It proved to be a good week for the tech industry as we saw a lot of new inventions and innovations coming to fore. Here, we at www.indianweb2.com give you the Top 10 things that happened in the tech sector this week.
1) Google Is Bringing AI To Raspberry Pi
Tech giant Google is reportedly in the planning stages of bringing the gifts of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to the tiny in size but big on features Raspberry Pi in the year 2017.
According to The Raspberry Pi Foundation, Google has reportedly developed a huge and diverse range of tools right for home automation, machine learning, Internet of Things, robotics, wearables, and it is now floating a survey amongst the Raspberry Pi fans in order to understand what tools they want them to provide.
Google’s range of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology can enable the maker community to come up with more innovative and powerful projects than they were previously unable to do because of the limited features.
2) Use of Drones & UAVs Will Change The Working of Indian Mining Sector
India’s Ministry of Mines has decided to give a major push to using of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in order to increase India’s mining sector efficiency. Whether it is area inspection, preparation and monitoring of mining plans, production and dispatch, or even checking and curbing illegal mining, drones can prove to be effective in every mining process.
Piyush Goyal, Union minister of mines, who is also incharge of power, RE and coal ministries, has reportedly asked mining companies in the country to make use of all the modern and latest technologies that would help the future of mining in India. In addition to this, the Ministry of Mines has also ordered Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL), its exploration company, to purchase one or two drones soon and start using them in order to set an example for others to follow their lead.
3) Miyubi Is Longest Virtual Reality Movie Ever Made
Miyubi, a movie released by prolific VR studio Felix & Paul, has registered itself a place in the history books by becoming the longest virtual reality (VR) movie. Though just a 40-minute film, it is still almost twice or even three times the duration of the majority of the cinematic VR experiences currently available in the market.
An Oculus production, Miyubi is a full-fledged scripted comedy, a genre which VR isn’t quite famous for. It is most likely to be available on Oculus Rift and Gear VR, sometime in February or March this year.
Considering its a VR movie, Miyubi is still able to offer viewers a clear, mature narrative. The movie’s 360-degree format gives it a rather refreshing naturalistic feel. While there’s usually a single visual focus for each scene, but you can let your eyes wander over the interesting details around the room.
4) Reliance Jio Asks Foxconn, Chinese ODM Partners To Make Its LYF Brand of 4G smartphones in India
Reliance Industries has recently asked its Taiwan-based and China-based original device manufacturers (ODM) to make its smart set-top boxes, home automation and automobile telematics devices, and its much-famous Lyf branded 4G smartphones among others in its home country, India.
Foxconn, which is the world’s largest contract manufacturer and also one of Reliance Industries’ ODM will soon start the production of VoLTE handsets for Reliance Retail’s Lyf brand of 4G smartphones in the Indian subcontinent. The company’s other manufacturers will be following Foxconn’s footsteps thereon.
Reliance Retail, which is retail arm of Reliance industries, is currently procuring its 4G VoLTE smartphones and pocket routers from a number of China-based ODMs like Wingtech, Tinno Mobile, ZTE and CK Telecom.
5) Samsung To Launch ‘Samsung Pay’, Its Mobile Payment in India
Tech giant Samsung seems to be all ready to debut itself mobile payment service called Samsung Pay in India. While Samsung hasn’t made an official announcement about the launch yet, but it did drop in some hints this week.
The week saw Samsung finally rolling out the much-awaited Android Nougat update to its Galaxy S7 and S7 edge devices. The users, when turned on their devices after the update was completed, noticed a message saying “The future of payments is coming soon!” This signalled that Samsung has something planned for making payments by mobile sleeker than ever in India. At the top of it, the Nougat update also brought the Samsung Pay app to the company’s flagship devices, cementing the earlier signal that said the future of payments is coming soon to India.
One of the things that makes it stand out from the rest in the market is the fact that it makes use of both Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) as well as NFC, which makes Samsung Pay compatible with a majority of card readers and hence users will be able to make use of the service in a majority of restaurants, shops, and petrol pumps etc. across the nation.
