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Receptionist's body found in BV cemetery
…face disfigured; 5 in custodyPolice are investigating the circumstances surrounding the ghastly murder of 18-year-old Qualfon receptionist Raynelle Benfield.Benfield, of Lot 99 Canterbury Walk, Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara (ECD), was discovered dead in a cemetery in her home village, with her face completely disfigured. Residents made the discovery after 07:00h on Monday.Her hands were resting on her chest while the pair of jeans she was wearing was pulled to her knees.Murdered: Raynelle BenfieldGuyana Times was told that the teen left home on Saturday morning for work and after she did not return home that evening, her relatives were under the impression that she was working overtime. However, much to their dismay, they received a call informing them that her body was found in the cemetery.Investigators are working on the theory that the teen might have been sexually assaulted before her face was bashed in with a heavy object, believed to be a stone. The teen's relatives were questioned by investigators about her social life and acquaintances. Police later in the day visited the homes of several young men in the area who are believed to be members of a gang.However, as relatives attempted to speak to the media about the incident, they were cautioned against this by the Police.This newspaper could not have confirmed if the teen used the company's transportation or public transport to go home.However, Police later confirmed that a total of five persons were currently in custody, including Benfield's boyfriend. Reports reaching this publication indicated that the boyfriend, a suspected gang member, dated a female relative of Benfield sometime in the recent past and a fallout occurred over this issue.Investigations into the brutal murder are ongoing as Police continue to gather more information. read more
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Hollywood collectibles go for big bucks at auction
CALABASAS – A photograph of Soviet film pioneer Sergei Eisenstein and a poster from an early Bette Davis movie commanded huge prices Thursday at the opening day of an auction of Hollywood memorabilia. The photo of Eisenstein, the silent movie director and film theorist, was taken by famed photographer Man Ray, said Joe Maddalena, president of Profiles in History, which put on the auction. "It was inscribed to Eisenstein by Man Ray and I had it estimated at about $4,000 or $5,000," Maddalena said. It sold for $70,000, a price he called "enormous." A six-sheet poster for Davis' 1938 film "Jezebel" was estimated at $20,000 to $30,000. It also brought in $70,000. "Thursday was like the soup before the main course. Friday's the main course," Maddalena said. "We'll have stuff going for six figures." — On the Net: http://www.profilesinhistory.com/160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You're all set! AD Quality Auto 360p 720p 1080p Top articles1/5READ MOREWhicker: Clemson demonstrates that it's tough to knock out the champ The prices didn't include an 18-percent fee charged by the auction house. The identity of the buyers was not released, but Maddalena said bidders came from as far away as China, Japan, Germany and Brazil. The bidding was expected to grow more intense on Friday when movie props – such as a full-scale T-Rex head from "Jurassic Park and Julie Andrews' coat from "Mary Poppins" – go on sale. A model T-800 endoskeleton from "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" was expected to bring in from $80,000 to $100,000, Maddalena said. Captain Jean Luc Picard's Enterprise E command chair from the Star Trek movie was estimated at up to $60,000. read more
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World Cup squads with the most returning players
11. South Korea – 8 out of 23 players are returning – 35%10. Germany – 9 out of 23 players are returning – 39%8= Colombia – 10 out of 23 players are returning – 43%8= Uruguay – 10 out of 23 players are returning – 43% 7 But many believe tournament experience is key for any country at the tournament.The folks over at BetVictor have compared all the squads going to Russia and it makes for interesting reading.See which nation has the most returning players from the World Cup in Brazil below…19= Nigeria – 5 out of 23 players are returning – 22%19= England – 5 out of 23 players are returning – 22%16= Australia – 6 out of 23 players are returning – 26%16= France – 6 out of 23 players are returning – 26% France's team ahead of their clash with Germany in 2014 Beto stands alongside Cristiano Ronaldo in 2014 16= Russia – 6 out of 23 players are returning – 26%12= Argentina – 7 out of 23 players are returning – 30%12= Brazil – 7 out of 23 players are returning – 30%12= Iran – 7 out of 23 players are returning – 30%12= Portugal – 7 out of 23 players are returning – 30% Belgium pose ahead of their World Cup 2014 match with the United States 7 Uruguay line up at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil 7 7 Brazil line up in ahead of a friendly prior to the World Cup in Russia 6= Japan – 11 out of 23 players are returning – 48%6= Spain – 11 out of 23 players are returning – 48%5. Costa Rica – 12 out of 23 players are returning – 52%3= Croatia – 13 out of 23 players are returning – 57% 7 3= Mexico – 13 out of 23 players are returning – 57%2. Switzerland – 14 out of 23 players are returning – 61%1. Belgium – 15 out of 23 players are returning – 65% 7 7 Members of the Croatian national team pose for the team photo prior to their match with Cameroon in 2014 With the World Cup imminent and all the squads announced, we're all assessing which nations have the quality to win.It's being looked at in many different ways with some valuing the skills of individuals, the tactics being used, and the mentalities of the groups. read more
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HOW NIALL UNDERWENT AN AMAZING TRANSFORMATION!
