Microsoft has taken on the Edge Browser to iOS and Android operating systems

An Android app development company India provides services to build applications for one of the most popular platforms these days, the Android operating system. At present, Microsoft takes on the struggling Edge Browser to Android and iOS operating systems. Edge uses the same WebKit engine, which powers the Safari of Apple. The Android Edge in the meantime is based on the Blink engine that Google maintains for Chrome. With Microsoft Edge available on the two operating systems, the user base will triple. Not only that, Microsoft also makes it easier for users to synchronize passwords, tabs and other information to be more available. This will be very productive and empowers people to do and of course achieve more.

EDGE FOR MOBILE APPS TESTING

Microsoft has announced that it had created Android and iOS versions of its struggling Edge browser and will make both available to users for testing. This is great news for any mobile app design company, whether in India or in other places where mobile application development is one of the major source of income. Microsoft cast the Edge variations as vital in fleshing out the Windows 10 feature known as ‘Continue on PC’, that would debut with the Fall Creators Update, aka 1709 upgrade that begun shipping in October 17.

The feature links a particular phone or tablet, to a Windows 10 personal computer. It then automatically hands off certain in-progress tasks, like a half-finished Office document that’s opened in a browser, from device to device. What the Edge on Android or iOS truly stand out is its ability of continuing on a personal computer. It enables a developer to open the page immediately right on a personal computer or save it for work later.

SELLING POINT FOR WINDOWS 10

Consumers will not care much about this, but organization employees working on Office 365 that have a meeting, could grab their phone and fix a document in a car or in a plane. This could be a big deal to them. What may appear as only a minor convenience for consumers could be a selling point for Windows 10 in the organization. Microsoft is all about the enterprise market.

PROMOTING EDGE

It makes sense for Microsoft to promote Edge instead of relying on a rival browser for iOS and Android, even if Edge on these platforms is only a wrapper around the other rendering engines. As any developer could appreciate, learning and testing is an integral part of launching a new product. It is something that should not be taken lightly. The app for iOS is available now for a limited audience in the TestFlight system of Apple. The Android application would be available shortly through the Play Store Early Access of Android. Consistent with Windows 10 engineering approach, feedback could be listened throughout the preview and would update the applications regularly with new features and fixes. When feedback show that quality is great, the apps would be available for public download, a goal is to do it later this year.

THE PLATFORMS AND ENGINES

One of the most common questions of a web developer is what engine is used. Is EdgeHTML ported to iOS and Android? Choices are related directly to how people think about the goals of EdgeHTML engine itself on Windows 10. A web platform is a complex technology, which in a lot of respects duplicates the aspects of the whole operating system in one application. Part of the strategy with EdgeHTML is building an engine that, rather than replicating, the underlying platform works and integrates with it to deliver the best security possible, battery life, interactivity, accessibility, and simply pure raw performance on the platform. The EdgeHTML on Windows 10, it drives the web forward with new capabilities as well as supporting interoperable standards. Microsoft is fully committed to continue to do so in the future, across the entire Windows 10 platforms and form factors spectrum.

On iOS, Microsoft uses the WebKit engine as provided by iOS in WkWebView control. This means that from a compatibility view point, Microsoft Edge for iOS has to match the version of Safari, that available currently for iOS. On Android, it uses the Blink rendering engine from the Chromium browser project. The approach provides better performance and more control, compared to using the Android WebView control. In a compatibility point of view, Microsoft Edge for Android would match the Chrome version, that’s presently available for Android.

Microsoft Edge on Android and iOS would make people’s lives easier since there is no need to switch between devices trying to remember a password or article. Users want services that are easy and convenient, wherein they could access data without the need to enter their information in another browser. Some people have as much as fifty and over different accounts and passwords they are expected to remember.

Tech trends to look out for in 2017

As the end of the year is just days away, it’s time to look towards the future and mull over the next big thing in technology. The same as the year before, 2017 would bring its own issues and solutions, shaping the way people think and use technology.

THE RAPID GROWTH OF TECHNOLOGY

Information and communication technology has grown in leaps and bounds in the past decade. Nevertheless, experts claim that 2017 would bring more changes than history could boast of.

THE TRENDS THAT IS SET TO GROW IN 2017

1. Virtual Reality. With forecasts that predict the VR growth into a $30 billion market by 2020, a lot has been said regarding the bright future of virtual reality. While it remained on the verge of mainstream culture all throughout most of the year 2015, finally things started to pick up over the last twelve months. Furthermore, it seems that this time around virtual reality could legitimately reach the masses by 2017. Virtual reality has come a long way ever since Google thrust it closer to popular culture with the Cardboard release in 2014, both in terms of availability and performance. In just a window of one years, several leading manufacturers launched their headsets, pushing the technology steadily towards mainstream adoption. While Oculus, a Facebook-owned system kicked off the relay with the Oculus Rift release in late March, HTC followed quickly with the launch of the Vive headset in April. Samsung in august dropped the revamped Gear VR headset, together with the now-discontinued Galaxy Note 7, keeping the momentum going until the long-awaited PlayStation VR companion from Sony was delivered. Closing the cycle, Google unveiled its pimped up Cardboard successor Daydream View in November. Aside from that, Nintendo, Microsoft and Qualcomm have expressed ambition to pursue the development of the VR hardware. However, the timelines and details remain hazy. With the great volume of headset manufacturers as well as content creators, it is not surprising that VR finally is starting to catch the attention of consumers and mainstream media and this trend will definitely grow even further in 2017.

2. Autonomous driving. Although it would have been a frightful sight a few years back, chances are that there would be more vehicle without drivers next year. As technology continues evolving, industry giants are slowly venturing towards autonomous vehicles. As a matter of fact, the competition in the self-driving market is growing at exponential rates and the good results are not falling behind. Since introducing the ‘Autopilot’ back in 2015, Tesla has steadily been touching up the autonomous capabilities of its vehicles, demonstrating the huge potential that self-driving technologies hold for the future. The car maker plans to cram more self-driving hardware into its future models with the hopes of facilitating rides that are entirely hands-free. Google too has been running trials with its own autonomous vehicles in Austin, Mountain View, Kirkland and Phoenix. While some driving sessions have been less successful compared to others, its cars in the meantime have clocked over two million miles. Uber, the ride-sharing giant is also on the action, recently acquiring self-driving hardware developer Otto and since has successfully put its first fleet of self-driving trucks on the road. And while it was not the first one to do it, the company also ran several real world self-driving tests with cabs in Pittsburgh. Aside from that, BMW and Apple are also said to be planning their first forays towards self-driving technologies in the future.

