Latest news with #Viswanathan
Hans India
12 hours ago
- Hans India
10 sentenced to 5 yrs imprisonment
Tirupati: Red Sanders Special (RSS) ADJ court on Thursday sent 10 smugglers to undergo 5 years imprisonment for smuggling red sanders logs. The court also ordered a penalty of Rs 6 lakh for illegal smuggling red aanders. According to prosecution, the smugglers were caught by the RSASTF (Red Sanders Anti-Smugging Task force) when they were smuggling red sanders logs in the forest area of Perumallapalli beat of Thimminaidu Palem section. The smugglers Viswanathan, Sethu, Ramesh, Sampath, Rathnam, Boochayan, Kumar, Prabhu, Suresh and Raamar from Thiruvannamalai of Tamil Nadu were prosecuted in the ADJ court under 59/2019. Judge Narasimha Murthy upheld the prosecution and sentenced the smugglers for 5 years imprisonment and imposed a penalty of Rs 6 lakh. Following the conviction, 10 smugglers were handed over to the authorities of Nellore Central prison. Taskforce SP L Subbarayudu appreciated the taskforce team who effectively persuaded the case with strong evidence resulting in the conviction of 10 smugglers.
Business Insider
7 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
ChatGPT can find and book an Airbnb for you now
In a post on X, Viswanathan described how she used ChatGPT (Pro version) to find an Airbnb for an October event. This was her prompt: "I want to find an Airbnb for [event] in [city / neighborhood] in October this year. I want it for at least that Wednesday through ideally the next Monday. And I want a super nice modern spot that is ideally walkable to the event. Tell me about the area nearby. And ideally it's walkable to coffee shops and things like that too. And I want it to have at least four bedrooms." She also helped ChatGPT do preparatory work by getting the chatbot to absorb information about her preferences upfront. "What are some core things that you need to know about me so that you can execute on more complicated tasks accurately?," she wrote to ChatGPT. "Different types of preferences or styles, things like that. Give me a list of questions that I can answer so you can remember. And give me multiple choice answers to make it easy for me." That resulted in Viswanathan sharing likes and dislikes on topics such as food/meals, hotels, travel, and communication, helping the ChatGPT agent conduct more bespoke research on her behalf. The AI delivered a spot-on recommendation within about 10 minutes, versus more than an hour if she'd done this online research herself. "I'm very picky about where I stay," she wrote. "The benefit is less about the time savings and more about the peace of mind knowing it's going to handle it. Insane." Some travelers love organizing trips more than actually going on them. For everyone else, Viswanathan's experiment offers a compelling glimpse of the future: A proactive AI concierge that knows you well enough to get travel recommendations right the first time.
Business Insider
7 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
ChatGPT can find and book an Airbnb for you now
Tara Viswanathan, cofounder of AI-powered construction startup Unlimited Industries, recently put OpenAI's agentic capabilities to the test and was impressed by the results. In a post on X, Viswanathan described how she used ChatGPT (Pro version) to find an Airbnb for an October event. This was her prompt: "I want to find an Airbnb for [event] in [city / neighborhood] in October this year. I want it for at least that Wednesday through ideally the next Monday. And I want a super nice modern spot that is ideally walkable to the event. Tell me about the area nearby. And ideally it's walkable to coffee shops and things like that too. And I want it to have at least four bedrooms." She also helped ChatGPT do preparatory work by getting the chatbot to absorb information about her preferences upfront. "What are some core things that you need to know about me so that you can execute on more complicated tasks accurately?," she wrote to ChatGPT. "Different types of preferences or styles, things like that. Give me a list of questions that I can answer so you can remember. And give me multiple choice answers to make it easy for me." That resulted in Viswanathan sharing likes and dislikes on topics such as food/meals, hotels, travel, and communication, helping the ChatGPT agent conduct more bespoke research on her behalf. The AI delivered a spot-on recommendation within about 10 minutes, versus more than an hour if she'd done this online research herself. "I'm very picky about where I stay," she wrote. "The benefit is less about the time savings and more about the peace of mind knowing it's going to handle it. Insane." Some travelers love organizing trips more than actually going on them. For everyone else, Viswanathan's experiment offers a compelling glimpse of the future: A proactive AI concierge that knows you well enough to get travel recommendations right the first time.
