This Week I Learned - Week #142

This Week I Learned -

AppLocker is a new feature in Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7 that ...allow you to create rules to allow or deny applications from running based on unique identities of files and to specify which users or groups can run those applications.

The URL of a country-specific Amazon Reviews page for a product has this pattern: http://www.amazon.{ccTLD}/product-reviews/{ASIN}/ . For example, the reviews for the book with ASIN or product code of 0143031031 on Amazon.in are available at this URL: http://www.amazon.in/product-reviews/0143031031/

It was interesting to see more comments & acknowledgement for reviews of a book than the actual number of reviews
Today 75 percent of adults in Kenya have accounts with a bank or mobile-money provider, up from only 42 percent in 2011.

The annual budget of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has risen from Rs.1,995 crore in the year 2012-13 to Rs.5,550 crore for the present year. Despite the increase, it has does not appear to be translating to improvement in civic amenities in the city. There are more than 8,500 applications awaiting disposal with the civic body.

Employees will no longer need the approval of their employers to withdraw money from their EPF (Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation) corpuses. Many employees have complained that organisations at times use their approval powers as a tool to harass them. To avail the newly introduced facilities by the EPFO, the employees must get their UAN. In many cases, employers have not submitted the KYC details or have not availed of the digital signature. The retirement body will soon be launching an online PF withdrawal facility.

If the premium payable in any year exceeds 20 per cent of the ‘actual sum assured’, the policy (issued between April 1, 2003 and March 31, 2012) proceeds are taxable in the hands of the insured. For policies that are issued after April 1, 2012, the actual sum assured needs to be at least 10 times the premium paid in any policy year to be exempt under Section 10 (10D) of the Income Tax Act. If the insurance product does not meet this criteria, then the whole proceeds from the policy will get taxed in the year of receipt. Even for 80C deductions, a person can only claim a benefit of up to 10 per cent or 20 per cent (depending on the investment years) of the sum assured. For a policy purchased this financial year, if the sum assured is, says Rs 2 lakh, and premium is Rs 30,000, tax laws allow you to claim only Rs 20,000 (10 per cent of Rs 2 lakh) as deduction

Children growing up in some places in US go on to earn more than they would if they had grown up elsewhere

China’s enormous overseas spending has helped it displace the United States and Europe as the leading financial power in large parts of the developing world.

Most of the data on the mobile homepages of the top 50 news websites comes from advertising, demonstrating the appeal of ad blockers.

Nearly 60 million people are currently displaced from their homes by war and persecution — more than at any time since World War II. Half are children. 

Lost My Name (the company - created after it's co-founder's daughter received an uninspired personalized book) released its second customized book, “The Incredible Intergalactic Journey Home,” geared toward children ages 4 to 8. At first glance, it looks like a typical children’s book, with colorful images of aliens and faraway galaxies and silly rhymes describing a child’s journey through space.But what initially seems like a breezy, whimsical story required more than 25,000 lines of computer code. In addition to the author and illustrator listed on the cover, a dozen developers worked on the book. The story adds an extra personal element by integrating the child’s neighborhood and home into the plot, along with his or her name.

McDonald’s has the power to fundamentally alter the food system. This year, for example, McDonald’s announced that it will stop selling meat from chickens that have been raised with antibiotics. Soon after, Tyson Foods, the country’s largest chicken processor (and a major McDonald’s supplier) decided to stop using antibiotics to raise its chickens in the United States. One in 12 Americans work a restaurant job; fast-food employees account for 3.6 million workers.

China's top tourism authority added the names of five tourists to a list published online that attempts to name and shame "uncivilized behavior" by Chinese tourists when they travel abroad. There are now 16 individuals on this list of embarrassing tourists, which was launched by the China National Tourism Administration. The World Bank says 98 million Chinese citizens traveled abroad in 2013, more than any other nationality in the world

The bigger the lie, they say, the more people will believe it. Or, in Republican presidential contender Donald Trump’s case, the sheer volume of lies will do the trick. That was the thought behind the Pulitzer-prize winning fact-checking service, Politifact’s decision to award Trump its not-so-coveted “Lie of the Year” award - Washington Post

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