Tag: Technology

Kerala needs to lead technological revolution, say experts

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Powered by a range of concrete technological innovations, Kerala needs to leverage its full potential to lead a technological revolution in the coming years, industry experts said here on Friday.

Kerala’s High Power IT Committee (HPIC) Chairman S.D. Shibulal, addressing a session on ‘Technology Disruption and Inclusion’ at the two-day Global Digital Summit – #FUTURE that ended here on Friday, said he would re-imagine Kerala as a cashless society running on completely sustainable energy with zero discharge waste in the coming years.

“These aspirations are capable enough to create more innovations which will create more opportunities, talents and capabilities. In years ahead, there should be electric cars running on Kerala’s roads.”

Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said the country has to embrace technology and become a leader in the digital transformation taking place around the globe without being bogged down by unfounded fears of job losses, incomes or machines replacing humans.

“One of the big lacunae in this country is risk financing and so our start-ups go elsewhere because they need risk financing which is not available in this country.

“We have to make sure Indian capital is available because often it is closest to the ground and understands the financing better. We have to make sure that the companies of our future are incorporated in India, get Indian financing and expand significantly. We cannot miss out on the AI and Robotics revolution,” said Rajan.

Harish Krishnan, MD, Public Affairs & Strategic Engagements – Cisco Systems, said: “Kerala is equipped with a congregation of smart villages that we should be able to build on the vast knowledge resources we possess.”

Citing the case of Estonia, which has become a completely digitalised country, Dinu John Parel, Global CIO – Dover Corporations, said he looks forward to a day when the world would think about Kerala as the most digitally advanced state in India.

“Estonia could achieve it for they had a common purpose. Besides, they were willing to take risks. And to make it work, all the constituents, which include enterprises, corporates and citizens, should work together towards this cause,” he added.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Facebook data breach: Govt issues notice to Cambridge Analytica

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Cracking the whip on alleged misuse of user data on Facebook, the government today issued a notice to UK-based Cambridge Analytica, asking it to give a list of clients and the source of data it had collected.

The notice came after reports that political parties had used the data analytics firm during elections.

The IT Ministry has asked Cambridge Analytica – the firm at the centre of Facebook data breach scandal – to respond by March 31 on six questions, including how the company had collected user data, whether consent was taken from the individuals, and how the data was used.

The move assumes significance as the BJP, earlier this week, had questioned links between the Congress and Cambridge Analytica, the data mining firm accused of harvesting personal information from Facebook illegally to influence polls in several countries.

Taking a stern view of reports on the misuse of user data obtained from social media platform Facebook, the IT Ministry in a statement today said that “breach of privacy cannot be tolerated”.

“The government is deeply concerned about such developments and is committed to ensuring the protection of the fundamental right of privacy and safety and security of data for every citizen of India,” the ministry said.

The IT Ministry said it had issued a notice to Cambridge Analytica “wherein the serious breach of propriety and misuse of data intended to profile and influence voting behaviour has been highlighted”.

The notice comes just days after Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad warned the social media giant Facebook of stringent action for any attempt to influence polls through data theft. Prasad had even threatened to summon its CEO Mark Zuckerberg, if needed.

“…the notice addressed to Cambridge Analytica seeks an immediate response to the following questions…Whether they have been engaged in any assignment to utilise data of Indians from the above-cited breach. Who are the entities that have engaged them for the above,” it said.

The ministry also questioned the company on how it had come to be in possession of user data and whether user consent had been taken for the same. The company has also been asked to divulge details of how the data collected was used and whether any profiling was done on basis of such data.

“The intermediaries cited above have been given time till March 31, 2018, to submit their responses on the above issue,” the ministry said.

Referring to media reports of “gross abuse of social media platform to influence the sanctity of polling process”, the ministry said, “any attempt to influence the sanctity of the electoral franchise through dubious and questionable means is unacceptable”.

“In particular, all intermediaries and their associates have the legal obligation to maintain security, confidentiality and sanctity of data and any unauthorized use of data can entail legal action,” it warned.

The statement said that Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued advisory laying down security best practices to be followed by social media users, to safeguard personally identifiable information on social network sites.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Balesh Sharma to head the Vodafone-Idea merged entity

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The old guard will make way for new blood once the USD 23 billion Vodafone-Idea merger is completed. The companies have announced a new leadership team for the merged entity.

Balesh Sharma who is now the chief operating officer at Vodafone India will become the CEO of the merged entity.

Akshay Moondra, who is currently the CFO of Idea Cellular will continue to look after the finances of the merged entity.

What’s interesting is that the current CEOs of both Vodafone and Idea will move out of their offices and assume new responsibilities. Himanshu Kapania will become a member on the board of the merged entity.

