by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Technology
By Nishant Arora,
New Delhi : With emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data Analytics knocking at India’s doors, the country needs to sow the learning seeds early — in the classroom — and China and Turkey can show the way, top global Intel executives have said.
The world has realised what is coming its way in the next 10-20 years and has already begun modernising classrooms at schools to prepare a technology-ready workforce.
“The Chinese and Turkish authorities have given kids IoT-enabled devices in millions of schools. Every student has a device connected to an intelligent whiteboard at the front of the classroom. There are teacher-controlled devices too. The curriculum is designed for that kind of environment. This is the future of education,” Joe D. Jensen, Vice President, Internet of Things (IoT) Group, and General Manager, Retail Solutions Division at Intel, told IANS.
“Intel has installed 400,000 IoT-enabled connected devices for schools in Turkey, a million-and-a half in Chinese schools and another million to go in China in the next two years,” Jensen informed.
Technology can do wonders in providing a great educational experience and create a pool of talent for these disrupting technologies.
“In China, the newest innovation is that there are eight video cameras and a series of microphones in a classroom at certain private schools and colleges. The videos of the classroom activities are recorded daily. Parents can later log on and see the student-teacher interaction,” Jensen told IANS.
For Lisa Davis, Vice President and General Manager, IT Transformation for Enterprise and Government at Intel, while India is at the cusp of dramatic changes in delivering next-generation education, it is also set to learn new ways to infuse technology in many other sectors.
“Not just education, we are looking at the financial services, transportation, retail and health-care sectors too in India. The next big wave is coming in video surveillance and the security sector, and our teams are engaged with the stakeholders in the country,” Davis told IANS.
Intel has also pushed the envelope towards creating a modern workforce in India. In April this year, Intel made a commitment to democratise AI in the country by training 15,000 developers and engage with not just businesses but also the government and academia to enable the adoption of AI.
Intel India has trained 9,500 developers, students and professors in the past six months.
The chip giant has collaborated with 40 academic institutions that are using the technology for scientific research and 50 public and private organisations across e-commerce, health-care, technology, defence, and banking and financial services.
Intel India has also launched an initiative to strengthen the use of technology in the country’s education ecosystem. It is collaborating with leading device manufacturers, education digital content publishers and education solution providers to build end-to-end solutions that promote the use of technology.
The company will then help deploy management solutions for schools, classrooms, content and learning, and also manage student information systems.
There is an Intel India Maker Lab in Bengaluru to drive the innovation ecosystem in the country. The lab offers access to start-ups of hardware and software development kits, reference boards, design collaterals, test and debugging equipment. It provides technical support for design, development and testing products.
“India is at the cusp of a technology boom, but needs training and teaching right from the beginning to prepare a future digital workforce,” Davis stressed.
(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
For representational purpose only
By Amit Khanna,
In India you have hundreds of film, literature, music, dance, sports, fashion, investment, technology, science and other festivals in every part of the country. This should be a happy indicator of our rich cultural heritage and our predisposition to the arts. However, most such events are forced gatherings of similar sets of people.
The genesis of these festivals is steeped in history. In post-Independence India, it was essential that a wounded but free nation established its cultural diversity, tradition and its new-found confidence through creative expression. So, Nehru rightly set up bodies like the Sangeet Natak, Lalit Kala and Sahitya Akademis. An International Film Festival, Akashvani Sangeet Sammelan, National Book Fair, etc., were also set up. What should have been the take-off points of various arts, soon lapsed into a well-oiled machine of state patronage. Various awards instituted within the first few years became politicised.
When royal patronage of arts disappeared after the abolition of princely states, music, dance, fine art and literature almost disappeared from public spaces. So it was imperative that the government kick-started their revival. It was good when this was done in the 1950s. However, wherever politics and bureaucracy creep in, a new pecking order based not so much on real talent but political and other (social, economic, regional) considerations come into play.
So, by the end of the 1950s, there emerged a new cultural aristocracy. A group of aficionados, some genuine, some pretentious, who over time would be identified by their omnipresence on various committees and the invitation lists at concerts, festivals and other such events. This newly-minted social class did have some real scholars who did inspiring work in furthering the arts, but largely these were self-styled critics, failed artistes and social climbers.
As a new festival circuit developed initially in New Delhi and then elsewhere, it was a boon for performing artists, filmmakers, painters and authors who got a chance to reach out to a larger audience through these platforms. One has to realise that in the 1950s the only source of income for artistes was All India Radio and a few private mehfils. A chosen few like Pandit Omkar Nath Thakur, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Indrani Rehman got a chance to perform abroad. The Indian Council of Cultural Relations, an organisation under the Ministry of External Affairs, did send some artistes and films overseas, but again the selection was at the whim of some sarkari patron.
The International Film Festival of India did not acquire a proper structure till the 1970s. If you were lucky, your film, based on some foreign critic’s recommendation, was chosen for screening at a foreign film festival like Cannes, Berlin or Venice. There were auditoriums where one could watch art cinema. Film societies, with help from embassies, managed to get some films for private screenings for members in major metros.
