Well, if you just wait, are you going to use a standalone or are you going to hook it up and then use it like a MIDI interface? I'd like to be able to use it as a MIDI interface. Look at M-Audio. I actually have one. I used to use it on and off. I just didn't have the desk space to use it. Unfortunately, they changed GarageBand, which is pretty cool. Oh, this one has a built-in learn-to-play keyboard screen on it and everything. Oh, look at that. It's the rock jam. Did you wait? You played rock with him. It's for children. This is a keyboard for tiny baby children. I have a piano upright if you want to play it. I don't know how. Well, you can learn. You know, if you play all the black keys, it just sounds like oriental music because they're all external. Let's get it. So your four starts now. It's top at number seven. I think CES 2017, what to expect, is the responsible title, though. Don't you? It is. It is responsible, Tom. It is very responsible. Something a responsible person would pick. Responsible, spelled B-O-R-I-N-G. It is responsible. I don't know what's the difference between all these different numbers. What numbers? It's like a, never mind. I'm looking at keyboards. Oh, wait, like the number of keys or the number of octaves? Well, it says CTK 2400. And it goes all the way up to 7200. That's just a model number. But what's the difference? Typically, it's more features, more keys, more memory. If it's something that does synthesis, it probably also includes a wider range of instruments that you can replicate. If you want to do smooth jazz solo, you want to have your own quiet storm. Can't you just feel the synthesized rolling thunder now? They're very expensive. Yeah, fancy they get. Well, these are for buskers. These are for people who could. It says so right there in the description, not for busking. After listening to the music by Wesley Willis, I believe you can create great music on even the cheapest of Casio keyboards. That's all I need. I'm serious. Well, how much do you want to spend? What is your price point? I don't want to spend more than $150.  Get a cord organ. And then you could. Well, if you still have a Mac, right? You can interface it with that, use it with GarageBand. You guys should just buy this Rock Jam, because it really does have a big screen on it. You can be the person that makes the work. Yeah, it makes the Rock Jam the hot new thing. Is that the one with the keys light up for each key you're supposed to press? No, but it has a built-in, oh, no. It's just an iPad stand. It comes with a iPad stand. Ralph and Joteman are giving you advice in the chat. Oh, I'm not in the chat. Where is the channel? Just get a Yamaha. They don't, they all do MIDI. No, they actually don't. I'll do do MIDI. Depends. You want, oh, see, that's a great thing with the MIDI interface keyboard, because I think a majority of them are weighted as well as velocity-driven, which is awesome. Velocity-driven?  No, not for merit. It's not a marital aid.  I wasn't paying attention.  Sorry. That's for the right one. In any case, let me get into the chat room. Velocity-driven, that means when you hit the key, depending on how hard you hit the key, it will replicate that sound. So it won't just sound like an actual piano keyboard. Like you can, if you touch it. What's the chat room name again? IRC.chatrealm.net? Yeah, but what's? Oh, hashtag chat is the name of the actual chat room. I just kept going in there and it wouldn't, there was nobody there. Are you the right chat, or are you at the IRC? I'm in ThinStack, is that wrong? No, no, no, that's wrong. It's IRC.chatrealm.net. And chat. Almost like I haven't done this in a long time. Maybe. Ralph says you should go on eBay or Craigslist because tons of people get a keyboard maybe for Christmas and then later regret it.  You just compose to that. Doesn't just make sense to just buy the Rock Jam. You obviously want it. You should become the Rock Jam YouTube star. Like this woman bought a Rock Jam and she's doing amazing things with it. You have to check out her channel. Yeah. Wait, didn't you play a guitar or something? Nope. No? Did you play an instrument, a wind instrument? I played violin when I was a kid, violin. Oh, it's twice as much on eBay, the Rock Jam. What? Did they used to be better? What's that about? Could you remember any of your violin? You should get electric violin. No, I hated playing violin. It makes my teeth hurt just thinking about it.  You were not supposed to hold the violin in your teeth.  Your arm, hand? Arm, hand. I want to get electric cello. I should actually so you can get older. eBay or Craigslist? That's expensive, though. Craiglitz. Midi, I need Midi. W. Scott assists. Everyone's saying look for Midi. Like I said, look just for a Midi keyboard. Get in that monitor. It cost me $100, 88 keys. Pass the house $100. Midi plus $40. Oh, awesome. $40? Nice. On eBay. Can I get a keyboard that has an 808 built into it? Yeah, it's called a computer. Oh, yeah. Here's your M-Audio key station. That has many keys. I got your M-Audio key station right here. I have my box here somewhere. Where did I stick it? I think it's sticking in the closet.  Midi is a must. Oh, it's very small. It's very small. What? A keyboard. Too small. Oh, is it one of those? Too small. So if you want to do, it might be great for making a track layer for EDM music. So I'm going to do. You should totally go and compose an EDM. That would be awesome. If you wish. Rock Jam. Who was an EDM? The new Rock Jam EDM star. I'll just get this castle as $100. I wonder if there's anyone out there who beat boxes with their own EDM. They just use a multi-track recorder. They do each bit. Use their price. Oh, it's cool. Or you can just get it. It's exactly the same one I was just looking at. Must be good. It's a sign. It's a sign. It's a sign of the times. And you really want to learn. That's nice.  Both. I want one that I can learn to play piano on and also use to make electronic music. EDM. I just want to have like a musician staged persona. Where you have like your hair.  That would be like your signature appearance hair. That would be my stage name though. Daphne. Oh, a unicorn is from just Transformers. You can't do that. Why would I call myself Daphne? Why would I name myself after another person? DJ Daphne. Just surf in on her popularity, that's all. Oh, OK. Veranatron. Belmamblan. So weird. Bell Block. Carol Bells. Am I only doing Christmas music? Let's see how you start. This is a branch out. And you only put your albums out in July. Flock of Unicorns. Striker Rich said Flock of Unicorns. I'm calling Farting Unicorns. You could call yourself Rainbow Stations. And then it gets out both like an EDM DJ, but also a kid-friendly afternoon show. M-Audio, ooh, this one's expensive. It's $130, $200. Kid-tested. Mother-approved. That was kicks though. This one has. Oh, you could call yourself kicks. Yeah. And drum pad controller. That's cool. You could totally do everything yourself. Yeah. All right, well, the show is up. And I'm about to start singing Wonderful Christmas Time. Are you going to go get your haircut now? I am going to go get all of my hairs cut. Every single one? Yep. Oh my god. Don't scream when they get that vote. Hell. Thanks, everybody, for watching. We'll see you tomorrow. Earlier time, don't forget. Bye. Bye.


