Space Internet is coming soon. We use the Internet today through a network of optic fibre cables. In future, the earth will be orbited by low-placed (at 8000 km) satellites to beam down Internet to give high speed access the world over. Two companies propose to do this — SpaceX (of Elon Musk) and OneWeb (of Greg Wyler). Most probably, Space Internet will arrive by 2019. Even today, Space Internet exists. O3b operates a network of 12 satellites that beam Internet. It stands for ‘the Other Three Billion’. It can cover about 70 per cent of the planet with its systems. It focuses currently the equator and its vicinity. SpaceX and OneWeb would be able to cover the areas O3b misses.It is necessary for these companies to develop a viable business plan.
Month: June 2015
Ad Blocking
Internet users in the US are using ad blocking software — almost half of them. They block online ads. To begin with, this was done by those who are technically savvy, but now it has become mainstream. Subscription based services are not affected. It is a big trouble for display ads. Advertising within mobile apps is safe at least currently. Because of this blocking, you must get larger page views to get the same effect. Could it affect online journalism? Journalism could fund itself from other sources — subscriptions, conferences and native advertising ( e.g. Hulu refuses to play unless you watch the ad ). There are mobile ads. Companies may have to figure out how to get around the ad bloking software. Its a wake up call for online advertisers.
Standard Essential Patent (SEP)
To get inter-operability of technologies, and achieve scale of economies, standards are evolved. These are agreed upon by the Standard Setting Organisations ( SSOs ) in various industries.
In the market, organisations compete to get their patent a particular standard. It is called a Standard Essential Patent ( SEP ). It gives rewards and market power to a patent holder.
Every producers who intends to produce an SEP-compliant product ( he becomes an implementer ) must get a licence to use the SEP. SSOs have extracted an assurance from SEP holders that such a license will be given on reasonable and non-discriminatory royalty and other terms generally called FRAD ( fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory ). A balance is to be found between just rewards to an SEP owner and the access to technology on FRAND terms.
AI Start Ups
Google, Facebook, Twitter and others queue up at the doors of start ups working on AI. Alternatively, they are also trying to develop it in-house, e.g. Google Brain, a Google X project and Microsoft’s Project Adam. Twitter has recently acquired Whetlab which is working in the field of machine learning and AI. Prior to this it has acquired MadBits, an image searching service using visual intelligence. Google acquired in 2014 DeepMind, a British AI start up. We can expect many AI-Startups in the field to take advantage of the opportunities.
Bikini
Bikini was introduced by French mechanical engineer Louis Reard on July 5,1946. It completes 69 years now (2015 ). Bikini’s hit the fashion heights in the 1950s. The original bikini designed by Louis Reard consisted of 30 square inches of fabric. He said it is not a real bikini if it could not be pulled through a ring.
Bikini is named after the Bikini Atoll Islands ( North Pacific ) where the atomic bomb was tested. It was perhaps an indirect recognition of its explosive impact on the fashion scene.
The girl who modelled for Bikini was Michelin Bernardini.
Bikini showed everything about a girl except her mother’s maiden name.
Predominantly Catholic countries banned Bikini.
The first Miss World event ( 1951 ) had the Swedish winner Kiki Hakansson. She was the first and last to wear the Bikini for the crowning ceremony. The Pope condemned the ceremony.
Brigitte Bardot wore the bikini at Cannes ( 1953 ). Diana Dors wore one at Venice Film Festival ( 1955 ).
Bikini sales soared when the song Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini was released in June 1960 by Brian Hyland.
Ursula Andress, the Bond girl, wore one in Dr. NO in 1962.
Playboy first featured bikini on its cover in 1962. Marilyn Monroe last wore it in Something Got To Give ( 1962 ). Bikini made to the cover of Sports International in 1964.
In Johannesberg, SA there was the world’s largest bikini parade in 2009 for breast cancer awareness.
Demi Moor was 40 when she made her bikini comeback in 2003 movie Charlie’s Angels : Full Throttle.
US novelist Erma Bombeck said, ‘ Women shop for a bikini with more care than they do a husband.’
Speedo is the biggest-selling swimwear brand in the world.
