INNOVATION

SMS….20 Years Old Today !!!!! …DEC 3 2012….

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3 December 2012 ….BBC NEWS SITE…. AN interesting interview thro SMS…. NICE TO READ …..

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Texting SMS pioneer Matti Makkonen 20 years on…..

In a world first, on 3 December 1992, an engineer sent the message “Merry Christmas” from a PC to a mobile device using Vodafone’s UK network.

But the origins of the idea date back further to Matti Makkonen. Over a pizza at a telecoms conference in 1984, the former Finnish civil servant put forward the idea of a mobile phone messaging service. This was to become the SMS (short message service) standard.

Dubbed the “father of SMS”- a title he dislikes because of the work others did to develop the technology – Matti Makkonen rarely gives interviews. However, he made an exception for the BBC’s tech team with an interview via SMS.

Following are the highlights of SMS text interview…. Questions of Mr. LEO KELLON from BBC are answered by MR. MATTI MAKKONEN..SMS PIONEER !!!!

Tues 15:24
It’s been estimated 8 trillion test messages were sent last year. 20yrs ago how popular did you think sms would get and what did you think it would be used for?

Tues 15:40
20yrs ago I didn’t see sms as separate issue – it was just a feature in the revolutionary mobile communications system. Very useful for quick business needs.

Tues 15:45
You never got any money for it as you didn’t patent the idea. Is that a regret – or are you glad how things worked out?.

Tues 15:58
I dont think I made a patentable innovation, but was one of the early persons to understand the need and the concept. I’m glad the work was done as part of GSM.

Tues 18:03
You’ve been described as the “reluctant father of SMS” and it took a newspaper investigation to identify you. Why were you so quiet about your achievement?

Weds 06:05
I did not consider sms as personal achievement but as result of joint effort to collect ideas and write the specifications of the services based on them.

Weds 12:22
Cn u txtspk?

Weds 12:26
No! My passion is to write correct language (Finnish), using all 160 characters.

Weds 12:28
What do you think of people who do? Do you hate it?

Weds 12:33
No, I don’t hate them. Actually sms can also be seen as a way for language to develop. More symbols, less characters.

Weds 14:26
What do you make of sexting? A lot of high profile figures have come to regret some of their more explicit messages!?!

Weds 15:18
In my mind private messages of high profile persons should be kept out of public discussion. Privacy belongs to telecommunication as much as to private letters.

Weds 17:08
Do you suffer from text spam? If so what kind?

Weds 17:16
Not at all. Finnish legislation is quite protective. Marketing messages are allowed only if you really allow them. Spam calls are more often problem.

Weds 18:47
Do you prefer typing in a keypad or touchscreen? And how fast are you?

Weds 20:11
I love touchscreen. Slow enough to think and sometimes even edit what I write.

Weds 20:13
Will sms survive another 20 years – of will Facebook, Skype and other instant messaging chat systems take over?

Weds 20:30
20 years is long time… I believe that reliable convenient to use text messaging will stay forever. Is not necessary what we call sms. No more pay per message.

Thurs 10:38
It was 8 years between your idea of SMS and the first text being sent. Were you surprised it took so long?

Thurs 14:26
No. Actually I felt myself as a customer, who had noticed a need. I was happy to see that the development was going on in a gsm working team. The real launch of the service, as I see it, was when Nokia introduced the first phone that enabled easy writing of messages (Nokia 2010 in 1994).

Thurs 14:41
Do you have any other big idea for the future!?!

Thurs 15:06
Not my idea but integration of mobile content display to my eyeglasses would be nice. Maybe someone is working working with it !!!

Indian Student Entrepreneur wins Intel Global Challenge !!!

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 source::::: silicon india net…

 Natarajan

 It came as a pleasant shock, when Neha Juneja heard that her company Greenway Grameen Infra won the 2012 Intel Global Challenge at Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, receiving $50,000 on November 9 amongst more than 150,000 students from more than 50 countries.

The Intel Global Challenge is a joint project of Intel and the UC Berkeley Lester Center for Entrepreneurship. Started in 2005, it rewards student entrepreneurs a total of $100,000 for innovative ideas that can make a positive impact on society.

Founded in 2010, the firm’s biomass-based stove with single-burner uses 65 per cent less fuel and produces 80 per cent less smoke than traditional stoves. The company targets consumers in rural areas.
Juneja, 27, co-founder and chief executive officer who had also won the Businessworld Young Entrepreneur Award in 2011 said, “I was surprised because the other participants were very good.

All of them had unique ideas, so I was a little nervous. It’s like getting a dream award. This award is very important. .

Juneja came up with this idea after a visit to a village in Wardha, Maharashtra, where she saw a small home with a television, refrigerator, mobile phones, and motorbike. Yet the lady of the house was cooking on a mud stove.