Sunil Sood who is now the CEO of Vodafone India will join the Vodafone Group AMAP leadership team and also help governance through board memberships.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Zensar Tech goes shopping, buys Cynosure for $33 million

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Zensar Technologies has acquired US based company, Cynosure for USD 33 million. Zensar in the last couple of years has decided to focus on three primary segments – insurance, high-tech and retail, said Harshvardhan Goenka, Chairman of Zensar Technologies.

“50 percent of our total business is insurance and we have been looking at opportunities as to how we can grow our insurance practice. We have some marquee clients in the US, in South Africa and Europe”, he added.

Cynosure is one of the leading Guidewire platform companies based out of Chicago with the back office in Bangalore. The company has a track record of growing by over 50 percent a year. “Cynosure was a great opportunity.”

Talking about the benefits, he said “It has around 150 people, it is primarily in the property and the casualty space. It is a business which is massive in terms of size.”

Speaking of funding this acquisition, Goenka said that a large part of this acquisition will be funded through internal accruals and some part through debt.

Below is the verbatim transcript of the interview.

Q: Can you explain the rationale behind this?

A: Zensar in the last couple of years has decided to focus and there are three primary segments that we are focusing on, one is insurance, the other is high-tech and the third is retail. 15 percent of our total business is insurance and we have been looking at opportunities as to how we can grow our insurance practice. We have some marquee clients in the US, South Africa and Europe and our desire was how to get into the Guidewire platform.

Much of the implementation that has been happening in the insurance space has been on the guidewire platform. Cynosure was a great opportunity, it is one of the leading guidewire platformed companies based out of Chicago with a back office in Bangalore. We felt that there were a lot of benefits by acquiring Cynosure. It has around 150 people, it is primarily in the property and casualty space. A business which is massive in terms of size and growing.

We also felt that there was a huge opportunity with insurance companies now wanting to become digital. There is the potential for customers to ask for an omnichannel offering and we felt by this acquisition not only would there be synergies in terms of customers, we could introduce Cynosure to our customers and vise versa but also we could take our offerings to the cloud and digital platform and the track record of Cynosure has been pretty good. It has been growing by over 50 percent a year and we are hoping that this kind of growth can continue in the future.

Q: Would the acquisition be earnings accretive immediately?

A: Yes. It will be. The turnover of Cynosure is about USD 20 million plus and the total amount that we will be paying will be around USD 33 million plus the incentives based on future guidelines.

Q: This will be funded via internal accruals?

A: A large part will be through internal accruals but some part will be through debt. It was earlier owned by a four partners led by Sid Wadhwa who was the largest shareholder and they will continue working within the organisation, Zensar organization, Sid Wadhwa will take over as the head of the insurance practice itself.

Q: Let us move on to other group companies. Let me begin with Ceat which has been leader in that particular space. Could you talk to us a little bit about the efforts underway at Ceat to go after the passenger car tyre market? More than a couple of years back Ceat was known as a truck and heavy vehicle tyre manufacturer, you moved aggressively into the two-wheeler space and now you wanted to do as far as the passenger car space is concerned. Where are we there in that journey?

A: We made a very conscious journey difference where we said we will more and more move to the consumer segment and the problem in tyre business is it was very much dependent on commodity prices. So the actual profit play is if we can convert tyres from a commodity to a consumer play and that is what we have been attempting in the last couple of years.

The emphasis has been primarily on two-wheeler and passenger car tyres and we have increased significantly our market share in both these categories. We are putting in significant investments. We have put up a new plant in Nagpur to make two-wheeler tyres. We are now putting up a large tyre capacity in Chennai for passenger car radial tyres, we are expanding our capacity in Baroda. So there is nearly a Rs 4,000 crore expansion which is going on at full speed. That on the one hand.

Q: That will be completed over the next two years or so?

A: In the next one year to one and a half years. On the other hand, we are also putting up a capacity for off-the-highway tyres primarily farm tyres meant for the international market. Even the passenger car tyres that we are looking at – a large capacity will be for the most sophisticated European market.

Q: Ceat maybe the most valuable business in the group right now, in terms of growth rates over the next couple of years when you said that you are bullish about the market and Ceat being the player it is in the industry, any projections you can make for growth at the company not just this year but the next couple of years?

A: What we are aiming for is not to be the largest tyre company but to be the most profitable tyre company. So I think the entire emphasis is how to grow profitability and that will be our objective in the future.

Today, the most valuable company within the group is KEC.

Q: So you bring me to my next question which is KEC. There is very much a B2B kind of business, right?

A: Yes, KEC is primarily EPC player. Our major play is in power transmission where we are global leaders and we have plans not only in India but countries like Mexico and Brazil, we are doing projects around the world, in some of the most difficult terrains in Afghanistan and in Congo and in Africa, we are a leading player in Latin America, we are the largest players, so transmission is one part of the business, the second part is railway infrastructure.

