SpaceX Puts India's First Private Startup Satellite in Polar Orbit

California-based SpaceX has announced the successful launch of India’s first homegrown satellite built by a Mumbai-based private startup, which is part of the 70-odd satellites from 16 countries, that were launched in a sun-synchronous polar orbit.

The ExseedSat-1, built with the contributions of several ham operators and with the help of small Indian firms, is expected to play a major role during natural disasters as it facilitates effective two-way communication through a simple hand-held walkie-talkie with a beam antenna.

Euphoria gripped India's southern city of Hyderabad on Tuesday after SpaceX announced that all 64 satellites on board the Falcon-9 rocket had been successfully placed on orbit.

The mission, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, included a one kilogram CubeSat named ExseedSat1 which was fully conceived, designed and made by Indian start-up Exseed Space without taking any help from the state-owned space agency ISRO.

The startup was founded by Ashhar Farhan and Kris Nair. The startup claims that it is also part of the private consortium who won the historic AIT bid last year to build large satellites for the Indian government.

"ExseedSat-1 carried an amateur radio payload. Licensed radio amateurs around the world will be able to access, receive and talk through it using a simple hand-held walkie-talkie with beam antenna", Kris Nair, one of the founders said.

Exseed Space is working towards setting up India's first contract satellite manufacturing facility. Once operational, the facility will cater to the growing global demands of manufacturing CubeSats, NanoSats, and MicroSats (1U/2U/3U/6U). Platforms the start-up builds are based on units of 10cm by 10cm by 10cm CubeSats.

The power output is selectable between 1 watt and 0.5 watts. The purpose of the mission is to interest student outreach. Depending on the life of the battery, the satellite may provide service for two years and then the satellite would de-orbit naturally.

The SpaceX mission have launched 70 spacecraft from 50 different organisations, including 15 microsats and 56 cubesats, that will rank it as the single largest ride-share mission from a US-based launch vehicle, the report added.

It includes payloads from 18 countries: India, United States, Australia, Italy, Netherlands, Finland, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, UK, Germany, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Poland, Canada, South Africa, and Brazil.

IIA Held International Mr & Miss World Grand Finale in Bangalore

The fourth edition of International Iconic Federation (IIF), Bangalore have successfully hosted and organised, Mr & Miss World Grand Finale for the first time at the Royal Orchid Resort, Yelahanka in Bangalore on a grand note.

Nearly forty foreign participants both men and women represented their countries mainly from Indonesia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Iran, Middle East and African countries at the glamorous event. India’s Miss Sangitha was crowned as a Second Runner Up. In men section, Indonesia and Iran sealed their First Runners Up position.

Bollywood celebrity Sara Khan judged the show along with CEO Nasagman IIF. CEO, who assured to make India a desired destination for fashion lovers in times to come and has also promised to deliver international experience to the participants and assured that Bangalore would be the most ideal location to celebrate the events.

Global Remote Connectivity Leader TeamViewer Enters India, Eyes Faster Growth

TeamViewer, a global leader in secure remote connectivity solutions, has announced the opening of its first India office in Mumbai as key driver for its long-term growth initiative in the South Asia region. TeamViewer’s India office will act as a sales, marketing, and support centre to provide best-in-class remote connectivity solutions for a dynamically growing local user base on the subcontinent with more than 100m installations to date.

“Opening an office in India is integral part of our APAC growth ambitions with a strong focus on going multi-local to be closer to our existing customers and even better understand the market, client, and partner needs,” said Oliver Steil, CEO of TeamViewer, speaking to the media in Mumbai. “With our strong commitment to India we aim to address the substantial opportunities of work-style reform and the strong demand from businesses of all sizes for secure remote connectivity solutions at scale. We are very excited to further strengthen our footprint in one of the fastest growing economies in the world that is at the forefront of digital transformation.”

“We aim to support India’s agile SMB, large enterprises and government space through secure and reliable remote access, remote support, and collaboration in one integrated solution,” said Konstantin Ebert, Vice President Sales EMEA, APAC, and Global Channels at TeamViewer. “Our cutting-edge yet easy-to-deploy solutions address the use-cases of modern organizations looking for the ability to connect anything, anywhere, anytime. TeamViewer’s solutions could also help the Indian government with its Digital India and Smart Cities programs as their essence is transparency and interconnectedness between government and citizens.”

