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The Tata Altroz Racer

At the 2023 Auto Expo, the Tata Altroz Racer—a more aggressive take on the Altroz hatchback—was introduced. The hatchback may go on sale in the upcoming weeks, despite Tata having not yet made a formal announcement regarding the launch date.

At the head of the Altroz lineup, the Altroz Racer will compete against the Hyundai i20 N Line. An engine from the Nexon, a 1.2-liter, 3-cylinder turbo-petrol, is anticipated to power the Altroz Racer. It has 118 horsepower and 170 torque, and a 6-speed manual gearbox is probably going to be attached to it.

Taisor Toyota Urban Cruiser

A teaser for Toyota’s future small crossover, the Urban Cruiser Taisor—a rebadged Maruti Suzuki Fronx—has been made public. The date of its unveiling is April 3, 2024.

It is anticipated that the Urban Cruiser Taisor will come with the same engine choices as the Fronx. These consist of a 1.0-liter turbo-petrol engine and a 1.2-liter gasoline engine. A 5-speed manual gearbox is standard on both engines. The 1.2L engine will come with a 5-speed AMT, while the 1.0L engine will have a 6-speed automated gearbox as an option.

2024 Skoda Superb

The Superb is returning to India thanks to Skoda. According to the most recent information, the brand’s flagship sedan is probably going to debut on April 3, 2024.

India will revive the B8 generation Superb, however this time it will be imported through the CBU channel. According to a leaked internal document, Skoda intends to introduce 100 Superb models. It may cost approximately Rs 55 lakh (ex-showroom).

A 2.0-liter turbo-petrol engine producing 188 BHP at 4,200–6,000 rpm and 320 Nm at 1,450–4,200 rpm will be available for the 2024 Superb. A 7-speed DSG will be mated to the engine.

Mahindra XUV300 facelift

Mahindra has not yet announced the XUV300 facelift’s official launch date. The most recent spy photos, however, show a nearly finished product, suggesting an early release.

The same 1.5-liter diesel and 1.2-liter turbo-petrol engines will power the updated XUV300. Mahindra now provides all engines with a 6-speed manual or 6-speed automatic gearbox.

Gurkha 5-door Force

The Gurkha 5-door teaser has been unveiled by Force Motors. Although the launch is anticipated to occur in the middle of 2024, the 5-door variant might be unveiled this month.

The Gurkha 5-door is anticipated to use the same 2.6-liter 4-cylinder diesel engine under the hood. This unit will be mated to a 4-wheel drive system and has 91 horsepower and 250 Nm of torque.

Hyundai Alcazar cosmetic enhancement

Hyundai is getting ready to release the upgraded Alcazar in the Indian market after releasing the Creta facelift. A 1.5-liter turbo-petrol engine with 158 horsepower and 253 torque and a 1.5-liter diesel engine with 114 horsepower and 250 torque are anticipated to be available for the Alcazar facelift, both of which can be mated to manual or automatic gearboxes.

New Maruti Swift model

Maruti is getting ready to introduce the new Swift model in India shortly. The new generation hatchback’s production already got underway in February 2024.

According to reports, Suzuki’s new Z-Series engine will be available for the 2017 Swift as a launch model. The present 4-cylinder K-Series engine will be replaced by a 1.2-liter naturally aspirated 3-cylinder engine.

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Technology

If you want to learn more about Apple’s laptops, tablets, and smartphones, the website is undoubtedly helpful. You can get all the information you could possibly need regarding the hardware for those particular devices on the official website. However, there hasn’t been a specific tech specs page for Apple Watch models up until now.

It’s true that the official Watch website did not include technical specifications, in case you missed it. Thus, third-party websites would be your only option if you wanted to compare the hardware offered by the various companies. Fortunately, for the Apple wearables, things have improved.

Finally, Apple has a tech specs page for every Watch model that is featured on its website.

Apple has updated the Apple Watch Series 9, Watch SE, and Watch Ultra 2 official tech specs pages. As a result, the business can now provide comprehensive hardware specifications for every product it offers on its own website. Fortunately, Apple intends to keep developing a specific tech specs page for each and every wearable that it releases in the future.

In other words, you won’t have to rely on unaffiliated websites to find out about wearable technology anymore. Having said that, a comparison tool is currently available on Apple’s official website, enabling customers to evaluate the watches and come to an informed conclusion.

Nevertheless, the Apple Watch models lacked a separate page with their technical specifications before to this change on the official website. And Apple’s decision to make this adjustment was long overdue. It already provides detailed hardware specifications for its iPads, iPhones, and Macs. Why therefore should the wearables be abandoned?

