Category Technology

Who is Naveen Garg?

Naveen Garg is a Professor of Computer Science at IIT-Delhi. He is interested in the design and analysis of algorithms. An algorithm is a set of rules which can solve a problem in mathematics or computer science.

Naveen Garg completed his graduation and PhD in Computer Science and Engineering at IIT- Delhi. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Max Planck Institute for Informatics and also was a research scientist there. Then he joined IIT – Delhi and now he is Janaki and K.A. lyer Cnair Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department and also the Dean, AAIP (Alumni Affairs and International Programs). He is also the co-director of the Indo-German Max-Planck Center for Computer Science (IMPECS).

Naveen Garg has secured the Wilhelm Bessel Research Award by Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany in 2001. He won the Career Award for Young Teachers instituted by All India Council for Technical Education in 2004. The Indian National Academy of Engineering presented him with the Young Engineer Award in 2005 and Indian National Science Academy awarded him the Young Scientist Medal in 2006. Also, he was elected as a Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore and Indian National Academy of Engineering in 2014 and 2020 respectively.

He was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in 2016.

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What is DigiYatra?

Launched on December 1, DigiYatra enables domestic air travellers to have easy entry and embarkation at Delhi, Bengaluru, and Varanasi airports.

Gaining entry into the airport is somewhat cumbersome as a result of the processes involved. In a bid to simplify this, the government launched DigiYatra at Delhi airport recently. But what is it and how does it work? Let’s find out.

Seamless travel

DigiYatra is a facial recognition software that allows domestic air passengers to seamlessly travel without carrying an ID card. DigiYatra aims at providing passengers a hassle-free entry and embarkation experience based on facial recognition technology at airports in the country. In other words, your face becomes your identity. DigiYatra facilitates a contactless air travel experience at entry point and boarding gate and will make the whole process of boarding faster.

To start with, it was rolled out at Delhi, Bengaluru, and Varanasi airports. Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia launched the facility at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi on December 1. DigiYatra will become operational at four more airports – Hyderabad, Pune, Vijayawada, and Kolkata – by March next year and then across various airports in the country.

Download the app

The DigiYatra app by the Digi Yatra Foundation is available on Google Playstore for Android mobiles and App Store for iPhones. Download the app on your Aadhar-linked mobile phone. For availing oneself of the service, a one-time registration on the app has to be done using Aadhaar-based validation and a self image capture. Update the boarding pass on the app and share it with the airport. At the airport, the passenger will have to scan their bar-coded boarding pass downloaded on their phone and the facial recognition system installed at the e-gate will validate their identity and travel document.

Once this process is over, the passenger will have to follow the normal procedure to clear the security and board the aircraft.

At present, DigiYatra is available for passengers taking domestic flights of Air India, Vistara, and IndiGo.

An initiative of the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation, the Digi Yatra Foundation was set up in 2019 to develop a facial recognition system at airports for streamlining air travel.

Concerns

As air passengers have to furnish their Aadhaar details for this service, there are concerns about data theft and privacy. The Minister laid them to rest by saying that the data of the passengers will be stored in an encrypted format in a decentralised manner on their mobile phones. He also said that the data passengers upload would mandatorily be cleared from the servers at the airport 24 hours after their travel.

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What is the ELIZA effect?

Eliza was one of the first computer programs that could convincingly prompt a response from humans, similar to what happens in a normal conversation

It is a tendency to ascribe human behaviour to non-human beings. For example, we have talking animal characters in fables who act, behave and talk like humans. This is called anthropomorphism. In computer science, a similar tendency is called the ELIZA effect.

The effect is named after ELIZA, a chatbot (computer program that conducts conversations) developed by Joseph Weizenbaum in 1966. Weizenbaum had intended to prove the shallow nature of interactions between man and machine. But that did not stop people, including Weizenbaum’s personal assistant from believing that ELIZA could think and feel like a human.

Following is an excerpt from a transcript of a conversation between ELIZA and a young woman:

ELIZA: I am sorry to hear you are depressed.

Woman: It’s true. I am unhappy.

ELIZA: Do you think coming here will help you not to be unhappy?

Woman: I need some help, that much seems certain.

ELIZA: What would it mean to you if you got some help?

Woman: Perhaps could learn to get along with my mother.

ELIZA: Tell me more about your family. The program primarily rephrased the human’s lines and repeated them in a seemingly intelligent manner, prompting an emotional response from the human, similar to what happens in a normal conversation.

While communicating with the machine, people tend to forget that it is simply following a computer program. For example, after you withdraw money from an ATM, the ATM displays the words ‘THANK YOU’ at the end of the session. A layman may think that the machine is actually expressing thanks when in reality it is only following a pre-programmed coded set of instructions without any emotions.

The ELIZA effect plays an important role in the development of artificial intelligence.

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How do you see the posts you’ve liked on insta?

Instagram stores a history of all your liked posts, a handy feature that lets you look back at the photos and videos you liked over time. Open the Instagram app. Go to the profile tab and tap the three horizontal lines. Select Your Activity. Tap on Interactions > Likes. Now you can see the 300 most recent posts you liked ranked from newest to oldest. Use the Sort & Filter option to sort the posts based on author, start date and end date.

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How does a foot mouse help disabled people?

The Foot Mouse by Califor Design is designed for people who are unable to use their hands due to disability or a neurological condition. Winner of the Red Dot Design Concept Award 2022, the Foot Mouse transfers control to the feet, allowing the user to navigate and click by resting a foot on it. The left and right keys are designed to be operated with the toes. The scrolling function is activated when the left and right buttons are simultaneously pressed, and deactivated when one of the left or right keys is released. “The concave design of the mouse’s top surface is combined with human-machine engineering principles to ergonomically fit the complex curvature under the foot, ensuring a stable and comfortable user experience,” says Califor Design. “Foot Mouse is designed to fit feet of any width and size and to provide anti-fatigue support for extended periods of use.”

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What is the use of Ribo device?

The ‘Ribo’ is a robotic solution for those looking to enjoy a bit of digital companionship. It “embraces” your smartphone and displays expressions that seem to convey your smartphone’s feelings while separated from your hands. Half desktop pet and half smartphone dock, Ribo expresses emotions through its eyes displayed on a circular screen that serves as its face. The “tummy” of the robot is where you can slot your smartphone in. Inserting a charging cable turns Ribo into a charging station when needed. If you hold both of its hands in yours, it can take ECG readings that will be displayed on your phone and on its LCD display. Compared to smart docks with wireless charging and advanced features, Ribo might seem lacking, but what it offers is a more personal and approachable connection with technology.

Picture Credit : Google