Google Wants Their Inbox to Become the Email System for the Next Decade

The year 2004 saw Google’s signature email program hitting the web for the first time. At that time people considered it as the biggest gift anyone can receive since sending and receiving messages and emails was becoming a daily issue. Nearly 2 years back, Google’s email team designers and engineers formed a team and they were thinking that Gmail was not able to meet all the required expectations. But now emails have started becoming tedious again.

Email is no longer means of just basic communication, it involves complete correspondence, and people are able to receive alerts from different social networking sites, airlines, online shopping stores. It is part of life and performs some of the most important functions on a daily basis. Email not only aids in file sharing, but also helps in storing important documents.

There are people who rely on email for keeping a track of their meeting, calendars’, task planner and even to make it their task manager nearly every day. Apart from performing all these important functions, there are people who might find emails at times very annoying. This is the reason which prompted the Gmail think to rethink about the concept behind email.

According to Gmail's product director, Alex Gawley, they wanted to build something that will be more helpful to people. They wanted to completely rethink about the total concept of emails and build something that will completely change the mind of people and people will rely on things which matters to them all the time.

The team worked on a program currently called as Inbox which the company will be releasing on iOS, Android and the web, but only on invitation-only basis. The Inbox is a long term replacement of Gmail and people shouldn’t be considering it as mere update. Although Gmail will still exist, but the team is looking forward to perform future works on Inbox. User can login to Inbox through the Google account and they will find everything that they had in Gmail. They are expecting people to use Inbox more than Gmail.

The Inbox will replace the Gmail screen with a screen with a similar line of social networking feeds. If a user received photos in the Inbox, they can see the pictures in the main screen and flip through them. The iOS version basically integrates the to-do list and social functionality. Google's data-mining prowess has been used for improving the highlights of this credit Inbox. Users will be able to create reminders and tasks alongside the messages received in the inbox.

The task creation has been made very smartly as it will be able to pull relevant information from the data stored in your phone. On the flip side some of the features are not fully novel. This will require users to use a series of gestures just to navigate and sort out the messages. One might feel this similar to the feature available in DropBox. Inbox can easily categorize your emails in the similar ways like outlook and Gmail. But at the moment apart from the invited people, others will have to wait to get their own app.

Building Telecommunication Infrastructure in Developing Nations

In the United States of America, many successful foreign-born entrepreneurs are proud of their heritage. In fact, such individuals might use their experience, wealth and status to help with efforts in other countries. When the Taliban regime came into power in Afghanistan, many educated citizens fled to other nations, including the United States. Decades later, such Afghanis are returning to Afghanistan with the goal of rebuilding the infrastructure of an entire nation. The backward Taliban has significantly slowed down economic and technological growth in Afghanistan, so some U.S.-based telecommunication entrepreneurs are eager to rebuild their native country.

The telecommunication infrastructure of Afghanistan is being slowly rebuilt thanks to cooperation between the United States military and the nation's government. For example, radio broadcasting towers and other structures that have been used exclusively by the U.S. military are being converted for civil use. For the first time in many years, citizens of Afghanistan get the chance to listen to public radio broadcasts that deliver important information and entertainment.

Telecommunication entrepreneurs also work closely with satellite programs of multiple nations such as the United States. Satellites can be used to establish a wireless network in Afghanistan's mobile phone users. Building cell phone towers and traditional land phone lines might be quite difficult because of the nation's geographical challenges. Therefore, satellite-based wireless service seems like the most viable telecommunication solution in modern Afghanistan.

Private contractors and foreign governments provide much-needed assistance in initiating cell phone service within this country. Afghani telecommunication executives who live in the United States might provide plenty of technical support for the software issues. Additionally, such business people can come up with viable plans for distributing mobile phones to remote parts of Afghanistan that are inhabited by tribes and other groups that are not very familiar with modern technology. A telecommunication service like Afghan Wireless and other mobile phone plans are examples of technology initiatives undertaken by U.S. business people in Afghanistan.

