Category Archives: Technology

Introduction

Nowadays, almost every automaker possesses considerable resources to develop self-driving technology for cars, which is the next big step for the automotive industry. The market for autopilot technology is clearly huge, which is evident by an estimation, that approximately 100 million "connected" cars with the capacity of self-driving will be shipped in 2021.

While most auto manufacturers try to invent their own solutions, they will be forced to collaborate with technology companies in fields of both software and hardware to bring self-driving cars to roads. Therefore, in this article, I provide a list of the most promising publicly traded tech corporations, which should be considered by investors who would like to try to profit from the development of autonomous driving.

Technology overview

First of all, let us very briefly look at the technology. The final solutions of each automaker will be different, but still they will share some common characteristics.

In general, autopilot uses three types of sensors: cameras, ultrasonics/radars and lidars. Each sensor performs its own function and has different abilities. Radars are able to detect moving objects in the surroundings of a vehicle but are unable to detect lines or traffic lights, and they are not very precise at human detection.

Lidars have similar features, but can more easily detect humans but are also more expensive than radars. The primary sensors are cameras, which can detect all objects, including lines, traffic lights and pedestrians. However, cameras fully rely on software to process all the input, therefore, using only cameras is difficult for a self-driving car system.

Then, all the input from the sensors needs to be processed and analyzed, which is made possible by the use of Deep Neural Networks (DNN). DNN is a code, which lies in the basis of every autopilot and it helps recognize objects, distinguish them, and make decisions on what to do. For instance, DNNs are needed to recognize borders on the road, the colors of a traffic light, or discern a sedan from a truck. In the end, the software system inside the car's computer processes all the information and operates the steering wheel and pedals, thus safely driving a car to a destination.

To illustrate how exactly neural network recognizes objects and makes decisions, Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) provided a video of autopilot in motion, which can be seen here.

Companies:

Nvidia (NVDA)

Nvidia is considered to be the pioneer of hardware related to autopilot technology. The company has already proven its superiority in terms of automotive infotainment systems (i.e. cars on-board computer systems) with its Visual Computing Module, which uses Tegra chips to provide graphics to a vehicle's interior screens.

Nvidia currently counts such automakers as Audi (OTCPK:AUDVF), Porsche (OTCPK:POAHY), BMW (OTCPK:BMWYY), Tesla, Honda (NYSE:HMC) and Mini as its customers for digital cockpits claiming "more than 10 million cars on the road today" are powered by Nvidia. Through the first 3 quarters of 2016, the corporation derived 7.6% of its revenue from the automotive industry, and I believe that corporation is going to maintain these relationships to develop autopilot technology.

The latest autopilot hardware introduced by Nvidia is its Nvidia Drive PX 2 - a car computer that uses artificial intelligence to support autonomous driving. The system is able to derive and use data from all kinds of sensors like cameras, lidars, radars, and ultrasonic sensors, locating a vehicle in space and on a map, planning a safe path and being aware of all objects around a car.

Nvidia describes the product as follows:

DRIVE PX 2 can understand in real-time what's happening around the vehicle, precisely locate itself on an HD map, and plan a safe path forward. It's the world's most advanced self-driving car platform-combining deep learning, sensor fusion, and surround vision to change the driving experience.

Moreover, the corporation's autopilot technology is powered by another of Nvidia's invention - the Nvidia DGX-1 supercomputer, which enables fast machine learning on the basis of deep neural networks. This means that a car supported by DRIVE PX autopilot is able to continuously develop its ability to detect possible collisions and understand types of objects in its range of vision, thus making autonomous driving even more safe and precise.

Nvidia already provides the autopilot technology hardware for all new Tesla cars, running a Tesla-made software - neural network for vision. I expect that in the near future most carmakers that are interested in autonomous driving will implement the computer made by Nvidia, since it is currently the most powerful and well-developed solution. Therefore, Nvidia corporation will inevitably benefit from future collaborations, and the company's growth will be positively impacted by Nvidia's exposure to the increasing autopilot market.

While Nvidia should definitely be included in a portfolio of autopilot technology companies, I consider the current price level of Nvidia stock to be too high to buy. Its P/E ratio is an astronomical 55.0 and the price increased by more than 400% over the last year. Additionally, preliminary data shows 2.7 times growth of net income from 2016 to 2017 and it will be hard for the corporation to maintain this pace of growth over the long term.

