Difficult to ima-gine that a little black-and-white e-reader could be dramatically improved upon in any way, but Amazon has done just that with the Kindle Voyage. They now have a vanilla Kindle that costs Rs 5,999, the Paperwhite, which is for Rs 10,999, and Rs 13,999 (3G version) and now the Voyage for Rs 16,999. And lots of very nice cases in great colours for all of these.The Paperwhite really lets e-ink come into its own, making text so nice and legible even in outdoor daylight. Now, the Voyage takes it up a notch, adding a lot to what was already one of the best ways to read — and be eco-friendly at the same time. I was wondering whether I was imagining it but no, it’s true that the Voyage is a tiny bit smaller than the other Kindles. That makes it easier to hold by just that fraction — but it’s a fraction that matters. On this version, Amazon has also fixed one of my pet peeves. I hated the power button, its placement on the underside of the reader and the way it needed to be pressed hard. Now, there’s a soft round button exactly where your fingers will naturally reach on the back of the reader. One touch and your Kindle is asleep. But, there’s also now a great smart case, so the device wakes up when you lift the flap off. Another great addition is the tiny squeeze needed on the edge of the device to turn the page. While reading, your fingers are right there and just a little pressure turns the page. That’s much more of a big deal than it sounds. I turn the font on fairly large and need to turn pages very often, but the effort needed to do this is now nothing. If you find the squeeze method annoying, you can tap the screen to move to the next page.The Voyage is more than noticeably faster than the others. It’s responsive and smooth. The screen, at 300ppi, is also much crisper and brighter, making it easier to read smaller text clearly. There are little changes to the interface, but it’s the better hardware that makes this Kindle a premium one.The Voyage is for those who read a lot and don’t mind investing in their reading. It’s expensive, but a vastly improved experience. While the other two options are more gift-able, the Voyage is probably the one you want to curl up with yourself. (This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 18-05-2015)
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In 2005 if anybody told me I would have a phone smarter than the laptop I would think the person is a good case for a sci-fi writer. Yet what I couldn't even fantasise is a fact today right in my hands. In an interview I had with Andy Robbins, co-founder Android Inc, in 2008, he did mention a “growing” market for the OS he had created. But a smartphone so affordable, and technology benefits dripping down the man on the street within the next seven years, even in the third world countries, would have been beyond his fantasy. In this time of gloom, let me play this role of a crazy sci-fi writer and escape into a reality of what may seem impossible right now. Yet just what may happen in times to come. New technology that can make a difference. Earthquake 2025In 2025 would humans be doing the same thing tackling earthquakes or is there any hope technology could tackle natural disasters any differently? Can apps of the future empower citizens? Can I have a nice melodious alarm an hour prior to the earthquake to evacuate the building or if the intensity is too high maybe a month's notice to shift from my building? Or maybe I simply wear my earthquake resistant suit? Can I go to Levis shop and purchase my anti-collision disaster proof wear? Looking at technologies that spell hope in the face of natural disasters in years to come. Human Microchip Implants - RFID ChipsHuman microchip is an identifying integrated circuit device or RFID transponder encased in silicate glass and implanted in the body of a human being. Now just imagine a subdermal RFID implant containing a unique ID number that can be linked to information contained in an external database, such as the Municipal database or the city database, with information such as personal identification, medical condition and contact information. Combine this with GPS and someday it could be possible for anyone with the implant to be physically located by latitude, longitude, altitude, speed, and direction of movement. If widely deployed at some future point, implantable GPS devices could conceivably allow authorities to locate missing people. Incase of a natural disaster like Kedarnath, it would be make it so simple to not just geographically trace people but also know their heart beat, medical condition besides pinpoint their location. Amal Graafstra, author of the book "RFID Toys," asked doctors to place implants in his hands. A cosmetic surgeon used a scalpel to place a microchip in his left hand, and his family doctor injected a chip into his right hand using a veterinary Avid injector kit. Graafstra uses the implants to open his home and car doors and to log on to his computer Interestingly, Hitler was the second biggest customer for IBM. He used technology to manage “stock” Jews. Technology is neutral and maybe in coming years it would not just be technologically but also financially feasible to manage stock of citizens. Maybe an Aadhar card would be a tale of the good old days we could tell our children. Earthquake Resistant WearThe cotton shirts and denim jeans we wear, replace these with synthetic fibres like Du Pont's Kevlar 49, which is eight times stronger than steel and light as plastic fibre, it's powerful enough to stop bullets and knives. Combine this