by admin | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Large Enterprise, Marketing Basics, Markets, Technology
By Krishna SinhaChaudhury,
New Delhi : With dual-camera phones fast gaining popularity in the cut-throat Indian smartphone market, ASUS recently introduced three smartphones in its Zenfone 4 selfie series in the country.
The Taiwanese company introduced a total of six smartphones — Zenfone 4, Zenfone 4 Pro, Zenfone 4 Max, Zenfone 4 Max Pro and Zenfone 4 Selfie (two variants) — in Taipei but brought only three selfie-centric devices to India.
We received Rs 14,999 Zenfone 4 Selfie (Dual-Camera) and here is what we think of it.
At 144 grams, the smartphone is impressively light and easy to operate with one hand.
It sports a unibody design with metallic finish with stripes at the top and bottom ends that give it an attractive look.
We especially liked the design language used around the camera lens that reminded us of ASUS’ trademark concentric circle design.
The 5.5-inch HD LCD display topped with 2.5D curved glass blends well with the chassis. The display is bright with decent viewing angles.
Above the display lies the LED flash, dual-camera set-up, earpiece and the proximity sensor.
The fingerprint sensor sits below the display which was pretty quick to unlock the device.
The selfie shooter of the device has a 20MP sensor (aperture of f/2.0) and an 8MP secondary sensor (aperture of f/2.4) that lets the user click decent selfies — a high point of Zenfone 4 Selfie (Dual Camera) smartphone.
The user can also select the portrait mode that adds “Bokeh” effect to the selfies.
In our opinion, the selfies taken in standard mode fared better than the wide-angle selfies.
The front shooter also features “Live Beautification” mode that lets the user add artificial beautification to their image from level 1 to 10.
The 16MP rear camera takes good images and close-up shots in proper lighting had enough detail.
The phone is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 430 chipset coupled with 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage that ensures smooth everyday performance.
The device runs its custom Zen UI based atop Android 7.1.1 Nougat operating system (OS).
ASUS has not bundled unnecessary pre-installed apps in the smartphone, which is a welcome change.
The 3,000mAh battery lasted a little more than 12 hours on moderate usage with 4G running on one SIM slot, on a single charge.
What does not work?
The Snapdragon 430 processor does its job well in keeping the smartphone cool and gets daily tasks done, but considering the price, we would have loved to see a Snapdragon 625 chipset in this one.
Photos taken in low-light conditions had much noise.
The sunlight legibility of the display could have been better.
Conclusion: With decent overall performance, Zenfone 4 Selfie (Dual Camera) smartphone is a competent attempt by ASUS to make a mark in the selfie smartphone race in this price range.
(Krishna SinhaChaudhury can be contacted at krishna.s@ians.in )
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, News, Politics
Arun Jaitley
New Delhi : Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the Goods and Services Tax (GST) has made doing trade easier as per the feedback he received after visiting trading centres in Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.
He said that the whole country was now a market for the trader, who also does not have to file multiple returns.
Jaitley told reporters here that results in the local body polls in Uttar Pradesh were an affirmation of people’s support for demonetisation and GST.
Referring to the GDP growth rising to 6.3 percent afer a five quarter slump, he said it shows that structural reforms benefit in the medium and long term.
Jaitley said it had been stated earlier that demonetisation would have an impact for one or two quarters and GST for about one quarter.
“The structural reforms have benefit in medium and long term. The change is being understood clearly now,” he said.
Answering a query, he said: “GST has made it easier to do trade and business. Every trader has more opportunity. Now the whole country is his market, it has saved travelling time.”
The minister said a single return is to be fied in place of multiple returns and that too is to put in the software and there is freedom from inspectors.
“Whereever I have gone to trading centres in Gujart, UP, we have got this feedback,” Jaitley said.
He said BJP got a three-fourth mandate in assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand after demonetisation, though some people had said that demonetisation will have a big impact.
“Today’s results in local body elections reaffirm the same,” he said.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : A week after the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced voting to rollback rules adopted in 2015 that require internet service providers to treat all online traffic equally, over 200 businesses have asked the agency to reconsider its plan to end net neutrality.
In a letter to FCC, more these businesses and trade organisations, including Airbnb, Reddit, Shutterstock, Twitter, among others, highlighted internet’s growing role in the US economy, The Verge reported.
The letter cited figures saying that $3.5 billion in online sales happened in 2016 on Cyber Monday, marketing term for the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday in the US, and $3 billion on Black Friday.
Throughout all of 2016, online purchases accounted for $400 billion in sales, the letter pointed out.
As per current net neutrality rules, all businesses are allowed to compete equally. But without those rules, online businesses may be stymied by internet providers that prioritise their own interests, the companies said.
Indian-origin FCC Chairman Ajit Pai last week said that the so-called net neutrality rules “imposed heavy-handed, utility-style regulations” upon the internet that have “depressed investment in building and expanding broadband networks”.
“Today I have shared with my colleagues a draft order that would abandon this failed approach and return to the longstanding consensus that served consumers well for decades,” Pai said.