To develop the product, Juneja travelled to 22 states in India, understanding cooking habits across the country for a year. In this one year, she tested nine different designs before finalizing the Greenway stove that costs $23 and consumes one-third of the fuel a mud stove consumes. Also, unlike mud stoves, it does not produce carbon monoxide in the smoke.

Juneja says she and her five member team never thought of this as a social venture. They always considered it a business opportunity.

9 Most Expected Apple Products of 2013!!!!

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: Apple’s 2012 schedule has been incredibly busy; the iOS6, iPhone 5, iPad mini, new iPods, and updated Macs with specialties like retina displays and bigger sizes. And then a question arises, what’s the Apple line ups for 2013? The company had already given hints about some interesting devices, including a low cost iPhonecooking inside the Cupertino giant’s executive kitchen. Here are the speculated Apple devices which will see the light of the day in next year as compiled by Business Insider.

 
1. Apple television?

 
Apple came up with the updates of just about everything at the end of 2012. This gave birth to the speculation that Apple either planned nothing for the spring or on the contrary it’s got something big to unveil.

 


So the next possible big release from Apple’s bag of products for the spring could be its “television”. Rumors of an Apple television have been rampant for years. So the year 2013 can be the best period to wave a green flag for the Apple TV or which may be called ‘iTV’ as Apple’s nomenclature follows.

2.  iPad Mini with Retina display

 
Apple’s iPad mini made waves in the media prior to its release and was also hit the market with the blast. But all the fanfare was fizzled and as the Apple bloggers place it “iPad mini is the real iPad, there’s only one problem which took the sheen out of device and it’s the screen”. So Apple, to rectify this problem may come up with a smarter display, the new Apple innovation “retina display”. This spring we can hope for a iPad mini which along with other things can come up with retina display.

 

 
3. iRadio

 
Apple has intensified talks with music labels to unveil its own advertising supported streaming radio service and it will be the competitor to Pandora Media Inc. The iRadio is supposed to start early next year, according to people with knowledge of the negotiations who want to stay anonymous.

 


 “Radio is a natural step for Apple,” Rich Greenfield, an analyst with BTIG LLC in New York, said in an interview, reports Bloomberg. “This helps Apple dominate in cars, where people listen to an average of two hours of radio a day.”

4.Apple TV app store

 
So once the Apple TV gets big launch the next best possible offering from the Applecould be an App Store exclusive for its TV. And the company may also open up its gates for the developers to contribute the apps for its new device, in turn creating a whole new experience with the TV.

 
5. OSX 10.9

 
Apple has reported to be actively testing its new version of Mac OS, called as OS X 10.9. And there were rumors that the Apple Mountain cat is about to take a big leap and include the key features from the popular iOS mobile platform. OS X 10.9 is supposed to include the Apple Maps along with Siri, the company’s virtual personal assistant that was first introduced on the iPhone 4S in late 2011.

 
Apple says it’s going to start updating its desktop software more frequently. Now that the person in charge of iOS is in charge of OSX, we expect the release schedules to be linked. And we expect more cross over between the two operating systems in terms of features. This new release is rumored to have Siri and Apple Maps.

 

 

6. : iOS 7

 
Apple, in each new version of iOS attempts to deliver an upgrade to add new user experiences. The iOS 6 is a good OS but for its Apple Maps and some Notification Center issues. So the next update is expected to deliver on these two discontents along with offering other new features. If one follows the pattern of Apple’s software releases , we may expect to see the iOS 6.1 this spring and later iOS 7 at

 
With each new version of iOS, Apple delivers an upgrade to parts of the user experience and this Notification Center mock-up shows one of the features we hope Apple includes in iOS 7.

 

If Apple follows their pattern for software releases, we can expect to see iOS 6.1 this Spring and the announcement of iOS 7 at The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2013, with the possibility of an iOS 7 release date tied to the iPhone 5S release, or whatever Apple calls the next iPhone.

7.  iPhone 5S

 
The rumors of the iPhone 5S were sparked amazingly just weeks after iPhone 5 release. A report from the Chinese Commercial Times added fuel to the rumors stating that Apple would be manufacturing 50,000 to 100,000 test units of the “iPhone5S” in December this year.

 
As for the rumor goes the iPhone 5S will possibly be unveiled in the middle of 2013 as opposed to the end of next year. Apple has launched iPhone 4S in October last year and the iPhone 5 in September this year, so there was a gap of nearly a year for the launch of new iteration. But this time, as the rumor goes, Apple fans will be in for a surprise as the Cupertino giant will put in orders for the iPhone 5S starting in March or April of next year, way earlier than many assumed.

 
The Apple may choose the summer launch next year to boost the sales of its device in holiday season and also to take on with its rival Samsung.

