Flood declared in south Kashmir, Amarnath Yatra suspended
Srinagar, June 29: Incessant rains during the last two days have swollen rivers, streams and other water bodies in the Kashmir Valley while flood was declared in south Kashmir areas on Friday, an official said. The Amarnath Yatra was also suspended.
Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Flood Control, M.M. Shahnawaz, in a statement, said: "At 6 p.m. today (Friday), Jhelum River had crossed the flood declaration level of 21 feet at Sangam in Anantnag district.
"People living in low-lying areas of south Kashmir, especially along the embankments of River Jhelum and other streams are advised to remain vigilant."
Meanwhile, the Amarnath Yatra was suspended on Friday with no pilgrim was allowed to move towards the cave Ssrine from either the Baltal base camp in north Kashmir or Pahalgam base camp in south Kashmir.
Authorities said all Yatris are safely lodged inside the two base camps.
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B'luru techies trick Apple's OS, use airpods hack to create hearing aids for grandmothers
Bengaluru: Three young tech enthusiasts from Bengaluru have devised an innovative method to bypass geographical restrictions on Apple’s AirPods Pro 2, enabling a hearing aid feature unavailable in India.
The feature, approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in September and available in over 100 countries, remains blocked in India. When 24-year-old Rithwik Jayasimha purchased AirPods Pro 2 for his grandmother, he discovered the restriction. Determined to find a workaround, he joined forces with his school friends, Arnav Bansal and Rithwik Ribhu, both of whom also had grandmothers dependent on hearing aids.
At a lab in Koramangala, the trio developed a solution using a Faraday Cage made of aluminium foil, copper mesh, a microwave, and an ESP32 chip. The cage blocked Wi-Fi signals, while the chip allowed them to spoof the AirPods' location to San Francisco using an open-source Wi-Fi location database. This geo-spoofing tricked Apple’s operating system into activating the hearing aid feature.
According to Jayasimha, the feature is significantly more user-friendly and advanced compared to traditional hearing aids. "With these AirPods, I could adjust settings like sound loudness and brightness easily, eliminating the need for audiologist visits," he said.
The self-taught innovators have already helped over 30 people enable the feature, sharing their methods online and assisting others at their home-based lab, 'Lagrange Point.'
The trio has previously worked on solutions like water-cooled suits for delivery personnel during heatwaves and adaptive clothing for Parkinson’s patients. Their next project involves developing devices to detect microplastics in food and water.
While Apple has not commented on their initiative, the tech enthusiasts hope the hearing aid feature will soon receive regulatory approval in India.
