An ex-employee explains top challenges facing Google India – and how to tackle them

Despite having over 90% smartphone market share in India, Google is lacking a big consumer app in the country.Facebook has WhatsApp (and Messenger), both of which are massive in India, and Google is getting anxious that it could lose out.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai made his first official trip to India in mid-December as the company looks to expand in the country. Pichai announced a partnership with the Indian government to bring more of India's 1.2 billion population online.Business Insider spoke to Keval Desai, an ex-Google employee turned investor, about the problems Google is having in one of the fastest growing markets on Earth. (He was keen to stress that his views are not based on inside knowledge, but an understanding of Google's culture and businesses.)

Problem 1: India is a mobile-first country

Unlike the US or Europe, the majority of internet users' first experiences of technology and the internet are on a mobile device (most likely a smartphone) rather than a PC.

"Google has to re-architect its product [and] business model to this new mobile era," Desai said. "Google faces a completely new ecosystem in mobile that is similar to the old PC era of the '80s-'90s and not the web era of 2000s when Google was born."

This change is not specific to India but the whole of Google's business and the company has been working hard on creating mobile apps for all platforms while expanding beyond search and advertising, which make up 90% of Google's revenues.

Problem 2: Facebook

Desai makes the distinction between "desktop social networking" -- which, he says, is Facebook and LinkedIn -- and mobile messaging. According to Facebook, more than 890 million people use the Facebook app every month.

"Google has no chance [with desktop social] and I think trying to compete here is like fighting the last war," he said. "It is pointless and I believe Google recognizes that."

"Messaging apps have become the entry point for most of the tasks on a smartphone [in India]," he said. "Google owns the [operating system] in Android, but it doesn't own the entry point on a smartphone."

Facebook bought WhatsApp, the online messaging service, for $19 billion (£12.7 billion) last year for precisely this reason: The company wanted to own the portal through which people visit the internet.

"Google saw this coming and tried to buy WhatsApp but [Facebook] beat it," he said. "So now Google does have a problem and it is very evident in 'mobile first' countries like India where hundreds of millions of first time internet users are using WhatsApp as their entry point."

Problem 3: Becoming a destination site

Becoming a destination website will be difficult for Google in India, according to Desai.

"[Internet users in India] do all of their communication, commerce, social activities within the walled garden of WhatsApp," he said. "Many of these users don't even have a [Gmail] account because they were not even online until they got their first mobile phone so they are not in the Google universe and they don't search much on their phone either so Google truly never sees them."

Desai pointed towards an article which details how a street vendor in India has increased sales dramatically by using the group messaging feature in WhatsApp. This, he said, "perfectly captures Google's challenge in India."

How to fix the problem? According to Desai, Google has three options:

Leverage its other mobile apps:

Google has YouTube and Maps at its disposal, both of which are used heavily on mobile devices. Neither are messaging apps, but both give Google the opportunity to grab consumer mindshare.

Build, or acquire, other messaging apps.Highly popular regional apps exist in almost every market -- such as Line in Asia -- and Google could acquire one of these, re-brand it, and reap the rewards. Finding the apps is the hard part, however.

Rebrand Chrome

Google's web browser could, according to Desai, be leveraged and turned into a messaging client. Deals with phone hardware partners, such as Huawei, could be used to distribute the software.

"I think the key to winning in India in mobile is going to be slightly different than winning the desktop web in the US," said Desai. "In India, Google will have to win by having top apps and [win] by ensuring that it can be the first point of access for millions of Indians who are still not yet online."

Source : The Times Of India- Tech

Image Source : techgignews.com

TOI asked top-notch investors, founders & influencers in the startup world to pick their startup, entrepreneur and investor of the year. They also polled for the best new startup, a company founded in 2015. Here are the winners:

1.Startup for the year: Ola and Oyo Rooms

Both Ola and Oyo Rooms took the top spot in their respective categories in a year when they grew exceptionally in size and scale. Having scooped up millions of dollars in capital, the two startups will have to execute with precision from here on to steer execute with precision from here on to steer themselves through their next stage of growth in markets as deep as transportation and hotels.

2.TOI's pick for startup for the year: Grofers

The hyperlocal delivery startup led by Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar was unknown at the beginning of the year. From being a business-to-business platform, Grofers pivoted to becoming a consumer facing venture and then the funding floodgates opened.

Its valuation zoomed from $33 million in February to more than $300 million in its latest $120 million fund-raise led by Softbank. Grofers' test will come in 2016 when it'll have to build a robust merchantled supply chain and fufill demand at a much larger scale.

3.Investor of the year: Nikesh Arora, president, Softbank

SoftBank's Nikesh Arora emerged as a clear winner in a year when the Japanese internet & telecoms giant doubled down on the Indian market with fresh investments in Oyo and Grofers.

Having entered the consumer internet space last year with bets on Snapdeal, Ola and Housing, Softbank became a sought after, fat cat mid-to late stage investor along with DST Global and Tiger Global.

4.TOI's pick for investor of the year: Lee Fixil, Tiger Global

Fixel has been the most fervent believer in the Indian consumer internet story for a few years now. For the first time since his early bets in Flipkart and Ola, Fixel made a string of series A investments at high valuations, heating up the startup market locally.

Fixel's unique investment theory stems from Tiger's hedge fund roots and his deep pockets, which make the firm a preferred investor for most Indian founders who are on a route to fast-paced growth which requires gobs of capital.

