Mr Sharma is a retired government services employee and lives next to my house. He loves to explore new places in the city and mostly rely on his friend-circle or local newspaper for information. He recently decided to buy a smartphone as he was told that Google has all the information and it is much easier to explore places on internet.The happy moment was soon over. He was overwhelmed with the learning curve. He couldn't understand why he needs to open a "browser" or an "app" to search for information. If that was not enough he was told to learn "tap", "zoom", "scrolling" to see even the first result.There are way too many Mr Sharma out there. In India the literal digital literacy is around mere 7 per cent. There is clear digital divide leading to non-equal distribution of benefits and resources. The current HCI (human computer interaction) has worked well but needs to be re-looked at if we have to connect the last billion on the planet."Is there a better way to interact with systems that is natural and ubiquitous instead of forced?"The answer lies in the new trend where computation power is merging with physical world. We need affordable experiences that doesn't requires any manual and leverages daily object for interaction and exploration.We choose to use table as a medium to create an experience that requires no prior knowledge of keyboard and mouse. To illustrate the idea we choose to simulate Google search but the table as platform can be leveraged in many situations.The installation mimics the real world, a father teaches his child meaning of car by repeatedly pointing it out and making car sound, he thus learns new objects and their meaning. Similarly table environment is trained to recognize world objects using machine vision and machine learning. Contextual information is then attached to each learned object.We have demonstrated this installation at multiple events and all the places people were able to use it without any explanation.By going beyond screens and tapping into other human senses the interactions becomes available to people with special abilities as well. There is no doubt that future of experience is natural.The author, Alok Kumar, is Senior Experience Technologist, SapientNitro, India
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Sony made a huge buzz this year by announcing the world’s first 4K display equipped smartphone along with two other models in the Xperia Z5 family at IFA 2015 in Berlin, Germany. But before these handsets head to India, the company has announced the Xperia M5 Dual. The Xperia M5 Dual is an update for the Xperia M4 Aqua and continues Sony’s legacy of making beautiful looking handsets in a waterproof body.The M5 Dual shares its design with the Xperia Z3 but packs in Sony’s all new 21.5MP rear camera that is said to be one of the fastest cameras available on a smartphone, similar to the ones shown off on the new Xperia Z5 family. It comes with a 0.25-second Hybrid autofocus technology which packs in both Phase Detection AF and Contrast Detection AF making it super quick. The camera also comes with 5x Clear Image Zoom which Sony claims that it allows you to get close without losing any quality. The camera also has the capability to shoot crisp 4K videos. For the selfie lovers there is a 13MP camera on the front which promises to deliver great pictures as well.Talking about the specifications the Xperia M5 Dual runs on MediaTek’s latest Helio X10 octa-core processor with 3GB of RAM, 16GB of storage which is expandable with a microSD card of up to 200GB, a 5-inch full HD display with Sony’s Bravia engine, a 2,600mAH battery and 4G support with dual-SIM card slots. Like most of the Sony handsets, this also is dust and water proof which has now become Sony’s trademark.Sony has also been known to price their handsets on the higher side and the Xperia M5 Dual follows the tradition. Priced at Rs. 37,990 the smartphone is very close to the flagship smartphone territory although it is not Sony’s flagship smartphone for 2015. The M5 Dual is a great handset but it is definitely not going to attract customers especially in a price conscious country like India.
