Jio impact: Telcos on a spectrum shopping spree?

Soon after the soft launch of Jio on Sunday, the Indian telecom space is abuzz with action. Vodafone is tipped to be in talks to buy the entire 4G spectrum of Tikona — airwaves in 2300 Mhz band. Though, to be fair, consolidation in the telecom space began hotting up soon after the government approved spectrum sharing between telecom companies in September this year. However, if the deal does go through, it will help Vodafone double its geographical 4G presence from the five circles it currently has. The Economic Times reports Tikona had bought 2300 MHz (4G) spectrum in the 2010 auctions in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, UP (East), UP (West) and Rajasthan for over Rs 1,058 crore. Vodafone on the other hand does not have 4G airwaves in that band. It will be deploying its high-speed broadband services over the 1800 MHz band across five circles of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Karnataka and Kerala. India's second-largest telecom service provider has launched 4G services across 10 towns in Kerala only. Among the major telecom companies in India, only Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel have airwaves in the 2300 MHz band. Meanwhile, in a bid to further consolidate its 4G footprint, Bharti Airtel too has acquired 74 percent stake in Augere Wireless Broadband India . Augere, owned by France Telecom and private equity funds such as Harbinger Capital and New Silk Route, had won 20 MHz of 4G spectrum in the 2300 MHz band in the Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh circle in the 2010 auction. Airtel has already launched 4G services across 350 towns and cities in India. Currently, Bharti Airtel has 4G spectrum in 15 circles (combination of 1800 and 2300 MHz band). Idea Cellular  too has launched 4G services across South India on 1800 MHz band. The company hopes to cover all towns and cities in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana by March 2016. The company too is on a buying spree and recently acquired Videocon Telecom's spectrum in Uttar Pradesh (West) and Gujarat circles. In an earlier interview with CNBC-TV18 , the company's managing director Himanshu Kapania had said that this acquisition will take Idea's 4G footprint from 10 to 12 circles. One of the reasons behind the consolidation wave may be because Reliance owns the second-largest amount of spectrum after Bharti Airtel. It has also set up a 2.5 lakh kilometre optic fibre network route connecting 18,000 towns across India already. However, former Airtel CEO Sanjay Kapoor cautions that while Reliance has got its first act right — putting a lot of effort into getting its network right, the challenge for telecom players across the globe is getting a glitch-free network, which is a trial and error process and it could take at least two years to perfect it. Bharti Airtel stock price On December 31, 2015, at 11:31 hrs Bharti Airtel was quoting at Rs 334.70, up Rs 1.45, or 0.44 percent. The 52-week high of the share was Rs 452.45 and the 52-week low was Rs 304.65. The company's trailing 12-month (TTM) EPS was at Rs 25.82 per share as per the quarter ended September 2015. The stock's price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio was 12.96. The latest book value of the company is Rs 195.80 per share. At current value, the price-to-book value of the company is 1.71. 

Mobile Firms Agree to Mandatory Panic Button for Women

For women in distress, police help will soon be available with just a press of finger on their
phone as Union Minister Maneka Gandhi has managed to get mobile phone companies on
 board for providing panic button in handsets by March next year that will send emergency
alerts.

Mandatory regulations in this regard will be issued by the Department of Telecommunications
soon, Gandhi said.

The plan that has been finalized with the consensus of mobile manufacturers will help
address the issues of women security as both new and existing phones will be able to
install the enhanced feature.

"It took us one year to finalize this initiative. We held several meetings with mobile companies
and they have finally agreed to provide panic buttons in mobile phones," the Women and
Child Development Minister said.

"If a woman feels she is in trouble, the only thing she has to do is press that button and it
will immediately send a message to the police," the minister explained.

Gandhi said while the new handsets will come with inbuilt buttons, the customers will be
able to upgrade their existing phones at dedicated centres.

"We have asked the companies to built at least 10,000 centres across the country to facilitate
mobile phone users in upgrading their phones and adding the button," she said.

The mobile phone companies are working on technological solution for existing as well as
future mobile phones.

Apart from this, the other measures being taken by the ministry for women safety include
launching of a National Women Helpline number that will be common throughout the country
to provide assistance to women in distress.

The operations of the helpline will be integrated with One-Stop Centres that provides police,
legal, medical and counselling assistance to women who are victims of violence.

The government has also prepared a scheme of special police volunteers in every village to involve young educated girls in community policing.