with MAG (maximum absorption garments) it acts like a diaper for astronauts for days. Add to this layers of Liquid cooling and Ventilation Garment, a set of Nylon tricot and spandex which helps eliminate excessive body heat and maintain optimum body temperature also slowing down metabolism for maximum survival. To add to this an impact resistant polycarbonate helmet, similar to the ones used by astronauts, which can not just withstand concrete impact of falling concrete and boulders but also enable view and aiding oxygen supply. Now imagine five minutes before the earthquake all this is required is to slip in this suit as soon as the alarm rings. Your life is completely safe after that in this capsule suit. No concrete can impact you now. Even if you fall in the rubble, you have enough oxygen for the next few days to survive and your body temperature is maintained thanks to the synthetic fibre in the garment. The microchip planted in you sends information to the central server about your heartbeat and GPS positioning in the chip your location. Interestingly companies like Nike are already using synthetic materials like Kevlar in their products. For instance Nike Basketball’s Elite Series 2.0 is using Kevlar Aramid, an advanced material typically used in body armor, giving protective fit with its incredible high tensile strength-to-weight ratio. Carbon fiber offers lightweight resilient strength, while articulated foam provides impact protection and a comfortable fit. WearablesA popular magazine had recently termed wearable technology as the next big thing on par with the invention of the telephone, electricity and word wide web. Rightly so, simply wear it and you are set to go. The biggest problem with wearables is the battery. According to Ambiq Micro “It’s no secret that batteries are the main constraint in wearable technology today, causing bulky form factors and reducing operational time between battery recharges to days, if not hours.” Now imagine if the battery of the wearable could be powered by the human pulse or the body heat. In 2010 scientists Anantha Chandrakasan, director of MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories, and his colleague Yogesh Ramadass created extremely efficient circuitry in an EKG sensor with a built-in processor and wireless radio. According to an article in Forbes, a resting male can put out between 100 and 120 watts of energy, in theory enough to power many of the electronics you use, such as your Nintendo Wii (14 watts), your cellphone (about 1 watt) and your laptop (45 watts). Eighty percent of body power is given off as excess heat. But only in sci-fi fantasies such as the Matrix film series do you see complete capture of this reliable power source. In 2006 Vladimir Leonov and Ruud J.M. Vullers from Belgium built a working prototype of a blood oxygen sensor, or pulse oxymeter, powered with body heat. With every passing year if not months wearables are getting cheaper and affordable. Imagine a wearable powered by your body heat doing exactly the same thing as the RFID microchip implant. In other words your heart rate, your location, your body temperature all sent to the central server. Incase of a natural disaster it is a breeze for the relief team to find you. Predicting EarthquakesJust as C++ would be someone in 1800’s, predicting earthquakes is an “immature” science as Wikipedia puts it. It has not yet lead to a successful prediction of an earthquake from first physical principles. Therefore, some research focuses on empirical analysis, either identifying distinctive precursors to earthquakes, or identifying some kind of geophysical trend or pattern in seismicity that might precede a large earthquake. Whether it’s change in animal behavior, it has been suggested they are responding to the P-wave, or simply Radon emissions, or change in electromagnetic variations, there isn’t truly a fool proof method as of now. Take for instance the earthquake in Abruzzo, in Italy 2009. Giampaolo Giuliani, a laboratory technician at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, as a hobby of experimenting with radon instruments was able to predict this based on radon emissions. However his other predictions failed. There is hope however in projects like those of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, new imaging technology. For instance radiation and other emissions, changes in frequencies, sometimes weeks before the earthquake could lead to successful prediction of earthquakes long before they happen. According to Nsta.org new technology that can a big difference in years to come in prediction of earthquakes. Superconducting antennae and solenoid coils, which will be able to measure miniscule electromagnetic radiation field changes, and detect the presence of ELF radiation. Advanced Radar and Infrared Cameras, which will take a series of images both over a long period of time and over short time frames, and collect data to be processed to recognize signs of impending earthquakes. Advanced Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), which, developed by the European Space Agency, provides probable fault movement over a period of years, but if developed, could give predictions over a period of months or even weeks. Modems and Data Processing Centers, to receive the data collected by the satellites at given intervals, and to analyze the trends recognized in the electromagnetic emissions, radar pictures, infrared readings, and ELF emissions data. These advanced satellites will utilise the most advanced technology available today and provide an ample