A Perfect Gift Guide for Tech-Savvy Indian Dads from pTron

You can always go the extra mile and make your dad’s life simpler and convenient.  Why not surprise him with something that makes his ‘in and post work from home life’ much easier? TWS earbuds make the ideal headset and a welcome shift from the traditional wired earphones to the hassle-free wireless era. Many factors come into play when shopping for the best headphones. From design and comfort to the sound quality, pTron looks to deliver the best in every aspect for every possible use of its products.

Time to transform your DAD to a Gadget man!!

pTron Bassbuds Pro- INR 1499

1. In-ear True Wireless Stereo earbuds (TWS) featuring Smart Touch Control & Bass

2. On-the earbuds multi-function buttons allow calls & music control for a hands-free experience

3. Type-C port ensures fast charging

4. Bluetooth 5.0, 10m range; 1.5 Hours Charging Time; 100 Hours Standby Time

5. Supports Voice Assistant; Universal Earbuds.

pTron Bassbuds Tango- INR 1599

1. On-the earbuds multi-function buttons allow calls & music control for a hands-free experience

2. Bluetooth 5.0; 3 Hours of Music & Talk-time; Playtime up to 30 Hours: 1.2 Hours Charging Time;

3. LCD Display Charging Case; 120 Hours of Standby-time

4. 10m Wireless range; Voice Assistant Support

 

QuEST Global Enhances its Lung Nodule Detection Solution Using Microsoft Azure Software

QuEST Global, a global product engineering and lifecycle services company, announced today that it has enhanced its Lung Nodule Detection solution using Microsoft Azure. With the help of this solution, powered by Azure IoT Central and Azure Machine Learning (ML), the company aims to help medical imaging device manufacturers improve the cancer nodule detection accuracy from CT scans, as compared to conventional image processing methods. Once deployed, this computer-aided diagnosis application can be used for screening and will help doctors analyze CT scan images more quickly and accurately.

QuEST used Azure Machine Learning to train the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and the trained model was packaged in containers and deployed on IoT Edge device using IoT Central. The solution has a detection accuracy of 93 percent and sensitivity of 89 percent, with a real-time performance of 20 images per second. With the help of Microsoft technology, the entire product development lifecycle and deployment of QuEST’s solution has been made more secure and efficient. The company has also used Azure Machine Learning to create customized models and IoT Central to deploy the solution on to Azure IoT Edge in containerized form for online and offline usage.

Commenting on the Lung Nodule Detection solution and the collaboration with Microsoft, Krish Kupathil, Head – Digital Innovation and Hi-Tech, QuEST Global said, “The healthcare industry is on the brink of a new wave of digital transformation, powered by breakthroughs in IoT, ML, AI and cloud platforms. We are delighted to work with Microsoft to develop our Lung Nodule Detection solution on Azure IoT and Machine Learning. This brings together our imaging, analytics and computation and machine learning expertise across the entire digital transformation ecosystem, besides enabling us to leverage Microsoft’s advanced technologies and expertise in spearheading large digital implementations. This collaboration will help us in defining myriad scenarios to enable IoT use cases leveraging on our multi-domain expertise.”

Bert Van Hoof, Partner Group Program Manager for Azure IoT, Microsoft Corp., said, “According to the World Health Organization, lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer related deaths in the world. QuEST used Microsoft Azure IoT Central and Azure Machine Learning to build an innovative solution to detect cancer nodules from CT scans with high performance, accuracy and sensitivity. Azure IoT Central provides the IoT application infrastructure that allowed QuEST to quickly build a globally available, secure, and scalable IoT solution that can be easily customized and updated. We value our ongoing collaboration with QuEST and its ability to blend deep cross industry domain expertise with the power of Azure IoT Central to build elegant solutions that tackle complex problems with great expediency.”

As a trusted thinking partner, QuEST has been working with the world’s most recognized companies in the healthcare industry for the last two decades. The company is committed to enable its customers to Create The Frontier by enhancing healthcare experience to improve the lives of millions of people around the world. With its expertise in new age technologies like Deep Learning, AI, IoT and ML, the company has been developing comprehensive engineering solutions by using Azure IoT, AI, and ML technologies that help OEMs and tier-one suppliers seamlessly take the next step in their digital transformation journey and make products safer and more reliable.