3. Augmented reality. Augmented reality is also making progress and the amazing success of Pokemon Go proves that the technology has huge potential to influence consumers in meaningful and engaging ways. In line with business analysts, Tim Cook, the Apple CEO has voiced his belief consistently that augmented reality has the potential to become bigger than virtual reality and it seems that the iPhone maker is hell-bent on having a piece of the action. In 2015, Cupertino acquired AR developer Metaio. However, although the company since has kept quiet on its AR initiatives, some reports started surfacing on the web over the last year. In early November, Apple as rumored to be working on their own augmented reality glasses in the Google Glass style. At about the same time, news outlets speculated that the company is preparing an iOS update that would brush up iPhone 7 with enhanced camera capabilities as well as introduce a heap of AR features.

4. Drone deliveries. Once a viral publicity stunt, drone delivery may finally be a thing next year. Amazon, Google and Domino’s all have been messing around with the technology in the past year, doing a series of field tests in different locations, such as the United States, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In the meantime, UPS and Walmart have been gearing as well to start delivering packets over their air for a while now. However, it still remains to be seen which company will manage to take the technology to a big scale. In any case, drones dropping pizzas no longer seems such an outlandish idea.

5. More interactive and functional homes. Homes may get more interactive and functional in 2017. Following the less than anticipated Amazon Echo success earlier this year, Google unveiled its own Google Home smart speaker to rival the e-Commerce giant. Rumors suggest that Samsung and Apple could be considering. Taking into consideration that Google and Amazon both leverage their respective Alexa and Assistant artificial intelligence system for powering smart speakers, the speculation does not seem far off. Recently, Apple opened up Siri to third party applications and the next logical step is to integrate it into other devices. Also, Samsung has been developing its own voice-assistant services with plans of integrating it into future home appliances as well as wearables.

The year 2017 will definitely be a year where more technology trends would emerge.

Virtual Reality will change the face of e Commerce

With the digital retail scene evolving constantly, new and innovative ways of engaging online shoppers are sought after by retailers. So far, Virtual reality is something that has only truly been encountered in the gaming environment. However, as retailers look to provide customers an immersive experience, virtual reality and augmented reality are becoming the next step in a growing digital world.

The notion of eCommerce having a role within virtual reality, such as virtually walking into a boutique is quite hysterical. VR is not going to replace Amazon or hopping in a car and driving to Target. For now, virtual reality allows one to catch a glimpse into a world that one has never otherwise experience before. It is taking part in a story. Nonetheless, because of its immersive nature, virtual reality makes for stronger brand experiences and could make a vital role in eCommerce and could change the face of eCommerce eventually.

Virtual reality, or VR has been discussed since the early 80’s and 90’s. It’s going to affect various aspects of daily life, not only in the form of commerce, entertainment and pastime, but as a way to increase knowledge, meet new people for business as well. Moreover, it could greatly boost communications. VR is only getting started, and it is going to be huge. It’s just a matter of time before VR technology hits a retail store in one’s locality. Retailers all over the world are embracing the technology in order to change or transform the way consumers live, play and shop. Some brands introduce VR headsets in their stores to allow shoppers to see its runaway shows and shop for items from the latest collection.

Beyond product promotion, VR is being utilized to tell a story regarding the craftsmanship of a brand and demonstrate the process of production. One example is TOMS, which recently introduced the Samsung VR headsets in its flagship outlets. The headsets take shoppers on a virtual trip to Peru, showing them what is like to give shoes to those who are in need. The company has been giving a pair of shoes for every pair sold since from the start. It is apparent that virtual reality offers numerous benefits to eCommerce retailers.

These days, new technology waves are crawling out of their primordial ooze and ready to make their debut as viable additions to the way that people shop. This is augmented and virtual reality. With VR, store owners would enable customers try accessories and clothing in a virtual store, put furniture into the houses of their customers within an application on the smart phone and show people how to assemble and utilize the products step-by-step with a live customer support. They allow customers to flaunt potential purchases to friends make their brands more personable, fun and engaging. They will crank up the potency of their segmented marketing, storytelling, cross-selling and upselling. Essentially, store owners soon would be bridging the gap between physical and web retail.

With virtual reality, customers enter a virtual dressing room and with only a few, easy swipes on a screen, they could see how different scarfs, dresses, accessories and necklaces look on them. So, how does VR work? VR works in such a way that a computer or phone camera, or a Microsoft 360 Kinect scans the customer into a chat-box-style video screen. Makeup, Jewelry and clothing then is selected on-screen and placed on to the body of the customer. Shoppers could also raise or lower their arms, turn around and experiment with what best fits.

By snapping images and pictures of their prospective new attires and upload them on social media, they could have fast feedback from family and friends, which make the experience feel nearer to the real thing. Augmented reality is providing a brick-and-mortar benefit to online fashion retailers, and it’s just begun. It is challenging to take into account how VR could simplify a purchase journey more than a well-designed application does. Definitely, there are some improvements to the decision-making process of a customer.

It's challenging to think about how VR can simplify a purchase journey more than a well-designed app does. There's definitely some improvements to a customer's decision-making processes. That said, I think even if the experience of browsing virtual stores was perfected as close as possible to the 'real thing' it's unlikely that a virtual store would achieve physical stores' conversion rates (approx. 20-40 per cent). It would be higher than online average (1-3 per cent), but this could be partly or fully for the same reason mobile apps enjoy a higher conversion rate - the visitor accessing an app (or VR store) is likely to be a higher quality visitor than a standard website one.

When an eCommerce brand has a brick and mortar store as well as an online shop, it could combine the two and acquire information back from people that use VR in the store. A store owner could see how customers move through the space and check out where the shop has blind spots, places wherein product is not noticed. This could be beneficial to eCommerce retailers to not just offer customers a great technological experience, but optimize the space in their actual retail shop as well. The same as the pattern with all useful and new technologies, once a few eCommerce operators start to offer VR, customers would quickly start to expect it from all businesses. Those that don’t provide such a service could be considered old-fashioned all of a sudden. When done well, VR could create a real difference to the eCommerce scenario.