 

8. The iPad 5

 
Apple shocked technophiles and industry experts around the world with its unexpected unveiling of the iPad 4, alongside the iPad Mini, at an event in California last month.

 
The company’s near 12 month cycle for the new iteration’s launches, which use to be under wraps, has become predictable. But the launch of iPad 4 was so covert that the rumor mill was completely unaware of its existence until it launched.

 
Nevertheless this new strategy from Apple is not stopping the rumor mill from speculating the launch of iPad 5. The rumors are already abounding about that the new sleeker, lighter and loaded iPad 5 will hit the shelves early next year.

 

9. WILD CARD: A cheap, totally different iPhone

 
Apple iPhones were considered to be costlier with respect to its rival android devices. So Apple may come up with the iPhone which would be cheaper and totally different from the existing iPhones to gain market especially in the developing countries like India and China. May be it will be a reality in next year.
source::::: silicon india net

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Think Big and Differently ….Yes Our Children Do It !!!!

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source:::::siliconindia net..  amazing innovative ideas from young children make  us proud ….pl read the story and share …

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“Innovations” from young minds took India by storm; the innovations were pragmatic, sensible and can find wide prevalence in India and across the globe. Though these innovations were just in “idea” form, the young Indians are hopeful of striving to bring them to existence, may be in the future.
The National Innovation Foundation India (NIF), Ahmedabad has announced the names of the 29 award winners of the IGNITE 2012, an annual competition organized by the NIF in association with Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Society for Research and Initiatives in Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI), various State Education Boards and other partners.
The competition became a platform where the school students shared innovative ideas and offered solutions on issues local and global. It was held between 11 September 2011 and 31 August 2012 and had received over 14,889 submissions from students who participated from 282 districts in the country.
Read on to know 24 such amazing innovations that impressed the NIF panel, as compiled by rediff.com.
 Spray on gloves and socks
Aditya Joshi
Class 8, Bal Shikshan Mandir, Pune, Maharashtra
Aditya’s innovative spray is water-proof and self-sealing; it provides excellent protection for anyone working with their hands and feet. So it can be used by a factory worker handling dangerous chemicals, or a farmer standing bare-foot in water-filled paddy fields, and so on.
“I had noticed people like garbage collectors, or even farmers, work in unhygienic conditions that made them vulnerable to diseases. It made me think of this idea that gives protection and could be made easily available at an affordable cost,” replied Aditya when asked how he came up with the idea.
 Smart card that drives a car
G Krishna Kumar
Class 12, Govt Boys Higher Sec School, Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu
Krishna suggests using a smart card that contains electronically all the documentation required to drive a vehicle and to start a vehicle this card has to be inserted into electronic identifier, and it also makes easy to trace missing cars.
This idea struck him during discussions at school on traffic regulations.
He feels, “Many people forget the license at home. So there should be some system to make it mandatory that without license, the vehicle will not start.”
 Headphones with sensors to detect external soundsLakshya Kaura, Naman Jain, Manav Mitra, Utkarsh Hora, Amrit Dang and Sehaj Kataria
Class 8, Vasant Valley School, New Delhi