amount of data to the scientific community regarding fault line movement and tectonic disruptions, which will provide the key element in a fight against earthquakes and tsunamis The Last WordAlexander the Great, the mightiest man on earth, died of Malaria in 323 BC. Malarone or Doxycycline are tablets anyone can buy at the chemist shop near you that can prevent it. Imagine how alien a concept it may have sounded to Alexander that you swallow a tablet and don’t die. I bet his cronies may have even put you in a mental asylum for such absurd imagination. Fantasies become facts when it is man’s will to do so. In 2025 the priest will still say “Son it was God’s will” but maybe for a different disaster. Maybe it was man’s will humans won’t die from earthquakes just as it was some man’s will that no more would people die of something as simple as cholera or malaria or….... The author, Puneet Mehrotra, is a columnist on business and technology. puneet@tbe.in
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In 2005 if anybody told me I would have a phone smarter than the laptop I would think the person is a good case for a sci-fi writer. Yet what I couldn't even fantasise is a fact today right in my hands. In an interview I had with Andy Robbins, co-founder Android Inc, in 2008, he did mention a “growing” market for the OS he had created. But a smartphone so affordable, and technology benefits dripping down the man on the street within the next seven years, even in the third world countries, would have been beyond his fantasy. In this time of gloom, let me play this role of a crazy sci-fi writer and escape into a reality of what may seem impossible right now. Yet just what may happen in times to come. New technology that can make a difference. Earthquake 2025In 2025 would humans be doing the same thing tackling earthquakes or is there any hope technology could tackle natural disasters any differently? Can apps of the future empower citizens? Can I have a nice melodious alarm an hour prior to the earthquake to evacuate the building or if the intensity is too high maybe a month's notice to shift from my building? Or maybe I simply wear my earthquake resistant suit? Can I go to Levis shop and purchase my anti-collision disaster proof wear? Looking at technologies that spell hope in the face of natural disasters in years to come. Human Microchip Implants - RFID ChipsHuman microchip is an identifying integrated circuit device or RFID transponder encased in silicate glass and implanted in the body of a human being. Now just imagine a subdermal RFID implant containing a unique ID number that can be linked to information contained in an external database, such as the Municipal database or the city database, with information such as personal identification, medical condition and contact information. Combine this with GPS and someday it could be possible for anyone with the implant to be physically located by latitude, longitude, altitude, speed, and direction of movement. If widely deployed at some future point, implantable GPS devices could conceivably allow authorities to locate missing people. Incase of a natural disaster like Kedarnath, it would be make it so simple to not just geographically trace people but also know their heart beat, medical condition besides pinpoint their location. Amal Graafstra, author of the book "RFID Toys," asked doctors to place implants in his hands. A cosmetic surgeon used a scalpel to place a microchip in his left hand, and his family doctor injected a chip into his right hand using a veterinary Avid injector kit. Graafstra uses the implants to open his home and car doors and to log on to his computer Interestingly, Hitler was the second biggest customer for IBM. He used technology to manage “stock” Jews. Technology is neutral and maybe in coming years it would not just be technologically but also financially feasible to manage stock of citizens. Maybe an Aadhar card would be a tale of the good old days we could tell our children. Earthquake Resistant WearThe cotton shirts and denim jeans we wear, replace these with synthetic fibres like Du Pont's Kevlar 49, which is eight times stronger than steel and light as plastic fibre, it's powerful enough to stop bullets and knives. Combine this with MAG (maximum absorption garments) it acts like a diaper for astronauts for days. Add to this layers of Liquid cooling and Ventilation Garment, a set of Nylon tricot and spandex which helps eliminate excessive body heat and maintain optimum body temperature also slowing down metabolism for maximum survival. To add to this an impact resistant polycarbonate helmet, similar to the ones used by astronauts, which can not just withstand concrete impact of falling concrete and boulders but also enable view and aiding oxygen supply. Now imagine five minutes before the earthquake all this is required is to slip in this suit as soon as the alarm rings. Your life is completely safe after that in this capsule suit. No concrete can impact you now. Even if you fall in the rubble, you have enough oxygen for the next few days to survive and your body temperature is maintained thanks to the synthetic fibre in the garment. The microchip planted in you sends information to the central server about your heartbeat and GPS positioning in the chip your location. Interestingly companies like Nike are already using synthetic materials like Kevlar in their products. For instance Nike Basketball’s Elite Series 2.0 is using Kevlar Aramid, an advanced material typically used in body armor, giving protective fit with its incredible high