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GMA Network
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- GMA Network
Fil-Am actor Yonas Asuncion Kibreab is the voice of the new Disney animation 'Elio'
Remember the name Yonas Asuncion Kibreab because pretty soon, he will become a household name. The charming and energetic 14-year-old Filipino American actor is the voice of Elio Solis in upcoming film "Elio," and he will be acting opposite Academy Award-winning actress Zoe Saldaña, who will be the voice of Aunt Olga in the original Pixar animation. Directed by Domee Shi, Madeline Sharafian and Adrian Molina, the movie follows an 11-year-old boy named Elio Solis (Kibreab) who accidentally becomes the intergalactic ambassador of planet Earth after being beamed up to the Communiverse by aliens for making contact. Kibreab, the son of Irene Gonzales Asuncion from Quezon City, Philippines and Bemnet Kibreab from Eritrea, was also a series regular on Disney's "Pretty Freekin Scary," Blumhouse's "Blood Moon," and Netflix's "Sweet Tooth." In animation, he has also voiced characters in Disney's series "Pupstruction" and as Pinocchio in the animated film "Pinocchio." He has also voiced Ninjai in the film "Ninjai." A passionate musician, Kibreab plays the piano, sings, and has released his first original song on Spotify in 2024. His maternal grandfather is from Tarlac and his maternal grandmother is from Ilocos Sur. We were able to interview Kibreab via email as well as talk to directors Sharafian and Shi, and producer Mary Alice Drumm on a recent visit to the Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, California. Yonas Asuncion Kibreab (Elio Solis) Contributed photo How were you discovered for Elio? How was your audition process? In early 2021, I received an audition request from my then-agent for a project called "Untitled Adrian Molina Project. "I recorded the audition sides at home and submitted it to my agent. As typically happens, I did not hear back for a couple of months. Around the middle of 2021, I received a request for a callback, and I did the callback via Zoom with Adrian Molina and others from Pixar's Elio team from my parents' closet. Callbacks are typically a quick 15 minutes, but this callback lasted for over an hour, and we focused a lot on the emotional scenes, and Adrian tested me on how well I could take directions. Around August 2021, I received the offer to do the scratch for Elio. Scratch is a temporary voice recording used in the early stages of production of an animated film. Before this offer, I had never heard of "Scratch." Because it was a Pixar movie with the co-director of Coco, I was very excited to book the role, even though, at that time I had expected the final "main" role to go to a well-known actor. I worked on the project as a scratch actor for over a year. The Elio team must have loved my scratch work because they offered me the role of Elio. What made you sign up for this movie? I was 11 when I booked the role for Elio and to be offered the main role for a Pixar movie is a dream come true for any actor. And to have the opportunity to work on a Pixar movie at such a young age is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. So, I am very grateful to the Disney Pixar team for trusting me to be the lead in Pixar Elio. How much do you relate to your character? Elio is such a great kid with an incredible spirit! He has a big imagination and dreams of great adventures across the universe. Another thing that makes Elio special is that he has a quirky, fun personality, and he is not afraid to be different. I would say that my biggest similarities with Elio are his adventurous spirit and boundless imagination. Elio has an incredible spirit despite some major tragedies in his life that he is going through at a very young age. He is experiencing the loss of loved ones and the sadness that comes with it. This is an experience that luckily, I am not familiar with, and where I am very different from Elio. What I like most about Elio are his big dreams, the courage to be different, and his quirky, fun personality. How Filipino are you? Talk about living in a biracial home? I grew up surrounded by my Filipino family—my Lola, aunties, uncles, and cousins have always been a big part of my life. I grew up eating Filipino food like Pancit and Lumpia, hearing Tagalog around the house, and celebrating traditions that connect me to my roots. I'm very proud to be Filipino—it's a big part of who I am. I also think being biracial is kind of like having a superpower. The chance of being born is already rare, scientists say it's about one in 400 trillion—but to be born to parents from completely different worlds and cultures is even more unlikely. So, for me to be here, I see it as an incredible event. Growing up in a biracial and immigrant household is a privilege. You get to experience two cultures at once, have family in different parts of the world, and inherit the resilience and drive that comes from immigrant parents. It's made me more open-minded, proud of my background, and excited to share it with others. How has your Filipina mom influenced you into the person that you are today? My Filipina mom has definitely influenced who I am today. I get my silly, quirky personality from her for sure—she's always laughing, being goofy, and just having fun. She's super artistic and really creative, and she still acts kind of like a kid sometimes in the best way. She's not afraid to be herself, and I think that's really cool. When I was a toddler, my mom would let me pretend to play drums by banging pots and pans on the kitchen floor while she was cooking. She always encouraged me to be creative, even if it was loud! We also sing karaoke together all the time. She's a big fan of '80s and '90s music, so we'd sing songs by The Cure, Tears for Fears, Lionel Richie, and Michael Jackson. My dad always says I got my artistic side and fun personality from my mom. She's also made sure I stay connected to my Filipino culture by taking us to visit family in Michigan, Vancouver, Florida, and Los Angeles. She always cooks Filipino food at home and makes the best pancit and lumpia. She's taught me to be proud of who I am, to be creative, and to always find something to smile about. Have you been to the Philippines? What do you look forward to when you go to the Philippines? I am super excited to visit the Philippines in December 2025 for the first time and spend Christmas there. I'm most excited about visiting our extended family, seeing the amazing beaches, and eating all the great Filipino food. I also really look forward to being surrounded by Filipino