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  • Battery Driven Rickshaws

    From the beginning of the early 1800s, a three-wheeler known as RICKSHAW is a popular meansof transport. Over the decades, rickshaws stood out as a representation of the South-Asian culture, lifestyle and soon, became part of an economical entity.

    Innovation and convenience gave rise to the modified transport called Battery-Driven Rickshaws.The number of batter-driven rickshaws have exponentially increased in metropolitan cities like Dhaka – in the size of at least thousands.

    Unemployed individuals, without sufficient technical skills and slight physical disabilities found jobs with these vehicles. These rickshaws, unlike the traditional ones operate in high speed, without much effort, the low fare just added to the popularity of these rickshaws. 

    Even though, it brought convenience and inclusivity, in terms of employment – these rickshaws also had a massive drawback. They gave rise to high levels of traffic, and heightened pollution rates.

    Battery-run rickshaws were also suspected to be fatal to life, as they recorded multiple accidents.

    The vehicle’s poor braking system on the front wheel and high centre of gravity allowed it to brake inadequately and often times, the entire rickshaw toppled over during turning. All of these meant that the vehicle did hold a lot of risk for its passengers

    Battery-run rickshaws did open a lot of doors for people, however it came with a lot of unfortunate incidents too. Thus after taking into account the incidents that unfolded, the Home Minister of Bangladesh, Asaduzzaman Khan announced a ban on battery-run rickshaws on June 20th 2021 due to safety concerns and traffic congestion.

    He said

    “These vehicles are plying in different cities and this is a concern for the government,”

    According to many people, a new improved design of the rickshaw could have been the answer to the problems, and not banning.

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  • Harmony OS Decoded

    Will Harmony OS (operating system) be the 3rd major smartphone operating system? Will all Chinese branded smartphones run on Harmony OS soon? Will it be better than iOS or Android? Will Harmony OS help Huawei retain their lost market share?

    All these questions have been asked for quite some time now, yet Huawei has been vague when it came to answering these questions publicly. Why have they kept consumers and tech enthusiasts in the dark like that? Your guess is as good as mine.

    On 1st July 2021, Huawei announced that Harmony OS shall be coming to over 100 phones, tablets, smartwatches, and more devices without specifying what devices will be running this new OS. This is indeed a new OS developed by Huawei and has its own microkernel and is advertised to be open source. Huawei claims Harmony OS shall run on smart devices by Huawei somewhat like Apple’s Homekit which essentially allows users to control devices such as speakers, fans, home and room lighting via Bluetooth or NFC from a consumer’s phone and other smart devices.

    The interesting factor is, all existing Huawei phones, tablets, smartwatch and any other smart devices shall run on Harmony OS in the near future. But Huawei’s phones and tablets are currently running on android at the moment and are dependant on the android OS kernel(s). Huawei’s smartwatch line isrunning their own lite OS and their other devices are running their own forked out software. So, essentially Huawei has just suddenly decided to call whatever OS their devices were running on to be running on Harmony OS for their next software update. This exposition does not make sense because essentially, Huawei is just running their devices on their old OS but has now just rebranded them under the umbrella OS name of Harmony OS. 

    So then, is Harmony OS just a gimmick? Not really. If your home has smart devices by Huawei such as Televisions, Refrigerators, Microwave ovens, Smart Speakers, smart led lights, etc, it should make connecting to them via your Huawei or tablet phone more seamless just like Apple devices connect to Apple’s Airpods instantly once you open the airpod’s case instantaneously for example. Or at least, that is the concept Huawei is trying to sell to consumers. 

    Under the hood, Huawei is focusing on what they call the “DSoftbus” technology who’s goal is to connect multiple devices into one network which will allow the user to use one device to control the others and it is advertised that the data sharing and between them should be faster and smooter.