“With the growth of India’s digital footprint, more and more industries in the country are developing and implementing IoT, AR, and AI innovation. TeamViewer offers best-in-class connectivity enabling our customers to securely tap into these megatrends,” said Krunal Patel, TeamViewer Head of Sales India and South Asia. “Our channel partner fraternity will play a pivotal role in driving this growth with sector specific solutions. We already have Ingram micro signed up as our first distributor in India and are quickly expanding our existing reseller network.”

Unity to Launch Unite India’s Second Edition in Association with Government of Telangana

Unity Technologies (https://unity3d.com/), creator of the world’s most popular end-to-end development engine that reaches nearly 3 billion devices worldwide is back with its second edition of Unite in association with Government of Telangana’s ‘India Joy’. India Joy largest Expo to celebrate gaming and Digital media & Entertainment content from 1st to 6th December 2018 in Hyderabad. With an effort to promote Indian talent via international relations and provide growth and leadership for Digital media and Entertainment industry in the country, Government of Telangana in Association with Telangana VFX Animation & Gaming Association (TVAGA) is conducting India Joy.

This year’s Unite will majorly focus on sessions around Industry 4.0 and highlight the key trends of automation and data exchange in manufacturing technologies. Key sessions like heralding the era of Machine Teaching using Unity, future of industrial workforce using Microsoft HoloLens, evolving adoption of XR Technology in industries, Unity3D for Human- Machine interface with drones, simulating, Nuclear Reactor Scenarios in CAVE environment, Smart Farming, a Step towards the transformation and many more. The sessions will also touch upon the animation fraternity with sessions like the making of the Oscar-nominated movie ‘Sonder’, and will also unveil details around ‘Cricket VR Worlds’, the first near-live cricket solution.

‘’Unite India, with the support of the government-owned flagship event, aims to bring significant value to Digital Media and Entertainment Community,” said Hubert Larenaudie President, Asia Pacific Unity Technologies. “Looking at the evolving talent in the digital content ranging from Animation, Gaming, VFX, AR, and VR, we believe that India has a huge potential in Industry 4.0. Through this event, we look forward to unlocking the full creative potential of Unity Developers .”

Unite India 2018 is going to bring an opportunity to learn, network and participate in exciting activities, including advanced hands-on demo workshops, technical sessions–customized for different levels from beginner to intermediate and advanced, previews of upcoming Unity tech, opportunities to get tips from Unity experts, Auto and Industrial mini-summit, Animation and VFX mini-summit and Networking.

Unite is Unity’s global developer conference hosted in eight countries and is the most important gathering of Unity developers, artists, publishers, educators, and enthusiasts. The conference is going to witness experts and prominent spokespeople from various industries ranging from gaming, animation, VFX, AR/VR and automotive under one roof, to give deep insight into the world of evolving technologies. 

Pet Fed Culminates its Debut Bengaluru Edition, 2018

Pet Fed, India’s largest Pet festival, presented by Just Dogs concluded its first ever edition in Bengaluru, as on 2nd Dec 2018. The little furry friends cherished the two days dedicated to them as Pet Fed, kicked off its first edition in Bangalore with all the fervour and passion on 1st & 2nd Dec respectively at Manpho Grounds (Manyata Tech Park).

The first cutest festival of 2018 hit Bengaluru that witnessed 2300+ pets across 50+ breeds (dog, cat, hamsters and guinea pigs included). The 2-day fiesta was swanked of plentiful activities like Security Dog Show, Temptation Alley and hosted competitions for pets with cool talents who enthusiastically pitched for Foodie Singh Award, Naam Toh Suna Hi Hoga Award and Glamorous Dog award amongst others. The activity ring also had engaging activities lined up like Pets Got Talent, Discover Dog Zone, Fashion Show and a separate cat show for all the cat lovers.

Pet Fed 2018 is presented by Just Dogs- India's biggest chain of retail outlets for pet products in India with 30 outlets pan India. It is a one stop shop for all pet requirements from grooming and training as well as shopping.

