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Month: October 2018

Intel: Smart Glasses (AR Displays) coming this Year

We are living in a world of smart technology where living smart or smart living has merely become a daily routine. The augmented usage of smart technology has resulted in many innovations that are now a part of our day-to-day life, of which the smartphones are the most widely used. One would definitely have it vibrating in his pockets which gives a global access to the world from his palm. Smart watches, smart televisions, smart homes, etc., to name a few are what comes under this smart technology, however, this doesn’t end here. What could be more fascinating in today’s world than wearing a pair of smart glasses? Sounds interesting, isn’t it! Yes, the chip giant Intel has recently announced the launch of augmented reality (AR) glasses this year which will be made available soon by the end of 2018, for all the smart technology lovers.

The spectacles, according to reports, will use a laser-based projector that will reportedly reflect contextual information of the lens and into the user’s retina to display the information in the user’s field of view. The device will also support Bluetooth connection through which users will be able to pair their glasses with their phones. These smart glasses will be developed in collaboration with Taiwanese manufacturer Quanta Computer. The wearables that are currently being called ‘Superlite’ by Intel employees, is anticipated to be sold under the name ‘Vault’.

However, this is not the first time that Intel has come up with this project. It has previously experimented the augmented reality, and acquired the company Recon, a manufacturer of sport and enterprise-focused smart glasses, in June 2015. Recon which primarily produced AR glasses designed for enterprise, industrial and sporting occasions, after bought by the chipmaker, made Recon smart eyewear. Much like the Google Glass was this eyewear built for sports and athletes as safety goggles that offered a hands-free display with helpful information like speed or workout data layered into the edge of your field of vision.

When virtual reality has gone mainstream, the tech giant has worked with industrial AR headset company, Daqri, and unveiled “Project Alloy", a device that creates merged reality. Merged reality is something that goes beyond virtual reality, in which it digitizes the real world and allows people to experience the virtual world without coming into conflict with the real world. Project Alloy is a headset that uses the RealSense technology enabling people to use their hands to interact with elements of the virtual world. But unfortunately, Intel had to shut down Recon and discontinue Project Alloy last year.

About five years after the unveiling of Google Glass, it’s now the time for the pair of smart glasses with augmented reality display to enter the market again. With the idea of commercial smart eyewear gaining importance and many companies investing in one, Intel has all its users excited about the consumer-friendly AR glasses. According to reports, the Intel’s augmented reality division is valued at $350 million. By 2025, the market for augmented reality hardware is expected to grow to nearly $110 billion with software accounting for another $72 billion.

Augmented reality has been changing the way users see the world. It may be recalled that after the launch of Pokémon Go game, there was an increased demand for Augmented Reality entertainment worldwide. The augmented-reality displays eventually look much like a normal pair of glasses where the 3D moving images appear in front of the viewer and a pair of virtual reality headsets will produce an audio that will coincide with whatever you see. This is an amazing technology that turns concepts into reality and puts a digital layer over the real world and is expected to gain momentum in the near future.

Rochester, New York-based Vuzix, a small company though has unveiled its Blade glasses at this year’s CES and is expected to launch the consumer version in a few months. Amazon, on the other hand, is also working on their Alexa-powered glasses.

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Technology changing the face of Education

Try imagining a day without technology; feels suffocating, isn’t it! Technology has now become a daily routine and part-and-parcel of our day-to-day life. Our day starts with one and ends with one. The pace at which technology is getting advanced these days, it is evident that the impact of technology today is huge. Technology has made it possible and effortless for all of us to communicate with people across the globe through email, Skype, instant messaging, social media, etc. It has further enabled mankind to strengthen their relationships with friends, relatives, and colleagues.

There’s no denying fact that the advancements in technology have greatly influenced the various fields like Healthcare, Education, Communication, Manufacturing, Banking, etc. Spreading its wings over Education, technology has influenced the field of education as well making a positive impact on the education process and changing the perception of learning. The transition is evident in digital classrooms, smart schools and online learning being inculcated into the educational system. The continuous transformation that technology manifested in the educational sector has made it obvious for the schools to embrace and integrate technology into the classrooms.

From traditional classroom teaching to online teaching, from blackboards to interactive whiteboards and from textbooks to iPads, information technology in education has transformed the educational system by giving it a global platform. Technology has made our learning world smaller so that everyone can have access to the education of the global classroom. With the emerging technologies in education changing the perception of learning, schools have integrated technology in the classroom to enhance better learning and teaching. This is how technology has been changing education.

