Micromax Canvas HD A116i with quad-core processor available online

Micromax has introduced the Canvas HD A116i, the successor to the Canvas HD smartphone for the Indian market. The Canvas HD A116i is listed at ecommerce website, eBay and is available at Rs. 14,299 (with free shipping). However, one can find cheaper deals on the online retailer as well. The domestic handset maker is yet to announce the smartphone officially, though.

The Micromax Canvas HD A116i runs Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, with the listing claiming that the company plans to roll-out an update to Android 4.2.1 soon. Much like the Canvas HD, it is a dual-SIM device with support for GSM+GSM. The Canvas HD A116i is powered by a MediaTek's MT6589 quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz along with PowerVR SGX544 GPU and 1GB of RAM. The smartphone features a 5-inch display with a resolution of 720x1280 pixels and boasts of a pixel density of 294ppi.

For optics, there is an 8-megapixel rear shooter with LED flash and 4X zoom, and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. There is 4GB of inbuilt storage, which is further expandable up to 32GB via microSD card. Connectivity options on the smartphone include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPRS, EDGE and 3G. There is no mention of the battery included on the Canvas HD A116i.

Looking at the specifications, we are unable to see the difference between the predecessor and successor, and perhaps the only unmentioned detail, battery capacity, might be the singular change in the models, with the A116i expected to bear a larger battery. Micromax announced the Canvas HD in February this year.

Previously, on Monday, Micromax's new budget smartphone, the A77 Canvas Juice was listed online at Rs. 7,999. The Micromax A77 Canvas Juice runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and is a dual-SIM phablet with support for GSM+GSM and dual standby. It features a 5-inch FWVGA display with 480x854 pixels resolution. The phablet is powered by a dual-core 1.3GHz processor along with 1GB of RAM.

It sports a 5-megapixel autofocus rear camera accompanied by an LED flash and also includes a VGA front-facing camera. It comes with 4GB inbuilt storage, which can be expanded up to 32GB with the help of a microSD card. 

Mobiles launched in November 2013

Micromax Canvas HD A116i key specifications

• 5-inch HD (1280 x 720 pixels) display
• 1.2 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6589 processor
• 1GB RAM
• 4GB inbuilt storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD card
• 8-megapixel rear camera
• 2-megapixel front camera
• Dual-SIM (GSM+GSM)
• Android 4.1 planned Android 4.2 upgrade

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Micromax A77 Canvas Juice with 3000mAh battery gets listed on official site

Micromax has officially unveiled the A77 Canvas Juice phablet in India, listing it on its official website. However, the Indian handset manufacturer has not revealed any details about the price and availability of the A77 Canvas Juice. Earlier this week, the Micromax A77 Canvas Juice was listed at an ecommerce website for Rs. 7,999, but remains 'out of stock'.

The Micromax A77 Canvas Juice runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and is a dual-SIM phablet with support for GSM+GSM lines and dual standby. It features a 5-inch FWVGA display with 480x854 pixels resolution. The phablet is powered by a dual-core 1.3GHz MediaTek 6572 processor along with 1GB of RAM.

It sports a 5-megapixel autofocus rear camera accompanied by an LED flash and also includes a VGA front-facing camera. It comes with 4GB of inbuilt storage, which can be expanded up to 32GB with the help of a microSD card. The Micromax A77 Canvas Juice packs a 3000mAh battery, which as per the online retailer's listing, can deliver up to 10 hours of talktime and up to 282 hours of standby time.

Connectivity options on the Micromax A77 Canvas Juice include Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPRS, EDGE, GPS/ AGPS and 3G. The Canvas Juice measures 150.5x76.2x10.2mm and weighs about 100 grams. Some of the apps preloaded on the Canvas Juice include Game Hub, Spuul, Opera Mini, Hike, M!Live, Dancing Bubbles, Bubble X Slice and Kingsoft Office.

Earlier on Tuesday, Micromax introduced the Canvas HD A116i, the successor to the Canvas HD smartphone through an online retailer's listing.

Recently, Micromax unveiled the Canvas Magnus in India at Rs. 14,999. The Android 4.2 Jelly Bean-based smartphone comes with a 5-inch IPS display with a 720x1280 pixels resolution. It is powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core processor (unspecified chipset) along with 1GB of RAM. The Canvas Magnus is a dual-SIM device with support for GSM+GSM.

Mobiles launched in November 2013

Micromax A77 Canvas Juice key specifications

• 5-inch FWVGA display with 480x854 pixels resolution
• 1.3GHz dual-core processor
• 1GB of RAM
• 5-megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash
• VGA front-facing camera
• Dual-SIM (GSM+GSM)
• 4GB inbuilt storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD card
• Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
• 3000mAh battery

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United Nations committee calls for end to excessive electronic spying

A U.N. General Assembly committee on Tuesday called for an end to excessive electronic surveillance and expressed concern at the harm such scrutiny, including spying in foreign states and the mass collection of personal data, may have on human rights.

