Prakash Advani's Blog

I started blogging on 3rd March 2003 — that makes it 13 years of blogging today. Makes me feel older, when there are people who are not even 13 and have started blogging!

Thanks you to all those readers and followers for all your encouragements, comments and feedback.

For those interested in the History, you can read it here.

From a numbers standpoint, Google is actually a distant fourth in the $23 billion cloud infrastructure services market, according to Synergy Research Group. AWS ranks first with 31 percent, followed by Microsoft Azure at 9 percent, IBM at 7 percent and Google Cloud Platform at 4 percent, Synergy data show. That means of Google parent Alphabet’s $75 billion in revenue, less than $1 billion came from cloud infrastructure.

Read More: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/23/google-aims-to-catch-amazon-microsoft-in-cloud.html

New research has found, for the first time, a scientific solution that enables future internet infrastructure to become completely open and programmable while carrying internet traffic at the speed of light.

Read More: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160126110910.htm

When Internet of Things devices debut at this year’s CES, one of the biggest questions will be how they’ll connect to all the other smart-home gear on display. But anyone who expects a clear answer to that is like a kid who gets up Thanksgiving morning looking for a bunch of gifts under a tree.

The fact is, it’s too early to say what standard or protocol will become the glue that can turn a pile of cool gadgets into a system that runs your whole house for you. New systems are just starting to emerge, and though they may eventually work with each other and with older platforms, buying one of each and expecting harmony is still wishful thinking.

Connected homes may make life easier eventually. A thermostat linked to a garage-door opener could tell who’s coming home and set the heat or air-conditioning for their preferences. Compatible room lights and an audio system could join in, too.

Read More: http://www.cio.com/article/3018836/internet-of-things/what-you-need-to-know-about-home-iot-standards-at-ces.html

If you are a company that is interested in connected devices or the Internet of Things (IoT), you better not be waiting for standards to emerge. This will not be happening anytime soon. IoT is a multi-trillion dollar market, and, with so much potential business on the line, the big technology companies are all angling to create their own standard.

Of course these companies all say they want to create common protocols and framework. But let’s face it, there is too much at stake for any of these companies to not try and get the upper hand on the competition. As a result, we have an explosion of consortiums and “open source” projects that are intended to create these standards.

WHAT do you do when you have 30 seconds to spare? It may not sound like a lot of time, but there are productive things which you can try when the clock’s ticking away.

Here’s a list of 15 productive things for you to do within 30 seconds or less. No more complaints about “I don’t have time”, okay?

Read More: http://mypaper.sg/lifestyle/do-something-useful-within-30-seconds-20151117

Open Source key to innovation at Telstra says Frank Arrigo, API evangelist at Telstra.

Telstra is looking to stay ahead of the curve by encouraging technological innovation through collaboration with startups, machine-to-machine (M2M) technology, and the Internet of Things (IoT) — but said that ensuring its network continues to be the best in Australia is still at the core of its business, and the driving force behind being able to deliver these capabilities.

Speaking at Telstra’s Vantage 2015 conference in Melbourne on Tuesday, Telstra CEO Andrew Penn said that IoT is integral to all businesses now, because by 2020, “everything that can be connected will be connected”.

Cisco, which has a long-standing cloud, communications, and collaboration partnership with Telstra, predicted that there will be 50 billion IoT devices by 2020.

Read More: http://www.zdnet.com/article/telstra-ceo-eyes-innovation-through-startups-iot-m2m/

Last week, Wired published an account describing how two security researchers, Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, were able to wirelessly hack into a Jeep Cherokee, first taking control of the entertainment system and windshield wipers, and then disabling the accelerator. Andy Greenberg, the Wired writer who was at the wheel as the self-described “digital crash test dummy” explained what happened next:

Immediately my accelerator stopped working. As I frantically pressed the pedal and watched the RPMs climb, the Jeep lost half its speed, then slowed to a crawl. This occurred just as I reached a long overpass, with no shoulder to offer an escape. The experiment had ceased to be fun.

Miller and Valasek also wirelessly disabled the Jeep Cherokee’s brakes, leaving Greenberg “frantically pumping the pedal as the 2-ton SUV slid uncontrollably into a ditch.” In response, on July 24 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced a recall impacting about 1.4 million vehicles, stating, somewhat incongruously, that “no defect has been found.”

This is the one of the most dramatic demonstrations to date of the cybersecurity challenges that will accompany the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT). And, it offers an opportunity to make some broader observations about the changing landscape of cybersecurity as systems become increasingly connected and decentralized.

Here are five takeaways on the Security of Things (SoT) that designers—as well as companies building products for the cybersecurity market—should keep in mind as they build increasingly complex and connected systems:

Read More: http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnvillasenor/2015/07/27/five-lessons-on-the-security-of-things-from-the-jeep-cherokee-hack/

Amazon.com released for sale a tablet that sounded too good to be true…. a 7″ quad core tablet for a mere $50. It took me about 15 minutes to realize that there were a lot of “fine print” to the deal and I think you need to be aware of them before you buy or before you recommend it to friends and family.

Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmoorhead/2015/09/17/read-the-fine-print-before-buying-the-50-amazon-fire-tablet/

From Forbes:

Traditionally, chief executive officers have come up through the ranks from the finance, sales or marketing side, so they don’t necessary bring an in-depth understanding of technology deployments. Not that it was necessary — the IT department ran its systems and spit out reports, while everyone else stuck to their specialties.