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Science

NASA’s Curiosity rover has started investigating a new area of Mars that may have information on the exact moment when liquid water vanished from the surface of the Red Planet. Mars was likely warmer and significantly wetter billions of years ago than it is now.

As it travels beside and finally crosses the Gediz Vallis channel, an intricate, snake-like structure that, at least from space, looks to have been sculpted by an ancient river, Curiosity is receiving a fresh perspective on that more Earthly past.

Scientists are intrigued by that prospect. In order to verify how the passage was chiseled into the underlying bedrock, the rover team is looking for proof. The team believes the waterway was not created by wind because of how steep the walls of the structure are.

Nevertheless, a river carrying rocks and sediment or debris flows (quick, wet landslides) would have had sufficient force to carve into the bedrock. The waterway was filled with rocks and other debris after it had created. Researchers are also interested in finding out if dry avalanches or debris flows carried this material.

Curiosity has been climbing the slopes of Mount Sharp, which is located 3 miles (5 km) above Gale Crater floor, since 2014. Scientists may examine how the presence of water and the chemical components needed for life evolved over millions of years in the lower regions of the mountain due to the shifting Martian climate.

For instance, when a lot of water had interacted with rock, a layer rich in clay minerals was present in the lower portion of those slopes. The rover is currently investigating a stratum rich in sulfates, which are salty minerals that frequently develop when water evaporates.

Updates to Mount Sharp’s Schedule

A thorough investigation of the waterway will take months, and the information gathered may cause scientists to recalculate the mountain’s development timeframe.

After wind and water deposited the sedimentary layers of lower Mount Sharp, erosion eroded those layers away to reveal the layers that are visible today. The Gediz Vallis channel could not have been carved until after these protracted processes and extremely dry spells that left Mount Sharp’s surface as a sandy desert.

Since Curiosity will never reach the top of the mountain, scientists believe that the rocks and other debris that later filled the channel originated there. This gives the crew an idea of the potential materials that may be present at that elevation.

It’s quite intriguing if liquid water created the debris pile or the waterway. According to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Ashwin Vasavada, the project scientist for Curiosity, “If the channel or the debris pile were formed by liquid water, that’s really interesting. It would mean that fairly late in the story of Mount Sharp – after a long dry period – water came back, and in a big way,”

That theory would fit with one of the most unexpected findings Curiosity has observed while traveling up Mount Sharp: water appears to have appeared and disappeared intermittently rather than steadily drying up as the planet grew drier. Mud fissures, salty, shallow lakes, and the massive debris flows that accumulated beneath the channel to form the expansive Gediz Vallis ridge are all signs of these cycles.

As the ridge appears to develop out of the end of the channel and drapes across the slopes of Mount Sharp, Curiosity undertook a strenuous ascent last year to explore it, indicating both are components of a single geologic system.

Examining the Channel Up Close

Curiosity used the left navigation camera on the rover to capture a 360-degree black-and-white panorama of the channel. The image, which was taken on February 3rd, the 4,086th Martian day, or sol, of the mission, depicts a debris pile building slightly behind the sand and dark sand filling one side of the canal. The steep hill that Curiosity ascended to get here is to the other side.

At the conclusion of every drive, the rover uses its navigation cameras to capture these kind of panoramas. Presently, as engineers work to find a solution that limits the usage of one imager from the color Mast Camera, or Mastcam, the science team is depending even more on the navcams.

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Business

Recent announcements from the South Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport describe the “KTX-Cheongryong,” a brand-new high-speed train with a top speed of 320 km/h. The high-speed rail system in South Korea is called KTX, or Korea Train Express, and it is run by Korail.

Passengers can travel from Seoul to Busan in around two hours and ten minutes on the newest bullet train in South Korea, the Cheongryong, and from Yongsan to Gwangju in about one hour and thirty minutes on the older KTX type.

Participating in the unveiling ceremony, President Yoon Suk-yeol declared, “We will continue to improve our high-speed railway system, making it even faster and more convenient for passengers. Our goal is to expand the network nationwide, creating a two-hour living area across the country.”

Cheongryong is a rail service that makes fewer stops in an effort to shorten travel times to distant locations. For instance, the Yongsan to Gwangju route only stops at Iksan, but the Seoul to Busan line only stops at Daejeon and Dongdaegu.