6) India To Manufacture $80 Billion Worth of Smartphone Components, Says Study
By increasing its smartphone shipments by a good 15 percent during Q4 2015, India overtook the United States to become the second largest smartphone market in the world last year. And now, according to a new study, India is most likely to manufacture about $80 billion worth of mobile phone components over the next five years and become a global manufacturing hub with advanced local manufacturing.
According to the study done collectively by IIM Bangalore and market research firm Counterpoint Research, the $80 billion figure shows that there is a huge opportunity just from domestic demand perspective to manufacture mobile phones in India and increasingly source components locally, thus, reducing the country’s vast dependency on imports.
After becoming the second largest global smartphone market in terms of users in 2016, India is now all set to cross the half a billion smartphone users mark by 2020. The study has also revealed that the contribution of locally manufactured mobile phones has increased from 14% in the year 2014 to 67% in 2016. This number is estimated to reach 96% by 2020.
7) Here’s Why India is Hesitant for Apple To Manufacture iPhones in India
Tech giant Apple has been meaning to set up its shop in India for a long time now. But, according to a recent statement given by the country’s trade minister Apple is most likely to fail in its mission to earn tax incentives to make iPhones in the country as the government is not willing to make any exceptions for the US-based tech company.
Apple has been asked by the Indian government to source at least some of the iPhone components locally from the country so as to boost the country’s floundering manufacturing sector. In order to make this possible, Apple has asked the government to provide it some tax concessions, including lower manufacturing and import duties.
Commenting on Apple's demand, India's Trade Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has reportedly said that if the Indian government would agree to give any such concessions, it would most likely extend the same olive branch to all smartphone manufacturers, and not just give a special treatment to Apple.
8) The Internet is Unhealthy and Urgently Need Attention, Warns Mozilla
According to Mark Surman, executive director of Firefox maker the Mozilla Foundation, while we have been in awe of what all internet has made possible over the last three decades, we somewhere have turned a bling eye to the perilous state of the Internet, and how we, as its users, need to help save it.
Pointing towards the rise of Internet of Things, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence, Surman said that internet’s safety has now become more important than ever because now we don’t just use a computer, “we live inside it.” According to Surman, How the internet works — and whether it’s healthy or now — now has a direct impact on our privacy, our economies, our democracies and ultimately, our happiness.
Surman’s insights on the internet's health coincides with the release of nonprofit Mozilla’s first ‘prototype’ of the Internet Health Report, which is a detailed report on the various healthy and unhealthy trends that are shaping the modern day internet. The report talks about five key areas: decentralization, open innovation, privacy, digital inclusion, and security, and web literacy.
9) Smartphone Penetration is on Rise in India Elevating M-Commerce Payments Sector: Ken Research
Ken Research in its recent publication on “Consumer payments country snapshot: India 2016,” offers deep insights on the consumer payments market in India, considering payment cards, online payments, P2P payments, and newer payment technologies such as mobile wallets and contactless.
The publication offers a shrewd examination of the main regulatory players in the Indian market and analyzes the consumer attitudes to financial services by life stage and the major payment card types in terms of both card holding and usage. It also identifies the major competitors in card issuing and how their positions in the market have evolved over the last five years. This publication helps in exploring the online payment market in India by merchant type and payment tool, as well as providing a five-year forecast for the development of the market.
According to the publication, India is the second largest consumer market globally with India being a cash-driven economy. However, digital payments will see growth in the Indian market. The key opportunity is the digitization of payments only if they are as easy to access, convenient, and secure as cash then they will contribute to the growth of financial inclusion in the country. The driving factors in such process will be the expansion of Smartphone penetration, enhancing access to the internet, and the development of a digital payments infrastructure
10) Cisco, Bosch, Foxconn, Others Tie-up To Develop Open Blockchain Protocol For IoT
Business world biggies Cisco Systems Inc, Bosch Ltd and several others have come together to form a consortium to brainstorm on how blockchain technology can be used to secure and improve “internet of things” applications.
The group, which also includes Foxconn Technology Group, Bank of New York Mellon Corp, security company Gemalto and several blockchain startups like BitSE, Consensus Systems and Chronicled Inc apart from Cisco Systems Inc and Bosch Ltd, have said that they will join hands to come up with a shared blockchain protocol for IoT – the concept that makes everyday objects, right from shipping containers to washing machines, to connect to the internet and send and receive data.