  • E-books
  • Digital Classrooms
  • Online Education
  • Multimedia Learning
  • Easy access to information
  • Technology for Special Students
  • Increased Student-Teacher Interaction and Engagement

    • Future Impact of Technology:

    Technology involvement in the educational realm has had a huge impact on improving the quality of education and making teaching effective. However, there will be more changes anticipated in the future and below is a glimpse of how the future technology in the classroom would be

    1) Virtual and Augmented Reality: We have been hearing about VR and AR in almost every diverse fields like construction, retail, marketing, manufacturing, medicine, etc. Not leaving education behind, VR and AR applications are being implemented in education as well. This is an amazing technology that turns concepts into reality and puts a digital layer over the real world. Here, the students are each given a pair of virtual reality headsets and 3D moving images appear in front of them. The augmented reality technique gives additional information, brings models to life and enhances the overall learning experience for students. This is a more engaging, interactive method of teaching and is expected to gain momentum in the near future.

    2) Biometrics – Eye Tracking: Biometrics is currently being used in every organization, school, and industry to combat the privacy and security concerns. In education, the same biometrics can be used to understand the performance of the students using their physical traits. For instance, consider the eye-tracking technology, which can be used to analyze every student and ascertain, assess how students respond to learning during online sessions by capturing their eye movements. Depending upon the analysis made from the collected data, teachers can easily identify and recognize which student needs additional assistance and work on it.

    3) Multi-Touch Screens: There has been a major transition in classroom learning over the past few decades shifting from blackboards to interactive whiteboards. This technology is where a giant LCD screen that is capable of generating images, sounds, and videos, is attached to a computer in the classroom. The screen which is capable of detecting multiple touch inputs from many students simultaneously, helps teachers and students work collaboratively on projects and presentations. These smart and interactive displays are expected to become the hub of classroom or business in future engaging students in global collaboration allowing them to collaborate with their peers using social networking.

    Wrapping up, it is ascertained that in the near future, education will no longer be restricted to conventional schools and classes. Using the aforementioned technological practices like augmented reality, interactive displays, and adaptive learning systems, learning is expected to go beyond the classrooms. Time, space, and geographical constraints will be completely eliminated in education in the days to come.

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    Porsche introduces Blockchain to Automotive Industry

    Not many years after the blockchain revolution has left the entire world under the impact of cryptocurrency wallet, triggering financial services, retail, trade, energy, government, and most important media, it has finally come to the automotive sector. The latest news that is trolling down the news, internet and capturing everyone’s attention is “Porsche introduces blockchain to automobiles”. To everyone’s amazement including the entire automobile industry, blockchain is now the new innovation in the automobiles.

    We all are familiar with the smart technology, as it has become a part of our daily routine and not surprisingly, we are aware or probably heard of the smart automobiles. It is a concept that has been in the air for a while with the onboard computers, that were the beginning of this concept which appeared a decade ago. Self-driven cars or driverless cars are what the current automobile industry is working on or moved to. Moving ahead, the automotive industry started taking its baby steps to the blockchain domain. It may be recalled that in the recent months, automobile giants like BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, etc., have presented innovative technologies at various expos, with blockchain technology earning a significant presence among them.

    Porsche, in collaboration with the Berlin-based startup XAIN, is currently testing blockchain applications directly in vehicles. The German automaker even claims to be the first automaker to begin testing the blockchain technology directly in vehicles. The startup XAIN offers various blockchain and artificial intelligence solutions, with a particular focus on intelligent industrial applications.

    For all those readers, who still have a little or no knowledge of the Bitcoin, here’s a gist of it to help them understand what a blockchain is. A blockchain is a decentralized public ledger of cryptocurrency transactions that are recorded and secured in a chronological order using cryptography which allows the market participants to keep track of digital currency transactions without central recordkeeping. Porsche is using this blockchain technology to secure data transactions between business partners without relying on a centralized server.

    According to a statement quoted in the Porshe’s official website by Oliver Döring, Financial Strategist at Porsche, Blockchain can be used to transfer data more quickly and securely, giving our customers more peace of mind in the future, whether they are charging, parking or need to give a third party, such as a parcel delivery agent, temporary access to the vehicle. Porsche is even exploring ways on how blockchain could benefit in-car features such as locking and unlocking via mobile apps, temporary access authorizations and encrypted data logging for autonomous driving.

    The technology also makes it possible to assign temporary access authorizations for the vehicle in a secure and efficient manner. A protected connection can be established to vehicle data and functionalities using blockchain, simultaneously protecting all communication between participants. Porsche claims that the services developed on the foundation of blockchain are fast and very secure. Using the blockchain protocols the car is made a part of the blockchain and an offline connection can be established or made without the need for a server. The process of opening or closing a car via an app will take just 1.6 seconds i.e., six times faster than before. The automaker giant is also working on new business models based on blockchain like swarm data.

    With the introduction of Blockchain Technology Solutions for smart cars, very soon, the application is expected to be adopted by other automobile manufacturers as well. It may be mentioned that the Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer, Toyota, has earlier developed a strategy that uses blockchain to increase the availability of information that could improve driverless car technology.

