Buyhatke.com, one portal for all e-commerce websites

Two IIT Kharagpur students, Gaurav Dahake and Prashant Singh, in the final term of their course last year were checking out a few e-commerce sites to buy an iPod for their friend's birthday. But it wasn't a comfortable experience. The more they surfed the more they were at a loss.

Different sites showed different prices, discounts and delivery time. There was no way of easily coming to a decision. Finally, they ordered one, only to learn later that the product would take five days to arrive, well after the birthday. They also realized that when they placed the order, they were not aware of another site which offered the product Rs 300 less. The experience set the two thinking on the need turn online shopping into a hassle-free experience.

Explains Dahake, "It's not easy to find out the best deal while shopping online. We felt every buyer should be able to know all the e-commerce sites that offered the product and the prices they offered."

A website, Buyhatke.com, was their solution. With a designer, Srikanth Sethumadhavan from their campus, and a monthly sum of Rs 8,000 the IIT gave each of them in their final year, the work on Buyhatke.com began. "People are not only price sensitive, they also don't have the time to hop back and forth many sites. We cover all products from baby care to books to electronic goods. There are 47 e-commerce sites, including all the major ones, on board. When you search for a product, you get to know every possible site that offers it," says Dahake.
"In January this year, the site was getting about 5,000 visitors every month. That number has gone up to a million visitors monthly," he says. The revenues come from affiliate sites, advertisements and exclusive home page listing for retailers. Dahake says the sites are selected after due diligence and they are constantly reviewed based on performance and consumer feedback. The team has also created a Chrome extension that helps buyers get the best price by comparing across portals. It also set price alerts.

There is a separate portal for mobiles 'compare-mobiles.buyhatke.com' which helps a non-tech savvy consumer to decide which model will be a better choice. There is also a separate portal for books which allows buyers to compare prices across 16 portals. Buyhatke was one of the five winners from among 2,000 applicants for the Tata First Dot, a mentoring platform for student startups, who would be supported by the National Entrepreneurship Network.

After Amazon, Flipkart too offers same-day delivery

Following in the footsteps of its rival Amazon, Indian e-commerce website Flipkart has also launched single day guaranteed delivery, named 'In-a-day Guarantee.' The service will allow consumers in select cities to get goods ordered from Flipkart delivered the next day.

'In-a-day Guarantee' is currently available in seven cities, namely Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Noida and Pune. But it requires consumers to place orders by 6pm. Flipkart also levies an additional cost of Rs 90 per item for delivery under the service. Users can opt to avail the service at the time of making payments (check out). Orders placed after 6pm will be delivered the day after, as per the company.

Speaking about the launch, Ravi Vora, Flipkart's senior vice-president marketing, said, "We have had a lot of customers requesting urgent deliveries, for reasons ranging from occasion-led gifts to pre-travel shopping. But given the large volumes that we handle, it wasn't feasible to address them on a case-to-case basis. We have now built the capability into our supply-chain and can now offer it as a guaranteed feature. This value-added service is available to consumers who need it - making online shopping a viable option even for last-minute purchases. We hope this will further accelerate the adoption of e-commerce in the country."

It is worth noting that the 'In-a-day Delivery' service is only available with orders placed with the seller WS Retail. Flipkart is a multi-seller platform and a number of sellers offer products for sale.

The company said the service is available for most products. If Flipkart fails to deliver a product within the promised timeframe, it offers a refund of the Rs 90 charge per item levied as part of the 'In-a-day Guarantee' service through a credit in the consumer's Flipkart Wallet, for later use. In case of cash on delivery orders, the consumer needs to pay the full amount including the next-day -delivery charge even if the product is delivered late, as the refund is credited only through the wallet.

Last week, Amazon had also started offering same-day delivery in select cities, charging an additional sum of Rs.99 for the service.

Apple, Microsoft may merge in 5-10 years: Analyst

Two of the biggest tech companies, and rivals, Apple and Microsoft might not only work together in the near future but also merge in the next 5-10 years, a market analyst has predicted.

Money Map Press' Keith Fitz-Gerald in his interview with Fox Business' Stuart Varney said that if one looks at what the world wants and what it needs, there is no option but to continue with technology and the tech market is going to be good in the near future.