5.Entrepreneur of the year: Bhavish Aggarwal

Bhavish Aggarwal's year has been remarkable from having raised $900 million in funds to reaching 100 cities and diversifying into food and grocery delivery. This year catapulted his Ola into the unicorn club, comprising billion-dollar privately held startups, and saw him consolidate his leadership position with the TaxiForSure acquisition. His go-for-broke nature has won him plaudits as he fights it out with arch rival Uber.

6.TOI's pick for entrepreneur of the year: Ritesh Agarwal

Ritesh Agarwal, founder of Oyo Rooms, has a set of skeptics who have doubted his ability to steer a company which may have outgrown him. But this year, Agarwal has been able to hire and build an experienced senior team which will hold the key going forward for Oyo.

Everyone has been talking about how the 22-year-old may have come of age as a founder who can lead from the front.

7.Best new startup: Roadrunnr

Roadrunnr emerged as disrupting the logistics space with an asset-light model wherein they don't use warehouses like other logistics players.The hyperlocal delivery startup works with merchants, restaurants and e-commerce firms to deliver their orders to customers. Its backers include Nexus, Sequoia and Apolleto, Yuri Milner's personal investment vehicle.

Source : The Times Of India - tech

Startup India trends that made 2015 a landmark year  

Startup boom continued in India with more rigour than ever before in 2015. The past year has seen a makeover of the ecosystem with more players coming in and some major ones disintegrating. It also witnessed the birth of major deals and more inflow of investment.

For some startups, it was the best of times, and for some others, it was definitely the worst.

YourStory finds out the top trends which ruled the scene in 2015.

Hyperlocal revolution

Your local grocer became tech savvy this year; so did your plumber and your local food delivery boys. Biggies like Amazon, Ola, Flipkart, Snapdeal, and Paytm entered the hyperlocal grocery services in 2015. Food delivery service Yumist raised $2 million for expansion while Swiggy ventured to Chennai, covering all tier I cities. Home services provider Housejoy went from 40 orders a day to 4,000 in 10 months since its launch in January, while its competitor Urbanclap – backed by Ratan Tata among others — got 3000 vendors in Mumbai alone. Even offline shopping was made easier by Shopsity, a discovery platform, and digital payment provider Momoe ventured beyond restaurants, into grocery stores, spas and salons, and apparel stores.

Indian languages come online

It seems like at least a few entrepreneurs realised that the country does have a huge non-English speaking population – about 70-80%. If Snapdeal led the way in e-commerce by launching itself (powered by Reverie) in Telugu and Hindi, local e-commerce startup Storeking, which functions exclusively with local languages, partnered with wallet services provider MobiKwik to enable expansion. Classifieds platform Quikr is also now available in seven languages. In news media, YourStory set a record by launching in 10 Indian languages, and InShort quickly followed suit.  The trend is sure to grow – Process Nine Technologies Pvt Ltd., which partnered with Snapdeal for translating English into different Indian languages, is already working with players in travel and retail.

Tier II cities not so secondary anymore

Startups looked beyond the metros this year, and found untapped markets full of opportunities! Faaso’s went to tier II cities such as Baroda and Ahmedabad, thus making their presence in total 10 cities while online grocery service Grofers went to 17 tier II cities making their presence in a total of 27 cities. Auto rickshaw aggregator and on-demand grocery provider Jugnoo even announced launch in tier III city Udaipur. Taxi aggregator Ola made it to total 102 cities this year by entering tier II cities, including Kochi and Trivandrum, while rival Uber also took on seven tier II and Udaipur cities making a total of 18. Meru cabs also went on to cover 23 cities altogether. Even pre-owned fashion platforms have seen a majority of their orders coming in from tier II and tier III cities, leading more logistics firms to launch in those cities.

Pooling is a virtue

It was probably the entry of French company BlaBla cars, a long distance ride-sharing service connecting private drivers, into the country in January that ignited the idea of carpooling among cab aggregators in India. Eight-year-old Meru Cabs launched carpooling in September. Around the same time, US-based Uber launched the service in Bengaluru, which was followed by Ola in a month. The trend is sure to grow, with the recent decision by the Delhi government to implement odd-even rule – in which odd numbered cars run on odd dates, and even numbered cars on even dates — provides the perfect platform for these companies to encourage pooling for their passengers in 2016.

Sacking of the masses

Hundreds of startup employees got the sack this year, which questioned the structure, functioning and viability of those businesses. After the firing of Co-founder and CEO Rahul Yadav in July, real estate platform Housing fired 600 employees in August and another 200 in November “to control cash burn”. Soon, food delivery player Tinyowl fired 100 employees and shut down its Pune office – leading to Co-founder Gaurav Choudhary being held hostage allegedly by the employees for settlements. Tinyowl’s rival Zomato, which joined the Unicorn club this year, also laid off 10 percent of its workforce in November, followed by its CEO Deepinder Goyal sending an email to the remaining employees indirectly warning them to perform well or leave. Grabhouse joined this list a week ago, when it fired more than 150 employees.

App-commerce comes forward

E-commerce went “handy” this year when biggies like Flipkart and Snapdeal focused more on their rising mobile phone traffic. India is increasingly becoming a mobile-first country, and even startups like Elanic are going app-only for their business. Myntra made headlines when it went app-only in May. Although Flipkart was rumoured to go app-only after shutting down its mobile website, they later settled for a new mobile site — Flipkart lite, which is claimed to be 99 percent similar to the native app but is only 10kb. Rival Snapdeal followed suit with Snap-lite, which is claimed to be 85 percent faster than the original mobile site and is available across all mobile browsers. With almost 70 percent of transactions coming from their apps, Amazon and Flipkart provided some offers exclusively on apps during the festive season sales this year.