Lakshya Kaura loved to listen music on his head phones and also wanted to take heed to road safety. He shared his thought with his friends and all six of them put their heads together to come up with an innovative solution: headphones fitted with sensors to pick up external sounds.
So, if a vehicle honks within 10 metres, the headphones automatically stop playing and sound an alert.
 Preventing mobile usage while driving and unique doorbell to identify visitors
Rajashree Choudhury
Class 5, Little Flower School, Jamshedpur, Jharkhand
A device with a place for inserting a mobile is fixed on the car dashboard or handle of a two-wheeler. The vehicle moves forward only if the mobile is inserted into this device.
Her next idea is to have personalized doorbell ringtones so you know who is at the door beforehand. The doorbell has unique codes assigned to different individuals. So when a guest presses their code, the doorbell rings with a specific sound.
 Wind-operated ceiling fan
Md. Usman Hanif Patel
Class 2, Tapti Public School, Jalgaon, Maharashtra.
Usman came up with novel and simple idea of ceiling fan in the house is mechanically powered by a wind-mill on the roof.
Once travelling towards Nandurbar, looking out the window of a moving train, 6-year-old Usman saw some windmills zipping by. His father later explained him that the wind moves blades of windmill which in turn moves the device placed beneath it.
And one day, staring at the ceiling fan during a power cut, an idea of using windmill on roof to mechanically power the fan struck him.
 Hand pumps that rise automatically in flood affected areas
Kripesh Swain and Kumar Biswajeet
Class 8, DAV Public School, Bhubaneshwar, Odisha
Kripesh and Biswajeet were very bothered that during monsoon flood, the hand pumps which provide clean water gets buried into the flood water which gush into it hence rendering the once fresh water unsuitable for drinking. To prevent this problem from recurring, they designed a hand pump such that it can go up with the rising water level, so that it remains usable.
“We couldn’t tolerate the extent of suffering in different parts of Odisha. Everybody deserves pure water,” they said.
#8 Multi-purpose tent and load-lifting device
Rishab Gupta, Jammu
Class 10, DPS, Jammu, Jammu & Kashmir
Rishab was truck with the idea of using a tent as a raft while mountaineering camp in Mussoorie.
His tent is creatively planned to be usable during both summer and winter with portable solar panels to provide light after sunset.
The base is proposed to be made of rubberized nylon that can be inflated and the border along the base can be blown up to turn it into a raft.
His next idea is a portable shifter to easily move heavy things by attaching a set of wheels to slide them from point to point.
 User-friendly pedal rickshaw
Mansi Priya
Class 11, DAV Kapil Dev, Ranchi, Jharkhand
Watching her grandmother struggle to get down from a pedal rickshaw, Mansi came up with the idea of small folding stair in the rickshaw, which will help old people to climb a rickshaw with a lot more ease.
 Modified cycle rickshaw
Arnab Chakraborty
Class 12, Future Foundation School, Kolkata, West Bengal
Arnab, who recently moved to Kolkata, was surprised seeing a large number of cyclerickshaws plying on the city roads, and some were thin and frail, moved by their plight he came up with the idea. Its about modified cycle rickshaw with extra pedals for passengers who may wish to share the burden and co-pedal the rickshaw.
 Preventing driving without a license/valid documents
In the wake of increased rate of accidents caused by those without licenses, or without proper training; these young minds have conceived novel ideas to prevent this.
Varsha Kumari
Class 10, Indra Prasad Singh Gangstahliya Balika Gyanpith
Patna, Bihar
Varsha’s innovation is about swiping the driving license, like on a credit card machine. The vehicle starts only if a pre-authorized license is swiped. This also protects the car against theft.
The idea came to her when a friend’s car was stolen and never found.
Durgesh Kumar
Class 10, DAV HFC Barauni
Begusarai, Bihar
Durgesh’s innovation has a mini scanner fixed on the steering wheel, only up on the drivers’ license matches with the authentic license stored in the scanner’s database, the steering wheel gets unlocked. A solution to tackle Illegal drivers

Jyoti Dhillon
Class 10, Shishu Shala School, Rewari, Haryana
Jyoti thinks of an automatic sensor inside the vehicle that prevents driving without a valid license.
Ranjan, Class 8 and Shiv Kumar, Class 6
Gandhi Madhya Vidyalaya, Patna, Bihar
Ravi and Shiv being troubled by daily cases of neighborhood vehicles thefts and accidents caused by people without valid licenses came up with an idea where there’s an electronic slot near the ignition which can identify the validity of the license upon inserting it. And only if the card is valid the engine starts.
 Movable road dividers
Sidharth Pal
Class 11, Sai Grace Academy
Dehradun, Uttarakhand
Most of times the traffic on either side of the road divider varies during different times of the day, particularly during peak hours.
Sidharth, while stuck in a traffic congestion had come up with the idea of movable road dividers to ease the traffic on the congested road.
 Solution for traffic congestion
S Charishma
Class 8, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh
Being stuck in the traffic can be a very annoying situation. Charishma noticed patterns in movements of vehicles during such traffic jams.
One side of the road has more traffic in the morning, which shifts to the other side in the evening. So she proposed a simple, but very creative solution, the movable deviders.
Depending upon the incoming traffic from a particular direction, the dividers can be shifted to increase lane size.
Artificial assistance for blind people
B Survesh
Class 10, The Hindu Colony Chellammal Vidyalaya SSS, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Survesh with his blind granduncle and grandaunt has seen first-hand problems faced by the blind.
So, he thought of creating sunglasses that could help them recognize people and objects independently. The sunglass has an inbuilt camera to record the image and the name of a person met for the first time.
Cushioned-helmets for labourers
G Jeevan Sidharth
Class 9, Shrishti Vidyashram, Vellore, Tamil Nadu
“While going to school, I often observed construction workers carrying bricks and cement on their head. I wanted something that would protect the head, reduce pressure and help to balance load. Just like how a helmet gives safety, while riding, why can’t a helmet protect these workers?”
He thus went on to design a helmet to provide safety to workers at construction sites. It is fitted inside with a cushion that gives protection while the outer surface has a slight inward curve for easy balancing.
 Device to monitor mental stress in students and others
Himanshu Jiteshbhai Parmar
Class 10, Pandit Nehru Vidya Vihar, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
“I remember reading a news paper story about students who committed suicide because of failure in their class 10 board exams,” he shares.
This made him to think of a system to measure tension/mental stress. It would tell the degree of stress and if found high, students can unwind before going back to their studies.
Ankita Arora
Class 10, Police DAV Public School, Jalandhar, Punjab
Ankita was distressed to see her mother struggling with acute back pain that confined her to bed for over a year. Her mother’s agony gave her the idea of creating a device for detecting and monitoring levels of mental stress in an individual.
 