people and being fully immersed in the Filipino culture. I think it's going to feel like home in a way I've never experienced before. Among the Filipino talents, whom do you idolize the most? There are so many Filipino talents that I admire and look up to. And I hope that one day I can work with some of them. I think what defines Filipino talents is that they are usually multidisciplinary—they act, sing, dance, and create in so many ways. If I had to choose an actor I idolize, it would be Dave Bautista. He went from being a world champion wrestler to starring in major films like "Guardians of the Galaxy" and "Dune," proving his incredible range and dedication. In music, one of my favorite artists is Bruno Mars. He's a Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and performer known for his amazing voice and energetic stage presence. What is your favorite Filipino food? Can you speak or understand Tagalog? My favorite Filipino food is my mom's lumpia, pancit and adobo. I love halo halo, so my mom always gets it for me when we go to the Filipino grocery store. I understand some Tagalog. I grew up hearing my family talk in Tagalog, and my mom spoke some Tagalog to me growing up. I understand it more than I can actually speak it, though. Since I'm homeschooled, I am taking Tagalog as my language class, and now I'm doing an online Tagalog course to help me learn how to speak it better. What will be your next project? My next live action project is the upcoming musical film "Reimagined," where I play the lead role of Felix McCoy. The movie is directed by Mateo Messina and is based on his original symphony "The Pageant". "Reimagined" is about a young boy named Felix who's trying to cope with the loss of his mom, Mary (played by Paula Patton), who used to create and lead their town's annual holiday pageant. When an over-the-top, self-centered director named Hamilton Lydell (played by Joel McHale) takes over the pageant, Felix sets out to sabotage it. But eventually, he realizes that the best way to honor his mom's legacy is to save the show. I also have an upcoming animated series called "Bat Fam." "Bat Fam" series is a spinoff of the animated movie "Merry Little Batman." In both the movie and the spin-off series, I voice Damian Wayne and Little Batman. "Merry Little Batman" is available to stream on Amazon Prime, and the upcoming "Bat Fam" series will also stream on Amazon Prime when it comes out later this year. What is the most fun thing you did for this movie and why? Booking the role and being part of the film is a huge privilege, and it was super fun to work with the Pixar team. I learned so much working with the three incredible directors - Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, and Adrian Molina. It's an experience that I will never forget. I will be forever grateful to the Disney Pixar team that allowed me to be part of this incredible film. The most fun thing I did for the movie though, was that I got to attend twice D23 The Ultimate Disney Fan Event. D23 is this huge fan event where Disney presents and promotes all their upcoming slate, and I got to promote Pixar's "Elio" in front of tens of thousands of Disney fans. To get to experience D23 twice, to promote Elio on stage, and meet all the major Hollywood stars in the green room was such an amazing and fun experience. What do you hope audiences would get after watching this movie? Pixar's Elio is about Elio, a space fanatic with an active imagination and a huge alien obsession, who suddenly finds himself beamed up to the Communiverse, a galaxy-wide organization of aliens. Mistaken for Earth's leader, he has to navigate this strange new world, make unexpected friends, and figure out who he really is along the way. Elio, a film for all ages, is a coming-of-age adventure filled with humor, heart, and wonder. It's emotional (bring some tissues!), imaginative, visually stunning, and full of fun surprises. So, I hope that audiences come away from watching Elio feeling entertained, uplifted, and inspired. Madeline Sharafian (Director), Domee Shi (Director), Mary Alice Drumm (Producer) Photo courtesy of Disney/Pixar It was wonderful watching and listening to you last night during the presentation. And it reminded me how vastly different the animation is, because it used to be male-dominated. So, can you talk about that, especially your collaboration on this film? Madeline: Oh yeah. That's a great question. For me personally, I don't think I would be in this role at all if it wasn't for Domee. Watching her make "Turning Red," I was a story lead on that movie, and just watching her totally be herself, make exactly what she wanted to see. It gave me confidence that I can really just be the person that I am in a leadership role. I really wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Domee. Domee: It's such an honor to be on this film and to work with such an amazing crew of women, like Mary Alice, like Maddy, and I feel like I'm so grateful for Pixar for kind of giving us these opportunities to tell these stories and putting all this trust in us. And for me, kind of just, you know, as much as, like, I want to be like a support system for the next, you know, upcoming female filmmakers, I also want to, like, just pay back all of the amazing trust and support I've gotten from, like, a lot of the male leadership here too. Pete Docter, he's an EP in this movie. But he has been like my mentor and champion ever since I was his story artist on the first "Inside Out." It's really cool that we're at this stage in the film industry and in animation where you're seeing a lot more female voices in the industry. It's awesome. Mary Alice: I think we are lucky at Pixar. I often say as an audience member, I do look out in the world and want to see more women directors. But Domee was director of "Turning Red" with a fully women leadership show, and we have Claudia, who you just saw, our visual effects supervisor, so there's just a lot of great women and men leaders. And I think everyone loves working with Domee and Maddy because they're just such great directors. I just want the back story behind the parents of Elio - why he got orphaned, how he got orphaned and what was your inspiration? Domee: Yeah, that's a good question. That was kind of like a later in production kind of addition to the story. And we felt like, you know, watching the story about this boy who feels alone on earth, who feels like no one understands him, who feels like he has nothing for him on earth, and he wants to leave. And to have him choose earth at the end, it felt like we needed to kind of, like, put him in this situation in this space where, as