Good evening aspirants, welcome to the Hindu newspaper analysis discussion by Shankara A. S. Academy. Yesterday, due to a technical difficulty, we were not able to publish the newspaper analysis discussion. So, instead we have added articles from yesterday's newspaper and today's newspaper in today's newspaper discussion. So, these are the articles we are going to discuss today. The articles are displayed above. Let us move into today's discussion. Let us start our discussion today by going through some map-based question. I have taken some important places that appeared in the newspaper. I have attached the articles, the date in which it appeared, the page number and the edition before every question. Although the article won't be important for our exams, UPSC might pick up these places and ask a question in primes. We can expect three or four map-based questions every year. The issue with map-based question is, you either know the answer or you don't. It is difficult to make informed guess in map-based question. So, when a new place appears in the newspaper, take the articles and locate it. Have a bird's-eye view and look at the area around it also. It will be helpful. It will help you fetch the crucial 2-3 marks that will help you clear the primes examination. Now let us move on to the first question. The first question is based on this article. Now moving on to the question. The question is regarding Mount Kilimanjaro, which is located in Tanzania. Four statements are given. We have to find which of the following statement is correct. The first statement. Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. The statement is correct. Mount Kilimanjaro is indeed the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. At the tallest point, it reaches the height of 5,895 meters. See here the key word is freestanding mountain. Actually, a freestanding mountain is a mountain that stands alone and is not part of any mountain system. From this image, you can get an idea what a freestanding mountain is. So in the statement, if it is given like Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in the world, then the statement would be wrong. Since we know Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world, Mount Everest is not a freestanding mountain since it is part of the Himalayan range. Second statement. It is a Stratovalcano. This statement is also true. It is indeed a Stratovalcano. Let me give you some points about Stratovalcanoes. They are conical tall volcanoes that are formed by highly acidic, very viscous lava. These lava are called andesitic lava. See this image. Since the lava is highly viscous, they do not flow for a long distance, thus forming a characteristic conical volcano. Other examples of Stratovalcano are Mount Stramboli, Mount Visuvius and Mount Fiji. Now as per the after today's discussion, take your atlas and try to locate the above mentioned volcanoes. Now the third statement. Kilimanjaro has three volcanic cones namely Kibo, Mavindzi and Sheera and all volcanic cones are dormant. The first part of the statement is correct. Kibo, Mavindzi and Sheera are the volcanic cones in Kilimanjaro. In fact, Kibo is the highest point in Mount Kilimanjaro but only Mavindzi and Sheera are extinct. Kibo is actually dormant. The most recent activity happened in Kibo some 200 years ago. The last statement is that rivers Lumi and Pangani drain Kilimanjaro on the western and southern sides respectively. The statement is false. Since rivers Lumi and Pangani flows on the Wetter eastern side of Kilimanjaro. This is because eastern side of Kilimanjaro faces the sea. Hence it is in the windward side and it is significantly better than the leeward western side. Hence perennial rivers like Lumi and Pangani flows in the eastern side of Kilimanjaro. So the correct answer is option A, 1 and 2 only. Now moving on to the next question. This question is based on this article. The question asks for the following given countries which countries has both Mediterranean and Atlantic coast. The countries given are Morocco, Portugal, Algeria and Spain. Now let us take the map. See Spain here has both Atlantic and Mediterranean coast. Likewise Morocco has both Atlantic and Mediterranean coast. Algeria has only Mediterranean coast and finally Portugal has only Atlantic coast. So the correct answer here is option D, 1 and 4 only. Now if you get a question like this in our discussion session or you get a question like this in one of your mock test you must not leave it at that. You must take the atlas and look at the places again. In this case you can look for other countries that has both Atlantic and Mediterranean coast. Only by doing this you can widen your knowledge. Now moving on to the next question. This question is based on this article. It appeared on the Hindu on 24th August. The question has given us four water bodies and asked us to arrange them from south to north. The given water bodies are Lake Koran, Gulf of Acaba, Sea of Galilee and Dead Sea. Since the Middle East is always in the news you must have the map of this region in your fingertips. So now let us take these water bodies one by one. First is Lake Koran. Lake Koran is an artificial lake in Lebanon. It is built across the river Litani which is the longest river in Lebanon. Now moving on to Gulf of Acaba. We all know what is a Gulf right? A Gulf is a part of the sea that is almost surrounded by land. Now look at this image. The Gulf of Acaba is almost surrounded by land. It is located on the northern tip of Red Sea. East of it is Arabian Peninsula and west of it is Sinai Peninsula. Here is the Sinai Peninsula. It is part of Egypt. An interesting fact about Sinai Peninsula is it is a part of Asian continent. So Egypt has territories in both African and Asian continent. Now coming back to Gulf of Acaba. Its coastline is divided by four countries which include Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Now let us look at Sea of Galilee. Look at this map. Here is Israel. Sea of Galilee is also called Lake Tiberias. It is located on the northern part of Israel. This is a freshwater lake and it is the lowest freshwater lake in the world. Meaning the lake is located at levels between 215 meters and 209 meters below sea level. The lake is actually located in the Jordan Rift Valley. The Jordan Rift Valley is formed due to the separation of African Plate from the Arabian Plate. The lake is mainly fed by Jordan River and some underground springs. So recapping this segment, the lake is actually located in Israel in the Jordan Rift Valley and is mainly fed by Jordan River. Now moving on to Dead Sea. Here is the Dead Sea. It is located south of Sea of Galilee. It is a saltwater lake bordered by Jordan to the east and Israel to the west. The lake's surface is 430 meters below mean sea level, making it the lowest lake in the world. Note here Sea of Galilee is the lowest freshwater lake and Dead Sea is the lowest lake. Since the water is highly saline, the density of the water is very high. Thus people cannot easily drown in Dead Sea. This lake is also located in the Jordan Rift Valley. Dead Sea though it has high salinity, it is not the saltiest water body in the world. Interestingly, the saltiest water body, Don Juan Pond, is located in Antarctica. Apparently the salinity here is so high that even at temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius, the water never freezes. Now coming back to the question. From this discussion we know Gulf Aquaba is the southernmost. Then comes Dead Sea. Then Sea of Galilee. Finally in the North Lake Korawan. So the answer here is option C2431. I hope this segment was helpful and gave you a little idea for how to prepare for map based questions. So now let us wind up this and take up the first article for our discussion. Let us start today's discussion with this article. Through this article here, the author takes a critical look at the Ishram portal that the government recently launched. We already discussed about the objectives, eligibility criteria for Ishram portal on our 8th September Hindu newspaper discussion session. Articles like this are important with the evolving nature of UPSC mains examination. Since for the past couple of