About QuEST Global

For more than 20 years, QuEST Global has aimed to be a trusted global product engineering and lifecycle services partner to many of the world’s most recognized companies in the Aero Engines, Hi-Tech, Aerospace & Defense, Transportation (Auto and Rail), Power and Industrial, Oil & Gas and Medical Devices industries. With a global presence in 15 countries, 68 global centers and 12,300+ personnel, QuEST Global believes that it is at the forefront of the convergence of the mechanical, electronics, software and digital engineering innovations to engineer solutions for a safer, cleaner world. QuEST Global’s deep domain knowledge and digital expertise aim to help its clients accelerate product development and innovation cycles, create alternate revenue streams, enhance consumer experience and make manufacturing processes and operations more efficient.

Trend Micro Named a Global Cybersecurity Channel “Champion” by Canalys

Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, today announced it has been placed in the Champions quadrant of the Canalys Global Cybersecurity Leadership Matrix, in recognition of major investments and improvements in the channel over the past year.

Canalys recognized Trend Micro’s significant investments in its channel program over the last year, particularly highlighting its partner portal improvements that include significant investments in deal registration, sales kits, promotions and training. The enhancement of the company’s Managed Service Provider (MSP) program with a central licensing management platform; and the offering of SOCaaS to automate cross-customer and cross-product threat analysis received particular praise from Canalys. The closer alignment AWS’s CPPO program was also highlighted as major step.

“Trend Micro has always been 100% committed to the channel and we’re delighted to be named a ‘champion’ by Canalys,” said Louise McEvoy, vice president of U.S. channel, Trend Micro. “It is recognition of the hard work our teams around the globe have put in over the past year, and there’s even more to come in 2020 as we continue to refresh our partner program, launch new platforms and services and pursue new growth opportunities.”

The latest Canalys matrix sees Trend Micro move up from a “growers” to “champions” position in 2020, with its highest-rated benchmark metrics in product availability and supply (79.3%) and ease of doing business (75.4%). Usefulness of portal and tools (72.6%) provided by Trend Micro was also ranked highly by partners.

For 2020, Trend Micro will refresh its partner program with an adjusted discount structure to drive deeper engagement with enterprise partners, and plans to launch new Customer Success Services to provide business insight and assessment for partners to deliver to customers and prospects.

Over the coming months, Trend Micro is also committed to recruiting and growing hundreds of MSPs by providing support services and increased profitability, and generating more leads with partners via solution campaigns, promotions, incentives, and its demand generation self-services platform.

Smartphone Users Crossed 500 Million in India During 2019 : Report

Over 50 crore Indians are now using smartphones, a 15 per cent increase from 2018 primarily due to brands like Xiaomi and Realme which continue to bring new users to the ecosystem, a new report* said recently. According to market research firm techARC, India had 502.2 million smartphone users as of December 2019, which means over 77 per cent of Indians are now accessing wireless broadband through smartphones. Samsung with 34 per cent led the smartphone installed base in the calendar year 2019, followed by Xiaomi at 20 per cent, Vivo at 11 per cent and OPPO at 9 per cent, respectively.

"After a slow migration rate from feature phones to smartphones for a couple of years, it's good to see that the market has started to expand again," Faisal Kawoosa, Founder and Chief Analyst, techARC said in a statement*. Although the market does have options in the entry segment (sub-Rs 5,000) for smartphones, users prefer to start their smartphone journey with the basic segment (Rs 5,001 to Rs 10,000). Realme, Vivo and OnePlus led smartphone brands in terms of percentage net addition to the user base in 2019. Realme increased its user base by 49 per cent, Vivo 44 per cent and OnePlus by 41 per cent. Other major brands including Samsung, Xiaomi and OPPO added 9 per cent, 25 per cent and 36 per cent, respectively to their user base in 2019.

"Factors like availability of good-quality affordable smartphones, expansion of online as well as offline channels, expansion of 4G/LTE networks by the operators are among the key reasons driving the smartphone user growth," said Kawoosa. However, it's going to be challenging hereon as the market is saturating in terms of addressable market, he added. The next goal for smartphone brands should be to ramp up services where they could consistently generate revenue from the existing customers. At present, smartphone brands are able to generate $0.5-$1.5 a month from users depending on what all the services they offer, including advertising.

"Even if a brand is able to generate $1 revenue per user per month, with a base of 50 million users to be there for an average of 3 years, this means a revenue potential of $1.8 billion from services alone," the findings showed. The other strategy is to offer accessories and other connected electronic devices like smart TVs and smart speakers. Vivo, OPPO and Realme will be the three main gainers for 2020 in terms of additions to the net user base, forecast the techINSIGHT report. "Realme could enter in top five brands by installed user base displacing Lenovo MBG (Lenovo + Motorola) brands. Xiaomi will continue to exhibit growth in user base while Samsung could start showing off decline in its user base or grow with a low percentile," the report added.