These girls will be specially trained to function as a bridge between the police and community women and will help in ensuring protection of women against violence of all kinds.

Apple's iPhone set for thinner, lighter and brighter OLED screens in 2018 as contracts with LG and Samsung revealed

LG and Samsung are to spend over $10bn to create new OLED manufacturing plants to supple screens for Apple's iPhones in 2018, it has been claimed.

The Electronic Times report, citing unnamed sources,comes after years of speculation that Apple will start using the next-generation technology in its phones.

OLED screens are thinner and offer better picture quality than the mainstay liquid crystal display screens.  

Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported last month that Apple plans to start using OLED screens for iPhones starting in 2018.

LG and Samsung Display are close to a final agreement with Apple for the screens, the Electronic Times report said, adding the two Korean firms plan a combined 15 trillion won ($12.8 billion) in capital expenditure to build up OLED production capacity over the next two to three years.

Apple will likely provide some funding to both firms to help with the investments, the paper added.

LG Display and Samsung Display declined to comment, while Apple could not be immediately reached for comment.

Samsung Display, which currently supplies OLED smartphone panels to parent Samsung Electronics and Chinese vendors, is likely getting bigger volumes from Apple than LG Display, the paper said.

Earlier this month it was revealed Apple has opened a production laboratory in northern Taiwan to develop new 'superthin' phone and watch displays.

According to Bloomberg, the facility is Longtan has at least 50 engineers.

Apple has recruited from local display maker AU Optronics Corp. and Qualcomm Inc., which used to own the building, the people said.

 

WHAT DOES OLED STAND FOR? 

OLED stands for organic light-emitting diode. 

Its panels are made from organic materials that emit light when electricity is applied to them. 

As a result, OLED panels don't use a backlight meaning they are thinner than LCD displays. 

OLEDs additionally have bright colours, brilliant contrasts and a wide-viewing angle.  

 

iPhones provide better parental control options than Android smartphones

Apple iPhones have better parental control options than Android phones. With prevalent 

dangers to children and adolescents from various "misleading" online forums, 

parental control in smartphones has become a necessity.

Handing over such a device to a youngster comes with certain drawbacks, 

and parenting editor of Common Sense Media, Caroline Knorr says, "You're giving 

your kid a lot of power when you hand them a smartphone and kids' digital savvy 

often outstrips their judgement."

Monitoring every device, however, does not guarantee complete protection of a child. 

Knorr claims that it is equally important for parents to use phone restrictions to start 

a dialogue with their children about what is right and wrong.

She believes that by helping children earn the privilege to different features, once they understand the dangers and vulnerabilities of having an online presence, parents can 

better ensure the security of their children. A study published in 2014 supports Knorr's 

theories. It states that around 22% of seventh graders admitted to "sexting".

To determine how best to provide appropriate methods of protecting a child, an 

New York Times report outlines the difference between parental control options

 in iPhones and Android smartphones.

According to the report, iPhones have detailed parental control restrictions. While 

it may prove to be more time consuming to set up the feature, it ensures prevention of

 adult online content, monitors vault apps, blocks expensive in-app purchases and 

prevents data plan abuse.

Android phones, on the other hand are reportedly not as thorough. It only ensures that

children are restricted from downloading apps and purchasing in-app content. The latter

is only partly restricted, as a password can be used to download in-app content. 

The NYT report suggests that Android phones provide "incomplete solutions for a 

small number of restrictions".

The difference in parental control features between the two smartphone systems 

exists mainly due to the fact that Androids are independently installed onto 

devices by smartphone manufacturers. This restricts the system from providing an 

advanced level of protection. On the other hand, iPhone systems are installed by the manufacturer, thus allowing for more advanced parental control options.

China's dark matter probe results expected in six months

Beijing, Dec 27 (IANS) Chinese scientists have announced the initial results of the country's dark matter probe will be published within six months, the media reported on Sunday.

Chang Jin, chief scientist of China's Dark Matter Satellite Programme, said because the space environment of high-energy particles is complicated, a sufficient amount of high-energy particles has to be collected, the People's Daily reported.

"Therefore, we can find some information about dark matter by analysing these particles. According to our observation plan, we will take around two months to do the detective calibration. Within six months, we will publish the initial scientific results."

China launched its first dark matter satellite 'Wukong' on December 17, and it started sending back its first set of observation data on Thursday.

