DATA VOCABULARY

As we continue to take accelerated steps towards a more digitalized world, there is going to be more and more data that will be created and stored on the Internet and the cloud.

So, 1 MB and 1 GB are soon going to be a thing of the past. We have already reached a stage where 1 EB (Exabyte) of data is being created each day!

Projections are that we are soon heading towards Brontobyte and beyond.

Here's a mind-boggling fact: A 1BB hard drive would cover the earth 23,000 times!

Time to upgrade our data vocabulary then.

FIRST VIDEO CALL

It was just 10 years back when Steve Jobs was on stage and he announced to the world about the possibility of doing a video call on an iphone 4 through FaceTime. 

He then went and demonstrated it by doing a live call. 

Today, 10 years later, a video call just seems like a part of our normal lives and we take it for granted. It has just been here for a decade. That is the power and speed of technology. 

A decade down the line, we might reflect on something else that would become a part of our normal lives. But for now, enjoy this video from the archives that will show you how the vision of a man brought revolution in the lives of all.

Video Credit: CNET

SAMSUNG MICROCODES

In the current world of noise and clutter, it's always a challenge for #brands to get the attention of their target audience.

Every marketer keeps thinking of new ways of reaching their consumer through their advertising and #communication. Now what if you start incentivising people to watch your ads across the different platforms? That is exactly the idea behind #Samsung Microcodes.

This is an initiative in Australia where, Samsung Australia has hidden codes in their ads around the country to celebrate the launch of the Galaxy S20. These codes are extremely tiny and could be hidden in their TV ads, posters, online ads, mobile ads or any other #advertisement that they roll out. The first one to find a winning code gets a free Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G!

Such a creative way to engage people, get them to pay attention to every ad on every platform and also build excitement for the new launch!

LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET

A couple of months back, when the news of Sundar Pichai becoming the CEO of Google's parent company Alphabet came out, all the media was covering this piece of new and going into the details of Sundar Pichai and his career trajectory .

However, not many know that the parent company #Alphabet actually owns a number of different companies and businesses across diverse industries and segments, and #Google just happens to be one of their biggest ones.

The infographic below will give you an overview of where all Alphabet has their presence in. 

When I saw this infographic, I started looking at the beginning letter of each of these companies instantly. I wanted to see how many letters does the company Alphabet have in its company portfolio. In between these 16 companies, they already have 10 letters of the alphabet (C, D, G, J, L, M, S, V, W, X). 

Let's see, if in future, under the leadership of Pichai, Alphabet expands further in creating a portfolio of #companies covering all the 26 letters of the alphabet or not.

INNOVATION: SAMSUNG SERO

The thing with breakthrough #innovation is that you have to be the first one to come up with something that the consumer hasn't asked for. Then you have to create the demand and desire for such an innovation through the story that you tell. In such instances, there will be lot of failures and you have to be ready to embrace them to unearth that one gem that the world will talk about.

The #CES or Consumer Electronics Show that is held in Las Vegas every year is a Mecca of innovation where each company and brand tries to outdo others by showcasing ideas, concepts and ready to launch products.

This year is the 50th edition of the show and there are lots of exciting launches coming into the market soon. One of them that I found quite interesting is #Samsung Sero.

The #Sero is a rotating television so that you can watch content in the traditional way and also enjoy your social media feed and mobile content in a vertical format. Priced at £1,240, this 43-inch TV comes with a 4.1-channel, 60W speakers.

Will this become mainstream and would other brands follow suit is something only time will tell. However, it is worth applauding the ingenuity and bravery of Samsung to venture into this new space. 

SMART BOTTLE CAP

As the world is moving to personalized #nutrition, how can personalized hydration be behind?

Danone has introduced smart bottle cap Coach2o that can easily fit on their Spanish mineral water brand Font Vella and track water intake and coach consumers towards adequate hydration.

Once the cap has been placed on the bottle, the user can pair it with the Coach2o app, that will then automatically measure the user’s water consumption. 

The smart bottle cap tracks how much water the individual has had and emits a blinking light, reminding him/her to hydrate again. This has been made possible by the technology developed by Danone’s partner, water.io.

hashtag

#Danone says that this is the first device to track water intake and it is being test marketed in Spain before being scaled up. 

Quite an effective and cool #innovation. Let's see how it delivers on business. 

                                   #kunalviews #water #solution #idea

DIGITAL ADDICTION: YOU DON'T KNOW IT

Have you ever been in a restaurant or a tourist spot or a public transport and seen most heads down, looking into their #mobiles or other #digital devices, even when people have company?