Niall's amazing before and after pictures!A Letterkenny man has undergone an amazing transformation after admitting he genuinely feared for his life.Well-known tax consultant Niall Doherty has gone from flab to fab in just 11 short weeks.The Hawthorn Heights man weighed in at a gut-busting 17.7 stone and had to wear size 38 trousers. But after putting himself on an intense training and diet schedule, Niall is turning heads after getting into terrific shape.The 31 year old revealed he genuinely feared for his own health and well-being."It got to the stage that I was worried that I was going to develop diabetes or have a heart-attack."I just had to do something and I promised myself that I would seek out the right people to help me reach that goal," he said. Those people were Seamus Fox and Reece Moore.Niall went to personal trainer Seamus, who runs the Evolve Gym in Derry, and asked him if he could help him.He also works with Letetrkenny-based Reece who runs the Fighting Fit Bootcamp."Seamus told me that if I was honest with his programme then I could get into good shape and get healthy again."I put my faith in him and stuck rigidly to the programme and I'm delighted to say that Seamus was right. "Without himself and Reece I just couldn't have done it," he said.But getting into the shape of his life wasn't easy and Niall admits he took him pure dedication and many sacrifices to reach his goal.He had to weigh all his food each day, eating out was just not on and a grueling training schedule of intense weights and cardiovascular work was included."It is not for everyone but I had to do it for myself. There are sacrifices. The idea of having a scone with a cup of tea is just not on," he said. Niall says he is delighted that he has reached his goal – especially for the sake of his wardrobe!"I had a lot of clothes that haven't fit me for years and I purposefully didn't throw them out."I can now fit into them and I'm delighted with that. But it is not for aesthetics or for other people – this has always been about me and my health," he said.He knows he can never keep up this intensity but Niall says he knows what he must do to remain in a healthy weight."I can allow myself a little leeway but I now know the science of what I must do to keep myself at this weight."I never knew that before but Seamus and Reece showed me how to do that and I will always be grateful for that."They showed me it can be done but it does take time and commitment," he said.HOW NIALL UNDERWENT AN AMAZING TRANSFORMATION! was last modified: September 24th, 2013 by StephenShare this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) read more
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Donegal-based charity marks 10 years supporting bereaved parents
Today (Monday) marks the tenth anniversary of Anam Cara, an all-island organisation which provides support services to bereaved parents.Launched in Donegal in 2008, Anam Cara's model is peer support, parents supporting parents. Anam Cara are marking their tenth year by holding Bereavement Information Evenings across the country in the month of February, and on into March. There will be 17 events in total, beginning in Bantry on Tuesday 6th February, including Limerick, Mayo and Armagh, two venues in Dublin, and extending for the first time in March to Waterford, Tyrone and west Donegal. Donegal Information Evenings include:DateLocationProfessional Speaker8th February 2018The Radisson Blu Hotel, Letterkenny, Co. DonegalMichelle Ni Thiarnain20th March 2018The Abbey Hotel , Donegal TownPeter Mc Cartan17th April 2018Inishowen Gateway Hotel, BuncranaPeter McCartanThese Information Evenings give parents an opportunity to hear a professional, experienced in bereavement support, talk about the many challenges families have to face into after the death of their son or daughter.Afterwards there will be an opportunity to speak/listen to other bereaved parents or to speak to the professional if there are any questions or concerns.Just as in 2008, Anam Cara today remains the only organisation in the country with services available to all bereaved parents, regardless of the age their child died or the circumstances of the death. Anam Cara focuses on the shared experience of being bereaved mothers or fathers, with this the starting point for parents supporting each other. As one parent who attends Anam Cara said: "When I'm there I know everyone in that room knows exactly how I feel."A dad who attended a previous Information Evening said: "The Bereavement Information meeting gave me so much to think about around the process of grieving and put a lot of reality rather that text book reality into play for me. This was such a support and I am still grateful for it."For a list of all events throughout the country over the next six weeks visit anamcara.ie or call 01 404 5378.Donegal-based charity marks 10 years supporting bereaved parents was last modified: February 5th, 2018 by Rachel McLaughlinShare this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Tags:Anam Carabereavementinformation eveningsPARENTS read more