Information Technology projects that are offshored may not return home

The standing of the country as a labor arbitrage market can survive for the next three decades or the next thirty years or so. It’s unlikely that previously offshored projects or works could return to its home market. Information technology companies in India have stated that they have moved from a model based solely on labor arbitrage and have been hiring in huge amounts onshore. However, changes to business model have slowed growth as well as hurt margins. The jobs that moved to offshore locations would not be coming back in any big quantities since labor arbitrage economies continue to be attractive.

THE LARGE TALENT BASE IN INDIA

IT industry trends continue to evolve to meet the changing demands. Around one million engineers join the job market each year and salaries and wages for fresh engineers without specialized skills have stayed flat for almost a decade. However, the growing pool of talent was not taken into consideration, which really keeps a lid on the costs. Although RPA(robotic process automation) will change some ways that companies perform business, it will likely not be a drastic change. RPA is integral, but if the labor costs stay low and one could access talent at low prices, it could limit the amount of process automation that an organization could put in place. There may be no need to invest much in RPA.

Political threats to outsourcing have also reared their heads before, but companies had found ways to deal with them in the past. Although IT services industry trends, like automation would create pressure on headcount, the talent base of the country would be an advantage as the industry moves towards more digital technologies. The present limited availability of emerging/niche skills in India will put them at a premium. Nevertheless, as more and more people learn the skills, they could lose their premium status and could further limit increases in the rate of labor.

THE MARKET SIZE OF INDIA

The IT sector of India grows at a rate of twelve to fourteen percent. Furthermore, the sector is also expected to triple the yearly revenue to reach $350 billion by 2025. Employees from start-ups have formed their own start-ups, expanding the start-up ecosystem of the country. Among the global start-up environments, India ranks third.

In the next decade, India would require hundreds of new project managers. Furthermore, the country would emerge as the fastest growing country for project management-oriented employment in the world. The growth would be on account of the expansion in major sectors, such as construction and manufacturing, technology, information services, finance, publishing and more.

The public cloud services market is slated to grow to 35.9 percent, to reach $1.3 billion. The increased penetration of the internet and the fast growth of e-commerce are the key drivers for the continuous growth of data center co-location as well as hosting market in the country. The Indian Healthcare IT market is valued at $1 billion at present and expected to grow 1.5 times by the year 2020. The B2B e-commerce market in India is projected to reach $700 billion by 2020. On the other hand, the B2C e-commerce market is expected to reach $102 billion in 2020. Information technology companies in the country have moved away from a model that’s purely based on labor arbitrage and been hiring huge onshore amounts.

The current figures are a clear sign that the biggest outsourcing firms in India are succeeding at a non-linear growth, wherein revenues rise disproportionately than with hiring. Although the numbers are great news for an industry that attempts to defend the profit margins, it raises concerns over the future of hiring and engineering jobs availability in a sector that hires more than three million people. The hiring rate would slow down, but would continue to grow. But this would not be at an incredibly fast rate since the number of people per value delivered would continue to go down. This is the point of income as per employee, which happens in each industry. Software companies need lesser people for generating revenue from high-paying, newer services, like data analytics and cloud computing. They’re rapidly adding capabilities in the areas as low-end back-office services that define the outsourcing boom of the country.

For more than sixty years, India’s economy continues to grow. The government heavily invested in modernizing business infrastructure and or course its giant IT industry. It continues to fascinate foreign investment as well as employment creation. Tax grants and incentives enable the country to emerge as a high-technology business park. Indian workers could serve customers and clients in the US, the UK during early morning or late evening periods without any problem. The different time zone enables foreign clients get their projects done in time.

Oil and gas competitiveness hinges on the latest Information Technology systems

The competiveness of the oil and gas industry could hinge on the latest information technology systems. People hear so many things today, such as automation, machine learning, and the internet of things. Sometimes it’s annoying because it’s not always clear what they mean to the oil and gas environment. Most of the industry already has implemented foundational IT solutions and IT programs. There is a new breed of technologies, which have shown up for more than two to four years.

STRUCTURAL SHIFT IN THE INDUSTRY

The oil gas industry, in the last three years has pushed hard on the three levers of reducing cost, reduced staff, enhanced supply chain efficiencies as well as improved processes. To have a deeper process layer, enhancements would need a more sophisticated technology app in, for instance asset maintenance. Already, the industry has a deep comprehension of maintenance, but most approaches are rooted in some kind of usage or time-based measure. The more empirical maintenance approach could potentially engage the equipment manufacturer to help customers make sense of the data that the sensors collect and the assessment of equipment condition more accurate. In time, the understanding of a producer of the operating parameters of the equipment will improve, and maintenance departments will incorporate that learning to more lower-cost, efficient turnaround schedules.

THE FOUR KEY INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SYSTEMS TRENDS THAT TRANSFORM THE OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY

1. Out with the old models and in with smarter financial models. The global IT spending in the industry would be worth $48.5 billion by the year 2020, with a major growth driver as the improved resources efficiency. Information and operational technology are starting to converge as new enabling technologies like the IoT have become more affordable and provide new ways to work smarter for less. The enhanced affordability enables not only big tier one organizations, but smaller ones transform the EAM or the enterprise asset management systems and boost uptime.

2. Extracting the most of existing resources. The companies that could move on new projects would continue to do so with a lesser headcount. Nevertheless, without the right resources, organizations run the risk of being unable to accomplish vital projects. Also, there’s a lack of younger engineers that come through to bridge the tap, who adapt easily to new technology.

3. Aging assets at a crossroads of being scrapped or maintained. The market’s unpredictability meant that the oil and gas field has reduced expenses on big-scale modification and maintenance of assets. However, it has not stopped operating. The longer that a firm delays maintenance of asset, the more hazardous it could become from an environmental, safety and operational viewpoint. Oil and gas companies struggle to catch up the backlogs. Effective used of reduced headcounts as well as contingent labor means possessing the right tools for planning and executing complex projects, workforce management and would be important to keep the costs and time of the organization efficient. Agile information technology systems means faster implementation and so quicker time to value the big-budget projects.