Wu Ji of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said the satellite is operating as expected.

"The satellite is working well, and the actual payload is normal as well. Actually, the satellite from now on enters a two-month in-orbit testing phase."

The satellite has already circled the Earth more than 100 times.

It is designed to undertake a three-year space mission, but scientists hope it can be extended to five years.

'Wukong' will scan space nonstop in all directions in the first two years and then focus on areas where dark matter is most likely to be observed afterward.

Scientists develp new human-like social robot 'Nadine' developed

SINGAPORE: Scientists have developed a human-like social robot with soft skin and flowing brunette hair, which is capable of autonomously expressing emotions and gestures like shaking hands and conversing.

Nadine is a friendly robot which smiles while greeting you, looks at you in the eye when talking, and will remember your name and your previous conversation the next time you meet her, researchers said.

Scientists from the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore have developed two social robots - Nadine and a tele-presence robot EDGAR that can be controlled remotely, allowing you to interact at a conference without physically being there.

Nadine looks almost like a human being, with soft skin and flowing brunette hair. Unlike conventional robots, Nadine has her own personality, mood and emotions. She can be happy or sad, depending on the conversation.

She also has a good memory, and can recognize the people she has met, and remembers what the person had said before.

Nadine is powered by intelligent software similar to Apple's Siri or Microsoft's Cortana.

The humanoid can be a personal assistant in offices and homes in future. She can be used as a social companion for the young and the elderly, the researchers said.

"Robotics technologies have advanced significantly over the past few decades and are already being used in manufacturing and logistics," said Nadia Thalmann, the director of the Institute for Media Innovation at NTU who led the development of Nadine.

"As countries worldwide face challenges of an ageing population, social robots can be one solution to address the shrinking workforce, become personal companions for children and the elderly at home, and even serve as a platform for health-care services in future," said Thalmann.

Nadine's robot-in-arms, EDGAR, is a tele-presence robot optimized to project the gestures of its human user, complete with a rear-projection screen for its face and two highly articulated arms.

By standing in front of a specialized webcam, a user can control EDGAR remotely from anywhere in the world. The user's face and expressions will be displayed on the robot's face in real time, while the robot mimics the person's upper body movements.

EDGAR can also deliver speeches by autonomously acting out a script. With an integrated webcam, he automatically tracks the people he meets to engage them in conversation, giving them informative and witty replies to their questions.

"Telepresence provides an additional dimension to mobility. The user may project his or her physical presence at one or more locations simultaneously, meaning that geography is no longer an obstacle," said Gerald Seet from NTU.

Google Glass is back: Filing points to a sleeker, more durable, foldable version for enterprises

Earlier this year, Google had announced that its much-hyped Glass project had been temporarily shelved. The company had announced it was time for Glass to grow out of its baby steps and put on their big kid shoes. In other words, stop selling its head-mounted computer to consumers and come back with a new, improved version.

Well, it’s back. Made especially for the workplace, the aptly dubbed Google Glass ‘Enterprise Edition’ is on its way to make a mark in a territory that had received it positively and seen many use cases when it debuted. According to the pictures filed by Google with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the new Glass features a foldable form, thanks to the addition of a hinge that makes it fold down like a regular pair of glasses. 9to5Google reports that the hardware being used for Enterprise Edition is much better from the earlier one, with an Intel Atom processor, improved battery life and better wireless connectivity with a 5GHz Wi-Fi band for video streaming applications. The report also reveals that the new Glass boasts of better heat management, thanks to the new chip and its improved performance.

FCC images of Glass reveal a larger prism too. The report also explains how the power button has been moved from its awkward location on the inside to the back of the device. The front light comes on when the camera is in use and there is a yet-to-be-seen external battery, made by Google that attaches to the device magnetically. Also, the report claims that the device is waterproof and closed-off to keep it safe from debris and other substances that might find its way to the hardware. While Google has made no formal announcements, sources tell 9to5Google that the device has been in the hands of hundreds of people across Glass for Work startups and might be released soon.

 

Research firms and analysts always believed that Glass was a better fit at the workplace than with the general consumer. The device has already seen many success stories. A construction project manager used Google Glass to improve safety and efficiency, an art teacher used Google Glass to help teach her online class, and a firefighter is building an app to help firefighters navigate dangerous situations. Companies like Virgin Atlantic also used Google Glass with customer service agents, resulting in several positive reviews from passengers. And the possibilities for business apps on the Glass are endless.