Omni channel is born

Online commerce hooked up with offline players this year, and omni channel was born. Taking hyperlocal services to the next level, omni channel strategies brought offline players into e-commerce spectrum. Omni channel retail give more inclusivity — the customers can discover online and get the products from the brick and mortar stores. Some players like Fashalot provide incentives through their app too. Snapdeal’s omni channel platform, launched in October, integrated offline platforms to their business so that the customers can get the ordered product picked up from or delivered from a nearby offline store. Retail giants like Tata, Reliance, Unilever, and Aditya Birla Group etc. also took to online commerce and some of them started selling on Flipkart and Amazon.

Rise and fall of food startups

Food startups ate too much money in the first half of the year, but later it starved to death. Food delivery startups saw a substantial boom in the first half of the year, with $74 million invested in the sector in April alone. However, things deteriorated by August — Zomato and Tinyowl made news for their mass firings, and FoodPanda seemed to have been in trouble too. Lack of funding killed Spoonjoy and Dazo in October, and Eatlo is believed to have shut down too. Inefficiencies in delivery time and poor revenue model have made the food-tech startups sit up and ponder over better strategies for the future.

Startups get Ratan Tata

After retiring from his position as Chairman of Tata Group in 2012, Ratan Tata became pro-active in funding startups as well as tech-based companies. He made news last year when he invested in Snapdeal, Urban Ladder, and Blue Stone. But in 2015, Ratan Tata made 11 investments, including Ola, Paytm, Urban ladder, Xaiomi, Kaaryah, Holachef, CarDekho, and Lybrate. His counterpart from Wipro, AzimPremji, had also invested in Myntra and Snapdeal in 2014, while Infosys Founder Narayana Murthy has invested in Amazon. It looks like corporates have joined the startup game finally, and the younger generation is at an advantage – getting to learn from the most successful entrepreneurs the country has seen.

‘GharWapsi’ of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs

The loss of Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and many other majors in Silicon Valley was India’s gain in e-commerce. Punit Soni, the man behind the revival of Motorola and earlier product manager at Google, left the Bay Area to come and live in India for the first time when he joined Flipkart as the Chief Product Officer in March 2015. Flipkart was also quick in snatching California-based Niket Desai from Google to be its Chief of Staff in April, while Snapdeal hired Silicon Valley veteran Gaurav Gupta as its Vice-President of Engineering. Furthermore, quite a handful of Indian “techies” settled abroad came back to India and launched their own entrepreneurial ventures this year – Vikram P Kumar of Explore, Mehul Sutaria of Transitpedia, SanketAvlani of Taxi Fabric to name a few.

Acquisition spree continues

Since Indian IPOs are not easy to come by, mergers and acquisitions have been the most preferred exit routes for early investors and entrepreneurs. In 2015, around 200 acquisitions and acqui-hires have taken place in the ecosystem – Snapdeal’s acquisition of FreeCharge, Ola’s acquisition of TaxiForSure, Mahindra’s Babyoye, Practo’s acquisition of Qikwell and Instahealth, and Housing’s acquisition of HomeBuy360, have been notable exits. This trend is not going to slow down as many startups have raised larger rounds this year to prepare their war chests. More acquisitions could be in the pipeline for 2016.

Startups do have a heart

In a year when this part of the world witnessed natural disasters which killed hundreds, some startups did their part to help. Proving that it is not just profit margins that they care about, Ola provided boats and Uber gave free rides during the Chennai floods. Paytm provided free recharge to help the public communicate, and Zomato delivered a meal free for every order placed in Chennai.  Data collection startup SocialCops was part of the relief efforts in Chennai floods as well as Nepal earthquake.

Source : yourstory.com

8 bold predictions for Android in 2016

It's that time of year, ladies and gents, when the pundits and predictors cast their d20 to chance a guess at what's in store for various and sundry sectors of nearly every market on the planet. That's right... it's a chance to take a stab at guessing what the future holds.

In being true to that tradition, these are my predictions for what's in store for Android in 2016. Find out why I think 2016 might be one of the biggest years yet for the platform.

1: Unlocked devices will rule

There's no way around this now. Unlocked devices are going to take command of the Android market, and they won't do this from the shadows. These devices will come out into the spotlight to show why they might be the most important development in the Android ecosystem.

2016 will see the first time an inexpensive unlocked device will usurp Samsung, HTC, Google, or Motorola as the flagship device to have. Either OnePlus, Xiaomi, or Huawei will release a flagship killer that will finally make its way to every market and take over as the "it" smartphone.

2: Bloat be gone

I believe that Android "N" (whatever it will be called) will include the ability for an end user to remove bloatware added by carriers. This will be a major win for Google and consumers.

Although Android "N" will be a massive Android upgrade, the ability to strip devices of dreaded bloatware will be the one feature to overshadow all others. That's how badly this feature is needed.

3: Android "N" will impress

I believe the major changes to Android "N" (Noughat? NomNom? Nonpareil?) will include a new, feature-rich power menu that will bring a reboot option to stock Android. Android "N" might also see a split screen feature that will allow users to run two apps simultaneously. You might also see the following features: a theme engine, a notification LED control, double-tap to wake, better wearable and auto integration, and much more.

Of course, all features will be overshadowed if "N" allows us to remove bloatware.

4: Android upgrade improvement

Android Marshmallow proved that the Android upgrade process is broken. Even those with Nexus phones (the platform that was supposed to get upgrades almost immediately upon release) have not seen upgrades months after the release of the latest iteration of the operating system.

There are many pieces to this puzzle, and I believe Google will finally solve the problem in 2016. Most of the solution will come at the expense of carriers and their testing (and addition of bloatware). Regardless of how, this has been an issue plaguing Android, and one that must be resolved in the coming year.