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Journalist Advises Scientists to Tell Stories
Caltech may be the egghead capital of America. The prestigious university where Einstein and Feynman hung out may be weak in sports and arts, but is unsurpassed in science and engineering. Caltech graduates are so adept with mathematics and advanced physics, many of them would probably have a hard time at parties telling their relatives and friends what they do for a living. To avoid making others think they live on an alien planet, ABC/NPR journalist Robert Krulwich has an idea: tell stories. Krulwich gave the commencement address this past June. His remarks were just printed in the fall issue of Caltech's quarterly magazine Engineering and Science (E&S). The opening caption reads, "Stories matter, and in a nation where belief in alien abductions is on the rise while belief in evolution is on the decline, the best way to defend science is to tell your friends a good story." Newton, he explained, was private and secretive to a fault, whereas Galileo knew how to serve up an engaging tale. Stories are a must when communicating science to party-goers and reporters (though those two groups are not mutually exclusive). More importantly, he said, the Caltech graduates are not going to be able to win against pseudoscience unless they can outdo it in storytelling. What pseudoscientists did Krulwich have in mind? Scientists need to tell stories to nonscientists, because science stories—and you know this—have to compete with other stories about how the universe works, and how it came to be. And some of those other stories—Bible stories, movie stories, myths—can be very beautiful and very compelling. But to protect science and scientists—and this is not a gentle competition—you've got to get in there and tell your version of how things are, and why things came to be. We all know about creation-science movements in America. But what you may not know is that such movements are spreading all over the world.From there he launched into details of Adnan Oktar's lavishly-illustrated Atlas of Creation that has been sent free to schools across Turkey and Europe. "It's written in clear and simple language, using fabulous pictures, and the pictures are designed to 'prove' that fossils show no evidence of evolution." This is definitely bad, Krulwich argued, using Oktar, a Muslim, as his prototypical creationist. Krulwich appealed to Galileo's Dialogues Concerning the Two World Systems as an example of effective storytelling. Then he used some dialogue between nitwits on Friends to illustrate the scientific illiteracy of the general public. Metaphor to the rescue: "Stories with gripping visuals and good punch lines, stories that make intuitive sense, that make sensual sense—to your eyes, to your ears, to your touch—can convince," he preached. "They have power." For recent examples befitting modern science's penchant for abstruse disconnection from reality, he pointed to the well-known Schrödinger's Cat illustration, and to how a visitor to the Grand Canyon might bring its vastness down to earth with a line from Loren Eiseley, "the magnificent violence hidden in a raindrop." Krulwich saved his best example for last. He referred to Mary Schweitzer's research on medullary bone in dinosaurs, and how it compared with ostrich bone (see 06/03/2005). It could be dull scientific stuff until it is dressed in the storyteller's art:So Mary and her two assistants collected the dead ostrich, which was in the farmer's backhoe bucket, and drove it back to Raleigh, and what do you know? The former ostrich had been a pregnant former ostrich, and the bones looked pretty similar. The next year, Mary published a paper in Science with the dinosaur bone right next to an emu bone, which looks even more like Bob's. And since then, another T. rex, this one in Argentina, was found to have the same calcium structure—more evidence that when you look deep inside dinosaurs and deep inside birds, what you see is very, very similar. Which gives us yet another reason to think that the robin in your front yard is an itty, bitty dinosaur. If your nonscience friend listens to that story, and leans in a little, and hears how scientists work with bones and dead birds in buckets, patiently looking for patterns, you have just placed a sword in her hand. The next time somebody tells her that scientists are know-it-alls who toss off opinions, that science is an elitist plot, she would think, "welllll, but I did hear this story . . ." and the scientific method gets a little more defense, a little protection. But better than that, the next time your friend sees a robin, she'll see, I hope, more than a robin. She'll glance at a little bird pecking for worms on the lawn, and she'll travel 70 million years back to a time and a place that creationists say did not exist, but now, because of your story, your friend has a pregnant tyrannosaurus in her head with the unfortunate name of Bob. Which makes robins and sparrows and