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    Most Awaited Smartphones of 2018

    The year 2017 was indeed a year of smartphones, witnessing many flagships entering the fray with bezel-less displays, dual cameras, larger adoption of OLED displays, innovative designs etc. This year it looks like there’s much more gadget lovers can anticipate for. While there are rumors and speculations about specifications from several flagships, am sure it will be worth the wait. Here we bring to you the list of most awaited and new generation phones of 2018 that are going to make an impact on the other industries as well.

    1. Apple iPhones

    To begin with, the Steve Job’s iPhones are expected to hit the market in September 2018. It is rumored that the next-generation iPhones to be unveiled by Apple would look more similar to iPhone X and feature a 6.1-inch 18:9 OLED display and 4GB RAM. However, it is unclear what the iPhone would be called. It is also suspected that it will move from stainless steel back to aluminum to bring the price down while retaining that 19:9 display and using Face ID rather than Touch ID in a home button. Apple is expected to offer a couple of sizes in this design, making some differentiation between the two.

    2. Samsung Galaxy S9

    It is speculated that the launch of Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus will be one of the biggest of the year in the phone realm for its enhanced specs that include an intelligent scan technology combined with Face Unlock and iris scanner. The Galaxy S9 is expected to resemble the previous generation Galaxy S8 in terms of design with the same 5.8-inch display while the Galaxy S9 Plus is expected to have a 6.2-inch display. It is rumored that Galaxy S9 Plus might get an exclusive 512 GB inbuilt storage variant in select markets. Recently, Samsung has confirmed that there will be a third variant with a dual sim version of the Galaxy S9 Plus. Samsung is all set for an official launch of the Galaxy S9 duo on 25th February 2018, at MWE 2018.

    3. OnePlus 6

    OnePlus CEO Pete Lau Hae confirmed that the next-generation OnePlus handset will launch by the end of Q2 2018. The flagship smartphone will be powered by Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line SnapDragon 845 chipset. According to speculators, the all-New OnePlus handset will ship with a fingerprint sensor embedded beneath its display. This is the same feature that Apple rejected for its iPhone X. OnePlus moves the fingerprint sensor to the back of its phone with the launch of the OnePlus 5T late last year.

    4. Mi 7

    Xiaomi’s Mi 7 that was rumored to have a launch at the Mobile World Congress 2018 next month, might not unveil the flagship smartphone, according to a source close to the Chinese manufacturer. On the other hand, the company is expected to launch the Mi Mix 2S and their own Surge S2 chipset at the MWC 2018.

    The information comes from a source close to the Chinese smartphone manufacturer who claims that Xiaomi may not have any major announcements this MWC and it is expected that the phone could go official in the next couple of months. The flagship smartphone is expected to come with an 18:9 display, powered by Qualcomm’s latest processor, Snapdragon 845. It would have dual cameras set up at the back and run on Android Oreo.

    5. Nokia 9

    Nokia 9, the next flagship smartphone after the Nokia 8, is expected to be launched during the annual Mobile World Congress 2018 event. New leaks suggest that the smartphone will come with a dual camera setup and a fingerprint sensor placed below the dual-camera on the rear side of the smartphone. An LED flash sits beside the camera on the smartphone. The Nokia 9 images show an 18:9 aspect ratio display with curved edges. The report mentions that the smartphone is expected to come with a display similar to the Samsung’s Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8 with slightly bigger bezels at the bottom and top of the display. Nokia 9 expected to be launched with a 5.5-inch OLED display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chip and at least 4 GB of RAM.

    6. Sony Xperia XZ2 or XZ Premium 2

    The Sony Xperia XZ2, rumored to be announced in the next month’s Mobile World Congress show, looks unlikely to launch in February. However, it is expected to arrive until autumn. The Sony Xperia XZ2 mobile features a 5.5″ (13.97 cm) display with a screen resolution of 1080 x 2160 pixels and runs on Android v8.0 (Oreo) operating system. The device is powered by Octa-core (2.45 GHz, Quad core, Kryo 280 + 1.9 GHz, Quad core, Kryo 280) processor paired with 4 GB of RAM. As far as the battery is concerned it has 3250 mAh. Over that, as far as the rear camera is concerned this mobile has a 20 MP camera.

    The Sony Xperia XZ Premium 2 is expected to be seen at MWC 2018. The leaks suggest that the XZ Premium 2 has a large edge-to-edge screen and a mirror-like back, a fingerprint scanner built into the screen, plus a Snapdragon 845 chipset, 6GB of RAM, a dual-lens rear camera, 128GB of storage and front-facing stereo speakers. The flagship will see a number of new smartphones being unveiled at MWC 2018 including the all-new Xperia XZ Pro.