While explaining his 'unthinkable but absolutely possible deal' between Apple and Microsoft theory, Fitz-Gerald said the two companies might see a merger because they have to take on the Google's Android and Facebook

He further explained that despite it being an absolute speculation, if one looks at what Apple wants to accomplish with its mobile market and Microsoft's initiative, there is a cross-polarization of devices.

Fitz-Gerald added that now content and security is king and having all the devices connected to one is the future, and according to him, apparently Apple and Microsoft fit the bill perfectly.

Cognitive computing: All you want to know

In a few months from now, or at least sometime next year, a few IBM partners will release a series of software products that will be unlike anything people have encountered so far. Instead of doing a task for you through a software program, these products will prepare you instead to do that task yourself.

You could ask the computer about your health, a home purchase, or a travel plan. You don't need visits from sales executives for product briefings. The computer will gently guide you to make the right choice at the right time. Currently, these products are being built around Watson, the famous IBM computer that won the Jeopardy championship.

To be precise, it is built around a more compact and powerful machine than the Jeopardy champion. IBM threw open this machine to programmers on the cloud three weeks ago to build products and services in a few industries to begin with. IBM has applications from 200 potential partners, including a few from India, focused initially on healthcare, financial services and travel.

"We are trying to build an ecosystem of partners around Watson," says Jay Subrahmonia, vice-president of development and delivery, WatsonSolutions at IBM. IBM calls it cognitive computing, to distinguish it from the more common term, artificial intelligence.

It is purportedly the next wave of computing , infinitely more powerful and long-lasting than any other computing wave we have seen. It changes the way we interact with computers, the reason we use computers, and also the way we program computers.

It is a big business opportunity as well. Just the global healthcare market for such systems is projected to increase from $201 million now to $239 billion by 2019, according to the market research firm WinterGreen Research.

Next computing wave
Computers that we use now are fast but dumb. Those in the cognitive computing era will understand the context in which they function. They will also learn constantly and improve their capabilities. Yet, they won't be based on any single technology, as the current examples show. The core of Watson is based on natural language processing (NLP), or the ability to understand human languages.

But it combines this ability with massive computing resources and a host of other computing technologies like machine learning, information retrieval and automated reasoning. Other companies—many based in the Silicon Valley—are building different solutions based on different technologies.

Grok, a recent startup from Palm Pilot founder Jeff Hawkins, mimics the human brain to predict anomalies in IT systems. Palantir Technologies, based in Palo Alto, uses cognitive analytics to predict suspicious or terrorist activities. ColdLight, based in a small town in Pennsylvania, uses machine learning to examine thousands of factors simultaneously, usually to identify fraud.

All of them, and hundreds of similar companies, are part of the coming cognitive computing wave. The common theme: understanding data. In some ways, they are an extension of the current wave of analytics and big data companies, but there are some differences.

Traditional analytics requires a human being to ask a question. In cognitive computing, we get the answers without knowing what to ask. Deloitte estimates the US cognitive computing market will expand in five years from the current $1 billion to $50 billion.

"Growth usually takes place through labour and capital," says Rajeev Ronanki, lead for Deloitte's cognitive computing practice.

"Here it is related to machine learning algorithms." This difference can make the cognitive computing market grow rapidly.

"Traditional approaches are like giving the computing system a fish," says Ronanki, "whereas cognitive systems are akin to teaching a computer how to fish." This can cause a fundamental shift with how markets grow. For IBM, taking Watson to the cloud was a nobrainer.

Its current price is not known, but it is considered too expensive as a standalone system. The hardware cost alone of the machine that won Jeopardy was $3 million, but Watson contains plenty of algorithms and data as well.
Putting it on the cloud would enable companies to pay as they use it. Watson is also complex for even the brightest of programmers. An Application Programming Interface (API) on the cloud would substantially simplify the task of programming, as the programmer would not need to understand what is inside the box.

When computers talk, see...
So far, Watson has been used mainly to solve problems in healthcare. At the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Watson goes through millions of pages of cancer data and recommends the best treatment options for patients.