 
 
 Mobile to mobile charging
Ravi Duhan, Sanjay Raghav and Manoj Kumar
Class 9, SD SSS, Rewari, Haryana
The group of three friends had files shared between mobiles throughBluetooth and extending this further they thought why not a mobile can be used to charge another mobile?
Then they came up with possibility of doing it in two ways — wired or wireless way of charge transfer from one mobile to another.
Retractable toilet pot with cleaning system
Shweta Verma
Class 9, Gyan Sthali Public School, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh
Retractable toilet fitted with sensors — the pot can be pulled inside the wall after use and taken out when needed.
Shweta believes, “This will help people who have small homes with little space. It can also be used in other places where space is a constraint.”
 Modified painting brush
Ektapreet Kaur
Class 9, Police DAV School, Jalandhar, Punjab
“What a waste of money and how tiring to keep alternating from one brush to the other!” she thought.
This inspired her to think of a single paintbrush, which could accommodate varying sizes, just like a pen can have refills of many colours.

 Charging mobile while talking
Gautam Kumar
Class 7, Rajkiya Madhya Vidyalaya, Patna, Bihar
Gautam living in an area with frequent power cuts wondered why our voice, a sound energy, cannot be used to charge the mobile.
 Machine to suggest what to eat and How to Cook It
Sharvay Harish Tiwari
Class 5, Shri Shri Ravishankar School, Pune, Maharashtra
Standing indecisive in the kitchen? Sharvay’s idea does away with these problems. In his machine, you simply select a particular vegetable, and the monitor displays a list of different ways it can be cooked along with the ingredients required and their quantity.
Device to relocate clouds
Shweta Sharma
Class 10, Police DAV School, Jalandhar, Punjab
The Poor rainfall in Punjab gave Shweta the first-hand experience of the problems caused by water shortage. And she came across news of floods in Assam. The two situations got amalgamated and an idea struck her, that if the clouds over Assam could somehow be sent to Punjab, it would be a ‘win-win situation’ for both states.
She was first hesitant to share this idea as she thought that it might be laughed upon. But her mother’s story of the great musician Tansen whose raag Megh Malhar was said to have the power to bring down rain encouraged her to send her idea reasoning that “if a sweet melodious voice can bring rain, then this is also possible, maybe not today, but tomorrow.”
 Glove with in-built mobile phone
Rohan Jolly
Class 7, Angel School, Delhi
Rohan’s grandparents live in Kashmir and he visits them during vacations, the cold weather made gloves indispensable, but Rohan found it difficult to hold the phone while wearing gloves.”The mobile sometimes get covered with snow and water entered inside, damaging it,” he explains.

He thought of solving these problems by fixing the phone within the gloves, so you can talk comfortably while remaining warm.
Shirt that wakes you up
Jatin Kumar Bhoi
Class 9, KK High School, Sundergarh, Odisha
Jatin found it difficult to remain awake while studying, and it landed him in problems especially during exams.
He came up with the idea of a special shirt with a mechanism for making sure that the person wearing it remains awake and also it is to have buttons that can tell time.
When asked about this idea, he replied, “I don’t know right now but will think of something once I grow up.”

Think Differently… Organic Washing Detergent!!!

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source:::::EONOMIC TIMES..

Natarajan

Meet Chennai-based spouses-turned-business partners, who opted out of the corporate rat race one sure idea: to work on an environment-related concept.

Meet Chennai-based spouses-turned-business partners, who opted out of the corporate rat race one sure idea: to work on an environment-related concept.
There’s nothing new about people leaving lucrative MNC jobs to start their own ventures, but how many are enterprising enough to quit without knowing what they want to do or how to go about it? Meet Chennai-based Preethi Sukumaran and Srinivas Krishnaswamy, spouses-turned-business partners, who opted out of the corporate rat race on the same day, 31 January 2009, with one sure idea: to work on an environment-related concept.

“After graduating from IIM in 2001, we both worked in various FMCG MNCs for eight years. So, we were confident about brand building, marketing and handling the venture, but weren’t sure about the product itself,” says Krishnaswamy, who graduated from IIM-Bangalore, while his wife is from IIM-Calcutta. So, the couple, who got married in 2003, decided to see the world while waiting for inspiration to strike. Indeed, it was during their year-long travel across India and Europe that they figured out how to integrate their personal quest of sustainable urban living with a business venture. The solution was to create a basket of sustainable, organic goodies. On returning home in 2010, the duo researched the market for organic products, and zeroed in on organic washing detergent as their first product. “In 2009, we had started using soapberries for washing our clothes and realised that not only were theyenvironment-friendly compared with the usual detergents, but were equally, if not more, effective,” says Sukumaran.

