Post-Brexit, UK now spawns M&A Bargain Hunters

LONDON: In the wake of the country's June 23 vote to leave the European Union, the UK's stocks and currency dropped, presenting an attractive prospect to global buyers looking for cheap assets and giving local businesses an incentive to reduce their exposure at home."Many euro and dollar denominated funds are seeing the weakness of the pound delivering a gift-wrapped buying opportunity, particularly those who have been in divestment mode over the last few years," said Guy

Larsen and Toubro wants to be 'number-one' in IT business: AM Naik

NEW DELHI: Ready to list Larsen and ToubroBSE -1.43 %'s 'second baby' in the stock market with over Rs 1,200 crore IPO of L&T Infotech, the conglomerate's Group Executive Chairman A M Naik today said his aim is to make this company "number one" as he has ensured in all other businesses of the group. He also said the immediate target for L&T Infotech, whose public offer will open on Monday, is to double its revenue to $ 2 billion (nearly Rs 13,500 crore) in next three years. 

L&T Infotech Ltd is the sixth largest Indian IT services player at present with revenue of $ 887 million and an employee base of over 20,000 people. The parent L&T, a conglomerate with presence in engineering, construction, infrastructure among other businesses, is already listed with a market cap of nearly Rs 1.5 trillion, while L&T Finance Holdings got listed over five years ago and commands a market cap of about Rs 14,000 crore. 

L&T Infotech 'actively' scouting for buys in analytics, consulting

NEW DELHI: IT company L&T Infotech today said it is "activity" scouting for acquisitions to strengthen its offerings in areas such as analytics, consulting and Internet of Things. The mid-sized IT company, which will come out with over Rs 1,200-crore IPO on July 11, said it would be interested in buys in the US, Europe or even Indian market. "We are looking at the US and European markets

Rajasthan ties up with Applicate IT Solutions to help village retailers access B2B ecommerce

AHMEDABAD: The Rajasthan government has joined hands with business-to-business (B2B) ecommerce firm Applicate IT Solutions to enable 35,000 e-mitra kiosks in the state for traders and retailers to procure products directly from manufacturers. The e-mitra kiosks launched in 2011by the state government allow villagers to access government services such as licences and passport services. The kiosks are usually installed and run at shops or stores and in return traders .

Centre of excellence for IoT launched

BENGALURU: India's first Centre of Excellence for Internet of Things (CoE-IoT) was launched in BENGALURU on Thursday. The CoE was announced last year as part of the Digital India programme and has been built as a joint effort between the government of India and Nasscom, Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY) and Education and Research Network (ERNET). According to Nasscom, 120 firms offer IoT solutions in India with nearly 60% of them emerging after 2010. 

Access to mobile internet can positively impact farmers’ lives: Vodafone report

KOLKATA: Mobile internet access via smartphones can lead to a 50% increase in a small farmer's revenue in India, especially if the correct inputs — read agricultural information — are used, telecom company Vodafone said in a report. "A 1% increase in yields can lead to a 0.6%-1.3% reduction in poverty in India, having a greater impact than prices alone," said the report, 'Towards a more equal world: the mobile internet revolution', on the potential of mobile internet access . 

Juergen Hase to head Reliance group’s IoT business

KOLKATA: The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group has appointed Juergen Hase as the chief executive of its Internet of things (IoT) business. Hase will be based in Mumbai reporting to Group Managing Director Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, Reliance Group said in a news release on Thursday. Group flagship Reliance CommunicationsBSE -3.15 % last year announced an IoT partnership with Jasper a company which was later acquired by Cisco — and they jointly piloted various IoT solutions in India over 

Facebook Messenger to offer strong encryption

WASHINGTON: Facebook announced Friday it would roll out optional "end to end encryption" for its Messenger application, following a trend aimed at stronger security and protection against snooping. The US technology giant said this feature would be known as "secret conversations" which can be read only by the sender and recipient. "Providing more ways for people to safely share is an important part of making the world more open and connected," the social network's vice  preident David Marcus said on his Facebook page. "Whether you're asking a doctor for medical advice, sending sensitive account information to your spouse, or even your Social Security number, it's important to have options available for sharing these kinds of very sensitive messages." 

Apple appoints point person for AppStore & iTunes for India market

NEW DELHI: Apple's Khushboo Ponwar, market development lead for App Store, Apple Music and iTunes, has been directed to focus solely on India, a market with strong growth amid slowing global sales for the Cupertino-based smartphone maker. Previously, Ponwar had been responsible for the App Store, Apple Music and iTunes business in the Middle East, Turkey, Africa and India. Apple declined to comment on the change of profile for Ponwar. By appointing a point person solely for the India market, Apple is sending out strong signals and making local strides in a market where iPhone sales grew 56 per cent on-year when Apple reported its first ever iPhone sales decline globally. India was among the few bright spots for Apple in its second quarter earnings, which saw its largest growing market China shrink - revenue fell by 11 per cent — and sales in developed markets slowing in the face of smartphone saturation. 

4G smartphones under Rs 3,000 now a reality, much before expected

NEW DELHI: Prices of smartphones supporting 4G technology have broken the Rs 3,000 price barrier, benefiting users wanting high-speed internet access who may have been deterred by high entry prices. The level was breached well before the year-end limit that was predicted by some analysts. Reliance Retail cut prices of its latest Lyf-branded 4G voice over LTE (Volte)-enabled smartphones - Flame 3, Flame 4, Flame 5 and Flame 6 launched launched over a month ago - by 25

Samsung launches new Galaxy phones, technologies

BENGALURU: Leading smartphone manufacturer Samsung on Friday launched two new Galaxy series phones while unveiling its Turbo Speed Technology (TST) and Smart Glow technologies. 

