Q.2571

In 2017, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella released his autiobiography 'Hit Refresh'. In the US, the book was released at the company's Ignite conference. However, in the UK, the book was released at a venue associated more with tradition than with technology. Which venue?

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Lord's Cricket Ground - Nadella is a big cricket fan, and describes the role of cricket on his life in the book

Q.2336

In Jan 2017, Finland became the first country in Europe to officially experiment with this socio-economic concept. Similar experiments are scheduled for many Dutch cities and the Canadian city of Ontario in 2017. In the case of Finland, the figure is 560 Euros a month. What concept?

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A basic income, regardless of one's economic status. The Finnish experiment is focused first on the currently unemployed, but they will receive this even if they find a job. More here on this idea

, which is an idea being talked about across the Western world.

Q.2219

The third was Nowroji Saklatwala, who did not share the last name of the first two or the next two. The sixth was like him. What are we talking about? (we could have framed this as "what mystery are we talking about", but we chose not to.)

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Chairmen of the Tata Group. Cyrus Mistry, like Saklatwala, was not a Tata. He was unceremoniously dumped as chairman of Tata Sons, and replaced by his predecessor, Ratan Tata. More here.

Q.2199

In Sept 2016, the State Assembly of the US state of California announced it had made a choice for the official 'fabric' of the state. Though tracing the origins of its name to a French city, the fabric has a legendary association with California's history. Which fabric?

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Denim. The word originates from the city of Nimes in France, but has associations with miners in California's Gold Rush. More on this decision.

Q.2094

In June 2016, Britain voted to leave the European Union in what was a surprise decision. This was dubbed 'BREXIT'. A few days before this decision, another exit in India was dubbed 'RREXIT'. What did this refer to?

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The decision of RBI Governor and noted economist Raghuram Rajan to step down from his post once his term ended later in the year.

Q.2091

To celebrate which sporting achievement in June 2016 did Nike run a campaign called "#AlwaysBelieve"?

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Cleveland Cavaliers finally winning an NBA championship, especially after coming back to win in Game 7. Here's the campaign.

Q.2064

From May 2016 till November 2016, labels on these cans will show words and phrases such as 'E Pluribus Unum", "Land of the Free", and "Since 1776" instead of the original words, including the brand name. What brand has thus been temporarily named as 'America'?

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The beer brand 'Budweiser'. Here's more.

Q.2062

Cali-Fame is a California-based company that makes apparel such as hats. A product manufactured in its factory (mainly be people of Latin American origin) has become a visible symbol of a 2016 campaign. Retailing at about $25 and contributing to the campaign, the text on the product traces its roots to a slogan of former US President Ronald Reagan.

What is this product?

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The red hat with "Make America Great Again" for the 2016 Donald Trump Presidential Campaign. More here.

Q.2054

In 2015, "Honk Honk Taxi" and "Speedy Taxi" merged, and later that year became "Honk Honk Commute". In 2016, a partially bitten fruit that physicians are allergic to, showed a lot of interest in "Honk Honk Commute".

What are we talking about?

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The Chinese taxi-hailing app Didi Chuxing ('Honk Honk Commute') received a $1 billion investment from Apple Inc. in May 2016. Didi Chuxing was a rebranded version of Didi Kuaidi, a result of a merger from two rival Uber-like firms. More here.

Q.2050

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Lawyer, Jürgen, who's on the left above, founded this company in 1977, using his last name for it. In 1986, Ramon joined him, also lending his name to the company. In addition to being a lawyer too, Ramon is a politician and an award-winning novelist.

"John Doe" made their last names known widely all around the world in April 2016. What are their last names, and why?

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The company, from their last names, is 'Mossack Fonseca', whose leaked data resulted in the Panama Papers detailing potential misuse of tax havens by several rich and influential people. More here.

Q.2046

In April 2016, the U.S. Treasury announced its much awaited decision of putting a woman on a dollar note design, naming Harriet Tubman as the person who will be added to the front of the $20 bill.

Tubman was a 19th century abolitionist who helped a large number of people escape slavery. What famous nickname did fellow abolitionist William Garrison give her, making a Biblical allusion?

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He called her 'Moses' because Moses led the Hebrews out of slavery from Egypt. More here.

Q.1952

A tweet by this celebrity in Jan 2016 read:

Eat bread. Lose weight. Whaaatttt? #ComeJoinMe [...]

Containing a link to diet company Weight Watchers (in which she has a stake), this tweet is said to have influenced its share price going up by 20% by the end of that day.

Which influencer?

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Oprah Winfrey. More here.