Within the organic product universe, the humble detergent had remained on the sidelines despite contributing heavily to soil and water pollution. “Till that time, the players in this market were small and unorganised, so we decided to launch organic washing detergent,” she adds. In May 2010, they finally figured on a name, Krya, meaning mindful action, and by October 2010, the company had been registered.

The couple did not set up the venture in the traditional way, that is, first launching and then promoting it. In fact, they did the reverse. “After registering our company, while we were looking at sourcing our product, working on the website design and other back-end issues, we started a Facebook page and a blog. Over the next six months, we interacted online with a lot of people, telling them what we were planning to do and how we were going about it,” says Sukumaran.

Before long, the couple got an active Net community. They also finalised the soapberries they wanted to use and struck a deal with an organic farm near Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. “The latter would process and manufacture the product and send it to our office in Chennai,” she adds. By the time the product was launched in May 2011, Krya had built a potential customer base without spending much—Rs 6 lakh for the entire process, from idea inception and registering the company to renting a 250-sq-ft office space at Mylapore, Chennai, and launching the product.

Pilot-less Planes to Become a Reality soon?

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Pilot-Less Planes Might Become A Reality Before Driver-Less Cars

airplane, flying

NB: Not a pilot-less plane.

A piece in this week’s Economist looks at developments in pilotless planes and goes on to claim that autonomous civil aircraft could be flying before cars go driverless. 

It is potentially a huge new market. America’s aviation regulators have been asked by Congress to integrate unmanned aircraft into the air-traffic control system as early as 2015.

Some small drones are already used in commercial applications, such as aerial photography, but in most countries they are confined to flying within sight of their ground pilot, much like radio-controlled model aircraft.

Bigger aircraft would be capable of flying farther and doing a lot more things.

Pilotless aircraft could carry out many jobs at a lower cost than manned aircraft and helicopters — tasks such as traffic monitoring, border patrols, police surveillance and checking power lines.

They could also operate in conditions that are dangerous for pilots, including monitoring forest fires or nuclear-power accidents. And they could fly extended missions for search and rescue, environmental monitoring or even provide temporary airborne Wi-Fi and mobile-phone services.

Some analysts think the global civilian market for unmanned aircraft and services could be worth more than $50 billion by 2020.

What is unlikely, of course, is that passengers will accept being flown around in a pilotless plane any time soon. But this technology could allow for commercial jets to fly with just a single pilot. 

 

Natarajan

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/developments-in-pilot-less-planes-2012-11#ixzz2DFfND2ia

Why U.S.A. Can”t Get $20 Tablets Like India?!!!

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Aakash, India’s low cost tablets made recent headlines by being the cheapest one available in market. Students were in store for a big surprise, as Datawind, the makers of Aakash 2 offered the tablets to them at just RS. 1,132, which hardly touched the $20 mark, after a government subsidy. For others, it’s made available for $45 retail, yet retaining the tag of cheapest tablet in India, probably the world too.

The price of these gadgets, along with almost all the “smart” functions similar to high end devices, will bring a lot of people to computing world, a sure excitement for the people of developing nations like India and china.

But the people of developed countries just can’t get the tablets with same functionality as of Aakash 2 at its price. Though the tablets are cheap, the distance from supply chains or the manufacturing base of these devices to the countries where they are marketed, will add 100 percent to the cost of tablets, and then it’s not cheaper any more.

We can take the example of iPhone 5, which was recently released in India. The device follows a stiff route till it gets into the hands of users. There are shipping charges, import duties, margin for the importer, the new warranty charges, as its original warranty isn’t valid in the country of import. And in India there are three levels of distributors—the importers, who brings the goods into the country, then he sells it to super stockiest, like wholesaler, then wholesaler sells it to distributers, who in turn sells it to retailers, and finally retailer sells it to customers, each levels have their cuts in turn shooting up device prices.

Aakash was able to overcome all this and reach the customer carrying the tag of “cheapest tablet.” But how? According to Suneet Tuli, CEO of Datawind, who spoke to Mashable about strategy the company follows to bring the tablets at amazing lower costs, “the Micromax Funbook, which has approximately same specifications as that of Aakash 2, costs around Rs 6,500 or about $120, which is about twice the prize of their device. The reason is that Datawind assembles the tablet in India upon importing parts from South Korea, china and U.S., which is cheaper than importing completely assembled devices.” Then the company markets the products online or by couriers, saving the commission on distributers and retailers.

In China, it’s a similar story, says Jay Goldberg, a financial analyst. Functional 7-inch tablets can be had at Shenzhen malls devoted to electronics for as little as $45. That’s because the supply chains required to build these devices are located in the city and in nearby provinces.