1) Google Is Bringing AI To Raspberry Pi
Tech giant Google is reportedly in the planning stages of bringing the gifts of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools to the tiny in size but big on features Raspberry Pi in the year 2017.
According to The Raspberry Pi Foundation, Google has reportedly developed a huge and diverse range of tools right for home automation, machine learning, Internet of Things, robotics, wearables, and it is now floating a survey amongst the Raspberry Pi fans in order to understand what tools they want them to provide.
Google’s range of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology can enable the maker community to come up with more innovative and powerful projects than they were previously unable to do because of the limited features.
2) Use of Drones & UAVs Will Change The Working of Indian Mining Sector
India’s Ministry of Mines has decided to give a major push to using of drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in order to increase India’s mining sector efficiency. Whether it is area inspection, preparation and monitoring of mining plans, production and dispatch, or even checking and curbing illegal mining, drones can prove to be effective in every mining process.
Piyush Goyal, Union minister of mines, who is also incharge of power, RE and coal ministries, has reportedly asked mining companies in the country to make use of all the modern and latest technologies that would help the future of mining in India. In addition to this, the Ministry of Mines has also ordered Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL), its exploration company, to purchase one or two drones soon and start using them in order to set an example for others to follow their lead.
3) Miyubi Is Longest Virtual Reality Movie Ever Made
Miyubi, a movie released by prolific VR studio Felix & Paul, has registered itself a place in the history books by becoming the longest virtual reality (VR) movie. Though just a 40-minute film, it is still almost twice or even three times the duration of the majority of the cinematic VR experiences currently available in the market.
An Oculus production, Miyubi is a full-fledged scripted comedy, a genre which VR isn’t quite famous for. It is most likely to be available on Oculus Rift and Gear VR, sometime in February or March this year.
Considering its a VR movie, Miyubi is still able to offer viewers a clear, mature narrative. The movie’s 360-degree format gives it a rather refreshing naturalistic feel. While there’s usually a single visual focus for each scene, but you can let your eyes wander over the interesting details around the room.
4) Reliance Jio Asks Foxconn, Chinese ODM Partners To Make Its LYF Brand of 4G smartphones in India
Reliance Industries has recently asked its Taiwan-based and China-based original device manufacturers (ODM) to make its smart set-top boxes, home automation and automobile telematics devices, and its much-famous Lyf branded 4G smartphones among others in its home country, India.
Foxconn, which is the world’s largest contract manufacturer and also one of Reliance Industries’ ODM will soon start the production of VoLTE handsets for Reliance Retail’s Lyf brand of 4G smartphones in the Indian subcontinent. The company’s other manufacturers will be following Foxconn’s footsteps thereon.
Reliance Retail, which is retail arm of Reliance industries, is currently procuring its 4G VoLTE smartphones and pocket routers from a number of China-based ODMs like Wingtech, Tinno Mobile, ZTE and CK Telecom.
5) Samsung To Launch ‘Samsung Pay’, Its Mobile Payment in India
Tech giant Samsung seems to be all ready to debut itself mobile payment service called Samsung Pay in India. While Samsung hasn’t made an official announcement about the launch yet, but it did drop in some hints this week.
The week saw Samsung finally rolling out the much-awaited Android Nougat update to its Galaxy S7 and S7 edge devices. The users, when turned on their devices after the update was completed, noticed a message saying “The future of payments is coming soon!” This signalled that Samsung has something planned for making payments by mobile sleeker than ever in India. At the top of it, the Nougat update also brought the Samsung Pay app to the company’s flagship devices, cementing the earlier signal that said the future of payments is coming soon to India.
One of the things that makes it stand out from the rest in the market is the fact that it makes use of both Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) as well as NFC, which makes Samsung Pay compatible with a majority of card readers and hence users will be able to make use of the service in a majority of restaurants, shops, and petrol pumps etc. across the nation.
6) India To Manufacture $80 Billion Worth of Smartphone Components, Says Study
By increasing its smartphone shipments by a good 15 percent during Q4 2015, India overtook the United States to become the second largest smartphone market in the world last year. And now, according to a new study, India is most likely to manufacture about $80 billion worth of mobile phone components over the next five years and become a global manufacturing hub with advanced local manufacturing.
