The Cloud Blog

Category: Internet of Things (IoT)

  • Tennis-as-a-Service (TaaS)

    Tennis-as-a-Service

    “As a Service concept should not be restricted to Software, it has the potential to involve Software+Hardware as well. Tennis-as-a-Service could be one such idea! “

    We have seen multiple examples where Software as a service (Pay as you go) options are available. All these options can easily be implemented and used from anywhere in the world. This can be considered the best business model so far, whether B2B or B2C. As you are billed per-use only, so there is less capital investment which leads to less risk and also keeps you flexible in terms of moving to other providers. There are multiple benefits which you can derive from As-a-service concept, which is making it more popular in today’s time.

    Can Hardware be provided as-a-service?

    The next revolution will arise when we bring Hardware+Software as-a-service concept. The software has been an intangible product which made it the best candidate to deliver it as-a-service, but now the time has come to reach the next level where Software+Hardware would also be available as-a-service. The difficult part here is how to provide the software remotely, surely it will be a challenge. How about we bring 3-D printers into the picture? You print your hardware at home and download the required software from the internet. This way we don’t have to move even an inch to get the services we require.

    The Vision (Tennis-as-a-Service)

    A sport which can be played between 2 players and with the minimum hardware required can be the best candidate for such a vision. The next thing which I am gonna say may make you laugh – we won’t be requiring a ball to play tennis. This might not seem real but this is going to be the future if we want to move to such a vision. We have already seen Sony Playstation where players just need to have a small device like Playstation Move. This will be a precursor to the next level of gaming where such devices will be 3-D printed at home and would take us more closer to the “Tennis-as-a-Service” vision.

    Now, the questions arise – a) How would we get rid of the ball in this? b) And how can we have a complete experience of the sport?

    Get rid of the ball

    Getting rid of the ball in a racquet sport seems like taking away all the fun. Here we are getting rid of the real ball but it will remain there virtually. The racquet stroke will also have similar kind of a feel when the ball is hit on the virtual racquet and the ball direction will also be similar to what we see in the real world. Having such a setup not only gives a new dimension but also help the players experiment a different kind of shots.

    Replacing the whole racquet

    The next part of the game is to replace the racquet with the grip area only. The grip is going to be the most important and the only part of the hardware. As we only hold this area and experience everything on our hands while playing the shots, so having this except the whole racquet will do. Now, what will form this area is going to be the innovation. This area should be able to give you the feel of the complete racquet and it should also let you feel the heaviness when you hit the ball. This will require a lot of new innovations and their fusion with technology to achieve. I am sure this might seem impossible in the start but we know that impossible itself says – “I’m Possible”.

    Fusion with Virtual Games

    Tennis-as-a-Service will require fusion with the virtual world of gaming as we are counting on the stream to be shown virtually. This will enable two players to play together if one is on Earth and the other on Mars. The war of the next level virtual gaming is already on between Microsoft and Sony. It’s all now between who conceptualises the Hardware-as-as-service concept first.

    I have tried to bring something new to the gaming world. I am sure you would also have new concepts brewing in your mind. Share your thoughts below on the new gaming paradigm.

    Check out my other article on a similar concept – Entertainment-as-a-Service

  • The world is changing as per Science fiction

    The world is changing as per science fiction

    “History repeats itself but the future is written in the books was never thought of. The shape of the world is changing just like the way science fiction movies have been showing us.”

    Although entrepreneurs are the ones who get the credit for making new innovations possible. In fact, it’s actually the imaginary mind of the people who do the job. Albert Einstein once quoted – “Imagination is everything, It is the preview of life’s coming attractions”. What he quoted seems exactly true today as we move towards automation in every field. And copy all the concepts which have been shown in the movies.

    Artificial Intelligence is something which has been there for the last 50 years. But its use has never been so popular and in demand. A few years back, every techno-entrepreneur was just thinking in terms of digitization, processing data or making games. Now, there is nothing which can be thought of without having Prediction model in mind. Artificial Intelligence has brought us to a stage where prediction has been easier looking at the previous data trends. As computer systems have been already capturing data for more than 20 years, so getting the trends and using them on predicting future trends is easy. The movie “Minority Report” is the one which considers the technology to check human behaviour and predicts any crime before it happens.

    Impact on Daily Life

    Boston Dynamics is an organization which has been working on different kind of robots and their usage in our daily life. Their experiments on making robots walk like humans, carry products in hands, figuring out the surroundings have been very successful. They have reached an advanced stage of making a lot of science fictions real. The most promising movie in terms of robots imitating human actions is I, Robot. I believe if we ever come close to accept robots as our partners in daily life, then it will most likely be the way shown in this movie.

    Predict the Future

    There is another science fiction movie, which everyone would love to see coming to life, which is Paycheck. This movie shows a machine being developed which visually shows your future. It does this by looking at the lines in your hands and how they relate to the future. This is something which still seems impossible because the future is still unpredictable. Still, there are minds which are working on predicting the future and finding ways to achieve the impossible.

    “The change is inevitable but how it comes into existence is something to be thought of. “

    Share with us your thoughts on how the world is shaping up in the below comments section.

  • Digital Connectivity Version 2.0 – Are we ready yet?

    digital connectivity - thecloudblog.in

    “Your Fridge does not allow you to order beer as it can impact your liver – your watch doesn’t allow you to eat sugar as you are diabetic – you can’t sleep more than 8 hours as your home automation system doesn’t allow. A connected world is coming our way. Prepare for it and prepare really well!”