The U.N. General Assembly's Third Committee, which deals with human rights issues, adopted the German and Brazilian-drafted resolution by consensus. It is expected to be put to a vote in the 193-member General Assembly next month.

"For the first time in the framework of the United Nations this resolution unequivocally states that the same rights that people have offline must also be protected online," German U.N. Ambassador Peter Wittig told the committee.

The United States, Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand - known as the Five Eyes surveillance alliance - supported the draft resolution after language that had initially suggested foreign spying could be a human rights violation was weakened to appease them.

The draft text does not name specific countries but comes after former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden released details this year of a global spying program by the NSA, sparking international outrage.

"We firmly believe that privacy rights and the right to freedom of expression must be respected both online and offline," U.S. delegate Elizabeth Cousens told the committee after the draft resolution was adopted.

Cousens said it was imperative that human rights and civil society activists be able to use the Internet freely and without fear of reprisal to protect "dignity, fight against repression, and hold governments, including mine, accountable."

General Assembly resolutions are non-binding, unlike resolutions of the 15-nation Security Council. But assembly resolutions that enjoy broad international support can carry significant moral and political weight.

The draft resolution notes "that while concerns about public security may justify the gathering and protection of certain sensitive information, States must ensure full compliance with their obligations under international human rights law."

Privacy 'pivotal' to democracy It calls on states to review procedures, practices and legislation on communications surveillance and "to establish or maintain existing independent, effective domestic oversight mechanisms capable of ensuring transparency, as appropriate, and accountability for State surveillance of communications, their interception and collection of personal data."

It also asks U.N. human rights chief Navi Pillay to present a report to the U.N. Human Rights Council and the U.N. General Assembly on the protection and promotion of the right to privacy in domestic and extraterritorial surveillance and the interception of digital communications and collection of personal data, including on a mass scale.

"Human right to privacy is pivotal to any democratic society," Brazil's U.N. ambassador, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, told the committee. "Full participation in democracy implies full protection of individual liberties, including the right to privacy in the digital age."

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have both condemned the widespread spying by the U.S. National Security Agency. The NSA is accused of accessing tens of thousands of French phone records and monitoring phone calls by Merkel and Rousseff.

A North Korean U.N. delegate said spying on heads of state was "a rampant violation of sovereignty and it is interference into the internal affairs, it is an insult, very unbearable."

North Korea, one of the world's most reclusive and repressive nations accused of starving and torturing thousands of people in a network of prison camps, was one of dozens of co-sponsors of the draft resolution.

A Canadian U.N. delegate told the committee that the distinction in the draft resolution between regular surveillance and spying on a mass-scale was "beside the point."

"When governments use surveillance to crack down on religious minorities or their political activists, that harass, detain, torture or even kill those targeted, it is not an issue of scale but of a deplorable practice ... that warrants the condemnation of the international community," he said.

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Apple is world's most valuable brand: Forbes

Global technology major Apple is the world's most valuable brand followed by Microsoft, Coca-Cola, IBM and Google, according to Forbes.

Apple has topped the 'World's Most Valuable List' compiled by Forbes magazine with a brand value of $104.3 billion, nearly twice other technology major Microsoft, which has a brand value of $56.7 billion.

"... the Apple name is as strong as ever. Apple is the most valuable brand in the world for a third straight time at $104.3 billion, up 20 percent over last year. It is worth nearly twice as much as any other brand on the planet by our count," Forbes said.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's brand value has remained flat over the past three years, as the company struggles to make a transition from PC to the mobile world, the magazine said.

"Growth has slowed, but it is still one of the most profitable brands in the world with operating margins of 34 percent in its latest fiscal year," it said.

With a brand value of $54.9 billion, Coca-Cola was ranked third in the list, followed by IBM ($50.7 billion), Google ($47.3 billion).

Among the top 10 brands, McDonald's, with a brand value of $39.4 billion, was ranked sixth, followed by General Electric ($34.2 billion), Intel ($30.9 billion), Samsung ($29.5 billion) and Louis Vuitton ($28.4 billion).

Brands from US-based companies make up just over half of the list of 100, with the next biggest representation from Germany (nine brands), France (eight) and Japan (seven).

No Indian company features in the list.

Technology brands are the most prevalent with 19, including six of the top 10.

Samsung, which came at No.9, had the strongest one-year gain of any brand in the top 100, up 53 percent to $29.5 billion. The company's value soared 136 percent over the past three years.

"Sales for Samsung's Galaxy S4 smartphone have been on fire and the company also benefits from its market leading position with memory chips," Forbes said.

