THE world’s first 'bionic Olympics' will be held in Switzerland in October 2016. Dubbed the Cybathlon, the event will feature 'bionic' athletes competing in a range of different events including prosthetics races, powered exoskeleton competitions and a game where athletes, known as pilots, control a vehicle with their mind. The competition is designed for people with disabilities and companies who specialise in "assistive" technology. Organisers hope that the competition will generate interest in performance-enhancing machinery, the BBC reports. The event will feature races for powered wheelchairs, exoskeletons, arm and leg prosthetics, and muscle-stimulation bicycles. One of the most technologically complex events will be the brain-computer interface race, where a competitor who is paralysed from the neck down will race in a computer simulation racing game using a headset that connects their mind to a computer. All competitions will see two medals awarded, one for the winning pilot or athlete and one for the company that developed their technology. Pilots can use devices that are commercially available or equipment that has been specially developed in a research lab. Sponsored by the Swiss National Competence Centre of Research in Robotics, the Cybathlon is primarily designed to promote new medical devices and technology, but many see it as an opportunity to explore the interface between people and machines. Meghan Neil, technology editor for Motherboard, says that the competition "opens up a whole range of questions about the future of competitive sports in the age of augmented humans". For further concise, balanced comment and analysis on the week's news, try The Week magazine. Source: The Week UK, Source: Image
Cybathlon: first 'bionic Olympics' to be held in 2016
Recap takes the social media rout to brand awareness
Recap Sportswear is working on its growth plan. This includes taking the social media and online route to spread brand awareness. Though its Facebook page online venture is still in its nascent stage, Zubin Thakker, Director, Recap Sportswear believes that the online spectrum is where the future is. “We plan to become more aggressive in this space shortly,” he opines. Aggressive retail expasnionThe brand has gone from strength to strength in the last 10 years. It now has a pan India presence. “We supply to 20 states and almost 40 cities with a total of almost 1,500 MBOs. The brand is also available at major large formats like Pantaloon Central, Globus, Rituwear, and more,” Thakker elaborates. Established in 1998 with a small manufacturing unit, the brand was launched in 2000. A state of the art production unit on the outskirts of Mumbai houses production facility for denimwear, cottons, T-shirts, and embroidery units. The company also has dry process set up and an in house laundry. “A designing team comprising of designers, merchandisers, visualisers work at a dedicated sampling unit which caters exclusively to developing new products and styles throughout the year,” explains Thakkar. The total capacity of the unit is 35,000 units per month. Targeting the young with its rangeRecap’s merchandise is young, sporty and trendy. It embodies the style of fashion czars of today. Avers Thakkar, “Continuous innovation international styling, top quality fabrics in a range of products like jeans, tees, shirts, shorts, rainwear make this brand a must have for every fashion conscious youngster.” The brand offers at least eight different fits in its jeans portfolio apart from capris, shorts both cotton and denim, pedal pushers, denim skirts, jackets along with a wide aray of shirts and T-shirts. For the forthcoming season, Recap has introduced neon shades in both top and bottom wear going with the current trend. Commenting on the USP of brand, Thakkar says, “A Recap product can give a fit few other brands are able to. The range has something for everybody. The collection is subtle and not in your face loud fashion. It is therefore positioned for the discerning customer who would appreciate the quality that is the hallmark of any Recap product even if it costs more.” Last year, company Recap Sportswear launched its ladies wear brand called Reveal Jeans. It caters to the budget conscious customer and promises to give the best quality, most trendy product at the most pocket friendly prices. The product is already available in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi-NCR, Punjab, West Bengal and Northeast, Karnataka at over 500 MBOs. Source: Article
Steven Spielberg in a conversation with Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan met celebrated Hollywood filmmaker Steven Spielberg, yesterday, who is here to celebrate the success of his Oscar-winning film Lincoln which is co-produced by his production house DreamWorks and Anil Ambani's . Big B shared a few pictures from this meeting on Twitter and his blog. "A scintillating evening with Mr Steven Spielberg .. films relations scripts trends future .. and more !!," he posted on the micro-blogging site. Taking to his blog, Bachchan wrote, "An evening with an institution .. an evening spent in conversation in the presence of select fraternity and press .. an evening of sharing cinema with prolific maker, inventer, story teller, innovator and one who continues to surprise us with his genius ..
An honest evening - simple and filled with candor !" "Present too, the best in-house fraternity of the time .. a rare presence, but one that lent the evening a feeling of ‘family and brotherhood’," he further added. Also present at the event were Bollywood bigwigs like Abbas-Mustan, Ashutosh Gowariker, Kiran Rao, Javed Akhtar, Sudhir Mishra, Zoya Akhtar, Rajkumar Hirani, Ramesh Sippy, Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, Anurag Kashyap, R. Balki, Gauri Shinde, Prabhu Deva among others. Source: Page3