Plays were restricted to some cities like Mumbai, Calcutta (now Kolkata) and Delhi. Literature Festivals were things of a distant future. Book launches were confined to a few established authors like Amrita Preetam, Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan and a few important journalists. Most artistic/cultural activity was limited to a few events where individuals were the catalyst for an art form’s growth.
There were some honourable initiatives like the Swami Haridas Music Festival in Jalandhar or the Dover Lane Music Conference in Calcutta. The Shriram Family (DCM) of Delhi held the annual Shankar Shaad Mushaira in the capital, which was the subcontinent’s most prestigous annual gathering of Urdu poets. They also organised the annual Shankarlal Music Festival and the Bharatiya Kala Kendra Ramleela and concerts.
In the South, the Thyagraja Festival and the Madras Academy concerts are largely privately funded. Soon the Sangeet Sammelan of AIR and three Akademis started holding events in major cities, which were eagerly awaited. The government also started promoting Indian festivals abroad.
In other spheres, drama was largely semi-professional except for regional theatre like in Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali and Punjabi. The first Triennale (Art Exhibition) was held in in 1971, but top artistes had gained popularity among Indian cognoscenti.
It was only in the 1970s that corporates entered the arts circuit and industry groups like the Tatas, Birlas, JK, Jains (of The Times of India) and multi-nationals like ITC became sponsors of cultural events. By then a familiar coterie of cultural interventionists could be seen on the scene. They were organising, judging, participating or just attending event after event. I was for a while a part of this jamboree. Soon from this emerged a new Brahmanical order of culturatti generally dominated by what are now known as left-liberals.
Economic liberalisation and satellite TV changed the paradigm. Today there the hundreds of festivals across disciplines. Private groups professionally organise most of these. There are expensive delegate fees for such events. So you have at least a dozen film festivals (MAMI in Mumbai, Kolkata Film Festival, Kerala Film Festival in Thiruvananthapuram and IFFI in Goa are major ones) from Guwahati to Dharamshala, Lucknow to Bengaluru.
There are a dozen litfests, led by the Jaipur Literary Festival, and events in Mumbai, Delhi and other state capitals. Several music and dance festivals, and theatre festivals like the one organised by the National School of Drama in Delhi, and those organised by the Mahindra Group, Aditya Birla Group, IPTA, Prithvi, Nandikar and others. And hundreds of smaller events.
Museums and art galleries all over hold regular exhibitions and seminars. All sponsored and many of them money-making. There are professional event mangers, PR companies and tie-ups with broadcasters. Besides, every media group, TV channel and several chambers of commerce and industry hold hundreds of events, award shows and conclaves. We are spoilt for choice.
What has not changed in 70 years is the list of 500-odd people who are the usual speakers, participants, critics and guests at these events. I am tired of hearing the same people turning up at such events with the regularity of homing pigeons. This tired lot says the same things, loaded with their ideology and opinions (often redundant) month after month, year after year. The same panelists (including me), the same chief guests and often the same applause-junky, name-dropping professional quote hangers. The show goes on.
(Amit Khanna is a writer, filmmaker and media guru. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at amitfilm@gmail.com)
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, Startup Basics, Startup Financing
Bengaluru : India added about 1,000 technology start-ups in 2017, retaining its position as the third largest hub for entrepreneurship, IT apex body Nasscom said on Thursday.
“About 1,000 tech start-ups were registered this year (2017), taking their total to 5,200 and making India the world’s third largest start-up ecosystem,” said Nasscom Chairman Raman Roy here at an event.
Releasing a joint report on the ‘Indian Start-up Ecosystem – Traversing the maturity cycle’, at the ninth annual edition of Nasscom Product Conclave, Roy said despite tough competition from Britain and Israel, India retained its momentum as a vibrant landscape for start-ups.
“Bengaluru, Delhi/NCR and Mumbai retained their position as the key start-up hubs, with 20 per cent of the start-ups emerging from tier-2 and tier-3 cities across the country,” Roy said.
He cited the report Nasscom compiled with city-based research, consulting and advisory firm Zinnov.
Among the verticals, health-tech, fin-tech and e-commerce have seen a rapid rise in the B2B (business-to-business) segment, signifying maturing growth.
“The Indian IT industry is renowned for pioneering innovation and the start-ups arena is no different. Our country is one of the fastest growing start-up landscapes, with the participation of every major accelerator, investor and angel group from the world over,” Roy said.
Noting that the ecosystem was ripe for healthy growth through verticals and innovative business model, Roy said the Indian landscape was brimming with innovative ideas, which need guidance to accelerate, scale-up and funding.
“With 40 per cent of start-ups in the B2B segment, its share in the tech start-up funding is 30 per cent, thanks to corporates, which are supporting them with 50 collaboration programmes, 20 accelerators and 40 investors,” said Roy.
