This Week I Learned - Week #224

This Week I Learned -

Azure App Service, Web Apps, API Apps, and WebJobs can be remotely profiled.

Azure Load Balancer has a default idle timeout setting of four minutes or 240 seconds.

Kestrel, a new managed web server introduced with .NET Core, is by far the fastest available .NET server. According to benchmarks, about six times faster than .NET 4.6 and three times faster than NodeJS.

* It is possible to access a mobile's camera from a web app when the page is accessed through a mobile browser -   < input accept="image/*" capture="camera" type="file" / >

*  Microsoft Edge supports bookmarklets. It differs from how is used in other browsers however in that it has to be accessed from Reading List

Microsoft Research recently released a prototype app called Path Guide that addresses this decades-old issue, providing navigation indoors with an alternative to GPS.

...metrics data is... a great leveller - when multiple people have their own hypothesis, without any data, usually seniority wins!

What is India Stack? It is a large set of APIs that enable applications to be built on top of India’s digital infrastructure. It has four broad layers, the most visible being Aadhaar, a biometric database of all of India’s citizens. The other layers are a document vault/locker (to associate authenticated documents to your unique id), a payment layer to connect to all Indian banks and financial institutions, and finally a consent layer that would allow citizens to control access and privacy of their own information.

* Xiaomi’s plants in India are operated by Foxconn and they employee over 5000 people. Xiaomi says 90 per cent of the employees are women.  Other than the Mi 5 imported from China, Xiaomi says all of its phones are made in India - Indian Express

* ‘Mercurochrome’ (mercury organohalide) once considered a remedy for bruises, has been found to have no antiseptic effect, and that the mercury in it is actually toxic. Mercury has been declared an environmental toxin, which is not degraded even when disposed of. India has now decided to phase out mercury manometers (BP apparatus) and mercury thermometers - The Hindu

* Starting January 2013, mutual funds started providing “Direct” option for all of their fund schemes, with a lower management fee. Prior to this, Distributors were paid Upfront commission, a one time commission for bringing the investment to the fund house. But fund houses can generate income only if you stay for long. To ensure that the distributor doesn’t drag you to another fund, a commission known as trailing commission is paid. Distributors are important, if they help you select the right investments and hand hold you along the way. It’s a foregone conclusion that “Direct” funds will have a better return than Regular given that there is a difference in the Expense ratios between them. The portfolio is exactly the same - Capital Mind

* 40% of Fortune 500 companies are Asian including 7 Indian - Indian Oil, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, Tata Motors, Rajesh Exports, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum.

291 contestants who were among the top .0026 percent of more than 11 million students who competed in classrooms, schools and local events around the country, reached the final round of 2017 Scripps National Spelling Bee. After surviving 36 rounds of competition, Ananya Vinay, 12, of Fresno, Calif., was challenged with “marocain” — a dress fabric made with a warp of silk or rayon and a filling of other yarns. She asked for the definition, its part of speech and language of origin. The sixth grader who studied about two hours a day for a year answered it correctly to win the championship. Of the 95 National Spelling Bee champions so far, 48 have been girls and 47 have been boys.

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