an audience member, I would also be like yeah, like, I don't think there's anything for you on earth at the beginning of the story. And having him kind of slowly realize that he is loved that there is connection around him, it felt like it would be a stronger story if he didn't have kind of that immediate familial, like, parental relationship in the beginning of the story. Madeline: Yeah, like nothing that was a guarantee for him, because knowing that we're leading towards a big choice at the end of the film, every decision that we make is story-based is around that. And because it's such a tricky needle to thread, Olga, being his aunt, and having to believe with Elio that he shouldn't be on earth at the beginning of the film. Zoe Saldana really helped us a lot with that character and that role, because you have to be on Elio's side, but also root for him and Olga to come together at the end of the film, so she had to bring this warmth to the character, while at the same time, you know, kind of bring down the hammer on him in these scenes where she's just trying to figure out why he wants to be abducted by aliens. So, it was a difficult balance, but I'm really happy with where we ended up with that. Since I can remember the concept of animated films is they've been great learning curves or learning lessons about life's complexities. And it's really fascinating that you talked about its loneliness. But it's where he finds his tribe, they're aliens. Now, in today's political climate, the alien looks a little different. But how important was it that the people who can help move you to the next level or who are there for you don't necessarily look like you or think like you, but if you have a conversation with them, they can be your closest friend. Can you talk a little bit about navigating through that? Madeline: From the very beginning, one of the most important character dynamics is between Elio and Glordon, who when Elio first meets him, he's terrifying. His mouth is full of crazy teeth, and he doesn't sound like Elio expects. But once Elio takes the time to learn how to connect with him instead of pushing him away the way that he always pushes away the kids that he met on earth, then there's this beautiful connection there. And that was sort of the nugget that we wanted Elio to learn throughout the film is that at the beginning, you know, he meets kids who aren't like him, and he immediately assumes, you're not like me, you could never possibly understand me. Olga isn't like me, and she could never understand me, and he just creates a barrier without even giving anyone a chance, without even attempting to reach out. And it's thanks to Glordon and thanks to all of these aliens who are so different and who understand him immediately that he sort of starts to come around to the idea that the connections that he's looking for could be right in front of him. So, that was always something inherent to the concept of a human, aliens and loneliness. Domee: And what I love so much about this movie is, like you said, the positive depiction of alien species and this aspirational quality of searching for life out there, of finding connection out there with beings that don't look like you. A lot of sci-fi movies show aliens in this very negative light. Like, they don't look like us. They want to hurt us. They want to abduct us and experiment on us, but I love how this movie shows the wonderful world of the communiverse how there's this, like, aspirational utopia where species of all different backgrounds and cultures and shapes and sizes can all kinds of live and work together. It's such a beautiful image of the future, and I strive for that. I'm also kind of an alien at this, in some ways. You know, I'm Canadian. I was born in China. And I think it's just such a cool message to spread this idea of connecting to others who don't necessarily look like yourself. So, obviously the question are we alone in the universe has intrigued mankind for ages. Can you talk about what kind of research you did on this topic, what you learned, and if the science related to this impacted the story in any way? Mary Alice: Early on, we worked a lot with SETI, and Jill Tarter and Simon Steel, people who do look for intelligence in the universe. We got to go to some planetariums and some military bases. It's really amazing when you start to understand the vastness of the universe and how many exoplanets there are and the likelihood. Jill likes to say, as you look out at the vast universe, you can feel so small and so insignificant. But you can also realize what a big part of this huge, amazing thing you are, and that we're all earthlings. We know a lot of people who are searching for that, and I think it's really interesting. From my experience on this film, it seems more and more likely with just the number of planets out there. The realities, I don't know what it'll be like, but it was certainly interesting to spend time thinking about that possibility. Madeline: We are huge fans of the movie "Contact," which was also inspired very much by Jill Tarter. Seeing space as not just this empty, scary void, but as this, like, potential space for hope and connection and answers all of our questions. I just think it's really beautiful just this idea that no matter where you are on earth, at nighttime when you look up, you're all gonna be seeing the same kind of thing, which is the stars and space. Having one thing that we can all bond and relate to, and experience together, is really beautiful. Domee, you touched already on your alien-ness being from China and then growing up in Canada. You are also the first female Asian director for Pixar. So, talk about how you learned to take your alien kind of thing as something as an advantage? How did you learn that? Even when you're growing up or even in this company. So, can you talk a little bit about that? Domee: Maddy and I have really bonded over this movie in that both of us have always felt like Elio at some point in our lives. Like, we were the weird kids in school. I was the vice president of the anime club in high school. My best friend was the president. There were only two members. Us. And every day I dreamed and hoped of going to a place where everyone understood me and the things that I was obsessed with and liked. When we were directing this movie, the moment when Elio gets beamed up and he arrives in the communiverse, for us, felt a lot like going to animation school or coming to Pixar. Like, going through the gates and looking around us and realizing, oh my gosh, everyone's weird like me! And finally finding that acceptance and that belonging. That was our