High-ranking officials and other prominent figures in Afghanistan are in desperate need of reliable telecommunication solutions. Such people might be able to afford mobile phone plans that provide the fastest possible connections such as 4G speeds. However, the civilian population in Afghanistan has access to slower 3G connections that are considered quite advanced compared to the poor telecommunication services in third-world countries.

A nation such as Afghanistan allows foreign telecommunication companies to experiment with brand-new technology. The country is perfect for testing innovative infrastructure and other hardware that might not be approved in western countries. In fact, research and development for satellite-based communication can be done in nations such as Afghanistan because there is limited regulation. This country openly welcomes any initiatives that will benefit the development of mobile phone services for masses of people.

Afghanistan is also a great location for testing satellite signals and other wireless transmission that would otherwise be strictly regulated by major agencies in western countries. For example, the FAA would not allow telecommunication companies to conduct large-scale testing operations in areas that receive heavy air traffic. In developing nations, mobile phone companies could also experiment with building new satellite receivers for TV broadcasts and high-speed Internet connections.

Know How Flipkart Snapdeal and Amazon Are Funding Discounts!

Online shopping is a rage of late. Owing to the busy lives of people, most do not have time to go to shops every now and then whenever they need to. In these case, online shopping comes as a very convenient option.

The cash on delivery facility is a huge hit in addition to the popular payment modes through credit or debit card options. People are lured in buying online even more due to the attractive discounts that they give. The most popular online shopping sites are Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal. People have built a trust on these sites and they strive to provide effective and competent services to the customers so that they can keep the much needed trust.

The attractive discounts count for the exponential sales on these sites. Here, we will be looking into how Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal funds the discounts that they frequently give to the customers.

How they Fund the Discounts

Flipkart, Amazon and Snapdeal essentially work as marketplaces. No FDI is imposed on e-commerce in India and these sites make use of this policy itself. FDI is imposed only on those sites, which engages in linking buyers and sellers.

These sites fund the discounts using strategies which are extremely complex and make use of the fact that FDI is not applicable everywhere. The sites see to it that they incur maximum profit by making proper use of the different financial policies of the Indian law.

Even though these sites do not have the power to completely decide on the price or discount on a product, the sites have established for itself a platform where they can make such decisions, owing to their popularity and strength of their business in the market. Most of these sites do not breach laws because their business greatly depends on the reputation they maintain.

These firms deal with the customers directly in these cases. In these cases, it is seen that the site selling the goods keeps a cut for himself from the discounted price and returns the rest of the proceeds to the actual manufacturer of the item.

In case of e-commerce tax is collected on the actual cost of the product and at the price at which is finally sold to the customer. If the customer pays a lesser amount then the tax collected is lesser than what actually must be received if the discount wasn’t allowed. In such cases, thus sellers become eligible for getting a tax refund from the tax department of that particular state.

Online shopping is highly dependent on the discounts given on the various products. These discounts are a testament to show how these sites invest the large amount of money that has been raised from the investors.

An adverse effect of providing such discounts is that the brick and mortar shops are getting highly affected. They have to maintain their establishment costs and thus cannot provide such huge discounts. Shoppers on the other hand are going for profitable discounts available on the Internet.

Air Umbrella

The Air Umbrella – Adjustable to the Power of Storm

The Air Umbrella is the product that has been developed in China which does not use fabric to keep a person dry, but forced air and has been designed by Je Sung Park and Woo Jung Kwon in order to change not only the umbrella’s core design but also to make it adjustable to the power of a storm. The forced air can create a canopy over an individual in the same manner of a traditional fabric designed umbrella, which keep the showers of rain from falling on the person and when the rain subsides or the person has reached the desired location, all that is needed is to put the device in the bag since it is in dry form.

The appearance of the Air Umbrella is a rather big flashlight which consists of a motor and fan which forces the air up thus creating a shield. There is a chargeable battery in the shaft of the umbrella and the base is equipped with a button which can turn the Air Umbrella in `off’ or a `on’ mode and the size of the canopy can be adjusted which can be to anything up to over a meter in diameter or adequate to keep two people dry during the rains.