Forbes, however, said the value of a brand can collapse in the complex, fast moving technology world.

Forbes had valued the Blackberry brand at $6.1 billion last year, but this year it stood at just $2.2 billion and has come out of the top 100 brands list.

Similarly, three years ago, Forbes had deemed the Nokia brand worth $27.3 billion, ninth highest in the world, while today it is worth $7 billion, which ranks the company at the 71st place.

Forbes valued the brands on three years of earnings and allocated a percentage of those earnings based on the role brands play in each industry. The 100 most valuable brands span 15 countries across 20 broad industry categories.

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India lags behind Bhutan, Nepal and Zimbabwe in Internet download speeds: Ookla

The Internet infrastructure in India is improving with broadband speeds going up, though penetration is still low due to the high cost of bandwidth. However, the country still lags behind countries like Bhutan, Cambodia, Nepal, Nigeria, Laos and Zimbabwe when it comes to Internet download speeds.
 
According to Ookla's Net Index, the average download speed in India was 4.18Mbps, ranking it at 130th position. In contrast, the average download speed in Nigeria was 5.14Mbps, while Nepal had an average download speed of 4.92Mbps, Cambodia had 4.66Mbps, Laos had 4.73Mbps, Bhutan had 4.41Mbps, and Zimbabwe had 4.20Mbps.
 
The top five positions were taken by Hong Kong at 71.22Mbps, Singapore at 52.75Mbps, Romania at 50.26Mbps, South Korea at 47.20Mbps and Sweden at 42.35Mbps in terms of download speeds. The US ranked 31 with an average download speed of 20.74Mbps, while the global average was 16.20Mbps.
 
Countries such as Afghanistan, Malawi, Cuba, Benin and Gambia were at the bottom with average download speeds of 1.13Mbps, 1.16Mbps, 1.21Mbps, 1.36Mbps and 1.46Mbps, respectively.
 
In terms of upload speeds, India's position was a little better as it ranked at 93rd position with an average upload speed of 2.91Mbps. Hong Kong recorded the highest average upload speed at 58.99Mbps, followed by South Korea at 40.06Mbps, Singapore at 37.14Mbps, Macau at 36.48Mbps and Andorra at 35.98Mbps. The US recorded an average upload speed of 6.30Mbps while the global average was 7.08Mbps.
 
According to Ookla, the company that offers Speedtest.net and its mobile apps which help in comparing and ranking consumer download speeds around the globe, the data is based on over 1.5 billion records. The company claims this is the largest number of broadband speed and quality results ever compiled.
 
As per the company, the results are based on millions of recent test results from Speedtest.net. "The value is the rolling mean throughput in Mbps over the past 30 days where the mean distance between the client and the server is less than 300 miles," it informs. 

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Google Nexus 5 review

It caught everyone's fancy from the time it was first leaked in a video, and since then, all Android enthusiasts, and especially the ones who swear by the pure stock user interface of the operating system, have been eyeing this smartphone. No prizes for guessing, we're talking about the Nexus 5, Google's new platform showcase device which has been manufactured by Korean electronics giant, LG. It's also the first time that Google has launched its flagship device in the Indian market just weeks after its international launch. The pricing of the phone and the promise of priority software updates makes it an irresistible proposition. So, how does it perform in real world conditions? We put it to test and find out in our review.

Build/ Design
The Nexus 5 sports a very understated look and there's nothing really striking in the phone's design that will shout for your attention. The phone is made of plastic and doesn't feel very premium.

However, when you place the phone in your hand, you'll feel that it's very pleasant to hold thanks to the soft touch matte finish. Also, despite its large 4.95-inch screen, we didn't face any issues operating it with one hand. This is also due to the phone being quite lightweight at 130 grams.

The Nexus 5's edges are less curved and its corners less rounded compared to other phones, including the Nexus 4. The phone is available in Black and White colour variants and we got a Black one as our review unit.

The 4.95-inch full-HD display dominates the front of the Nexus 5, and there are no hardware buttons. A round LED notification light is placed below the display, while the sensor array and the front camera sits above it.

The right edge of the Nexus 5 features the Power/ Screen lock and the Micro-SIM card tray, and the left edge features the volume rocker key. All the keys are made of plastic and offer decent tactile feedback.

The 3.5-mm headset jack sits at the top edge of the Nexus 5, while the Micro-USB port and speaker grill sits at the bottom edge.

As we mentioned, the back of the Nexus 5 sports a matte soft touch finish giving it a good grip. It is a bit susceptible to smudges, though. The rear features an 8-megapixel ring shaped camera lens and the LED flash, apart from LG and Nexus branding.