Q: How quickly is that coming along?

A: It is coming along very well because it is a new business for us, which we started a couple of years back and I am very happy to say that the government has been very proactive giving a lot of orders in railway electrification, we are today clearly the number one player and our order book is nearly Rs 4,950 crore. So the railway business augurs extremely well for the future.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

We made mistakes, admits Zuckerberg in his Facebook post

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has admitted that his company has “made mistakes.” Zuckerberg made the admission after the social networking site came under fire for its alleged role in the Cambridge Analytica dispute.

In a post that was published on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg stated that he wanted to update all regarding the ongoing row that has the data mining firm in the centre.  “We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you. I’ve been working to understand exactly what happened and how to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he wrote adding that the company had taken action years ago to prevent such incidents from repeating.

However, Zuckerberg also accepted that mistakes happened from the part of the company and a lot more has to be done to make it safer.  “We also made mistakes, there’s more to do, and we need to step up and do it,” he said.

In order to prevent such incidents he explained that Facebook will take measures such as thorough investigation on all apps that collect large volumes of data, further restrictions on accessing data and more transparency towards customers when it comes to informing them about apps that are allowed to access their information.

Explaining about the harvesting of information from Facebook, Zuckerberg claimed that the app created by Aleksandr Kogan had made use of updates introduced by the firm in 2007  aimed at making Facebook more customer friendly.

He informed that the company had already taken steps back in 2014 to prevent abusive apps from exploiting data and asked Kogan and Cambridge Analytica to formally certify that they had deleted all improperly acquired data when it learned about the sharing of data by the two.

It was, as per the post only when the news broke out that the company learned about the breach of trust.  The company on its part promptly banned Analytica from using Facebook and also has started an investigation.

He concluded the post by assuring that he is serious about protecting safety and privacy of his users. “I started Facebook, and at the end of the day I’m responsible for what happens on our platform. I’m serious about doing what it takes to protect our community…  We will learn from this experience to secure our platform further and make our community safer for everyone going forward.”

The statement, that comes at a time when calls have come from various sides demanding explanation from Zuckerberg and Facebook who many believe are directly responsible for the data harvesting. It is yet to be seen whether this explanation will be enough to pacify these voices.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

WhatsApp co-founder urges followers to delete Facebook

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton on Tuesday posted a tweet asking people to delete Facebook. The tweet appeared in the twitter account of Acton, who had earlier sold the popular messaging service to Facebook back in 2014.

“It is time,” tweeted Acton along with the hashtag ‘#deletefacebook’ on his account on Tuesday. While no comment has come up from Acton regarding the tweet, some indicate that he may be planning to take on Facebook.

It is time. #deletefacebook

— Brian Acton (@brianacton) March 20, 2018

Acton, who as per the Forbes, has a real time net worth of $ 5.5 billion had last month made news by investing $ 50 million in to “Signal,’ widely expected to be an independent alternative for the Facebook controlled WhatsApp.

Acton, along with his partner Jan Koum had remained in the top of WhatsApp till a few months back after selling it to Facebook back in 2014 for $ 19 billion. However he later left the company and along with Moxie Marlinspike founded the ‘Signal Foundation’ last month.

With an aim “to develop open source privacy technology that protects free expression and enables secure global communication” the foundation is expected to develop its messaging app as an alternative to existing apps.

It is not uncommon for former employees to speak up against Facebook. Earlier former head of growth Chamath Palihapitiya had attacked the social networking giant saying that it was ripping apart the fabric of  society. Similar outbursts have come from others including Sean Parker, Justin Rosenstein etc.

However what makes Acton’s tweet more effective is its timing. The tweet comes at a time when Facebook is facing criticism from across the globe over its involvement in Cambridge Analytica’s misuse of user data. Questions have been raised about the security of personal data in the site and Mark Zuckerberg himself has been summoned by a parliamentary committee under UK’s House of Commons.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Breaking up with Facebook? It’s harder than it looks

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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NEW YORK: Facebook’s latest privacy scandal, involving Trump campaign consultants who allegedly stole data on tens of millions of users in order to influence elections, has some people reconsidering their relationship status with the social network.

There’s just one problem: There isn’t much of anywhere else to go.

Facebook has weathered many such blow-ups before and is used to apologizing and moving on. But the stakes are bigger this time.

Regulatory authorities are starting to focus on the data misappropriation, triggering a 9 percent decline in Facebook’s normally high-flying stock since Monday. Some of that reflects fear that changes in Facebook’s business will hurt profits or that advertisers and users will sour on the social network.

The furor over Cambridge Analytica, the data mining firm accused of stealing Facebook data, follows a bad year in which Facebook acknowledged helping spread fake news and propaganda from Russian agents. It also comes less than three months after CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the world that he would devote the year to fixing Facebook. Instead, things seem to be getting worse.

