SAP's Textiest Moments of Football World Cup 2014

Key drivers of top three hourly SMS spikes (based on 1 minute SMS traffic averages)

1.       USA vs. Belgium: Immediately following the match SMS traffic spikes to 4912% above normal. In fact, SMS traffic from Belgium remained greater than 1000% above normal for 14 minutes immediately after the game.

2.       Costa Rica vs. Netherlands: In the minute after winning the match on penalty kicks, SMS traffic from Netherlands rose 3641% above normal.

      Germany vs. Argentina: Immediately following Germany’s win over Argentina in extra time, SMS traffic rose 1006% above normal

Customized Offers From Micromax & Vodafone

Micromax, country’s 2nd largest smartphone manufacturer & World’s 10th largest mobile phone manufacturer, today announced a strategic partnership with Vodafone India, country’s leading telecom operator. Under this new partnership, Micromax and Vodafone India are coming together to reach out to their set of Indian consumers and provide a more fulfilling device connectivity and experience. Along with the Micromax Canvas Knight 3G Smartphone model, Vodafone India will offer free data usage of up to 2GB for customers not active on a data pack. Vodafone’s focus is to increase consumer data adoption and along-with Micromax’s product expertise.

Commenting on the partnership, Shubhodip Pal, CMO, Micromax, said, “At Micromax, we design and develop mobile products which act as solutions to the needs of the fast-evolving consumers, aiming to provide an enriching device experience.  This partnership embodies our endeavor of democratizing technology for the masses, and we are delighted to partner with Vodafone, the pioneer in their domain, as they share the same belief too.”

The offer which is initially available on the Canvas Knight will be extended to a wider portfolio of Micromax devices driving enriched data experience for users thus delivering a seamless experience.

Commenting on the partnership and sharing his delight on the launch of Canvas Knight, Vivek Mathur, Chief Commercial Officer, Vodafone India said, “We are always looking at opportunities to provide maximum value to our customers through unique partnerships and tie-ups. Our initiative with Micromax is yet another step in that direction. We believe that using the Canvas Knight Smartphone on the Vodafone network will provide an enriching experience for our customers.”

Designed for the discerning consumers seeking a combination of innovation, style and effectiveness, the Canvas Knight boasts of a 1.7GHz True Octa-Core processor packed with 2GB RAM, promising exceptionally fast performance and a smooth interface. Exemplifying excellent graphic quality, the smartphone sports a 12.7 cm (5”) FHD IPS display that offers dynamic contrast and color clarity adding more life and vibrancy to the viewing experience. With a 16MP Rear Camera and 8MP front camera, users can capture all their favourite moments in exceptional clarity. Power packed with 2350 mAh battery, and equipped with 32GB of internal storage, users need not worry about storing their favourite music, images, videos etc. Running on Android 4.4.2 KitKat, users get access to unlimited applications which can be downloaded via the pre-loaded Google Play Store.

Micromax’s Canvas Knight is available at all the leading retail outlets in the country priced at a MOP of Rs. 19,999/- and is available in 3 attractive colors – All-Black, White& Gold and Black & Gold. The Vodafone offer is applicable for subscribers who are not active on data pack. Offer will be activated in 48 hours on first Vodafone SIM inserted in Canvas Knight before October 31, 2014.

Expect Most Volumetric DDoS Attacks In 2014

Arbor Networks Inc., a leading provider of DDoS and advanced threat protection solutions for enterprise and service provider networks, today released global DDoS attack data derived from its ATLAS threat monitoring infrastructure. The data shows an unparalleled number of volumetric attacks in the first half of 2014 with over 100 attacks larger than 100GB/sec reported. 

ATLAS is a collaborative partnership with nearly 300 service provider customers who share anonymous traffic data with Arbor in order to deliver a comprehensive, aggregated view of global traffic and threats. ATLAS collects statistics that represent 90TB/sec of Internet traffic and provides the data for the Digital Attack Map, a visualization of global attack traffic created in collaboration with Google Ideas.