The notable support levels of Nvidia stock are around $100 and $90, and the range between them, representing around a 40 P/E ratio, seems to be reasonable to consider a buying opportunity. However, taking into consideration the market rally we currently see, it is possible the price may not drop to these levels.

Delphi Automotive (DLPH) and Mobileye (MBLY)

Another notable company is Delphi Automotive PLC based in the United Kingdom. The corporation provides vehicle components and is especially interesting due to its safety technology solutions and electrical architectures. Autopilot technology is to some extent based on these very same safety systems, and therefore it is possible for Delphi to develop autonomous driving solutions based on its own existing products, which the company is already doing.

It is also interesting to note that Delphi received 22% of its net sales from the two huge automakers (9 months ended September, 2016) - General Motors (NYSE:GM) and Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAY), which are also working on providing autonomous cars in the nearest future. This shows that the existing ties with the automotive industry can enable Delphi to bring to life its autopilot solutions and quickly commercialize products for autonomous driving.

There are many examples of Delphi's efforts in the autopilot market. In 2015, Delphi in collaboration with Audi demonstrated its autonomous vehicle technology with a cross-country trip in the USA. The self-driving Audi car installed with Delphi's solution drove "99% of the time" controlled only by a computer without any human interaction. Moreover, in 2016, Delphi was selected by Singaporean authorities to implement an autonomous mobility concept in the state. The company is expected to provide a fleet of autonomous vehicles and develop cloud-based mobility software.

One of the most important alliances for Delphi in terms of autonomous driving is with another vehicle products supplier - Mobileye, from Israel. In 2016, the two companies revealed their partnership, which was formed in order to provide fully automated cars by 2019, while other automakers were expected to achieve this only by 2020-2021.

In turn, Mobileye, the supplier of vehicle localization and mapping software and machine learning solutions, is another corporation, which should be considered by investors who are willing to gain from autopilot development. Although the corporation lost its one important client, Tesla Inc., in late 2016, Mobileye claims that "13 automakers are working with Mobileye to enable autonomous driving." Moreover, about 27 corporations from the automotive industry use the corporation's solutions in terms of safety on roads.

Both Delphi and Mobileye should be included in a portfolio of autopilot technology companies. I find the financial situation of both companies to be in good shape. For instance, from 2011 to 2015, Mobileye's revenue grew by 80% on average, and I expect that the growth will continue in the near future.

This is primarily because Mobileye's average price for autopilot products (which will consist of cameras, driving policy algorithms and mapping) is expected to be in the range of $400-500, which is "10 times above $45 ASP Mobileye currently records for individual ADAS (safety) solutions." The price of Mobileye's stock rose by around 20% in 2017 and any pullback can be considered as a buying opportunity.

Regarding Delphi Automotive, the company's stock is trading with an 18.0 P/E ratio, which is considerably lower than the industry average. Additionally, despite ongoing restructuring, Delphi managed to have stable net income in 2016 and declared an increase in cash from operations exceeding the Street's 4Q forecast. The stock price of Delphi already increased by 13% in 2017 and now is near a 2-year high showing good performance. I believe the current price level ($75-76 as of February, 15) can be considered by investors as a buying point.

NXP Semiconductors (NXPI), Qualcomm (QCOM) and Cisco (CSCO)

NXP Semiconductors N.V. is a semiconductor company, which has a good portfolio of products including car audio and car vision products for safety. NXP already has 14.4% of the automotive semiconductor market, and the company's chips are already implemented by many carmakers including Tesla, Daimler (OTCPK:DDAIF), BMW and Audi.

I consider the company as a potentially big player in the autopilot market. This is not only because autonomous driving solutions will require some existing products from NXP (like safety car systems, microcontrollers and sensors), but also because the corporation has a high potential for developing new solutions based on existing technologies. For instance, NXP already provides transaction security systems and in-vehicle networking products, which can easily be transformed into new solutions to enhance vehicle networking security and establish connections between cars on roads making a cloud-based communication system.

Thus, NXP with Cisco made the first step to achieve inter-vehicle networking by making an investment in Australian company Cohda Wireless. The company specializes in radio systems and software that will allow vehicles to establish communication networks between them. This will enable vehicles to share information such as current speed, heading, and "whether they are braking or accelerating."