“It’s more serious economically, politically, financially and will require a more robust response in order to regain users’ trust,” said Steve Jones, a professor of communications at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Yet leaving Facebook, like ending a long marriage, isn’t remotely simple. Starting with the little things.

Arvind Rajan, a tech executive from San Francisco who deactivated his account on Monday, suddenly discovered he needs to create new usernames and passwords for a variety of apps and websites. That’s because he previously logged in with his Facebook ID.

It’s a pain, he said, “but not the end of the world.” And because he is bothered by Facebook’s “ham-handed” response to recent problems, the inconvenience is worth it.

For other users looking to leave, it can feel as if there are no real alternatives. Twitter? Too flighty, too public. Instagram? Whoops, owned by Facebook. Snapchat? Please, unless you’re under 25 — in which case you’re probably not on Facebook to begin with.

Facebook connects 2.2 billion users and a host of communities that have sprung up on its network. No other company can match the breadth or depth of these connections — thanks in part to Facebook’s proclivity for squashing or swallowing up its competition.

But it is precisely in Facebook’s interest to make users feel Facebook is the only place to connect with others. Where else will grandmothers see photos of their far-flung grandkids? How will new mothers connect to other parents also up at 4 a.m. with a newborn?

“My only hesitation is that there are hundreds of pictures posted over 13 years of my life that I do not want to lose access to. If there was a way to recover these photos, I would deactivate immediately,” Daniel Schwartz, who lives in Atlanta, said in an email.

People eager to delete their profiles may find unexpected problems that point to how integral Facebook is to many activities, said Ifeoma Ajunwa, a professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University.

“It is getting more and more difficult for people to delete Facebook, since it’s not just as a social media platform but also almost like a meeting square,” she said.

Parents could soon realize that their child’s soccer schedule with games and pickup times is only on a Facebook page, for example. Many businesses also schedule meetings via Facebook.

“It’s more and more difficult for people to feel plugged in if you’re not on Facebook,” Ajunwa said.

There are no signs, so far, that users are leaving in droves — and advertisers go where the eyeballs are, so they aren’t leaving either. Research firm eMarketer hasn’t changed its estimate that worldwide ad spending on Facebook will climb 22 percent this year to nearly $49 billion.

Still, if “Facebook were forced to change the way it uses data or the way its ad products work, then advertisers may become less enamored with it,” said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst with the firm.

Not surprisingly, Facebook doesn’t make it easy to leave. To permanently delete your account, you need to make a request to the company. The process can take several days, and if you log in during this time, your request will be canceled. It can take up to 90 days to delete everything.

There’s a less permanent way to leave, deactivation, which hides your profile from everyone but lets you return if you change your mind.

Lili Orozco, a 28-year-old office manager for her family’s heating and cooling company in Watkinsville, Georgia, deleted her account in December. She was upset that every new app she downloaded would ask for her Facebook contacts.

And while she liked staying in touch with people, she was irritated by the conspiracy stories her high school friends would share.

“Falsehoods spread faster on Facebook than the truth does,” she said. She now gets her news from Twitter and shares pictures with friends through Instagram.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Amazon brings change in seller-fee structure, makes it cheaper to ship locally

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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E-Commerce major Amazon is looking to motivate its sellers to focus on local markers to deliver products cheaper and quicker to its customers, reports the Economic Times.

According to the report, the company is also looking into pushing certain categories.

To achieve the objective, the local unit of the firm brought several changes to its seller fee structure. The structure shows that the firm has made it cheaper for sellers to ship locally, so that there is faster delivery to locals. The firm has, in turn, increased costs for regional and national shipping.

The firm has reduced the fees for selling on the platform by up to 70% in categories such as daily essentials and apparel, but increased 50% for items like shoes, home improvement accessories, power banks and charges, stated the report.

In total, the fees will increase for 24 categories, fall for 32 and no change will be made in 48 categories. The 48 unchanged categories include mobiles, laptops, books and small appliances.

For a healthy grocery push, the seller fees in the category have been reduced to 3% from 7%, as the company takes on Alibaba-backed Big-Basket and Flipkart.

The online major is also evidently giving a push to its fashion category, where it lags behind Flipkart. The firm reduced its seller fees in apparel to 17% from 19.5%.

According to the report, the firm said that the new rates will apply to all sellers in the marketplace. However, they did not comment on Cloudtail and Appario, two sellers in which Amazon has a stake.

Sellers told the daily that both Flipkart and Amazon had been changing fee structures over the past few years to keep their rates on par. This was so that they do not lose merchants to the other.

Flipkart in November lowered commissions by 5% for items priced below Rs 300 in many categories, in a bid to encourage sellers to offer their products at lower prices.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow