Mediaboss Marketing

This comes days after another Chennai-based software-as-a-service company (SaaS) Kissflow gifted luxury BMW cars to its five senior executives, each worth about 1 crore, as a gift.

A Chennai-based IT firm on Monday gifted as many as 100 cars to its employees for their constant support and unparalleled contributions to the company's success and growth.

Ideas2IT, an It firm has gifted Maruti Suzuki cars to 100 employees.

"We are gifting 100 cars to 100 of our employees who have been a part of us for more than 10 years. We have a strength of 500 employees. Our concept is to return the wealth we have received, to the employees," said Hari Subramanian, Marketing Head, Ideas2IT.

Murali Vivekanandan, Founder and Chairman, Ideas2IT said that the employees have made a lot of efforts for improving the company and the company is not giving cars to them, they have earned it with their hard work.

"Seven-eight years ago we promised that when we get lefty goals we will share our wealth. Awarding these cars is just the first step. We plan to roll out more such initiatives in the near future," added Vivekanandan.

"It is always great to receive gifts from the organization; on every occasion, the company shares its happiness with gifts like gold coins, iPhones. Car is a very big thing for us," said Prasath, an employee, who received the gift from the company.

This comes days after another Chennai-based software-as-a-service company (SaaS) Kissflow gifted luxury BMW cars to its five senior executives, each worth about 1 crore, as a gift.

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Covid XE variant: Karnataka government to screen travelers from 8 countries

Following the discovery of India's first case of the new XE coronavirus in Mumbai, Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar stated that the state is considering imposing new measures for international visitors entering the state. He also advised people who had not yet received the second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to do so as soon as possible. He went on to suggest that people get immunised and collaborate with the government.

Contractor who accused Karnataka minister Eshwarappa dies; suicide suspected

BENGALURU: a right-wing leader and contractor, Santosh K Patil, who accused Karnataka minister KS Eshwarappa of demanding a commission for road construction in Belagavi's Hidalgo village, was found dead in a lodge in Udupi district on Tuesday, police said. Patil on March 11 shot off a letter to union rural development and panchayat raj (RDPR) minister Giriraj Singh, accusing Eshwarappa and his associates of demanding money for road works to the tune of 4 crore.

e-Sanjeevani services to be extended to every district

PUNE The state is planning to extend the central ministry's e-Sanjeevani app, the first-of-its-kind telemedicine service facility started by the country, to every district. Currently, the service is attended to by the medical health officer at the five health circles but with more experts added to the facility, each district would have a dedicated health officer. The e-prescription generated at end of the session is used for obtaining medicines.

Minor girl gang-raped in Rajasthans Churu district

A 17-year-old girl was allegedly gang raped on Sunday night in Churu district of Rajasthan, police said. Deputy superintendent of police, Mamta Saraswat said the girl in her complaint has alleged that her neighbor, a college student, had proposed to her one-and-a-half years back but she rejected. Later, assuring to marry her, he raped her and also made a video of it. On Sunday night, the accused asked the girl to come to the fields.

Rickets cases rising, kids of affluent families getting afflicted

PUNE Hospitals in the city have been reporting a rise in the number of cases of rickets since last year and children from affluent families too are getting afflicted by the disease, the hospital authorities said. Rickets is a skeletal disorder in children caused by a lack of vitamin D, calcium or phosphorous, resulting in bone pain, weak and soft bones and various skeletal deformities.

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Chennai-based IT firm gifts cars to its 100 employees - Hindustan Times

Spring is here, which in the admissions process can only mean one thing a hyperfocus on yield for our incoming class while concurrently turning the page to look ahead to the future. Of course, in a post-COVID world (whatever that means), we are faced with a number of unknowns, the largest of which is how to get back to high-effort initiatives that were so critical pre-2020. Concurrently, we need to continue and expand upon the highly effective and measurable digital offerings weve spent so much time perfecting over the past two years.

As we look ahead, it will be important to not let digital efforts go the way of high school visits and college fairsthings that we do with no real understanding of their true impactand ultimately create a confusing, or worse, negative student experience. To that end, there are three low-hanging fruit ways to fix your digital engagement plan by breaking some rules.

The reality is that in 2022 there is very little digital content that needs to be consumed live. There are entire industries built around easy, step-by-step video tutorials and guides. In the context of college admissions, were also competing for screen time with social media apps and video-streaming sites used for entertainment.

Additionally, while meeting software like Zoom and Teams has made it easier for members of your campus community to be comfortable being on camera, there will always be challenges with internet connectivity compounded with varying degrees of comfort on the part of your presenters. The last thing we want to see is a great information session slightly derailed by bad internet and then completely off the mark because of a stressed-out professor who cant re-center themselves.