According to a Korail official, “travel times on high-speed lines like Seoul to Busan will be reduced by about 20 to 30 minutes compared to current times as the train speed increases and the number of stops decreases.”

Furthermore, all domestic technology has been used in the development of the new high-speed train. The high-speed railway research and development program of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport marked the beginning of the Cheongryong project in 2007.

Unlike the current models of KTX, Cheongryong uses a distributed power supply. The electric power units are dispersed throughout the train, in contrast to the earlier models, which should improve acceleration and deceleration performance. According to experts, this method is best suited for use in Korea, where stations are relatively close to one another.

The system’s ability to do away with the requirement for locomotives at the front and rear frees up additional space for passengers, which is another noteworthy benefit.

Sancheon, another KTX model, has 136 fewer seats than Cheongryong, a 35.8% increase. Furthermore, the seat aisle widths are 154 mm wider than they were previously. Two Cheongryong units will be installed by the Ministry in May, and by 2028, there will be thirty-one more.

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Healthcare

Earkick, a chatbot for mental health, welcomes users with a panda that seems amiable and would fit right in with a kid’s show.

The panda responds to users’ chats about worry with the same reassuring remarks as a licensed mental health practitioner, or therapist, would. After that, it can recommend breathing techniques or offer stress-reduction tips.

Among the hundreds of free chatbots designed to address the youth mental health epidemic is Earkick. Karin Andrea Stephan, one of the co-founders of Earkick, however, argues that neither he nor the other developers “feel comfortable” referring to their chatbots as therapeutic tools.

It matters to the expanding digital health sector whether these chatbots or applications offer basic self-help or mental health services. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is not required to approve the apps because they make no claims regarding the diagnosis or treatment of medical disorders.

Chatbots Powered by AI

Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbots have prompted a closer scrutiny of the industry’s standing. To mimic human speaking, the system makes extensive use of data.

The chatbots’ benefits are obvious: they are free to use, accessible around-the-clock, and allow users to connect in secret.

The disadvantages are as follows: there is little evidence that chatbots enhance mental health, and the FDA has not approved them to treat diseases like depression.

The American Psychological Association’s Vaile Wright is a technology director and psychologist. Users “have no way to know whether these chatbots are actually effective,” according to her.

Wright went on to say that conventional mental health care and chatbots are not the same. However, she added, they could assist some individuals with less serious emotional and mental health issues.

The program does not “provide any form of medical care, medical opinion, diagnosis, or treatment,” according to the Earkick website. Such arguments, according to some health lawyers, are insufficient.

Harvard Law School professor Glenn Cohen stated, “You want a disclaimer that’s more direct if you’re really worried about people using your app for mental health services.” “This is just for fun,” he proposed.

Nevertheless, because there is a persistent dearth of mental health specialists, chatbots are already in use.

Lack of Mental Health Specialists

Lack of mental health specialists

The National Health Service in Britain has started providing young people with a chatbot named Wysa to help with stress, anxiety, and despair.

This also applies to those who are awaiting a therapy appointment. Similar initiatives are being provided by a few hospitals, colleges, and health insurance companies in the US.

Family physician Dr. Angela Skrzynski practices in the American state of New Jersey. She claims that most of her patients are quite willing to try a chatbot after she informs them of the length of time it will take to see a therapist. Certain adult patients can receive Woebot from her workplace, Virtua Health.

Founded in 2017 by a psychologist with training from Stanford, Woebot is an AI-free platform. Thousands of structured language models created by the company’s researchers and employees are used by the chatbot.

According to Woebot founder Alison Darcy, this rules-based approach is safer to utilize in medical settings. The business is experimenting with generative AI models, but according to Darcy, there have been issues with the system.

“We couldn’t stop the large language models from… telling someone how they should be thinking, instead of facilitating the person’s process.” the speaker stated.

The findings of Woebot were incorporated into an AI chatbot study report that was published in Digital Medicine last year.

The authors came to the conclusion that chatbots could provide temporary relief from depression. However, it was impossible to investigate their long-term impact on mental health.

Ross Koppel is a health information technology researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. He is concerned that treatment and medication may be replaced by these chatbots. Koppel and others want the FDA to investigate and perhaps even regulate these chatbots.

Working at Seattle Children’s Hospital is Dr. Doug Opel. “There’s a whole host of questions we need to understand about this technology so we can ultimately do what we’re all here to do: improve kids’ mental and physical health.” he stated.

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Business

The Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi is warning prospective customers that there may be a seven-month wait before receiving their new SU7 sedan. This indicates that there is a high demand for an electric vehicle that directly competes with the Tesla Model 3.