    Regarding Huawei phones and tablets running Harmony OS, they are still running on the android platform. Huawei currently runs a custom skin called EMUI on top of the android versions made by Google which adds a lot of features which Google’s own stock android OS or as we know it, Vanilla android. Other brands such as Xiaomi does the same with their MIUI or Samsung with their One UI. The difference here is that Huawei is moving more and more away from stock android which Google makes, and is looking more and more different after every iteration update. This is not exactly a bad thing as it sets apart Huawei from for example a stock android phone like Pixel or Nokia whose software are designed by Google and those brands make little changes to them. This may look like Huawei is fooling all of us by trying to sell Harmony OS as a new revolutionary operating system while on the inside it’s just another custom version of android but who knows, maybe in the future they might actually come up with an OS of their own. 

    The encouraging thing about Harmony OS is, other Chinese brands which manufacture phones are also testing Harmony OS on their phones to test how it performs, kind of like in a beta testing phase. If that works out, maybe someday Chinese brands will all release phones running Harmony OS instead of android. This has huge potential for the Chinese smartphone market as it is still the biggest smartphone market in the world right now where Huawei still dominates the market with the biggest percentage of the consumer smartphones as per counterpointresearch.com where it was reported Huawei, in 2020 held around 40% of the market share in the first 3 quarters of 2020, and 30% in the last quarter. 

    Another point to note is the fact that what Harmony OS is trying to achieve here is not new. Apple already is trying this out with their Apple Homekit, Samsung has their Samsung Smart Home and Xiaomi has the option for this too with their MI Home app which allows it to control all Xiaomi gadgets and appliances from the user’s phone via Bluetooth or NFC. All of them tries to provide consumers a seamless smart home experience by allowing them to control smart home devices. 

    In conclusion then, no Harmony OS is not a new revolutionary OS as Huawei hyped it out to be. They are still dependant on the android platform quite heavily and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future as easter eggs show Huawei will be updating existing devise which are eligible to the Android 12 version coming soon. The only new difference in Harmony OS over EMUI are in visual changes and the name changing. Will this help Huawei win back their lost glory and the huge loss they suffered by having to sell their sub-brand Honor? Only time will tell, but for now, from a consumer standpoint, Harmony OS does not bring enough to the table to be considered something revolutionary (yet).

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  • Top freelancing skills you may master in 2021

    In a world filled with creativity and productivity, freelancing has opened up a wide window for enthusiasts who want to lead a life out of the box. In Bangladesh where the job market is so saturated, freelancing has raised numerous opportunities for the youths of the country. The top future-proof freelancing skills are apprehended in the following.

    Website development: This freelance skill will surf up the waves of demand, both in the present and in the future. As organisations and entrepreneurs are shifting their paradigm towards online-oriented business strategies, website development is at the top of freelancing skills. Not to mention the aspects uprising of COVID-19 which initiated e-commerce more than ever in Bangladesh.

    Data engineering: Data engineers focus on the applications and harvesting of big data. Creating mechanisms for collecting and validating data is the responsibility of a data engineer. They are hands-on information processing professionals with tasks that range from data storage to data manipulation. Data engineering has been the leading factor behind the growth of many ventures that have found success in recent years and sooner or later Bangladesh will have to walk the same path.

    Social media specialisation: Social media is the best place to grow and extend the consumer base for digital businesses. A specialist who can correspond to the growth of the business in social platforms can build up an infrastructure for the new ventures.

    Creative writing: Every business in Bangladesh thrives to have some qualifiedindividuals who can back up the digital contents, website, and articles that are publishedfrom the organisation to be top-notched. That’s when a creative writer comes to play.Writing articles, blogs, news and contents about the products and services in an appealing way is the goal of every creative writer.

    Expertise in Cybersecurity: As businesses are emerging from left and right in the digital platform,like the traditional form of businesses, digital businesses also need a wall of protectionfrom extremities. That’s why cyber-security planted a stronghold in the freelancingmarket.

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  • Opinion — Israel’s Iron Dome Explained.

    In the recent conflict between Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and Hamas over a “rocket war”, the true victims out of this conflict were innocent civilians and children mainly. As reported by the BBC, the fighting lasted for 11 days before both parties to the conflict engaged in talks resulting in a ceasefire.