How do we break the rule? Simulate live experiences by pre-recording content and releasing it on a schedule (like The Mandalorian on Disney+). This creates anticipation for fresh content while also removing the challenges inherent in broadcasting live each time. Additionally, effective promotion of on-demand content can serve as a method of repurposing content without the added effort of continually recording new material which can be a burden to an already overstretched team.

The battle between authentic and amateur is not new. Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the general rule of thumb for video content was that students prefer a raw and unfiltered view of campus over highly produced videos featuring faculty and the president. Of course, during the height of the pandemic we had no choice but to produce what students wanted to see: videos featuring students and staff from their living rooms and kitchens simply sharing their voice.

As we return to normal, the temptation is to revert to ignoring this type of feedback from the market and overproduce video content for on-demand consumption. This is why programs like The College Tour on Amazon Prime are so popular with colleges. Much like YouniversityTV nearly a decade ago, admissions and marketing teams clamor for shiny and pristine presentations with little to no regard for ROI. These types of investments now lead to blowback from the community at large.

How do we break the rule? Avoid the temptation to put too much effort and emphasis on a polished final product. If weve learned nothing from the latest Disney smash hit, Encanto, it doesnt need to be perfect it just needs to be. So just let it be. Raw and unfiltered content also moves from idea to eyeballs in a far shorter period of time. This allows for fast feedback for your team with the ability to iterate quickly and add to the story over time.

OK. This one isnt so much a rule as it is a problem with how most institutions treat recruitment data.

For the record, investing in a college tour video with Amazon in and of itself isnt a bad thing. The issue, however, is the inability to measure meaningful ROI with a video hosted on YouTube and embedded into a webpage. This limitation is a function of investing in disparate systems and platforms without a true plan for how they all fit together. Its the reason most institutions cant (or dont) effectively track beyond the first source of an enrollment: doing anything more is just too hard.

How do we break the rule/address this problem? The most impactful thing we can do is stop thinking about digital interactions and in-person interactions as separate and think of them as part of a continuous story. Using marketing automation and machine learning, we can connect the dots from visitors to our virtual tour, our .edu website and our institutionally branded videos and content. This connectivity enables us to use machine learning to drive dynamic content and automations without our CRM to truly tailor the recruitment process for our prospective students. Going about it this way also ensures we arent giving our student data to Google for free.

We have a unique opportunity as an industry to continue the rapid innovation that we have seen over the past two years. This will take a commitment to not going backward and having a laser focus on delivering students the right message at the right time via the right channels from the right sender. Thats a lot of rights to get right.

A leader in enrollment marketing strategy, Gil Rogers has published numerous studies on digital student engagement and presented at dozens of national conferences on enrollment strategy. He currently serves as executive vice president at PlatformQ Education.

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Fix Engagement by Breaking the Rules | Call to Action: Marketing and Communications in Higher Education - Inside Higher Ed

Do you want to create a deck plan and design for free? Here is a complete guide using which you can easily design beautiful and professional decks on your Windows 11/10 PC. In this post, we will be mentioning two different methods to make a deck design. So, without much ado, let us check out these methods in detail.

Here are the methods to design a deck on your Windows 11/10 PC:

To create a deck model on your PC, you can use free desktop software. There are some software that let you plan and design a deck. However, there are only a few software that come for free. If you want free software, you can try using DreamPlan to design a deck on Windows 11/10. It is free for non-commercial use only.

DreamPlan is a dedicated free home design software that lets you plan and create a home plan. It lets you design the interior as well as the exterior of your home. It allows you to make a floor plan, create staircase designs, design bathrooms, etc. Along with that, you can also make a deck plan and add it to the exterior of your house. It offers you all the tools and features to do that. You can access deck designing tools from the dedicated tab in it. Let us check out a sorted procedure to create a 3D deck design in this free software.

Here are the main steps to create a deck in DreamPlan:

Let us discuss the above steps in detail now.

Firstly, you need to download and install this free software, and then launch the software to start using it.

Now, go to the Deck tab present on its menubar and simply create boundaries for your deck as per your requirements. After that, you can start adding components to your deck including stairs, flooring, and railing.

You can stylize and customize the appearance of the components the way you want. It lets you edit several parameters including deck height, decking style, decking color, rotation, fascia thickness, fascia style, deck skirt, skirt style, and skirt color. Furthermore, you can also customize railing height, post size, post spacing, post style, post color, infill type (rails, baluster, bars, mesh), infill style, infill color, size, rail spacing, cap type, rail cap width, cap style, stair width, tread run, tread nose, rise, tread color, stringer color, rise color, foot size, foot spacing, footing style, and more.