Qualcomm seems to be interesting due to its expertise in data communication, but the main value of the corporation is its Qualcomm Strategic Initiatives segment (QSI) which invests in early-stage companies in various industries, among which are different communication systems. Moreover, the corporation made an offer to buy the aforementioned NXP Semiconductors, in which case, Qualcomm will have direct exposure to the automotive market.

Regarding buying points of NXP, the corporation's stock is consolidating in the range that is 10% lower than the price offered by Qualcomm ($100 against $110). This is because the company has high short-term expenses, and due to that fact, NXP is likely to show negative income in the near future. However, if the corporation will eventually be bought by Qualcomm or will receive a counteroffer, the gain for the investor is inevitable.

Both Qualcomm and Cisco are trading with P/E ratios, which are significantly lower than the industry average (17.2 and 15.7 against 27.7 and 22.5 respectively). At the same time, the corporations show solid operating margins and very strong returns on equity (ROE) that are higher than the industry average. Cisco's stock price has already risen by 10% in 2017 showing a very strong pace and I believe current price levels (around $32) are good moments to buy the stock. Qualcomm shares have dropped by 13.36% in 2017 but have now consolidated near $55 level, which is a good opportunity to invest in the company.

Intel (INTC) and Microsoft (MSFT)

Both tech giants show their mobility in terms of thinking, since they are involved in developing many future technologies. For instance, I already wrote how these blue-chip corporations work on the blockchain, and now I expect they will work closely with automakers to bring autonomous cars to life. Thus, Intel has already revealed at CES 2017 its collaboration with BMW claiming they will start testing autonomous technology on the roads by the second half of 2017.

In turn, Microsoft took another approach saying it will try to integrate its existing products, like Azure cloud, Windows, and Office 365 into vehicles of established auto manufacturers. Therefore, I believe both Intel and Microsoft should be included in a self-driving technology portfolio.

Regarding moments for making investments in Microsoft and Intel, I restate my valuations made in the previous article and consider current price levels for both stocks ($64 and $36 respectively) as good moments for buying. These points represent around a 30 P/E multiple for Microsoft and a 17 P/E multiple for Intel.

Conclusion

Overall, the technology of self-driving requires many separate products to be combined to achieve a comprehensive solution. Clearly, many tech companies will try to become involved in autonomous driving development and gain from this market opportunity. However, I believe that the 8 corporations described in this article are the most promising options for investors who want to profit from the autopilot expansion.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Editor's Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.

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Self-Driving Technology: 8 Tech Companies For Investment - Seeking Alpha

Artificial intelligence, natural-language processing, and bots integrated into messaging apps will create new opportunities to interact with users via their mobile devices. (Image: Just East)

Mobile technology like smartphones will be changing in ways many users can't even imagine today, and much of this change will come from trends such as the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), augmented reality (AR), and virtual reality (VR).

The convergence of devices, bots, things, and people means organizations will need to excel at mainstream mobility and prepare for the "post-app" era, according to research firm Gartner Inc.

The future of mobility will offer ubiquitous services provided anywhere, by any person or thing, to any person or thing, said David Willis, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner. Alternative approaches to interaction and service delivery will spring up, and code will move from traditional mobile devices and apps to the cloud, he said.

It's clear that mobile has become an integral part of doing business today. Gartner has estimated total shipments of 2.37 billion devices (including laptops, tablets, ultramobiles, and mobile phones) and 293 million wearable products for 2016. It projects shipments of 2.38 billion devices and 342 million wearables in 2017.

The proliferation of devices means they are now omnipresent within the business environment, reinventing the way people interact and work, Willis said.

While users are always looking for new and compelling experiences with apps, the importance of apps in delivering services will diminish, and the emergence of virtual personal assistants (VPAs) and bots will replace some of the functions performed by apps today, he said.

"App mania has created a horrible experience for customers," Willis said. "There are too many of them. Many large brands have multiple apps in the same app store. Consumers are abandoning apps at an alarming rate. App fatigue has set in."

Users are settling on fewer, more trusted apps, Willis says. "The brands that are the most reliable, trustworthy, and are the easiest to deal with will win," he says. "We used to say that if your customers need a manual, you've lost. Now, if your customer has to train and configure their experience, you've lost."