* Agencies

Telangana Blockchain District’s Accelerator Program Shortlists 30 Startups For Its First Cohort

T-Block Accelerator, the inaugural accelerator program under the aegis of the Telangana Blockchain District today announced the 30 shortlisted startup cohort that will proceed to an intensive Start-up Training Program. The accelerator also announced the onboarding of global blockchain players Tezos India, R3 Corda, and SettleMint as platform partners and CV Labs, a Swiss-based incubator as the Hub Partner. With the support and expertise of these industry leaders in the blockchain realm, T-block will provide selected Indian startups from the first cohort with technical support to build their solutions on their platform, GTM (Go-To-Market) support, technology implementation support, and grants on a case-on-case basis.

The T-Block Accelerator organized by the Telangana Government and Tech Mahindra and run by IBC Media, an innovation management company saw registrations from over 160 blockchain-based startups from across India. Of these 160 registered startups,  30 selected startups in the first cohort will undergo a three-week-long training period including one-on-one sessions with a panel of mentors,  workshops, presentations, discussions, and assignments designed to impart the practical knowledge required to build relevant blockchain products with real-world applications. After further filtration, the selected start-ups will have an opportunity to pitch innovative ideas and get mentored by experts from the government of Telangana, Tech Mahindra, C-DAC, and IIIT Hyderabad. 

Jayesh Ranjan (Principal Secretary, ITE&C Department, Government of Telangana) said “As one of the first states in India to focus on leveraging emerging technologies for increased efficiency of the overall functioning of the government, the Telangana government has always looked to nurture new startups and businesses in emerging technology in India. The 30 selected startups that proceed to the acceleration phase of the T-Block Accelerator have shown immense potential to solve real-life problems faced across verticals. Our new partnerships with global platform protocols strengthen our commitment to support these startups through their entrepreneurial journey and we look forward to their growth through the course of this accelerator program.”

Rama Devi Lanka (Director, Emerging Technologies & Officer on Special Duty, ITE&C Department, Government of Telangana) added, “We have seen some very interesting startups register for the T-Block Accelerator and are looking forward to engaging and interacting closely with the selected 30 startups. Armed with all the support from the Telangana Blockchain District and the mentorship from our multiple global partners, we look forward to multiple disruptive solutions from these selected startups that will lead the nation to a path of progress and innovation.”

Nicolai Reinbold, Ecosystem and Incubation Manager at CV Labs added, “After being a part of the journey of building Zug in Switzerland as the Global Crypto Valley, we at CV Labs, are excited to be a part of this initiative aimed to further the vision of the Telangana government of becoming blockchain capital of India. Powering startups around blockchain products is a natural progression for our efforts in India and T-block is the perfect platform to do so. We see huge potential in the selected startups and their solutions are a validation of the technological prowess of India. We are very happy to join forces with the first government-led accelerator program to build the blockchain ecosystem in India.”

Om Malviya , President, Tezos India Foundation, is excited to be a part of the T-block accelerator to empower the startups with Tezos’ Blockchain support. “T-block accelerator program is an incredible platform to identify new startups with the potential to elevate the blockchain ecosystem in India and I am happy to see Tezos India foundation becoming a major partner for the same. It will be exciting to see how startups take full advantage of the features that Tezos provides, and how it will benefit their business.” said Om Malviya “We, at Tezos India Foundation, will be there at every step to provide any help, support or resources necessary.”

Shahzad Fatmi, CEO SettleMint India, mentioned that they are very proud to partner with T-Block.  He added, “SettleMint will bring its global experience and best practices to help the start-ups create robust applications and business plans for their company. We believe start-ups should focus on solving business challenges and taking their solutions faster to market.  T-Block's selected start-ups will have full support from SettleMint to achieve this goal.”

Following an earlier announcement, the Telangana Blockchain district has brought some of the major blockchain leaders as partners for this accelerator including Matic Networks, Harmony protocol, æternity, R3 Corda, Tezos India, and SettleMint as Platform partners along with CV Labs as the Hub Partner.  Launched in February 2020, the T-Block Accelerator has completed its deal flow and selected start-ups will undergo a three-week boot camp, followed by the acceleration phase.

Dr. Fixit’s Initiative to Support Contractors During Critical Pre-Monsoon Waterproofing of Buildings

Summary

* Pre-monsoon repairs, often critical, needed by 6-8 % of  buildings/ structures

* To benefit 5000 + contractors, Dr. Fixit’s initiative will include safety certification training as per MHA, WHO guidelines along with training on advanced waterproofing techniques and mechanisation

* It will be rolled out in 10 cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Indore, Ahmedabad, Surat, Kolkata, Nagpur

As the lockdown enforced to combat the COVID-19 pandemic eases, monsoon is set to enter the country. While it will bring general relief, the ensuing rains could well worsen the leakage issues faced by consumers in their houses and cause damage to structures. This will impact the large numbers of people living in buildings and homes that need serious preventive waterproofing before the rains arrive this year. It is expected that 6-8 % of buildings and structures may need critical pre-monsoon repairs. The waterproofing contractors play a crucial role in ensuring the structural integrity of buildings and depend upon the pre-monsoon work for a big part of their earnings.