As long as you are conscious about it and it does not affect your conversations and relationships, it is fine. However, when mobile phone engagement overpowers the real and true engagement and you start neglecting your relationships, there is a problem there.

Delete Institute, an NGO in Brazil, dedicated to guiding and informing society about the conscious use of technologies through training, consulting and support has launched a fantastic print campaign that uses extremely powerful visuals and shows people in different situations, busy in their phones. 

The beauty of the campaign is that each of this black and white picture shows a typical scenario, but the digital device has been removed from the picture. 

Each picture ends with a powerful line Digital addiction. Only you can’t see it. Delete conscious use of technology.

 

RAZR HAS ARRIVED!

Once upon a time, there were flip phones in the world. Until, some companies decided to change the game and flip phones became a part of folklore. 

But then, how can you keep the forefather of flip phone, #Motorola away from it? They were the pioneers in the flip phone era, launching their first flip phone model StarTAC way back in 1996. 

Now, more than two decades later, Motorola launches its new model of Motorola Razr that is sleek, modern and stylish. It comes with all the features that you expect in a smart phone and yet retains some of the heritage from the earlier versions of the Razr. 

A launch like this deserves an edgy commercial as well. Motorola does complete justice with their new ad film, which has great visuals accompanied with a strong music track. 

Enjoy this one and swoon over the new Razr.

LOOKING INTO THE FUTURE

The year was 1953. 

It was quite a few decades before pioneers like Nokia or Motorola showed the world the possibility of portable #mobile phones.

Any chance of the Internet pervading the personal and professional lives seemed far-fetched because the #Internet hadn't even been created by then. 

Smart phones, selfies and 4G were not even terms anyone had heard of. 

Despite all of this, Mark Sullivan from The Pacific Telephone and Telegraphy company was able to stick out his neck and make some bold predictions about how the future of #telephones would look like! 

People may or may not have believed him then, but today it seems as if he was able to see and predict the #future. 

That is what innovators and trend-setters also do. They look much ahead, using their foresight and then come up with things,ideas, products, solutions and even predictions that the world has not even thought of!

NEVER OFFLINE!

When the Apple watch was launched in 2015, the #Time magazine had a very eye-catching cover on their digital edition with statistics that said that 50 million Americans are never offline. Wearable #technology was expected to boom across markets and the numbers expected to rise with every decade. Since then, many other big and small companies have joined the bandwagon with their own versions of #digital watches. But wearables also ask you to give up control. Your phone starts telling you what you should and shouldn’t eat and how far you should run. It gets in between you and your body and mediates that relationship. Wearables also make your physical self visible to the virtual world in the form of information, just like any other device. 

I am wondering, by 2020, how would the numbers look like globally for people who are never offline.

Are you one of them?

CATEGORY DISRUPTIONS

Quite often, when doing competitive analysis and market share reviews, we are busy analyzing direct competitors whereas there is a different category that is slowly eating into our segment, which has not even come into our radar or attention. 

Sometimes, the realization happens quite late and then either you have to live with that reality or go back to the drawing board and change your business model completely. 

Here is a great example of how the #camera industry thought that it would be impacted by the explosion of digital cameras, but it was the smartphone segment that ate up all their revenues, year after year with constant improvement in its camera technology. 

A clear lesson for all the players across industries. It is not about how your market share is changing but more about where is your consumer going with his or her money. hashtag#Netflix sums it up quite well when it says that is not competing with the other #OTT players, it is competing with sleep!

WORLD'S FIRST SMART NUTRITION BOTTLE

As the world population continues to become more aware and conscious of its health, nutrition and lifestyle, we keep seeing companies come up with #innovations that may or may not set the market on fire. 

Technology start-up firm LifeFuels claims that it has launched the ‘world’s first’ smart #nutrition bottle', which comes with an #app to track your hydration and nutrition goals.

The bottle uses naturally-flavoured FuelPods along with water to provide a variety of functional ingredients such as electrolytes and antioxidants.

The bottle comes with a seven-day battery life, and can hold up to three FuelPods, which can craft up to 90 customised beverages, depending on your taste and your mood. 

The question is whether such a product will see scale or remain limited to a niche audience. 

Venture capitalists seem to be giving the company a thumbs up so far, as LifeFuels has just secured a Series A funding recently.

Lets's see how this segment and category evolves and whether the big players jump onto this opportunity or not.

SAMSUNG GOOD VIBES

hashtag#Innovation doesn't always come by asking the consumers. Great innovation often comes by understanding the consumers and their problems beyond what they are telling you. 

This requires observation, empathy, understanding and realization that your easiest solution may still not be working for a set of people due to various reasons. 