Newer tools and technology developments such as wearables, IoT, VR and AR are changing the parameters of customer experience with mobile, Willis said. "It's going to be a dynamic, immersive, and highly varied world out there," he said.

The growing use of wearables and "bring your own thing" such as smart power sockets and smart light bulbs in the workplace will introduce new ways of interacting and new platforms, Willis said, diluting the need for specific mobile app experiences.

A lot of the innovation in the mobile technology market in the future will not come within the devices themselves, but in the things that communicate with the devices. Gartner predicts that by 2018, 25 percent of new mobile apps will talk to IoT devices.

Advancing technologies such as artificial intelligence, natural-language processing, and bots integrated into messaging apps will create new opportunities to interact with users seamlessly via their mobile devices, the firm said.

VIDEO: Here's how Facebook envisions you being social in VR

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Prepare for a new age of mobile technology - ZDNet

Technology is an integral part of cricket now The Hindu Development in any field is closely associated with the growth of technology. Cricket is no exception. Technological advancement is an indispensable part of the game now. Analytics and numbers determine the value of a player and every move is closely ... and more »

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Technology is an integral part of cricket now - The Hindu

Snunit CEO Revital Rubin in January with Geoff Cohen, the principal of the Herzliya School in Cape Town, South Africa. (photo credit:Courtesy)

The Snunit Center for the Advancement of Web-Based Learning, the largest educational web portal in Israel, is seeking to launch a new site dedicated to connecting Jewish children and youth in the Diaspora with Israel.

Snunit was established in 1994 as a project of the School of Education at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and in 1999 officially became a non-profit NGO established by the university and the Nir and Beverly Barkat family.

Responsible for launching the first Hebrew language website, today Snunit creates, develops and manages innovative educational sites for elementary and middle schools pupils, reaching hundreds of thousands of users throughout the country and the world.

The easiest way to transfer educational messages to a critical mass of people, especially to youth, is by technological means with the push of a button, Revital Rubin, CEO of Snunit, recently told The Jerusalem Post.

For youth, Rubin explained, the technological world is their first world.

We take advantage of this media to reach wider audiences of youth and provide them with knowledge, she said.

Snunits latest project, in the process of development, includes a new English site and application aimed at connecting and teaching Jewish children from the Diaspora about Israel.

As a Jew who lives in Israel, I understand the importance and necessity of doing this, Rubin explained, crediting this latest endeavor with her visit last month to South Africa, organized by Community, a joint program of The Gesher Leadership Institution and the Diaspora Ministry to expand and deepen the connection between public opinion leaders in Israel and Diaspora Jewry.

As part of her visit she toured South Africa and also met with pupils and school principals in Cape Town and Johannesburg. She explained that while there, she saw firsthand how little adults and children alike in the Jewish community knew about Israel or had any connection to the country.

They study the bible and Jewish holidays but they dont learn anything about the State of Israel and the culture and what troubles youth in Israel, she said.

It is important that children learn that Israel is not only about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or politics, or the ultra-Orthodox, of course these are issues but there are a lot of other parts of Israel that youth should get to know, she added.

Rubin said she was shocked to discover that around a third of Jews in the world have no connection to Israel whatsoever.

Due to this journey, I understand this need to create connections [with the Diaspora] and today I see this as a mission, she said.

She stressed that it was important to understand that religion is not everything when speaking about Jews and Israel.

If we keep presenting this to the world, we will lose a lot of Jews along the way and the Jewish people cannot afford this, she said. We have to understand that there are also Jews in the world that currently have no link to Israel and there are people in Israel who are secular and we must think how to connect between them to develop a diverse Jewish synergy.

Rubin explained that the applications aim would not only teach Jews about Israel but would also serve to connect between youth and create a dialogue on issues that are important to them.

There are children and youth who deal with the same problems that youth in Israel do, wherever they are in the world and it is important that they make that connection, she said.

Still, she added, it is a two-way street. While children in the Diaspora know little about Israel, so too do Israeli children know very little about their counterparts abroad.

I believe in reciprocity we also need to teach kids in Israel to get to know the Diaspora, she said. And I believe that we need to start establishing roots of this connection at a much younger age, and not only focus on adults or young adults.

Rubin stressed the positive effects of web-based learning in reaching out to youth in the Diaspora and connecting them with Israel.