Many of China’s cheap tablet manufacturers hit on the idea accidentally, says Goldberg, and it all started with the manufacturing cell phones which were cheap too.

“Not quite 10 years ago, Mediatek of Taiwan entered the cell phone market,” says Goldberg. MediaTek Inc, a fabless semiconductor company, designing and selling components for wireless communication and other electronic gadgets, found contract manufacturers in mainland China that had machines to put chips on circuit boards, and they were mostly doing this as subcontractors, churning out parts for larger electronics companies with recognizable brands.

Later the company figured out it could save money by handing these manufacturers both the chips required to build a phone and a complete blueprint for assembling them into basic phones. That transformed thousands of small manufacturers from subcontractors into factories for completed products. This same strategy led to development of cheaper Smartphones and tablets too.

source:::: silicon india net…

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PHORCE…A One Stop Solution for Your Gadgets Charging!!!!!

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For those who are addicted to their gadgets, such as smartphones and tablets, low battery life can be a major problem. Finding a charging point can often be a daunting task. But worry not, a project on Kickstarter called Phorce, hopes to bring an end this charging madness. 

 

So what is the project hoping to provide? Well a smart bag that will let you charge your electronic devices on the go, from your laptops to your smartphones and your tablets.

The Kickstarter project states, that Thanks to its integrated lightweight battery pack, Phorce is powerful enough to charge an iPhone 5 over 8 times, a Galaxy S3 about 6 times, or an iPad Mini 2.5 times. 

The Phorce smart bag. Image from Kickstarter project.

According to TechCrunch the bag also features a convertible design, and can become a messenger bag, briefcase, or two shoulder backpack as well.

The bag will also sync with your iPhone or your Android device via Bluetooth. Oh and if you leave your Phorce bag somewhere, it will point on your phone that you’ve forgotten it. As long as its charged that is.

In terms of design and colour, it does look  very cool. As a concept a must need for everyone!!!!!

 

source::::firstpost net

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What Future Smartphones might Look Like!!!!!!

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 source::::::::siliconindia net

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The future has always been something that intrigues us, the fear of the unknown.  Gadgets are devices that keep undergoing various innovations on almost daily basis. The technology like 3G, huge screen smartphones, thin laptops, LTE were something which until few years ago were thought of as being impossible. But like they say “nothing is impossible.”

 

Here are 5 futuristic smartphones that we wish would become a reality in the years to come!!!!

 
1. Palm iPhone concept

 
With the release of iPhone 5 the latest jokes doing the rounds about Apple is that each year they would come out with an iPhone with the exact same features, only difference being that it would be longer. This joke is a bit nasty.

 
Apple has always been known as a company that innovates.  The new futuristic concept of iPhone is the Palm iPhone. This concept was created by Designer Samuel Lee Kwon. If this gadget becomes a reality you will be able to wear the phone instead of carrying it. The Palm iPhone can be strapped around your wrist. The device comes with a projector that would project the screen on to you r palm. This means that once you wear your smartphone there would be no question of leaving it somewhere in a hurry. The only question is – will Apple work on this concept, and if yes, how soon?

 

 

2. Philips Fluid phone

 
The Philips Fluid Phone’s concept is slightly similar to that of the Palm iPhone. This phone might be a flexible strip which takes the shape of your wrist when not in use and straightens out to become a phone when needed. The screen boasts of a high resolution OLED display screen. If this concept is worked on and developed it could usher in a new era in the gadget world.

 

 
3. LG Paper Touch

 

Thinner, slimmer seem to be the new mantra with the gadget world. We have already seen many such smartphones in the market. Well the electronic company LG is looking to make smartphone with the thinness of a paper. In fact they have already got the concept ready. Along with being thin as a paper you can also fold the phone four times because of the elastomer joints it has.  At every fold the gadget would have different uses. It would serve as a music player or you can even turn it into a flip phone and when opened completely it functions as a tablet.

4. Blue Facebook phone

This is for sure going to be a delight for all the Facebook addicts out there, if this phone actually finds its way into production. This phone would have a complete blue body keeping in mind Facebook’s color. The phone comes with a wedge design. It comes with Facebook buttons like – Like, Notifications etc. The camera with a LED flash allows the user to take pictures and immediately upload them on your Facebook profile.

To make calls you will have to turn the phone and speak as the speaker is located on the reverse side of the phone.


5. Nokia HumanForm

Nokia has developed a transparent phone concept.  Along with transparent concept this futuristic phone also comes with flexible design and can assess the mood of the user. Creepy but true! Nokia is working to make their futuristic smartphone as human as they possibly can.  Along with this, as the phone is flexible you can turn it into various shapes to perform various different commands like; twist the phone to browse and bend it to zoom.  Many times people complain about the phone being stiff. This smartphone looks to address that issue. The phone will take the shape of the ear of the user.