chickadees and crows and all birds just a little more amazing, and a little more delightful to look at. Which means, you win. The creationists can't beat delight. You have smote them with your story.A published address cannot reveal the audience reactions, but the fact Krulwich was invited, and Caltech published the address in its magazine, would seem to indicate the administration at least approved of his case for storytelling.Robert Krulwich does have a point. There is a place for metaphor and narrative in science. We use it often in our commentaries (for a recent example, see the last paragraph of the 10/17/2008 entry, below). Good teachers, preachers and public speakers know the power of metaphor in rhetoric. Rhetoric was one of the classical and medieval skills taught to all students. An academic field known as rhetoric of science emerged after Thomas Kuhn's 1961 thesis, to explore the ways in which rhetoric aids persuasion within paradigms and by challengers; the book Doubts About Darwin was built on Dr. Thomas Woodward's PhD thesis that explored the interplay of rhetoric around the emerging Intelligent Design Movement. Rhetoric of science departments even have their own vocabulary, and plenty of examples in the history of science to draw from. There are cases to be made that some important scientific paradigms were won or lost by the power of rhetoric. This is all very interesting and fine. Scientists ignore rhetoric at their peril. It's not persuasion that's the problem; it's propaganda. Here is where Krulwich erred. We often accuse the Darwinists of engaging not just in storytelling per se, but in "just-so storytelling," which is made-up stuff. Scientific explanations, even when aimed at Joe Six-Pack or Joe the Plumber, are supposed to be based in evidence and logic. Often, Darwinists trade in fables concocted to save their paradigm, even when faced with incriminating evidence. Krulwich committed several propaganda errors in his address. First, he divided all humanity into two classes (the either-or fallacy): scientists (e.g., those with honesty, brains and integrity, like Caltech graduates) and the rest of humanity, including scientific dunces like Phoebe on Friends, those who believe in alien abductions, Adnan Oktar, creationists and Bible believers. He followed this with some fear-mongering about how powerful the bogeymen are: "this is not a gentle competition," he said, giving the students a sword to conquer them. After having consigned all non-Caltech-scientists to absurdity, it conveniently allowed him to set up a straw man to push over with very few ergs of energy. He should read the material of the great creation scientists and best of the ID philosophers. That's what we do here: we take on the leading Darwinists in their leading publications. We challenge their Goliaths. Why does Krulwich associate creationism with the dimwits on a TV sitcom? Let him sit down with the PhDs (some from Caltech and MIT and Cambridge) who deny Darwin, and learn a little about his own vulnerability. Then he gave a vastly oversimplified view of science (the old truth-seeker in the white lab coat using "the scientific method," whatever that is). Doesn't he realize that view went out in the 1950s? Finally, his sample story about robins being itty-bitty dinosaurs, besides being downright silly, sidestepped the major point of Mary Schweitzer's work: that finding soft tissue and medullary bone in a dinosaur essentially falsifies the belief they are 65 million years old. He swallowed the Darwine to the dregs without tasting it first or submitting it to qualitative analysis—the very thing a good scientist is supposed to do. Consider the flaw, also, in his logic that similarities prove ancestry (see circular reasoning). If you look deep enough into a man's DNA and a banana's DNA, you can find all kinds of similarities. Darwinists pick and choose the kind of similarities they like, which they call "homologous traits" – or make up terms like "convergent evolution" and "analogous traits" to explain the others – whatever it takes to maintain their belief in Darwin's metaphorical Tree of Life. It's rigged to protect their belief system from falsification. Overall, Krulwich gets the gong for giving advice built on half-truths. So while we do not challenge him on the usefulness of being able to communicate scientific ideas effectively using narrative, we hope the graduating seniors of Caltech were discerning enough to smell the baloney in the hot dog. As for Krulwich's line, "The creationists can't beat delight," this has to be one of the biggest lies of the year. Creationists, like Louis Louis Pasteur stand amazed at the work of the Creator. You could not find a happier group – just look at the number of praise songs they have about creation. Compare this with the vitriol of the Darwinist People of Froth (e.g., 09/26/2005, 06/22/2007) and there is no contest. Then, Krulwich said, "You have smote them with your story." In a way, he's right. We're dumbfounded at the thought of a journalist telling scientists to fib, and with bad grammar at that. For more on the power of metaphors to mislead as well as inform, see "Metaphors Bewitch You" in the 07/04/2003 entry.(Visited 16 times, 1 visits today)FacebookTwitterPinterestSave分享0 read more