Now, everybody is getting into the technology act. A new study published by Deloitte finds that business executives — CEOs and CFOs — are getting directly involved in technology decisions. Maybe not studying and selecting application servers or hypervisors, but determining the technology direction that needs to be taken — whether it be moving to cloud, or deploying mobile to get closer to customers.

Close to two-thirds (62 percent) of 500 mid-market executives say their company’s C-suite leaders have “some” level of involvement in the adoption of next generation technologies such as cloud, social, analytics and mobile. In fact, nearly half (46 percent) say C-suite is “actively engaged.” A growing percentage (33 percent, compared with 20 percent in 2014) say their leadership is even “leading the charge.”

Read More: http://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2015/09/12/should-you-trust-your-ceo-with-cloud-computing-decisions/

Facebook built the React JavaScript library so its engineering team could build interfaces for iOS, Android, and web with the same code. Now it’s giving that development super power to everyone by open sourcing the final part of the React trilogy, React Native For Android.

Read More: http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/14/react-native-android/#.q7nwkb:BMin

Taiwanese firm Foxconn’s decision to invest a whopping USD five billion in India has caused unease in China as it marks the first top international firm opting for India amid a slowdown in the Chinese economy.

“Foxconn chooses India over China for new plant,” read the headline in state-run china.org.cn while carrying the news of the Taiwanese electronic giant signing up to set up a big plant in Maharashtra.

“Foxconn’s latest India investment represents the leading electronic product maker’s intention to profit from the world’s fastest expanding market of smartphones. Foxconn, famous for making parts for Apple, will reportedly produce Xiaomi phones in the new factory, a rumour that Foxconn authorities did not clarify or comment,” it said.

Read More: http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/companies/foxconn-shift-to-india-causes-concerns-in-china/116976/

For a whole lot of people, especially those in developing countries, science – and with it, medicine – isn’t readily available to the majority of citizens. But Manu Prakash wants to change that.
Prakash, an assistant professor of bioengineering at Stanford, is the proprietor of “frugal science,” a term he coined to explain the movement toward building cheap versions of high tech tools. His endeavor aims to make medical devices both affordable and available to the masses.

The way Prakash sees it, labs don’t need the most expensive equipment out there in order to reach profound breakthroughs. “Today people look at these extraordinary labs and forget that in the 1800s they could still do the exact same science,” he told The New York Times.

So in 2014 he created a paper microscope, aptly named the Foldscope, that costs only 50 cents to produce.

Read More: http://www.businessinsider.in/A-paper-microscope-that-costs-only-50-cents-can-detect-malaria-from-just-a-drop-of-blood-and-it-could-revolutionize-medicine/articleshow/48259276.cms

Are you ready to play everybody’s not-so-favorite guilt game: what was I doing at that age? Ann Makosinski, a high school student from British Columbia, Canada, has created a simple LED torch powered by body heat. So instead of having to recharge it or swap in a fresh pair of AAs every so often, you literally just need to hold it in your hand for it to start glowing.

Read More: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2013/06/15-year-old-invents-incredible-new-kind-of-torch/

General Electric says it knows more about big manufacturing gear and data than any cloud provider ever will. Critics say it can’t keep up with the cloud giants of the world.

Read More: http://fortune.com/2015/08/06/ge-is-building-its-own-cloud-outsiders-wonder-why/

Transportation is one of the world’s largest industries. The five largest automotive companies in the world generate more than 750 billion euro in annual revenue. The names in the industry are global brands – BMW, Ford, Daimler. Yet despite its size and stature, it’s also an industry in the midst of transformation. Today, new transportation vendors like Uber, Lyft, Zipcar, and Grabtaxi are changing our relationship with cars.

Read More: https://hbr.org/2015/07/what-the-auto-industry-can-learn-from-cloud-computing

When a subordinate of President Kalam at DRDO couldn’t take his children to an exhibition due to work pressure, Kalam surprised his subordinate and took the children instead!

During a significant project of the DRDO, the work pressure was high. A scientist approached his boss – Dr. Kalam – and asked to leave early that day considering he had promised his children to take them to an exhibition. Kalam generously granted the permission, and the scientist got back to work. When he did, he lost the track of time and forgot to leave early. He reached home, feeling guilty, and looked for his kids, but could only find his wife. He asked for the kids, and to his surprise she told him: “your manager was here around 5:15 and he took the kids for the exhibition!”

Apparently, Dr. Kalam had been observing the scientist and noticed that he might never realise he had to go home. Feeling for the kids, he decided to take the kids instead. If that’s not sweet, what is?

Read More: http://www.youthconnect.in/2014/11/13/12-rare-stories-about-dr-apj-abdul-kalam-will-make-your-day-today/

India was the sole emerging market bright-spot in IBM’s second-quarter earnings, as the other BRIC countries weighed down the technology giant’s results.

Read more at: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/48170664.cms

GOOGLE HAS BECOME the biggest name yet to back the open source cloud system OpenStack. Specifically, Google will help integrate its own open source container management software Kubernetes.

This may seem like in-the-enterprise-weeds news, but it represents another significant step as Google tries to make up ground against Amazon’s wildly popular AWS suite of cloud products.

Read More: http://www.wired.com/2015/07/google-backs-open-source-system-cloud-battle-amazon/

Unfortunately, there are plenty of factors impeding this data-rich future. The problems range from the 400-plus competing IoT standards to lack of global Internet connectivity, and more.

Vendors largely control the 400-plus competing standards, but the battle for developer hearts won’t be won by a corporate logo-laden home page. Open source, however, could help, allowing developers to focus on interoperable code, rather than interoperable vendors.

Read More: http://readwrite.com/2015/06/29/internet-of-things-11-trillion-obstacles-open-source