    7. LG G7

    The launch of the G7 is on schedule says the company and the flagship smartphone is likely to make its appearance at the Mobile World Congress in late February. The handset will come with a full Vision display like the predecessor LG G6 sporting a 6-inch OLED bezel-less screen, a Snapdragon 845 processor, up to 6GB RAM, either 64 or 128GB storage, Android 8.1 Oreo, iris scanner, and dual-cameras on the back.

    8. Samsung Galaxy Note 9

    Samsung Galaxy Note 9, the successor of Samsung’s most-expensive smartphone, Galaxy Note 8, is expected to have an all-glass front, with a truly bezel-less design. The handset will have a fingerprint scanner embedded into or rather under the display, and also the camera and sensors integrated here. The Super AMOLED screen will most certainly act as a light source for the sensor.

    Along with this, it is also expected that the South Korean tech giant will also launch its foldable smartphone Galaxy X, which it showcased at CES 2018. The smartphone is likely to sport 7.3-inch foldable display and it will be the part of Note series of the company.

    9. Moto G6

    Like most other flagships, Motorola is also expected to unveil its Moto G6 device at MWC. A successor to the last year launched Moto G5, the device is expected to come in the budget segment and run Android 8.0 Oreo operating system. The device is expected to sport a 5.7-inch Full HD+ display, Snapdragon 450 SoC, dual rear camera, and a 3,000mAh battery. The company is expected to launch the device in March this year in India.

    10. Huawei P20

    An online leak recently confirmed that the Chinese device maker Huawei will launch its flagship smartphone P20 at MWC 2018 next month. The leak also revealed that the company will be incorporating triple camera in the smartphone. The 6-inch device is expected to have an iPhone X-style notch.

    The triple camera placed on the rear panel is said to offer the 40MP sensor with 5X hybrid zoom. The device is expected to be powered by the company’s own Kirin 970 chipset processor and might come with a facial recognition feature.

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    Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality in Healthcare Market

    We all know that VR and AR have had an everlasting impact in the global world and what’s next is, that it’ll continue to have with several innovations taking birth in tune with the emerging trends. Needless to say, many tech giants and even startups are investing in the augmented reality and virtual reality to offer a real experience to the customers in the virtual world. The prominent questions that hover in one’s head are what is the scope of augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) in pharma and healthcare sectors? How is that going to benefit the healthcare sector and the pharma companies? The answer is straight and simple. With the introduction of faster and smarter technology, pharma and healthcare were among those diverse sectors that have progressed fast. Augmented reality and virtual reality are gaining prominence among medical personnel for various applications that offer improvisation of equipment maintenance, patient care, surgical training, and rehabilitation.

    For many years, healthcare industry and pharmaceutical companies have been formulating ways in this digital world as in how to best serve the needs of their customers who are patients, doctors, nurses, hospital administration, etc. Their struggle to achieve one includes maintaining stringent specifications on their marketing messages while delivering the promising results and also increasing sales. Considering the fact that the present age that we live in is a digital era, one should not be carried away presuming that Virtual and Augmented Reality is just another digital marketing tool like social media. Rather it must be identified as a new communication medium for educating all stakeholders across the spectrum.

    What does this technology have to offer to the pharmaceutical companies in terms of marketing? Well, here is how.

    Health Product Demos

    Pharmaceutical companies are entirely into drugs and their development. Let say, there is a drug available in the market and to enable patients to know how a drug works, instructions are provided to read. What could be more promising than the same drug company using the VR to develop an application that enables the patients to see how a drug works or functions in their body than just reading instructions. Sounds amazing, isn’t it? This application could be used as a health product demo for the sales representatives visiting GPs. This demo could become a time-saving resource for both the sales representatives and the doctors as well and few companies are even experimenting with the use of VR for health product demos. For example, Novartis scientists have brought virtual reality into drug discovery by creating a VR application showing a 360 degree, three-dimensional animation of how molecules interact with certain body tissues. A company called Amplified Robot also used AR to demonstrate the hypothetical mode of action for a drug.

    Virtual & Augmented Reality For Surgeons

    Let us suppose you’re a trainee doctor preparing for a test and have to give the test but you want to practice before you give the test. The suitable environment that can help you with the practice in a hands-on-way is the virtual reality application for training and educational purpose offering computer-aided simulation models that mimic real-life processes. The virtual reality system helps the trainee doctors and assist surgeons in planning upcoming operations and educate patients. It also helps surgeons in the operating room, guiding them in a three-dimensional space. One best example is the Osso VR, which is a surgical training platform designed for surgeons, sales teams, and hospital staff of all skill levels. This platform offers highly realistic hand-based interactions in an immersive training environment containing cutting-edge procedures and devices.