tensile strength-to-weight ratio. Carbon fiber offers lightweight resilient strength, while articulated foam provides impact protection and a comfortable fit. WearablesA popular magazine had recently termed wearable technology as the next big thing on par with the invention of the telephone, electricity and word wide web. Rightly so, simply wear it and you are set to go. The biggest problem with wearables is the battery. According to Ambiq Micro “It’s no secret that batteries are the main constraint in wearable technology today, causing bulky form factors and reducing operational time between battery recharges to days, if not hours.” Now imagine if the battery of the wearable could be powered by the human pulse or the body heat. In 2010 scientists Anantha Chandrakasan, director of MIT’s Microsystems Technology Laboratories, and his colleague Yogesh Ramadass created extremely efficient circuitry in an EKG sensor with a built-in processor and wireless radio. According to an article in Forbes, a resting male can put out between 100 and 120 watts of energy, in theory enough to power many of the electronics you use, such as your Nintendo Wii (14 watts), your cellphone (about 1 watt) and your laptop (45 watts). Eighty percent of body power is given off as excess heat. But only in sci-fi fantasies such as the Matrix film series do you see complete capture of this reliable power source. In 2006 Vladimir Leonov and Ruud J.M. Vullers from Belgium built a working prototype of a blood oxygen sensor, or pulse oxymeter, powered with body heat. With every passing year if not months wearables are getting cheaper and affordable. Imagine a wearable powered by your body heat doing exactly the same thing as the RFID microchip implant. In other words your heart rate, your location, your body temperature all sent to the central server. Incase of a natural disaster it is a breeze for the relief team to find you. Predicting EarthquakesJust as C++ would be someone in 1800’s, predicting earthquakes is an “immature” science as Wikipedia puts it. It has not yet lead to a successful prediction of an earthquake from first physical principles. Therefore, some research focuses on empirical analysis, either identifying distinctive precursors to earthquakes, or identifying some kind of geophysical trend or pattern in seismicity that might precede a large earthquake. Whether it’s change in animal behavior, it has been suggested they are responding to the P-wave, or simply Radon emissions, or change in electromagnetic variations, there isn’t truly a fool proof method as of now. Take for instance the earthquake in Abruzzo, in Italy 2009. Giampaolo Giuliani, a laboratory technician at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, as a hobby of experimenting with radon instruments was able to predict this based on radon emissions. However his other predictions failed. There is hope however in projects like those of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, new imaging technology. For instance radiation and other emissions, changes in frequencies, sometimes weeks before the earthquake could lead to successful prediction of earthquakes long before they happen. According to Nsta.org new technology that can a big difference in years to come in prediction of earthquakes. Superconducting antennae and solenoid coils, which will be able to measure miniscule electromagnetic radiation field changes, and detect the presence of ELF radiation. Advanced Radar and Infrared Cameras, which will take a series of images both over a long period of time and over short time frames, and collect data to be processed to recognize signs of impending earthquakes. Advanced Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR), which, developed by the European Space Agency, provides probable fault movement over a period of years, but if developed, could give predictions over a period of months or even weeks. Modems and Data Processing Centers, to receive the data collected by the satellites at given intervals, and to analyze the trends recognized in the electromagnetic emissions, radar pictures, infrared readings, and ELF emissions data. These advanced satellites will utilise the most advanced technology available today and provide an ample amount of data to the scientific community regarding fault line movement and tectonic disruptions, which will provide the key element in a fight against earthquakes and tsunamis The Last WordAlexander the Great, the mightiest man on earth, died of Malaria in 323 BC. Malarone or Doxycycline are tablets anyone can buy at the chemist shop near you that can prevent it. Imagine how alien a concept it may have sounded to Alexander that you swallow a tablet and don’t die. I bet his cronies may have even put you in a mental asylum for such absurd imagination. Fantasies become facts when it is man’s will to do so. In 2025 the priest will still say “Son it was God’s will” but maybe for a different disaster. Maybe it was man’s will humans won’t die from earthquakes just as it was some man’s will that no more would people die of something as simple as cholera or malaria or….... The author, Puneet Mehrotra, is a columnist on business and technology. puneet@tbe.in