However, consumers have heightened health & safety concerns this year and may be wary of workers entering their homes. It is necessary to address these consumer’s concerns as it may lead to reduced repair & waterproofing work impacting incomes for waterproofing community.

Keeping this in mind, Dr. Fixit, the construction and waterproofing expert from the house of Pidilite Industries Ltd, has rolled out multiple initiatives which will benefit thousands of hardworking waterproofing contractors. This will not only help them to safeguard their livelihoods but will also benefit those consumers who urgently need waterproofing.

The program has been rolled out across 10 cities - Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Indore, Ahmedabad, Surat, Kolkata and Nagpur, and addresses two objectives.

Contractor/User safety training: The first is to train and certify contractors on all safety aspects they and their workers need to adopt to prevent contracting and spreading of COVID-19 while conducting site operations. Dr Fixit has launched a full-fledged training & certification program for contractors on how they can ensure their own safety and that of their workers, and consumers at the site of their work. The program imparts training and information about all precautions as per the guidelines of MHA and WHO. At the end the course, participants take a detailed exam, with successful participants being duly certified. 

The certification training, conducted over video conferencing, has been helping contractors allay fears of potential customers and prospect for fresh work with them to undertake waterproofing jobs.  Moreover, Dr Fixit has complemented the entire extensive training with an audio visual guiding users on how to handle site work during the Corona pandemic.

For effective job completion: The second objective is provide technical training to contractors /users on advanced waterproofing techniques so that they can be equipped to complete all jobs faster, with fewer workers, and as per stringent quality standards.

To this end, the Dr Fixit teams have been providing technical training on advanced waterproofing techniques, including the use of mechanized tools and devices that would help them speedily complete and deliver their jobs to the best quality. Dr Fixit has partnered with multiple companies that manufactures these mechanization equipments and has been training its users on these machines.

For the mental peace of their hardworking and safety-trained contractors and their teams, Dr Fixit has stepped up to also provide them with free COVID insurance cover.

Huami Amazfit’s Dual OS Sports Watch Stratos 3 Coming Soon on Flipkart & in.amazfit.com/

Online Sales Shortly

* Powered with a dual chip & dual operating system, 14 days battery life,

* Integrated Sony GNSS chips support four different global positioning systems: GPS, GLONASS, BEIDOU and GALILEO, 4-Satellite / 3-Modes GPS

* 2GB Storage for songs

Huami Corporation, a biometric and activity data-driven company with significant expertise in smart wearable technology and #1 Smartwatch brand in India (as per IDC latest data), is soon going to launch Amazfit Stratos 3 smartwatch in India. It will be available on Flipkart and Amazfit India official store in.amazfit.com

Stratos 3, which is equipped with FIRSTBEAT professional-level sports analysis algorithm, is targeting athletes, sport & fitness enthusiasts to improve their training habits and get the motivation they need to push their limits.

A smartwatch packed with 80 different sports modes, heart rate monitoring and FIRSTBEAT professional-level sports. It is equipped with 35-70-hour continuous GPS tracker, 1.34” (320x320 pixels) full round transflective display, Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, anti-fingerprint coating. The device has built-in activity profiles like Ultra-Endurance Mode, VO2Max, Exercise Effect (TE), Exercise Load (TD), and Recovery Time Data. It offers a battery life of 14days and water resistance 50-meters depth and internal music storage.

Stratos 3 sports modes list includes Curling, Snowboarding, Ski, Downhill ski, Outdoor skating, Indoor skating, Cross country ski, Fencing, Karate, Boxing, Judo, Wrestling, Tai Chi, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Martial arts, Kickboxing, Hunting, Fishing, Sailing, Skateboard, Paddleboarding, Roller skating, Rock climbing, Archery, Free training, Equestrianism, Mountain biking, BMX, Cricket, Baseball, Bowling, Squash, Rugby, Basketball, Softball, Gateball, Volleyball, Table tennis, Hockey, Handball, Badminton, HIIT, Core training, Mixed aerobic, Strength Training, Stretch, Floor climbing machine, Pilates, Flexibility, Stair stepper, Step training, Gymnastics, Yoga, Ballet, Belly dance, Square dance, Street Dance, Ballroom dance, and Zumba.