    Gaza’s health ministry reported that at the least 243 people has been killed by IDF airstrikes, this number includes at least 100 women and children. The IDF claimed it has killed 225 Hamas “militants” in these 11 days. Meanwhile, Hamas has declined to give any data on the number of casualties they suffered.
    In stark contrast, during the same 11 days, the Times of Israel reported that Israel bore the brunt of a total of 1,300 rocket attacks by Hamas and Israel’s Medical services reported that these rocket attacks caused 12 casualties in addition to further damage to social infrastructure.

    What is behind Israel’s low casualty rate? 1,300 rocket attacks over a period of 11 days in theory would have done far more damage to any other nation than what Israel suffered. This is all due to Israel’s much hyped “Iron Dome” system which neutralised 90% of the rocket attacks by Hamas in this conflict which is no easy task given these rocket attacks focus more in saturating the Iron Dome System with sheer number of rockets to the Iron Dome System cannot neutralise all the rockets from hitting their targets. In the recent conflict, out of the 1,300 rockets fired, only 200 managed to land in Southern Israel. In this article, I shall attempt to explain the mechanism behind the Iron Dome System and how it operates.

    An interesting point I would live to draw to the reader’s attention is the fact that many of these rockets fired at Southern Israel by Hamas are quite primitive in design with unreliable guidance systems, some being as small as 90 centimetres. So, more often than now, neither Hamas or the IDF has any clue where these rockets will exactly land. These rockets may hit a populated market, a hospital, explode mid-air or even land in a farmland.

    This is exactly where the Iron Dome System comes in to take out as many of these rockets as possible to reduce civilian casualties and infrastructure and economic damage to the Israeli state. This even poses a risk to the residents of Gaza itself as it has been observed that about 200 rockets in the recent conflict risked landing and exploding inside Gaza itself due to their primitive design and unskilled personnel manning these rocket batteries.

    The Iron Dome System, affectionately called as the shield that defends Israel is truly a modern 21st Century engineering marvel in the defence industry. To keep it simple, this systems are divided and organised as “Battery Clusters” which includes the operating personnel, radars and an interceptor missile launcher. Currently, Israel has 10 batteries in service around their major cities and populated areas. Israel plans to increase this number to 15 in the future.

    First step of the Iron Dome System is to detect incoming rockets by use of their radars which are constantly scanning the skies for incoming threats. In the second step, the command centre determines the size, trajectory, and possible place the incoming rocket might land at. And finally, one of the 10 Iron Dome missile battery shall launch an “interceptor missile” in response to the incoming threat which is essentially a rocket launched to destroy the incoming rocket in a hope to destroy it mid-air.

    The feature that makes the IDF’s Iron Dome System stand out is the fact it is one of the few missile defence interceptor systems right now that can specifically counter the threat of short-range rockets and missiles. This is something that even the more costly and much hyped Patriot Missile Defence System which the defence forces of the USA and their other NATO allies rely upon are not capable of handling.

    In conclusion, the Iron Dome not only intercepts 90% of the rockets fired by militants at Israeli occupied lands, but additionally it does buy crucial additional time for the residents of their land to run to and reach their designated bomb shelters as the Iron Dome tries to delay the other 10% of the rockets from reaching their targets which has proven invaluable not only saving lives but also reducing economic and infrastructure damage to civilian majority areas.

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  • Where will your Tax go?

    Suppose, you have paid 100 Taka as tax. Now let’s see where that will be spent, who will get more.

    For example, 19 taka of your 100 Taka tax will be paid as salary and allowance of Government employees. They’ll receive 7.7 Taka as pension as well.

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  • Is Amazon really coming go Bangladesh?

    Amazon, one of the world’s most influential tech giants recently acquired Business Identification Number (BIN) from the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in Bangladesh.

    Around the same time, Google obtained BIN as well. This is the first-time non-residential companies registered for BIN in this country.