Display
The Nexus 5 comes with an IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1920x1080 pixels and pixel density of 445 ppi. The display comes with Corning's Gorilla Glass 3 protection making it resistant to scratches. 

In our use, we found the Nexus 5's screen to be very bright, with text and images looking crisp and sharp. Colours looked vivid and not oversaturated like they look on AMOLED display though blacks don't look very deep.

The screen delivers great viewing angles, though it was a little reflective. Sunlight legibility was good though the screen brightness levels could be better.

Overall, the Nexus 5's display is one of the best in its class.

Software/ User Interface
The Nexus 5 is the first smartphone to ship with Android 4.4 KitKat, the latest release of the operating system. As with all Nexus devices, the phone includes the stock build of the operating system, without any additional UI skinning.

Android 4.4 KitKat on the Nexus 5 features a number of visual changes including a new launcher, making the interface even more minimalistic. It sports flatter design elements, muted colours in status icons, transparency, and smoother transition animations.

The first change that you'll notice is the transparent status and navigation key bars at the top and bottom, making the Nexus 5's screen look bigger and brighter. The Android 4.4 KitKat lock screen also features a small camera button, which helps in opening the camera app via the lock screen widget directly from the lock screen.

With Android 4.4 KitKat, you can now have as many home screens as you want by simply dragging an icon or placing a widget on a new one. After enabling Google Now, Google's smart assistant that fetches information and offers updates based on your data and usage behaviour, you'll see that the left most home screen would be Google Now pane with information cards and a search bar. The screen can also be invoked by swiping up the screen from the Home button. The Google search bar with the voice search icon is present on all home screens and cannot be removed.

Interestingly, you can also initiate voice search from the Nexus 5 when it's in the unlocked state by simply saying, 'Ok Google.' The option is only available when you choose US English as the default language option in the Google Now app's settings, though. With this change, Google search is integrated deeply with the phone.

The status bar icons and and UI elements in the notifications tray have been stripped off the blue colour in Android 4.4 KitKat, and now sport a muted white-grey shade.

The launcher has been revamped with icons looking bigger than their Jelly Bean avatars and dots are used to indicate the pagination in the home screen and app launcher, similar to iOS.

When you launch the KitKat app launcher or go back to the home screen, you'll notice a smooth fly away animation.

The app launcher now only features app icons and gets rid of widgets. Due to the larger icons, you'll see a 4x5 grid instead of a 5x5 grid.

Long pressing on the home screen brings up the menu to change the Wallpapers, Widgets and Google Now settings. The choice of default still wallpapers, live wallpaper and custom wallpapers are now available under a single menu.

The KitKat notifications tray features notifications that can be expanded by using two finger pull. It also features buttons for clearing all notifications and for displaying toggles for Brightness, Settings, Wi-Fi, Network, Battery, Aeroplane Mode, Bluetooth, Location settings and Alarm clock.

Android 4.4 KitKat also includes an immersive mode that hides the status and navigation bars offering a full screen experience in apps. Apps like Google Play Books already support this mode and developers can choose to enable it for their apps. The OS also allows developers to display semi-transparent navigation and status bars. We've not seen any apps that take advantage of this feature, however.

Android 4.4 also includes a revamped Phone app that now automatically prioritises your contacts based on the people you talk to the most. When you first launch the app, you'll see a screen that displays a search bar, a place where most frequently called contacts and favourites are displayed and shortcuts to launch all contacts, the dialling pad, call history and settings.

You can also search for nearby places and businesses, contacts, or people in their Google Apps domain directly from the search bar. 

If you receive a call from a phone number that is not saved in your contacts, the Android 4.4 KitKat-based Nexus 5 will look for matches from businesses with a local listing on Google Maps. 

We felt that the new Phone app could be a little overwhelming for some as it's not very intuitive when it comes to describing what the shortcut keys do. However, the search feature packs in an online phone directory in the app. It will even fetch numbers for users who've registered their phone numbers with Google.  The number identification feature also works for incoming calls eliminating the need for apps like Trucaller.

Google has also combined its chat service and the Messaging (SMS) app into one app, Hangouts. The app lets you chat with your friends who use the Hangouts (erstwhile Google Talk) service and send messages to contacts. For people who don't actively use Google's instant messaging service or Google+, there's no value add that the unified app offers. It could also confuse these users if they've got unkempt Google+ profiles as it lists Google contacts on top when you want to compose a new message.

The Nexus 5 also includes the new Photos app that allows you to view and edit local and Google+ images. The new Photos app features deeper integration with Google+ and can be used to enable tagging in photos. The old Gallery app is still included in the app, though.

The Email app has also received an overhaul with KitKat, and the app displays the pictures of contacts for emails. Navigation has been made similar to the Gmail app and it also offers the swipe to delete gesture.