 

 

Mobile Hotspot …A Boon for International Travellers !!!

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source:::Sean O’Neill in bbc.com

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A mobile hotspot can connect travellers’ phones, tablets and laptops to a local cellular network. (Creative Crop/Getty)

While wi-fi is becoming a common amenity in many parts of the globe, high-speed data connections are often expensive. You may face charges from the hotel or airport providing internet service, or from the local cellular company if you roam on its data network — as most non-residents must.
So if you’re an international traveller that is also a heavy internet user, you may be able to save money by renting a mobile hotspot that connects directly to a local cellular network and avoids expensive charges for data usage.
This week, Hertz became the first car rental agency in Australia to begin renting mobile hotspots to its customers, having recently introduced the concept to selected locations in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Spain and the Canary Islands.
But other companies have been renting mobile hotspots for the past three years. The devices are tiny and lightweight – they can sit in your pocket or backpack along with your tablet, smartphone and laptop – and after you initiate a connection, the hotspot automatically re-broadcasts the cellular signals from local mobile networks as wi-fi connections. Hotspots have an approximate four-hour battery life and come with local charging cables.
The cost of renting a mobile hotspot may be less than buying an international data package from your network provider. Rates vary by country and length of trip, but here’s an example: if you downloaded between 300 and 800 megabytes of data during a week in Western Europe, you would pay $120 on an AT&T international data package. Renting the Tep Wireless Pocket wi-fi mobile hotspot for the same number of days would cost about $64 for up to 500 megabytes of data (and an additional fee of $7 a day if you needed unlimited downloads).
In another perk, Tep and other wi-fi hotspots support multiple devices on the same connection, while cellular data plans only support a single device.
In general, pocket hotspots for all countries usually allow unlimited downloads, except for Thailand, whose local telecoms have stringent rules. But note that cellular networks in most countries have “fair use policies” that limit excessive downloading, such as consuming more than 500 megabytes in a week. Travellers who exceed limits may face reduced network speeds (down to 2G from 3G, for example) or lose access. That said, the typical smartphone user consumes around 25 megabytes a day and shouldn’t have problems.
Here’s a roundup of some of the most notable options.
Tep Wireless Pocket Wi-Fi
Available since 2011 through Tep, a British wireless technology start-up, travellers based in the US and Europe can rent a hotspot that automatically connects to local mobile networks in 38 European countries and the US. (The device comes in two versions, one for single-country use and one for pan-European use. There is no global, multi-country option) In October, Tep added coverage to 17 other countries, including Brazil, Russia, Singapore and China. Rental rates average $7 a day, but vary by country and the length of a trip. Tep also offers a device that for use in more than one European country on a single trip, with a sample 10-day, multi-country trip costing $85 plus shipping. Travellers can pick up (and return) a the rentable device at designated kiosks at Heathrow Airport and London’s Paddington Station for free, or pay shipping fees of between $22 and $30 to receive and return the device. There are caps on downloading that vary by country, but Tep’s is the most restrictive of the personal hotspots mentioned here, with a typical allowance of 150 megabytes per day.
International Mi-Fi Hotspot Rental
In 2010, Cellular Abroad began renting its first hotspot for use in Italy, and now its devices work in 130 countries, including Australia and China. Rates are for unlimited data consumption and vary by itinerary and length of trip, but a two-week trip to any of the largest European countries costs $15 a day. Usage across multiple countries on the same journey costs extra. There are no pick-up locations, so to receive and return the device, you must pay a shipping charge, which is usually $13 in total.
XCom Global MiFi
With the broadest coverage of these devices, XCom Global MiFi debuted in 2010 allowing travellers to take advantage of local networks — usually 3G (though it offers 4G in Japan) — in 174 countries, including 40 European countries such as France and Bulgaria. The flat rate is $15 a day for the first two countries you visit, with a $30 charge for each additional country. XCom offers unlimited data. So far, the only pick-up spot is a counter at Los Angeles International Airport and an Amnet travel agency near Grand Central Station in New York City, so most customers will need to pay for shipping to receive and return the device for a fee that’s usually $30 round-trip for North American travellers.
Hertz Mobile Wi-Fi Hire
The rental car chain rents portable wi-fi hotspots in major airport and city centre locations in Australia and the United Kingdom, plus at Auckland airport in New Zealand, Madrid Airport in Spain and Grand Canaria Airport in the Canary Islands. Customers pick-up and drop off the device at a Hertz location (no shipping option), and you don’t need to hire a car to get the service. Costs and usage caps vary by country, with a daily cap of 150 megabytes of downloads being typical. Visit the Hertz website and select your destination country and then click on Products & Services on the homepage menu to see details.

Sean O’Neill is the travel tech columnist for BBC Travel