4. Fitter and leaner industry. The oil and gas companies, with leaner information technology and use of emerging technologies mean that they are well places to quickly adapt to new business methods and strategies to support the growing market.

CLOUD-BASED INFRASTRUCTURE

One way to boost effectiveness in the oil and gas market is to move the infrastructure to the cloud. Cloud-based infrastructure could hasten value realization and provide faster to deploy and more agile solutions. The entry cost is low and companies that survive and prosper are those that know how to leverage the enabling technologies such as mobility and cloud, to help optimize and automate processes as well as apply analytics to boost the operations output.

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS IN OIL AND GAS

In response to the recent advancements in technology, oil executives have to take into consideration digital technologies that have the potential of transforming operations as well as build more profits from existing capacity. The effective use of digital technologies in the sector can lower capital expenses of up to twenty percent. It could cut the costs of operations up to three to five percent and around half of that in downstream.

The oil and gas enterprises were pioneers of the first digital age back in the 80’s and 90’s. Long before words like advanced analytics, big data and the IoT became popular, the executives in the field were using 3-D seismic, linear program modeling of advanced process control and refineries for operations. Utilization of such technologies unveiled new hydrocarbon sources and delivered operational efficiencies throughout the value chain.

Prices of oil seldom have stayed constant and while they’re stable at present, they could continue to decrease for the near future. For the industry to stay relevant, it has to make money for its stakeholders. To do that, it has to employ all tricks it has on up it sleeves, and the most powerful among them is the employment of technology.

Cloud services now account for a third of IT outsourcing market

If there were any lingering doubts on the embrace of cloud computing across in industries, the current market analysis from Cisco should lay them to rest. In the three years to come, concludes the study that over four-fifths of the data center traffic, around eighty-three percent would be based in the cloud. What is more, most action would be going to public cloud services and there would be more workloads, around 56 percent in the public cloud compared to private clouds, which is around 44 percent.

In the last reflection about the impact of cloud computing on the IT services market, ISG or Information Services Group for the first time expanded the quarterly market index to specifically find as-a-service segment of IT as well as business process services industry. The as-a-service market, which includes IaaS and Saas activity, represents over one third of the combined worldwide market for sourcing services, almost double the share from early 2014. The firm predicts accelerated growth in cloud computing segment longer term, in both absolute terms and relative to traditional sourcing activity as more work is moved to the cloud and automated.

CLOUD COMPUTING IMPACT

Cloud computing impact has a bigger impact on the Information Technology services market, with the as-a-service niche that now accounts for over one third of the sourcing market in the world. The cloud drivers have noticeably changed over the past three years. Initially, the interest in cloud and adoption was primarily concentrated on cost reduction, in line with what was traditionally seen as a driver for outsourcing.

VALUE OF AS-A-SERVICE MARKET

The value as a service market jumped to 45 percent last year. IaaS exhibited tremendous year-on-year-growth of 70 percent, in comparison with SaaS, that logged a decent, yet modest 16 percent growth last year. IaaS amounts to around 54 percent of the as-a-service market currently, and the gap between SaaS and IaaS has widened since the last part of 2014.

CLOUD’S AS-A-SERVICE SPACE

The as-a-service space is on tremendous growth and is expected to rapidly grow to accelerate into the foreseeable future. The Software-as-a-Service or SaaS market particularly would continue to be reshaped, with plenty of consolidation as well as continued innovation. In the meantime, for each organization that’s acquired in the space, it is expected that new ones would pop up in their place and would be every bit as competitive.

GROWING ACCEPTACNE OF PUBLIC CLOUD

The growing acceptance of public cloud also fuels the continuing dominance of the SaaS approach. In the private cloud, initial deployments predominantly were IaaS. Development and test types of cloud services were the first to be utilized in the enterprise. Cloud computing was a radical change in the deployment of IT services, and the usage was a safe ad practical initial use of private cloud for enterprises. It was limited and didn’t pose a risk of disrupting IT resources working in the enterprise.

As SaaS trust or mission-critical apps builds over time with technology enablement in processing power, memory advancements, storage advancements and networking advancements, it is foreseen that the adoption of SaaS kind of aps to accelerate over the forecast period, while IaaS and PaaS shares workloads decline.

CLOUD COMPUTING SERVERS

Cloud computing providers allow for reduced costs when set up properly and well executed. Competent firms find these servers minimize the need for IT management while freeing up personnel for other business requirements. Cloud servers are set up easily for numerous parties to access with differing accessibility layers based on profile settings. A vendor could have one access level to upload documents to the business with an internal manager of the company that could have bigger access, which enable for editing advantages.

Cloud servers offer previews of stored data on the servers before exporting and could be updated via loading multiple documents and some data in a single attempt. Servers boost the company accountability and make historical changes for document revisions that could be easily tracked for reporting requirements.

STATISTICS OF THE CLOUD INDUSTRIES GROWTH

Over $47.4 billion dollars would be spent on Cloud services in the next year. Furthermore, the amount is expected to double in the next four years. More than 76 percent of organizations have some form of business strategy that integrates cloud services into future plans. Of those firms, 74 percent expect to increase spending by over 20 percent. Almost half of many organizations use cloud computing services in some form these days. Those companies that do not are 30 percent more likely to integrate the new technology into operations in the next eighteen months.

The growth of cloud services is remarkable. Now, it accounts to a third of the IT outsourcing market in the world.

India officially is the next stop for Hyperloop Transportation Technologies

With the evolution of information technology systems, the next big stop for Hyperloop Transportation Technologies is India. This is thanks to the partnership between HTT and the state of Andhra Pradesh. The route proposal would connect the cities Amaravati and Vijaywada, which cuts the trip or over an hour to just six minutes.

WHAT IS THE HYPERLOOP ONE?

Hyperloop One is a US-based startup that aims to revolutionize the way the world travels. Today, it showcased its vision for India. As an idea, Hyperloop originally was proposed by SpaceX and Tesla boss Elon Musk. It could enable passengers, freight for transport at ultra-fast speeds, over 1000 kilometer per hour, that’s faster than airlines, in a levitating pod that travels in a vacuum tube. The vehicle would silently glide for miles without turbulence. The pods essentially are autonomous and would mean high-speed travel inside a tube. The transportation system has been around for a couple of years and held a global competition last year, asking contestants to suggest a proposal on the location where all the network must be built. The company states that it received more than 2000 entries, and out of the 30 semi-finalists, it has chosen five from India. Hyperloop interestingly claims India had the highest number of registrants. The semi-finalist teams from India include LUX Hyperloop Network, AECOM, Hyperloop India, Dinclix GroundWorks and Infi-Alpha.