    Virtual & Augmented Reality For Patients

    Let say there is a patient with a fractured bone or a blood clot and this technology can be used to demystify medicine. There are AR tools that will allow patients to see through the fractured bone or blood clot while the doctor explains what the problem is and what needs to be corrected. They can also be explained about where the wrist is broken and where are the doctors going to fix it and how the entire process works. Removing the anxiety and uncertainty of how everything works, the VR applications make it real for the patients. The applications also can also be used to provide virtual diagnosis and patient education.

    Virtual & Augmented Reality for Rehabilitation

    Virtual reality applications can be used for post-traumatic stress disorder, rehabilitation, pain management and drug efficacy. Patients with phobias can be treated in VR environment to help them overcome their phobia. It can also be applied for pain management, wherein a VR environment is designed to reduce the pain by acting on psychological component of the pain experience. Virtual Reality company MindMaze designed a medical virtual environment to help patients recover from amputations, and explored uses of the technology for neurological problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder, Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, and autism.

    The use of these advanced technologies in live streaming of surgeries, surgical training, patient monitoring and pain management serves as a market opportunity. The adoption of these new technologies have revolutionized the medical field and transformed the healthcare experience. With the growing demand for better delivery of care services, pharma companies are investing into the VR to capitalize on the high growth opportunities they offer.

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    Meet Rashmi Sinha – Founder of SlideShare

    SlideShare – Many of us have heard about SlideShare and are even using it for businesses, content strategies to share the presentations. This amazing concept has undoubtedly captured many businesses further influencing them to use it as a marketing tool to promote attractive, creative and useful presentations. Lesser do we know about the driving force behind this wonderful concept that took its inception which later emerged to be a popular slide hosting service. The creator of the entire concept of SlideShare is Ms. Rashmi Sinha who is an Indian-American businesswoman and CEO of San Francisco-based technology company SlideShare. SlideShare is an online community that allows users to upload and share PowerPoint presentations, documents, and infographics.

    Rashmi Sinha, who is a designer, researcher, and entrepreneur, was born in Lucknow, India. She grew up in India and done her M.A. in Psychology and B.A. from Allahabad University. She has a Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuropsychology from Brown University in 1998 and researched search engines & recommender systems at UC Berkeley. After moving to UC Berkeley for a PostDoc, it was then she realized her passion for web and switched her focus to human-computer interaction. She believed that good software comes from a true collaboration between developers and designers. Her love for one has what persuaded her to build products and she co-founded Uzanto, a user experience consulting company and worked on projects for companies like eBay, Blue Shield, AAA etc.

    Her first foray into products was with MindCanvas (a game-like software for customer research) released in November 2005. MindCanvas is a rich online survey platform for designers and a remote research tool that uses Game-like Elicitation Methods (GEMs) to gather insights into customer’s thoughts and feelings. It was developed by Uzanto Consulting under the leadership of Sinha and has been used by companies like Microsoft, CitiBank, Expedia, and Yahoo. With the successful launch of MindCanvas, her appetite for products was whetted and the outcome was SlideShare as her next venture.

    Founded in 2006 by Rashmi Sinha, SlideShare is the world’s largest community for sharing presentations. The website was the brainchild of Sinha’s husband and co-founder Jonathan Boutelle, which is responsible for partnerships and product strategy. It also provides users the ability to rate, comment on, and share the uploaded content. The platform covers topics such leadership, technology, education, marketing, design, entertainment, data analytics, economy and finance, engineering, environment, food, health and medicine, real estate, recruiting and HR, retail, social media, travel, and more.

    The website which was originally meant to be used for businesses to share slides among employees more easily has later expanded to become a host of a large number of slides that are uploaded merely to entertain. Since its launch in 2006, the company witnessed more than 9 million presentations being uploaded to SlideShare, helping professionals across the globe connect through content. This female-founded startup was later acquired by LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with 161 million members worldwide, for $119 million in May 2012. SlideShare which is often described as the “YouTube for slideshows,” has let people store and share presentations as well as documents, PDFs, videos and webinars since 2006.

    Her contributions and innovations in the field of technology have earned her name amongst the one of the World’s Top 10 Women Influencers in Web 2.0 by FastCompany, in 2008. Later in 2012, Fortune named her No. 8 on its Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs list. Continuing to inspire many, In January 2015, Sinha was listed as one of 20 “Most Influential” Global Indian women in The Economic Times, India’s leading business publication.

    Rashmi Sinha, who is an active blogger, writes about social software and entrepreneurship at her blog; Rashmisinha.com. She also shares her thoughts about people, technology and running a company. She keeps motivating and influencing people across the world through her writings in the blogs. Many, indeed, have been inspired by her talks on search interfaces and recommender systems, designing great websites and marketing and social media. Rashmi Sinha has broken the glass ceiling in the realm of technology by heading in the race with the male counterparts. Sinha who was trained as a scientist got interested in designing technology and has started multiple companies. She also serves as a Venture Advisor at 500 Startups.

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    Moving from Managing to Leading

    Not too often we get to hear stories about those people who influenced their employees and who turned out to be successful during the transition from manager to leader. Whenever an employee is promoted from being a manager who manages a team or a company to a leader who leads a team or a unit or a company, the role he plays as a leader could not possibly be as effective as the role he played when he was a manager. The reasons are aplenty with most of them credit for the accustomed practices that a manager fails to incorporate when being a leader. The most prominent of it contributing to the basic thing where leadership requires a mindset that is different from management.

    Many of them struggle mightily when they shift from leading a function to leading an enterprise that requires taking leadership skills to a next level. In order to make the transition successful, employees/executives must tune in themselves to a set of changes that have to be inculcated during the process.

    Knowledgeable to Insightful: Managers are known to possess great knowledge, yet there is something beyond it that a leader possesses, i.e., being insightful. Leaders are expected to think differently and a stretch in the thinking, enhancement in the practice can help you show the way forward. An insightful leader not only thinks differently but also suggests practical ways to turn the thoughts into action. Apart from being knowledgeable, a leader should challenge himself/herself to apply his/her cumulative knowledge in innovative ways. He should apply his insights in making wise decisions considering the past, present and also future that could benefit the team and the organization as a whole.

    Action-oriented to Visionary: A manager is generally action-oriented and focuses more on executions. Contrary to a manager, a leader is determined to be a visionary. He focuses on the vision and then develops a plan, shares it with his team, works collectively and collaboratively with them to execute the plan that accomplishes the vision. Being a visionary requires the confidence to see through the future, and beyond something that an individual or manager does not see. It also requires to encouraging innovation, creativity, and resourcefulness to empower his team towards productivity.

    Task-Focused to People-Focused: Managers are merely task-focused as all their concentration dwells on getting the tasks done by his teammates, whereas, a leader is people-oriented. While shifting from manager to leader, the leader should shift his focus more towards people, and be empathetic to them. Encourage them, give them the freedom to make decisions, and more importantly coach your team members to help them grow and develop at a faster pace. Engage with them, and ensure that they have the resources and support they need. Instead of simply assigning tasks, inspire them by cultivating conditions for success. Lastly, thank and reward people for their contribution.

    Instructional to Inspirational: The most important trait of a leader is inspiring his team by setting a good example for them. Good managers instruct their team to work but a leader inspires and influences them to work. What a great leader usually does is he practices before preaching. Rather than preaching and instructing them to work on the tasks, a leader will himself works along with his team creating an atmosphere that encourages them to work effectively.

    Tactical Manager to Strategic Leader: Leaders are responsible for taking the organization into the future. During the transition from manager to a leader, an individual need to adopt a strategic mindset and shift from being a tactician to a strategist. However, developing such a mindset does not come overnight. One needs to build the ability to shift through different levels of analysis, recognize the patterns and strategic analysis of opportunities and threats. The strategic mindset also includes a willingness to take risks to achieve rewards, rely on experienced staff who give him advice and trust his peers and direct reports.

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    Startups which started with little and joined the Billion Dollar Club

    This is an era of startups and it gives me immense joy to know and learn about the young talents that come up with their innovations to infuse their thoughts and talents into building products that set them apart. Amazed by such revolutions, I developed the zeal to acknowledge their efforts and contributions to the global economy. Few such startups that captivated my thoughts and made me freeze in wonder are those which started with almost little money or no money, yet grew out to become famous startups making a huge turnover. I would like to list out those few startups that made billions of dollars becoming the focus.

    1. Stripe

    Stripe is an American online payment gateway service provider covering over 25 different countries. It was founded in 2010 by Irish entrepreneurs Patrick and John Collison. It allows individuals as well as large enterprises to perform integrated online payment using their credit card or any other major online payment method. Its major focus on providing fraud prevention has given it a $9.2 billion valuation. In 2016, Stripe was ranked number four on the Forbes magazine Cloud 100, a list of companies that engage in cloud computing. In 2017, Stripe was ranked number one on the Forbes Cloud 100.

    2. DigitalOcean

    The American cloud infrastructure provider, headquartered in New York City, was founded in 2011 by Ben and Moisey Uretsky and has data centers worldwide. Now serving more than 50,000 companies and 700,000 users, DigitalOcean competes with Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure and generates billion dollars revenue annually. DigitalOcean, the cloud of developers, was named to Forbes 2016 Cloud 100 List. It was recognized as one of the World’s Top 100 Private Cloud Companies for a second consecutive year in 2017.