Israel has brought children and youth to Israel on trips [like Birthright and Masa] but how many children can you bring? Two hundred thousand? Three hundred thousand? With this technology we can reach out to millions of children, she explained.

She acknowledged that it is no substitute for bringing youth to Israel but said it could serve to complement their physical presence in Israel and provide them with knowledge about the country.

We dont need to stand on our two hind legs I think it is a good thing, both tactically and strategically that there will be Jews in the Diaspora and our responsibility is to strengthen our connection with them and to strengthen them with all the challenges they face such as antisemitism, Rubin stressed.

If we dont understand this we will distance youth and adults in the Diaspora from the Jewish people, she said.

Overwhelmed by her experience in South Africa, Rubin ensured that the pupils and teachers in the two Jewish schools she visited would be provided free access to Snunits educational portals.

Many of our websites are in Hebrew only and so now we are also looking to translate these sites to English and we are looking for a partner who understands the importance of this, she said.

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NEW DELHI: DBS, Singapores leading bank plans to hire 100 technology skilled professionals, in emerging and disruptive technologies across cloud, machine learning and Big Data through a hackathon.

The 100 new selects will join DBS Asia Hub 2 in Hyderabad, India, according to a release. This coding challenge, which has already received more than 3000 applications, is open to both fresh graduates and experienced professionals who can apply up to March 12, 2017.

Mohit Kapoor, CEO, DBS Asia Hub 2 said We want to build a culture of experimentation, backed by robust technology solutions and creative intelligence to consistently innovate and evolve our digital journey. Hackathons like this help us connect with top talent across the country who are game changers and will be instrumental in reimagining banking.

The recruitment drive, DBS Hack2Hire, consists of two parts - an online assessment challenge followed by a live two-day hackathon session. Shortlisted candidates from the second round will undergo interviews for full-time roles at DBS Asia Hub 2. The bank has collaborated with leading technology providers such as Amazon Web Services, Cloudera and Pivotal for conducting the hackathon, according to a release.

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DBS to hire 100 technology skilled professionals through hackathon - Economic Times

Microsoft and UPMC have partnered to improve healthcare delivery through a series of projects, Microsoft announced Thursday. The health system will work on Microsoft's Healthcare NExT Initiative, which will focus on clinician empowerment and productivity with AI, officials said. The companies will work together to develop new tools that will first be implemented at UPMC before it hits the market.

The partnership will focus on products to empower patients and providers, while advancing UPMC's immunology research.

"Despite UPMC's efforts to stay on the leading edge of technology, too often our clinicians and patients feel as though they're serving the technology rather than the other way around," UMPC Chief Medical and Scientific Officer and President of Health Services Dr. Steven Shapiro said in a statement.

"With Microsoft, we have a shared vision of empowering clinicians by reducing the burden of electronic paperwork and allowing the doctor to focus on the sacred doctor-patient relationship," he added.

The collaboration is part of multiple Healthcare NExT initiatives that include: HealthVault Insights, a research partnership with Tribridge and System C & Graphnet Care Alliance focused on finding insights on patient health, care plan adherence and patient engagement; and Microsoft Genomics, an Azure-powered genome analytics pipeline and partnership with BC Platforms and DNAnexus, among others.

Healthcare NExT also includes Microsoft's AI chatbot, which officials said telehealth provider MDLIVE will use to help patients self-triage inquiries before speaking with a provider by video. Further, Premera Blue Cross will use the tech to improve the way patients find their health benefit information.

Microsoft also launched CGI ProperPay for claims analytics. The new service from its SaaS apps, provides predictive analytics, rules management and best practices to reduce healthcare claims fraud, waste and abuse, officials said.

"At Microsoft, we're grounding our efforts in a set of core design principles that focus on the human benefit of AI, transparency and accountability," officials said in a statement. "We believe that ethics and design go hand in hand. Further, we understand that security, privacy and compliance remain a top priority for health organizations."

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Microsoft, UPMC's technology collaboration includes health chatbot, population health tools - MobiHealthNews

Melissa Jun Rowley Crunch Network Contributor

Melissa Jun Rowley is a journalist, entrepreneur and activist focused on the intersection of storytelling, technology and social justice. As the founder and CEO of Humanise, Inc., she is developing The Toolbox, a data-driven humanitarian initiative created by musician Peter Gabriel.