SIGNING UP FOR THE FUTURE

Evolving IT programs have made it possible for transportation technologies to build infrastructure in favorable locations. The Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board or the APEDB signed a memorandum of understanding with HTT or Hyperloop Transportation Technologies to bring about futuristic transport pods to India. The deal took a few months to be ironed out since supposedly India has been in talks with Hyperloop Transportation Technologies since December last year. The Hyperloop Transportation system in Andhra Pradesh is the first route planned in the country. It’s designed to connect Amaravati and Vijaywada. Funding for construction would primarily come from private investors.

A FASTER TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM FOR A FAST-PACED WORLD

The agreement includes a plan that has two-phase. The first is the feasibility study that is set to start in October and could last for a half year or six months. Phase two will be the actual Hyperloop construction that HTT says will bring about 2,500 jobs to India. Besides the nearly immediate economic benefit, the more efficient Hyperloop transportation system can fuel the IT industry in Andhra Pradesh, based to Nara Lokesh, Cabinet Minister for IT Panchayati Raj and Rural Development for the Andhra Pradesh state. The Hyperloop gives rise to the development of different state-of-the-art technology parks as well as software clusters in Amaravati, which help to fortify the image of the city as a world class leader in science and technology. HTT is only a growing number of organizations working to bring Hyperloop to fruition. Besides India, it also plans to build Hyperloop in Canada, Europe, South Korea and Dubai.

A TECHNOLOGY SYSTEM THAT AFFECTS SOCIETY AND BUSINESS

A technology such as the Hyperloop would affect society and business. It provides back time to the people in the world. It is looking towards co-developing the tech in India. The pods will be manufactured in India as soon as this becomes operational. The idea of Hyperloop One could mean systemic shifts in the way urbanization is viewed. It can mean that one lives in Chennai but works in Bengaluru, since the travel time is drastically reduced.

A privately-held company, Hyperloop One has more than 225 people working for it. The company claims that the transport system would be a more environmentally, efficient and cost-friendly way of traveling without direct noise or emissions. Also, it claims to be less expensive, compared to high-speed rail and maglev or the magnetic levitation rains that require power, together with the entire track. But certainly, the Hyperloop One has a lot of challenges. For starters, in a country such as India, when it is approved, would face numerous regulatory challenges. One of the questions raised would be if it will come under the railways or the civil aviation or a completely new body. Another main concern is of course safety.

Although the travel time from Delhi to Mumbai within fifty-five minutes may sound like the stuff of dreams, Hyperloop is an idea that’s not been tested. Suresh Prabhu, the Railways Minister of India said that the Indian government would explore the new technologies keenly and will check out what else can be done to boost the country’s transportation. The government of India would be happy to work with Hyperloop One. It sees the need to transform urbanization and how people do transportation and for what is needed in disruptive technology, which changes how people transport.

The Hyperloop One for now sounds like a cool way of traveling that still has to be tested. Technology systems help to provide the best ways of providing fast and comfortable means of transportation.

Read More Information: https://futurism.com/india-is-officially-the-next-stop-for-hyperloop-transportation-technologies/

Several ways that Information Technology could help build peace in the world

In IT programs or even in Information Technology education, not everyone knows that technology could help build peace. Tech innovations for conflict resolution and peace need not have a true social impact in order to succeed. Most people would only help change the world if it comes without true sacrifice and so it speaks to ongoing controversies. Conflict resolution and humanitarian development with technology-based approaches are admired by policymakers for their promise to quick-fix solutions. The traditional peacebuilding policy, which involve careful analysis for years or even decades is upended by ‘disruptive’ solutions that are gaining traction. Peace researchers who want to influence policy debates could not just release findings but should establish mechanisms to implement.

THE GOAL OF PEACE SCIENCE

The peace science’s goal is to comprehend ways to contribute better to peacebuilding. This implies that scholars should recognize how the new forms of knowledge and communication dissemination influence the policy world and be ready to react and act accordingly. New information technology systems could open up novel approaches to building peace. This was especially apparent in a lot of projects that use video games as a tool for attitude change. For instance, Peace Superheroes that is in development currently, offers players a chance to take on the role of peace builders as they transform violence.

TECHNOLOGICAL APPROACHES ARE DESIGNED TO ENGAGE

There’s a lot to be excited about in using information technology to build peace. In comparison to traditional ways of shaping the peacebuilding policy, technology approaches are more bottom-up and designed to directly engage with citizens, in contrast to working via recalcitrant or cumbersome politicians. Solutions like electronic tracing applications for conflict minerals or crowdsourcing experiences of victims to create a knowledge base for reconciliation and truth committees could better assist those who need it most. However, often start-ups launch peacebuilding initiatives without engaging deeply with existing knowledge or even worse, do not think that this knowledge is needed. This could mean that they’re useless to local communities or much worse, could be repurposed by governments to target people that the technology was supposed to help.

USING TECHNOLOGY FOR BUILDING PEACE

One major reason of using technologies in building peace is that they could empower a bigger number of people to engage and to participate. There are a lot of ways that technology could be used for empowering different groups in both conflict and post-conflict contexts. For example, there are well-documented tensions between state uses of technologies for security implications and surveillance of some grassroots uses.
Another assumption that underlies the use of technologies for building peace is that it could help boost peacebuilding, with the caution that there are risks and ethical issues associated with it. It’s evident in the proliferation of innovative initiatives and a lot of discussions on the role of technologies in more traditional peacebuilding.

TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPERS AND PEACE BUILDERS

Tech developers and peace builders shared reasons for concern and hope about the future. But in one aspect, they were united in smaller or bigger ways. Build Peace is a conference for social entrepreneurs and activists who want to look for ways to harness technology for building peace. There was huge agreement that on its own technology would not be able to solve conflicts, in comparison to several of the more techno-utopian ideas that apparently had captured the imaginations of people a few years back. The acknowledgement that technology could only be truly effective when used by, or in coordination with peace builders with in-depth knowledge of societies and conflict being targeted.