1H 2014 ATLAS key findings:

* 1H 2014 saw the most volumetric DDoS attacks ever, with more than 100 events over 100GB/sec reported so far this year

* At the mid-point of 2014, 2x the number of events over 20GB/sec have been reported, as compared to all of 2013

* The largest reported attack in Q2 was 154.69GB/sec, down 101% from Q1 2014. This was an NTP reflection attack targeting a destination in Spain.

* NTP reflection attacks are still significant, but size and scope is down versus Q1 2014. Average NTP traffic volumes are falling back globally, but still not back to the levels of November 2013 (pre the start of NTP attack proliferation)

* Q2 2014 saw fewer very large attacks – with average attack size down by 47% compared to Q1 2014

“Following on from the storm of NTP reflection attacks in Q1 volumetric DDoS attacks continued to be a problem well into the second quarter, with an unprecedented 100 attacks over 100GB/sec reported so far this year. We’ve also already seen more than twice the number of attacks over 20GB/sec than we saw in the whole of last year,” said Arbor Networks Director of Solutions Architects Darren Anstee. “The frequency of very large attacks continues to be an issue, and organizations should take an integrated, multi-layered approach to protection. Even organizations with significant amounts of Internet connectivity can now see that capacity exhausted relatively easily by the attacks that are going on out there."

Wego Brings Travel App For iOS And Android

As a convenient extension of the popular travel search platform, Wego’s free travel app in both iOS and android, has been designed to instantly provide users with hundreds of airfares and hotel rates available online in 20 languages (first in Arabic), on one, simple to use app. 

Wego simplifies the uneven world of online travel options by gathering all available airfares and hotel rates on one site so travellers can get real time, unbiased prices from local and international hotels, airlines and online travel providers.

Wego’s iOS travel app features easy, gestured navigation, advanced filtering and sorting options, clear and concise images, a highly optimised logic for lower data and battery consumption and the convenient option to email travel search results to a friend, or for subsequent booking at a later time. In addition, Wego displays a mobile friendly indicator to let you know which hotels have a mobile friendly site. 

Featured: 

iTunes App Store response: 

• Number 1 travel app in Indonesia

• Number 1 travel app in Saudi Arabia

• Top 10 travel apps in the Middle East

• Number 13 travel app in India

Featured by iTunes App Store:

• Best new travel app (#1) - China, Singapore, Thailand

• Best new travel app (#2) - India

• Best new app overall (#4) - China

• Best new app overall (#4) - Middle East

• Now in Arabic - Middle East

        *      Plan your vacation - China, Middle East

What Really Defines Luxury On The Real Estate Market?

 Comments by Om Ahuja, CEO - Residential Services, JLL India

A report in 2013 labelled Mumbai as the 16th most expensive city globally in terms of owning a residential space. The southern region of the island city is seen as the most prime, with locations such as Colaba, Cuffe Parade and Malabar hills topping the price charts. Owning a home in these and similar location of other cities can cost a buyer more than he or she would earn in two lifetimes.

The question ‘does location provide you with luxury?’ is an interesting one. Is a family that lives in a compact, old, stuffy and featureless 1 BHK flat in Cuffe Parade living in luxury? Or would such a family live in luxury if it sold this flat and moved to a more modern, spacious, comfortable and better appointed flat in the suburbs?

Given the ever worsening shortage of land in the prime locations of our larger cities, home prices in these areas are largely beyond affordability for most buyers. Homes in such locations are bought by the extremely rich for the sake of address value and easy access to the CBD, even if they lack the superior amenities of newer, more modern buildings in further-flung areas. In such cases, the luxury factor is vested almost exclusively in the snob appeal of the location. 

For a family living in South Mumbai that plans to move to a bigger place, the options available in their neighbourhood would either be non-existent or extremely heavy on their pocket. One must remember that many families owning homes in central posh locations purchased these homes many years ago. In some cases, these homes have been handed down over at least two generations. Not all such families would be generating income that matches the locations they live in.