“The device is already being used for Policing services in the city of Dubai as well as in the healthcare vertical by physicians across the globe to access critical patient information in real time. It is also slowly becoming more common in sports as teams and broadcasters worldwide are exploring options to bring fans closer to the action. Augmented Reality applications on the glass can also prove extremely helpful for marketers in tracking the eye movements of the consumers for relevant advertising on the go,” said Sanchit Vir Gogia, Chief Analyst and Group CEO, Greyhound Research.

ABI Research also feels the use case for general-purpose smart glasses in the consumer space is weak, especially at a technical level, where projector quality has some way to go, as does battery life along with RF components and the miniaturisation of these elements. Also, at a practical level, most people are not prepared to wear glasses because many simply do not normally need to, and if they do, they need specific lenses. Lastly, many glass wearers have moved to wearing contact lenses. “It just seems a retrograde form-factor and a very obtrusive one for the user and general public,” added Senior Practice Director Nick Spencer. Longer term, ABI Research believes a consumer wearable device needs to be far more subtle, with smart watches and, even better, wireless smart ear buds being a good example.

New metamaterial with unusual refraction of light to speed up computers

MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. A team of Russian scientists from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences have proposed a two-dimensional metamaterial composed of silver elements, that refracts light in an unusual way. The research has been published in Optical Material Express journal. In the future, these structures will be able to be used to develop compact optical devices, as well as to create an "invisibility cloak." 

The results of computer simulations carried out by the researchers showed that it would be a high performance material for light with a wavelength from 400-500nm (violet, blue and light blue). Efficiency in this case is defined as the percentage of light scattered in a desired direction. The efficiency of the material is approximately 70% for refraction, and 80% for reflection of the light. Theoretically, the efficiency could reach 100%, but in real metals there are losses due to ohm resistance. The results achieved can be applied to control optical signals in ultra-compact devices. In this case we are talking primarily about optical transmission and information processing technologies, which will help expedite computer processing in the future. Electrical interconnects used in modern chips are operating at the limit of their carrying capacities and inhibit further growth in computing performance. To switch from electrical to optical interconnections we need to be able to effectively control optical signals on nanotechnology. In order to solve this problem the efforts of the scientific community are focused to a large extent on creating structures capable of "turning" the light in the desired direction.

Volkswagen to ditch ‘Das Auto’ in makeover

Scarred by a public relations thrashing over its "Dieselgate" scandal, Volkswagen is planning an image offensive, and its "Das Auto" global advertising slogan is an early casualty.

Launched in 2007 under ousted boss Martin Winterkorn, the slogan has had the advantage of simplicity, merely meaning "The Car". However, the German carmaker's leaders, anxious to proclaim a reformed corporate culture, have criticized it as out of step with a company trying to show newfound humility.

A Volkswagen spokesman would not pronounce "Das Auto" dead quite yet, but said it would no longer accompany the famous VW badge in the coming advertising campaign.

Its replacement is hardly radical. "Wherever our logo appears in future, it will be backed by the new brand slogan 'Volkswagen'," the spokesman said.

"The slogan will be rolled out in stages across the world."

VW has been largely on the defensive since US authorities revealed in September it had admitted rigging exhaust emission tests on some diesel-powered models. For weeks, it volunteered little information about the extent of the cheating, instead reacting guardedly to a flood of revelations and allegations.

The new campaign, discussed last week at a closeddoor meeting of 2,000 group managers, is VW's latest attempt to regain the initiative in rebuilding its reputation following a sharp drop in sales in some markets, including the United States and Britain.

While the group produces everything from Bugatti supercars and Ducati motorbikes to heavy-duty Scania trucks, the meeting in the eastern German city of Dresden focused on the main VW brand.

According to a manager who was there, Volkswagen brand chief Herbert Diess described the Winterkorn-era slogan - which could suggest that VW alone can define the modern motor car - as absolutist.

Such an image of regal arrogance ill fits the reality of VW today: a company facing huge costs from recalling and modifying cars to meet emissions regulations, plus likely regulatory fines and a welter of lawsuits.

Smartphone based systems for better driverless cars developed

A SMART SOLUTION TO FILL IN GPS GAPS IN DRIVERLESS CARS

Researchers have developed two new smartphone-based systems that can accelerate development of driverless cars by identifying a user’s location and orientation in places where GPS does not function.