years, mains questions are focusing on the analysis part rather than the description part. So reading article like this will help you look at every government measure analytically. Having this in mind, let us start the discussion. The syllabus covered by this article is highlighted below for your reference. No quickly refreshing. Ishram portal has been developed for creating a national database of unorganized workers, which will also be author seated. It comes under Ministry of Labor. Author through this article has highlighted the issues with this portal. Let us go over it one by one. First is the long drawn nature of the registration process itself. We have 380 million unorganized workers, even though the portal was launched on August 26 till now only 0.6 million have been registered. So it is going to take a lot of time before we have a database of the entire informal sector. Second issue is this, although the government has made it mandatory, the small employers like our local Kiran Ashab owner who mainly employ informal labor have no gain for them by nudging their workers to register. So the unorganized worker may not voluntarily come forward and register because the gains are not immediate. The long term gains may not be visible to both the employer and the unorganized worker. Third is the question of data security. See the government is collecting huge quantum of data. The data security infrastructure with the center for keeping such quantity is still questionable. Further, these data is going to be shared with the state governments. Some state governments don't have the infrastructure to safely house and handle huge volumes of data. With the data protection bill still in limbo, there is no concrete data protection measure in our country. Next is the question of exclusion. According to the social security code, workers covered under the employee provident fund and the employee state insurance are excluded from this portal. This complicates the problem. See people working in hazardous settings are compulsorily included in the ESI framework. So due to this, people who are working in hazardous environment are excluded from the portal. Apart from this, even people aged above 59 are excluded from the portal. So this may amount to age-based discrimination as well. Next, the author has talked about the issue of Aadhar ceding. We saw that Eshram portal is Aadhar ceded. The issue is that not many will have a Aadhar ceded mobile phone because in India, still smartphone penetration is very low. It is a socio-economic issue here. Further, Aadhar ceding is itself a political issue because Aadhar doesn't mean citizenship itself, especially in north-east and all. So this could be controversial. Next, author deals with the issue of changing identity of the informal workers. If you see, many are migrant workers. Their place of residence hence will be continuously changing. The moment he or she migrates, the authenticity of the data attached to that person vanishes. So to maintain a mechanical database can soon become redundant. Lastly, he talks about the procedural difficulties. See, the center has laid out the plan, but states have to implement it. So take Maharashtra for example. In Maharashtra, the server was down for a few days. An informal worker who has approached the center when the server is down will not be motivated to go do the procedure again, thus leaving him out of the portal. So a law depends on the initiatives and the promptness of the state governments. Also, there is a risk of corruption among the middlemen. For example, internet centers which act as middlemen might charge exorbitant charges to the unorganized workers to register and print e-shrim cards. This will in turn discourage the workers from registering in the portal. So to recap, here in this discussion, we saw some issues surrounding e-shrim portal. Like long drawn registration process, no incentive for a small employer to get his or her employees registered, issue of exclusion, issue of Aadhar seeding, data security issues, changing identity of migrant labor, and corruption by the middlemen. Government should shiftly overcome these challenges to implement this to the fullest potential. Since e-shrim would give the no invisible informal workers the much needed visibility, it will act as a labor market citizenship document to the unorganized sector workers. So with this, let's conclude this discussion. And now let us take up the next article for our discussion. Now let us take up this editorial for our discussion. The editorial mentions about a trail lateral security partnership for the Indo-Pacific region. The partnership is between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. That's the name A-U-K-U-S. There are two important significance for this trail lateral alliance. Let's see it one by one. First is, it complements the already existing Indo-Pacific corporations like the Quad and the Five-Wise Intelligence. Since we have discussed a lot about Quad, we will see what is Five-Wise Intelligence cooperation. This is a intelligence sharing agreement between English-speaking countries like US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. This was formed during the Cold War era to counter the influence of Soviet Union and its allies. Now let us take up the second significance of this trail lateral alliance. The second important significance of the alliance is that the US has agreed to share the technology of nuclear-powered submarines with Australia and help Australia build a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines. This is a significant move by the US. Since it has shared the technology of nuclear powered submarines only once, that too with the United Kingdom in 1958. This move will improve Australia's undersea and anti-submarine capabilities in the Indo-Pacific region. Since Australia is also a part of Quad, this will improve Quad's ability to ensure peace in the Indo-Pacific region. As the famous Roman saying goes, if you want peace, you must be prepared for war. So measures like this will act as a counter for China and its influence in the Indo-Pacific region, thus helping ensure freedom of navigation, rule-based order, and peace in the region. In this discussion, we looked into what a UK-US trail lateral security partnership is, the significance of this alliance, and the significance of this alliance for the peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region. We also saw a little bit about Five Eyes Intelligence Cooperation. With this, let us wind up this discussion and move on to the next article. Now, let us take this editorial. The content in this editorial is regarding inflation. This article is nothing but a monthly update on inflation. So it won't be beneficial in the long run. Since the data would be outdated by the time we appear for our exams. But we have to focus here on terms like CPA and WPA, which are mentioned in the editorial. They are very important for our exams. So let us see about them first. Then we will discuss about some points mentioned in the editorial. The syllabus regarding this article is given here for your reference. First, let us take WPA or the Wholesale Price Index. The WPA measures the average change in the prices of commodities, which are at an early distribution stage, that is, which is before the retail level of sale. We know that in India, WPA is officially published by the Office of Economic Advisor, which is under Ministry of Commerce and Industry. This index is published on a monthly basis. The WPA is calculated using the base year 2011-12. Now, let us see why this index is not widely used for policy making. This is because of two factors. The first is that WPA does not cover services. And the second is that the general public, that is, common