5: Better integration with Chromebooks

I do not think Google plans on retiring Chrome OS... it's just too important to the overall ecosystem. I do believe, however, that Google will make it easier for Chrome OS to run Android apps and make the integration between Android and Chrome OS seamless. Imagine plugging your Android device into a Chromebook to see them automatically sync with one another.

6: Massive growth for Android X

The X stands for "wear" and "auto."

I predict that Android-based wearables and the automotive take on the platform will see major growth in all markets. Wearables have struggled to make any major impact because the platform simply wasn't ready. With the release of Android "N," I believe wearables will see a massive surge in growth, as will Android Auto.

7: Android of Everything

It's time for the Internet of Things and Android to come together. Sure, you can control your Nest from Android and even manage to integrate the Amazon Echo, but that's using Android on the periphery. I believe the coming year will see the beginnings of serious Android in the home... front and center. I could see an Android "home base" appearing to herald in the Android of Everything.

8: Project Fi will take off

Google's Project Fi was launched in 2015 and has been a hit with the few users who have adopted the technology. I think 2016 will see a major growth in this Google project and future releases of Android (starting with "N") will have Fi fully integrated and ready to go with devices outside of the Nexus line.

Android is already one of the largest platforms across all markets. I believe 2016 will see another major swell in the rank and file, thanks to some serious improvements in the operating system and integration with other Google products and projects.

Source : techrepublic.com

When the Google CEO Turned Up In Our College | Sundar Pichai interacts with SRCC students.

Sundar Pichai interacting with the students from Delhi University.
On a lazy winter morning, I woke up to realize that it was the day that the man who grew up in my vicinity in Chennai, and made it big in life, big enough to become the CEO of Google, was coming to my college. Sundararajan Pichai, so was he named.

Although the winter vacation in Delhi University had already begun, there was an unusual crowd in front of SRCC when I entered. Google India had apparently hired a special squad from G4S to provide cover for their CEO. And so my favorite guard, the one who’d unfailingly greet us everyday was missing at the gate.

However, the Nooglers(a “new Googler,” or a new employee of Google) at the registration desk made up for his absence. The registration process was smooth and they were themselves equally excited to meet Sundar. They even gave me a media pass when I told them that I’d be blogging about the #AskSundar event. We had to enter the venue 90 minutes prior to the schedule for security concerns.

Google is intuitive, it understands us. I was hungry and they gave me a felicitous meal box InnerChef. There were a lot of digital screens put up across the campus to keep us edutained. On some screens, you could take selfies and they’d automatically get uploaded on social media, or if you were a non-narcissist like me, then you could watch Art & History videos at the other screens. In the Sports Complex, there were drums everywhere and they made a musical program out of it. I felt the innovative setup of the event itself was giving us a message as to what Google stood for.

Favorite Sports: Soccer, Cricket
Favorite Players: Lionel Messi, Sunil Gavaskar
Favorite Train: Coromandel Express (Chennai to Kharagpur)
First Phone: Motorola StarTAC
First Software: A rudimentary version of Chess
When he was still in college, the Internet didn’t even exist. There were no smartphones, only books. He was completely into reading. So when the Internet started happening, it took him a while to realize its power. He talked about the attitude towards failure in the Indian society and how in contrast, in the Silicon Valley, it was indeed considered us a badge of honor.

“India needs a culture of optimism and risk taking,” he said. He encouraged us to work with people who’d make us feel insecure. The Indian education system, according to him needs more experiential and project-based learning. He urged the Indian community to ensure that the system doesn’t penalize us for taking risks. Those were very valid points coming from someone who himself is a product of the system.

Then, he spent some time joking about how they should create an opinion poll for naming the next Android version & asked us to vote for an Indian name. He was also very optimistic about India. He said, “It’s happening in India. It’s just a matter of time. We’re a country of entrepreneurial culture. Whenever I go across India and find a tea stall in a random corner, I feel like ‘Well, there’s an entrepreneur here.’ India is very, very well positioned. Entrepreneurs here are just like the ones I find in the Valley.”

Someone asked him whether if it was true that he could memorize phone numbers hearing them just once. “Yes, I was good at them when I was in Chennai. Back then it used to be only six digits. But when I moved to the US and started using a smartphone, I stopped memorizing.” I wanted to ask him if technology has made our brains less efficient and the importance of memorization in a digital world.


There was another joke when Bhogle asked him how much he had scored in his Class 12. Sundar diplomatically answered that it wasn’t good enough for him to enter SRCC. Oh boy, I was so proud of myself. When I go back home, I’ll tell mom that I have achieved something the Google CEO couldn’t.

Source : letsintern.com

5 hacks for getting more out of Gmail

You may think you know all you need to know about Gmail to manage your account, but it’s always safe to assume the powerful service has more up its sleeve. In fact, many of its coolest features may slip by you if you don’t know where to look. Here are five tips for getting more out of what Gmail has to offer.

Easily unsubscribe to bulk emails

As good as Gmail’s spam filter is, it can’t catch everything, and bulk email messages will inevitably find their way into your inbox. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to weed them out.

Just type “unsubscribe” into Gmail’s search box and it will respond with a cascade of daily deals, newsletters, and other offers to which you’ve long since forgotten subscribing. To stop receiving a message, open it an either click the unsubscribe button Gmail places next to the sender’s address on promotional emails or look for an unsubscribe link at the bottom.

Take advantage of email “aliases”

If you just can’t help yourself and know you’re going to continue to subscribe to offers and email notifications, use this hack to keep the influx organized.