However, if such a family were to put its current home on the market and obtain the kind of selling price that such locations can yield solely on the basis of address value, they can relocate to a home in another part of town that offers all the luxuries of a modern lifestyle. For this family, the luxury factor will then have increased dramatically. In other words, if we look at the concept of luxury as a matter of perception, the ballgame changes entirely.

On a different level, but keeping the same principle in mind, families living in the suburbs or far-suburban areas who are seeking to upgrade their lifestyles in the same locality may have only a marginal additional budget. Nevertheless, the sale proceeds of their current home coupled with this additional budget would certainly fetch them something that provides them with more luxury in terms of space.

In other words - if the true meaning of luxury is assumed to be solely about spending huge amounts of money to buy a super-premium property in a prime location, then certainly only the ‘uber rich’ would get the taste of such luxury.

However, luxury means different things to different people - it literally exists in the eyes of the beholder. If someone who feels the need to upgrade their lifestyle and to move to a better, bigger home that meets all their requirements, any option that provides them with a perceptibly superior living experience is luxury for them.

In real estate market terms, the definitions of 'premium' and 'luxury' are more or less standardized and fairly rigid in terms of ticket sizes, amenities offered and locations involved. However, these are market standards and do not account for a far more human factor - namely personal perception. If we look at luxury from such a perspective, there are in fact no hard and fast definitions at all.

No Steering, Horns Or Rear-View In Mass-Produced Cars By 2035: IEEE

IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for humanity unveiled the findings of a survey that revealed expert opinions about the future of driverless cars, such as speed bumps to mass adoption, essential autonomous technologies, features in the car of the future, and geographic adoption. More than 200 researchers, academicians, practitioners, university students, society members and government agencies in the field of autonomous vehicles, participated in the survey.

Speed Bumps to Mass Adoption

When survey respondents were asked to assign a ranking to six possible roadblocks to the mass adoption of driverless cars, legal liability, policymakers, and consumer acceptance were ranked as the biggest obstacles, while cost, infrastructure, and technology were viewed as the smaller speed bumps. “Anytime you have a technology that has the potential to fundamentally change our daily lives, laws and policies need to be established to ensure the technology is going to be used properly and benefit humanity. This is especially true with intelligent vehicles,” stated Yaobin Chen, IEEE Senior Member and professor and chair of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue School of Engineering and Technology. “Once the foundational elements, like legal liability and policy, are in place, the technology and infrastructure will be there, so intelligent vehicles will become more widely accepted.”

Car of the Future

As more autonomous features are being incorporated into cars, it will enable them to be manufactured without some of the equipment that is commonplace today. When asked to specify the year in which specific equipment will be removed from mass-produced cars, the majority of respondents believe rearview mirrors, horns, and emergency brakes will be removed by 2030 and steering wheels, and gas/brake pedals will follow by 2035.  In addition, more than 75 percent of respondents also indicated that all 50 U.S. states would pass legislation permitting use of driverless vehicles within this time period. “We’ve seen incredible growth in the driverless vehicle industry over the past few years, both in technological advancement and manufacturer acceptance, that has dramatically affected the consumer adoption timetable,” stated IEEE Fellow Alberto Broggi, professor of computer engineering at the University of Parma in Italy and founder of VisLab. “The scientific community and car manufacturers have been working together to incrementally include autonomous features in modern day cars, with the intention of producing driverless vehicles in the near future. For mass adoption, it’s important that we begin trusting this technology.”

Dynamic Autonomous Technologies

Advancements in technology will be the most instrumental in the continued development of driverless vehicles, with more than half (56 percent) of respondents believing that sensor technology is most essential, followed by software (48 percent), Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (47 percent) and GPS (31 percent). “A driverless car needs a constant stream of information of the road and its environment to make calculated decisions, which are referred to as perception. Sensors are one of the most important and trusted technologies for advancing perception scenarios,” stated Christoph Stiller, IEEE member and professor at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. “Sensors are small, non-intrusive and offer reliable data. Also, sensor technology is relatively cheap and will be influential in creating affordable driverless vehicles.” Along with sensors, creating digital maps of the road is a necessary function for allowing autonomous vehicles to travel safely on the roads. When asked to predict how long it will be before a complete digital map of the world will exist, nearly three quarters (74 percent) of respondents indicated these maps will be available within the next 15 years.