north star as we were developing Elio as a character, as this boy who's just obsessed, hell bent on just getting to this one place. But maybe inadvertently ignoring and pushing away all of the potential connections around him. That very much felt like us, right? Madeline: And I feel like the best part of making this movie together was having moments of just shared understanding of there are just common things that we both love. Like, we both love a certain kind of humor. A lot of the interactions between Glordon and Elio feel very much like our interactions. So, there are specific moments in the movie where Glordon does something and I laugh, and I look at Domee because I feel like in that moment that I'm seeing us on screen. So, I feel very grateful that as this movie goes out into the world, I get to watch it and just think about the friendship that we have. Domee: And, like, the communiverse does also feel like Pixar in some way, too. Like, we also have an international cast and crew. And they all came together from all walks of life and were all kinds of weirdos and nerds in their way. And we made this one thing together. Zoe Saldana and Yonas Asuncion Kibreab. Contributed photo Talking about diversity, I think Elio's family is of Latin origin. I'd like to know what country the heritage is and how the process of choosing diversity and heritage to balance in your films? And how do you use AI and preserve human art, the human art touch? Mary Alice: To answer your first question, this movie is very much from Adrian Molina's back story, from his heart. So, Elio is based on Adrian's past. Adrian is Mexican, and in the story, Elio is Mexican Dominican, and Olga is Dominican. And Elio's father is Dominican, and we felt that that was an important thing to preserve. You'll see touches in their house of little details of folk art, and we just thought that it was a beautiful thing to hang on to. Then for your second question, Pixar is a place that puts a lot of care into handcrafting everything that we do. We like the personal touch. It's the reason why we all like to work together in one building. So, everything that you see on Elio was done very carefully by a human being and was checked carefully through many human beings' eyes. Which means sometimes there are mistakes, but I think those mistakes and that little piece of humanity are what make watching movies fun. Madeline: And to add to the first question. Zoe Saldana, the voice actress for Olga, is Dominican American and she really helped inform the character and kind of, like, just her performance and her energy. And we leaned a lot on Zoe to bring herself into the character. And she did an incredible job. Pixar had tremendous success last year with a sequel. But this is the original IP. I know there's been some personnel changes at the start of this, but could you talk a bit about creating new IP and if there was any input on the studio level, like what is a Pixar movie? What are the key ingredients to make it a Pixar movie? Domee: At Pixar, we always pride ourselves on making original films. What makes an original Pixar film, I think we're always asking ourselves that trying to let the films, evolve and be different, but a film that's for everyone that's what we often say is we're making films for ourselves or films we want to go see in the theater. There is a balance of sequels and originals. We're really excited. People are very excited to see an original in the theater. It does feel like people are going back to the theater more and more, even though "Inside Out Two" was a sequel, it's exciting that people are back there. We have other originals coming, and that's exciting to us, is this balance. And I can be someone who's like oh my gosh, so many sequels, but then, Pixar announces, "Incredibles Three." I'm like what? I want to see that. So, I understand audiences want both, but I think we're excited about originals. Madeline: And sequels exist because there was an original before that. Pixar understands that, and they've always just been this champion of making the personal story universal for all. I feel like we were able to achieve that with "Elio." For all of you, which movie or what kind of project made you believe in the things that you are doing today, that made you believe in being a director, to be an artist? Or when you were little, what movie made an impact on you? Madeline: I remember it very clearly. I watched "Spirited Away" for the first time. I was around the age of Chihiro when I saw it, so I was also a very whiny, annoying little girl. Watching her change, I remember realizing that the way she was drawn, because it was in 2D, hadn't changed over the course of the film. But the way that I saw her change and the way that she held herself changed as she grew throughout the movie, and I'd never really experienced film in an artform way until that point. I remember being in the car home, staring out the window, having a brain-exploding moment, realizing that I had changed as well because I'd watched the film. That experience, just sitting in a dark room for an hour and a half, and what it can do to a person that I've never looked back from there. Domee: For me it was the very first VHS tape that my parents bought when we first immigrated to Canada, and we bought a VHS player. My parents bought "Aladdin" on VHS, and I popped it in. I was like mesmerized. I kept rewinding and watching it. It was "Friend Like Me." And just the music and all of it just hit me in a similar way as "Spirited Away" did. Then I kept rewinding and watching it closer and closer, because I also didn't realize a drawing could be so handsome. I totally had a crush on Aladdin, and I would pause it. I would open my sketchbook, and I would try to draw him over and over again. Mary Alice: We're such nerds because I can remember where I was when I saw both of those movies. But I'll say, "Star Wars." I'm older. My family got there. We were in line. My dad came from work, and we were in a dark room for two hours with people to see this thing that just took you so far away. Sci-fi. I also love any movie that asks what it is to be human, like pushing us. That's where the Pixar movies, when we do that well, that's what I think is the most exciting. —MGP, GMA Integrated News
India Today
20-05-2025
- Health
- India Today
From Kolkata to Cupertino, this 21-year-old Indian developer is making waves with Apple
