This Week I Learned - Week #268

This Week I Learned -
Azure SQL Database Managed Instances (currently in Preview)is a new managed database service that represents fully-managed SQL Server Instance in Azure cloud. It shares the same code with the latest version of SQL Server Database Engine and has the latest features, performance improvements, and security patches.

There are some unsupported features and configurations that should be taken note of while considering migration of infrastructure as a service (IaaS) resources from the Classic to Resource Manager deployment models. For most VM configurations, only the metadata is migrating between the Classic and Resource Manager deployment models. The underlying VMs are running on the same hardware, in the same network, and with the same storage. The management-plane operations may not be allowed for a certain period of time during the migration. However, the data plane continues to work. That is, your applications running on top of VMs (classic) do not incur downtime during the migration.

* The Web Speech API is a W3C supported specification that allows browser vendors to supply a speech recognition engine of their choosing (be it local or cloud-based) that backs an API you can use directly from the browser without having to worry about API limits and the like. You could imagine that Apple might power this with Siri and Microsoft might power this with Cortana.

* The Google Speech API is a cloud-based solution that allows you to use Google's speech software outside of a browser. It also provides broader language support and can transcribe longer audio files. If you have a 20min audio recording you want to transcribe, this would be the path to take.

* An entry level data scientist (at Ola) is expected to have masters degree in research in specific machine learning areas such as image processing or speech recognition, supervised and unsupervised methods and deep learning methodologies. Since the starting over seven years ago, Ola operates across 110 cities with more than 10 lakh driver partners on board.

While Apple's iOS devices come with default privacy settings on the Safari browser, Google was somehow able to bypass it while collecting browser data without the users’ consent, according to the allegations. The Safari workaround was first discovered in mid-2012 by a Stanford University researcher and Google agreed to pay $17 million to some 37 states and Washington, DC as part of the settlement in 2013. Google has been corned off by around 4.4 million iPhone users in the UK who have alleged that the Internet company violated their privacy between 2011 to 2012 through the help of "Safari Workaround."Times Now Digital

Misophonia, also called selective sound sensitivity syndrome, is a condition in which the person has a strong dislike or discomfort with certain trigger sounds that the average person is unaffected by; common triggers include the sound of someone breathing, chewing, yawning, eating, tapping, or even speaking. Misophonia shares common overlaps with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with regards to its spectrum of severity - Go Ask Alice!

About 90 percent of the total losses across the United States occurred in ZIP codes that contain less than 20 percent of the population

For a sharper delivery of the government’s message to the voters, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting (I&B) on Monday approved the hiring of 716 social media executives, one for each district of the country. The responsibility of these executives will be to “monitor local editions of newspapers, local cable channels, local audio channels and important local social media handles for important local developments”. They will also have to analyse the news to assess whether the government’s message was received positively or negatively. The new media wing is being set up by the Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL) - The Hindu

* Reliance Jio 4G feature phone runs on KaiOS

* USA is a dominant bi-party system – Republican & Democrats, the third Libertarian Party is rarely heard. In India, there are 2044 registered parties. The largest democracy in the world is notorious for its Caste/ Community/ Religious politics. 

* The Lingayat community accounts for 17% of state population

Fakhruddin T. Khorakiwala was an Indian businessman who owned the Akbarallys group of departmental stores in Mumbai and former Sheriff of Mumbai

* "It’s a team effort. Most of the work on “The Simpsons” isn’t writing—it’s rewriting. One person will write the script, but then it will be endlessly rewritten by a gang of writers: generally four to six people pitching jokes all day in one large room—the writers’ room. By the end of the process, about 80% of the original script will be changed. Often not a line from the original remains." - Mike Reiss 

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