Geographical Acceptance of Driverless Cars

While autonomous cars will prove to be beneficial around the global, the majority of experts (54 percent) believed that North America would most benefit from driverless vehicles, with Europe second (28 percent) and Asia (17 percent) rounding out the top three.

Ford Launches Innovate Mobility Challenge Series

Ford today announced the launch of its Innovate Mobility Challenge Series, inviting the developer and ‘maker’ communities to come together to find innovative mobility solutions in eight different locations around the world.

The worldwide challenges will kick off on July 15 in Lisbon, Portugal, Los Angeles, United States, and Mumbai, India, before moving on to Delhi and the Chennai region in India, Shanghai, China, Johannesburg, South Africa, and a countrywide challenge in Argentina.

“Reaching out to local stakeholders lets Ford more effectively address the diverse mobility challenges around the world,” said Paul Mascarenas, Ford’s chief technical officer and vice president, Research and Innovation. “Launching our Innovate Mobility Challenge Series in eight different regions will bring global and local players together in the pursuit of one goal, which is a smarter and more efficient transportation network for the future.”

For each competition, Ford will partner with local authorities and experts to address different issues in each location. The competitions will be judged by a panel of Ford executives involved in researching mobility solutions, as well as by local experts selected for each competition. For full details on all the challenges, visit the Innovate Mobility Challenge Series landing page, fordsvl.com/innovatemobility.

A global Blueprint for Mobility

Ford’s Blueprint for Mobility, which was originally announced by Executive Chairman Bill Ford, outlines what the company believes transportation will look like in 2025 and beyond, and the technologies, business models and partnerships needed to get there. With a growing population and a worldwide trend of urbanization, personal mobility as well as efficiency in the transportation sector will only become more important.

Using new technologies to address mobility challenges will be crucial for customers globally, which is why partner-based projects like the global challenge series will remain an integral part of Ford’s plan going forward. A smarter, more connected mobility landscape will encourage efficiency, increase safety, reduce traffic congestion and contribute to environmental improvements as well as shaping personal mobility in a more effective way.

Different cities, different needs

Each challenge was designed to address a specific issue facing the diverse needs of cities around the world. For full details on all of the challenges, visit the Innovate Mobility Challenge Series landing page, fordsvl.com/innovatemobility.

* Lisbon, Portugal: Different sized cities utilize different mobility infrastructure. Ford’s City Mobility Challenge in Lisbon encourages developers to optimize the delivery of goods and services in a sustainable way for cities, specifically targeting those with less than 600,000 people. The submission period will run from July 15 to October 14, with the winners announced in November.

*, India: With a months-long monsoon season that can leave transportation infrastructure crippled – including flooded, impassable roads and the suspension of the city’s commuter rail system – the Monsoon App Downpour Challenge will focus on leveraging vehicles and information to improve mobility during inclement weather. Mumbai’s submission period will run from July 15 to October 14, with the winners announced in November.

* Los Angeles, United States: The Parking Lots 2.0 Challenge will take parking into the 21st century by rethinking and repurposing outdoor surface parking lots to increase their variety of uses, and aesthetic value, while still ensuring access to parking. The LA submission period will run from July 15 to October 14, with the winners announced in November.

*, India: The SUMURR Golden Hour Challenge will invite developers to create software applications leveraging information to decrease the time to get to care and increase information available for care to improve health outcomes within the critical “Golden Hour” after a traumatic incident. The submission period will run from July 30 to October 30.