people like us, we do not purchase commodities at wholesale prices. We purchase our goods at retail price. So, WPA is not widely used for policy framing. Now, moving on to consumer price index or CPA. The CPA measures the increase in price experienced at retail shops. So, we can define CPA as a measure of change in retail prices of goods and services consumed by a defined population group in a given area with reference to a base year. Note here that CPA includes services also. Hence, this gives the actual reflection of the price raise in the country. The base year for calculating CPA in our country is 2012. Within CPA, we have three types, because different segments of our population have different choices of consumption and purchasing power. Thus, a single CPA won't be able to have a holistic picture. Now, let us understand some of the important CPAs, that is consumer price indexes. First is CPA for industrial workers. This measures the extent of change in the retail price of goods and services consumed by industrial workers. Second is the CPA for agricultural workers. This measures the extent of change in the retail prices of goods and services consumed by the agricultural laborers. Third is the CPA for rural labor. This measures the extent of change in retail prices of goods and services consumed by rural laborers. Note here that these three indices are compiled by the Labor Bureau in the Ministry of Labor and Employment. If we look closely, we can see that the above mentioned CPA indices represent only a specific segment of our population, and they do not reflect the true picture of price change in the country as a whole. So, National Statistical Office, NSO of Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation has started releasing a new series of CPA with 2012 as the base year. The new series includes three CPAs. The first is CPA for the entire urban population, that is CPA urban. The second is CPA for the entire rural population, that is CPA rural. And the next is CPA combined, which is the combination of CPA urban and CPA rural. Note here that RBA is using CPA combined as the sole inflation measure for setting inflation targets and ensuring price stabilities. An important point here is that CPA rural, CPA urban and CPA combined were released by CSO, that is the Central Statistical Office. But as of 23rd May 2019, the Office of National Sample Survey Office, that is NSSO, merged with the Central Statistical Office or CSO to form the National Statistical Office. So in the prelims, you see my task, who releases CPA and give both CSO and NSO in the option. The correct option would be National Statistical Office, not Central Statistical Office. Please note that. Now coming back to the editorial. The editorial mentions that the price pressures have begun to moderate in our economy. The CPA for August is at 5.3%. It is an improvement over July CPA of 5.59%. This is a welcome improvement. However, a lot is still desired. For example, take the prices of meat, fish, dairy, oils and fats. They are still accelerating. Similarly, the prices of eggs, pulses and vegetables are also a cause for concern. In addition to that, the raising price of fuel is also affecting many sectors. We know that high fuel prices result in increased transportation cost. That is, this in turn affects many sectors. So according to this article, if we do not take proactive steps to control inflation, we may breach RBI's monetary policy upper threshold of 6%. This will severely affect our recovering economy. So instead of going for short-term solutions, we must look for long-term options. In this discussion, we looked into important terms like wholesale price index and consumer price index. We saw why CPA is a better tool for measuring inflation and we saw the organization that published the above mentioned indices. Now let us wind up this discussion and move on to the next article. Now let us take this article. This article made headlines yesterday, that is 16th of September. Before moving into the discussion, let us go back some under 8 years. Back then, there used to be a lot of telecom service providers. You guys remember Tata Docomo, MTS, Uninar, Yerserl, Reliance etc. But due to heavy competition, these companies started closing shop in India. Now although there are four service providers in the market, the reality is a duopoly by GEO and YATL. This is a worrying situation. Both for us, the consumers and the government. So the government has announced certain measures to help the ailing telecom service providers. Now let us look into some important points mentioned in this article. The syllabus covered by this article is highlighted below for your reference. To help the telecom sector, the government has announced a total of 9 structural reforms and 5 procedural reforms. But in our discussion today, we are going to talk only about two of them, which are very important. First is the concept of adjusted gross revenue, shortly known as AGR. And second is the 100% FTA in telecom sector under automatic route. Now let us see both of them in detail. First, let us start by understanding what is AGR, that is, adjusted gross revenue. In simple words, adjusted gross revenue is the usage and licensing fee that the telecom operators are charged by the Department of Telecommunication. And this charge is divided into two. First being spectrum usage charges and the second being licensing fee. The spectrum usage charge is fixed at 3 to 5% and the licensing fee is fixed at 8%. And as per the Department of Telecommunication these charges are calculated based on all the revenue earned by the telecom company. That is, it includes the revenue generated from both telecom related and non telecom related sources such as deposit interest and asset sales. See, there was a contention going on between telecom operators and the government regarding the particulars considered to calculate the amount payable because the telecom operators on their part insisted that the AGR should comprise only the revenue generated from the telecom services. And they were not okay with the non telecom related sources being included in it. And this issue has been going on for a long time. At present, this issue is being resolved through this reform. That is, the reform has redefined the concept of adjusted gross revenue by excluding non telecom revenue. So that means the revenue from non telecom sources will no more be taken into account while calculating the AGR. And not just that, a four year moratorium has been placed over the telecom players dues to the government. And also note that the interest on the AGR dues will now be compounded annually because so far it has been done monthly. On that line, the interest rate on the dues would be charged at a reasonable rate of MCLR plus two percentage. And we know MCLR that is marginal cost of funds based lending rate is nothing but the lowest lending rate banks are permitted to offer. Moving on to the next major measure that is related to FDA. As per the new reforms, the foreign direct investment in the telecom sector has been allowed up to 100% under the automatic route. And this has been increased from the existing limit of 49%. See the entry of foreign direct investment by non residents into India is generally regulated through two routes. One is automatic route and the next is approval route. Under the automatic route, the foreign investor or the Indian company does not require any approval from the Reserve Bank or the Government of India for the investment. As per the government, these measures are carried out to ensure more players in the sector and also to provide the consumers with multiple choices. This will curb the duopolistic tendencies that is occurring in the telecom sector. These measures are also