The sports goods company North Face uses Watson to provide customers recommendations for the ideal gear for a trip. Over the next year, Watson will seep into more industries as developers make applications on the cloud. IBM says that Watson will be among its fastest-growing business ever.

In the near future, analysts expect Watson to drive the cognitive computing industry as well. Yet the arena is busy with startups , some of whom claim to have developed breakthrough technologies.

Take Grok. It came out of a project called Numenta started by Jeff Hawkins. Numenta is supposed to have cracked how the brain works; its Cortical Lear ning Algorithm is modelled on the neocortex, the part of the brain involved in higher functions like reasoning, thought and language.

Grok was spun off this year from Numenta, which is now an open source project to advance the technology. Grok's first product—in Beta stage—is to detect anomalies in IT systems and prevent problems before they become manifest. Current products to detect anomalies look for patterns exceeding a threshold. It is hard, if not impossible, to detect anomalies below this threshold, which is usually the case at night, when few people use the systems.

Grok tries to solve this problem combining three methods: learning online by itself, creating models automatically, and recognising patterns. "Our models learn continuously," says Craig Vaughn, vice-president of marketing and products at Grok.

"They keep changing as IT policies change." This ability to learn is at the heart of any cognitive computing system, and distinguishes it from traditional analytics. It is relevant wherever there is a fast data stream: retail, healthcare, travel , telecom. But not if the data stream consists of imagescomputers cannot understand images.

This is why robots are so unreliable. "If robots could understand the world," says Dileep George, founder of Vicarious, "the benefits could be enormous." For example , we could have sent them inside the Fukushima reactor to fix it. Vicarious, near San Francisco, is among the many companies trying to make computers see.

George, an IIT graduate, has funding from top VCs like Peter Thiel. It had a breakthrough recently; it cracked the Captcha, a set of overlapping and contorted letters that humans can recognise easily but computers find impossible to read. Vicarious created an algorithm that can separate the overlapping letters with a high degree of accuracy.

It is a good step towards making computers understand the environment around them. But there is a long way to go.

8-inch Google Nexus tablet's specs leaked

 Google has tasted success with its Nexus range of tablets and now reports hint that the company is working on an 8-inch version of the tablet. Internet grapevine is abuzz with alleged specs of the new tablet, which is being manufactured by South Korean electronic giant LG.

Twitter user EVLeaks, which has leaked details of many gadgets accurately in the past, has tweeted that the upcoming LG V510 tablet is a part of Google's Nexus range.

Chinese microblogging platform Weibo too has posted an image of the service manual of LG V510. The image shows that the upcoming model will have an 8.3-inch TFT screen with 1920x1200p resolution. This device is 8.3mm thick, weighs 349.38gram and is powered by a 4,600mAh battery.

The Android-powered tablet will access the internet via Wi-Fi as well as cellular networks and transfer data over Bluetooth and microUSB. On the back, Nexus 8 will sport a 5MP camera, while a 1.3MP camera will be placed in front. According to the image, the tablet will support eMMC storage of 16GB and offer 1GB RAM.

Since Apple launched the iPad mini with an 8-inch display, rivals like Samsung also introduced models with similar screen size.

LG recently launched a tablet with 8.3-inch screen, named G Pad. It also manufactures the Nexus 5 smartphone for Google.

Earlier, the company 'accidentally' leaked an image of the new tablet on the official website for Android. The device in the picture was smaller in size than the Nexus 10 and had bezels much smaller than those of the new Nexus 7. This had given rise to speculations that Google is readying its first 8-inch tablet.

Tips for efficient and real-time project management

A project manager is only considered to be successful when his project is monitored systematically and in real time by the team resources/members. According to experts, without real-time monitoring, a project might fail to reach its finishing line. This monitoring is often done manually as well as through the help of proprietary software in an organisation.

The key to a successful project management is undoubtedly to drive the workforce or the resources involved in the project, well. Even if the organisation has more than the required number of employees to be assigned for different projects at a time, only an advanced planning of resources and the correct usage of their skills along with the  mapping of the entire project can give a positive end result.