    This news was met with a lot of excitement, especially when people thought Amazon was bringing their e-commerce services. Much to their dismay, no such thing is happening. The move was just to ensure business continuity of their AWS (Amazon Web Services).

    AWS is a secure cloud services platform of Amazon offering multiple services including compute power, data processing. It is trusted by many firms, as it saves their time, money and potential. The use of AWS is not only limited to firms, people using subscriptions of google drive and google cloud also use this.

    Amazon and other tech giants earn around Tk3000 crore  in Bangladesh from these services of AWS. Until now, payment for this by Bangladeshi customers used to be done by international credit cards.

    However, there are allegations that many use illegal channels for this, which is not compliant with NBR regulations.

    Getting BIN means, now the payment of the services can be done by cards of any Bangladeshi bank or Mobile Bank, without any need of currency exchange. However, with every payment 15% VAT will be charged and the money from the VAT will go to the government reserve.

    Upon asking on whether this move will change the way in which Amazon works in Bangladesh, the VAT online project director said “Amazon will continue in the same way as before, but the process will now be compliant with regulations “

    According to industry experts, in the near future Amazon doesn’t have any plans of bringing their e-commerce services to Bangladesh. The registration was done to ensure business continuity of their AWS.

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  • Everything you need to know about ‘Black Fungus’

    What is Black Fungus?

    More commonly recognized as Black Fungus, Mucormycosis is a rare condition of fungal infection, surfacing among recovered or recovering COVID-19 patients. Originally caused by moulds formed in decaying organic compounds, it is labelled as a non-contagious infection but is potentially fatal.

    How does it spread?


    The infection spreads from airways to body tissues, causing necrosis of skin cells (blackening). Coronavirus, Diabetes, poor immune system, liver or cardiac defects, excessive use of steroids amplifies chances of being infected. Dirty oxygen cylinders, humidifiers and unsanitary conditions contribute to the accelerated growth of the number of cases, experts say.


    India is currently facing the worst phase of COVID-19 as the second wave circulated. The given circumstances of diabetic patients, unhygienic medical equipment and lower oxygen concentrations create an ideal habitat to be infected by the fatal disease. 900,000 cases of Black Fungus have been recorded in India, with an alarming 50% fatality rate.


    Symptoms of Black fungus:

    • Fever
    • Blocked Nasal Pathway
    • Blurry vision
    • Coughing
    • Skin discolouration and swelling
    • Headache
    • Shortness of breath
    • Vomiting blood
    • Pain and redness on the nose and eye area

    Precautions against Black fungus:

    • Maintaining blood sugar level
    • Checking for any post-COVID recovery symptoms
    • Refrain from wearing unhygienic masks
    • Cleaning used humidifiers
    • Continual clean air ventilation

    Written by: Nazifa Tabassum

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  • Quad Explained

    QUAD (The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) is an informal strategic dialogue between the USA, Japan, Australia and India.

    The idea for the QUAD Group is attributed to former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who
    mooted it in 2007.

    However, its origins can be traced back to the 2004 Tsunami when Japan, the US and Australia conducted the relief operation in India and its neighbouring countries.

    It came into being presumably as an indirect response to China’s growing economic and military might in the South China Sea. Thus China issued formal diplomatic protests to the members of the QUAD

    Due to which Australia backed out from the QUAD followed by an intermission of QUAD.

    Currently, QUAD members see the informal alliance as a vision for a Free and Open Indo-Pacific maritime navigation.QUAD aims for a maritime goal of upholding international maritime laws in China’s maritime borders.

    However, the QUAD was reinstated in 2017 by the Trump administration and Prime Minister Abe which was regarded as a response to China’s belt and road initiative.

    It also has economic cooperation goals, especially during natural disasters and handling the current
    Covid-19 pandemic by producing the vaccine.

    On the other hand, China has responded diplomatically warning other nation’s not to join the QUAD alliance as QUAD plus one member.