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The excitement of the Indian Premier League season eight continued this week on Twitter with 62.7 million live impressions. Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) fans are roaring on Twitter making them the favourites this week. The team in yellow is closely followed by defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (@KKRiders) and 2013 champions Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan). Given their popularity, the most talked about game this week was The #IPL play out on Twitter in the second week of the tournament:The Twitter Audience Index saw a combined total of 62.7 million Live Impressions between 16 April 2015 to 22 April 2015.The games ranked in descending order of the most Live Impressions include:#MIvCSK (April 17)#RCBvMI (April 19)#RCBvCSK (April 22)#RRvKXIP (April 21)#RRvCSK (April 19)#DDVSvKKR (April 20)#KXIPvKKR (April 18)#SRHvKKR (April 22)#SRHvRR (April 16)#SRHvDD (April 18)x`The top Tweets Per Minute (TPM) moments during the match windows were: #1. Kings XI Punjab wins in the super over against Rajasthan Royals #2. Royal Challengers Bangalore’s AB de Villiers hits 24 off one over by Lasith Malinga from Mumbai Indians #3. AB de Villiers falls for 42 to Kieron Pollard from Mumbai Indians with RCB on 129/6 #4. Dwayne Smith of Chennai Super Kings brings up his 50 versus Mumbai Indians #5. Chennai Super King’s Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Bravo bring up 107 off 7 overs against Mumbai Indians #ORANGECAP & #PURPLECAPMost Mentioned Batsmen and Bowlers on Twitter during the Live Match Windows with the #OrangeCap and #PurpleCap…Batsmen:#1. AB de Villiers (Orange Cap) (@ABdeVilliers17)#2. MS Dhoni (@msdhoni)#3. Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45)Bowlers:#1. Lasith Malinga (Purple Cap)#2. Mitchell Johnson (@MitchJohnson398)#3. Harbhajan Singh (@harbhajan_singh)Ranking of Most Mentioned IPL Teams on Twitter from April 16 -22, 2015#1. Chennai Super Kings#2. Kolkata Knight Riders#3. Mumbai Indians#4. Rajasthan Royals#5. Royal Challengers Bangalore#6. Kings XI Punjab#7. Delhi Daredevils#8. Sunrisers HyderabadMost Retweeted IPL Tweets between April 16 -22, 2015 @iamsrk: I should be Pune!!!! Love you my boys!!! Go KKR….will celebrate with my daughter with a huge hug!!! @iamsrk: First day on Raees. Hot but heartening. And KKR starts its match. Go boys….cheering you from the sets. @iamsrk: Drive with babies 2 celebrate KKR victory. Last nite when all 3 2gether in house then off 2 studies they go. Thx KKR boys for a fun nite. @iamsrk: Always & Everytime…a mature innings..@GautamGambhir. & my man @iamyusufpathan in the thick of things again. Morne & Umesh deadly. Love KKR @realpreityzinta: OMG ! What a game I’m still shaking SUPER OVER!!! @lionsdenkxip Are u Kidding me Still shaking I swearSo proud #KXIP @mohitfreedom: #RRvsCSK Even in these T20 matches, u can’t come close to athleticism of @SauravGhosal Sure to be No1 sometime soon and fly #India’s flag @virendersehwag: Wow nehra ji ne aaj phir kamaal kar diya .. old is gold @Gmaxi_32: Wow! AB just hit a single… Mumbai must be bowling well. @msdhoni: Stadium debut for ZIVA, her first time into the dressing room @bhogleharsha: Is this why #CSK is, simply, a champion side?(This article was also published in our APAC publication www.digitalmarket.asia)
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MapMyIndia has been working with the Ambala Municipal Corporation for mapping services projects since the last four years. During this period, the corporation would often raise concerns about their inability to track their 1,200 safaai karmchaaris who work across different locations in Ambala. This also led to the inability to hold anyone accountable in case work was not duly performed, which usually involves cleaning the roads and clearing the garbage dumps every day. That got the team at MapMyIndia thinking and in four months they developed a GPS Guided Biometric System to help them track their employees who work on the field. The main innovation in this product is that for the first time in India there is a biometric attendance system that can also track the location, claims Rishin Kalra, Associate VP at MapMyIndia. This product is a mix of hardware and software comprising of handheld GPS-enabled biometric machines, fixed biometric machines, attendance software and MapmyIndia maps. Some of the technologies integrated in the system are fingerprint identification, bio-metrics, digital mapping and navigation software. All the information of the employee – his fingerprints, name, contact, department and even the place of work is pre-fed into the system. The employee can then mark the attendance when he reaches the designated area and then swipe again at the time of leaving. Every time the attendance is marked, the GPS location from the device is captured and sent to the server. In the backend, this attendance is checked if the right person has marked his attendance from the area allotted to him. If all the details are correct, the attendance is marked as valid. This helps in making the attendance system transparent and also in calculating the time spend on the job. This move is well timed with Modi government’s new initiative to track the attendance of employees in government organisations using their Biometric Attendance System (BAS) system. Due to the success of this association, MapMyIndia is in talks with the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon and also with the government of Himachal and Punjab for deployment of GPS Guided Biometric System in the organisations there. Rakesh Verma, Managing Director, MapmyIndia comments, “Once the benefits of GPS Guided Biometric System start showing, I am confident that other municipalities across the country will be encouraged to adopt this ground breaking solution and that will help them take forward the promise of Prime Minister’s Swacch Bharat Abhiyaan.”