Jaagrav Seal, a 21-year-old third-year computer science and engineering student from Kolkata, is not a technology enthusiast in the typical sense. He is interested in tech, yes. He sees the good side. But he can point out the gaping holes in it, just as easily. More importantly, he wants to bring changes, some of which might eventually fill in those gaps and make the world a better place. Age is just a number, they say. His story adds credence to what others might write off, simply as big talk. Then, when such a talent is appreciated – which is equally important and harder to achieve – you know, the stars have aligned for the greater is a two-time recipient of Apple's prestigious Swift Student Challenge. The feat is rare because, 1) it's a global competition, and b.) that competition is tough. But if you do manage to stand out and win, you get great exposure and – this is the most important part – an opportunity to learn and hone your craft straight from people making cool tech like iPhone, iPad, and Mac. As the tech world gears up for Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2025, we sat down with Jaagrav to understand what drives someone to start coding at 13 and then go on to build apps for the betterment of with Jaagrav, his passion for technology is immediately evident. This year, his winning entry is "Prescribe It," an app that identifies a pertinent real-world problem and tries to offer a solution that is both elegant and user-friendly. "Prescribe It is an app that focuses on both doctors and patients. Doctors can create prescriptions directly from this app and share it with their patients. Once the patient receives it on their end, they can easily set reminders for each medicine that they have got in their prescription,' Jaagrav The inspiration behind it is deeply personal. Jaagrav recounts a challenging period for his family. "Last year, my father had bypass surgery. Post surgery, he had around 20 medicines that he needed to take every single day and that's when it became a very huge challenge for me and my family to track all his medicines that he needed to take every day. We ended up using a whiteboard instead of any of the existing apps and solutions on the App Store.'His voice carries empathy as he describes the difficulties they faced. 'I wish that the app that I built was already there last year because it helps: from a doctor's perspective, it helps them with creating prescriptions, while from the patient's perspective, it helps them with setting reminders without any hassle. All they need to do is just press one button, and they can set reminders for each of the medications that they've got on their prescription."From Scratch to SwiftHis journey into the world of coding began humbly, with a tool many budding programmers are familiar with. 'I started as a Scratch developer," he shares. "Scratch is a tool that teaches children how to code, and it really helped me because it helps with building logical skills. Especially if you are exposed to that as a kid, it will help you to think in a very granular way. When you are programming something, when you're building something all by yourself, every step counts, so if you can get that knowledge, get that skill, as a kid, it becomes very useful."advertisementFrom the visual block-based world of Scratch, Jaagrav's curiosity led him to more complex languages. "Then, eventually, I moved on to coding in Java when I was in class seven or eight. I found my seniors in class ten or class twelve, used to learn Java, and I was really intrigued by the code editor. I didn't even care about what language they used, I was more into the code editor that they were using, which looked really cool. So, eventually I borrowed a book from the school library [about it]. That's how my actual coding journey began.'His initial ambition was mobile app development, though his path meandered slightly. "My goal was to eventually build apps for the mobile. But then I ended up getting into web development, and it was just last year that I finally came back to iOS app development."advertisementHere's where Apple's Swift Student Challenge enters the narrative as a significant catalyst. "With Swift Student Challenge, you get encouraged a lot, even as a completely new iOS app developer. It helps you a lot to quickly get started with app development in iOS specifically."Hard choicesJaagrav touches upon a common perception amongst aspiring developers. "I think for most other people of my age, iOS app development seems quite challenging. But when you try out something like SwiftUI, you realise that, ok, wait a minute, it's much easier than say even web development at some points. That's the reason why I got interested in SwiftUI and a bunch of its other frameworks."His first foray into the Swift Student Challenge resulted in another winning app, "Graphic." :Last year, I made this app called Graphic. I didn't expect that the app would win because it was an app that would only help me and a few people of my age, where people might find it difficult to explain their code. To explain your code, you would normally make flow charts and diagrams and that's where Graphic comes in. It would help engineers and students to create graphical representations or visuals of whatever algorithm or whatever code they were writing."advertisementBuilding on his success, Jaagrav continued to explore the iOS ecosystem. "After that, I continued my journey in iOS development. I developed a few other apps for a few companies and eventually, earlier this year, I made Prescribe It. The app didn't take more than two weeks to develop thanks to how easy it is to code with Swift UI. I used something called the multiplier connectivity framework that iOS offers."He then delves into the technical ingenuity behind Prescribe It, highlighting a key feature that makes it particularly useful in diverse settings. "Now, how does a doctor share their prescription with the patient completely offline? That's where this multiplier connectivity framework helped a lot. So, using that technology that is exclusive to iOS, it helped me to share prescriptions from the doctor's phone to the patient's phone where on the patient's phone, the patient could easily set the reminders for multiple medicines just by clicking on a single button. On top of that, the patient also gets a prescription PDF that they can use to buy medicines from shops. There are a few other features that would help the patient to easily contact the doctor in a state of emergency."advertisementCoding at 13Reflecting on his early exposure to coding, Jaagrav credits an inspiring figure from his school. "It happened at school. There was a senior intern in our school who would help our teachers with documenting Excel workbooks. He would bring a Raspberry Pie to school and make some cool projects. He made this app that could look at different kinds of objects and tell, this