    —

  • Shadow and Bone spoiler free full review:

    Dark requires none; it exists on its’ own, surviving and thriving on deceit and other’s ignorance. However, light does not exist alone, it is present in hearts even in the darkest of days, and it symbolizes empathy and a way out, as every living being anxiously waits for light.

    If you are stuck home during this Eid, allow yourself to experience the new hit Netflix show, which has a mixture of action, adventure, character depth, dark world building, deep rooted drama story, with bits of comedy and light tones as well.

    The Netflix series Shadow and Bone revolve around the time-honoured theme where there is the light of hope and the Shadow Fold, a vicious, malevolent passage separating the East and West Ravka. The passage is full of horrifying, blood-thirsty creatures called volcras. Shadow and Bone is a fantasy story based on the mythical land of Ravka, where people with magical powers named Grisha exist.

    The protagonist Alina grows up in an orphanage in East Ravka while living as an average human without powers with only her best friend Mal is her only support there. Things take a turn after she accidentally discovers that she is not just an ordinary human. After the fated incident, Alina has to come to terms with who she is and deal with entering a whole new world to find the mysteries of the Fold.

    Meanwhile, on the west side of the Fold, in Ketterdam, there are people called the Crows (Kaz, Jesper and Inej) -a group of thieves, assassin and a spy, who are out to secure a job that would give them immense wealth to last them a lifetime. They later find the job has a close connection to the Shadow Fold as well.

    The show indeed succeeded in building up the suspense in every episode and keeping viewers captivated for what’s about to follow next. The thrilling plot leaves viewers wary of every character and in constant conflicts on which side to pick.

    Conventionally, when the genre is fantasy, we don’t expect reality or relatability, but Shadow and Bone undoubtedly brings everything into the mix.

    The show finds many women on their journey of empowerment, Alina, as she learns that she needs to become an entirely different person, Inej, who makes up her mind to do what she wants to do and not just follow Kaz. Even though we have a lot of series in this particular field, the unique aspect about Shadow and Bone is that it takes a step-by-step approach, making it believable and inspiring the viewers to go on their journey of empowerment with the belief that it is possible.

    Shadow and Bone also manages to portray the significance money hold for people in different classes of society. For one person, having money meant freedom from a life she was forced to live, and for another, a life where he could fulfil his every desire. Some glimpses of class struggle are vaguely shown in the show when we see people in the lower socio-economic hierarchy being frustrated at the upper class for not giving them equal respect. The cracks of modern-day progressive society are also present in the show. Even though society should be equal for everyone in the status quo, we still see powerful people preying on vulnerable ones as they don’t answer to anyone. Shadow and Bone give us an escape from the stressful lives that we lead and urges us to think about the social issues that plague our lives, touching on topics that are sometimes considered taboo.

    Through the mixed heritage of Alina, the series manifests the alienation that people with cross-cultural identities experience. A sense of helplessness and the value of freedom is also expressed in the show through the plight of a character who was a victim of human trafficking. This show offers a bit of respite for anyone who may feel similar, empathizes with them, and presents a way out.
    The show did have some romance, showing how complicated feelings can lead to complex relationships and chemistries between different people. This is something Netflix seems to be doing quite often recently. Jesper’s sexuality as a queer person was revealed in the show, but the showrunners didn’t expand on it. Overall, romance lovers may be a bit disappointed, but season 2 promises to have a fair share, expanding on the chemistry introduced with the characters.

    One of the fantastic things about this show was that every character had a story to tell. Be it Genya, the Grisha tailor who could wipe out every ugly scar except the ones in her life, and Zoya – the Grisha who pined for a person for years but didn’t hesitate to go against him when her conscience told her to. With the multitude of character development and character story the show never gets monotonous, as the viewer discovers new gripping details all the time.

    The show has the optimum amount of edge-of-your-seat moments and just enough reality to keep viewers delighted but not overwhelmed. Thus, even if you absolutely detest an imaginary world, watch this show as a touch of truth will keep you hooked, and who knows, you may even start to like fantasy!

    7.9/10 on IMDB

    Written by Shararah Kibria

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