Google also includes its other apps including Drive, Keep, Play Games, Play Movies, Play Movies, Play Books, Play Newsstand and Quickoffice for creating and editing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. The new OS also supports printing through Google Cloud Print plugin or apps made by printer manufacturers.

Overall, KitKat on the Nexus 5 is an improvement when it comes to the overall experience of using the phone, though there's till some scope for improvement, especially in apps like Hangouts. The status icons are also inferior at offering feedback compared to the ones seen in previous versions of the OS.

Camera
The Nexus 5 sports an 8-megapixel rear camera with Optical Image Stabilisation, and a 1.3-megapixel front facing camera. The phone features the stock Android 4.4 Camera app with 4 default shooting modes - Still, Video, Panorama and Photo sphere (360-degree).

In the Still mode the app features settings for turning on HDR+, tinkering with Exposure, turning the LED flash on or off, switching between the front and back lenses and revealing more settings that include Geotagging toggle, Countdown timer, changing the picture size, White balance and the scene mode (Night, Action, Sunset, and Party). 

Similarly, in the Video mode, you can change video quality settings (1080p, 720p or 480p), Time lapse, Exposure settings and Flash. We have to say that we're no fans of the nested arc shaped settings toggles and find the app a bit unintuitive. 

Putting the camera of the Nexus 5 to test, we observed that images taken outdoors during daylight came out a tad brighter. 

However, there are a number of issues with the phone's camera that we encountered in our use. We observed that auto-focus is not consistent, and focusing manually takes time resulting in images being different from what we desired. We also observed that there was a slight lag between the time we fired the shutter and when the phone captured the image. 

Comparing images with the ones taken with an iPhone 5 in the same settings revealed that the white balance on the Nexus 5 camera (in the default mode) is skewed towards the warmer end of the spectrum. Low-light shots were also not up to the mark and had noise.

The camera does a good job for shooting videos and supports 1080p video capture.

The 1.3-megapixel front shooter does a decent job for video calling and taking self clicks. It supports 720p video capture.

Overall, the Nexus 5's camera is underwhelming at best. We hope Google pushes out a software update to fix the focus issues and shutter lag.

Performance/ Battery Life
The Nexus 5 comes with top of the line hardware (at this point in time), as it is powered by a quad-core 2.26GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with 2GB of RAM, and an Adreno 330 chip for processing graphics. Our review unit had 32GB of built-in storage (a 16GB variant is also available), out of which 26.7GB is available to the user. The phone doesn't offer a microSD card slot for expandable storage. 

The overall experience of navigation through the Nexus 5's interface was extremely impressive, thanks to all the power under the phone's hood and the UI being devoid of unnecessary bells and whistles such as transition effects. 

We did not experience any lag at all while launching apps, playing games, scrolling web pages or switching between apps on the Nexus 5. 

The gaming experience on the Nexus 5 was pretty good with games like Temple Run 2, Subway Surfers, Shadow Gun: Dead Zone and Asphalt 7 running without encountering any issues.

We were able to run a number of video formats except for full-HD MOV and AVI through the native video player on the Nexus 5. We also experienced some issues with audio while playing an MKV format video. This was easily fixed by downloading a third-party video player. The phone then plays full-HD videos without any issues. 

The speaker on the Nexus 5 is another pain point. It delivers below average quality sound at high volume levels and the sound gets distorted. However, the speaker grill is located at the bottom edge so the sound doesn't get muffled when the phone lies on its back. 

Notably, the Nexus 5 doesn't include FM radio functionality.

Call quality was good on the Nexus 5, and we were able to receive cellular signals even in low signal areas. 

The Nexus 5 comes with a 2300mAh battery, and in our usage, it lasted us just about a day with medium usage, including 1-1.5 hours of phone calls, two e-mail accounts with push notifications, playing some music, clicking a few pictures, Twitter notifications and WhatsApp chats. 

It's worth pointing out that we had mostly used 3G data with intermittent use of Wi-Fi and had put the phone's screen brightness at the highest level. Altering these settings might help in running the phone for a longer duration, depending on your usage pattern. 

The Nexus 5 also includes NFC capabilities, and we were able to transfer and receive files through Android Beam, which combines Bluetooth and NFC for sharing data. The phone also allows you to transfer files to other devices through Wi-Fi without being on the same Wi-Fi network. 

Verdict
The Nexus 5 is one of the best Android smartphones that you can buy for under Rs. 30,000. Powered by a Snapdragon 800 processor, and 2GB RAM, the phone ticks all the right boxes in terms of hardware specifications. Since it's a Google experience device, you're always assured of regular software updates (at least for the 18 months promised period).