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Mandela's peers reflect on his legacy
Nelson Mandela's friends and former colleagues do not remember the man for his work as a freedom fighter and statesman, but rather as the good-natured human being that he was. (Image: Shamin Chibba) • Nelson Mandela – a timeline • Watch: Milestones in Mandela's long walk • How to remember Nelson Mandela on 5 December • Remembering Mandela one year on • Places to visit on Madiba's journey Shamin ChibbaNelson Mandela may have freed the nation, but his impact was global, with people taking inspiration from his forgiving and compassionate nature. "Our history books will refer to this period as the 'The Age of Mandela,'" said Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor in her reflections on the former statesman.Pandor was among a host of high-profile dignitaries at a commemoration of his death, held at the Nelson Mandela Foundation on Thursday, 4 December. They included his wife, Graça Machel, and members of the Mandela family. Today, 5 December, marks one year since the former president died.In her moving speech, Pandor reflected on Madiba not only as a leader of the nation but as a human being. "He had a wonderful sense of humour… in the room with him, there would always be laughter. So when we remember him, let's also have a sense of lightness, because that is what he would want."She acknowledged that Mandela, though a servant of the South African people, did not just belong to the nation but to the rest of the world too. "To remember Nelson Mandela a year after his passing, we realised as South Africans that we [could not] solely claim him as our own."South Africans should keep his legacy alivePandor said each South African should keep Mandela's legacy alive through their actions. "Instead of bemoaning our inadequacies, we should be asking ourselves, 'How much have I done to make the legacy live?' So let us not lament. Let us seek to replicate [Mandela]."Sello Hatang, the foundation's chief executive, echoed Pandor's sentiments, saying it did not matter where you were when Madiba died, but where you were today. "What are you doing to preserve Madiba's legacy?" he asked the audience.He also spoke of the importance Madiba placed on education. It is for this reason that the foundation was running a book drive.The only other country commemorating Mandela's death was Mauritius, he said. The island has declared this week Nelson Mandela Memorial Week, with a message for each of its citizens to do their bit for mankind and leave a legacy.An effect on the worldSABC (South African Broadcasting Corporation) group executive of news and current affairs, Jimmy Matthews, handed over archive radio and video footage of Mandela to the foundation. He remembered standing outside Robben Island prison when Mandela was freed in 1990. Now, he said, he was responsible for broadcasting Madiba's story.At the time of Mandela's death, Matthews was in Pietermaritzburg. When he heard the news, he rushed to Johannesburg, he recalled. And when he reached the SABC's offices in Auckland Park, he became part of the biggest broadcast event in the history of South African television. "The SABC took years to prepare for the eventual passing of Nelson Mandela. But we could not tell what impact it would have."Just days after his death, Telkom, the SABC and the foundation partnered on a project that gave callers an opportunity to leave messages of condolence and memory in each of South Africa's 11 official languages. "When you listen to the messages, you become aware of the impact he had on the world," said Telkom chairperson Jabu Mabuza.Foundation building a centre of memories"Memory is not far away, in the past," said Njabulo Ndebele, the foundation's chairperson. "It's a living thing."The foundation building was the former president's office after he left the presidency in 1999. His office remains intact. In it are several photographs of him with global leaders and legends such as Barack Obama and Muhammad Ali, signed boxing gloves from Ali's daughter, Layla, and numerous other trinkets reflecting his life.Ndebele recalled some of his most memorable Mandela anecdotes that took place in the very same auditorium as the commemoration. In June 2004, when Mandela announced his retirement from public life, "he told the world he was going to retire from retirement", Ndebele quipped. "And he said 'Don't call me, I'll call you.'"Also in 2004, a touching ceremony took place when a former Robben Island prison guard came to return two notebooks Mandela had kept in prison. The guards had taken these away from him in 1971.One of Ndebele's clearest and more painful memories was from 18 November 2010. "When [Mandela] left through this door, it was the last time we saw him in this building."When Mandela established the foundation, he wanted it to promote his legacy through memory. "Our mandate is to do the difficult memory work. His legacy is the future all of us are making and we all have to do this difficult work." read more