Gmail doesn’t use traditional aliases, but it does let you create alternate addresses by adding a plus sign followed by words or numbers after your email address. You can use this to your advantage to sort your subscriptions. For example, if you wanted to sign up for Groupon, enter your email address as John.Smith+groupon@gmail.com. Then set up a filter to apply a label or star to these messages, have them bypass your inbox, or otherwise redirect them.

Supercharge your stars

Gmail uses a yellow star to bookmark or prioritize messages. The problem is if you “star” a lot of email, you can quickly create another disorganized tier within your inbox.

But it’s a little-known fact that Gmail actually offers a range of colored stars and even other icons you can use to impose order on your important emails. For example, you can use different colored stars for different priority levels or use a red exclamation point for messages that need an urgent reply.

Just go to Settings > General and scroll down to Stars. Drag the stars or symbols you want to add from the “Not in use” category to “In use.” To apply one of the new icons to a message, click the star next to it repeatedly until you see the symbol you want to use.

Keep tabs on your account activity

They may not get the headlines like other types of security breaches, but email hacks do happen. You can monitor your own Gmail activity if you know where to look.

Scroll all the way to the bottom of your inbox and look for the “Details” link in the right corner. Click it to see information on the last 10 times your Gmail account was accessed. This log shows you the access type—browser, mobile, POP3, etc.—the location and IP address, and the time of activity. From here, you can also log out of Gmail from another computer by hitting the “Sign out all other web sessions” button.

Manage an inactive account

We can’t imagine you’d ever want to stop using Gmail, but nonetheless you should decide how you’d want your data handled if that day should come. You can do this with Google’s Inactive Account Manager.

This failsafe helps Google determine when your account should be treated as inactive, what to do with your data, and whom to notify. You just need to customize four settings:

Timeout period—you designate a lengthof time starting from your last login after which your account can be considered inactive.

Alert me—you provide a mobile number and additional email addresses by which Google can alert you. It will do so one month before your timeout period ends.

Notify contacts and share data—you can add up to 10 people to be notified when your account is inactive and elect whether or not to share data with them.

Optionally delete account—toggle this switch to “yes” if you want Google to delete your account and all data associated with it once all the previous steps have been completed.

These measures go into play if you don't access your account for a length of time for any reason, so it's worth taking the time to configure them.

Source : macworld.com

The secret to Microsoft's rising fortunes

As we near the close of 2015, the technology world has grown boring, largely because it's so mind-numbingly predictable: Apple dominates mobile, Amazon owns the cloud, and on and on.

That's why I'm grateful for Microsoft -- yes, Microsoft. While Redmond has been gazing into the abyss for the past decade or so and continues to stumble in mobile -- the truth is that Microsoft is getting its mojo back.

Microsoft's winning strategy? While RedMonk analyst James Governor points out, "Not sucking has been really key," the heart of that "not sucking" strategy has been a consistent, relentless focus on developers -- so much so, in fact, that Google has said of Microsoft: "We share the same soul."

Signs of life

But first, some numbers.

It should be clear by now that workloads are moving to the public cloud much faster than many expected. While traditional IT keeps trying to stave off the inevitable with data centers thinly disguised as "private cloud," there's no question that the market is Amazon Web Services' to lose.

Microsoft, however, isn't far behind, at least not when measured by perception. An IDG Enterprise survey found Microsoft (36 percent) to be second only to AWS (43 percent) in terms of cloud thought leadership. Google was next at 26 percent, but IBM (18 percent), Oracle (6 percent), and others were way behind.

This perception is translating into real revenues for both AWS and Microsoft, according to a recent Forrester report:

Pay attention to the cloud platform revenues, where AWS has a dramatic lead ($6 billion). But Microsoft, with roughly $1.6 billion, is at least doubling any of its enterprise competitors.

Part of this lead among the AWS-chasing pack comes down to Microsoft's strength with CIOs. Even in the bowels of its soul-searching, Microsoft never lost the affection of the C-suite. According to a 2013 CIO survey, 45 percent of CIOs picked Microsoft as their "most important vendor," roughly twice as many as the next nearest vendor (Oracle).

But the bigger reason Microsoft is a credible competitor to AWS is that the Redmond giant has rekindled its love affair with developers in a way that none of its peers have.

Speaking polyglot

It's easy for platform vendors like Microsoft to become fixated on the platform. Indeed, this is precisely what Microsoft did for decades, going so far as to use its dominance in one market to tie into other markets (operating systems, browsers, and so on).

But the Satya Nadella Microsoft is different. Perhaps the biggest offering Microsoft has thrown to developers in the last few years, according to Citrix CTO Christian Reilly, is "embracing different platforms (and providing tooling on them)."

This means, according to Nadella, that "every developer on every platform can build intelligent apps."

This isn't a Steve Ballmer developer dance. It's an earnest effort to speak the polyglot languages that today's modern developer must speak.

Of course, this is driven by self-interest, as is Microsoft's embrace of open source. Though roughly 50 percent of developers still use Windows as their desktop OS, according to a massive Stack Overflow developer survey, that number has been going down for years. Even those Microsoft Windows developers are building applications for other platforms (OS, database, and so on), many of them not invented in Redmond.

While Microsoft would love to have everyone using its proprietary software, the reality is that open source has become the lingua franca of developers. Microsoft isn't opening up out of any great love for freedom. But so what?

What it has managed to do is turn around a decade of waning developer affection and attention and convert it into an increasingly bright future for the company.

Microsoft hasn't needed to win on all fronts to resume its relevance. It has simply needed to regain developers' trust. Nadella has done that with a genuine willingness to color outside the Windows lines, giving Microsoft a key role to play in our developer-fueled cloud future.