is a chair, this is a human being or, this is a cat, so on and so forth. During that time, I got a lot of exposure to real coding (Scratch is something that I completely picked up by myself from the internet). Me and a couple of my other school friends got really interested in this kind of coding or, basically, in this domain. Later, I got into web development and eventually decided that I wanted to also get into app development."His foray into the health tech space, culminating in Prescribe It and a recent portable ECG machine project, stems from a growing interest in the intersection of technology and healthcare, amplified by his father's experience."Health tech was something I was already interested in because biotechnology is quite an interesting topic. There are bio-amp sensors or bio-amplifiers that can read into your electrical activity that happens inside your body: that's where my interest in health tech began. Now, the reason why I got exposed to that was because of my father's surgery, because the surgeon who operated on him told me about this robot called da Vinci Xi. It's a surgical robot. The amount of precision, engineering and resilience that has gone behind developing something as amazing as that robot is quite impressive because that robot has been in research and development for the last 20–25 years. This surgeon visited Germany in 1999 when I was not even born and, during that time, he had some negative feedback about that robot. From that time till 2015, that robot had been in constant development and finally in 2015, I think that robot performed its first few surgeries. What was so mind-blowing for me was that this company just didn't give up, and they just kept going."This anecdote highlights Jaagrav's appreciation for perseverance and innovation. He is equally vocal about the disparities in technological adoption across different sectors."In the health tech space, you will see that a lot of the technology that is still being used is quite obsolete. If you see in fintech, we've got UPI, which is amazing, you can make payments in a few seconds. And if you see in automobiles, there's also such an amazing amount of development, but if you see in health tech specifically, if you see how hospitals manage their own staff, how hospitals manage their own beds, you will see they are still using old operating systems and some old software that is being built by these legacy companies. These companies are very old and have unfriendly user interfaces which doctors don't really like. That's where I think a lot of development is still needed. A lot of research is still needed so that doctors are encouraged to use these kinds of apps and that's the reason why I sort of got into health tech."To ensure his solutions are truly impactful, Jaagrav actively seeks feedback from those who would use them. Recently, he participated in a hackathon."Last week, my friends and I participated in a hackathon where we made a portable ECG machine. It can record your ECG, and it will get it on the phone that you are using, and that way you can easily monitor your ECG and monitor any abnormalities that might show up in your ECG. If someone has atrial fibrillation, it will immediately notify you. In my father's experience when he had AFIB, he didn't even realise that he was having AFIB. Luckily, he was connected to an ECG machine that showed his heart rate going abnormally high."Breaking the stereotypeJaagrav also touches upon the perceived barriers to entry in iOS development and how Apple's tools are helping to break those stereotypes."iOS development is not possible on other operating systems. So, people who are, let's say, interested in iOS app development as well, are unable to create apps on their Windows machines. Once these people get their own MacBooks and get into macOS by themselves, things change. What I've noticed is most developers tend to stick with what they've already learned so far, as I come from a web development background, so I could have chosen to stick with web development even after having such a capable device [Mac]. If you want to learn SwiftUI, it's a completely new language, it's a completely new syntax. Basically, what people are afraid of is not the language, but they're afraid of the learning curve, and that's what I think stops most people from learning something like iOS app development. And that's the same reason why many people may not also get into Android development in the first place, because they might find it too difficult in the beginning until they actually try it."He shares his own experience of overcoming this initial hesitation. "I tried out Swift UI for one app. My first app was called Codex, which would let you execute programming languages in Java, Python, C++ whatever language it is you want to run your code in, you could basically run all that code directly on your smartphone. Now there are many apps like this that already exist out there on the market. What I built initially was an API that would help with executing the code. The only reason why I wanted to make this app was to demo my API, and that's how I got into SwiftUI. It was not for building a proper iOS app, it was not for building some new product. It was for building a proper demo for my own API and that's when I found out that, ok, wait a second, Swift UI is much easier than people think it is. Just because most people tell you that iOS app development is difficult and Android app development is difficult, you, as a newbie or a new learner, will get discouraged from trying out these technologies. That's what happened to me as well. I could have started learning Swift in 2019."Looking ahead to WWDC 2025, Jaagrav is excited, both as a developer and a user."As a developer, I want to see the kinds of SDKs and development kits that Apple builds for developers that would allow us to use the capabilities of LLMs or maybe on-device LLMs. Currently, everyone is connecting their app with an API like OpenAI, Claude or some other and making an entire product out of it. What I am more interested in is, how Apple executes this entire problem. I am quite surprised by how Apple executes the solution to a problem. Also, I am excited about all the exclusive frameworks that iOS has that come with the tech that Apple develops. That's what I'm excited about as a developer. As a user, I'm quite excited about visionOS specifically because I think eventually, that's quite an exciting future to be in to have your entire interface right in front of you, and you don't really need to carry your phone or laptop, you should be able to interact with your devices directly from this headset that you have."