    All we have been doing till now is interacting with humans/animals or other living creatures. It’s only few years since we are interacting with computers also, but it was not a nuisance in our lives. But now, the humanity is moving to a stage where non-living objects will be talking to us in the form of alerting or stopping us from doing what we like. Just visualize – if your watch alerts you to not eat sweets as you are a diabetic. Your home automation system doesn’t allow you to order beer because you have liver condition.

    Till now, we are not into such kind of restrictions. As humans beings, we are owners of our own decisions and actions. The next generation of technological advancement is going to put a lot of restrictions on humans which could be good as well as bad. Its just that we need to prepare well for this next wave of digital connectivity.

    Why are we moving towards such a world – do we really need it?

    The humans have a tendency to evolve – for the better or worse it is up to an individual to decide. Our very existence has been dependent on the our evolution to move ahead. On this course of evolution, we have done some really bad things to environment, fellow humans, animals, trees & plants etc. Its our expedition to move ahead which forces us to evolve whether its good or bad. There was a time of slavery where humans were kept as slaves to do industrial work. A time when we kept on releasing harmful gases which damaged our very protection from Sun – the ozone layer. When we started cutting trees to convert the places into concrete jungles. So, all these expeditions have seen some good and some bad stuff happening to all of us.

    Even after going through rough times and difficult situations, we can’t ignore that we have progressed, developed, evolved during this very course. The next part of the evolution is a connected world where everything and everyone will be tracked and controlled through devices. You may like it or not but its coming our way and going to catch us.

    IPification of everything and everyone

    Now, what is IPification? It’s just a term which I am using where an IP address is being assigned to an object as well as human. We all know that IP addresses are used to communicate over internet and all the digital connected items have one to communicate. Here, I have added humans as well because there are inventions going on where connected device will be embedded in humans. And for these devices to communicate over internet it will be mandatory to have IP address. So, ideally it will become IPification of humans.

    How far is it?

    All evolution changes from mankind has taken quite longer duration but this one is coming really fast and will strike us soon in the next 10 years at a very large scale. Like other inventions and evolution, this will also come first in the west and then it will move to east. Even if early adoption will be in the west, but its mass production will be in surely be in the east (China or India). I see it coming sooner than the other changes, as we have mastered the art of moving ahead faster by involving Artificial Intelligence into our systems. We have also got quantum computers now which are million times faster than the current computer systems – I would say “the traditional hardware”. And also the greed of business/politicians will also play a crucial role in early adoption of such technologies.

    “We are on the verge of fast paced life where divided opinions may not find a place – as everyone will have to accept the destiny to bind with the Digital World”

  • Computing with Skin and Mind – Facebook Building 8 Initiative

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    Using our skin and mind to control computing looks like a science fiction coming true. But this is the truth which is currently being invented at Building 8 of Facebook. Although futuristic but this is what the future of computing will be. Moreover, having Facebook behind such a vision removes all doubts about its feasibility. Facebook only works on those technologies which affect the larger population on the planet whether its facebook, messenger or internet for all. Their decision to buy Whatsapp also came for the fact that the most of population of earth was using Whatsapp.

    Impact on human race

    Although, current focus is to help specially able people to use this technology. But the larger picture is going to be different when this technology spreads to the whole population. We are in for some healthy ways for our eyes and fingers as it will aid us in having communication with computer without looking at a screen or exerting our fingers. Similar to other technological advancements, this will also be adopted slowly but adoption will increase with the passage of time.

    Slow Adoption but large impact

    Like our senior generation who still don’t want to use computers, the adoption of such embedded technology will also be fairly difficult. The change will take some time for us to adapt to such advancements. But it will be the kids whose fascination of such new technologies will make them adopt it fast. In the initial days, we might just have signals sent to brain as text but as this technology will develop the change from text to images will not be a distant dream. It will be something similar to computers which changed from text to image based and got widely accepted.

    Do humans need it

    This is an attempt to create super humans who can calculate like computers, have knowledge like computers. We certainly don’t need to become super humans as we are programmed to be happy with whatever we possess. Such things are being invented as today’s entrepreneurs have exorbitant resources to explore such complicated areas. This might help us in exploring the universe, but why to get computing embedded in our skin and brain. The purpose of such technological advancements must be well laid so that we are not adversely affected.

    Some Side Effects

    Every good thing comes with its own side effects, and this is no different. This is going to affect our intelligence directly. We might stop thinking about daily trivial tasks and become dependent on artificial intelligence. The recent study on use of Satellite navigation shows that use of navigation switches off the navigation part of our brain (Info link).  Similar to this, if we have computers wired into our nervous system then they will surely make us dependent on them. Just imagine, you are asking computer to know how much water you should drink before every glass to remain healthy. Although, it looks like a positive direction but similar to the Navigation case, we might be putting that area of brain to rest which directs us to drink water appropriately. This is just one example, I am sure it will have real bad side effects on our brain functioning.

    I know it’s coming and will eventually rule us but still we have time to build protocols for the next generations so that they don’t succumb to computing power and keep using natural senses.

  • Cloud + IoT – A deadly combination

    Cloud Internet of Things is one deadly combination which will drive AI to a new level. The next breakthrough in the technology world is going to be Internet of Things, which in combination with cloud will mark the start of a new era. The below series of discussion around Cloud+IoT will change the technology world.