Secure IoT
IIT-Madras incubated startup Mindgrove launched Secure IoT, India’s debut high-performance SoC (system on chip).
- 1st indigenous microcontroller chip.
- Applications – In deep embedded applications like smart variants of fans, speakers, wearables, etc.
- Advantages – Cost effectiveness (30% cheaper than other chips in the segment), adaptability, and top-notch security features, reduce dependence over imports of chips.
Catatumbo Lighting
Venezuela witnessing Catatumbo Lighting
- Natural phenomenon that occurs at the mouth of the Catatumbo River, where it meets Lake Maracaibo (Venezuela).
- Lightning strikes almost continuously up to 160 nights in a year.
- The area is called the lightning capital of the world.
- Formation –
- Convergence of cool air from the Andes and moist air from the Caribbean generates a constant cycle of convection.
- As the warm air rises, it cools and condenses, leading to the formation of Cumulonimbus clouds which in turn, create an environment for electrical activity.
Drip Pricing
The Department of Consumer Affairs has issued a warning against drip pricing.
- A pricing technique in which firms advertise only part of a product’s price and reveal other charges later as the customer goes through the buying process.
- Used as a tactic to attract customers into initiating the purchasing process
- Identified as a dark pattern under Guidelines for Prevention and Regulation of Dark Patterns, 2023.
- Dark pattern – Practices adopted by online platforms that mislead people into paying for items or services they did not intend to do originally.
Capital Gains Tax
The Finance Minister has refuted claims of plans to bring changes to the capital gains tax structure.
- Under the Income Tax law, any profits or gains arising from the transfer of a ‘capital asset’, is chargeable to tax under the heading of ‘Capital Gains’.
- Types –
- Short-Term Capital Gain – For assets generally held for less than 36 months.
- Long-Term Capital Gain – For assets held for 36 months or more.
- However, tenure varies in the case of different assets.
Tactical Nuclear Weapon (TNW)
Russia plans to hold tactical nuclear weapon drill to deter West.
- A TNW is any weapon that have not been classified as “strategic” under US- Russian arms control agreements like Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty etc.
- Refers to short-range weapons, including Land-based missiles (range less than 500 km), and Air- and sea-launched weapons (range less than 600 km).
- They are the least-regulated category of nuclear weapons covered in arms control agreements.