This Week I Learned - Week #208

This Week I Learned -

* The following became generally available -
- Azure Network Watcher - to monitor, diagnose, and gain insights into network performance and health.
Azure Monitor - the central source and pipeline for monitoring data from Azure
Azure Resource Health - helps you diagnose and get support when an Azure issue impacts your resources.
Azure Advisor - personalized recommendation guide that helps you follow best practices to optimize your Azure resources.
Web Application Firewall (WAF), part of the Azure Application Gateway WAF SKU - helps protect web applications from common web-based attacks like SQL injection, cross-site scripting attacks, and protocol anomalies.

* A centralized web application firewall (WAF) protects against web attacks and simplifies security management without requiring any application changes. Application and compliance administrators get better assurance against threats and intrusions.

* Azure Application Gateway is an Application Delivery Controller (ADC) layer 7 network service offering capabilities including SSL termination, true round robin load distribution, cookie-based session affinity, multi-site hosting, and URL path based routing. Web Application Firewall integrated with Application Gateway’s core offerings further strengthens the security portfolio and posture of applications protecting them from many of the most common web vulnerabilities, as identified by Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) top 10 vulnerabilities - Azure Blog

* Recovery Services vaults of Azure Backup and Azure Site Recovery support both ASM and ARM stacksRecovery Services vault is an Azure Resource Manager resource to manage your backup and disaster recovery needs natively in the cloud. Recovery Services vault is a unified vault in the new Azure portal, a replacement for Backup vault and Site Recovery vault.
Opensource.google.com is a new website where Google will bring together its many open source initiatives.

A recent study by Google found that the average time it takes to load a mobile landing page is 22 seconds. Google has introduced a new Google Mobile Sites certification exam for web developers to complete & demonstrate their ability to build and optimize high-quality sites

79% of internet usage was made by Indians through mobiles in February compared to 49.7% for the world in general. The most popular browser in India in terms of internet usage according to StatCounter is UC Browser (43.3%) followed by Chrome (36.1%).

* The EPF  (Employees Provident Fund) is the rare investment vehicle still on an EEE regime - your investment, annual returns and the final withdrawal are all tax-free. But the market-linked NPS (National Pension System) is on an EET regime. Your annual NPS contributions earn you tax breaks up to ₹2 lakh and returns aren’t taxed each year. But at retirement, just 40 per cent of your accumulated kitty is exempt from tax. In the last five years, equity plans on the NPS menu have delivered 13-14 per cent annually, government bond plans 8-10 per cent and corporate debt 11-11.5 per cent. So an investor who opted for 50-25-25 mix between the three assets would have earned 11.25 to 12.4 per cent. The EPFO, in this period, has delivered annual tax-free returns of 8.25 to 8.8 per cent. The EPFO allows you to apply for early withdrawal before retirement age, if you have been unemployed for 60 days. Partial withdrawals of up to 25 per cent of your contribution are allowed before 60, subject to conditions. To withdraw, you must have completed 10 years and prove specific emergency needs. Even then, withdrawals are capped at three times, with a gap of five years between each - Hindu Businessline

* The Czech Republic has the highest per capita beer consumption in the world

* Just like people, cats can be lactose intolerant. To digest lactose, a milk sugar, the human and feline digestive systems must contain the enzyme lactase.

* Bengali is the sixth most spoken language around the world among over 7,000 living languages on our planet.

* While the capsaicin in the chilli may burn and irritate the flesh of mammals, birds are immune to its effects. Which is why birds are largely responsible for helping wild peppers spread by eating them and excreting the seeds.

* “Accessibility is not a bolt-on – it’s something that must be built into every product we make so that our products work for everyone – only then will we empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. This is the inclusive culture we aspire to create.” - Satya Nadella

* "Hope is the oxygen of the human spirit" - Margaret Somerville

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