Newly-launched Galaxy J2 2016 is the refreshed version of Galaxy J2 launched in 2015, an addition to Samsung's existing 4G enabled smartphone portfolio. The reengineered Galaxy J2 2016 loaded with 'Made for India' features is equipped with TST, a new technology which delivers suprior performance by loading native apps 40 per cent faster. "With TST, Samsung engineers have made a quantum leap in optimising the operating system and hardware to provide consistent best-in-class performance out of the box and over time," said Samsung India Mobile Business Vice President Manu Sharma. Smart Glow offers Galaxy J2 2016 phone with next generation colour LED notificaion system. 

Started delivery of Rs 251 phones today: Ringing Bells

NEW DELHI: Ringing Bells, the Noida-based company that courted controversy after announcing a phone at an astonishingly low price of Rs 251 five months back, today claimed it has begun delivery of the world's cheapest smartphone in five states including Haryana, West Bengal and Bihar. "Of the 5,000 units of Freedom 251 phones that we committed to deliver in the first phase, we have started the delivery of 2,240 phones today through distributors and couriers," Ringing Bells Director  Mohit

Now, wheelchair avatars for disabled Xbox One gamers

In a move that will make Xbox One avatars significantly more inclusive for gamers, Microsoft is planning to make wheelchair options available. The news was confirmed by Xbox head Phil Spencer, who stepped into a conversation between two Twitter users discussing the possibility of creating a petition to bring in a wheelchair option for avatars, stating "no petition needed, we hear you. This is something we've already looked at, not far off." Shortly after this, Xbox engineering lead Mike

Facebook Messenger to offer strong encryption

WASHINGTON: Facebook announced Friday it would roll out optional "end to end encryption" for its Messenger application, following a trend aimed at stronger security and protection against snooping. The US technology giant said this feature would be known as "secret conversations" which can be read only by the sender and recipient. "Providing more ways for people to safely share is an important part of making the world more open and connected," the social network's vice president David Marcus said on his Facebook page. "Whether you're asking a doctor for medical advice, sending sensitive account information to your spouse, or even your Social Security number, it's important to have options available for sharing these kinds of very sensitive messages." Facebook earlier this year began implementing this end-to-end encryption on its WhatsApp messaging service, and Google, Apple and others have been making similar moves. 

Ajay Jayaram, Anand Pawar set up all Indian quarterfinal at US Open

EL MONTE: Fourth seed Ajay Jayaram and Anand Pawar set up up an all-Indian quarterfinal in the US Open Grand Prix Gold badminton event here. Other Indians who made the quarterfinals were the men's doubles pairing of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy, and women's doubles duo of S Poorvisha Ram and Meghana Jakkampudi. Pawar defeated compatriot Pratul Joshi 21-10, 21-13 while Jayaram

GCA fraud case: Treasurer Akbar Mulla resigns

PANAJI: Goa Cricket Association treasurer Akbar Mulla, who is one of the three accused in the case of alleged misappropriation of Goa Cricket Association (GCA) funds worth Rs 3.13 crore, has resigned from the post. The Economic Offences Cell of local police had on June 15 arrested GCA President Chetan Dessai, Secretary Vinod Phadke and treasurer Mulla on a complaint that they had allegedly encashed a cheque given by BCCI to GCA. The trio, who were later granted bail, are

Spell out policy governing export of US satellites to India: American lawmakers

WASHINGTON: Two weeks after ISRO successfully launched 20 satellites - including 13 from the US - in a single mission, two influential American lawmakers have asked the Obama administration to spell out its policy that allows it to launch commercial satellites on Indian space vehicles. In letters addressed to the administration, the two lawmakers -- Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith and Space Subcommittee Chairman Brian Babin -- asked for information about the current US policy governing the export of commercial satellites for launch on Indian launch

Juergen Hase to head Reliance group’s IoT business

KOLKATA: The Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group has appointed Juergen Hase as the chief executive of its Internet of things (IoT) business. Hase will be based in Mumbai reporting to Group Managing Director Amitabh Jhunjhunwala, Reliance Group said in a news release on Thursday. Group flagship Reliance CommunicationsBSE -3.15 % last year announced an IoT partnership with Jasper — a company which was later acquired by Cisco — and they jointly piloted various IoT solutions in India over the past few months in preparation for the commercial launch.

Artificial Intelligence: Deep learning is not the ultimate fix

These are exciting times for developments in mainstream artificial intelligence (AI). Self-driving cars are hitting the streets, companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google are integrating evergrowing "intelligence" into their services, and some of them making their cutting-edge AI tools available to the public. While AI as a term is familiar to the industry, deep learning is what's been in the limelight lately. Like numerous other techniques, deep learning is a subset of machine learning, which in turn falls under the much broader umbrella of AI, all of whose broad goals are to make computers do things outside of the box of precise programmed instructions. The idea itself is decades old, but resurgence in research and sheer advances in raw computational power over the last decade have made deep learning an attractive computational tool.

India is world's fourth-largest app economy: Report

BENGALURU: India is rapidly moving into the mobile app age and is already the fourth-largest mobile app economy. The amount of time Indians spend on apps has also increased dramatically, says mobile-app analytics company App Annie. In total app downloads per year, only China, US, and Brazil are ahead of India. The annual figure for India is projected to grow by 92% to reach 7.7 billion downloads this year, and further to 20.1 billion by 2020. China's app download is expected to grow at a much slower 29% this year, but the absolute figure will be more than 6 times that of India's at 49 billion. With the introduction of affordable smartphones and better infrastructure supporting mobile, and given India's population, the growth here is expected to be significant," Junde Yu, MD of App Annie APAC, said. He said the most important thing that is now driving the app economy here is not the number of downloads .