It’s important to track the progress of a given project from time to time. Here are some useful tips on how an employee can track his/ her progress in an assigned project:

• Organise your work
• Manage your activities well
• Track your progress in real time
• Keep the plan shared among the stakeholders
• Report anything out of track immediately to your supervisor
• Escalate delay factors in real time

4 cool sub-Rs3,500 headphones

Q. I'm looking for head/earphones that will also allow me to answer calls on my mobile phone. My budget is up to Rs3,500
-- Mitul Shah, Louis Fernandes, Sakshi S

News Flash: The 'standard' 3.5mm audio jack is not standard. A few branded earphones and headphones may not be compatible with handsets from home-grown OEMs such as Micromax, Karbonn, Spice, etc. These devices work best with what's bundled with them. In our experience, third-party earphones - when used with these handsets - suffer from tinny sound, non-existent bass, and even echoes. So before choosing a model or brand, it is best you test it with your device. That said, here are a few of our favourites that boast of good and honest music reproduction, with a clear mic for phone calls.

Cowon EM1 (Rs1,000-1,200)
This in-ear monitor is pure value for money. It comes with a flat tangle-free cable that's usually found on premium models -- as well as three silicone ear tips (small, medium and large) for comfortable in-ear fit and noise isolation.

Skull Candy S2IKDY-101 INK'D 2 (Rs1,200-1,400)
If you can't get your hands on the Cowon, try the Ink'd 2. Our only issue is that its cord is not the most durable we have seen.

Blaupunkt Sport Talk (Rs3,200-3,500)
These canalphones come with behind-the-ear attachments to keep them in place even when you exercise and jog. Here, you get a cable that's protected by a fabric weave cover for durability - and a bunch of accessories: three silicone ear tips, a cable extension, and another with a mic attachment. This means you can use the Sports Talk with or without the extended cable, and you simply need to attach the mic, when you want to use it with your phone.

Urban Ears Tanto (Rs3,500-3,700) An absolute favourite with us, these supra-aural headphones are comfortable to wear. Its classic design, with metal headband, lets you carry it around your neck when not in use, while its braided fabric cable cover assures you of tangle-free durability, making these the pair to buy if you're looking for small headphones.

First look: HTC Desire 700

HTC has introduced three new dual-sim, mid-range smartphones, the Desire 501, Desire 601 and Desire 700, with the last being positioned as the premium handset among the three. We spent some time with the Desire 700 dual-sim and here are our first impressions:

The Desire 700 dual sim (CDMA) looks more like its other Desire siblings and not like the HTC One, unlike the global variant of Desire 700. Once you hold the phone in your hands, you'll realize that unlike the HTC One, the Desire 700 dual sim is predominantly made of plastic.

Desire 700 dual sim features what HTC calls BoomSound, which is essentially the dual frontal stereo speakers with built-in amplifier, just like the HTC One. The phone also featured green coloured accents integrated with the front speaker grills, and the camera lens at the back.

At 149 gram, the Desire 700 dual sim is not very bulky to carry. However, it is taller, broader and thicker than the HTC One.

The front of the Desire 700 is dominated by its 5-inch qHD display that offers a resolution of 540x960 pixels. Unfortunately, the screen leaves a lot to be desired (no pun intended), especially when the phone has been priced rather steeply, upwards of Rs. 30,000. The bigger size of the display reduces the pixel density to just about 220ppi (pixels per inch), resulting in images and text appearing less sharp, and at times pixilated, compared to 720p and full-HD displays.

The Home and the Back capacitive keys are placed just below the display for navigation, while the 2.1-megapixel front-facing camera and the sensor array sit above the display.

The edges of the phone are soft and resemble the HTC mini's soft plastic ones than the One's chamfered metal edges. The right edge features a metallic volume rocker key, while there's nothing on the left edge. The Power/Screen lock key, made of soft plastic, sits at the top with the 3.5mm headset jack.
We fail to understand the logic behind HTC's placement of the Power key. For a device this large, this positioning just makes the phone cumbersome to use. We'd have preferred the key to be placed at the right or left edge. The bottom edge houses the micro-USB port.

