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Three High School Students Help Cancer Patients Combat COVID-19 with Grassroots Mask with a Message Campaign

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As the world continues in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare workers are selflessly risking their lives to save the lives of others. Stories of their heroics are common and yet still do not cover the breadth of their sacrifice.

However, there is another group of people that also needs attention–cancer patients. This already vulnerable group faces an impossible choice: stay home and hopefully stay free from coronavirus, or leave home to receive life-saving treatments.

A recent Lancet study reveals that immunocompromised cancer patients are nearly five times more likely to develop severe complications from COVID-19 in comparison to the general population. According to the CDC, cloth masks have been endorsed to limit spread amongst contagious but asymptomatic people. Mask usage is one of the CDC’s primary recommendations to flatten the curve.

Three local high school students knew this and saw an opportunity to jump on the challenge. Arjun Moorthy (17), Roshan Pillai (17) and Arun Moorthy (15), initiated a community-driven program, the COVID Supply Initiative (CSI), with the goal to provide masks to every cancer patient in the valley.

Instead of taking a break when their school closed, these young men went to work. They are collecting homemade and donated masks to distribute at cancer centers across Phoenix to patients undergoing chemotherapy.

“We’ve always looked to help our community,” Pillai said, “and we knew that we couldn’t sit idle while people suffer.” Motivated to help as many as they could, they soon partnered with large oncology groups and began to distribute masks to Honor Health, Virginia Piper Cancer Center, Ironwood Cancer Center, and Palo Verde Cancer Specialists.

A group of women with breast cancer were among the grateful recipients. One patient reported, “It is very touching and impactful to know someone is thinking of me and those who are like me. This act of generosity gives me hope for the future generation watching youth be proactive in their community”. Seeing the smiles on their faces definitely was motivation for us” says Arjun Moorthy. Infact, one woman commented why this act of generosity was even more important today. “Many of the support groups are closed, and I feel alone going through my journey. Family members are no longer allowed in with me during my treatment, and it gets lonely.”

CSI took these words and decided to broaden their impact. They often hand out masks in-person to patients undergoing chemotherapy and take the time to talk with them. They have also begun including motivational messages with each mask that communicate hope and faith. Messages like “You are a fighter”, “Cancer may have started the fight, but you will win it”.

The masks have been well-received and patients are often seen smiling when they read the adjoining messages. Some have even reported that for a few minutes when they see the messages, they almost forget where they are sitting.

The teens say the most unique aspect of the mask collection has been how many of the mask donations come from people who know someone undergoing cancer treatment. “The concept of ‘pay it forward’ really applies,” commented Arun Moorthy.

It is true that everyone should be using personal protection gear. However, cancer patients are already on a difficult journey that has been made more life-threatening by the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Abhishek Patel, medical oncologist at Virginia Piper Cancer Center explains “if patients going through chemotherapy get the virus, they have a higher risk of Intensive Care Unit admissions and death. Therefore, masks are an important tool for protection.”

CSI is growing, and they plan to donate masks globally through both local collections and a mask-pairing program with an inspirational message for every patient. They’ll accomplish this lofty goal through a program called Mask Pair.

“We are contacting oncology centers domestically and internationally to let them know there is help and hope,” says Mr. Pillai.

“We want to make mask donation as easy as a click of a button. People with extra masks can go to our website, find where they are needed, and then send directly there,” says Arun Moorthy.

This is not the first time these boys have worked for the benefit of their local community, and it likely won’t be the last. Readers with an interest in CSI’s movement can go to covidsupplyinitiative.org and donate with a message under the Mask Pair program. Local mask pickups can be coordinated by emailing covidsupplyinitative@gmail.com.

Dan Smith is probably best known for his writing skill, which was adapted into news articles. He earned degree in Literature from Chicago University. He published his first book while an English instructor. After that he published 8 books in his career. He has more than six years’ experience in publication. And now he works as a writer of news on Apsters Media website which is related to news analysis from entertainment and technology industry.

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Wiz will pay $450 million to acquire Cloud Remediation Startup Dazz

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Wiz revealed on Thursday that it will buy channel-focused company Dazz in an agreement to add cloud remediation capabilities to the vendor’s cloud and AI security platform.

With features like application security posture management and continuous threat and exposure management, Dazz provides a remediation-focused cloud security platform.

Jared Phipps, a seasoned cybersecurity industry executive who most recently worked for SentinelOne, was hired by Dazz in February as its CRO as the business sought to expand its collaboration with channel partners. Presidio, situated in New York, has been one of the key partners.

Dazz said in July that it has raised a $50 million round of funding, increasing its total funding since its 2021 launch to $110 million.