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Intex Aqua Speed HDPrice: Rs. 9,390There is a huge variety of smartphones under the 10K segment and one such new entrant is the Aqua Speed HD from Intex. As the name suggests, the company has put an effort to provide powerful hardware including a quad-core 1.3GHz processor coupled with 2GB of RAM to handle all your multitasking needs. Apart from that you get 16GB of inbuilt storage which can be further expanded. It might sound like a good deal for the price, but there are other smartphones like the Lenovo A6000 Plus, Yu Yureka or the Lava Iris X8, which offer a similar if not a better package than the Aqua Speed HD. The smartphone has a decent looking design, although it feels outdated. There is plastic all over with a pretentious metal frame which is actually plastic covered in chrome. Intex has taken reference from Sony and has put similar power and volume buttons and even the placement of the rear camera is similar to what we have seen on Xperia smartphones. The back panel is removable, but is very flimsy and takes an effort to remove and putting it back as the hinges don’t snap back with ease. The performance is surprisingly good however; the UI on top Android 4.4 seems overdone with large icons which might not appeal to some. Nonetheless, the UI is not heavy on the smartphone and everything works quite well. The display, a 4.7-inch 720p IPS panel, is sharp, offers a good level of brightness and great viewing angles. The camera at the back is not very impressive and can click standard stills and full HD videos. Overall the Intex Aqua Speed HD is quite worth the money, but there are other smartphones in the market that can offer a better looking design, a sturdier build and better performance as well. Karbonn Titanium Mach TwoPrice: Rs. 11,290 Karbonn’s latest offering is a Rs.11,000 smartphone which is one of the few smartphones at this price offering an octa-core processor in a sleek looking body. The Titanium Mach Two is definitely one of the best looking smartphones that the company offers with a unibody design including a glass front and back and metal frame in the middle. The handset will remind you of the iPhone 5/5S thanks to the rounded volume buttons and the speaker grill at the bottom. Surprisingly it feels light in the hand with a weight of just 112gms. Apart from design, the Titanium Mach Two doesn’t have anything big to offer. It runs on an octa-core processor made by MediaTek with 1GB of RAM which provides ample amount of power for your daily tasks and 8GB of expandable storage. The 5-inch display offers a 720p resolution with punchy colours and good sharpness. The handset runs on Android 4.4 with a custom UI which isn’t what one can say attractive although it runs perfectly smooth. Other features of the smartphone include dual-SIM capability a 1900mAH battery, a rear 8MP camera and also at the front, a big point of attraction for selfie lovers. But as we know megapixels are not the only essential ingredient for a quality picture, so if you are looking for a quality snapper, then this might be a very good option.
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At the Philips Innovation Campus in Bangalore, you may be pardoned for believing that the engineers are experimenting with science fiction. Consider this: the ubiquitous wearable devices and fitness trackers such as Philips DirectLife or FitBit, that help monitor the number of calories you burn, will, in their new avatar, be sending messages about your health, daily to a data centre. What’s more, they will be communicating with all other machines in your house and outside. So while you drive the car, a sensor tracks your blood pressure and scans your retina constantly and sends this information in to the cloud servers off the premise of the hospital database, operated by Philips, GE and Siemens and maintained by service providers like Cognizant, Infosys and Wipro. If there are variations in the heartbeat, then a message is triggered by the network in the car to the house. But that is only in case of an emergency. Then when you arrive home, the app of the wearable device connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth or wi-fi. It will tell the air purifier to cleanse the air to make breathing easy and then it will instruct the coffee machine to make your favourite coffee. Sit down on the sofa to relax and the lights in your house will know what ambient light is best suited for the situation. Then before you make dinner you open the app and input your eating habits for the day. Meanwhile, all this data from your app will be collected at a data centre, which with your consent will be shared with your personal physician or the hospital that your insurance company has tied up with. All this is likely to become a reality pretty soon. Welcome to a world of connected medicine where different medical devices will be communicating with each other helping monitor your health. Now with the government allowing FDI participation in the manufacturing of medical devices, the direct benefit is for the large established MNCs here in India. Needless to say, medicine as we know it, is soon going to change and companies such as Philips and GE Healthcare are looking at spending Rs 600 crore each, according to sources, on research and development to grow in this sector. However, it is left to be seen whether the cost of care will come down if the device, hardware and the software are made in India. Recently the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority had written to several firms on importing devices, such as stents and marking prices up. But at least the intent from the R&D side of large companies, is to make healthcare affordable through services and commoditised hardware. “This is an effort to create proactive health through inter-connected devices. It is also the first step towards the Internet of Things,” says Srinivas Prasad, CEO, PhilipsInnovation Campus. The Internet of Things (IoT) is a term coined by technology consulting companies and refers to a situation where every machine will either speak to each other or will allow access to the Internet. Prasad believes that in the medical devices world it is the consumer wearable technology that will be hogging the lime light in the race towards the IoT. “Class two and three devices such as ultrasound and photon therapy machines will take some time before they can communicate with each other, although technically they can communicate with each other today,” he adds. In the medical world, IoT can also include industrial Internet, where all diagnostic machines will be communicating with a central server. This data can then be used for remote