Source : infoworld.com

Mastering the Panel Interview

Establishing a rapport with a single interviewer is hard enough. What happens when you need to face a panel of three or four? Worst of all, the employer might not tell you that you’ll be meeting with several people at the same time.

“Nobody’s going to tell you about a panel interview in advance,” said Don Georgevich, a 20-year IT veteran, author of “The Complete Interview Answer Guide,” and career expert. “And if you let the group run rampant with questions, they’ll burn you out. The key is to treat a panel like a one-on-one interview by breaking it down into small, manageable chunks.”

Group interviews present a unique set of dynamics and challenges. If you remain calm, and practice the following techniques, you can still prevail:

Get Names and Titles

Create a “seating chart” by jotting down the names and titles of the interviewers or placing their business cards on the table in front of you. Having a roster will help you address them by name and discern their concerns, agendas and pecking order. Sure, you’d like to impress everyone—but in reality, some interviewers have more clout than others.

“While the manager may solicit feedback from everyone, there’s only one decision maker,” Georgevich said. “Gear most of your answers toward that person, because that’s who you need to win over to land an offer.”

Control the Pace

A panel interview can morph into a rapid-fire interrogation, unless you make a concerted effort to control the pace.

“Take a few sips of water or jot down a few notes after you finish answering a question,” Georgevich said. “Those 15 to 20 seconds belong to you—don’t give them up.”

Notes can help you remember key details and formulate insightful follow-up questions at the end of your meeting. Make eye contact with the manager or leader when you’re ready to proceed.

Tailor Your Responses

Since panel members usually have different roles and responsibilities, customizing your answer toward individual questioners’ issues and concerns showcases your capabilities from different angles, said Laura Smith-Proulx, an executive resume writer and career coach.

“For instance, an engineering manager or technical lead may be concerned about your technical strengths, especially if the last developer he hired didn’t work out,” she added. “While the IT director is looking to see if you’re easy to manage and a fellow developer or PM is looking for a supportive team player.”

Framing your answer is an effective way to acknowledge the questioner’s position and demonstrate your range in front of a group with diverse agendas. For example, you might say: “As a member of the development team, I realize that I may need to acquiesce to avoid conflict. Here’s how I would handle the QA issue you just described.”

Engage the Group

Build a rapport one person at a time by addressing the questioner, but pan your head around every so often as you’re talking to keep the other panel members engaged. And be sure to limit your answers to two minutes or less.

“As you’re wrapping up your answer, go around the circle and tip your head, smile or acknowledge the other panel members especially the hiring manager,” Georgevich said. “Using body language, facial expressions or gestures is an effective way to draw in the other observers.”

Avoid Traps

Strange things can happen when a group of tech pros gather around a conference table. One may try to dominate the conversation, while another may play “bad cop” by posing difficult or “gotcha” questions. The panellists may even disagree about a testing methodology or when it makes sense to reuse code.

Whether it’s a genuine conflict or a ploy to see how you react, don’t get sucked into the drama. “By remaining calm and professional, you’ll convey that you can confidently handle any situation,” Smith-Proulx said. “And employers hold group interviews to see which candidates can handle stress and how they work with others.”

Source : dice.com

2 Huge Problems Every Startup Will Face

And how they can affect employee productivity

MPW Insider is an online community where the biggest names in business and beyond answer timely career and leadership questions. Today’s answer for:What’s your biggest worry and how are you dealing with it? is written by Amy Errett, CEO of Madison Reed.

Startups will usually face two major hurdles: proving their business model, and growing their business. While Madison Reed has a proven market, we’re still growing our company every day. Although growing a company is an enviable problem to have, it requires an entirely different skillset than proving your business is viable. That’s why scaling our company without abandoning the identity and culture we’ve worked so hard to forge is one of my biggest worries.

We’ve created a culture at Madison Reed where employees can thrive through compassionate, thoughtful relationships with both their managers and peers. In a time when most companies are pushing their employees to grind it out for every additional bit of productivity, we empower our employees to be honest with one another and abandon their fears. This approach drives our team to achieve beyond what they thought was possible and furthering the company’s success in the process — I call it scaling with love.

Propelled by growth projections and a deluge of new hires, over time some startups lose their identity and distance themselves from the very DNA that made them such a splash in the first place. Ensuring this doesn’t happen at Madison Reed is something I work to achieve every day.

Though I try to remain focused on our goals, retaining our company culture isn’t easy. I believe the compassion and empathy each employee brings to the table is incredibly valuable — not something we can afford to abandon as our audience continues to grow. There is no single strategy to keep you team members happy or engaged. After years of doing this, I believe that human beings are more motivated by finding meaning in their lives than being solely money focused. Certainly, compensation matters, but in a company like ours where we have a deep social meaning — where we believe in creating the best hair color products with low chemical ingredients.

While we have lots of room to grow, we won’t sacrifice what makes us unique to do that. Ensuring we retain the compassionate, empathetic culture we’ve spent years developing is something I think about every day. It requires a balanced approach — focusing simultaneously on the big picture and the details. We believe we are well on our way to disrupt a $50 billion market with a better product, better experience, and better service. We take massive pride in that and we know we will have challenges and opportunities as every company does, but I know our culture will carry us through.

Source : fortune.com

What Mark Zuckerberg Can Learn From Elon Musk About Changing The World

Two billionaire events happened last week:

Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan said they'd give away most of their wealth, and Elon Musk renewed his call for a carbon tax.Both Zuckerberg and Musk want to change the world. Some have argued that by creating Facebook, Zuckerberg already has.I might argue that Musk hasn't. Yet.