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Apple Inc unveiled a new TV set top box that responds to voice commands and fresh iPhones that sense the pressure of a finger tap, changes which underwhelmed many social media commenters and investors.The new 6S and 6S Plus versions of the iPhone, Apple's biggest money maker, are the same size as the previous versions but come with a better camera, faster chips, new colours and the force-sensitive "3D Touch".Speaking before thousands of analysts, journalists and frequently cheering Apple employees, Chief Executive Tim Cook also brought on stage an executive from onetime archrival Microsoft Corp to illustrate the business-friendly credentials of a big new iPad, the Pro.Apple shares fell 1.9 per cent to $110.15 by the close, replicating the recent history of such rollouts but also reflecting the lack of any transformative products that could jumpstart the company's sales ahead of the crucial holiday season.Apple shares have lost an average of 0.4 per cent on the day of iPhone announcements over the past three years, according to BTIG Research data."People love to hate Apple announcements because the expectations are so high and they can never clear that bar," said Kevin Landis, portfolio manager of the $111 million Firsthand Technology Opportunities fund, which has Apple as its second-largest position.Twitter users seemed most impressed by the revamped Apple TV. The product, which the company long called a 'hobby' gets its own app store and will work with Siri, Apple's digital assistant.Fewer celebrated the iPad, which some saw as too big and similar to Microsoft's Surface tablet, and new iPhones, which are outwardly identical to the enlarged smartphones which made their debut about a year ago.“3D Touch not good enough reason to upgrade so far,” Ikechukwu Nwanze wrote of the new phones, which start at $199 with a two-year contract.Apple TV demonstrations showed tricks to make viewing easier: digital assistant Siri, which is behind the voice control, can rewind a video for 15 seconds and turn on subtitles, when a viewer asks something like "What did she say"?"We've been working really hard, and really long," on TV, Cook said, emphasizing the word 'long' in a nod to the time it has taken the company to produce an ambitious TV product.The new set-top box will include an app store and let developers create new software for Apple TV, including video games.“I’m all about this new #AppleTV. Shut up and take my money,” wrote Twitter user Ethan Anderton. Others joked that they would have to buy a TV for the first time to use the Siri remote and app store.Absent from the new TV interface was any agreement for new content despite Apple's efforts to negotiate deals with a wider array of TV networks to provide live or on-demand content.A Stylus?Many of Apple's new features are based on technology that has been around for some time, but never caught on. Apple has a long history of creating successes where others could not.Years ago a Blackberry featured force-sensing touch. The new iPad has an optional $99 stylus, called the "Pencil", which amused many on social media: in 2007 Apple then-CEO Steve Jobs told a tech conference, "Yech, nobody wants a stylus."Apple is coming from behind in the streaming media market. Nearly 20 per cent of US broadband households already own at least one media player that streams content from the Internet, according to research firm Parks Associates.Roku accounts for more than a third of all streaming devices sold in the United States in 2014, followed by Google Inc's Chromecast and Amazon.com Inc's Fire TV, Parks said. The Apple TV box came in fourth.Landis said that while he liked the updated TV product “the numbers are so small that they won’t move the needle because the iPhone is such a big business now.”Facebook Messenger Coming To The WatchCook began the morning by talking up the Apple Watch, saying customer satisfaction for the recently launched product was 97 per cent and that a new version of its operating system would be ready by mid-September. Apple is working with French luxury goods maker Hermes on a new watch collection, and Facebook Messenger is coming to the device, he added.He then rolled out the "iPad Pro" with a 12.9 inch screen and said it had performance similar to a desktop computer. Apple showed off a "smart" keyboard as well as the "Pencil".Dave Meier, who works on several portfolios at Motley Fool Funds, said that the addition of a stylus and keyboard to the iPad Pro, which starts at $799, could lead to a “refresh cycle” that would lift incremental sales.He was “impressed with the gumption” to bring Microsoft executives to demonstrate Office products on the newiPad, he said. “This says that the Surface might be dead and Microsoft understands that they are very good at productivity but not at hardware,” he said.The new phones come a year after Apple rolled out iPhones with larger screens, touching off a frenzy of sales that saw revenue in the most recent quarter increase 32.5 per cent from the same quarter a year ago."It's getting harder and harder for Apple to compete against itself," said analyst Bob O'Donnell of TECHnalysis Research. Apple shares are up about 12 per cent over the last year, although they are down about 14 per cent in the last three months.Fortunately for Apple, most consumers buy smartphones under a two-year upgrade cycle, meaning the company will still likely scoop up a lot of sales, said analyst Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy."The key point of reference is not how the new phone compares to the iPhone 6, it's how it compares to theiPhone 5s," he said.(Reuters)