Xiaomi began accepting orders for its SU7 car last Thursday, following the announcement of competitive pricing that began at $29,870. According to the firm, pre-orders hit around 90,000 in the first day on Friday.


Potential customers have been alerted by Xiaomi’s vehicle app this morning that the new SU7 and SU7 Pro may take 18 to 21 weeks to arrive. It would take 27 to 30 weeks to receive the most costly variant, the AWD SU7 Max, which costs 299,900 yuan (about $41,500).

Additionally, Xiaomi unveiled the Founder’s Edition, a limited-edition model with additional features including an add-on mini-fridge. According to reports, the first batch of 5,000 of them sold out right away on Thursday. Cofounder and CEO Lei Jun announced on Weibo on Sunday that there will be another batch of the Founder’s Edition edition available, however he did not say when or how many will be available.

Impressive specifications for the SU7 Standard option include a 73.6 kWh battery with a range of 700 km (435 miles), while the Pro has a 94.3 kWh battery with a range of 830 km (516 miles). The cost of the Pro is RMB 245,900, or $34,000.

A head-up display, Pilot Pro ADAS with vision (Pilot Max with vision and LiDAR on the top two trims), and a Dolby Atmos sound system (Max trim) are among the other cutting-edge technologies that come standard with the SU7. With a car that costs the same as the entry-level Model 3 in China but has far superior specifications, Xiaomi is taking aim at Tesla with this one.

The Chinese electronics behemoth is embarking on bold new endeavors with the SU7, and its billionaire cofounder Jun has big plans. In 15 to 20 years, he promises to lead the global auto industry and create a “dream car” that can compete with Tesla and Porsche. He also mentioned that the business intends to invest $10 billion to disrupt the market, just like it did with smartphones ten years ago, at the vehicle’s debut event in December.

China is the largest automobile market in the world, and since the firm originally announced its plan to enter the EV market in 2021, the regulatory environment in China has undergone substantial changes. Xiaomi is now building its electric vehicles in collaboration with Beijing Automotive Holding Group, a state-owned company, as a result of the government’s strict enforcement of manufacturing permits for new entrants.

Additionally, Xiaomi is entering a very competitive and densely populated industry in China, where hundreds of new models from dozens of brands—led by the dominant BYD—have already entered the market.

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Business

OpenAI is launching its office in Tokyo this month, exactly a year after announcing its intention to do so. This would be the first Asian office for the corporation.

Updates to OpenAI’s AI model are reportedly also intended to be released in Japanese.

After Dublin and London, OpenAI would open an office in Tokyo.

According to reports, when OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, they discussed the benefits and drawbacks of technology in terms of security and privacy, with the latter being informed by Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno.

According to Matsuno, Japan is now considering the viability of bringing OpenAI’s technology to the nation.

“We hope to… build something great for Japanese people, make the models better for Japanese language and Japanese culture,” Altman told reporters following their discussion with Kishida. Following ChatGPT’s launch, this is one of Altman’s first stops on his global tour.

In addition, the cabinet member in charge of Japan’s digital transformation, Taro Kono, expressed hope that artificial intelligence (AI) technology will be crucial to the government’s plans to change work practices. He did admit, though, that there would be difficulties in the near future implementing ChatGPT in governmental offices because of things like the possibility of misleading information being produced by the technology.

In December, OpenAI revealed plans to open an office in India in addition to Japan. To assist OpenAI in navigating India’s AI legislation and regulatory landscape, Rishi Jaitly, a former executive who most recently served as vice president of Twitter, will take on the role of senior advisor. Additionally, Rajeev Chandrashekar, the Minister of Electronics and Information Technology, was recently met by OpenAI executives Anna Adeola Makanju, James Hairston, the global head of Public Policy, and Jaitly.

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Travel

In an indication that it anticipates an increase in foreign travel this year, China Southern Airlines announced on Monday that it will be adding 17 new international routes in addition to operating its maiden flight between Beijing and Macau.

During a Beijing event, the airline said that the routes would go live before October 26. According to airline executives, the additional routes would travel to Tehran, Amsterdam, London, Doha, and Riyadh.

The largest gaming hub in the world is located in Macau, a special administrative area of China that is also a well-liked tourist destination.

After the easing of pandemic restrictions in early 2023, China’s international airline sector has only barely rebounded, finding it difficult to keep up with gains in domestic travel as customers continue to be price-sensitive in a weak economy.