These two big factors do partially offset the main disadvantages of the phone, namely its mediocre camera, lack of external storage support and underwhelming battery backup. Google may or may not bring a software fix to resolve the issues (if these are due to the software limitations) but even assuming that this is not the case, the starting price of Rs. 28,999 makes the Nexus 5 a great deal. We can't think of a phone in this price range that delivers the same value.

Price: Rs. 28,999

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Sony 'SmartWig' patent reveals GPS and brainwave monitoring capabilities

Are you both bald AND lost? Then the new "SmartWig" from Japan might be just what you need.

The techno-toupe, which can read the wearer's brainwaves and direct them to their destination with onboard GPS, is the latest and possibly the wackiest addition to the world of wearable computing.

The country that brought us world-changing hits like the Walkman and the pocket calculator, as well as instantly-forgettable misses like the walking toaster, now offers a hi-tech hairpiece.

The proof-of-concept invention comes in three varieties, each specially designed to make life that little bit easier for the follically challenged.

Wearers of the Presentation Wig will be able to remotely control a laser pointer from their mop-top. They can move forward through a PowerPoint slideshow by tugging the right sideburn and go back a page by pulling on the left.

The Navigation Wig uses GPS to speak to satellites and guide users to their destination with tiny vibrations on different parts of the head.

Meanwhile, the Sensing Wig monitors body temperature, blood pressure and brainwaves and can also record sounds and images to allow wearers to playback their day and see what set their systems aflutter.

"There is a wide variety of wearable computing devices, such as computational glasses, clothes, shoes, and so on. However, most wearable devices have become neither common nor popular," the developers said in an essay issued last year.

"We think one of the biggest reasons is the style the focus has been function, not style," said Hiroaki Tobita and Takuya Kuzi.

"The goal of SmartWig is to achieve both natural and practical wearable devices," they said, adding the "natural appearance" of their invention which can be made from human hair could prove a selling point.

A spokeswoman for Sony said Thursday that patents for the SmartWig had been filed in the European Union and the United States, although there were currently no plans to commercialise the product.

Despite its phenomenal success with the much-aped Walkman, Sony has struggled in recent years in its mainstay electronics business, and has been without a significant global hit.

Sony's chief executive officer Kazuo Hirai told local media last month he is pouring business resources into the development of wearable devices, which also includes the company's second-generation smart watch.

Sony's South Korean rival Samsung Electronics has a similar device while consumer favourite Apple is reportedly developing its own "iWatch".

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Many 40-plus executives go in for MBA to fast-track their career

Many 40-plus executives go in for MBA to fast-track their career

“Several senior executives realize they lack a firm wide perspective that will help them to move into leadership roles”.

Being on the wrong side of 40s is no reason not to go to a B-school. In a country where an overwhelming majority of MBA students are in their early 20s, top institutes like Indian School of Business (ISB), MDI Gurgaon and the IIMs are seeing a steady trickle of 40-plus executives signing up for a mid-career MBA hoping to fast-track their rise.

One of them, Sudhakar Murthy, 56, is now in ISB’s current PGPMAX (Post-Graduate Programme in Management for Senior Executives) batch. The group CEO of Dubai-basedAcore Group - it earns $10 million in revenues from aviation, education and media – has worked for 32 years in which he was an entrepreneur for seven years. “I needed to learn the language of the 27/28-year-old managers,” he says. “At my age, I thought all that I’d learnt was stale. The whole world has changed.”

Rajiv Nair, former business head of general merchandise and apparel at Hypercity Retail - he completed ISB’s PGMAX in 2011 – is another example. He has since become the CEO of Celio Future Fashion. He was keen to hone his skills as a business manager and profit centre head. “There were certain things I was good at earlier and certain areas where I needed to garner knowledge. This course helped me bridge that gap and gave me the motivation to move.”

Need to Reskill in Challenging Times

A tough, ever-changing economy demands people stay on their toes.

So, some of these 40-plus students are returning to learn some new skills while sharpening their existing ones. Others are going for the opportunities that an advanced degree may bring them, in terms of better, higher-paying jobs or even providing an edge in an increasingly competitive environment.

Many such 40-plus MBA students do not have a formal management degree or have gone through one several years ago, says Deepak Chandra, deputy dean, ISB. “Several senior executives, especially those who have risen rapidly in their functional domains, realise they lack a firm wide perspective that will help them to move into leadership roles,” he adds. In ISB’s PGPMAX, a majority of students are 40-plus.

At the IIMs, the average age of students in the post-graduate programmes for executives with significant work experience is 30-32. But Sudhir Kumar, a second-year MBA student in IIM-Kozhikode PGP course, where students are even younger, is an exception. He is 54. The former chief manager of Syndicate Bank quit his job to pursue an MBA.