“Under my proposal, the federal government will stop micromanaging the internet.”
The FCC will vote on the proposal, known as Restoring Internet Freedom Order, at its December 14 open meeting.
According to the letter: “An internet without net neutrality protections would be the opposite of the open market, with a few powerful cable and phone companies picking winners and losers instead of consumers.”
The lack of rules could force businesses into internet slow lanes or they could be blocked altogether, or forced to pay a toll.
“This would put small and medium-sized businesses at a disadvantage and prevent innovative new ones from even getting off the ground,” the letter pointed out.
Pai’s proposal is almost certain to pass, with Republicans controlling three of the Commission’s five seats.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Economy, Large Enterprise, News, Politics
Mamata Banerjee
Kolkata : West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said the state, which has been facing legacy issues in terms of ease of doing business, has fulfilled 336 parametres out of the 372.
The remaining 36 parametres would be met in the next few months, she said addressing the Horasis Asia Meeting.
The state currently is in the top 10 in the ease of doing business ranking and she assured that it would emerge as the number one in the ranking soon.
She also said: “It takes time (to improve the ranking) and we are facing some legacy issues.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Ideas, Entrepreneurship, News, Social Entrepreneur
Frank F. Islam
By Frank F. Islam,
Mentoring can be critical to success in business. I say that because I was mentored at two pivotal points in my life.
My first mentor was Wolfgang Thron a college professor of mathematics from the University of Colorado. Dr. Thron told me that I had great potential and encouraged me to leave India and to go to school at the University of Colorado so that I could pursue expanded opportunities and get a cutting edge education in the emerging field of computer science.
I trusted Dr. Thron’s advice. So, even though it was scary, at the age of 16, I decided to leave my family and friends in India with just thirty five dollars in my pocket.
Time does not permit great detail on my college years. Suffice it to say that I loved Boulder and I got my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in computer science to pursue my life-long dream of owning my own business.
I did not come from a family that owned a business. I had no personal experience or role model in business.
Therefore, I decided to do my apprenticeship and to learn the ropes by going to work for large IT companies. During that period, I had the good fortune to meet my second mentor, Dick Bishop.
He was my mentor in business. He taught me the ins and outs of managing information technology contracts with the government and inspired my entrepreneurship. Dick helped me develop the knowledge, skills and abilities required to succeed in business.
Based upon his mentorship, I felt ready to go out on my own and I acquired a company in 1994 for $45,000. With the help of a wonderful management team that I recruited over time, we built that business from 1 employee – me – to more than 3,000 employees with annual revenue of more than $300 million dollars. The team of talented managers were central to everything. Success in business is team sport. So, when people asked me how I became successful, it was not me but we who made it happen.
In 2007, after 13 years, I sold the company to Perot Systems. That sale allowed me to move on to the next stage of my career to philanthropy and civic engagement. In many ways, the process of sharing and giving back is much more rewarding than any of the money that I have earned throughout my business career.
In summary, mentoring has meant much to me. I would not be what or who I am without the mentoring that I have received on business and other fronts.
I recognize what a difference mentoring can make for the mentee and for the mentor. That is why I was thrilled when naisA Global informed me they were giving me this award.
I was even more thrilled when I did the research and saw the good work naisA has done. Seeing that it has 480 current mentors and over 2,400 active protégées is a testimony to what it has already accomplished and the platform that it has built for future success.
Given my own background and personal experience, I would like to throw one idea into the pot for naisA’s consideration. That is that it develops a mentoring program for Asian Americans who want to be entrepreneurs and start-up or build their own businesses.
There have been numerous studies over the past several years that show that the rate of business start-ups by Asian Americans has grown substantially. This growth has been especially strong in the engineering and technology fields. I am confident that if naisA developed a mentoring program focusing on would-be entrepreneurs it would drive that growth much higher.
In closing, let me tell you about another mentor of mine. That is President John F. Kennedy.
I never met President Kennedy personally. But, I grew up with him. He was a source of inspiration for me in my youth.
He has grown to be even more of an inspiration to me as I have learned more about him by serving on the board of trustees of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the advisory board of the JFK Library
In 1958, before he became President, John F. Kennedy wrote a book titled A Nation of Immigrants. In that book, JFK observed
The abundant resources of this land provided the foundations for a great nation. But only people could make the opportunity a reality. Immigrations provided the human resources. More than that, it infused the nation with a commitment to far horizons and new frontiers, and thereby kept the pioneer spirit of American life, the spirit of equality and of hope always alive and well
What makes America great is that we are a nation of immigrants.
President Kennedy also famously said in his inaugural address, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
As we approach 2018, one of the key things that we can do to ensure that Asian Americans are fully prepared to answer that call to and to be leaders in moving the United States and its citizens to those “far horizons and new frontiers” is to support naisA Global and its programs.
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This is an abridged form of the speech that Indian-American entrepreneur, philanthropist and civic leader Frank F. Islam delivered while receiving naisA Global Award 2017.