expected to pave way for large scale investment and employment generation. In this discussion, we talked about the problems that the telecom sector is facing, what is adjusted gross revenue and the issues surrounding it, and the recent government reforms like redefining AGR and allowing 100% FDA in telecom sector through automatic route. And finally we talked about how the government measures will stop the telecom sector from becoming duopolistic. With this, let us wind up this discussion and move on to the next article. Now, let us take up this news article. The article here reports about an exercise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. As per the news article, an Indian team of 200 Army and Air Force personnel are in Russia to participate in the exercise, that is exercise peaceful mission. And this exercise is being held between the member states of Shanghai Cooperation Organization. And note that this is the sixth edition of multinational military exercise that is organized by the SCO in Russia's Oregon. So this is the basic crux of this news article. Now in this context, let us briefly see about the said exercise and also the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. See the Shanghai Cooperation Organization's shortly known as SCO is a permanent international intergovernmental organization. And the creation of this organization was announced back in June 2001 at Shanghai. Currently, SCO comprises of eight member states. They are China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Of the eight member states, the founding members were China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. India and Pakistan, which were earlier observer states, joined the SCO as full members on 9th June 2017 at a summit in Astana. Astana is in Kazakhstan. Now the name has been changed to Noorsultan, which is the capital of Kazakhstan. Apart from this, the SCO has got four observer states. They are Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia. And in addition to the eight member states and four observer states, the SCO has got six dialogue partners. They are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey. Now let us look into the structure of SCO. The heads of the state council or HHSC is the supreme decision making body in the SCO. And this body meets once in a year, during which it adopts the decisions and guidelines on all important matters of the organization. Adding to this, the SCO's head of government council, which also meets once a year to discuss the various aspects of the organization and to approve the organization's annual budget. The SCO has got two permanent bodies. They are the SCO secretariat and the executive committee of the regional anti-terrorist structure, that is RATS. The secretariat is based in Beijing and the RATS is based in Tashkent. Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan. You guys know about the Tashkent Agreement, right? For people who are not aware of this, let me take a small detour and explain about it in a few words. The Tashkent declaration was a peace agreement signed between India's Prime Minister Lal Bhagadur Shastri and Pakistan's President Ayub Khan to resolve the Indo-Pakistan war of 1965. This agreement basically tried to restore the economic and diplomatic relationships in the respective countries. And both countries promise to keep away from each other's internal and external affairs. They also promise to work towards the progress in bilateral relations. Now coming to the exercise peaceful mission, which is seen in today's news. See the joint counter-terrorism exercise. Peaceful mission is a multilateral exercise. It is conducted biannually as a part of military diplomacy between the SCO member states. The scope of the exercise includes professional interaction, mutual understanding of drills and procedures, establishment of joint command, control structures and elimination of terrorist threats. The aim of the exercise is to foster close relations between the SCO member states and also to enhance ability of the military leaders to command multinational military contingents. And the exercise is expected to enable the sharing of best practices between the armed forces of the SCO nations. In this discussion we talked about SCO, when it was founded, its members, its objectives and a little bit about Tashkent Agreement of 1965. Finally we looked into the multilateral exercise peaceful mission. Now let us wind up our discussion and move on to the next article. Now let us take up this news article for our next discussion. The article here basically talks about a person named V. Sai Subramaniam who has become the first morcing exponent to receive the Kalki Krishnamurthy Award. Let us not go any further into that story since it is not very relevant for our exam. Instead with this background let us see important facts about morcing, which is a melodic instrument seen on the Carnatic Concert platforms. Know that the morcing is a Carnatic percussion instrument. See a percussion instrument refers to any instrument that makes a sound when it is hit, shaken or scraped. Generally it is not very easy to be a percussionist or a person who plays such instrument because it takes a lot of practice to hit an instrument with the right amount of strength at the right place and that too at the right time. The origins of morcing lie in the folk music and often the Jewish harp is identified as a precursor to the Indian morcing and know that in the southern part of India the morcing is a classical percussion instrument whereas in the northern part of India especially in the regions of Rajasthan it is a folk instrument. Note the difference here southern part it is a classical instrument and in northern India it is a folk instrument coming to its structure. As you can see in this picture here it is a tiny instrument shaped like a prongs with an iron frame and an additional metal stick or a steel rod running through the length of the instrument. As we know in Indian classical music you usually tune your instrument or sing to the tone of the music that is being performed. Know that a different morcing is required for different tonal centers and that means each individual instrument may still require tuning. For this reason beeswax is traditionally applied on the tip of the steel rod to change the pitch very slightly. Actually beeswax is nothing but a product made from honeycomb of the honey bee or other bees. Now let us see how it is played. See usually this instrument is held in the left hand while playing. The morcing is played by holding the prongs against the upper and lower teeth with the metal stick protruding out and plugged with the index finger and then the further control of the instrument is done by careful regulation of the player's breath. Movement of the player's tongue with constant plucking can produce very fast patterns of sound. By constricting the space in the mouth the nostrils can produce sounds in different phases similar to the phasor in electronic music. Now let us see a little bit about Kalki Krishnamurthy award. The award is presented by Kalki Krishnamurthy memorial trust for young and aspiring artist. Kalki Krishnamurthy was a writer based in Tamil Nadu. His notable works include historical novels like Puneen Selvan, Parthiban Kanavu and Sivagamiin Sabadham. Director Maninathnam's next magnum opus is based on Kalki Krishnamurthy's Puneen Selvan. In this discussion we talked about the instrument morcing, its origin, how it is played and we saw a little bit about Kalki Krishnamurthy. With these facts in mind let us wind up this discussion and move on to the next article. Now look at this new segment. The news mentions that after a brief disagreement with the Supreme Court the government as an one-off