monitoring of patients. According to a Gartner report there will be 26 billion units forming the ecosystem for IoT in 2020 as compared to 0.9 billion in 2009 – a 30-fold increase. Further, according to McKinsey, the wearable medical device market is currently $4 billion in size in India and is expected to grow to $7.8 billion by 2020. A report by McKinsey also adds that a growing and aging population is driving higher disease prevalence and the need for associated medical devices in India. For example, the patient pool for congestive heart disease in India will grow from 45 million patients in 2010 to 60 million patients by 2015. It adds that since the insurance market in India is rapidly growing, with 45 per cent of India’s population expected to have some form of insurance by 2020, up from 25 per cent today, devices will play a major role in capturing medical data of customers. Connected DevicesGE Healthcare is already betting big on connected health in remote areas. There are 70,000 Public Health Centres in India and none of them are connected to hospitals. “They need to be adopted by the larger hospitals if healthcare has to be delivered. The technology is already there,” says Mohandas Pai, Chairman, Manipal Global Education and also a private investor. GE Healthcare is piloting an Android-based ultrasound tablet device, developed in Bangalore, in rural Bangladesh for real time capture of foetal information. Philips completed a pilot test in northern Karnataka in 2013 of a similar device. These tablets can scan continuously for half a day on a single charge and are connected to hospitals systems via 3G and wi-fi. The images are transferred in to a central cloud and delivered to hospitals. Both these tablets can be fitted with external dopplers or foetal probes to scan images on a real time basis. The information is collected by trained mid-wives and is remotely monitored by doctors in cities. Similarly, a mobile glucometer can be connected to tablets and the information can be sent back to the city hospital’s gynaecological expert. Philips and GE are also devising ECG machines that are getting smaller every year. Philips, for example, is working on a 10-inch long and 2-inch wide ECG machine which is connected to a tablet to capture information. The reports are also instantly emailed to the patient’s tablet in PDF formats. “Technology is no longer a barrier to delivering care, it is about how the business model will evolve with all the stakeholders in the medical eco-system,” says Vikram Damodaran, Director, Healthcare Innovations, GE Healthcare. GE is globally pioneering the ecosystem of talking machines or the industrial Internet. It is creating a robot system to sort and sterilise surgical tools. All this data coming from machines will be collected and analysed for predictive maintenance on behalf of hospitals and care centres. Companies like AltenCalsoft Labs are building android-based glucometres for India and are pitching it to pharma companies. The glucometre connects to the app via Bluetooth and sends all the information to the hospital. “These products have a great potential to bring healthcare costs down in emerging markets like India. Now only a regulation and ecosystem should come in place to understand how data will be shared and protected,” says Somenath Nag, Director- ISV and Enterprise Solutions, AltenCalsoft Labs in Bangalore. However, speaking from a connected world perspective, Indian hospitals still have a long way to go. First and foremost, they need to connect their patient medical records and only after that can they focus on machine-to- machine and consumer to hospital connections. “Today it is only device to mobile device communication that is spoken about the world over, however the Internet of Things is going to grow very rapidly and a citizen lifecycle tracking system will emerge in the medical field,” says Nag. According to Siemens India, the demands of hospitals are changing. Given the rapid growth in data volumes and the growing need for interdisciplinary cooperation, data exchange and networking solutions are becoming more and more important. Siemens has developed a concept to help hospitals manage information in a range of formats and from a range of sources – images, laboratory results or physicians’ reports – and make it available across all institutions and sectors. With Unified Information Management, Siemens combines archiving and networking solutions depending on specific customer requirements. The solution is so scalable and flexible that it can connect, for instance, hospitals, physicians and patients, potentially leading up to fully digital care processes. While such hospital networks are also built by Philips and GE, it is their leap of faith on mobile phones and tablets which can change healthcare in India. “These devices enable two things; an increase in reach which will enable an increase in healthcare outcomes,” says Damodaran of GE. Hospitals & Connected DevicesEven though current day doctors have all taken to iPads to jot down patient information, hospitals are still not spending much on technology to create a connected eco-system. Consider this: on an average an Indian hospital spends only 0.85 per cent of its revenues on IT. For Indian hospitals today, connecting the hospital information management and electronic medical records to the cloud is the first big step and some hospitals are working towards it. Take for instance, Bangalore-based Narayana Hrudalaya which is integrating 22 of its hospitals into the private cloud. The hospital is increasing from a 5,000 bed hospital to 30,000 bed hospital and is thinking of integrating everything from the vendor management system to the hospital information management system into the cloud. “I cannot give you the exact investment but we saved at least Rs 30 crore by not building an IT infrastructure in each hospital,” says Srikanth Raman, CIO, Narayana Hrudalaya. He adds that his task was to make sure that right from the entry of the patient to the heart procedure all the information was seamlessly captured. “Our next bet is on big data and mobility as it will tell us about whatever is happening in all our hospitals on the go,” says Raman. Narayana Hrudalaya outsourced its entire private cloud to HCL Infosystems in 2012. Many of these large hospitals have operations in tier-2 and tier-3 cities where it is critical for technology to link to an expert’s second opinion. Bangalore-based Manipal Hospital which has 14 hospitals is creating short-term and long-term plans for the roll out of technology. “Five years ago the term CIO was a new term in Indian hospitals. We are now creating a road map that can make us a world class hospital in technology