    3. Slack

    Founded in 2013 by Stewart Butterfield, Slack is a cloud-based set of proprietary team collaboration tools and services. Post its inception, it didn’t take too long for the company to set a new record by becoming the fastest startup ever to achieve a $1 billion valuation. When the company was just two-years-old, is valued at over $1 billion and was already used by more than 30,000 teams. Past 2017 summer, Slack raised a whopping $250 million funding round at a $5 billion valuation.

    Former Unicorns in the Billion Dollar Club

    4. Braintree Payments

    The Chicago-based company and a division of PayPal, Braintree Payments is a payment service provider that specializes in mobile and web payment systems for e-commerce companies. Founded in 2007 by Bryan Johnson, Braintree in the later years came up with advanced fraud protection services that include tools to help businesses detect and prevent fraudulent transactions while approving more orders. Within four years of its inception, Braintree raised $69 million in venture capital later paramount to an $800 million acquisition.

    5. Shopify

    Shopify is an e-commerce platform headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. Founded in 2004 by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake after attempting to open Snowdevil, an online store for snowboarding equipment was later launched as Shopify in 2006. Within four years, the Canadian e-commerce platform received $7 million and $15 million in a series of venture capital financing generating a huge revenue. They eventually earned billion-dollar valuation from VCs and IPOs with a revenue of $580.9 million as of 2017.

    6. Shutterstock

    Headquartered in New York City, Shutterstock is an American stock photography, stock footage, stock music, and editing tools provider, founded in 2003. American entrepreneur and computer programmer, Jon Oringer, created his own online marketplace by initially uploading 30,000 of his own stock photos and made them available via subscription. Gradually, acquiring a handful of other companies like Bigstock, WebDAM, Rex Features and PremiumBeat, to name a few, and partnership with Facebook, the company raised a billion-dollar revenue making Oringer a billionaire.

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    Indian Startups in the Billion Dollar Club

    Shopping your favorite brands at your choice and convenience was once a tough task. Hire a taxi or rent one, travel all the way to the mall in huge traffic, look for the brands that you’re willing to shop, choose your favorite one and buy it. After a tiresome shopping, go have a good meal at some nice restaurant enjoying your favorite food, watch a movie and return home hiring a taxi. This is how usually the entire shopping process was for many of us. Though many relished the stereotypical practice, yet with the busy schedules that everyone is indulged into these days, one merely gets time to do all that which was once fun. Time and technology, today’s synonyms, might not or could not, however, bring back the nostalgia, but have certainly delivered the compensation by making everything available in one’s palm.

    The increasing momentum of technology has what made everything feasible now at our doorstep and all one has to do is just delight in it. Let’s talk about shopping your favorite brands or hiring a cab or booking a ticket or ordering your favorite food. Wouldn’t that be fascinating to know that everything is now available with just a tap! Absolutely! The internet has connected all of us to get these tasks done at our doorstep. Making the activity simpler, were few startups who took up our daily routines as challenging assignments and started delivering best outputs. And the result, they’re now into serious business expanding their territory across the nation and into the international market earning a place in the billion-dollar club.

    These are the Indian Unicorn Startup Companies that have made our life worth living and enjoying the services they render:

    Flipkart

    Flipkart, headquartered in Bengaluru, is an electronic commerce company founded in 2007. It is India’s biggest online store for mobiles, electronics, home appliances, furniture, fashion(clothes/shoes), accessories, books, jewelry, sporting goods, beauty & personal care and many more. Flipkart brings everything under the single roof with the largest selection from all brands at the lowest price. Acquiring many small hold firms and other startups alike, adding them under its wings, Flipkart is now valued at $11.6 billion.

    Ola Cabs

    Ola, the Indian online transportation network company, was founded in 2010 and has been competing against Uber in the Indian ride-hailing market. Ola has more than 125 million users and 1-million-plus-driver partners across more than 110 cities in the country. Currently headquartered in Bangalore, the company has been enabling smart transportation across India benefitting the users with its rides and services. Ola has emerged as one of the most successful among the handful of esteemed Indian startups becoming the third-most valuable startup in the country. The company has a valuation of around $7 billion.

    Paytm

    Paytm, India’s largest m-commerce platform launched in 2010, facilitates in making Instant Digital & Utility Payments, grab latest Entertainment tickets online with great offers and discounts and lets your travel be much easier and fun-filled. In 2015, Paytm became the first Indian company to receive funding from Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba, after it raised over $625 million at a valuation of $1.5 billion. Earlier last year, the digital payments giant had raised $1.4 billion from SoftBank, which valued the company at $7 billion at that time.The mobile wallet service provider has recently reached a valuation of USD 10 billion.

