Mala BhargavaIt’s barely larger than the largest phones you get nowadays, so first question one would ask about Asus’s ZenPad 7.0 tablet is, quite simply, why? The Taiwanese company has some pretty good biggish phones itself that are more easier to use than this tablet, and more powerful. But, companies work in mysterious ways, and so we have the Asus ZenPad 7.0, a budget tablet that will do the job, if you’re not asking for anything too fancy. It’s a 7-inch device, as is obvious from the name, and its distinctive feature is a companion, but optional, case that houses a speaker. When you put the little tablet into this case, connects to it and all you may need to do is enable the speaker from the Settings menu. This obviously makes it much louder than a tiny tablet would be. An optional Power Case also extends the battery life, which is a professed 8 hours. Of course, it depends on what you do. The case also has the effect of making the ZenPad 7.0 look like a professional device. Like a Filofax, for those who remember those binder notebooks that were standard corporate fare at one time. The problem is that the two pieces together are quite clunky and heavy, difficult to hold for a long time as well as adding quite a bit of weight to a handbag. Dropping it on your foot would probably leave the tablet unscathed and your toe is considerable trouble. But then, it is sturdy, unlike a lot of other tablets that can be so thin as to be frightening to hold. The case also has a groove that will allow you to stand the tab up quite smartly, which is good as a base to control a presentation, watch a video or make a Skype call. Though as far as calling goes, the tablet does have calling ability and takes a 3G SIM card. The tablet is available in black, white and a metallic colour, but I managed to see the black one only. The IPS display is a 1280 x 800 resolution, which is a bit low by today’s standards, but if you just need it for basic quick stuff, it will do. The cameras are an 8MP primary – and it’s not bad – and a 2MP front camera, which is. If the tablet is used for work and that involves taking images, the rear camera will be pretty good. The tablet runs on an Intel Atom x3-C3230 65-bit quad-core processor and has 1GB of RAM. Internal storage is either 8GB or 16GB depending on the variant you choose and there’s a memory card slot for expansion of up to 128GB. It runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop and the interface is Asus’ own ZenUI, a simple skin with some customizable gestures etc included. The one problem is a pleathora of pre-installed apps that eat up precious space. Luckily, quite a few can be offloaded. Asus also launched an 8-inch version with higher specs and 4G connectivity at the same time as the ZenPad 7.0. The 7.0 costs Rs 11,999 and with the cover, at Rs 14,999.
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Indian mobile handset maker Lava Mobiles’ subsidiary brand Xolo bounced back in the Indian smartphone market when it announced its Black series earlier this year. Having high hopes to give a new life to the brand the first handset under the series was announced but it didn’t make any buzz. Today Xolo has announced a second smartphone under the new series called the Black 1X. The smartphone has a unique looking design with glass panels on the front and back with leather accents on the top and bottom edges. Peculiar as it may sound, but the use of different materials could turn out well. The smartphone features a 5-inch full HD (1920×1080) display with Dragon Trail Glass protection. On the inside there is a 1.3GHz MediaTek MT6753 octa-core 64-bit processor with 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage, which can be expanded up to 128GB using a microSD card. The smartphone is 4G enabled and has two SIM card slots and features a 2,400mAh battery. In the photo department there is a 13MP camera with an LED flash and phase detection auto-focus at the back and a 5MP camera on the front. The smartphone with run on Android 5.1 Lollipop with company’s own HIVE Atlas UI on top. The Xolo Black 1X is priced at Rs. 9,999 which sounds competitive as at this price point smartphones like Yu Yureka, Lenovo K3 Note and even the Asus Zenfone Laser are not offering such high-end specifications. The handset will be available through a flash sale model on Snapdeal with the first sale happening on the 6th of November.