Fin-tech start-up base is about 360, indicating 31 per cent annual growth, with $200-million funding in the first half of this year, recording a whopping 135 per cent annual growth.
“Sub-segments like digital payments and lending are maturing, while wealth management and insurance-tech emerging as growth areas. Implementation of advanced technology are also becoming prominent, with 33 per cent fintech funding towards advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) and analytics,” said Roy.
Similarly, health-based technology start-ups are 320, with 28 per cent annual growth and attracted $160-million funding in the April-September period, which is an increase of 129 per cent in the same period of 2016.
“With 60 per cent start-ups, the B2C (business-to-customer) segment is focused on creating innovative business models and taking the vertical approach, securing about 70 per cent funding in the year’s first half,” said Roy, also Chief Executive Officer of Quatrro Global Services, on the occasion.
Observing that the ecosystem was driven by young, diverse and inclusive entrepreneurs, Nasscom President R. Chandrashekhar said the landscape was leading to focused domain solutions in verticals like healthcare, agriculture and education.
“Findings of the report is a testimony to the potential of the start-up landscape and the scope of growth and opportunity that India presents.
“We will continue its drive towards catalysing tech start-ups, build category leaders and support start-ups to create for India,” said the former Telecom Secretary.
Growing at five-year CAGR of 30 per cent, advanced start-ups are focused on creating solutions in Artificial Intelligence, Analytics, Augmented Reality, Virtual reality, Blockchain and Internet of Things.
Enterprise and SMB (small and medium businesses) focused start-ups, which are SaaS (software as a service) are also getting venture funds.
With 167 per cent growth, funding of the start-up ecosystem led by unicorns stood at $6.4 billion till September.
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Technology
San Francisco : After testing the latest Windows 10 “Fall Creators Update” over the past six months, Microsoft has released the latest edition to secure over 500 million Windows 10 devices globally, starting with new machines first.
“For the best experience, we recommend you wait until Windows 10 is automatically offered to your device. You don’t have to do anything to get the update; it will roll out automatically to you through ‘Windows Update’ if you’ve chosen to have updates installed automatically on your device,” Microsoft wrote in a blog post late on Tuesday.
Also known as “Windows 10 Version 1709”, this iteration of Windows 10 brings changes to the overall design and usability of Windows 10.
The company has added a number of new features to improve Microsoft’s digital assistant Cortana, Edge (a web browser developed by Microsoft and included in Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile and Xbox One) and Photos (which is an image viewer, video clip editor, image organiser, photo editor and photo sharing app included with the Windows 8 and Windows 10 OS).
The new update also makes the OS more secure and includes Mixed Reality (MR) support.
Users who do not want to wait for the update to roll out automatically can manually check for updates on PC.
However, it will only work if the device is eligible to get the “Fall Creators Update” as part of the initial roll out phase.
Alternatively, the user can manually get the update via the Software Download Site, the company added.
—IANS
by Editor | May 25, 2021 | Branding, Business, Markets, SMEs, Technology
By Vivek Singh Chauhan,
New Delhi : Aiming to carve out a place for itself in India’s highly competitive mid-range smartphone market, TECNO Mobile, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Transsion Holdings, has introduced TECNO i5 Pro that offers solid battery back-up and a fairly decent camera. The phone is priced at Rs 12,990.
Apart from being budget-friendly and offering almost all features that other smartphones in the same range provide, TECNO i5 Pro has additional attributes like “rocket charging” that would make staying in touch much more convenient for people on the go.
Let’s see what works for the device.
As far as design is concerned, the device has chamfered edges with volume rocker and power button on the right bumper. A micro-USB charger port is placed at the bottom while a jack is placed on the top.
The device comes with a 4,000mAh battery that, after continuous usage including light gaming, surfing the Internet, along with music playback and moderate using for calling purposes, lasted for more than a day.
The 5.5-inch HD IPS display device has “rocket charging” technology that helps charge the device super fast. Our review smartphone was fully charged in an hour-and-a-half.
Another distinct feature is the 13MP rear shooter with auto-focus, quad-LED flash, f/2.0 aperture and 8MP front camera with LED flash.
With few editing features in the camera app, the photos taken by the rear camera in well-lit conditions were impressive. The 8MP selfie camera performance was above average.
The Tecno i5 Pro is powered by 1.44GHz quad-core MediaTek 6737T processor and it comes with 3GB RAM and 32GB of internal storage that can be expanded up to 128GB.
The device runs Android Nougat 7.0 with HiOS skin on top with less bloatware.
In comparision, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 offers 4GB RAM and 64GB on-board memory at Rs 12,999.
What doesn’t work.
The fingerprint sensor has a weak response making the accessibility to applications difficult for users. We experienced lag when we opened several apps simultaneously.
The smartphone is a little difficult to operate with one hand.
Conclusion: With good battery back-up and camera quality, TECNO i5 Pro has a place in the sub-15,000 segment.
(Vivek Singh Chauhan can be contacted at vivek.c@ians.in)
—IANS
