Month: January 2021

Online Gaming

Shabbir Chunawalla

Online gaming industry collectively proposed a self-regulating body to standardise regulations for the entire online skill-gaming sector and not just fantasy sports. Fantasy games are only a small part of the eco-system. There are other games — rummy, poker, bridge, chess and quizzes. They are skill-based and played for real money. If a silo is created only for fantasy games, then other games will have to formulate their own regulatory framework.

Gaming remains a state subject. It is necessary here to talk to the states and take them on board. There should be an overarching regulatory body for all skill games.

Investor interest is very high in the gaming industry. Fantasy ganing industry alone has the potential to attract FDI of Rs.10000 crore plus.

Red money games have been perceived negatively in the past. To illustrate, rummy’s legality has been established in court. The overall growth of 25-28 per cent shows the demand for this type of entertainment.

Fly-by-night operators have brought the industry into disrepute. Regulations will help to build a clean industry.

Haemoglobin Assesment by AI

Shabbir Chunawalla

Bosch has developed a portable haemoglobin monitor for screening anaemia cases non-invasively. By non-invasive, we mean there is no need for a blood test.

Basically, a finger scanner determines the value. It uses multi-wavelength spectometry on the surface of the skin. An optical sensor measures PPG or photoplethysmogram signals. It is an optical test that detects changes in blood in peripheral circulation. It takes 30 seconds to detect low haemoglobin concentrations.

Here Machine Learning (ML) is used. The device is embedded with an algorithm which monitors the wavelength of the light and uses 27 different characteristics to determine and classify haemoglobine value.

The algorithm has been trained with more than 10000 anaemia data points. The data has been collected clinically, and there is corresponding ground truth data. This forms the basis for ML algorithm.

The more validated data sets are fed into the ML algorithm which keeps on learning continuously. It bypasses lab analysis. There is no risk of infection from contaminated needles.

This device is battery-operated and does not need subsequent calibration. It is easy to use in the interiors. It is likely to be available in India in mid 2021.

Management by AI

Shabbir Chunawalla

There is fast transition to AI-based intelligence machine systems. Management graduates will have to cope with the demands of Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0). Business models are being reassessed in view of the changes expected to be brought about by AI. There is going to be a churn in manpower due to increasing automation.

Human role will have constraints. Human beings and AI will have to co-exist — AI systems will be co-workers, enablers and supervisors. There is a difference between human beings and machines — that of soft skills and emotional intelligence. The role of humans begin where soft skills are required, and that is the point where the role of machines end.

Such man-machine systems could be chaotic, and managers have to deal with the chaos. It is going to be a period of volatility, ambiguity and complexity. What is required is inter-disciplinary knowledge. Managers must understand the business and how AI works so as to blend them together meaningfully.

Let us call it management by algorithm where AI is learnt to further the goals of business. AI-based curriculum would be a common thing. Even the selection process would be adapted to such future skills.

Online Meat Delivery Platforms

Shabbir Chunawalla

Online meat delivery platforms have got a boost and their business rose several times during the lockdown period. They have expanded their product portfolios and offer RTE or ready-to-eat products. There are several ready-to-cook (RTC) products.

There are several such platforms — Licious, Zappfresh, TenderCuts and FreshToHome. These command 80 per cent of almost Rs.200 crore market. The rest of the market is shared by BigBasket, Swiggy and MilkBasket.

The companies focus on healthy products, free of chemicals and preservatives.

Zappfresh has introduced bulk packs of 2-3 kg. and party packs. They sell products which can be grilled or barbequed. TenderCuts have more RTC products. FreshToHome sells RTC products in small packs. Their ready-to-eat products should cost less than the restaurant dishes. The challenge is to cater to the regional tastes. It is necessary to keep a strict check on quality.

Meat Alternatives

Shabbir Chunawalla

India has a small market for meat alternatives. The challenge is to match the taste of meat. Another challenge is to price these products reasonably — they should not be priced more than natural meat products. Most of these products are developed from plant-based proteins, e.g. soya protein, pea protein and wheat protein. These can have additives such as quinoa flour and spices so that they taste like meat.

Brands focus on health benefits of such products. Many start ups have entered this field. FMCG companies have taken interest in soya-based products, e.g. soya chunks of different companies. Companies offer sachets of flavour along with the product. To promote trials, they have been priced low.

As these products have expiry dates, accurate demand forecasting is a must for the production.

Signal Messenger

Shabbir Chunawalla

On account of issues of privacy, there has been a steady drift of the users from WhatsApp to other messengers, especially Signal. In fact, WhatsApp has been co-founded by Brian Acton, but it was sold to WhatsApp for a huge price of $16 billion in 2014. Brian continued with WhatsApp till 2017 after which he left. In 2018, he co-founded Signal Foundation which hosts a messaging platform under the same name. There is a surge in the downloads of Signal by both the Android and Apple users. It is leading in 60 countries in free app chats. India has witnessed a large number of downloads recently. Brian feels WhatsApp should have a clear privacy policy. Signal is very simple in terms of service and privacy policy. Technically they focus on managing the servers so that there is no outrage due to increased number of users. They keep on releasing new features.