But that doesn't mean he won't ultimately change it in far more profound ways. And both Chan and Zuckerberg should study him closely as they look to deploy the family's resources, which will stand at about $45 billion.Though Musk has given away some of his money, the thrust of his change-the-world vision has come from investment in his companies: Tesla, SpaceX, and Solar City.

When he got very rich after the sale of PayPal to eBay, he took - as he often explains it - all of his money and sank it into those three enterprises.

To risky to succeed?

Speaking in Paris last week, he stressed that he wasn't initially looking for outside investors in either Tesla or SpaceX because he thought both companies were likely to fail. Cars and rockets are risky enterprises.

Along with Solar City, they were huge bets on a transformed future, as well as means to ends: an acceleration of the societal move away from fossil-fuel dependency; and a way to "back up the biosphere" and become a "multiplanetary" species.

And note that Musk is demanding a carbon tax because he grasps that Tesla and Solar City can't do it on their own: only government action can make carbon so expensive that the alternatives become mainstream.Chan and Zuckerberg are leaving themselves the opportunity to do something similar, by setting up the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative as an LLC rather than a conventional non-profit foundation.

To explain the move, Zuckerberg wrote that the structure: "enables us to pursue our mission by funding non-profit organizations, making private investments and participating in policy debates - in each case with the goal of generating a positive impact in areas of great need."

So they can use some of the money to take risks and fund startups that might make big things happen fast.Could become a visionary.They're not alone in thinking that investment-for-good is perhaps more effective than giving-for-good: Google's Larry Page said last year that he would rather give his wealth to Musk than distribute it the old-fashioned way.

But what they haven't yet outlined is the kind of mad vision that drives Musk.Ten years ago, if you had said that this guy Musk would offer a viable alternative to NASA space missions while at the same time establishing a relatively successful all-electric car company, you would have been told you were 100% nuts.

If you had then said that the ultimate goal of both SpaceX and Tesla wasn't to just to build electric cars or blast rockets into orbit, but rather to end global warming and create a city on Mars, you would have been laughed out of the room.

Think big

Facebook says its mission is to make the world more "open and connected," which is fine, but it doesn't quite grab you in the gut like unhooking planet earth from its oil addiction and colonizing the Red Planet.Zuckerberg's stated plans for the philanthropy so far are ambitious because of the sums involved, but not terribly thrilling. He and Chan, a physician, want to cure diseases, improve education, and open up the world to the Internet.

The structure of their giving will turbocharge these efforts, by bringing entrepreneurship into the picture in a bigger way.But for Chan and Zuckerberg this is actually a unique opportunity. Silicon Valley is full of investors trying to build companies with vast online audiences and alter the scale at which we communicate.Far fewer are tackling the truly major problems that confront humanity.

Zuckerberg obviously knows how to create the former. Now, as he embarks on the latter, Musk should be a guide.

Source : techgignews.com

A chief scientist at Microsoft says we're less than five years away from computers understanding us perfectly

As frustrated as you might get that voice-controlled tools like Apple Siri and Microsoft Cortana don't always understand you, it used to be a lot worse.

Earlier this year, Google announced it had gotten its speech recognition error rate down to 8%.

But Microsoft Distinguihsed Engineer and Chief Scientist of Speech Xuedong Huang says that it's a vast improvement.

When Microsoft made its first-ever speech recognition technology available alongside Windows 95, a project Huang headed up, the error rate was "almost 100%," he says.

If you chart it out, Huang says, that means that on average, speech recognition has gotten 20% better every single year for the last twenty years. Which means that the end is in sight.

"In the next four to five years, computers will be as good as humans" at understanding the words that come out of your mouth, Huang says.

But for Huang, Microsoft, and the tech world in general, the end of this road is the beginning of the next phase: building real artificial intelligence.

"Invisible revolution"

With "total parity" between human and computer understanding on the visible horizon, Huang says, it means that the world of speech science has a firmer foundation on which to work on giving computers actual artificial intelligence.

"To understand a word is easier than understanding the context," Huang says.

But with tools like Microsoft Cortana, Google Now, Apple Siri, and Amazon Alexa, we have consumer-facing apps that are slowly but surely getting better at figuring out not only what you said - but also what you meant. It means that you can start to have more complex conversations with your gadgets.

This means that we're on the cusp of an "invisible revolution," Huang says, as speech becomes an accepted and useful interface for computers, and artificial intelligence becomes a reality.

Source : ETCIO.com

'Indian engineers are Silicon Valley's secret weapons'

BENGALURU: Irish entrepreneur Paddy Cosgrave started Web Summit, which some call the world's most imporant tech and startup event, in Dublin in 2010 along with friends Daire Hickey and David Kelly. Cosgrave used Skype to convince Silicon Valley's bigwigs, including Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey and Skype founder Nik as Zennstrom, to speak at he inaugural event. The summit now attracts over 40,000 visitors.

Cosgrave spoke with TOI on a visit to Bengaluru. Excerpts:

Web Summit uses proprietary algorithms to pair entrepreneurs and potential investorsmentors.How does it work? When I started Web Summit, I presumed that other people use software to make conferences better. But that wasn't he case. We launched a Web Summit app that recommends to you the people in an event who you might most benefit from meeting. We figure that out by looking at different data points -- your interests, your friends, who you follow on Twitter and Facebook. We put our own graph on top of that. We also see actions inside the app, who you are talking to. And using machine learning, we figure out which talks you might like to go to. We also use algorithms to seat people at dinner tables --the least influential are connected to super influencers.