ALTERNATIVE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR PEACE

The depth and variety of experience shared in the Peace Building conference demonstrated that the use of technology for building peace is on the rise. Nevertheless, there are also alternative infrastructures for peace that are the result of tech-enabled initiatives.

1. Making space for new visions. Digital media provides the tools for collaborative media creation and dissemination, including blogs, social media, citizen journalism, wikis and more. Local peace builders use these tools to bring new voices to the public.

2. Making digital trust networks. SMS and online platforms could be used not only for instant messages transmission, they could also be used to form longer term relationships and regular exchanges. Local peace builders use groups in mobile chat rooms, social media and dedicated networking platforms for nurturing exchanges between groups, which are divided by conflict lines.

3. Counteracting calls for chaos and violence. Technology tools, too often are used to solicit and organization violent actions actively. Peace makers use the same tools as violent groups to counter violence calls through mobilizing collective positive messaging expression.

Powerful technology tools are on the rise in the hands of local peace builders and results to the widespread use of innovative initiatives. The technology for peace is a series of tools, which enable local peace makers to communicate with more people in a lot of ways, gather better information and substation relationships on digital platforms.

Online and mobile technology boosts operational efficiency of microfinance

Information technology could cut the rates in the microfinance industry. Both online and mobile tech could boost the operational efficiency of microfinance companies and could result in lower rates of interest.

A general manager of Microsoft Services at the Development Bank of Jamaica or DBJ, Paul Chin state that information technology systems could cut the rates in microfinance. Furthermore, he stated that high administrative costs were the major actors in the soaring interest rates in the sector and the costs are high, as loans are smaller and require a similar management as bigger loans. Investments in IT services however could help boost efficiencies, which, in the long term could help lower interests and cut down on administrative expenses.

THE CONVENIENCE THAT SMART PHONES BRING

The rising usage of smart phones could help lenders in doing disbursements without having a borrower to into a bank branch and conversely, customers also could make payments and check the balances of their loans online. Thus, the use of online and mobile tech in the industry would lower operational costs and boost financial transactions cost. Furthermore, technology enables fast dissemination of best practices, thus strengthening the institutional capability of financing organizations and institutions. Chin further explained that adding micro-clients in general honored their loan commitments. Technology facilitated customers who wanted to make payments after business hours. There are also kiosks to facilitate clients who want to pay after office hours. The use of technology has helped gather relevant information about various services and products. Moreover, it also helps make businesses more efficient.

IT, A POWERFUL TOOL TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY IN BUSINESS OPERATIONS

Information technology emerged as a powerful tool for boosting the effectiveness and efficiency of business operations, which make it viable for the microfinance industry to expand into a low-income rural area. IT value implementation became the main concern for the sector to boost organizational performance to have a competitive edge. Information technology value implementation should be at all times evaluated and improved is performance continuously to ensure that the IT app could result in the expected control, value and aligned with the strategy of the organization to have a competitive advantage, which focuses on achieving the company’s business objectives.

TECHNOLOGY RESHAPES EQUILIBRIUMS AMONG STAKEHOLDERS

To a great extent, technology, with access to social networks, the internet and cashless electronic payments reshapes the equilibriums among various stakeholders. Technology bridges the gap between the people in rural areas and the financial services sector. It could be used to improve efficiency of credit delivery and minimizing costs. IT is critical for microfinance companies because it provides opportunities to reduce delivery costs and process management, aside from bringing about operations transparency. It assumes more significance due to the manpower-intensive nature of the business. For microfinance firms to grow fast, operations should be supported by scalable and robust systems.

Information technology could be leveraged in order to achieve the following objectives:

1. Customer-centricity. Microfinance institutions no longer could adopt a one-size-fits-all approach, which restrict their offerings to a skeletal spread of microfinance for SHG or Self Help Groups as well as deposits and small loans. They should cater to the need of the market for an extensive range of insurance and banking products that arise from diverse customer groups, which range from agri-based sector, small scale and cottage industry and artisans. A main route wherein MFIS could address the requirements is to have an integrated back office environment. It provides an actionable and holistic view of the clientele, their accounts, transactions, interactions, and products from one integrated hub. This could enable microfinance companies to mine customer data and leverage information to give customers customized financial services, which fulfill their requirements. Capitalizing on currently existing data helps MFIS save money as well as take a hold of cross-sell opportunities.

2. Process-centricity. Microfinance firms should migrate to an IT environment, which comprises of an integrated suite of core function enabling systems, which make it easy for them to standardize processes for all of their services. This environment introduces the much required intelligence into the organization and empowers it to chart a sustainable and successful future road map that in turn could strengthen profitability.

3. Knowledge repository. The microfinance industry could leverage technology for building a knowledge repository through consolidating knowledge on customers, products, processes, systems, revenue and practices. This gives them a 360-degree, integrated view of the entity. The consolidated knowledge is an intellectual capital could be realized through sharing it proactively with all stakeholders, within and outside the microfinance organizations. Thus, employees would be empowered with the necessary knowledge to grow and sustain the business. Also, they would have a wide range of information to match clients with products and allow process mapping to business challenge. A data base tool provision captures rural data and technical specs of these rural data base and its architecture.

Information technology has undoubtedly transformed how microfinance entities operate. The industry has witnessed remarkable transformation with the adoption of information and communications technology.

Microsoft is helping companies and businesses track carbon emissions

The Microsoft update is all about helping companies track carbon emissions. Microsoft’s Azure solution gathers real-time carbon emissions data from the WattTime API or Application Programming Interface as well as from the global weather data. The software giant is doing its part to make the world pollution free through offering organizations a platform that is environment-friendly. It’s called the ‘Smart Energy Azure Demonstration’, which could help businesses track energy emissions almost on a real-time basis.

MICROSOFT OFFERS A GREEN PLATFORM

The green platform is available on the Cloud Computing service Azure that uses tech from WattTime, which is a US-based organization that brings clean energy to IoT and buildings that users data from power grid operators all throughout the country and enable companies to keep tabs on their carbon emissions. The partnership of Microsoft office with WattTime provide power users the freedom to opt when and potentially to where they want electricity to come from. Customers for the first time could determine the carbon footprint of the power generator, which would be tapped when flipping on a switch. This enables customers to optimize where and when they use power to lower emissions. This visualizes data in time, demonstrating the ability of collecting related data pieces to one place to enable automation to act on the conclusions gathered from it.