* Chennai region, India: The SUMURR mHealth Challenge will focus on leveraging information to extend health services for remote rural regions accessible from Chennai. The submission period will run from July 30 to October 30.

* Shanghai, China: As the world becomes more urban and populated, finding traffic-busting solutions to increase traffic efficiency will only become more important. Fitting for one of China’s largest and most crowded cities, the Urban Commuter Challenge calls on developers to find ways to improve quality of life through apps that help improve mobility choices and overcome traffic congestion. The submission period will run from August 14 to November 14.

* Johannesburg, South Africa: The Johannesburg challenge focuses innovation on adding value to the vehicle through the creation of accessories for vehicles, especially commercial vehicles, in the largest city in South Africa. The submission period will begin on August 14, with more details to follow.

* Countrywide, Argentina: The Future of Mobility Contest will challenge college students and entrepreneurs to submit ideas for projects that will help mitigate traffic congestion and improve overall mobility in Argentina, particularly relating to aspects like urban planning, intelligent infrastructure and new models for public and private mobility. The contest will run from July 18 through August 29, with contest finalists evaluated and winners identified in November.

Worldwide call for developers

Ford’s OpenXC program is a non-production, open-source, software and hardware platform designed to encourage top developers to experiment with Do-It-Yourself projects using real-time vehicle data. Developers can use OpenXC data like any other data source in a smartphone, tablet or web app. The Innovate Mobility Challenge Series encourages developers to integrate this real-time vehicle information into apps that relate to sustainability and mobility issues, whether by incorporating the data into existing apps or creating new apps from scratch.

The OpenXC platform gives developers access to more than 15 types of vehicle data, including those related to vehicle speed, engine speed, fuel-level, and things like whether or not the windshield wipers are on or if a door is open,” said K. Venkatesh Prasad, senior technical leader, Open Innovation, Ford Motor Company. “With these challenges, we’re reaching out to the best minds in the developer community, because we know that no single company or individual holds the answer. Local problems need local solutions, and we want to encourage that.”

A good example of the potential of OpenXC comes from a Ford engineer, Zac Nelson, who used the open-source platform to design an app-cum-accessory concept – a manual transmission shift knob that gives haptic feedback to the driver. Using real-time engine data and a 3D-printed shift knob he designed with an embedded Xbox 360 actuator, he created an app that instructs the shift knob to pulsate at the optimum shift points. The app can be programmed for high performance driving, ride comfort or fuel efficiency depending on driving style.

Ford’s online OpenXC portal has all the information developers and accessory makers need to get started, including an OpenXC overview, tools for developing software without any vehicle related hardware, and information about how to get started building or buying OpenXC vehicle interface hardware. Find out more at openxcplatform.com.

Prize information and challenge requirements

The first three competitions of the Innovate Mobility Challenge Series – Mumbai, Lisbon and Los Angeles – will offer prizes totaling US$30,000 for each challenge, with a grand prize of US$15,000 for the winner of each. For the Argentina challenge, the winner will receive a scholarship for an Entrepreneur Postgraduate at an Argentine university and a trip to the United States to meet with Ford mobility engineers and attend the North American International Auto Show. The prizes for the remaining challenges will be announced at a later date.

A wide variety of accessories and software solutions will be eligible, including web or android apps. All accessories and apps that will be used while driving must conform to Ford’s In-Vehicle Usage Criteria for safety including non-distracting driving. No specific API, SDK, or data integration is required, however use of Ford’s OpenXC platform is encouraged.

Individuals and organizations of up to 50 employees are eligible for the cash prizes, while organizations with over 50 employees may compete for the non-cash Large Organization Recognition Award. The winning app, or accessory depending on challenge type, will be selected by a panel of experts comprised of Ford executives and local judges for each separate city.

The challenges build on the successful Traffic Tamer App Challenge in London, which concluded this spring. Ford announced in March that AppyParking, a comprehensive parking app that allows drivers to pay for parking, view parking maps and find electric vehicle charging stations, had won the grand prize of US$10,000.