These can also identify the various components of a road in real-time on a regular camera or smartphone.

“Vision is our most powerful sense and driverless cars will also need to see. But teaching a machine to see is far more difficult than it sounds,” said Professor Roberto Cipolla from University of Cambridge who led the research.

The first system, called SegNet, can take an image of a street it hasn’t seen before and classify it, sorting objects into 12 categories such as roads and street signs in real-time.

The researchers presented details of two technologies at the International Conference on Computer Vision in Santiago, Chile, recently.

Reliance Jio differs with Airtel, Vodafone and Idea on spectrum cap, reserve price of airwaves

Reliance Jio Infocomm has disagreed with GSM telcos Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea on spectrum limits for operators and the reserve price of airwaves to be auctioned, although it concurs that bandwidth for high-speed mobile broadband services shouldn't be offered for sale any time soon.

Mukesh Ambani-controlled Jio, in a submission to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), said the government must abolish the cap on the amount of airwaves an operator can hold in a band, while retaining the overall limit of 25% in a circle.

Responding to the regulator's consultation paper on valuation of the reserve price of airwaves in various bands, the company said, "Since the auctioned spectrum is technology neutral, intra-band spectrum caps have become redundant."

Jio said band caps can constrain service providers and they are forced to opt for multiple bands. This takes away the benefits of a higher quantum of spectrum for mobile broadband services in terms of enhanced spectral efficiencies.

However, other members of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) including Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, suggested that the cap within a band should be retained at 50% and sought an increase in the overall cap in a circle from the current 25%.

COAI argued that the intra-band cap was crucial to ensure that no operator cornered all the spectrum in a particular band, which would lead to "monopolisation."

It said the overall cap of 25% is "stifling the growth of operators" and raising this limit would not lead to market concentration by any operator. The reason cited was that some operators have more than 30% of the market share and are growing but not allowed to hold more than 25% of the spectrum.

Both Jio and its rivals agreed that the time was not right to auction air waves in the 700 MHz band, which can be used for high-speed 4G data services, because the associated ecosystem was still in a nascent stage. Jio said the government must evaluate whether the ecosystem for this band is ready in two years. If the industry is unable to use the airwaves adequately, it would be a waste of resources, it said.

COAI said that if the government does auction the 700 MHz band, the airwaves should be valued at 50 per cent of the price discovered in the 800 MHz band in 2013-15. Alternatively, COAI said the 700 MHz band could be valued on par with the 1800 MHz band.

Both sides agreed that the price of airwaves in the 800 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and the 2100 MHz bands discovered in March should be taken as the market price of airwaves in the upcoming auctions as well. They opposed any further indexation of the last-discovered price in these bands.

The COAI said the reserve price of frequencies sold earlier this year should be fixed at 80% of the valuation, while Jio proposed that the price discovered at the previous auction should be taken as the reserve because the "price of spectrum in a new auction should not ideally be less than the price discovered in an earlier auction."

The industry body also argued against treating 2300 MHz and the 2500 MHz bands as one. Jio said that the reserve price for both these bands should be the winning price of the 2300 MHz in the 2010 auctions. Jio argued that the industry has undergone significant changes since 2010 and if the government were to index the price of airwaves in the 2300 MHz band using the SBI PLR index, it would make these bands unattractive.

COAI said the 2500 MHz band should be valued at 80% of 2300 MHz as the propagation characteristics of the former are poorer and the government must fix the reserve price for both bands at not more than 70% of their value. On the 2300 MHz band, COAI agreed with Jio and said the last auction-discovered price must be taken as its valuation.

Google Developing Messaging App With AI-Powered Bots: Report

Google, part of Alphabet Inc , is building a new mobile messaging application to
 better compete with rival services such as those offered by Facebook Inc ,
The Wall Street Journal reported.

The new service would tap into Google's artificial intelligence know-how,
integrating chatbots, or software programs that answer questions, inside a messaging app.

The new app will enable users to text friends or a chatbot, which will search the
Web and other sources for information to answer a question, similar to how
Google search works.

It is unclear when the service will be launched, or what it will be named, the report said,
 though it adds that Google veteran Nick Fox has been leading a team working on
 the new service for at least a year.

Google declined Reuter's request to comment on the WSJ report.

Popular messaging apps include Facebook's WhatsApp and Messenger services,
and Tencent Holdings Ltd's WeChat, while Google has a service called Hangouts.