Dazz provides a “industry-leading remediation engine,” according to a post published on Thursday by Wiz Co-Founder and CEO Assaf Rappaport, which will allow Wiz to “empower security teams to correlate data from multiple sources and manage application risks in one unified platform.”

This is Wiz’s third purchase overall and its second acquisition of 2024 after the company’s April acquisition of cloud detection and response provider Gem Security.

Wiz, a four-year-old startup, reported in May that it had raised $1 billion in new capital at a $12 billion valuation, citing its continued strong development in the cloud and AI security areas. Annual recurring revenue (ARR) for the business reportedly increased from $350 million earlier this year to above $500 million.

After making a number of management additions aimed at facilitating quicker partner-driven growth, Rappaport stated in February that Wiz would prioritize its channel operations moving ahead.

I“In cybersecurity partners are super, super important in the success of a company. So we’ve always [seen that] this has huge potential for us to tap into. I think there is so much more we can do,” he stated at the time.

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ProRata, an AI startup, Teams up with UK Publishers after reportedly Hitting $130 Million in Valuation

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A number of well-known British media outlets have joined ProRata, an AI firm that claims to compensate publishers for the usage of their work, in its expanding network of partnerships.

The Los Angeles-based firm announced on Wednesday that it has signed licensing deals with publishers such as Sky News, the Guardian, and the Daily Mail’s publisher, DMG Media.

In a recent Series A funding round, ProRata raised $25 million from investors such as the Mayfield Fund, Prime Movers Lab, and Revolution Ventures.

“ProRata’s founder and CEO Bill Gross said his firm’s AI technology is the only one that pledges to credit and compensate creators, while providing users with accurate search results.

“We have had hundreds of content owners and media companies reach out to us from around the world who are interested in piloting our technology. Stealing and scraping content is not a sustainable path forward,” he continued.

Similar alliances have previously been formed by ProRata with the German publisher Axel Springer, the Atlantic, Fortune, Time, and Universal Music Group (UMG).

Media firms are offered reasonable compensation by ProRata for the use of their content. The startup’s in-house technology may determine the proper amount of pay by evaluating the worth of the information used to create responses from an AI platform. This would make it possible to pay copyright holders for their work on a per-use basis.

Gross had previously said that AI platforms have been using “shoplifted, plagiarized content,” which fosters an atmosphere in which “disinformation thrives and creators get nothing.”

Gross is recognized for having created the pay-per-click model of internet search monetization with his business, GoTo.com, which was eventually acquired by Yahoo! in 2003.

In a recent blog post, Tige Savage, a cofounder of Revolution, stated that Bill Gross is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in monetization techniques.

“He’s attracted a world-class tech team led by AI luminary Tarek Najm to implement the vision and an accomplished business team, including Annelies Jansen and Jonas Lee to drive content and AI partnerships,” Savage continued.

The unpaid use of copyrighted materials by OpenAI and other tech companies to train their AI systems has led to litigation from media companies and other content creators.

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Film Bazaar Unveils an Interactive Cinema App from an Indian Tech Startup

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Arjun Nittoor, the founder of the Indian technology firm Vireza, disclosed at Film Bazaar that the company is creating a new mobile application that would transform the experience of watching movies in theaters by enabling viewers to engage with the films in real time.

The technology, which was created wholly in-house at the company’s research and development department in Bengaluru, allows viewers to use their smartphones to vote on important plot points during the movie. To keep up with the current screening, patrons download an app before entering the theater and scan a QR code at their seat.

“The film industry is one of the few sectors where the audience experience has seen minimal technological disruption in theatres,” Nittoor stated. “While screen and sound quality have advanced and 3D has been partially adopted, the viewing experience has largely remained the same for decades.”

The screen automatically brightens to show voting options and dims again when choices are made. The system uses discreet phone notifications to encourage audience participation around every ten minutes.

In 2026, Vireza intends to introduce the technology with a full-length interactive movie that will be produced in both English and South Indian for international distribution. The business is presently in the development stage and will shortly start doing multiplex chain trial screenings.

CtrlMovie’s prior success in the interactive film industry was mentioned by Nittoor. CtrlMovie is well-known for “Traces of Responsibility” and “Late Shift.”

In order to overcome the difficulties in cinematography, editing, shot composition, and writing that plagued previous attempts at the format, the firm has spent five years creating what Nittoor refers to as “a new science of filmmaking” that is especially tailored for interactive cinema.

“Despite the proliferation of viewing devices, big-ticket films continue to draw massive crowds to theatres, with box office numbers higher than ever,”  Nittoor stated. “This demand underscores the potential for a meaningful technology shift that could draw audiences out of their homes and into cinemas.”

Other Asian businesses are likewise investigating audience-driven narrative in motion pictures. In February of the following year, Japan’s King Records intends to release “Hypnosis Mic – Division Rap Battle,” an animated interactive film.

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