usage,” says Nandakishore Dhomne, CIO at Manipal Hospitals. He adds that doctors who work in intensive care units, from various locations need to interact with each other on a real time basis if they have to provide the best care and technology in isolation cannot help them. Dhomne solved his hospital’s problems by working with Wipro to define the hospital’s business through critical levels and modules. His team listed 1800 problems and solved them in buckets of 25 modules and 58 specialities. Apollo Hospitals, which currently has 27 hospitals, is integrating the hospital information systems of each of its locations into one system. There are experiments to integrate over 50,000 doctors by using devices and tablets. The hospital has invested Rs 30 crore on the same. “We need an information highway and we have started a project that will create a connected hospital. In this journey our first hospital is already paperless,” says Umapathy Panyala, CEO, Apollo Hospital, Bangalore. Indian IT service providers like Wipro, Infosys, HCL and Cognizant (based in the USA) see big business coming from connected devices and hospitals. “Connected medical devices provide healthcare professionals the ability to share data with other members of healthcare staff or those in the healthcare ecosystem, often in real time, both inside and outside the confines of the medical establishment,” says Sairamkumar Jayaraman, Global Delivery Leader, Life Sciences, Cognizant. He adds that this real-time connectivity has tremendously enhanced the healthcare services and experience for patients and providers, especially in their ability to attend to emergencies in a timely manner. Take for example, a geriatric patient who has all his vital parameters continuously monitored and recorded in a device. The device could then be programmed to alert the patient’s healthcare provider in real time, if any parameter were to move out of the prescribed range. It is possible that the patient may not experience any ill effects, but the provider would be alerted, who, in turn, could contact and alert the patient, and recommend immediate care before the patient is possibly advised to travel to the nearest care facility. In the above example, services would be provided by the medical device manufacturer, mobile device manufacturer, the service/network-provider to enable connectivity, emergency responders, and others. And that is the crux of the matter. The ecosystem, for connected devices, needs to have several stakeholders to come together (see graphic) for it to work. The devices could be sold by pharmaceutical or insurance companies who then will connect the customer to the hospitals. Once a patient consents, the hospitals will tap into the information stored in the cloud and will use analytics services from GE, Philips or Siemens to provide care to the patient. Remember that this is a scenario where everything works including regulation and adoption of technology. At least, one part of the equation is solved for low-cost delivery of services with the government allowing 100 per cent foreign equity participation in the manufacturing of medical devices. Now the infrastructure, broadband and new generation telecom networks, need to be put in place to deliver pre-care and post-care services in rural regions. The science fiction part will become a reality only when healthcare costs drop because of the reach and scale provided by technology. The numbers are on the side of technology for providing the reach; whether the cost of drugs will ever come down is a never ending debate.
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Asus was always a well known brand in the computing world and when the company announced its Zenfone series last year, it established the fact that it has the potential to manufacture sturdy Android smartphones as well. The smartphones not only offered a great package, but received a healthy response from the consumers for its simple yet attractive design and a satisfying Android experience. The company announced Zenfone 2, an upgrade for the series, a couple of months back at CES 2015 in Las Vegas with various variants coming in at different price ranges and hardware configurations. The top end Zenfone 2 boasts a 5.5-inch full HD IPS display with slim bezels, however the display isn’t of very high-quality, but does the job well. On the inside there is a new 2.3GHz Intel Atom Z3580 chipset along with a staggering 4GB of RAM, making it the first smartphone in the world to pack such high capacity of memory. This 4-gig of memory makes the experience very smooth, and multitasking on the smartphone is just a delight. The 4GB version comes with either 32GB or 64GB of inbuilt storage along with a microSD expansion. Asus has done its homework and has crafted the smartphone nicely, although it seems like the designers were inspired by the LG G3. The back is made out of plastic with a brushed metal look and similar volume buttons below the camera lens, just like the LG G3. The only design flaw is probably the power button placed on the top edge which is hard to reach due to the large size of the device. Even if you do reach the button, it’s a little tricky to use as it doesn’t offer a good feedback. There is however a good solution as the new Zenfone 2 comes with a ‘tap-to-wake’ feature which wakes up the display when you tap the display twice and locks it if you do the same on any of the homescreens. The camera has also seen an improvement thanks to a 13MP f/2.0 camera dual-tone flash. It has an impressive HDR mode and a Manual mode which lets you manually set the ISO, shutter speed and the focus. For the selfie lovers there is a 5MP front camera with an 85-degree field of view and Selfie Panorama mode. Overall the camera performance is impressive for its class, but it is not the best that the company offers as it saved it for the Zenfone Zoom, which was also announced with the Zenfone 2. The smartphone also gives us a first look at how Asus’ proprietary ZenUI will look over Android Lollipop. The new UI now offers more customizations including themes, fonts, icons, etc. There hasn’t been a huge visual change but there are certain additions which make the UI experience great, especially a new privacy app which lets you lock your apps and files. If priced right, the Zenfone can be a cracker of a deal and give the likes of Xiaomi Mi-4, OnePlus One and even the Huawei Honor 6 Plus a run for their money. With an international pricing of $320 (Rs 19,800 approx) for the 64GB version and $288 (Rs 17,800 approx) for the 32GB version, the Indian pricing is not yet revealed but expected to be announced on the 23rd of April.
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