Currently, Signal has a lean team of 50 people. They have talented engineers. Though they are a non-profit organisation, they have to defray their salary bills and meet the overheads. They have a business plan for funding through donations and grants.

WhatsApp has over 400 million users in India. Signal has just over 30 million users across the world.

Signal is an open source app, and is open to researchers who can verify whether the encryption works right and suggest ways to fix the flaws. It makes the app more robust and secure.

As such, Signal and WhatsApp are clones. The only data that Signal collects is the user’s phone number. Even it may not be required by building encrypted services. All other information, including individual’s profile, picture and messages are encrypted.

There is no business application in Signal, which WhatsApp has. In Signal, there are problem areas — no provision to store chats and other data in the cloud. Signal has no feature such as WhatsApp Pay.

Digital Art

Shabbir Chunawalla

Digital art is created by using software and graphics editor such as Photoshop. Though digital art is growing at a rapid space, it has not subdued the traditional art. Traditional art has the sentimental value of its creator. Traditional art uses human hands whereas digital art uses software. Anything that does not use human hands cannot be real art. This notion has kept digital art out of the realm of fine art. However, the digital footprint has been increasing, thus leading to the acceptance of digital art. Digital art may use artificial intelligence in creating a portrait. Digital artists have a large number of tools available. It keeps on a changing and evolving. Digital art has been explored through movies, graphic novels, comic books. Even traditional artists practising fine art subject their work to Photoshop and other editing tools.

Digital art can be transmitted easily and can be replicated easily. Yes, there are unauthorized digital copies leading to the issue of ownership.

Digital art makes art accessible to a large audience. There are possibilities of training the software (AI) to master human anatomy to generate its own images. In traditional art, the personality of the artist stands to back up his or her works. Traditional artists thus exhibit their works in galleries, and get good response. Galleries and museums have not embraced digital art widely. However, social media has been used as a promotional tool for digital art.

Treasure Awaits If Bitcoin Wallet is Unlocked

Shabbir Chunawalla

A decade ago bitcoin commanded moderate prices, and many investors have now realised they hold an enviable fortune in their wallets after a spectacular surge in bitcoin prices now. They are trying to unlock their wallets by using the passwords. A lot of investors have been made rich in a short time.

However. many people have been locked out of their fortunes, an outcome of lost or forgotten keys. They are unable to cash in on their digital wealth.

Stefan Thomas, as reported by the NYT, is a German-born programmer living in San Francisco. He has a fortune of $220 million in his wallet. However, he has to figure out his password. They allow 10 attempts, and he has tried eight times. He has only two guesses left. The password will unlock for a small hard drive, known as IronKey. It contains the private keys to a digital wallet that holds 7,002 Bitcoin. Thomas has lost the paper on which he scribbled the password of his IronKey.

Of the existing 18.5 million Bitcoin, around 20 per cent appear to be lost or are in stranded wallets. Its worth is around $140 billion.

A cryptocurrency data firm, Chainanalysis Wallet Recovery Services, which helps to recover lost digital keys have received increasing number of requests.

There are some who have created or mined Bitcoin, and are trying to get back into these wallets.

Crypto Mining and Crypto Rally

Shabbir Chunawalla

Bitcoin mining has been discussed in one previous write up. With a surge in the price of bitcoins, crypto-mining too is booming. In a span of month Argo which is mining company has increased its market value from 25 million pounds to 300 million pounds. In mining cryptocurrencies high powered computers are used to solve complex problems. This company operates in the US and in northern Quebec.

There is a fear of tumble as it happened in 2017. However, then the investment had flow from retail investments. These days the funds flow from institutional investors. And so this rally would end differently.

Central Banks too are interested in introducing their own digital currency. This would help the sector more.

As industry becomes more mainstream, regulatory environment would evolve too. In the meantime, crypto derivatives could be banned for the retail investors. In the US, firms would like to have crypto tracking ETFs, but these have not been permitted.

Code of Conduct for Crypto Exchanges

Shabbir Chunawalla

From a totally unregulated market, crypto assets are moving towards some code of conduct to build up trust and to keep crooks away. The signatories to the code of conduct are the crypto exchanges. This code will be submitted to the financial regulators and the ministry of finance.

This has become necessary on account of the surge in the price of bitcoin which was Rs.4.5 lac in March 2020 to well over Rs.31 lac in Jan 2021. It is necessary to spell out the rules of the game and compliance standards to build up investor confidence.

There should be two-step verification for customers. There are to be guidelines on KYC. Investor ID should match the bank account details. The use of cash and anonymous transactions must be monitored.

Cryptos cannot serve as security strictly speaking. Cryptos are hybrids of finance and technology.

The code would require exchanges to set up monitoring mechanism to track transactions. There should be redressal of customer complaints. There should be reporting of dubious transactions. Customers are accepted after risk assessment.

There are frauds and Ponzi like schemes offshore. Exchanges must notify the fees and charges. Exchanges or its employees must not accept any favour or gift from the customers.

A code of conduct is the self-regulatory step. Exchanges should be cautious in accepting new customers. Politically exposed persons must be identified when they invest.

An exchange may curb buying and selling of a member for a certain period. Customer fund can be segregated into hot and cold wallets.