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A perceptible crackle wafts across a major portion of the world on the eve of an Apple event. Like the little electric sparks you see from static. And before an event that involves a new iPhone, the excitement reaches fever-pitch as fans keep their eye on special countdown clocks. By the time Tim Cook, Apple CEO, takes the stage at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco with a signature "Good Morning," the world is in a breathless frenzy. Mala Bhargava reports The Apple Watch Comes Into its OwnTim Cook surprises the audience by going straight to the Apple Watch, talking about how well it's doing. No updates and statistics, but right on to how customer satisfaction with the Apple Watch is 97 per cent. The number of apps for the watch have crossed 10,000 and the device is getting more useful. Facebook Messenger, viewfinder for a Go Pro camera, and AirStripan application for physicians are just a sampling of the new apps that are arriving on the Apple Watch. AirStrip also allows the monitoring of pregnant women, including the baby's heartbeat. Apple expects this to be a game changer for doctor-patient communication. Apple has also been working on new models and new bands (including rose gold) for the Apple Watch, making it more stylish. A double-tour watch strap was specially shown off in the new Apple Watch line-up. Watch OS2, the new refreshed operating system for the watch is shipping on September 16th. What's Next For The IPad? "The Ipad is our clearest expression of our vision of computing," says Cook as he next introduces the new iPad or the "biggest news in iPad since the iPad." Actually called the iPad Pro, as has been rumoured for months, the device is more greared towards work, perhaps giving the category a new lease of life. The display is 12.9 inches meaning that you can now have a full sized keyboard. With the new iOS9 coming, it brings new capabilities including allowing apps to open side by side on one screen. The new iPad will offer competition to notebooks including Apple's own MacBook Air. The specs on the iPad Pro is based on the A9x processor and is thought to be desktop class performance. Graphics rendering, music, games, and movies will also work at high speed on this device. Even AutoCAD will work smoothly on the iPad Pro - with all-day battery life. The iPad Pro also has four speakers to go with the size of the device. Despite the power, it's about as thin as the iPad Air. Apple is also launching a smart keyboard, a physical one, as an accessory with the iPad Pro which attaches to the device via a new magnetic connector. Finally, the iPad Pro also works with a stylus accessory - the Apple Pencil. The Pencil can actually be used simultaneously with finger touches. Microsoft at the Apple Event For the first time ever, Microsoft was present at the Apple event as a partner to demonstrate Microsoft software, such as Microsoft Office, on the iPad Pro. Various productivity features such as making charts, moving across applications, copying data from one place to the other, were all demonstrated by a Microsoft exec who showed how using the Apple Pencil will enable impressive new features. Adobe also were at the event to demonstrate creative software applications on the iPad Pro. For professionals who draw and design can quickly create high-end work on the iPad Pro and Pencil. The head of design at 3D for Medical, Irene Walsh, demonstrated how the iPad Pro can be used by doctors to zoom right into 3D versions of the human body and show patients exactly what is going on and how treatment will be planned. The Pencil, because it is pressure sensitive, can be used to show a great deal of detail such as, for example, how arthritis will affect an area. The older iPads will still be available and will see price cuts. A Bigger Screen: The Apple TVCook next introduced what he believes is the future of television - apps. More and more content will be consumed on the big screen of the television through apps, with you being able to interact with the content. Apple is aiming to revolutionize the TV experience completely. "Siri, show me something new" is what the user will be able to say to the TV, to play games in powerful new ways, watch movies, and more. Theirs is a new interface, a new glass touch sensitive remote and set-top box. The Apple TV was demonstrated showing slow motion live wallpapers for a start. The remote will let you slide through the cameo of a movie and pick an exact spot. If you miss what was said, Siri will skip back a few moments and switch on captions. TVOS is a new operating system for the TV and developers have been invited to work on apps for content from all the big names in movies. And Finally, The IPhonesCook mentions India and China right at the outset as he introduces the iPhone which he describes as the most loved phone in the world. He introduces the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, two devices that look familiar but have changed completely on the inside. Tim Cook refers to them as the most advanced phones in the world. Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing at Apple, presents the new phones, showing the new rose-gold aluminum colour. The two devices are 4.7 and 5.5 inch displays. On the new iPhones, as predicted, Phil Schiller introduces "force touch" also called 3D touch, which responds to press pressure to enable more menus and tactile feedback. Force Touch will change the way a user now navigates on the iPhone. In a way, it's like the right-click and allows for shortcuts on a mini-tap, for example, giving more options in context. It's the biggest thing since the swipe. Force Touch is also used on the Apple Watch and one of the recent MacBooks. 3D Touch reduces the number of steps and clicks needed, making the whole experience of getting things done smoother and faster and more intuitive. The iPhones get a big jump in performance with enhanced specs with the A9 chip, now able to take advantage of the 3D Touch for totally different intense experiences with applications like gaming. The A9 chip works with the M9 co processor meant to be always-on to measure health parameters. Siri is also now in always-on mode. The camera now moves from an 8MP to a 12MP iSight camera in which there hasn't been a mere addition of pixels but better optics to reduce noise, enhance image quality and get better colour reproduction. The front camera is still a 5MP camera but it now includes a true tone flash. For the first time, the iPhone camera can now take 4K video. A fascinating use of the 3D Touch is when a user press down on a photo to see the image come alive with movement and sound to recapture the moment it was taken. The iPhone supports 23 bands of LTE. It runs on iOS9. There are new leather and silicon covers, new accessories. The new iPhones will start to be available from this month in the same price brackets as the previous. In India, one can expect them towards the end of the year. The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus will see a price cut. There will also be special upgrade programs rolled out to keep its fans buying a new every year.
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4G penetration in India is still in its early stage but that doesn't stop smartphone vendors from launching handsets that support the new and fast network. The latest and evidently the most affordable smartphone with 4G support was announced yesterday by YU Televentures. The YU Yunique is the third handset from the Micromax owned brand and the smartphone delivers a 4.7-inch 720p display along with 4G LTE support at Rs. 4,999. The smartphone good looking for something so affordable and will remind you of the company's second handset, Yuphoria. The display is sharp but the feel of the touch while using it wasn't very appealing, thankfully it is strong and protected by Gorilla Glass 3. The handset has a removable soft plastic back and the camera lens has a metal ring around it which YU calls 'Saturn Rings' which will be a part of YU's design pattern. On the inside you get a Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor with 1GB of RAM and 8GB of expandable storage. An 8MP rear camera with an LED flash which again at this price shoots good looking pictures. There is also a 2MP front camera, dual-SIM support and a 2000mAh battery to juice up the device. The Yunique will run on the latest stock Android 5.1 update and YU officials have confirmed that one can install a Cyanogen based ROM without having to worry about the warranty. The smartphone sounds like a great deal if someone wants to experience 4G connectivity at an affordable price point. The Yunique will be available exclusively from Snapdeal via a flash sale model with sales happening on every Tuesday starting 15th of September.
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Food odering app, TinyOwl, has teamed up with customer interaction management platform expert, Ameyo to power its inbound and outbound food ordering processes.Prior to implementing Ameyo, TinyOwl had got frequent consumer requests on call drops. This led the company to search for an intelligent contact center technology that was capable of automating the entire dialing process, reducing call abandonments and powering customers’ experience.The company’s mission is to deliver seamless experience with low time to turnaround their queries. The app’s elegant and minimalistic interface automatically detects users’ location or gives them the choice to type in another location. From confirming the order to informing the customer about the estimated delivery time, the app does it all for its users.TinyOwl has currently 140 licenses from Ameyo which robust both outbound and inbound call processes of TinyOwl. Ameyo has been successfully customized to sync with TinyOwl’s requirements and has carried out URL-based integration with Tinyowl’s in-house CRM as well which will now enable agents to resolve customer queries quicker.TinyOwl has always believed in customers’ first theory and have reduced the dropped calls drastically with the help of Ameyo. This led to the increment in their business volume. The abandoned calls, if any, get automatically listed on the Ameyo system which makes it easy for the agents to follow up. Faster deployment, rapid and easy scaling-up, and executing a new service request in flat three days are some of the exceptional attributes of Ameyo that reinforced the choice of technology for TinyOwl.(BW Online Bureau)