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How VR training apps are finally becoming a reality
Small Business Cybersecurity Threats and How to… Why IoT Apps are Eating Device Interfaces Follow the Puck Related Posts Andrew Woodberry Internet of Things Makes it Easier to Steal You… Virtual Reality garnered plenty of headlines this past year. Most of the coverage – from former President Barack Obama virtually visiting Yosemite National Park to Fox live streaming the Super Bowl – focused on the entertainment possibilities inherent in the technology. But many companies and organizations are taking advantage of Virtual Reality for more practical reasons: VR training apps.See also: When virtual pets roam our housesAccording to TrainingIndustry.com, $160 billion in North America and over $355 billion worldwide was spent on training in 2015. The total expenditures have grown every year since 2009. Those numbers indicate a robust market for companies providing training services, but also one that is ripe for disruption by technology such as Virtual Reality.VR has a lot of strengths that make it a natural fit for training: it's immersive, interactive, memorable, and scalable. For large scale training, you can distribute VR apps easily through a combination of cost-effective headsets like Google Cardboard and an iOS or Android app. For more in-depth training, requiring long-form or high-quality video, the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Samsung Gear VR provide the perfect hardware.John Alonso, owner of Inlet Shores Group, now offers VR training app creation and distribution as a core service offering at his consultancy. He turned to the technology when a client approached him about training employees for a job they would be performing. "The classroom training, the extensive videos did not give an adequate representation of what the job would be like," according to Alonso.Enter virtual reality.Alonso's team now specializes in creating long-form 360 training apps, particularly for Gear VR. Beyond just capturing immersive video, they augment their content with titling, narration, and animations. The mobile Samsung phones and headsets they use to display the training apps are easily distributed across multiple office locations.One of the early adopters of Alonso's VR training approach has been a division of the government. "Our Federal customer had been using video-based learning for multiple years," Alonso said. "While video can be effective, it does not put you 'in the place.' It doesn't provide the fidelity that was required. The only other solution was going to the physical place, but this was not financially viable."Among the many benefits to utilizing training apps is cost savings. Bringing in trainers, or transporting employees to a different location, involves both real costs (airline tickets, hotels) and intangible costs (lost productivity time). The location and time independent nature of VR makes it so students or employees can learn through VR in a classroom, at home, or practically anywhere. For budget-conscious clients, like divisions of the government, the cost savings can be substantial and important.VR works best for dangerous situationsVR training is also particularly well-suited for recreating simulated dangerous situations. UK-based Cineon Productions, started by University of Exeter Professor Dr. Sam Vine, is creating immersive 360 experiences for "safety critical" jobs. Beyond just replicating a dangerous environment, they're also taking an analytical approach at user interaction with the VR experiences, looking at eye tracking data.This allows them to predict during a real emergency where the employee focus might be, and subsequently, help train employees on how to better approach the real situation in the future. If you're able to correctly act in a simulated environment, the theory goes, you're more likely to replicate that in the real world.The market opportunity for production companies and consultancies looking to get into VR training is robust. At Inlet Shores Group, one client went from a small prototype with 10 headsets deployed to increasing their content 15x and deploying over 200+ Samsung Gear VR headsets.The cost to the content producer, outside of the additional headset hardware, is not significantly more than traditional platforms. And with web-based VR app creation platforms, like my company's, the editing and deployment time is no more than traditional methods, and sometimes much faster.As the cost of Virtual Reality publishing goes down, and the number of head-mounted displays purchased increases, expect more companies to embrace the power of VR for training. It's a natural fit for an industry that, outside the introduction of internet-based learning, hasn't seen much disruption since the turn of the century. And the results so far have been positive. According to Alonso, "There is real excitement around VR training apps. We hear repeatedly how it is 'more than they expected.'"This article is part of our Virtual Reality series. You can download a high-resolution version of the landscape featuring 431 companies here. Tags:#HTC Hive#Internet of Things#IoT#Oculus Rift#Samsung Gear#virtual reality#VR read more