California, Google Ready For Autonomous Vehicle Showdown In 2016

SAN FRANCISCO -- California’s lead in the race to autonomous, self-driving vehicles could come to a grinding halt should the state adopt draft measures announced this week that would all but make Google’s driverless vehicles illegal. Publicized by the state Department of Motor Vehicles Wednesday, the proposed regulations would require individuals licensed to operate autonomous vehicles to be present in these new-age cars at all times. The rules also say these drivers must be able to take control of the vehicles at any time, essentially requiring pedals and a steering wheel.

Those are elements notably missing from the driverless-car prototypes developed by the Google unit of Alphabet Inc. in Mountain View, California. It is wording that has the potential to hamper other major technology players such as Apple Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. that also reportedly have been working on self-driving vehicles. Unsurprisingly, the draft regulations have left Google and other staunch supporters of this technology “perplexed.”

“This maintains the same old status quo and falls short on allowing this technology to reach its full potential while excluding those who need to get around but cannot drive,” said Chris Urmson, the head of Google’s self-driving car initiative. These rules cut out many individuals, such as the elderly or those with disabilities, Urmson argued in a Medium post published Thursday.

And Urmson isn’t alone in his arguments. Many others in the auto and tech industries, as well as leaders in California, have come out against the DMV’s proposals, calling for rules that won’t stifle innovation, or worse, send it elsewhere.

“Autonomous-vehicle technology will continue to advance in spite of DMV regulation, but it may well relocate to states [or nations] that adopt a more flexible and accommodating regulatory structure,” said Michael Cunningham, senior vice president of public policy at the Bay Area Council. “We would stand to lose the economic benefit of having this cutting-edge industry based in California, and we’d fail to secure the full safety, mobility and access benefits that autonomous vehicles could offer.”

It’s a sentiment that was echoed by California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom Thursday. “We must guard against unreasonably holding back California from doing what it does best -- inventing the future,” Newsom saidin a statement.

While the proposals constitute a hit on the companies hoping to build the first self-driving vehicles, there are many, including some in the tech world, that welcome regulation that prioritizes keeping consumers safe on the roads.

“While [Google boasts] over a million miles of incident-free driving, they fail to mention that most of the time these cars aren’t driven in the scenarios a consumer would commonly face,” said Sam Pasupalak, CEO of Maluuba, a natural-language processing company in Waterloo, Ontario. “It may be many years, perhaps over a decade, before we see a consumer version of a self-driving car that works in the scenarios Google is proposing [i.e. the driver sitting in the back seat with the self-driving car doing all of the driving].”

Kicking the Bucket Down the Road

The California DMV is still early in its rule-making process. The measures proposed Wednesday will be reviewed at two workshops early next year, when the agency will collect input from the public, manufacturers, industries, consumer groups and “anyone who has a stake with dealing with an autonomous vehicle in any way,” said Jessica Gonzalez, an agency representative.

“Public policy is having to catch up with the rapid innovation happening in California,” said Ratna Amin, transportation policy director at SPUR, formerly known as the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association. “We need to all understand each other better across sectors for something like driverless cars to succeed.”

The DMV workshops will be conducted in January and February. Afterward, the agency will take the feedback and potentially alter the rules it formally submits, a lengthy process in and of itself. It could be 2017 before any final guidelines are put in place.

“The most important thing is that this is just the starting point in a longer dialogue that needs to happen,” said Brad Stertz, Audi of America’s corporate communications manager in Washington.

However, some view the DMV’s decision to announce draft rules, rather than a formal proposal, as a way to kick legislation further down the road, allowing players such as Google to continue innovating in California without any government limitations.

“They’re going to hold hearings, and it’s going to be at least a year before anything happens,” said Alan Pisarski, an expert on transportation. “In the meantime, some of this uncertainty [in the autonomous-vehicle sector] will clarify itself.”

Meeting Requirements:

The DMV’s proposed regulations on the matter are associated with California Senate Bill 1298, a measure adopted by the state years back that called on the agency to regulate the testing and consumer sales of autonomous-vehicle technology.

Although some, such as Google, viewed this legislation as a progressive measure and a milestone for autonomous vehicles, others have said California acted too early with its legislation, potentially hampering the development of the technology. According to Pisarski:

“When you regulate too soon, you can inhibit the technology. This is always the great fear when the government comes in and makes rules.”