measure decided to reinstate justice AIC Chima as the acting chairperson of National Kampanila Appalach Tribunal that is NCLAT. In this context let us revise about National Kampanila Appalach Tribunal. National Kampanila Appalach Tribunal was formed based on the recommendation of Justice Iradi committee that was related to the insolvency and winding up of companies in India. It is a statutory body as it was constituted under section 410 of the Companies Act 2013. On 28th September 2020 the company's amendment bill 2020 received the assent of the President to become an Act. The amendment made changes to increase the number of benches for National Kampanila Appalach Tribunal in order to ease its burden and decrease its pendency. As of now the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has 15 National Kampanila Appalach Tribunal benches. Now let us see why National Kampanila Appalach Tribunal was created. It was constituted with the purpose of hearing appeals from the orders of National Kampanila Tribunal under the Companies Act that is it functions as an Appalach Tribunal. Appalach Tribunal means a special court or committee or a Tribunal that is formed to reconsider a decision made by another court or a committee or a Tribunal. It also functions as the Appalach Tribunal for hearing appeals against orders passed by National Kampanila Tribunal under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016. Then it is also the Appalach Tribunal for hearing appeals against the orders passed by Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India under section 202 and section 211 of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Next is it is also the Appalach Tribunal under Competition Act 2002 that is section 410 class 2 of Companies Act and section 53A of Competition Act 2002. It hears and disposes of the appeals against directions, decisions and orders passed by the Competition Commission of India. But note that if any person is not satisfied with the orders of National Kampanila Appalach Tribunal, they can appeal to the Supreme Court within 60 days from the date of receipt of the order of National Kampanila Appalach Tribunal. Now coming to its composition, it consists of a chairperson and judicial and technical members having a tenure of 5 years. The chairperson shall be a former or incumbent judge of Supreme Court or the Chief Justice of any High Court. The judicial member is a former or incumbent judge of High Court or is a judicial member of National Kampanila Tribunal for 5 years. Then a technical member is also made as a part of National Kampanila Appalach Tribunal. See the technical member is a person having special knowledge in industrial finance, industrial management, industrial reconstruction, investment and accountancy. The technical member should have a professional experience of not less than 25 years. Here note that the chairperson and judicial members are appointed after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, whereas the technical members are appointed on the recommendation of a selection committee consisting of Chief Justice of India or her nominee, a senior judge of Supreme Court or Chief Justice of High Court and secretaries to the ministries of corporate affairs and law and justice. So let's conclude this discussion. In this discussion, we looked into the National Kampanila Appalach Tribunal, its origin, its role, its composition. We also saw the recent change made under Companies Amendment Act 2020 regarding National Kampanila Appalach Tribunal. Having discussed this, let us conclude this discussion and move on to the next article. Now look at this article. ISRO apparently is working on a reusable launch vehicle for GSLV Mach 3. In this part of the discussion, we will look into GSLV Mach 3. What is a reusable vehicle? What is payload fraction? First, let us start with reusable launch vehicle. A reusable launch system or a reusable launch vehicle is a system capable of launching a payload into space more than once. This allows for the reuse of some or all of the components of the launch vehicle. Opposite to this is the expendable launch system which can be used only once. As you may know, rocket components and assembling is an expensive affair. So if we are able to reuse the components, it is a cost-saving measure. So all around the world, people went into the quest for it. In that direction, the first reusable vehicle was the Space Shuttle launched in 1981. It launched like a rocket and returned to Earth like a glider, landing on an airplane on a long, concrete runway. However, this wasn't cheap as expected. But in recent time, SpaceX has mastered this technology. And Falcon 9 is known for this. In Falcon 9, the first stage is reusable, the second stage is expendable or not reusable. As we saw already, launch costs will get cheaper with reusable vehicle. When the launch cost gets cheaper, the space travel will also get cheaper. See, nowadays, space is being looked at not just as a science quest, but as an extreme recreation activity. Recently, Belliniers Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos made their spaceflight. Even day before yesterday, Elon Musk's SpaceX launched four private civilians in a Dragon capsule carried by their Falcon 9 rocket on a three-day orbital flight around the Earth. The mission was aptly named Inspiration 4. On the other hand, with the fast-depleting resources in Earth, asteroid mining is gaining traction. If India is able to master this reuse technology, we will also be in a position to mine resources from space. And of course, we will gain an edge in the space race. Besides, space could be the next new battleground in the future. So, this becomes an important leap that ISRO is trying to make. See the article talks about human factor payload fraction. Let us quickly understand that as well. Look at the formula. The payload fraction is equal to the mass of payload divided by the mass of the propellant and the structure. Understand this payload is the camera, drone, telescope that you send to space for steady purposes. But a rocket will also need fuel that is propellant and other support structures. And both payload and the others will have their own masses. The question is, which mass we are going to minimize? If we are able to send more payload, better will be the research. So, we will want to cut the mass from propellants and other support structures. So always, scientists will strive to make a better payload ratio, that is, a bigger numerator and a smaller denominator. Now, human factor payload fraction comes into picture when we are trying to send humans to space. So the mass of the cosmonets are taken into consideration along with the payload to assess the payload fraction or payload ratio. Now, let us quickly look into GSLV Mach 3, which is important for preliminary examination. See the GSLV Mach 3 is expanded as Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, Mach 3. So far, there has been four successful launches by GSLV Mach 3. The famous Chandrayaan 2 mission used the GSLV Mach 3 for lift off. ISRO is trying to make more successful launches using GSLV Mach 3 so that the vehicle earns the tag of trusted workhorse like that of the PSLV. Now, looking at the features, the GSLV Mach 3 is a three-stage vehicle. The three stages of GSLV Mach 3 are solid boosters, liquid motor, and a cryogenic upper stage. The cryogenic upper stage is an indigenously designed model. And see this, GSLV Mach 3 can put a communication satellite of 4 tons into Geosynchronous orbit or 10-10 satellite in low-earth orbit. Also remember that this GSLV can lift heavier payloads than PSLV. Some of the characteristic advantages are listed here in this snippet. Please go through it. In this discussion, we looked into what is