Speaking on the occasion, Akshay Gupta, Founder, Pet Fed, said ‘’We are overwhelmed and amazed at the same time as we continue to absorb the love and response we have got from the lovely people of Bengaluru. We are exhilarated to have received so much enthusiasm and support in our first edition in this city. While we are sure to gear up for its second edition next year, at the moment we look forward to entertaining our adorable fur balls in Delhi & Mumbai on 15-16 Dec & 19-20 Jan respectively.”

“We have concluded this two day long pet fiesta on an ecstatic note and now we are moving towards Delhi and Mumbai for yet another set of activities that will have you rushing to book the tickets.”, he added.

Pet Parents gear up to get your pooch try exciting and fun activities at the forthcoming editions in Delhi and Mumbai. Experience yet another cutest weekend of the year with 3000+ pets. Get your pets to try some cool tricks. There is something for everyone at the festival. So don’t miss out on it.

With the cute pups wagging their tales, Pet Fed is the place for your yearly dose of Puppy Therapy! Get set to witness Pet Fed in association with Jerhigh, India’s biggest pet festival, in Delhi on 15th December and 16th December ’18 at the NSIC Okhla Grounds, New Delhi.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor Sells 11,390 Units During November 2018

Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold a total of 10721 units in the domestic market in November 2018. The company exported 669 units of the Etios series this month thus clocking a total of 11,390 units.   In the month of November 2017, Toyota Kirloskar Motor sold a total of 12734 units in the domestic market. In addition, the company exported 686 units of the Etios series.

Commenting on the monthly sales, N. Raja, Deputy Managing Director, Toyota Kirloskar Motor said, “Fluctuating exchange rates, rising fuel costs and high interest rates have impacted the consumer sentiment in auto industry.  Consumer demand has witnessed a downward trend over the festive period as compared to same period last year. We are trying to maintain lean inventory at dealership to avoid stock pileup.  Festive season has not been able to usual spur in customer demand. 

With the new year around the corner, we hope there will be a positive momentum in the buying sentiments ensuring growth in year-end sales. We would like to extend our gratitude to our loyal customers who have been appreciating our products time and again.”

Toyota is considering a price increase of upto 4% across models with effect from 1st Jan 2019 owing to continued pressure of high manufacturing costs.

Accenture Joins Data Literacy Project to Build More Data Literate World

Today, on behalf of its founding partners, Qlik is pleased to welcome Accenture to the Data Literacy Project. Accenture joins as a founding partner, committing to the Project’s mission to build a data literate culture across the world.

Data literacy is an essential skill in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, empowering people to ask questions of data and machines, build knowledge, make decisions and communicate its meaning with others. Yet, only 24 percent of business decision makers are fully confident in their ability to read, work with, analyze and argue with data.

The Data Literacy Project, launched this October, is a community dedicated to making society fluent in the language of data, and places data literacy at the heart of individual and organizational success.

The Project will provide individuals and organizations with extensive educational and professional training materials, interactive assessment tools and access to a community of experts. The community will not only support personal skills development, but also promote greater understanding around the importance of creating a data-driven culture within business.

The founding partners will drive the Project’s agenda, provide educational resources and training, and ensure it achieves its mission.  

“As data becomes increasingly critical to every stage of the business decision making process, it must also become increasingly trustworthy. Individuals must be able to trust the integrity of the data and recommendations being provided by analytics,” said Sanjeev Vohra, Group Technology Officer of Accenture Technology Services and Global Lead for Business Data Group. “Data literacy is an essential skill that enables us to probe and question information before making critical decisions. That’s why we’re committed to the Data Literacy Project’s mission of inspiring major organizations globally to make data literacy an imperative and will be providing guidance to individuals as they take their next steps on their data literacy journey.”

“We’re excited to have Accenture as a founding partner in the Data Literacy Project,” said Mike Capone, Qlik CEO. “Accenture excels in implementing solutions that help build intelligent enterprises, and fully understands the business value of data literacy that was outlined in our recent Data Literacy Index global research. Accenture will be a great partner to the project in helping organizations understand their role in creating a more data literate world.”