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Oldswinford beauty salon crowned best in West Midlands and Warwickshire
A STOURBRIDGE beauty salon has beaten competition from across the West Midlands and Warwickshire to be crowned the best in the region. Scratch Nail and Beauty Salon has won the coveted regional 2025 Muddy Stilettos Award for Best Beauty Salon/Clinic, with the team 'delighted' at the result. Scratch Salon's owner, Chantal Chambers, said she was 'over the moon' just to have been shortlisted, let alone to have taken the top prize. She said: 'It means the world to the scratch team to have won the best salon/clinic in the West Midlands. 'We are delighted with the results! The support off our loyal and supportive customers in the local community has been incredible. 'We are so happy with our win and can't wait to attend the awards ceremony in June to collect our award and celebrate!' Scratch has been in Oldswinford for over two decades, with Ms Chambers at the helm for the past 12. Offering everything from immaculate manicures and spray tans to waxing, massages and facials, Scratch offers something for every beauty lover. Now having taken the regional crown, Scratch could then be in the running for the 'Best of the Best' National Muddy Awards. The winner is voted for by Muddy Stilettos' readers, with the public being the sole deciders of who is crowned the best in every region across the country. The lifestyle publication said a total of half a million votes were cast this year, marking the 12th anniversary of the awards. Hearing the news of their win, local MP, Cat Eccles, wrote to the salon's team sharing her congratulations. In her letter, she said: 'This is a remarkable achievement, especially considering the strength of competition in such a large and dynamic region. 'The fact that this recognition comes from public votes makes your success even more special.' Cat Eccles MP added: 'For over two decades, Scratch has been a cornerstone of Oldswinford, and under your leadership over the past 12 years, it's clear the business has gone from strength to strength.'
Business Insider
08-05-2025
- Business Insider
Coding isn't dead, but how it's taught needs to change, says Google DeepMind research scientist
Google DeepMind research scientist Stefania Druga wants to encourage kids to use AI to "co-create" rather than to cheat. And while there's been much debate about whether "learn to code" is still good career advice, she told Business Insider that she believes coding skills will continue to be valuable — but how they're taught in school needs a makeover. Discussions about AI in education are frequently marked by the potential negatives, including cheating and skill atrophy. Young people, Druga said, are frequently heavy AI users — but they're not always leveraging it for the best ends. "The way they're using it right now, in my opinion, is really disappointing," Druga said. "But it's not their fault. It's the way these technologies were designed. It's not the best thing that we could do with AI for learning, to make it solve our homework, or write our essays, or help us pass a test." Druga said she believes part of the problem is the kind of assignments that students are expected to complete. "We should be changing the whole framework. First of all, if an AI can solve a test, it's the wrong test," she said. "And then second, for like, generating essays — if you have a tool that always gives you pre-baked information, and there's no back and forth of any sorts, that's when you have issues of over-reliance and lack of critical thinking." Druga said she first realized the need for AI education nearly a decade ago — long before the average person knew what an LLM was. "Half of the households in the US would have a voice assistant, and people would ask things first to Alexa before asking their parents," Druga told BI. Druga — also partially responsible for Scratch, a drag-and-drop programming language used to teach kids how to code — created Cognimates as part of her master's thesis at MIT. The program encourages AI literacy by way of engaging children in projects that pique their interest, including building games and programming robots, along with learning how to train AI models. The idea is to provide kids with a platform to safely experiment with technology that will likely be a huge part of their lives for the foreseeable future. "It's kind of creating this sandbox or playground for kids to engage in the scientific process, because they formulate hypotheses like, 'This is why Alexa responds in this way.' And then they have a way of testing that hypothesis very quickly," Druga said. "And the same would apply in the era of Gemini, ChatGPT, and large language models. How do we allow young people to create their own GPTs?" Druga said she designed her own platform to be more socratic in nature — it poses questions to lead users along the right track, without feeding them the answer. And the kinds of problems that children are asked to solve, she added, mean that they're frequently proud, and consequently possessive, over their work. "They're very attached to their project. It's a big part of their identity," Druga said. "So they're like, 'It's my project. I don't want AI to do it for me.' But when they get stuck, they would love to have someone to help them debug, or to help them find the right block, or to help them even navigate the platform." According to Druga, the approach to preserving critical thinking while also making sure children begin developing AI literacy "as early as they can speak," should be two-pronged: When