Kumar sat for CAT on a whim while helping his daughter out and cracked it himself. Once he got a call from IIM-K, he was hooked. “I thought I’ll recycle myself,” he says. “Otherwise you get stuck with the same ideas, the same notions.” He lost his legs in an accident and operates with an artificial limb.

Many civil servants and IAS officers are also opting for a mid-career MBA. Devbrat Negi, 50, a commandant with the Border Security Force, MHA, is studying in MDI’s PGP-PPM. The course, he says, has given him an invaluable grasp of corporate finance and financial markets, which are relevant even in his government job. “This is extremely useful in the implementation and maintenance of programmes for better utilisation of public funds,” he says. Such government candidates, SK Tapasvi, chairperson of PGP-PPM says, are handpicked for key postings or given key appointments.

Anecdotal evidence suggests many who have opted for an MBA after crossing 40 have fared well. They have started new ventures and the existing entrepreneurs have either diversified or expanded their businesses. Executives have moved into leadership roles in their own organisations or have been hired by others.

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Mid-sized IT firms poaching senior executives from larger rivals to gain management bandwidth

Mid-sized IT firms poaching senior executives from larger rivals to gain management bandwidth

Mid-sized technology services companies are poaching senior executives from larger rivals, forming a new partnership forged by ambition for rapid growth.

The smaller companies are gaining management bandwidth with the skills to handle scale while the executives are handed powers they may not have had in a larger organisation.

The best example of such a trend is Ashok Vemuri, who moved from Infosys, India’s second-largest software exporter, to iGate, a firm that was one-sixth its size. As a member of the board and the head of key units, the 45-year-old may one day have become CEO of the Bangalore-based company, but there was no guarantee. Therefore Vemuri settled on a trade-off which allows him to conceptualise and implement his strategy in a way which he could not have done if he had continued at Infosys.

“At every milestone – be it $5 million, $10 million or $50 million – a company needs a different escape velocity to move into the next orbit. But the kind of escape velocity that is needed to take it to the next orbit from a revenue size of $400-$500 million is very different,” said NS Parthasarathy, co-founder and president at Mindtree, which has hired proactively from larger peers.

Earlier this month, it hired Ramesh Pillai, an executive who spent about 13 years in HCL Technologies and was heading segments such as automotive, aerospace and medical devices globally, to lead its hi-tech vertical. A month ago, it hired Paul Gottsegen from Infosys to lead its marketing and strategy.

Similarly, another mid-sized IT company, NIIT Technologies, hired senior vice-president Sudhir Chaturvedi from Infosys as COO because of his experience across verticals and in scaling the businesses within Infosys to over $1 billion. Chaturvedi will help NIIT in its ambitions to grow from revenue of around 2,000 crore now to $1 billion by 2018.

Despite analysts earlier questioning the future of mid-sized IT companies, they have proven themselves with consistent financial performance and marquee customers. These companies are also hungry for growth and are eager to get to the billion-dollar revenue club.

“Mid-sized IT players have become more credible and they are now of a size where they can afford to pay top-dollar salaries,” said CK Guruprasad, principal at executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles. “The leaders joining them have more often than not been with the large IT service providers for 10-12 years, from the time they were the size of these mid-sized companies. So they come with valuable perspective.”

The challenge was what prompted Raj Mamodia, who was part of Cognizant’s global leadership team, to quit and join Collabera, a $450-million IT and professional services company, as CEO. Mamodia is now restructuring the business and thinking through a strategy that will differentiate and grow Collabera’s IT services.

“The clincher for me was the quality of the challenge. But you have to have the mental preparedness for it because it is a lot of work. Rewards are usually tightly coupled to performance,” said Mamodia. “For me it was certainly attractive, and I know for many of my industry peers, it would be the same.”

Mindtree’s chief people officer, Ravi Shankar, who has been instrumental in some of its recent hires and who himself joined a year ago from HCL Technologies, said the biggest motivation for the new leadership joining the company is the potential to build something and leave a mark.

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Welcome aboard!

Welcome aboard!

Organisations should go out of their way to make onboarding of new hires a pleasant experience

A successful first day at work has a lot to do with how an organization makes the employee’s transition into the new job role a smooth one. From assigning a buddy to small corporate freebeeies, companies that make an effort to make a new joinee feel welcome are giving the message that they value their employees. On-boarding is easy only when the new hire is greeted with a hassle free orientation.

From the time a company hires someone till that person actually comes on board, there’s always this ambiguity about the status of the employee. Due to which, companies have realised that it’s important to engage employees even before they actually join. Social Media has played a significant role in this aspect.

While a potential employee is sitting around and trying to take a final call on whether to join the organisation or not, employers can utilise this phase by giving easy access to information such as – company history, kind of assignments, team members involved in the same project, work culture, etc. Experts believe that this practice often converts a lot of job offers into actual joining.