It provides a measuring tool that helps you create a precise design. When done creating the deck design, you can save the snapshot of the deck design or print the deck on paper.

All in all, it is a great free deck design software using which you can build a dream home plan for free. You can download it from here.

Read: Sweet Home 3D: Free Interior Design Software for Windows PC.

Here are the online tools that you can use to design a deck for free:

deckdesigner.timbertech.com is a nice tool to create beautiful deck designs online. It provides you with multiple deck templates that you can use and modify to make your own deck design. However, if you want to create a completely new deck from the scratch, you can do that too.

It has a complete set of tools that allow you to create the desired deck design. These tools include Decking, Multi-Color Decking, Multi-Width Decking, Railing, Decor, Wall Paint, and Flooring that let you customize the look of the deck. Apart from that, you can easily toggle between 2D and 3D view modes to design a deck. The final design can be saved as a screenshot image or you can save the project on the website itself.

The good part of this online tool is that it offers all real-brand materials to use to create a deck. So, you have the option to buy all the materials that you have used in creating a deck. Now, lets check out how to use it.

Here are the steps to create a deck design online for free:

You can use it here.

Lowes.com is a free online deck design tool. It lets you create professional deck designs and plans from scratch. Some handy deck templates are also available in it that you can use to quickly modify and create your own deck design. It provides both 2D and 3D view modes to make the design. You can use its different tools including Decking, Deck Material, Railing, Wall paint, Flooring, Substructure, Infill, and more to make a proper deck. You can also customize the size, dimensions, and orientation of the deck according to your requirements.

Follow the below steps to create a deck design online:

Try it here.

decks.com, as the name suggests, is a dedicated online tool to create a deck design. You can design 2D and 3D decks using it. It offers several deck shapes, dummy houses, stairs, and shaping tools that help you create a deck design. To use it, you need to register a free account on its website and then sign in with your account to start using it.

You can try the below steps to easily create a deck design:

It is a nice tool to create a deck design. You can also find some helpful videos on this web service to know how exactly to use it and design a deck.

See: Best free Architecture software for Architects to run on Windows PC.

fiberondecking.com is another online tool to design a deck. Like other tools, it also offers various deck templates that you can use and edit as per your requirements. In addition to that, you can also create your own deck design which is completely new.

In it, you can find tools in different sections to design a complete deck. Frame, Railing, Stairs, Wall, Landscape, Furniture, Lights, and some more tools sections are available in it. It provides a canvas where you can add a deck and its components as well as adjust their sizes. You can also customize the look and feel of the entire deck.

It offers a handy feature that lets you change the landscape area where you want to create a deck. You can use Beach, Forest, Mountains, and other landscapes to create a deck.

You can use it here.

One more online tool that you can use to create a deck design online is moisturehield.com. It is another website that lets you build a deck design from scratch. You can find all the essential tools that let you add and customize deck, railing, stairs, and more. Using it, you can also accessorize the deck using items like chairs, spas, a bench, and more.

Yes, you can design your own deck. For that, you can use a free online tool or free software that lets you design a deck. We have mentioned some free online tools and free software that you can check out below.

To build a deck, you must make a note of the budget, materials, dimensions, and other design details that you need. Besides that, you can use the tools that we have mentioned in this post to create professional deck designs.

Now read:

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Design a Deck using these free Deck Designer software and online tools - TheWindowsClub

If youve ever tried streaming on Twitch or YouTube, youd probably be familiar with OBS Studio. It is a free and open-source software for video recording and live streaming, which offers a ton of useful features like real-time capture, scene composition, recording, encoding, and broadcasting via the Real Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP). It supports all streaming services that support RTMP, including YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, and Facebook. If youre thinking of giving live streaming a shot, you should definitely check it out. And now that OBS Studio is available on Steam, its easier than ever to do so.

Up until now, you could only download OBS Studio from its official website or GitHub page. But Windows and macOS users can now download it from Steam as well. Downloading from Steam has a couple of unique benefits, including support for automatic background updates, more efficient downloads on macOS, usage tracking, and easy opt-in for Beta/Release Candidate builds.

At the moment, OBS Studio for Linux is not available on Steam. But the team behind the streaming software plans to add Linux builds in the coming months. In addition, the team also plans to offer better Steam Deck support, which will help Steam Deck users stream games on the go.

Note that OBS Studio on Steam doesnt support cloud saves at the moment. If thats something you need, you would be better off downloading OBS Studio from the official website or the GitHub page. However, the team is working on adding support for better ways to export/import and backup OBS data regardless of the platform, so cloud save support could make its way to the Steam version with a future release. The OBS Studio team has also published a detailed FAQ for the Steam version, which you should check out before installing it on your device.