Indian Express
22-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Slow and steady on final journey, VS Achuthanandan's 150-km funeral procession sees massive crowds lining streets in Kerala
Kerala has a history of momentous funeral processions for former chief ministers, and V S Achuthanandan's carried forward that tradition. The fiery Communist leader died in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday at the age of 101. On Tuesday, his funeral procession from the state capital to his home district of Alappuzha saw an outpouring of emotion by people who thronged the streets to witness it. With crowds lining up on both sides of the road, the low-floor bus carrying his body, decorated with flowers, moved slowly along. The procession began from the state Secretariat at around 2.30 am, and was scheduled to arrive in Alappuzha by 9 pm. However, by that time, it had only reached Mangalapuram — about 22 km from the starting point. It took over six hours for the procession to cross the city limits of Thiruvananthapuram. The destination was more than 150 km to the north. At Kayamkulam, the land of Kerala People's Arts Club (KPAC) — a theatrical movement that helped popularise the Communist ideology in the state — people eagerly waited for the cortege from late evening. Viswanathan, an 80-year-old member of the CPI, said, 'VS always stood for the people. That is why we are seeing this outpouring of emotion. He was arrested during the Emergency. He had strong connections to Kayamkulam. If I remember correctly, for a brief time, he went underground and took shelter in Kayamkulam.' 'VS was a crowd puller. I attended several election rallies where he would come and people would turn up from faraway places to just hear him talk,' Viswanathan recalled. Johnson, 50, a Gospel preacher, came from Adoor, 30 km away. He said he has no political affiliation, but he respected Achuthanandan for his 'compassion and humanity'. 'He never took the side of the wealthy and powerful, but always argued for the causes of the marginalised. Such politicians are rare these days. We may never see another VS amongst us,' said Johnson. For Kalesh, a CPI leader and KPAC office-bearer in his 30s, Achuthanadan was the inspiration to enter politics. 'He was a fighter for the causes of farmers and the downtrodden. He was a leader of the masses, and he was also an able administrator. The first agitation I participated in was when I was in Class 9, during a strike for the rights of Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) employees. The principles that VS espoused invoked the sense of justice in a generation like us and prompted us to fight for the people around us,' he said. Sashi Kumar from Vaikom, who suffers from physical disabilities, arrived at the KPAC junction in Kayamkulam on a scooter fitted with a photo of Achuthanandan. 'There were three people I admired the most: Kalabhavan Mani (the Malayalam actor), Oommen Chandy and VS. Now, all three have gone,' he said. It took the persuasion from local party workers for him to abandon plans to go all the way to Thiruvananthapuram. Instead, he waited at the makeshift venue where people were slowly beginning to gather ahead of the procession's arrival. Among them was Arunima, a class 6 student who had come with her father. She did not know who Achuthanadan was until Monday afternoon. The relentless coverage of his death on TV channels made the girl an admirer of the man, and she was now chanting the slogan: 'kanne karale VS (VS, you are our eye, our heart).' She said she would return home only after paying tribute to him. That sentiment was shared by everyone present, as they checked the YouTube feeds of news channels for updates on the progress of the procession from Thiruvananthapuram. Once Achuthanandan's body reaches Alappuzha, it will be taken to his house in Punnapra. On Wednesday afternoon, the body will be taken to the Valiyachudukadu burial ground, the resting place of hundreds of martyrs of the 1946 Punnapra-Vayalar uprising against landlords and the colonial regime, and he will be cremated with state honours.
The Hindu
19-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Centre and State governments should increase fund allocation for education: VIT Chancellor
The Centre and State governments should increase fund allocation for the education sector, including higher studies, so that more students from rural areas are encouraged to pursue higher education, G. Viswanathan, founder and chancellor, VIT, said on Saturday. In his presidential address at the 'STARS Day 2025' (Support The Advancement of Rural Students - STARS), which was organised by the Universal Higher Education Trust (UHET) of VIT at its campus here, he said that currently, the entire education expense of children is borne by their parents. Poor parents cannot afford such expenses. 'Governments, both the Centre and the State, should ensure that more students enroll, especially in higher education. In India, around 28% of students are in higher education, whereas in China, around 60% of students pursue higher studies,' he said. Mr. Viswanathan said that North Arcot district, which comprised present-day Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupattur and Tiruvannamalai districts, was economically and educationally backwards many years ago. Public initiatives like scholarships and the State government's efforts have helped to reduce economic backwardness and increase enrollment in schools and colleges. Currently, the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) of Tamil Nadu is over 50%, against the national average of 28%. The Chancellor recalled that under the National Education Policy 2020, the Centre has aimed to achieve 50% of GER in 2035. Public donations through scholarships will help to cover more deserving students, he said. S. Kannappan, Director of School Education (DSE), Vellore Collector V. R. Subbulaxmi and Sankar Viswanathan, vice president, VIT, were present on the occassion.