Debasish Roy, senior manager – Smarter Workforce – Kenexa Onboarding and Assessments, IBM identifies some of the useful ways through which a company can successfully control employee on-boarding:

Coordination: For an employee to be on-boarded properly, he/ she needs to coordinate with the HR manager constantly; engage with the team in order to be effective from day one; have access to a set of documentation, etc.

Social Media: An employee can also get or share relevant information/ data over internal social media platforms or messengers. Based on an individual’s interest, he/ she can also be added to specific groups within the network – this again works really well when it comes to exchange of ideas with other team members or even the manager.

Automate paper work: On-boarding also means doing a lot of paper work – this is both for the employees as well as the HR manager. By automating this process of documenting employee information, etc. much time is saved and the first day at work can become all about getting acquainted with the team, the work, get involved in various discussions, etc.

Providing easy answers: Typically a new hire will have a lot of questions – how do I do this? Where do I go for this? All this can be assimilated within a forum in the internal social network and people can participate in open discussions and provide easy answers.

Exchange of ideas: An employee can also exchange ideas with experts around innovation and collaboration. This activity will only increase employee satisfaction and ensure he/ she becomes more engaged with the company; the team and most importantly the assigned task.

Mobile experience: On-boarding can also be done through mobile applications. This is often easily accessible as compared to laptop or desktops.

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“We rely heavily on employee referrals”

Interview of the Day: “We rely heavily on employee referrals”

Raj Raghavan, Country HR Director, Amazon India

How important is the role of a diverse workforce in Amazon’s business in India? 

It’s very important!  Amazon has been in India since 2004, supporting global technology and operations. Ever since, we have always had a diverse workforce. A diverse workforce is integral to the growth of the company and the growth of the economy. It fosters new ways of thinking, innovation and reaching out to a wider range of customers and growing your business.

How diverse is your workforce?

We have women leaders who run categories, businesses, technology teams and hold leadership positions at Amazon. Gender diversity brings ‘Diversity in Thought’ and that’s important for a balanced leadership. At the recently concluded Grace Hopper Conference in Bangalore, world’s largest conference of technical women, 25 of our women leaders, who are technology experts and engineers, participated.

What are the various best practices you employ to keep your workforce motivated and engaged?

Amazon has a culture that inculcates “Ownership”. We don’t think skills forward, we think customer backwards. And that is the predominant way in which we engage with our people. We build capabilities and learn skills based on customer needs.

We have a global customer connections program that mandates all managers to spend 2 days in a year resolving customer questions on telephone e-mails. This helps managers across the organisation aware of the pulse of the consumer.

At Amazon, we encourage an owner-driven work environment, in which our employees can make decisions, so that they are quick and nimble. We are not bureaucratic. We don’t have huge layers of management.

We practice a mentorship program where every new employee is allocated a Buddy, who mentors/ guides and inducts them into the culture of the organisation. This buddy is someone you can go to for advice. He/she is like your sounding board. Such a program helps employees to engage and learn a lot from their seniors.

You must have an extensive warehousing and logistics set up. What are the challenges you face while sourcing a workforce for this set up?

Our warehouses are called Fulfillment Centers. We have a very high hiring bar and to meet that bar and clearing it, is challenging in itself.

At Amazon, we want to hire superstars! We want the existing employees to feel proud of the hire we have made, so that they look forward to working with that person and feel motivated to learn from that person. To hire great talent is fun, but at the same time it’s challenging too.

How do you generally source your employees?

We have a large sourcing team internally. Besides that, we rely heavily on employee referrals and we have a robust employee referral programme.

We also make use of social channels such as LinkedIn to source people. In specific cases we also use expert consultancy services to find the right people.

Is a candidate, aspiring to join Amazon, required to have degrees from only the elite and premier institutes? How can competent candidates from not-so renowned institutes be a part of Amazon?

At Amazon, we believe that education is just one of the components that make up a suitable candidate and his/her performance and experience on the job is the key. We select people from various engineering and management institutes across the country. We ourselves go to a variety of colleges and B-schools to reach out to potential candidates. We don’t have a bias towards any particular institute.

What is future roadmap for Amazon in terms of human capital? 

The three words that really define us and will continue to define our future are – ‘Hire’, ‘Keep’ and ‘Grow’. This is something I have always maintained and keep reiterating to my team. 

Will 2014 be a good year for candidates aspiring to make a mark in e-commerce sector?

E-commerce industry in India is still growing and evolving. We see a huge opportunity in the country and that is why we are here. Amazon in India has its marketplace, www.amazon.in; we have Amazon Web Services that provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services and Kindle. We offer all three services here in India. I think it’s going to be a great 2014 for product technologies segment wherein e-commerce will be the most popular.

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