Deep in a rural village in India outside the city of Jhansi, children play on dirt roads where goats and cows roam. The humble and colorful homes have mud floors, and women collect drinking water from wells.

All the sights and sounds are quintessential aspects of the region, with the exception of one feature the use of smartphones to save lives. In this village, women healthcare workers, known as accredited social health activists (ASHAs), use a mobile application called mSakhi to help them educate expecting mothers about maternal and neonatal danger signs.

Funded byQualcomm Wireless Reachand developed byIntraHealth International, mSakhi is currently being used by 329 ASHAs to benefit 16,000 mothers. Amobile broadband initiativeaccomplishing such a task in rural India is no small feat.

According to the national health ministry, Indias newborn mortality rate stands at29 per 1,000 live births. The country is aiming to get the number down to a single digit. Additionally, the literacy rate among females in India is low. A background paper done by the New York-based International Commission on Financing Global Education Opportunity revealed in October of last year that only48 percent of India girlsstudying up to the fifth grade are literate.

As for internet connectivity, according to a Pew Research Center poll, a mere22 percent of Indias adultscould get online in 2015. That being said, there are nationwide efforts being made to get people connected. The countysDigital Indiaprogram aims to digitally empower citizens and provide broadband in remote areas. As part of this plan, the government wants to make mobile connectivity available in more than 40,000 villages by 2018.

In the meantime, mSakhi is still able to have an impact, because the application is designed to manage low connectivity. The data thats fed into mobile devices is stored offline. When theres a network thats available, the data is then uploaded to a server.

Frontline health worker Ram Kumari Sharma travels to villages across India. Using mSakhi , she registers the details of pregnant women, new mothers and newborn babies, and gives them medical examinations. Through text and animated images the tool assists her in describing the day-to-day symptoms patients should look out for and how they should address them.

The mSakhi app also supports auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) working in the field. Anita VT is an ANM who has worked in the village health center for the last 20 years, registering patients, delivering babies and vaccinating children. While the facility she works in is no more than a small room with a few manual tools, the mobile technology she uses brings an aspect of the process into the 21st century.

I can do everything on this, says VT, pointing to her tablet. Why should I do it on paper?

Meenakshi Jain, IntraHealth senior advisor of programs, says mSakhi as a whole is enabling a more cost-effective and efficient health registration process.

The government of India has a program across the county where every pregnant mother has to go into an online system, she explains. Its the duty of frontline workers like ASHAs and midwives to make this happen. So they have the job of identifying and registering pregnant women. The catch is that they have to fill out forms, and then travel 10-20 km, sit with a data entry operator at a community health center, and then get the data fed into the computer. What mSakhi does is it saves a lot of paper time.

To get the funding needed to scale the mSakhi program, IntraHealth is generating evidence to share with stakeholders the federal government, state government and donors that mSakhi is improving the health and well-bring of mothers and children. Jain says she would like the government to implement mSakhi or any similar application, as long as it empowers frontline health workers to do their jobs better and uses the most recent technology. If IntraHealth is able to bring in more funding, mSakhi will continue to evolve and include technical areas such as family planning and literacy.

About 450 kilometers from Jhansi, the nonprofitPlanned Social Concern (PSC)is providing micro-finance opportunities to women in a village outside the city of Jaipur.

A number of PSCs micro-finance participants are able to build their own small businesses. One of the women in the program says she was able to build a new home and send her kids to school, thanks to PSC.

This economic empowerment is being enhanced through the power of mobile broadband. Through a partnership with Qualcomm Wireless Reach, PSC was able to digitize its entire loan-making process in 2014. The program is now 100 percent paperless.

Ravi Gupta, COO of PSC, says that through using 3G-connected tablets and a mobile application called MicroLekha, the organization is able to function faster and be more transparent.

When we were doing it [making loans] manually it used to take 17 to 18 days to process a loan, says Gupta. Now with MicroLekha we can place a loan in three to four days.

Because all the documents are stored digitally, theres no need for customers to submit paperwork each time they apply for loans. When customers pay back their loans they get receipts and account updates via SMS.

This is just the beginning. When Digital India is able to fully penetrate the rural parts of the country, hopefully even more mobile tech designed to assist health workers, educate families and facilitate small business opportunities will be implemented.

My wish is that large tech firms will take cues from these mobile for impact programs, and create similar initiatives for poor parts in the Western world, as well.