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Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday (27 October) said his firm is working on an open framework and continues to 'lobby' for net neutrality even as its plan to provide free Internet access to people under Free Basics programme faces criticism. "We do a lot to support (net neutrality) in terms of regulations, we are working on building an open framework..." Zucerkerbg said, while speaking at Townhall at IIT- Delhi. "We lobby for it (net neutrality) across the world but at the same time, we continue to push for access." he added. Facebook's Internet.org platform, which was recently rebranded as Free Basics, has come under fire from Internet activists for violating the principle of net neutrality that is against any priority being accorded to an entity in Internet traffic flow on account of payments to service providers like telecom companies. Talking about its controversial Free Basics programme, the young billionaire said the company has been lobbying for net neutrality across the world. "You can't not provide the whole Internet for free and we are not bringing a filter to any content that goes in it (in Free Basics). We need to get people on to the Internet," he added. Zuckerberg further said: "Internet.org is live in more than 24 countries and 15 million people have access to Internet now with Internet.org. That's a pretty good number... Almost 1 million people in India have access to Internet (through Internet.org)." he said. Highlighting the importance of the Indian market for the world's largest social media firm, he said the country plays a huge role in its "mission of connecting a billion people" to the Internet. "When you have a mission of connecting a billion people, you cannot do it without India," Zuckerberg said. India is the second largest user-base for Facebook after the US with 130 million users, he added. Facebook has 1.3 billion users globally. "India is the world's largest democracy and we have 130 million users here. Its a mission for us to help provide access to Internet," he said. This is Zuckerberg's second visit to India.(PTI)
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Mobility and IoT have a symbiotic relationship. Today it is evident that mobile technologies are a key driver for IoT, and in some ways IoT is, in turn, leading to further advancements in the mobility space.IoT has taken mobility beyond smartphones and tablets. The emerging "mobile" landscape has literally billions of internet-enabled devices connected over mobile (cellular) networks, Wi-Fi and other network protocols.What is the role of mobile in IoT?At a basic level, mobile devices and networks are enabling the expansion of IoT by providing a platform that is not only readily available and accessible, but also pervasive and familiar.The role of mobile role in IoT manifests itself in many more ways, all of which are essentially based on a synergistic interplay between the consumer owned "mobile devices" (smartphone and tablets, and increasingly cars) and IoT devices and systems at various consumer touch points. One can think of this under the broad theme of the convergence of mobile, IoT, cloud, social and analytics. Mobility and mobile devices will be the key connecting platform that will enable this convergence, contextual computing, and then take the resultant benefits to the consumers.What are the specific roles that mobile devices play in the IoT world?" Gathering and distributing data: Through passive metring or monitoring, the smartphone can act as a key data generator and channel for IoT systems. With location tagging, the power of such data becomes even more." Receiving and using information: Mobile devices are of course the most suitable platform for pushing relevant information from IoT systems to users." As a controller: Mobile devices can be turned into controllers of specific IoT systems, and this is already seeing many use cases across sectors.Mobile app developers will also play a key role in the IoT world. Having already worked on developing applications that utilize mobile devices, cellular and Wi-Fi networks, they are well placed to leverage the opportunities offered by IoT and the interplay between IoT and mobile ecosystems.What are use cases in IoT?Retail & "Omni-channel" experience: Some retailers are already using targeted, customized promotions based on customers' previous shopping experience, internet browsing history and social media when they visit or is in the proximity of a retail store. Beacon is already a buzzword in the world of retail. Perhaps this is the one use case that is in the cusp of potential explosive growth.Healthcare: There are already use cases in the healthcare space of mobility enabling innovative applications of IoT technologies. With specific apps, smartphones are turned to healthcare monitoring systems that are tied to other IoT-enabled monitoring systems. At hospitals there are increased uses of mobility-enabled IoT applications for day-to-day operations as well as critical monitoring systems.Field Service Management (FSM): Smartphones and tablets coupled with IoT-enabled tagging, monitoring and testing systems are fundamentally altering the world of FSM across sectors. IoT systems and mobile devices are enabling the shift towards predictive maintenance.There are many more use cases, and some of these are fairly simple but with significant utilitarian value. Some examples: (a) Beacon technology plus smartphone can be used to manage conference rooms in offices informing users where free rooms are available. (b) IoT enabled locks that can be operated by mobile phones. Bitlock has an interesting product for bikes.The author, Ajith Sankaran, is Senior Vice President - Market Intelligence at Blueocean Market Intelligence