USING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO BOOST ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The environmental strategy of Microsoft is based on three themes, namely, using IT to boost energy efficiency, accelerate research breakthroughs and demonstrate responsible environmental leadership. Society these days has the opportunity of using software for eliminating more greenhouse gas emissions every year than released currently to hasten tech breakthroughs, which enable the transition to a more energy-efficient and cleaner economy. The investment focuses on reducing energy use from information technology.

With energy efficient gains, the IT landscape could significantly increase computing productivity with no need to increase the amount of energy consumed by computers. Microsoft would work with other leading firms to utilize software for driving considerable energy efficiency gains in everything, from transportation, buildings to energy grids and manufacturing. Furthermore, Microsoft is developing solutions that help organizations as well as governments track carbon emission easily.

RESEARCH BREAKTHROUGHS ACCELERATION

Microsoft works with leading scientists to widen the boundaries of the knowledge of the planet. Furthermore, they are also working to build technologies, tools and models to accelerate scientific comprehension on a worldwide scale. The efforts include:

1. Allowing fundamental science advances. Microsoft is working with a scientific community for monitoring environmental conditions and to develop computational tools and methods to aid scientists analyze and correlate data across research efforts.

2. Provide the scientific community access to computing power. The tech giant would work with leading scientists worldwide for access to research, facilities, collaboration tools and computing power to help advance the scientific research.

3. Model the impact of climate change. Microsoft helps create advanced modeling technologies, which help boost the understanding of local and global climate changes as well as the consequences on the environment of human activity on ecosystems and species.

Reportedly, Microsoft is testing the program in various regions in the United States, but provided Greenbiz with an example only from Princeton University. Princeton uses a combination of energy sources that include the Princeton Energy Plant to provide steam, electricity and chilled water for powering, heating and cooling the buildings on the campus. Furthermore, the university used to determine the energy requirements using information on supply, cost and data on carbon emission what was months old. Now, Princeton would be able to make better determinations of energy use with more updated information on their carbon dioxide emissions.

THE WATTTIME TECHNOLOGY

The technology of WattTime aims to make it easier even for an average person to better regulate and reduce carbon footprint. For organizations, information typically was available on a yearly average. Today, companies using Microsoft Azure can get updated emissions information every five minutes. A demo is available on GitHub, together with an explanation, which breaks down the workings of the technology. The demo solution showcases how data from various web-based APIs could be mined, visualized and acted on in an Azure solution. The solution gathers carbon emission in real time from the WattTime API, global weather data and weather forecasts coming from the Wunderground API. Then it visualizes data to enable a user to understand the relationship between the two.

Now, there are more windows wherein there are more opportunities for low-emissions, low-cost electricity. Organizations would know better when to target energy consumptions. Setup for the program needs help from software experts who are using Microsoft Azure. This is where the GitHub demonstration comes in.

Read more information: http://www.btvi.in/article/read/technology/28010/how-microsoft-cloud-helps-companies-track-carbon-emissions

Keeping up with Technology and the Information Technology environment

With the fast evolution of the Information Technology industry, some people lament that IT has become oversaturated. However, the truth is that technology is growing constantly. A non-profit group Engine Advocacy that advocates public policies that encourage growth of technology start-ups in California, United States, and the job growth in the IT sector is beating the rest of the economy of the United States by three-to-one. This is also supported by a study made by the MEI or Monster Employment Index in Malaysia that says IT online hiring, telecommunications and other business processes that are IT-based increased by 12 percent this year.

IT PROGRAMS OFFERED IN ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS

In many colleges and universities these days, administrators are more and more aware of the relevance of technology. These institutions are offering degrees and programs to produce work-ready, competent graduates who could meet the demands and needs of the information technology industry. The programs and courses offered ensure that students possess the skills necessary for designing, developing and delivering software or technology in their future jobs. Students, for instance who are pursuing Bachelor of Information Technology could choose among three specializations, which include Software Engineering, Business Systems Design and Computer Networks. Students could select from a wide range of IT programs.

STEPS AND RESOURCES FOR KEEPING UPDATED WITH TECHNOLOGY

The evolution of information technology in business could not be denied. With the rapid changes happening in the industry, there are things to take into account in order to keep up with technology. Some include the following.

1. Determine the needs. A business has to determine the needs from the kind of technology it lives and work with, the existing knowledge base, as well as the learning style. Whatever the technology is, it requires better handle on fundamentals, such as magnetism, electricity, sound, light, fluid behavior and other fundamentals as needed. All these are building blocks. Learn more on the specific devices used, this could truly help.

2. Assess the available resources. From books, magazines to formal training sessions on the internet, there are various sources for technology-related information. Explore the options and determine which resource work best.

3. Rank resources in order of usefulness. The great thing about technology is that there are many resources. Weed them out and choose the resources that have even a small chance of working for the business and rank them in terms of importance or matter, lifestyle and learning style.

4. Make time to use resources. Some resources are for keeps. Integrating technology education into day-to-day routine only takes a few minutes a day.

KEEPING UPDATED WITH TECHNOLOGY IS CRUCIAL FOR BUSINESS

Keeping updated with technology is vital for every business, even those businesses that are not considered ‘technology’ organizations. An organization or business deals with technology in the security system, office productivity software, computers and networks, air conditioning, phone systems and more. Regardless if it is a simple cash register program that keep tabs on daily purchases or inventory or a sophisticated network linking places and people all over the world, technology helps enterprises maintain a competitive advantage and create a robust presence in the business world nowadays.

To compete in the business world today, it’s necessary to keep updated with technology to get the most of it, to keep abreast of new and emerging technology and to find information to make the right decisions when it comes to buying.

TECHNOLOGY RESOURCES AVAILABLE

Internet
Check out a good search engine and learn to use it particularly the advanced search features. This allows the staff to find user’s groups, manufacturer’s websites, purchasing guides, bulletin boards and online magazines.