Desire 700 dual sim comes with a removable back, also made of soft plastic sporting a matte finish. The 8-megapixel rear shooter and the LED flash accompanying it, are located towards the left hand side in a circular ring, surrounded by a green accent. There's HTC branding at the middle. The back cover hides two micro-SIM card slots, the microSD card slot and the 2100mAh battery, which is removable.

HTC Desire 700 dual sim supports GSM as well as CDMA networks and offers dual-sim functionality with both the lines active at the same time.

HTC Desire 700 dual sim is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor and 1GB RAM. It runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean with HTC Sense 5, the company's custom UI layer running on top. Just like the HTC One, it supports Blink Feed offering a feed of news and social network updates on the user's home screen. In our brief use, we did not experience any lags while navigating through the interface or launching apps.

Look out for our detailed review of the phone soon.

New app turns smartphone into 3D scanner

Scientists have developed an app that allows an ordinary smartphone to capture and display three-dimensional models of real-world objects.

Instead of taking a normal photograph, a user simply moves the phone around the object of interest and after a few motions, a 3D model appears on the screen.

The technology also allows the 3D capture of faces, giving a third dimension to portraits, profile pictures or images of loved ones.

Marc Pollefeys, professor at the Institute for Visual Computing and his group at ETH Zurich developed a software that works with existing smartphone technology that allows the user to scan a 3D model almost as easy as taking a photograph.

As the user keeps moving, additional images are recorded automatically and used to extend the 3D model.

As all calculations are performed directly on the phone, the user gets immediate feedback and can select additional viewpoints to cover missing parts of the 3D model.

"This is an important advantage compared to solutions that batch process all the images in the cloud at a later time," said Pollefeys.

The app also makes it possible to visualise the state of the 3D scan from different viewing angles, allowing the user to cover all the areas of the object he is interested in.

Having a solution on a mobile phone enables the acquisition of 3D scans on-the-fly anywhere.

The approach works in a wide variety of settings, including low-light conditions such as inside a museum. A user can capture a 3D model of a museum piece and interactively study it at home later.

After reviewing the model, a user might decide to upload his 3D data to a cloud service to further refine the results.

By using the inertial sensors of the phone, the scanning process can be made simple, intuitive and robust. After the 3D capture is started, the system automatically determines the correct moments to extract camera images based on the user motion.

"Only two years ago, such a software only run on massive computers. We were able to shrink processes down on smartphone level and make them highly efficient," said Pollefeys.

Contrary to image-only 3D capture solutions, the app is able to determine the absolute size of the scanned 3D object, as well as the vertical direction.

Because of the complexity of the calculations needed to reconstruct hundreds of thousands of points, the graphics co-processor (GPU) of the phone is used to enable a faster reconstruction and increase interactivity for the user.

Having a convenient way of getting 3D models of everyday objects, users will now be able to copy real-world objects by scanning a full 360 degree model of an object.

The resulting 3D model can be used for visualisation or augmented reality applications, or even be used for 3D printing, potentially at a remote location, effectively enabling the user to replicate an object.

App developers, data scientists in for salary surprise

Dull pay hike prophecies this year may refuse to die down for now, but for some niche profiles, handsome hikes and rewards are in order, as corporates look to retain this pool of scarce talent.

Profiles like that of management accountants, data scientists, app developers and marketing managers are expected to be rewarded significantly in the current appraisal season, more or less in line with last year's levels.

The profile of a data scientist is among the hottest across sectors and hikes can range from 30% to 50%, says Subeer Bakshi, director oftalent and rewards at Towers Watson India. "As much as 90% of the world's data was created in the past two years and these professionals are in short supply, which gives them the ability to write their own pay cheques," he says.

Sectors like retail will have tons of data, and these professionals can help them with data assessment and analysis. Layout designers in retail companies and media managers who can formulate strategies based on insights from data scientists can expect hikes ranging from 20% to 30%.

Consulting firm Mercer estimates that roles like that of experienced marketing analyst and sales representatives in sectors like automobiles, consumer durables and pharmaceuticals will continue to be on companies' priority list. In information technology, salary hikes will be dominated by profiles in mobility, cloud and security, says technology and market research firm Forrester's VP and country manager for India, Manish Bahl.