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Micromax has been making an effort to venture into a wide variety of products through its subsidiary brand Yu. Apart from smartphones, Yu announced a fitness band, which sadly didn’t get a very high praise and then there was the tiny portable speaker Yubic. Now the company has a compact photo printer that can instantly print pictures from your smartphone or tablet.The YuPix is a simple looking plastic box resembling a large power bank. It has a power button, and two LED indicators to indicate the power and battery status. A door on the right edge opens to unveil the printing cartridge which can replaced with ease. The printer has an inbuilt 750mAh battery which charges via a standard microUSB port. The overall construction is flimsy, but for its price it seems justified. The printer uses NFC or Wi-Fi direct to connect to your smartphone through the YuPix app which is available for Android and iOS devices. It lets you select the picture you want to print, set its orientation and so on.Once you give the command for printing, the printer uses four ink layers (CMYK) to print the picture. Each colour is applied one after the other and it takes approximately a minute to get the final print. The best thing is that the cartridge is hassle free and has the ink ribbon and photo paper integrated inside. Each cartridge has the capability to print up to 10 photos. The photo that comes out is not really big though, somewhere around 3x2-inches in terms of dimension. It feels very similar to what you get from a Polaroid or any other instant camera. The overall quality of the print comes out fairly good and you get 291ppi output, but it can struggle to get accurate colours. Sharpness is maintained which mostly depends on the quality of the picture you have selected to print. The YuPix isn’t very striking, but it is definitely a fun little thing to have around the house if you have an interest in photography, especially if you love the nostalgic feeling of a physical photo print. Having said that the product won’t attract a lot of customers because the rush of the digital world has left physical photo prints in the past. The printer is priced at Rs. 6,999 which sounds nomial and a cartridge costs about Rs. 649 which includes 10 print ready photo papers.
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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday (27 October) began his trip to India with a visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra and described it as "even more stunning" than he had expected.Zuckerberg, who arrived in India to deepen links with a country that is home to the largest number of Facebook users outside the US, said he had "always wanted to see" the Taj Mahal."I'm in India for our Townhall Q&A tomorrow, and I decided to visit the Taj Mahal. I've always wanted to see this," he said in his Facebook post.He described the country's most-photographed and photogenic monument as "even more stunning than I expected.It's incredible what people can build -- and what love can motivate us to build."He also posted picture of him sitting infront of the Taj Mahal that was built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan in the 1600s.Within couple of hours, his Taj Mahal post had received over 450,000 likes, 11,000 comments and 7,700 shares.Zuckerberg will host a townhall Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi where around 900 students are expected to attend the Q&A session.India is home to over 130 million users, making it the second largest user base for the world's largest social networking site after the US.Before coming to India, he yesterday delivered a 20-minute speech in Mandarin at Tsinghua University in China.The young billionaire, who is married to Chinese-American Priscilla Chan, had set himself the goal of learning Mandarin in 2010.After his speech, he shared his accomplishment with his followers on Facebook along with a a video of the speech with English subtitles."I just gave my first ever speech in Chinese at Tsinghua University in Beijing -- on why you need a strong sense of mission to change the world."This was also my first real speech in any language sharing how I started thinking about Facebook's mission, what has kept me going through challenging times and what our mission means now looking ahead for our community of 1.5 billion people," he wrote.Zuckerberg had joined the board of Tsinghua's School of Economics and Management last year. He had last month conversed with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Mandarin at a meeting with technology chiefs in the US.Facebook is banned in mainland China and remains untapped for Facebook that has over 1.3 billion users globally.(PTI)
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All-in-one Android market and Android Manager App, MoboMarket today announced the launch of a new version, offering millions of Android users a wide variety of new content and many more features. MoboMarket is a leading third-party app store and boasts of a repository of over 500,000 high-quality free apps and games. The store helps global Android users discover their favourite apps in a more friendly way with its unique interface and design.The new version of MoboMarket comes with a wide array of apps – from segments like business, education, finance to entertainment, health & fitness and even cooking. There is also a separate section of apps for kids. Besides all these, there are free games, high-quality wallpapers and useful widgets for users.The app store now has a completely new design interface with refined looks that will improve user experience significantly. Each section of MoboMarket now looks more elegant and beautiful.