#Samsung seems to be understanding consumers quite well, and then coming up with solutions to their problems. They have just launched an app - Good Vibes, which is a two-way communication app for the deafblind, built on Morse Code that allows them to feel words being said to them. It gives them an opportunity to significantly change their ability to communicate and share emotions with their loved ones. 

To announce the launch in #India, they introduced a very powerful and emotion packed film that makes you sit up and notice! This is the power of a meaningful innovation.

MAKE IT COUNT!

In the current digitally connected world, it is quite easy to think that we are establishing connections and building relationships without even having a face to face conversation. Despite the advent of technology, nothing comes close to a personal interaction because, that is when people feel close to each other, and cared for. With these thoughts in mind, I just crafted a few lines: 

Phone calls couldn't do much, 
What you could achieve through touch. 

You could gift them the best mugs, 
But the most happiness only came through hugs. You can promise them a treat, 
But what they want is to meet. Doing a phone call is nothing but a ploy, 
If you can't be there to share their sorrow and joy. Congratulations should be given by a pat on back, 
Not by a cold message through Slack. Apologies are messages said with emotion, 
Not a WhatsApp message with an emoticon. Nothing works better than a smile, 
Don't be lazy and walk that extra mile. Building a relationship takes some time, 
Meeting people in person is not a crime. Don't drop an email, meet face to face. 
Don't be busy in your inbox, life isn't a race. hashtag#poetry #poem #kunalviews #success #corporate #technlogy #break #connection #personal #relationships

PET OWNERS - A GADGET YOUR PETS WILL LOVE!

Pet owners may not always have the time to play with their pets but that should not stop pets from enjoying their play time. That is how the idea for #iFetch started for Grant in 2013. Tired of playing with his pet, Grant thought “What if we made something that could throw the ball for Prancer so I can finish my homework?” and started building iFetch. Since then, the iFetch has received international attention and won numerous awards, including “Best New Product” in 2013 at SuperZoo. 

Happy #pets results in happy pet owners. A simple yet effective #innovation like iFetch helps in achieving that. A gadget that every pet owner must have!

hashtag                                                         Video source: goiFetch

                                             #technology #toys #dogs #idea #creativity #gadget 

Random Musings on a Sunny Sunday!

It has often been seen that once you are out of habit of something, when you get back to that act, it seems that you are starting from scratch again. All the momentum that had built up has gone. It takes considerable effort, discipline and consistency to come back to the same level.

Writing also follows a similar philosophy. Nowadays, when I pick up the pen and tend to write for a little more than a few paragraphs, my palm and fingers start aching as I have lost the practice of writing for hours and filling copious amounts of paper. The world of technology, where everything is on my fingertips has had such an effect that now the fingers that grip the pen ache whereas the fingers that tap the keys feel very normal about it. 

Now when I extrapolate and extend this philosophy to blogging, it seems very similar. Coming back to put down a blog after months and it seems like a tedious job. The mind doesn’t know what to write on, where to begin, how to keep the flow going, how to connect the various pieces. This is despite the fact that thoughts come to my mind at regular intervals of what can be the next interesting topic to blog on. The problem is that these thoughts do not come when I have the resources – my laptop and time for a blog, but rather they strike me at the most unexpected and unprepared places. These thoughts will occur to me when I am trying to concentrate on my run, or when I am trying to pay attention to the speaker in a meeting, or when I am enjoying the cold shower in the hot summer of Delhi or when I am counting the number of red lights that I am encountering on a day when I am supposed to be at a place at a certain time and I am already running late for that. It seems that these thoughts have an evil mind of their own and they just want to tease me and titillate me but they have no intentions to let me enjoy them when I am waiting for them! 

Maybe, here is an opportunity for some brave and bold entrepreneurs as well as scientists to work on a technology that allows thoughts to get converted into meaningful ideas or blogs as and when they strike us so that a lot that has popped in the head comes out in the open for the world to witness, see and read! If anyone puts up a technology like this on kickstarter, I will be one of the first ones to put my money behind their venture as I know that not only will it help me immensely, but it will also be a winner in this crazy, chaotic world.

If I have still been able to hold your attention and if you have reached till here in the blog expecting some more nuggets or gems from me, let me burst your bubble right here and tell you that this blog is nothing less than a random musing on a sunny Sunday, where just like the rains that are being a spoilsport by not making an appearance, a similar conspiracy has been hatched by my thoughts as well. 

So till the time my thoughts do not show some empathy and kindness towards me, you – my reader friend will have to do with this blog that just speculates of what could have been, had my thoughts not deserted me.