Download OBS Studio on Steam

Source: Steam, OBS Project

Original post:
Free and open source streaming software OBS Studio is now available on Steam - XDA Developers

There might not be any such thing as a free lunch, especially in the financial field, but a tax-help service staffed by IRS-certifiedvolunteers certainly comes close.

Granted, not everyone can qualify for the personalized, no-cost service available at dozens of sites around Arizona, and thousands nationally, through the VITA/TCE program. Butpeople with moderate incomes,generally $58,000 or less, and fairly uncomplicated returnscan take advantage of it, along with higher earnerswho are 60or older,disabled individuals and those for whom English is a second language.

Erika Cooper, a graphics designer,decided to give the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance/Tax Counseling for the Elderlyprograma try after paying an accountant friend $100 last year to file her tax returns, only to realize later that he missed some breaks thatreducedher refund.

Cooper, who is also a part-time college student, said she had a "fantastic" experience with the new service, wrapping up her 2021 federal andArizona returnsthis year. She also isfiling amended returns for 2020 through theVITA/TCE program to capture a bigger refund for that year.

Valerie Edwards, who reviewed Cooper's return,is a volunteer who received training from the IRS. Shelikes the challenge of helping people complete their returns. "It's kind of like putting a puzzle together," she said.

Edwards also tries to instruct people about their tax situation. "I don't wantanyone leavingmy table who doesn't understand their tax return," she said. Sometaxpayers are fearful of the whole tax-return preparation process, she added.

Even with free, in-person help available, the VITA/TCE program hasn't been preparing as many tax returns as in past years, said Jim Simpson, a certified public accountant who oversees the program at Scottsdale Community College, where Edwards helped Cooper with her returns.The COVID-19 pandemicprobably played a role in that, as the VITA/TCE program had to shut down late in the 2020 tax season and never opened at all last year, he said.

Also, many taxpayersdon't know about the VITA/TCE program and might confuse it with IRS Free File, where moderate-income individualscan use software to prepare their returns at no cost, but without in-person assistance.

"I'll bet 50% of the people who can qualify for thisprogram aren't aware of it," Simpsonsaid.

Taxpayers also might assume they won't receive as large of a refund going with a free service staffed by volunteers, but the software used in the VITA/TCE program will prompt preparers to ask about breaks such as the Earned Income Tax Credit andthe Retirement Saver's Credit.

One other benefit: The volunteer VITA/TCE preparers don't try to sell other financial services, as is often the casefor-profit companies. Nor are the volunteers "under pressure to crank out returns," Simpsonsaid. In fact, the session whenEdwards helped Cooper prepare her returnonMarch 23 at Scottsdale Community College was lightly attended at times.

Appointments are required at some locations to make sure the sessions are adequately staffed. Anyone interested in finding a nearbylocationand making anappointment shouldgo to irs.gov and search for "find a location for free tax help" or gotohttps://www.irs.gov/individuals/find-a-location-for-free-tax-prep. Some 46 sites arelisted within a 50-mile radius of downtown Phoenix.

That said, the volunteer preparers in the VITA/TCE program don't tackle some tax situations, largely because of complexities,Simpsonwarned. These includepeople owning rental homes and who mustfile Schedule E, those claiming home-office deductions, small businesses that generate losses and anyone with taxable cryptocurrency transactions. All that is addition to the general $58,000 income cap.

Prop 208: What high earners in Arizona need to know about filing taxes

But for many others, taking advantage of VITA/TCE help can be aa convenient, no-cost way to navigate the annual income-tax ritual.

"We do quality returns, make sure they understand their situation and file the returns electronically," Edwards said. "All they have to do is wait for their refunds."

IRS offices in Arizona have opened again following pandemic shutdowns last year.

Typically, theseTaxpayer Assistance Centers are open Monday through Friday and operate by appointment only. Taxpayers seeking in-person assistance can schedule a meeting by calling the agency at 844-545-5640.

However, the IRS office at 4041 N. Central Ave. in Phoenix has two walk-inSaturdays coming up, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.on April 9 and May 14, whenappointments won't beneeded. The IRS office at 300 W. Congress St. in Tucsonwill be open on April 9 only.

This year'sregular filing deadline, for federal and Arizona returns, is April 18. However, automatic extensions may be requested, giving taxpayers another six months to complete and file their returns.

Reach the reporter at russ.wiles@arizonarepublic.com.

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Need help filing taxes? Free assistance is available through IRS-sanctioned service - The Arizona Republic