a reusable vehicle, GSLV Mach 3 and its features, and what a human payload fraction is. With this, we will end this discussion and move on to the next segment. Now, let us take up the prelims practice questions. First question, a list of countries are given. They have asked of the above mentioned countries, which are the members of Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The countries given are India, Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Russia. As we saw in our discussion, at present, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization comprises of eight member states. They are China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. So, with this, we can conclude. Option A is the correct one. That is one, three, and five. That is India, Pakistan, and Russia. I have to add one more thing. Before Shanghai Cooperation Organization, there was an organization called Shanghai Five Group. It was founded in 24th April 1996. The organization consisted of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan. Later, in 2002, Uzbekistan was added to the Shanghai Five Group, and it rechristened itself as Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Now, moving on to the next question. Two statements are given. We have to select the correct statement. First statement, wholesale price index or WPI is compiled and released by the Labor Bureau in the Ministry of Labor. Second statement, consumer price index, industrial workers, is released by the Office of Economic Advisor under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. Actually, both are incorrect. They are interchanged. Actually, CPA, industrial workers, is compiled and released by the Labor Bureau in the Ministry of Labor, while wholesale price index is released by the Office of Economic Advisor under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade. So, the correct answer is answer D, neither one or two. Now, moving on to the third question. It is also a two-statement question and they have asked us to find the correct statements. Now, let us look at the first statement. Foreign direct investment under the automatic route does not require any approval from the Reserve Bank or Government of India for the investment. Now, the second statement, foreign direct investment in the telecom sector has also been allowed up to 100% under automatic route. We already saw in our discussion that the entry of foreign direct investment by non-residents into the country is generally regulated through two routes. One is the automatic route, next is the approval route. And this automatic route is aimed for those sectors and levels of investment that are less restricted. So, under the automatic route, the foreign investor or the Indian company does not require any approval from the Reserve Bank or Government of India for the investment. And this makes the first statement to be correct. Coming to the second statement, we know that this statement is also right because that is the issue discussed in the news today. Since we saw as per the new reforms, the foreign direct investment in the telecom sector has been allowed up to 100% under the automatic route. And this has been increased from the existing limit of 49%. So, both one and two are correct. So, the correct option is option C. Now moving on to the fourth question. See here, three private space companies are given and the respective founders are given. We have to match the space company and the respective founders. So, first is Virgin Galactic and it is matched correctly. Virgin Galactic was founded by Richard Branson. Second is Blue Origin. It is also matched correctly. Blue Origin is founded by the founder of Amazon who is Jeff Bezos. Third is we all know SpaceX is founded by Elon Musk. So, the correct answer is option D, 1, 2 and 3. We know Falcon 9 is the launch vehicle for SpaceX. Likewise, Blue Origin that is Jeff Bezos founded space company also has a launch vehicle. It is named as New Shepherd 3. New Shepherd 3 is a overtake of vertical landing curated suborbital launch vehicle developed by Blue Origins. It is owned and led by Amazon founder and former CEO Jeff Bezos. Now moving to the last practice films question. Here, three Indian private space startups are given and we have to match with their corresponding headquarters. That is where their headquarters is located. First pair is Agnicole Cosmos. It is given Agnicole Cosmos is located in Hyderabad but actually Agnicole Cosmos is located in Chennai. Second is Dhruva space. It is given like Dhruva space is located in Chennai but actually it is located in Hyderabad. The third pair is Bellatrix Aerospace. The pair is correct. Bellatrix Aerospace is in fact located in Bangalore. So, the correct answer is option C, 3 only. Let us say a little bit about the three mentioned Indian private space startups. Agnicole Cosmos private limited is an Indian aerospace manufacturer based in National Center for Combustion Research and Development in IIT Chennai. It aims to develop and launch its own launch vehicle namely Agnibon which is capable of placing 100 kilogram payload in a 700 kilometer orbit. It is expected to launch its first commercial flight in 2022. Now let us look at Bellatrix Aerospace. It is also a private aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Bangalore. It plans to launch its own rocket named Chatek in 2023. Chatek will be a two-stage rocket. The engine in the Chatek rocket is Ion engine. The company plans to use liquid methane as fuel. These are some important points relating to Bellatrix Aerospace. Now moving on to Dhruva space. From the question we know that Dhruva space is headquartered in Hyderabad. It is also engaged in the development of small satellites in the commercial government and academic markets. It is not involved in the development of launch vehicles but in the development of small satellites in the commercial government and academic markets. We have completed the practice prelims question discussion. The main questions from today's discussion are displayed here. Please write the answers. Now we have come to the end of the discussion session. If you like this video please like, comment and share with your friends. For more updates regarding civil service preparation please subscribe to Shankar IS Academy YouTube channel. Thank you.


Water is the foundation of our society. A key component of our daily lives, it supports our agriculture and municipalities, feeds our industrial sectors, is the basis for recreational activities, and nurtures our wildlife and water ecosystems. Water is the basis for our very existence, and as our population grows, so do our demands on this resource. Texas is blessed with an abundant but limited supply of groundwater. Aquifers supply approximately 60% of our water, or 9.9 million acre-feet annually. The majority of groundwater is presently used for agricultural irrigation. However, the greatest growth in demand is for cities and industries. Texas taps more than 30 different aquifers for groundwater. However, 97% comes from only 9 major aquifers. These aquifers are similar in their ability to store water, but they differ in the quantity of water available and how easily water can be tapped and managed. How we manage an aquifer is an intricate decision. Management strategies can range from sustainability to water mining or overdrafting. Because each aquifer is unique in its composition and in the demands we place on it, each requires specific technical knowledge and a community willing to support a management program. Just as one shoe does not fit every foot, one management goal will not fit every aquifer. Texas has a diverse geological history. Beneath the surface, Texas largely consists of layers of limestone, gravel, sand, clay, and