According to the study done collectively by IIM Bangalore and market research firm Counterpoint Research, the $80 billion figure shows that there is a huge opportunity just from domestic demand perspective to manufacture mobile phones in India and increasingly source components locally, thus, reducing the country’s vast dependency on imports.
After becoming the second largest global smartphone market in terms of users in 2016, India is now all set to cross the half a billion smartphone users mark by 2020. The study has also revealed that the contribution of locally manufactured mobile phones has increased from 14% in the year 2014 to 67% in 2016. This number is estimated to reach 96% by 2020.
7) Here’s Why India is Hesitant for Apple To Manufacture iPhones in India
Tech giant Apple has been meaning to set up its shop in India for a long time now. But, according to a recent statement given by the country’s trade minister Apple is most likely to fail in its mission to earn tax incentives to make iPhones in the country as the government is not willing to make any exceptions for the US-based tech company.
Apple has been asked by the Indian government to source at least some of the iPhone components locally from the country so as to boost the country’s floundering manufacturing sector. In order to make this possible, Apple has asked the government to provide it some tax concessions, including lower manufacturing and import duties.
Commenting on Apple's demand, India's Trade Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has reportedly said that if the Indian government would agree to give any such concessions, it would most likely extend the same olive branch to all smartphone manufacturers, and not just give a special treatment to Apple.
8) The Internet is Unhealthy and Urgently Need Attention, Warns Mozilla
According to Mark Surman, executive director of Firefox maker the Mozilla Foundation, while we have been in awe of what all internet has made possible over the last three decades, we somewhere have turned a bling eye to the perilous state of the Internet, and how we, as its users, need to help save it.
Pointing towards the rise of Internet of Things, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence, Surman said that internet’s safety has now become more important than ever because now we don’t just use a computer, “we live inside it.” According to Surman, How the internet works — and whether it’s healthy or now — now has a direct impact on our privacy, our economies, our democracies and ultimately, our happiness.
Surman’s insights on the internet's health coincides with the release of nonprofit Mozilla’s first ‘prototype’ of the Internet Health Report, which is a detailed report on the various healthy and unhealthy trends that are shaping the modern day internet. The report talks about five key areas: decentralization, open innovation, privacy, digital inclusion, and security, and web literacy.
9) Smartphone Penetration is on Rise in India Elevating M-Commerce Payments Sector: Ken Research
Ken Research in its recent publication on “Consumer payments country snapshot: India 2016,” offers deep insights on the consumer payments market in India, considering payment cards, online payments, P2P payments, and newer payment technologies such as mobile wallets and contactless.
The publication offers a shrewd examination of the main regulatory players in the Indian market and analyzes the consumer attitudes to financial services by life stage and the major payment card types in terms of both card holding and usage. It also identifies the major competitors in card issuing and how their positions in the market have evolved over the last five years. This publication helps in exploring the online payment market in India by merchant type and payment tool, as well as providing a five-year forecast for the development of the market.
According to the publication, India is the second largest consumer market globally with India being a cash-driven economy. However, digital payments will see growth in the Indian market. The key opportunity is the digitization of payments only if they are as easy to access, convenient, and secure as cash then they will contribute to the growth of financial inclusion in the country. The driving factors in such process will be the expansion of Smartphone penetration, enhancing access to the internet, and the development of a digital payments infrastructure
10) Cisco, Bosch, Foxconn, Others Tie-up To Develop Open Blockchain Protocol For IoT
Business world biggies Cisco Systems Inc, Bosch Ltd and several others have come together to form a consortium to brainstorm on how blockchain technology can be used to secure and improve “internet of things” applications.
The group, which also includes Foxconn Technology Group, Bank of New York Mellon Corp, security company Gemalto and several blockchain startups like BitSE, Consensus Systems and Chronicled Inc apart from Cisco Systems Inc and Bosch Ltd, have said that they will join hands to come up with a shared blockchain protocol for IoT – the concept that makes everyday objects, right from shipping containers to washing machines, to connect to the internet and send and receive data.
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