Radio/Technology
Both have several shows dedicated to technology, including regular series, documentaries, news items, Q&A shows and more. Look for programs that deliver the best information to integrate into the daily schedule and to stay informed.

Magazines
Several magazines cater to the technology industry. Browse through these to find out which ones meet the needs of the organization. Subscribe to some that offer the most useful resources to read every month. Another option is to visit the local library every now and then to skim back issues.

Newspapers
All major newspapers cover technology topics in some way. Newspapers have listings of Q&A columns, useful websites, product reviews and user tips. Such features allow people to learn more at a glance. Make a habit of checking them out and cut out useful item to post on the company bulletin board.

Books
There are many ‘tech’ books today. They definitely are worth the time and effort. Buy a few for general reference and make them accessible to employees. The books tell how different technologies work, but most have useful appendices and glossaries, which explain the basic principles.

People
Seminars are great in getting updated on technology fast. Also, look for super users in the organization and consider them as resource.

Keeping updated with technology is crucial due to its central role in people’s lives. Keeping up to date with technology is possible due to the vast resources made available.

IT outsourcing myths busted

When it comes to outsourcing IT, naturally there are myths about the process. Some enterprises are dependent deeply on outsourcing. However, there are other enterprises that thrive through limiting their outsourcing to a minor part of their overall IT operations, and manage their core activities themselves.

Then there are those enterprises, which do not outsource at all, achieve efficiency as well as cost-effectiveness by doing everything in-house. Various types of outsourcing models work for various businesses. What type of outsourcing would be beneficial for a business would depend on the business’ exact requirements. A lot of entrepreneurs are not willing to make outsourcing as part of the business strategy due to the misconceptions and myths associated with outsourcing.

Below are the IT outsourcing myths busted.

Myth No. 1: Outsourced activities are out of your control. In outsourcing, it is important to work with people stationed at remote places and do not get to meet personally. Yet, this does not mean that one is not in control of the project. The truth is, the IT partner’s business model revolves around performing a good job for the client. If the service provider fails to deliver, the customer will not renew the contract. To succeed in the business, he should do a perfect job for the client. While a client will not get to meet the outsourcing partner regularly, but the service provider would do his best in delivering the best quality service or product since doing so is his self-interest.

Myth No. 2: Outsourcing only works for big players. A lot of small and middle businesses do not go for outsourcing since they think that they’re too small to take advantage of an outsourced model. In the model, the size of a business do not really matter. Anyway, a business will only outsource a small part of their whole business pattern. For example, if one wants an application developed, one has to outsource the making of an application to any app development company.

Myth No. 3: Outsourcing stands for low quality and prices. Companies outsource obviously to save cost. An outsourcing partner which delivers lower quality would not be able to survive in the marketplace that is competitive. A successful Information Technology partner is one which charges lower rates and continues to deliver better quality. They’re able to do this as they use better technology for doing the work and at instances their development centers are situated in places such as India, wherein the cost is very well-trained professionals is lower.

Myth No. 4: Outsourcing means cultural and language barriers. The myth automatically gets busted when taking into account the fact that English is the universal language as well as cultural barriers have melted away under the light of Internet and global TV. The companies taking outsourced tasks employ professionals well-versed in the culture and language of the country wherein they get their projects.

Myth No. 5: Outsourcing drags times and could cause overpays. When a client and outsourcing partner are clear about the kind of work to be done and the contract carefully negotiated, there is hardly any scope for cost overruns and delays. The partnerships between software development firms and mobile startups is common. Most of the partnerships go further on one project. The firms that take up the projects outsourced try their best to accomplish the project on a timely manner since they value their own reputation.

Myth No. 6: You don’t know that you will get. When a client is clear on the kind of final product needed and the service provider has understand the project, then there hardly is any scope for a mismatch in a final product. Before initiating a project, a customer should ask the development firm to show a rough template of what the final product would appear. This ensures that there’s more clarity regarding work that the outsourcing company is expected to do and that there are no last minute surprises.

Myth No. 7: Outsourcing could steal intellectual property. The easy solution for this fear is a watertight NDA with the IT outsourcing provider. Once the NDA is in place, there’s no reason to fear on any intellectual property loss.

Myth No. 8: You spend less time on communication. Once a project is outsourced, it is imperative to keep in touch with the service provider. Make sure to keep tabs on the way the project progresses, or if there’s any scope for more project improvement. Such coordination ensures that the outcome of the project is better than the customer expectations.

Microsoft Paint isn’t dead, instead it has a new home

Good news Guys! Microsoft Paint isn’t going away, it’s here to stay but somewhere else. The company said the app will soon land in the Windows Store for free. Microsoft’s spokesperson revealed in an email that “Available with the Windows 10 Creators Update, the app will feature an array of new 3D capabilities, photo editing, line and curve tools. So that people can enjoy the best creative tools all in one place.”

It was previously reported that paint was on the Microsoft’s list “deprecated” features for future releases. Which means it won’t be active in development and could be removed anytime soon. But the incredible outpouring of support and nostalgia around MS Paint enforced the software to stay. The program initially released in 1985 with the first version of windows 1.0 and has been installed with each and every version since. It has been 32 years, and today MS Paint has a lot of fans who took to social media to express their grief and love for the iconic feature. The hashtag “RIPMSPaint” was also trending throughout the day.

I guess I need to learn photoshop now

— Mel Eshaghbeigi (@eshaghbeigi) July 24, 2017

To everyone’s relief, makers decided to revoke their decision and stated that the paint will now have a new home soon in the windows store. Last year, Microsoft unveiled Paint 3D, a new version of the classic software. It is much more advanced, allowing users to create three-dimensional images. This is currently part of Windows 10.

The best art made using Microsoft Paint 

The image seems to be pretty recognizable, isn’t it? It is the scene from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows created by a renowned paint artist Pat Hines. 

This drawing from Hines shows Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates holding the same picture of himself on a tablet screen.

The artist Bruno Sousa captures a Melancholic looking Pikachu using a simple airbrush tool. It took a while to complete and he further describes that paint isn’t as easy as any other drawing program.

 It nearly took 50 hours to draw this realistic looking picture of Santa Clause on MS Paint.

The incredibly crisp painting of a city looks like Venice was created by Deviant Art Diamonster whose teacher spotted his artistic talent while he was just five.