Was there a challenge to attract high-profile speakers initially to Dublin? Their first reaction was "Who the hell are you", "Have you held a conference before?" When I shared the idea of the conference, they said "It sounds good, is it for a conference at Palo Alto," and I'm like "No. It's in Dublin.". "Dublin? Where's that?" So it was very hard to start. We are not a tech blog. We are the only anomaly. We provide value by connecting people.

Uber's Travis Kalanick came to the second edition of Web Summit in 2011 and raised funds at the event. How did that happen? Travis then had a tiny star Travis then had a tiny startup which only worked in San Francisco. Nobody thought much about it. Everyone thought it wasn't really a game changer. In Dublin, (through the algorithm) he met an investor called Scott Stanford, who was with Goldman Sachs. He hadn't heard of Uber. He realized there was a funding round about to be closed. Travis also met Shervin Pishevar from Menlo Ventures in Dublin. Scott and Shervin didn't know each other and they didn't know they had invested in Dublin at the same time and the deal for both those funds were done in Dublin. That happens a lot. It's a really big story.

A 100 other Ubers happened that year that added up to a much bigger story than Uber. You can engineer that if you can figure out who should meet whom. No wonder, ours is the fastest growing conference anywhere in the world.

How do you see the Indian environment? About five years back in Ireland, I set up a junior Nobel prize for undergrads (an initiative that aims to identify and connect the world's top students). For the last three years, the award has gone to Princeton, MIT and Delhi University . What's phenomenal is how well Indian undergrads do globally and at these awards programmes. For decades, the secret weapon for many companies in Silicon Valley have been Indian engineers. It takes a village to raise a child, it takes a team to raise a company , and the real differentiator is the engineering talent.

Source : ETCIO.com

Google denies claims it broke child-data promises

Google has denied it broke its promises on using children's personal data.

Civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) accused Google of collecting and storing data from children using its products at school.It asked the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate.But Google said it used the data only to improve its products and services and not to target adverts - in line with its commitments.

In a complaint filed with the authorities earlier this week, the EFF said Chromebooks supplied to schools as part of its Google Apps for Education (GAFE) project came with a feature designed to synchronise the Chrome browser across devices, which transferred students' data without permission.It said the data collected included "records of every internet site students visit, every search term they use, the results they click on, videos they look for and watch on YouTube, and their saved passwords".

The group alleged Google used the information "for its own purposes such as improving Google products", as well as to target adverts on GAFE's non-core apps, such as Chrome and YouTube.

The suite's core apps are:

Gmail

Drive

Calendar

Sites

Google said: "There are no ads in these core services, and student data in these services is not used for advertising purposes."

Student privacy

In a blogpost on Wednesday, Google said "personally identifiable" data collected was only "used to power features in Chrome for that person, for example allowing students to access their own browsing data and settings, securely, across devices"."In addition, our systems compile data aggregated from millions of users of Chrome Sync and, after completely removing information about individual users, we use this data to holistically improve the services we provide.

"For example, if data shows that millions of people are visiting a webpage that is broken, that site would be moved lower in the search results. This is not connected to any specific person nor is it used to analyse student behaviours."

Google denied the EFF's allegation that the practice was not in line with its commitment to the Student Privacy Pledge, which prohibits it from misusing children's data.The pledge was co-written by the Future of Privacy Forum and the Software and Information Industry Association, and Google said both organisations had "criticised EFF's interpretation of the pledge and their complaint".

Source : bbc.com/news

Bengaluru Startup Launches FLIP, World’s 1st Open Source IoT Platform

In the 21st century, education and technology can be considered as the two most important factors on which the future of a country depends. That means, in order for a country to progress, both these factors will have to grow in synchronisation with each other or the progress rate of the country takes a hit.

Understanding this scenario, Bangalore headquartered Frugal Labs, a leading Electronics and Communication enterprise specialized in educational technical training, skill development and prototyping products, has come up with a unique idea called FLIP (acronym for Frugal Labs Iot Platorm).

Developed especially for IoT passionate students and hobbyists, with FLIP, the firm’s main objective was to offer a comprehensive open source IoT platform inclusive of all components like Hardware, Cloud and ready to launch solutions for sensors.

With the help of FLIP, IoT enthusiasts can turn their dream concepts to PoC in the shortest duration possible. Further, they will also be able to sell their products in the niche markets.

Frugal Labs Private Limited is a known name in the educational industry for providing hands-on Training Workshops to educational institutions and enthusiasts and to promote knowledge and skill development in the emerging technologies with focus on applications and use cases. Their workshops are known to be designed in such a way that the students not only grasp the fundamentals of specific topics but also understand the various applications. They do so by offering them specially designed kits that provides a hands on experimenting experience of the course content.

There were three major factors which encouraged Frugal Labs to come up with a concept like FLIP. The factors are as follows:

They saw that almost every IoT innovator in the business was spending a major amount of his/her time, effort and money on sourcing the requisite hardware, assimilating the necessary knowledge on coding for firmware, middleware for cloud connecting, application UX / UI for handheld devices so on and so forth.

The time taken from the step of “Concept” to “PoC” would often get stretched depending upon various factors. This would often have a frustrating effect on the innovator and his innovation skills.

Further, though the quantity of components required for developing a PoC is low, the cost of developing it is always high and with almost no support.

FLIP acts a a complete IoT platform that facilitates creating and developing a “PoC” for any IoT based service, product or solution, much easier and affordable to anyone who Dreams, sleeps and eat IoT.

In an effort to continuously improve the features of the platform, the Silicon Valley based firm has decided to keep it as an “Open Source” platform.

So, all you IoT enthusiasts, here’s something for you which you must not miss. Go crab your piece right away!

Source : indiaweb2.com