Despite Google hailing this 2012 legislation as recently as Thursday, it is conceivable the original measure could hamper the tech sector. In the legislation, there are sections that say an autonomous vehicle does not include cars that are incapable of being driven by humans, rendering Google’s prototypes illegal.

“People need to start looking at that and realize there’s requirements in there that we had to put in these regulations,” the DMV’s Gonzalez said. If the legislation “mandates something, it is the statute that provides the authority for the regulation, and DMV could not create something that is not consistent with that statute.”

As much as they’d like innovation to continue taking place in California, Google and its allies may have to go back to the California Legislature if they truly want driverless cars to roam the streets and highways of the Golden State.

Fleeing California:

For now, Google and others are threatening to move their autonomous-vehicle operations from California unless the DMV’s proposed regulations are loosened, but it’s unclear whether these companies would actually follow through on that threat.

“A lot of people who have gone to California to look at it as a test bed are surely going to threaten to head somewhere else,” Pisarski said. “You could certainly see some rivalry here among the states.”

Potential landing spots include Nevada and Texas, two states where legislation has been welcoming of self-driving-vehicle technology. But a bigger fear among those in the auto and tech worlds is that legislation of this technology could result in a checkerboard pattern across the U.S. They’d rather see autonomous vehicles regulated on the federal level.

“Too many states doing too many different things could just end up being a massive mess,” Pisarski said.

Huawei to concentrate on its Honor smartphone brand in India

While it has announced its foray into home automation in China, Huawei Technologies, among the world’s largest telecom equipment manufacturer, will continue to concentrate mostly on the smartphone segment in India – aspiring to become a market leader in the sector, according to a top company official.

The company, through its ‘Honor’ sub-brand would be launching an open source Operating System and a communication protocol for Internet of Things (IoT) devices in China, and is working towards building an ecosystem in India to enter the home automation or the smart home segment.

“The demand for smartphones will be huge. Our initial strategy will be to focus more on the mid and entry-level phones and gradually move towards the high-end segment,” Huawei India business head Wang Guodong told IANS, averring the company will pay more attention on the smartphones over the next couple of years.

“We are among the top three smart phone providers in the world. Our target in India is to match our global position,” said Guodong, informing that the company was targeting to reach a sales figure of 20 million smartphones in the next few years.

With its Chinese eco-system setting the stage for the company to announce launching of the ambitious ‘HiLink’ – a communication protocol for web-based home devices – Wang said it was working on its plan and talking to various stake holders to build up a similar eco-system in India.

“Anywhere in the world, smartphone is the core of the entire ecosystem. So, only when you have huge smartphone users can you look towards home solutions and the like. Once we have 10-20 million smartphone users, we will be able launch other products and then this eco-system will have some meaning.

“To build an effective ecosystem you need lot of partners and it takes time to talk to them. So step by step, we are moving towards building that ecosystem in India. We are in talks with various stake holders, we have the strongest of abilities of building an ecosystem and with our R&D centre in India, we would step by step, build an ecosystem like we have done in China,” he said.

Even as he conceded that the launch of ‘Hilink’ in India was not possible in the near future, Honor Global president George Zhao asserted India was a very important market for the company and the entry of its latest products and technologies will not delayed for long.

“India is an important market for us and we will give enough attention to this market. We wish to do a great a job in India and hope to keep this promise. We believe people in India deserve the latest products and technology. So we have our plans not to delay for long the launch in India of Athe latest products that we have launched in China,” said Zhao.

The company is also banking on its R&D centre in Bangalore to strengthen its presence in India.

“While our R&D centre in India has been contributing towards our global requirement, now it has an additional target of focusing more on India specific innovations. That is the big change we have been bringing. The R&D team has been instructed to ensure the Indian market is success, that is now the priority,” Wang said.

Although he was not very optimistic about Hilink getting launched in India anytime soon, Wang said the company was exploring ways to contribute towards the ‘Make in India’ campaign.

“The Narendra Modi government has been doing a lot to support manufacturing and we are evaluating about setting up a plant in India. We will be very excited towards making a concrete effort but it will be too early to make any comment on setting up the plant in India,” Wang said.

“Undoubtedly Hilink is a very hot concept and we are very confident of its success but then, unless and until we have the results on the ground we cannot judge. So it will be difficult to tell when India can see it,” Wang said about the platform that aims at providing a ‘universal language’ to web-connected home appliances.