shale. Fortunately, the limestone, gravel, and sand materials hold water and serve as aquifers where water enters, is stored, moves underground, and is retrieved through a well. The subsurface clay and shale layers serve as confining layers, which keep the water in the permeable layers separated. Aquifers are reservoirs of water below the land surface. They are not underground pools, lakes, or streams, but rather layers of limestone, gravel, and sand saturated with water. Water is stored in the small spaces between soil particles. Water naturally enters an aquifer through a recharge zone, which is usually the land over and adjoining the aquifer. Rainfalling on the recharge zone will percolate into the aquifer. Some water may also seep into the aquifer from a stream or river flowing over a recharge zone. We predict an aquifer recharge rate as a portion of the annual rainfall for the area. Because eastern Texas has more rainfall than the western part of the state, recharge rates vary greatly. In general, less than 5% of annual rainfall makes it into an aquifer. And in the dry western part of the state, recharge rates may be as low as 1%. Water is primarily removed from an aquifer through springs and wells. Springs are naturally occurring seeps connected to the aquifer, which discharge water. Springs may be large, such as Komal and San Marcos springs, or small, such as seeps along a stream or river. Spring flow may increase or decrease based on the water pressure in the aquifer. Wells allow us to capture groundwater for our use. Water is removed through the well column, which functions much like a straw, removing water from a glass. Storage or water levels of an aquifer increase or decrease based on the rate water is being added and removed. In periods of greater rainfall, the water level may rise in the aquifer. In periods of drought, the water level may drop. The long-term ability of an aquifer to supply water is related to the size of the recharge zone and rainfall in the region, as well as the rate at which water is removed over time. Water moves through and is stored in an aquifer in the openings of the geologic material, such as limestone, gravel, or sand. How water moves is controlled by the size of the openings and how the openings are interconnected. The speed water moves is somewhat controlled by forces pushing the water from one location to another. For example, small clay particles have small openings that restrict water movement. Larger materials such as gravel and sand have open spaces between the material so water can move easily and quickly. Limestone aquifers may be fractured or partially dissolved to create caves, making it very easy for water to move from one place to another. However, aquifers may have openings filled with water that are not connected together. These aquifers may have large quantities of water, but you will not be able to remove the water because it cannot easily flow to a well. Even aquifers with good interconnected openings need some force to move the water. We rely on gravity or a difference in pressure to provide this force. Gravity functions when there is an elevation difference in the aquifer's water. Pressure difference exists when there is water movement toward a well or spring. Aquifers are typically characterized as confined or unconfined. An unconfined aquifer is a layer of water bearing material with a confining layer on the bottom, but has a permeable soil layer on top extending to the ground surface. Rain can percolate through the permeable material and recharge the aquifer. The top of an unconfined aquifer is referred to as the water table. The wells drilled into an unconfined aquifer will have a water level at the same elevation as the water table. Water movement toward wells in unconfined aquifers is caused by an elevation difference. In contrast, a confined aquifer is a layer of water-filled material that has a confining layer of clay on the bottom and the top. These aquifers have an unconfined section where the permeable materials extend up to the ground surface. This section functions as the recharge zone. Water in a confined aquifer is stored under pressure and called artesian water. Wells drilled into a confined aquifer will have water rise into the well column equal to the pressure in the aquifer. If the water is under sufficient pressure, water may rise to the ground surface and flow out of the well. These wells are generally referred to as free-flowing artesian wells. Water movement toward wells in confined aquifers is caused by a pressure difference. The Ogallala aquifer, for example, is a huge, unconfined aquifer underlying most of the Texas High Plains. It receives limited natural recharge because of the limited rain in the area. More water is pumped from the Ogallala than from all other Texas aquifers combined. It is slowly being depleted. In contrast, the Edwards Aquifer is a confined limestone aquifer that is easily rechargeable. It can be quickly replenished by rainfall. However, if much water is pumped from it, especially during drought, the water level in the aquifer can drop quickly. The Edwards Aquifer also supports major spring flows into the San Marcos and Comal rivers. Well location and spacing can affect the ability to retrieve water. When a pump starts removing water, the surrounding water flows toward the well. This flow is developed by decreasing either the water level or pressure around the well. The water table in unconfined aquifers will decline as water flows to a well. This is seen as a dewatering of the aquifer material around the well. Confined aquifers will have a decline of pressure as water flows to the well. This is seen as a decrease in water levels in surrounding wells. The area where the water table or pressure declines around a well is called a cone of depression. You will not observe large water table or pressure decreases around wells with small pumps. However, large pumps can develop large cones of depression. If two wells are located close together, their cones of depression will overlap and both wells will compete with each other for the water. The combined effect of the two wells causes an even greater reduction in the water table or pressure. The water table and pressure will recover when pumping is stopped. However, if the overall water removal rate from the aquifer is greater than the recharge rate, the aquifer will be depleted. This depletion is an overall lowering of the water table or pressure. Subsidence is a side effect of depletion in aquifers with clays such as the Gulf Coast aquifer. The water prevents the clay from compressing. However, when the water is removed, the clay can compress and cause the land to sink or subside. Wells can be a safe and effective method of tapping into groundwater. However, improper well construction can allow contaminants to enter the aquifer. Different geological layers can contain naturally occurring contaminants and other pollutants can come from human activity. These contaminants can dissolve into the groundwater. Assuming this groundwater layer is confined by clay layers, this low-quality groundwater will remain separate from other aquifers. But improperly constructed active or abandoned wells can allow this low-quality groundwater to mix with good groundwater and contaminate the aquifer. Proper drilling and abandoned well closure programs are key to protecting the quality of the groundwater resource.  An understanding of aquifers can help us to make informed decisions on groundwater management. We can choose a management goal to protect or deplete the aquifer. Based on the unique characteristics of the aquifer and the appropriate management goal, we can implement management strategies for the resource, guaranteeing a strong foundation of water for our future.