Goa: Tickell's Blue Flycatcher

 

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Alternatives to the Banned Chinese Apps

Alternatives to the Banned Chinese Apps

The Indian government has banned 59 apps developed by Chinese companies. Some of these apps are extremely popular in the country and would have you believe that there aren’t good enough alternatives on the app stores. Well, you’ll be surprised to be know that there are many options for you choose from. And some of them have been made in India.

S.No.	Chinese App	Description	Alternative(s)	Country	Description
1	SHAREit, Xender	Cross-platform file transfer tool	Feem v4	Cameroon	This cross-platform app lets you transfer files to phones in its vicinity without using internet bandwidth. Also includes a chat interface.
2	TikTok, Kwai, VMate, Likee	Short video sharing social media platform	Roposo Chingari Mitron Bolo Indya	India	All three allow users to create short videos and share to popular social media platforms.
3	Helo	Social media platform for discovering trending videos, jokes, messages	ShareChat	India	Available in 15 regional languages, this Indian social media service includes chatrooms, daily dose of news, entertainment and more.
4	CleanMaster	An optimisation utility that clears system cache and frees up space	Files by Google	USA	Optimiser apps are not beneficial for the phone and usually push ads. Instead, use Files Google to free up space.
5	Hago: Play with new friends	Uses short games to bring online players together and interact	Hello Play Plato: Games and Group Chats	India USA	A social app that lets you play games online with your group of friends and chat in real time.
6	Parallel Space	An cloning tool that lets you sign into multiple accounts with the same app at the same time	Do Multiple Accounts	USA	This lets you login to more than two accounts of your messenger, social media network, game profile on the same phone.
7	WeChat	Instant messenger	WhatsApp Signal Messenger Telegram	USA USA UK	These are widely popular messaging apps already. All three offer end-to-end encryption of messages. Currently, Telegram is reportedly working to include a video-calling feature.
8	UC News, Newsdog	Delivers daily news and trending stories	Khabri	India	Delivers news and podcasts in Hindi, updates on government jobs and daily motivational quotes. A studio version lets you start your audio channel.
9	CamScanner	Makes digital copies of physical documents and photographs	Microsoft Office Lens Adobe Scan	USA USA	These are excellent alternatives for scanning receipts, assignments and documents into the PDF file format.
10	Vault	Privacy tool that hides sensitive data from prying eyes	Hide It Pro	India	You can hide your photos, videos, sensitive files and messages with this tool. It supports data encryption and can be unlocked with the phone’s fingerprint sensor.
11	Sweet Selfie, YouCam, Meitu	Selfie apps with myriad colour filters and AR effects	B612	South Korea	Contrary to popular opinion, this selfie app is developed by a company with South Korean roots.
12	Du Screen Recorder	Records screens and takes screenshots	InShot Screen Recorder	USA	Captures videos of on-screen action on the phone, lets you edit and export at Full HD resolution.
13	Bigo Live	Stream videos online in real time	YouNow	USA	A live streaming app that also lets you interact with your audience in real time.
14	Baidu Translate	Translation tool	Google Translate Microsoft Translator	USA USA	These are two of the best real-time multilingual translators on the app stores right now.
15	Baidu Maps	Location and navigation service	MapmyIndia Google Maps Here WeGo	India USA USA	We don’t know how many would want to use Baidu Maps in India when these popular apps for location mapping and navigation have always been available.
16	Mobile Legends	Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game	Brawl Stars Vainglory	Finland USA	These MOBA games promise non-stop action and challenging gameplay.

Alexandrine Parrots

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Help ID this mystery cocoon

My father in law just sent in these pictures of a chrysalis/cocoon, which is just amazing looking. But I have no idea what caterpillar this is.

I have never come across or read about a butterfly/moth caterpillar that builds a cocoon within a weave mesh. The resulting cocoon looks like it floating in the middle. Also, if you notice, the caterpillar has shed its skin before entering the cocoon.

I do hope someone can ID this. it's just amazing to look at and it'd be brilliant to put a name to it.

Fruit-loving visitors

An Indian Almond tree has started flourishing outside my kitchen window, leading to an influx of visitors I was never privy to earlier. Finally, I can also say – like some ornithologist authors – that I too have a balcony from which one can get to watch some bird antics.

Well, anyway, this Indian Almond tree has not only drawn the tailor bird, parakeets and mynahs for its shade, it's fruit has also lured a fruit bat. I was told he/she had started visiting every evening and I was lucky enough to get a full show even before the evening light had faded. This fella was larger than I had imagined and happily tucked into four almonds! Brought back memories of the days we used run around these "badaam" tree chucking stones, so we could eat them with some salt.

Bird-watching at the Gateway of India

These were taken ages ago when I had visited Gateway of India on two occasions in the morning to try out some cameras. Both cameras, one a micro four thirds and the other a super zoom, were unable to match up to the fast-flying Gull-Billed Terns.

But after a lot of tracking and whirling around, swivelling about on my heels, I managed to get some shots. These had to be filtered out and cropped because the terns were actually really small in the pictures and there was too much sun for liking. None of these shots are like those we are used to see on bird blogs because the gear I used is not equipped to handle a subject like a fly-by sea bird. To top that, it was hot and each time I moved towards the lot that were flocking near a feeder, they would disperse as though they sensed a stalker. That really tried my patience.

Without much ado, here is my sorry attempt at birding in my city. (Strangely, before I started seriously amateur birding, I never ever bothered to see what kind of birds lurked around the shores of South Mumbai. That in itself was an eye opener.)

If you notice, somewhere in these picture are a couple seagulls hanging around. Hey, it's better I tell you now so you don't mistake a seagull for tern, yeah?