Retinal Imaging Device
Forus Health, Bangalore has developed a slick retinal imaging device called 3nethra which works as effectively as traditional fundus camera but at a fraction of the cost. It is useful for rural doctors while checking the eyes of diabetes-affected patients. It uses infrared light and so does not require eye dilatation by the use of eye drops. The 14-KG machine is auto-focus. The images are uploaded on company servers, and then accessed by the ophthalmological experts. It is a three-in-one device. Apart from retinal imaging, its refractive meter measures any loss in vision. Its slit lamp images the cornea. Its price is one-third of the fundus camera. As the cost difference is substantial, many more such devices can be deployed in rural areas. Traditional fundus cameras cost Rs 14 lac or more. 3nethra is priced at Rs 5 lac. It is a big success in India and abroad.
The device is a design innovation. It is a compact device. The company has started a cloud-based telemedicine service — identifying people with problems and send images to a specialist.
FINO : Financial Inclusion Network & Operations
There is a biometric identifier on a hand-held machine. The machine is called Point of Transaction (POI). It is a link between banks and millions of hoseholds on the margins of the financial system. It is a step towards door-step banking. FINO’s hardware is traditional. What is innovative is the software developed by it. It connects customers to their banks merely by punching their Aadhar identification numbers into the GPRS-enabled machine. The POT connects to FINO’s server, which in turn, connects to the bank’s server. Customers get their money and their transaction details are recorded on real-time basis. ICICI set up FINO in 2006 to fill a gap in the banking software market. It has created its own software solutions that run on standard hardware to bring millions of poor into the banking lot.
Prepaid Wallet
A wallet is essentially a pre-paid instrument into which you load cash either at a physical store or using online banking. It can exist as a paper voucher, plastic card or a virtual wallet which is accessible online.
Internationally, wallets find favour with unbanked population so as to pay bills or buy stuff, you need not have a bank account. In the USA, there is undocumented migrant population with no access to a bank account. Prepaid wallets are one way to overcome this financial exclusion.
India recently widened the reach of banking. Most of the account holders have debit cards. Then why to store money again on mobile wallet? Besides, wallets have a ceiling on money that can be stored in it if no documents are submitted. What is the USP of a wallet, as against the debit card ? As it is, there is no USP — both are mechanisms to pay . The distinguishing feature could be that there is no two-factor authentication — provide CVV and OTP while using the wallet.
This winning edge is lost, when the RBI now tends to permit small ticket transactions without this two-tier authentication.
Wallets have not been subjected to Know Your Customer checks. There could be fraud and money laundering. Wallets forefeit the unutilised amount at the end of the validity period. This is a hassle. Say you have Rs. 500 to your credit in the wallet. You pay Rs.475 for a taxi ride. You have still Rs. 25 left as balance. You will have to find online options to match this exact amount. Most of the times, such amounts are forfeited, as customers do not continue checking their balance.
Paynimo is a new product that creates a Super Wallet of existing debit cards, credit cards and bank accounts. It gives the freedom to decide how we want to pay. There is a virtual POS as a feature of these Super Wallets. The customer and merchant’s phone can be used to pay securely. It is an alternative to cash on-delivery. A super wallet could also have the facility to do one-time-use transactions ( just like virtual cards ). To do this it uses actionable-payment links, which expire after use within limited time. This avoids being exposed to theft.
Nielson Retail Audit
This audit relates to FMCG companies. The audit has been refined. It now covers 25000 outlets, as against 16000 previously. Formerly, the audi assessed the changes in retail once in three years. It now goes to market every year. They have the co-operation of all the large retailers. The audit is getting more national, with a large number of stores represented. A new service being launched in 2012 will track the scan data from modern trade on a weekly basis. It benefits the manufacturers in promotion and assessement of consumer impact of the store. It benefits the retailers in managing the assortment and make available the right product for shoppers. They can compare their stores against the rest of the stores in the city.
Art Heritage
Art Heritage is the Delhi-based gallery established in 1978 by the theatre personality and art connoisseur Ebrahim Alkazi and his wife to promote photography as an art form. The Alkazis are known for their huge private collection of over 85,ooo images of the 19th century. Photography has come of age. Photography has evolved from being just documentary to an art from like a painting. Theses days photos have become a mass medium. Photographers have to think how their work is different from a common man’s click. As an art form, photographers need not show just harsh realities of life. They should diversify in more areas.