As of now, China Southern’s international route network has returned to 80% of 2019 levels. According to Chen Ling, a deputy manager in China Southern’s north China marketing department, the airline thinks the additional routes will help bring it to 85% by the end of this year.

The depreciation of the yuan, weak consumer buying power, supply chain issues, and the cost of jet fuel were the reasons given by China Southern, one of the country’s three state carriers, for its 4.1 billion yuan annual loss disclosed last Wednesday.

Nonetheless, there is a lot of optimism that this year would see improvements in foreign travel from China.

China’s aviation authority stated in January that by the end of this year, it anticipates that there will be 6,000 weekly foreign flights to and from the nation, which is approximately 80% of pre-COVID levels.

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Science

The Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration (CADRE) technology demonstration includes the rovers and aims to demonstrate how a group of robotic spacecraft may cooperate without direct human control. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Mars Yard conducted a test run of the suitcase-sized rovers to imitate the rough terrain they will encounter on the moon.

NASA released a statement confirming that the tiny CADRE rovers were able to move in unison and modify their coordinated path to avoid obstacles during a series of tests conducted in August 2023 using two full-scale development models while the spacecraft were still under construction.

In order to survey the lunar surface in three dimensions, the solar-powered rovers will be outfitted with cameras, sensors, and ground-penetrating radar. Of the rover models tested in August 2023, only one had a solar panel stand-in installed. By reading each other’s battery levels, the other two were able to decide when to take a break and recharge their solar arrays before continuing on their adventure together.

NASA officials stated in a statement this month that additional testing included night drives at Mars Yard under massive flood lamps to replicate the intense lighting and shadows that the rovers will face during the lunar daytime.

In November 2023, vibration and heat testing were conducted on the rovers after the Mars Yard tests to make sure their hardware could withstand the journey to the moon. A unique “shaker table” that shakes violently in various directions was strapped to a rover. Additionally, it was kept in a thermal vacuum chamber, which replicates the airless environment and intense heat and cold of space.

In November 2023, the team tested for electromagnetic interference and compatibility in a specially constructed chamber meant to absorb radio signals. NASA reports that this demonstrated that the rovers’ electronic subsystems did not interfere with those on the lander or with each other, proving that the rover can withstand anticipated electromagnetic disturbances.

NASA said in early March that the three CADRE rovers had finished their testing and construction and were prepared for integration with Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander. As part of the company’s third lunar lander mission, IM-3, the lander will carry the miniature explorers to the lunar surface later this year or early the following year.

Collaborating to investigate the lunar surface, the rovers will spend the daytime hours of a lunar day—roughly 14 days on Earth—exploring the moon’s Reiner Gamma region.

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Business

Oz Clement Knight is the brain behind OHL Ventures Fund, which focuses on strategic investments in startups and growth-stage companies, showcasing promise for significant returns.

It is astonishing to learn about all those professionals who, in ways more than one, go ahead in carving a unique niche for themselves and their brands in their chosen sectors, even amidst massive competition and saturation. It is essential to put more light on the journeys and successes of these professionals, business owners, and experts who put in every possible effort to push boundaries and inspire other aspiring talents in their industry. We couldn’t help but notice the consistent rise of one such incredible talent in the financial world, Mr. Oz Clement Knight, the brain, heart, soul, and founder of OHL Ventures Fund and Ozmarq Holdings Ltd.

Oz Clement Knight stands tall today in the vast and ever-evolving financial realm as a New York-based financial expert known for being a top stockbroker, fund manager, and financial literacy educator. With over two decades of experience in the industry, he has remained a powerful force to be reckoned with in the niche, reaching the forefront of the industry as a trusted and renowned name.

As a top private equity fund manager, he has showcased sheer brilliance in managing portfolios, consistently outperforming market benchmarks and delivering value to investors, thriving off of his risk management skills with his market expertise and strategic visions. He is the brain, heart, and soul behind OHL Ventures Fund, a prominent name in the industry today, thanks to its commitment to venture capital and making growth equity investments in various leading seed, early, developmental, and later-stage private companies.

His passion for spreading his knowledge among others as a financial educator has helped him become a top-notch personality in the industry. He believes in empowering individuals with knowledge about personal finance, investing, and the economy that can transform their lives and the broader community.

Oz Clement Knight dedicates a significant portion of his time to teaching and advocating for financial education through seminars, workshops, and online platforms. He shares his insights and knowledge, demystifies complex topics, and makes them understandable for people of all ages and backgrounds.

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