“The latest version of MoboMarket aims to create a more friendly and convenient environment for our users. Apart from a whole host of new features, we have also created a user forum – aimed at creating our unique community, allowing fans to exchange thoughts on favourite games and get cool suggestions on latest apps," a quote from MoboMarket.A new feature, Top List, suggests a list of popular Apps & Games on a daily basis, based on users’ location, served in the native language. The app store also has a new built-in user account system and point mall. Users can own a private account, log in easily and redeem prizes by collecting points. The user forum will help people get suggestions from like-minded members of the community.MoboMarket also helps users improve their Android use experience by providing convenient contact backup, App backup, cross-platform contact transfer and many other useful Android tools. The Speed Boosters, Battery Savers and versatile widgets helps optimize phone to its best conditions. Users can also share files with friends without costing a dime, using the ‘Files Sharing’ feature.(BW Online Bureau)
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CXOs know that cognitive computing is more than just a buzzword. It's the next step for artificial intelligence in the enterprise, writes Rohil SharmaCognitive computing presents a power like we have never seen before; it overtakes the potential that the world-wide-web promised in the nineties. In five years, computers will be much more aware of their surroundings with an ability to identify hear, touch, taste and smell. Machines will experience the world like a human would. The world we see in the movie 'Her' isn't far from reality today where the operating system - Samantha - is able to learn and grow psychologically.Cognitive computing is the simulation of human thought processes in a computerized model. It involves self-learning systems that uses data mining, pattern recognition and natural language processing to mimic the way a human brain works. This includes information systems and applications that can sense, comprehend and act. Today, organizations are using less than 20 per cent of all the data available with them. They end up missing out on insights from very valuable information which exist in the form of human voice and pictures. Cognitive computing systems can help to tap this hidden data by converting this information into digital form. Today, cognitive computing makes it possible to assist in the critical decision making process in industries like healthcare, BFSI, education, research and defense.The Added AdvantageThough Artificial Intelligence (AI) is very close to cognitive computing, it works differently. The main advantage is that a cognitive system will not just continue to give a wrong or unhelpful answer repeatedly. If it arrives at a wrong conclusion, cognitive computing systems have the power to change its approach and try again. Another differentiating factor is the human element - humans are not part of the equation in AI, but humans and machines work together in cognitive computing. Cognitive computing systems learn from image and speech recognition to understand the world and interact seamlessly with humans.Opportunities in Cognitive ComputingThe real advantage lies in their ability to learn on their own and turn into domain experts. The systems become intelligent over time as they build knowledge and learn a domain, including their language, terminology, processes and preferred methods of interacting. Cognitive computing systems do not require rules to be hard-coded by human experts, unlike in earlier technologies. It can process unstructured data and learn by experience - the same way we humans do learn and analyse what goes on around us.At the same time, CXOs need not feel threatened as it will not replace human experts. Cognitive computing is an assistive technology which responds to humans in an assistive manner. Humans have contextual insight that computers simply don't possess. As cognitive computing systems develop a deep domain expertise, it will act as a decision support system and help CXOs make better decisions based on the real time data cross domains- BFSI, government, healthcare, finance, retail, customer service and others.Deloitte estimated that cognitive computing is set to be a $50 billion market opportunity by 2018 in the US alone. According to Markets and Markets, the cognitive computing market is forecasted to grow from $2,510.4 million in 2014 to $12,550.2 million by 2019. This means a CAGR of 38.0 per cent from 2014 to 2019.Needless to say, cognitive computing can bring huge business value to an organization. There are two main areas where cognitive computing can play an important part in a CXO's role - automation of routine, predictable work to enable quick decision making based on data, and for augmentation activities which are unpredictable and require real-time human analysis and judgment; it can augment the work of human experts.Managing big data is one of the biggest issues that CXOs face across all organizations today. Cognitive systems provide a great advantage here - it can categorize, sort and deliver valuable information from huge masses of data. It can also display data in a visually compelling way that helps us make decisions based on data. The technology is still immature but its benefits are being evaluated and proven over a number of verticals, while being mindful of potential risks and potential regulatory issues.The author is CEO of Perpetuuiti
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