A recent report, issued by the international news agency Reuters, reveals that smartphones are quickly becoming the most popular way to access the news. Over the last year, this increase has been particularly noted in countries such as the UK, the USA and Japan. In fact, for all countries involved in the survey, usage has increased from 37% to 46%. Furthermore, 66% of smartphone users are now using the device for news on a weekly basis.
By comparison, the number of people using tablets to access the news is decreasing in most countries. More sophisticated smartphones are reducing the need for other portable devices. The need for accessing the news on laptops and desktops has also changed. Over half (57%) still consider these devices the most important ways to access the news, but this is a decrease of 8% from last year.
The report also revealed, however, that on average people only use a small number of trusted news sources on their phones, the average across all countries being 1.52 per person. In the UK, for example, over half of smartphone users (51%) regularly use the BBC app.
Across all countries included in the survey, 25% stated that their smartphone was the main device used for accessing digital news, an increase of 20% since last year. This is particularly true of those aged under 35, with the figure rising to 41%. The overall trend, however, is not to use just one digital device to access the news, but rather a combination of two or three.
(Adapted from Mindset for IELTS)

ATM
For those living in urban India, ATMs are a common sight; one on every corner. But imagine the plight of those in rural areas. For them, every time they wish to withdraw money, they have to often travel miles to reach the bank itself, given that they have little or no access to ATMs.
It’s not the question of banks not wanting to provide them with the ATM facility, but there are several factors that are detrimental. One of the biggest considerations is that of the cost of operation. Secondly, things like power shortage further make it unviable. This is what prompted Chennai-based Vortex Engineering to develop a solar-powered ATM that could be deployed even in the most remote parts of the country. The unique patented technology used in Vortex ATMs has been developed to help banks reach out to rural areas and the financial inclusion of the unbanked population.
They developed the solar-powered Gramateller Duo with the help of IIT Madras. The fact that it consumes so less power also brings down the running cost. Additionally, it generates less heat so it doesn't require an AC. Kamal Sharma, VP of sales & marketing, Vortex Engineering says, “On the cost side, the Gramateller Duo has lower initial costs (30-50% lesser) and lower running costs. Typical ATMs (power consumption – 300 to 600 W) plus their air conditioning would result in monthly electricity bills to the tune of Z 7,000-10,000. Gramateller requires no air-conditioning and consumes very less power, thus can bring down monthly electricity bills to less than 600.”
Once they had an ATM running on less power, they could further explore the use of solar panels and discovered that a solar panel of size less than 80 sq. ft. would suffice to run the ATM entirely on solar power.
All of these factors combined means that these ATMs can operate at temperatures varying from 0°C to 50°C without a glitch. Thus, it makes them ideal to be deployed in the most rugged desert area or even in areas of high altitude.
Vortex has now the world's largest number of Solar ATM installations. Kamal says “It rolled out India's or possibly the world’s first large-scale installation of solar-powered ATMs, by setting up 300 of these for State Bank of India.”
(Adapted from https://www.edumantra.net)

Imagine you are buying an apple in a supermarket. Which do you choose, one with a small brown mark, or one without? Be honest – you’d go for the apple (25) ______ looks perfect. Supermarkets do this too, but on a much larger scale when buying fruit and vegetables from farmers. And what becomes of the ones with marks on them? They are thrown away. So are the ones that are a funny shape or size.
(26) ______ reason for waste is that people buy more food than they can eat and supermarkets do everything they can to (27) ______ this, for example with offers like “Buy one, get one free”. Developed countries waste about 650 million tons of food each year and so do developing countries. (28) ______, the waste happens for very different reasons. As the world's population grows, this problem will only (29)______, so we need to take action urgently.
(Adapted from Navigate)