Q.1913

Pandorum Technologies in the third week of December 2015 developed India’s first artificial _____ _____ with the help of 3-D printing technology. The development is a major step forward in the on-demand manufacturing of 3D printed human organs. The artificial ____ _____ can grow and survive up to eight weeks. Such 3D printing has the potential to save lives of patients. Also, it has less side-effect and can be made at lower costs.

Which organ is being talked about?

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India’s first Artificial Liver Tissue using 3D printing

The 5 mm liver tissue was made using 10 million liver cells which were arranged 3D architecture made of glucose, proteins and living cells. The living cells extracted from a particular type of insect were used as an ink, which was placed in three interchangeable dispensers of the printer’s head controlled by lasers.

Q.1910

Search engine giant Yahoo on 21 December 2015 named ___ as the Personality of the Year 2015. ___ managed to top the list over other high-profile contenders for the spot in Yahoo’s list of 2015 Year in Review (YIR) for India.

As per Yahoo India, it all started after the announcement of a certain type of ban in Maharashtra, which led to massive debates and arguments. The controversy was fuelled further by Dadri lynching and Award Wapsi campaign, and the ___ soon became the icon of discussions on intolerance.

Fill in the blank with a 3-lettered holy answer!

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Cow

In addition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi remained the Most Searched Politician in 2015 too. Sunny Leone fetched the top position as the Most Searched Female Celebrity for the fourth year in a row.

Q.1904

The image shows the collaboration of which two entities that was announced on 16 December 2015?

One is an Indian mobile-commerce shopping website launched in 2010 and the other is the biggest e-commerce portal in India (a subsidiary of the ‘Lifeline to the Nation’).

[+ Show Answer]

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) tied-up with mobile commerce platform Paytm

This offers an additional payment gateway for food ordered through e-catering facility. The e-catering facility allows passengers to order meals while travelling.

Q.1900

Global software giant, Wipro, on 11 December 2015 won the 2015 Aegis ______ ____ Award for developing a solution for the Internet of Things (IoT). The Aegis School of Business established this Award as a tribute to a Scottish inventor. The award is intended to promote innovation, entrepreneurship in the field of Telecom, Internet, Media & Edutainment (TIME) and to provide recognition for outstanding contributions in these fields in India.

Fill in the blanks!

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2015 Aegis Graham Bell Award

The Awards are a tribute to the father of the telephony, Sir Alexander Graham Bell. They are organized with support of Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), and Telecom Centres of Excellence (TCOE) India.

Q.1899

The image shows the first ever vaccine against a particular disease. The Mexican authorities on 9 December 2015 approved the use of this vaccine, which will be publicly available for the first time. French manufacturer, Sanofi, has requested regulatory approval of this vaccine in 20 countries across Asia and Latin America, but Mexico was the first to green flag it.

Against which mosquito-borne disease does this vaccine act?

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World’s first dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia

The Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (COFEPRIS) approved Dengvaxia for the prevention of disease caused by all four dengue virus serotypes in preadolescents, adolescents and adults, 9 to 45 years of age living in endemic areas.

Q.1877

Which ‘integrated electronics’ company on 18th November 2015 launched ‘Ek Kadam Unnati Ki Aur’ initiative from Nadimpalle village in Telangana?

The objective of the programme is to augment digitalization of rural India. It will be implemented in 10 states across the country and complements the Digital India initiative of the Union Government.

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Intel

It will be used to create the framework for the Telangana model digital village. It provides various citizen services under the Telangana government’s e-panchayat scheme.

Q.1875

LiDAR means ‘Light Detection and Ranging technology’ Ford Motor Company on 15th November 2015 announced that they are developing ‘something’ using LiDAR. With this, Ford joined Californian tech giants Google, Apple and Tesla who are the pioneering leaders in developing this ‘something’. Lidar, blend of Light and Radar, is a remote sensing technology that measures distance by illuminating a target with a laser and analysing the reflected light. The technology is popularly used in Agriculture, remote sensing, meteorology, surveying, military, mining, transport, etc.

What is Ford coming up with?

[+ Show Answer]

Build driverless cars

The LiDAR units send out laser pulses that allow the car’s computer to build up a picture of the world around it. Interestingly, in India, an aerial survey was conducted in September 2015, using LiDAR to survey the Godavari basin in the Telangana to identify suitable places to construct barrages across the river.

Q.1857

Shown is a sub-tropical evergreen plant. It shares its name with an Indian e-commerce portal. Sanjeev Mohanty on 30th October 2015 was appointed as CEO and MD of this brand. Praveen Sinha, the founder of the company, says:

We named ourselves after the thought of being evergreen and bright. The orange colour in our brand signifies our ability to be adventurous, creative and social.

Identify the plant/brand.

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Jabong

Mohanty managed three Italian fashion retail labels Benetton, Sisley and Undercolors in India, during his tenure as Managing Director of Benetton India Pvt Ltd.