Yimaj “Steve” Kalifa has mastered the art of reinvention – and, he has been so successful at it, that executives from major corporations and federal agencies now seek him out for advice. Often life has chapters, he likes to say, but sometimes you have to write whole new books to succeed. Growing up near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Kalifa’s first reinvention was realizing the power of context and environment. He had to near the center of the global economy, where his outsider status would let him see new opportunities that U.S. natives and industry veterans might overlook. So, 30 years ago, he moved to Los Angeles. He soon spotted Rap Pages…
Author: zenger.news
This torrent of water carrying chunks of ice and other debris cascaded down the side of a snow-covered Russian mountain, and, though it reached a hotel, no one was injured. The images of the river were filmed in Belokurikha, in the Russian Federal Subject of Altai Krai on April 8. A social media group, Resort22 – beloved Belokurikha, on the Russian social network VKontakte shared the video with a note, saying: “The river seemed to burst, a stormy stream of water and snow with logs spinning in it rushed towards the city.” The first and the third video show the…
A 27-year-old German man has spent nearly a decade filming just 18 minutes of a dystopian stop-motion animated movie — and he still has years to go before it is finished. Valentin Felder devotes all his free time to moving — ever so slightly — the tiny characters and machines he creates, and recording individual frames of the movie a fraction of a second at a time. The result looks like independent motion The time-consuming technique of stop-motion animation is a challenge. So far, the Leipzig resident who started the film while he was still in high school, has created…
LAHORE, Pakistan — Pakistan — the fifth-most populous country and one of the top 10 nations most affected by extreme weather events — could not make the cut for a seat among the 40 nations invited by the Joseph R. Biden administration to discuss climate change. President Biden’s first summit on climate, to be held virtually on April 22 and 23, will try “to galvanize efforts by the major economies to tackle the crisis”. In recent years, scientists have underscored the need to limit planetary warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to stave off the worst impacts of climate change. A key goal of the summit…
CHENNAI, India — American tech mogul Jeff Bezos, who owns Amazon, had one billionaire to fight in the Indian e-commerce space — Mukesh Ambani, who owns Reliance Industries. Now, another — Gautam Adani, who owns the Adani Group — has put a leg into India’s highly competitive e-commerce market, which is expected to grow to $200 billion by 2026. Walmart-owned, and one of India’s largest e-commerce firms, Flipkart has inked a deal with multinational conglomerate Adani Group to build one of its largest fulfillment centers in the financial capital Mumbai. The fulfillment center, a distribution facility where inventory is stored, so online…
Stealth and timing, in addition to skill and an eye for detail, all contribute to a Swedish photographer’s distinctive collection of wildlife images. Olle Nilsson’s day job is an electrical shop, but his day begins much earlier when he rises at 3:50 a.m. to follow his passion: nature photography. He has captured an elusive wolf, a white-tailed hawk and very young fox cubs, among others. His images have not gone unnoticed. The 26-year-old resident of Linkoping has 836,000 followers on TikTok and 120,000 on Instagram. Nilsson said he has been photographing wildlife in nearby forests for around five years. @ollenilssonenI…
Going against the maxim that video killed the radio star, audio search and delivery platform Audioburst recently announced the launch of its Platform for Apps, the world’s first podcast feed for mobile apps. The Tel Aviv-based company’s AI technology listens to, analyzes and indexes hundreds of millions of minutes of audio content, including podcasts and radio, which are segmented into short audio clips and then aggregated into playlists. It works with companies and products that already have listeners, such as smart speakers or entertainment system manufacturers. Introducing “Audioburst Platform for Apps,” the first audio content API/SDK for engagement and monetization.…
LAHORE, Pakistan — A new law in Pakistan is set to ban criticism of the army, and those found guilty will face fines up to PKR 500,000 ($3,270) and a possible two years behind bars. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2020, passed by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Interior, will see critics of the armed forces tried in civil courts under Section 500A of the Pakistan Penal Code. Critics of the law see it as the latest attempt to silence dissent in the country, with the state already accused of large-scale censorship. “Absolutely ridiculous idea to criminalize criticism,” Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s…
NEW DELHI — Around the same week that Italy officially abolished film censorship, India scrapped its movie certification tribunal, leaving several filmmakers debating on whether this is a step forward or backward. The Tribunals Reforms (Rationalization and Conditions of Service) Ordinance, 2021, issued by India’s Ministry of Law and Justice on April 4, did away with the Appellate authorities across nine laws. The Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), established in 1983 under the Cinematograph Act 1952, served as a platform for filmmakers aggrieved by decisions of the country’s Central Board of Certification (CBFC). It would either reaffirm or reverse the CBFC’s decision. But now, the only…
A virtual hackathon dedicated to assisting elderly Holocaust survivors and promoting the memory of the Holocaust in innovative ways drew 200 young developers from Israel, Macedonia, Poland, Germany, England and Denmark. Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) was marked on April 8 this year. From March 30 to April 3, teams of mostly university students channeled their coding skills into 27 proposals presented to the Heroes Hackathon judges, who chose a few to be developed into working products. “There were no prizes; it was just people volunteering to create products for the benefit of mankind,” said Lion Ben-Ness Vanunu, CEO and…