    Snapdeal

    The Indian e-commerce company started in 2010, had a 70 percent share in the daily deal business by 2011. Snapdeal has received several rounds of funding; it had a valuation of about $6.5 billion during its $200 Mn funding round in February 2016 led by Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and others.

    ShopClues

    The online marketplace owned by Clues Network Pvt. Ltd., was established in July 2011. In January 2016, ShopClues raised USD 100 million from Tiger Global Management and joined the Unicorn Club. The e-commerce firm is now valued at $1.1 billion.

    Quikr

    Quikr, the Indian classified advertising platform, was founded in 2008. Headquartered in Bengaluru, Quikr serves approximately 20 million monthly visitors. The online classifieds portal has thus far raised around $350 million and is among India’s leading internet companies with a valuation of nearly $1.5 billion.

    Zomato

    Indian restaurant search and discovery service founded in 2008, currently operates in 23 countries, including Australia and United States. According to reports, Zomato has raised close to $225 million in funding during the year 2017. Zomato has raised $150 million from Ant Financial, Alibaba’s payment affiliate, very recently, taking its valuation to $1.1 billion.

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    Uber vs Lyft

    Wanna take a ride? What would you do? Take your phone, open the transportation mobile app, one tap and grab a ride. You’ll get the ride in minutes, the driver comes in you just hop in and the driver takes you where you want to go. After a successful ride, pay for the trip easily without the cash or a card in your hand. This is how taking a ride is; as easy as a pie. Now when you have to grab a ride, the real challenge for the online cab aggregators is which ride-hailing platform the rider chooses or prefers. Uber and Lyft both being the capable ride-sharing services it’s always Uber vs Lyft.

    Uber and Lyft both based in San Francisco, have been contending with each other in offering ride-sharing services that are cheaper than renting a car. While there are other ride-sharing apps such as Sidecar and Hail-o, it’s always the contenders Uber and Lyft who command the greatest portion of the market. Needless to say, ride sharing has become so popular across the world that several major automakers are either partnering with Uber and Lyft. By this, it can be understood that the ride-hailing market is filled with a canopy of Uber and Lyft.

    Launched in June 2012, the on-demand transportation company, Lyft, operates in more than 360 U.S. cities, including New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles and provides over 1 million rides per day. Founded in 2008, the peer-to-peer ridesharing, food delivery, and transportation network company, Uber, is currently available in 71 countries and has its operations in 633 cities worldwide. Uber and Lyft are available and dominant in US markets and have been engaged in a fierce battle here in the hometown with the two firms now sharing 77% of the US ride-hailing market. However, it’s Uber that has a huge expansion outside the US and has a market share globally.

    When it comes to the services, both services use an app that can be downloaded for free for iOS and Android devices. Both the apps, function well and do offer most of the same features on a basic level like requesting ride at GPS location, plugging in your destination address, watching drivers in real time using GPS, see how long your driver takes to arrive, rating the drivers after the completion of trip and above all making payment through pre-selected preferences like credit card/debit card, Google Wallet, Apple Pay, etc.

    Apart from the aforementioned basic services, Uber has seven different tiers of services for its riders while Lyft has only three. When it comes to the process of requesting a ride, it’s almost identical, nevertheless, it might differ depending on the locations. In some random locations, Lyft car drivers arrive faster whereas in some locations Uber does. However, the entire process is dependent on the nearest drivers available and it may vary depending on the availability.

    When it comes to the pricing, it’s not the same case every time as we know peak hours change everything. While Lyft’s “Prime Time” pricing caps out at three times the normal base rate during peak hours, Uber’s “Surge Pricing,” can reach as high as eight times the base rate. Both the apps estimate the cost of your trip while choosing a ride by entering the destination, but Uber steals the show by showing the price of your ride in real time. On the other hand, Lyft also allows passengers to tip drivers through the app.

    Uber has raised about $14 billion in equity and debt financing from more than 70 venture capital firms, private equity funds, and high-net-worth individuals, that made it attain a valuation of $69 billion. Lyft, meanwhile, has raised $4.11 billion in a funding that gave it a valuation of $11.5 billion. Lyft has even expanded into Canada in December 2017 as a competitor to its rival.

    Uber is also the largest ride-hailing platform in Australia, apart from other online cab aggregators operating in the country like GoCatch and Taxify. Uber competes with Taxify, Europe’s biggest ride-hailing app, which set up its business in Sydney late last year and expanded to Melbourne earlier in January 2018. The US firm, Uber, which was made legal in Australia in 2015, gave rides to 3.7 million Australians in the three months to December – almost four times the number of passengers it carried in the same period two years earlier. While Lyft provides over 1 million rides per day, Uber, on the other hand, reached the one million miles a day milestone in 2014. However, with a valuation of $68 billion, Uber is the world’s most valuable start-up and the world’s largest rideshare service.

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