"There will be more spending on security as a skillset," he says. With greater focus on customer experience, mid-to-senior IT roles like app development and business consulting can fetch hikes of 15% to 17% compared with average hikes of 10% to 12%, he says. Hikes in IT were in the range of 10% to 11% last year, according to Forrester estimates.

Jobs in regulatory affairs in the pharma and medical devices sector are in demand and can expect hikes in the range of 11% to 20%, according to Kelly Services.

"This is mainly because a lot of Indian companies have been wanting to sell in the US for which they require FDA approval and expertise in FDA filing," says Kamal Karanth, managing director, Kelly Services. Jobs in supply chain management and purchase in pharma and consumer goods can expect hikes in the 9% to 18% range across levels, due to a steady increase in exports.

While last year's hikes for roles in regulatory affairs were estimated to be at 11% to 18%, they were in the region of 10% to 18% in supply chain and purchase. An increasing number of professionals are opting for specialised courses that help them cultivate niche expertise.

Sriram Kameshwar, a director of finance and corporate facilities, was a chartered financial analyst and associate member from the Institute of Cost Accountants of India when he decided to enroll for the CIMA course in 2005. Considered to be more than just pure play accounting, a CIMA course in management accounting combines accounting, finance and management.

This year's salary survey of 40% of CIMA India's 500 members revealed that over the next 12 months, 95% of part-qualified students are expected to receive a salary increase of 13.6% well over the 2013 'IMF World Economic Outlook on Price Inflation' forecast of 10.8%. In 2013, qualified CIMA members in India are earning an average of Rs 26.3 lakh in basic annual salary plus Rs 3.6 lakh in bonuses, totalling Rs 30.02 lakh per year.

Among all its members and students, a good 62% are satisfied with their salary. "The qualification has helped me look at situations from different functional perspectives as the course is a good blend of core technical, strategic and business management domains," says Kameshwar.

Apart from accounting, he adds the course has helped him in business development, in contributing effectively as a member of the company's leadership team and board, and in influencing strategy.

Worldwide semiconductor revenue grew 5.2% in 2013: Gartner

According to a Gartner report, in 2013 semiconductor revenue stood $315.4 billion, a 5.2 per cent jump from 2012 revenue of $299.9 billion. “After a weak start to 2013 due to excess inventory, revenue growth became strong in the second and third quarters before leveling off in the fourth quarter,” says Andrew Norwood, research vice president, Gartner.

Norwood further adds, “The overall market faced a number of demand headwinds with PC production declining 9 per cent and the premium smartphone market showing signs of saturation, with growth tilting toward lower-priced, entry-level and mid-range smartphones.”

Intel recorded a 2.2 per cent revenue decline as strong performance in its data center and embedded systems group was not enough to offset a declining PC market, and limited traction and declining prices for its tablet and smartphone solutions. However, the company maintained the No. 1 market share position for the 22nd consecutive year, capturing 15.2 per cent of the 2013 semiconductor market.

5 ways to prepare yourself for a career in data analytics

Gaurav Vohra, co-founder, Jigsaw Academy

As data is increasingly becoming a valuable raw material for any organisation, career in data analytics is certainly getting a lot of attention among young graduates. Data analysts or data scientists as they are more commonly known these days are being offered big salaries, faster growth paths and challenging work environments.

Here are five ways one can become job ready for this particular market:

Get a degree in Science, Statistics/ Mathematics: Though a data scientist can technically come from any stream of education, there is a clear preference for those with a degree in science, statistics or mathematics. There is also a definite advantage for these graduates as data analytics is essentially all about numbers and a solid foundation in math, modelling and statistics, is needed to sort through, analyse and interpret data.

Develop an integrated analytical skill set: It is essential for a data scientist to have expertise in diverse analytical tools. The language of SAS is one of the more popular analytics tools you can learn. However, programmes and tools like R and Hadoop are gaining momentum and it would be prudent to also invest in learning them. In addition a data scientist would also need a comprehensive and thorough knowledge of NPL software, languages like QL, Perl and Python.