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How mobile technology is transforming lives in rural India - TechCrunch

When James Madison drafted the first 10 amendments of the United States Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, he had no idea how technology would shape American life or that a thing called the internet would change the way we communicate.

However, Mr. Madison did know that the rights of the American people must be protected. In todays digital age and in the midst of a technology revolution, it is important that Congress ensure that our laws still provide protections for these rights.

Thirty years ago when personal computers were in their infancy and almost no one had ever heard of the World Wide Web Congress enacted theElectronic Communications Privacy Act, or ECPA,to establish procedures that strike a fair balance between the privacy expectations of American citizens and the legitimate needs of law enforcement agencies.Back then, mail was sent with a postage stamp, a search engine was called a library, and clouds were found only in the sky.Much has changed in the last three decades, and today massive amounts of data is shared and stored online.At the same time, law enforcement agencies are increasingly dependent upon stored electronic communications content and records in their investigations.

Unfortunately, technologyhas outpaced ECPAsprovisions governing how law enforcement obtains electronic communications. As a result, many in Congress share my concern that this out-of-date law provides insufficient protections for Americans privacy.

Its time the law caught up with technology. Recently, the House of Representatives passed theEmail Privacy Actto update the procedures governing government access to stored emails,helping to preserve Americans Fourth Amendment protections from unreasonable searches and seizures of property.This bipartisan billmodernizes current law, establishing for the first time in federal law a uniform warrant requirement to acquire stored electronic communications in criminal investigations.

Reforming ECPA has been a top priority for me as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.For several years,I have worked with members of Congress, advocacy groups, and law enforcement agencies on many complicated nuances involved in updating this law. TheEmail Privacy Actis a carefully-negotiated agreement thatwill better protect Americans constitutional rightsandlaw enforcements ability to protect public safety and fight crime.

Given the bipartisan support for this legislation, I am hopeful the Senate will take up the measure in the 115th Congress and send it to President Trumps desk. The Constitution protects Americans property from unreasonable searches and seizures, and we must ensure this principle thrives in the digital age.

Bob Goodlatte represents Virginia's 6th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. He lives in Roanoke and Washington, D.C.

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OPINION: It's time the law caught up with technology - The Daily Progress

Iranian specialists discussed the latest technology in the treatment of artery stenosis at the fourth national atherothrombosis conference in Tehran on Friday, on the occasion of the International Day of Atherothrombosis (Feb. 17). Atherothrombosis is a complex disease in which cholesterol deposition, inflammation, and thrombus formation play a major role. Rupture of high-risk, vulnerable plaques is responsible for coronary thrombosis and sudden cardiac death. It is the leading cause of mortality in the industrialized world. According to Masoud Qasemi, head of the Iranian Atherosclerosis Association, the discussions centered on the global technological advancements in the field, and Irans access to the latest methods, IRNA reported. Iran has a long history of treating vascular diseases and medical facilities have developed so much in the past two decades that today all heart patients have access to quality medical services, he said. Iran is also among the pioneers of vascular stenting and has been practicing the method since 2001, soon after developed countries adopted it. Astentis a small mesh tube thats used to treat narrow or weak arteries or blood vessels (to keep the passageway open), and stenting is the placement of a stent. Treatment methods are developed from medicinal therapy to atherectomy and finally vascular stenting, Qasemi said. He added that the former methods have not been replaced but are still employed alongside new technologies based on a patients condition. Medical teams are now able to decide which treatment is best for a particular patient, whether it is medicine, surgery or modern technologies of vascular stenting and angioplasty, as all of them are available in the country. He also pointed to developments in the field of medicine in the past five years that have reduced the risks of cardiovascular and cerebral conditions, increasing the chances of survival through advanced medical techniques. Modern drugs have been introduced that are an alternative to surgery or used as supplements after a surgery. New generation of anticoagulants for instance that are known as NOAC have enabled us to treat patients in critical stages of the illness, he said.

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Vascular Treatment Technology Discussed - Financial Tribune

TechCrunch

Unlocking the potential of eye tracking technology TechCrunch The concept of measuring and responding to human eye motion isn't new, but the past year saw a rising interest in the technology. There have been a slew of acquisitions of eye tracking startups by large firms and the rollout of several devices and ...

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Unlocking the potential of eye tracking technology - TechCrunch