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Your private online activities are rarely as private as you think: Ashley Madison LessonInternet cheating site, Ashley Madison, is making headlines for the data breach that has exposed very intimate personal information for 37 million users. As with the AdultFriendFinder hack FortiGuard Labs reported back in May, the potential damage to clients is significant. After all, Ashley Madison's slogan is "Life is short. Have an affair."A hacking group known as The Impact Team also stole data from Ashley Madison's sister sites Cougar Life and Established Men. The group were threatening to release the entire stolen database if their parent company, Avid Life Media, doesn't shut down both Ashley Madison and Established Men.According to reports the Impact Team recently published the account details and log-ins for 32 million users of the social networking site in response to alleged lies ALM told its customers about a service that allows members to completely erase their profile information for a $19 fee.According to the hackers, although the "full delete" feature that Ashley Madison advertises promises "removal of site usage history and personally identifiable information from the site," users' purchase details - including real name and address - aren't actually scrubbed.So that's the background for anyone who hasn't been listening to chuckled news reports or skimming headlines. What's the real story? Well, for 37 million people, this story is real enough in and of itself. But there's more here than hacktivists and blackmail. Fundamentally, we need to shift the way we think about privacy and security on the Internet.Some organizations take extraordinary measures to secure their data and their websites. They employ top-notch security pros, regularly test their defenses, and invest in best-of-breed hardware and software. Others, well, don't. As users, it's difficult to know who has their security ducks in a row and who is coming up short. Frankly, this isn't even easy in B2B settings where there is inherently more transparency and service providers are more likely to present security as a competitive advantage. Even the savviest of organizations, though, isn't immune to data breaches, sophisticated attacks, disgruntled employees, or that one staffer who falls victim to a spear phishing campaign.So guess what? Whether it's through new revelations about government spying efforts or the latest hack and whether the attacks are motivated by money, ideology, or espionage, the Internet is neither a terribly secure nor particularly private place to hang out. The internet wasn't designed with security in mind. So what do we do?Never forget that our digital footprints are bigger than we think. The latest social network is one hack away from delivering your personal information to the highest bidder. Or one publicly posted screen shot away from a total lack of privacy. Just as trusted staffers can become disgruntled employees overnight, and friends can quickly become enemies, databases can easily wind up in the wrong hands.That's the user side of this equation. The business side is that security is becoming a differentiator across the board. It already is a differentiator in many B2B settings, although many organizations are still scrambling to back up their claims of iron-clad security. But this is going to continue trickling down to customers as well.Bottom line, users beware. Your private online activities are rarely (if ever) as private as you think. And businesses, security needs to be job one, no matter what your line of work or who your customers are. Ashley Madison is just the latest warning shot from a cybercrime industry that is already incredibly powerful and sophisticated.The author, Rajesh Maurya, is Country Manager at India & SAARC, Fortinet
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YouTube started out as a small video sharing website but today almost anything and everything is available on the platform and it is somewhat like a search engine for videos. The Google owned brand is now 10 years old and is accessed by millions almost every day and ever since it enabled advertising support in 2007, people have started making money and made YouTube as a source of income by just making and sharing videos.Today the YouTube community is huge and one of the biggest stars is Felix Kjellberg or better known as ‘PewDiePie’. The 25 year old Swedish YouTuber has become a sensation as his channel hit 10 billion views two days back making it the most viewed YouTube channel ever. Felix has made a living by making videos of himself playing videos games, sharing reviews and comments. He has been running his channel for about five years now which currently has about 39 million subscribers while his Twitter account has over 6 million followers, clearly pointing out that it’s not just his videos but also the man’s humorous personality. With over 2,400 videos on his channel, the man has been very consistent on pushing out videos as well.Apart from his huge number of fans, unconfirmed sources claim that his videos generated revenues of about $7.45 million in the year 2014 by just putting ads on his videos. He has also been called as one of the most influential people on the internet, has his own mobile game called ‘Legend of Brofist’ and has raised money for charity purposes.Felix’s success is an inspiration for many but the huge success comes with a price as his videos have faced hate comments, spam and abuse. Certain people have also questioned the fact as to why is the YouTuber so popular and why does he get so much money by sitting home and making videos. Fame however is not Felix’s only concern as he recently put a video where he says "Money is a topic that I purposefully tried to avoid for the five years I've been making videos. I just feel like it's not important to anyone. I just want to make entertaining videos.”
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