Device Tested – Remarkable Performance 

This Smart device has been tested at the time of heavy rainfall and according to the people who designed it, has shown remarkable performance.

The concept of the Air Umbrella is that it removes the plastic top from the umbrella replacing it with a wind shield which sucks the air through the bottom and then shoots out at the top in a pattern like a standard canopy.

The power and the canopy size controls are towards the bottom of the shaft which provides the person with the ability to strengthen the force of the air, thereby giving scope to widen the canopy to adjust according to the rainfall.

This would enable the person with protection against storms which a normal umbrella may lack though the air curtain stands a better option to face strong winds than a standard fabric umbrella. The absence of the canopy also saves in shaking off the water before going indoors.

Three Models to be Developed – Launch September 2015

The downside being that it has a motor and the Air Umbrella tends to make some noise though the same is not noticed with the sound of the rain and the air that is pushed by the Air Umbrella pushes the raindrops up to a distance of 70 centimetres away.

Should the rain tend to be come diagonally, all one needs to do is to change the way one holds the Air Umbrella. The cheapest Air Umbrella is offered at a price of $118 though they are being sold at a very fast speed.

There have been three models that will be developed, one being of 30 cm running for 15 minutes on a charge, another of 50 cm running for 30 minutes per charge and the 80 cm version too running for 30 minutes per charge. Presently the battery life is short but the company of Air Umbrella are striving to extend this together with the design within the next ten months and production would probably start somewhere in September 2015.

Ex-Tesla and NASA Engineers Made a Smart Light Bulb

Smart Light Bulb – Alba 

Great are the improvements made by man and with the help of advanced technology, have helped in enhancing the life style of individuals. Neil Joseph and Jovi Gacusan, Ex-Tesla and NASA engineers have partnered together and created a smart light bulb which according to them is an immense difference in the new lamp.

The recently unveiled Alba bulbs have sensor packed illuminator which changes brightness and colour based on the time of the day, location as well as to those who may be present in the room which is the world’s first responsive bulb.The Alba has embedded sensors which enable to respond intelligently to the surrounding atmosphere.

It begins with cooler and a much natural white hues on waking up and can switch to relaxing, warm colours when it tends to get late. It also can dim or shut off the lights whenever there is a good amount of ambient light, or if a person has left for work. Moreover it also can come to life when there is a commotion.

If interested in tweak settings, the mobile app can be used though the goal is to avoid using it as far as possible. Just like a Nest thermostat. Alba tends to learn the appropriate behaviour and enables you to keep the phone device in the pocket.

A 60% to 80% Savings on Electricity Consumption

The idea of the bulb developed when Neil Joseph while sitting around in his office, one sunny day, thought, why the lights should be on with full power when full sunlight came pouring through the windows. This led him to speculate on it resulting in the creation of Alba which is able to sense the lighting in the environment it is placed in and adjust its power accordingly.

He also claims that it can result in a 60% to 80% savings on electricity consumption when compared with the traditional LED lamp, which is already more sustainable than an incandescent lamp. Moreover, the colour of the light can also be controlled.

According to Joseph, it can shine preferably as a bluish light during the morning which can help to stimulate the brain while throughout the day; the lighting could be a more reddish colour to bring about a sense of warmth in the atmosphere.

Launch – First Quarter of 2015

Besides this, the Alba is also capable of learning the routine of the people that live within a house and can also predict when the light of a room would need to be lit and over a period of time this awareness would also tend to improve.

With the use of the app, one can set standards for certain type of light situations and the user could opt on how they would prefer the light at the time of dinner or later on. Manual adjustments could also help to add up to the data learned by Alba.

The launch of Alba is likely to take place in the first quarter of 2015 and would probably be sold in a package with two light bulbs at a cost of US$150 with additional of US$60 for each bulb. Users could pre-order the Alba system ahead of its launch for a starter kit with two bulbs according to their requirements.