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PBA D-League: Ateneo dismantles AMA for 3rd win in 4 games
Joshua Munzon finished with a game-high 41 points to go along nine rebounds while Franky Johnson had 22 points and seven boards.The Titans dropped to 1-3.Sports Related Videospowered by AdSparcRead Next View comments SEA Games hosting troubles anger Duterte Urgent reply from Philippine ‍football chief PH underwater hockey team aims to make waves in SEA Games PLAY LIST 02:42PH underwater hockey team aims to make waves in SEA Games01:44Philippines marks anniversary of massacre with calls for justice01:19Fire erupts in Barangay Tatalon in Quezon City01:07Trump talks impeachment while meeting NCAA athletes02:49World-class track facilities installed at NCC for SEA Games02:11Trump awards medals to Jon Voight, Alison Krauss Don't miss out on the latest news and information. P2.5 B shabu seized in Makati sting, Chinese national nabbed 1 dead, 3 injured in Quezon road crash Angelo Kouame flexed his strength to the tune of 22 points, 15 rebounds, and four blocks to lead Ateneo while Thirdy Ravena had 14 points, four rebounds, and eight assists in just three quarters.Cignal-Ateneo hit its shots early, going on a 9-0 opening run to end the first quarter convincingly ahead, 27-9.FEATURED STORIESSPORTSPrivate companies step in to help SEA Games hostingSPORTSUrgent reply from Philippine ‍football chiefSPORTSPalace wants Cayetano's PHISGOC Foundation probed over corruption charges"I just feel like we were a little bit disprestecful to ourselves, to our opponents, and to the game, but more to ourselves the last time out. We have to come out and do your best every game and today, we were much better," said Ateneo head coach Tab Baldwin.BJ Andrade also found his rhythm for the Blue Eagles with 21 points on 6-of-13 shooting from deep with five assists and three boards while Mike Nieto pitched in a 10-point, 12-rebound double-double. MOST READ LATEST STORIES Lacson backs proposal to elect president and vice president in tandem Hong Kong tunnel reopens, campus siege nears end Klay Thompson apologizes to low-energy Warriors fans Private companies step in to help SEA Games hosting Thirdy Ravena for Cignal-Ateneo. PBA IMAGESMANILA, Philippines—Cignal-Ateneo bounced back from its last lost and ripped AMA Online Education, 111-81, in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup Thursday at Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig.The Blue Eagles dropped to University of Santo Tomas, 112-98, last week but have since recovered to take a 3-1 record in the pre-season tournament.ADVERTISEMENT Trump campaign, GOP groups attack Google's new ad policy read more
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AIFF signs coaching convention with the Asian Football Confederation
The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has signed a coaching convention with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) focused on coaching rules and methods. It will highlight the regulations and guidelines of coaches' education.Savio Medeira, acting technical director, AIFF commented, "Coaching convention will help the coaches to manage their schedule in a better way as it will be done in modules and it will also help them to work on their deficiencies during the break.""Coaches will also have to undergo assignments which were not there before. Overall it will help coaches to be more confident and efficient in their approach towards coaching," he added.Coaching licenses have paramount importance in pursuing a professional career which remain valid for three years. If a coach does not undergo Continued Professional Development (CPD) courses during this period of three years, the license will be revoked.On the other hand, the license will be renewed for another three years if the candidate acquires his CPD of 21 points. Otherwise, they will have to repeat the specific diploma course again.Medeira feels this CPD will "help the coaches who aren't employed to stay connected.""CPD is one of the criteria's of the convention to renew their licenses. It will help coaches who are not employed to stay connected to the latest trends of the game by attending CPD courses. If coaches don't attend refresher courses and collect credit points within three years they will have to repeat the entire course again," he said.Also Read | Sheikh Salman becomes president of Asian Football Confederation for third timeadvertisementAlso Read | AIFF president Praful Patel becomes first Indian to be elected as FIFA Council member read more
Read the Post AIFF signs coaching convention with the Asian Football Confederation