used in educational settings, AI models should support "co-creation" rather than helping students reach a finite answer as quickly as possible — and assignments themselves could be designed to be less cut-and-dried. "The burden shouldn't be on them to always make the right choice, because I think that's too much to ask," Druga said. "If you were given boring homework and a tool that can do it for you, why wouldn't you use it? I don't blame them." "We need to change how we teach and assess," she added. "But we also need to change how we design these tools in order to make room for young people's agency, young people's creativity." Coding isn't dead — but coding education needs a refresh Druga said Cognimates is teaching children skills that will serve them in a labor market that doesn't yet exist. And though she frequently hears that "coding is dead" (which she doesn't think is true) — she still views an education in the fundamentals, which now include an understanding of AI, as extremely useful. "I think a problem with CS education and computing education for the longest time was that it would focus on market, and kind of preparing young people to get jobs in tech," Druga said. "It was this promise, like, 'Oh, if you have a CS degree, you're gonna have a cushy job and not have to worry about anything." That's no longer true, Druga said, given the uncertainty in the job market due to sweeping layoffs and concerns about AI replacing human workers, but she believes that was the "wrong kind of goal" to begin with. "What we're seeing with AI right now — in large language models and other architectures that are coming after large language models — is that the technology is changing so fast that if your entire value proposition for how you train people is to prepare them for specific stacks or jobs, that's going to become obsolete very fast," she said. Ideally, Druga said preparation for working in tech involves transferrable skills, particularly teaching people to adapt to ambiguity, as the only constant she foresees is "change, and rapid change" — a view that Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis shares. While the traditional tech career path may not be viable by the time the children currently using Cognimates are ready to enter the workforce, Druga believes it also may not be necessary. "I know personally, at least, like 20 people who are 19 and went from a prototype to having a fully financially sustainable product in couple of months," she said. "They don't even need VC money or a job in tech. They're just building. They identify a problem, they build a solution, they launch it, and they get paid for it. It's profitable. So talk about the future of jobs, right?" Regardless of what children eventually end up doing with their skills in AI — Druga believes that what's important is that they develop them in the first place. "The goal is to make sure that everyone feels like this is for me, and they don't feel intimidated, or they don't feel like, 'Oh, I need to have all of this background knowledge to even get started,' because things are changing so fast," she told BI. "I think the AI engineer or AI scientist frameworks are really challenging the way we thought about labor market education, and kind of the pipeline before."
Time of India
05-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
900 teachers undergo training to integrate tech in classroom
Panaji: With around 65,000 students in 430 schools being taught coding and robotics in Goa under the chief minister's coding and robotics education in schools scheme, or CM-CARES, and another 8,000 students studying the advanced curriculum, efforts are on to ensure that school teachers remain updated with the latest tech. The project management unit (PMU) at the directorate of technical education recently trained around 900 school teachers across Goa, calling it 'Summanacho Melavo'. A unique feature of the training was on-the-spot evaluation and continued training till teachers attained proficiency. 'The model followed a cascading approach. Resource persons trained master trainers, who in turn mentored more than 900 school teachers. Training sessions included self-study modules, hands-on workshops, project-based learning and regular fortnightly hand-holding sessions — ensuring continuous upskilling rather than one-time orientation,' said Vijay Borges , project director of the special cell of PMU. These fortnightly sessions were conducted in schools from 8.30am to 1.30pm. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Jawa Tengah: AI guru Andrew Ng recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Aroun... Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List Undo 'The PMU shared the learning module in the morning, after which teachers engaged in peer learning and were required to attempt an assessment by 1.30pm. In the backend, the PMU evaluated the submissions and shared results. If any teacher scored below 85%, they were given an additional 3-4 days to revise concepts or clarify doubts with peers,' Borges said. Subsequently, they had to reattempt the next set of tests until they achieved the required 85% proficiency. 'From the academic year 2021-22 to 2024-25, over 12,000 hours of training have been invested statewide. Teachers from varying educational backgrounds were introduced to cutting-edge tools like Linux Mint OS, Scratch, KOJO, Blender and Sonic Pi and were empowered to integrate computational thinking and design-based learning into their classrooms with the edutech support of PRERNA and PMU-developed educational management system (EMS),' Borges said.
