In this month Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) have caught the attention of many people around the world. In India few were arrested for using UAS in event photography at Hyderabad. A French tourist was arrested for video shooting the Colosseum in Rome. He might be facing around $100k fine for violating Italian aviation law. In North Carolina a man was arrested for flying the UAS close to the police helicopter whilst it was attending an emergency call in the night. Federal Aviation Administration prohibits drones (recreational) from being flown at night. And a rogue drone (as the media calls it) reportedly hit...
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For everyone associated with the retail industry, an insight into consumer behaviour is worth its weight in gold. From one on one interaction to online surveys, a variety of methods are employed to gain a deeper understanding of the customers’ purchase pattern. Following is one of the many experiences one can have as a result of such an activity. Modern pizza owes its origin to Naples where this flat bread became a poor man’s staple at some of point time in the Middle Ages. But today, pizzas are relished worldwide across all economic strata. They are served with generous toppings of...
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Earlier this year, European Commission announced (1) strategies to pave the way of a Digital Single Market for Europe. Among other things, the aim of the commission is to bring the small and medium enterprises under the umbrella of a digital economy and make them a part of an increasingly growing e-society. This can as well be defined the first concerted action towards the inclusion of SMEs into the world of digital marketplace. As studies show (2), majority of the Europeans, as many as 75% of them, use the internet on a regular basis. But only 15% of the SMEs are...
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Tribes a play by Nina Raine depict the communication complexities between two individuals, one who knows signing and the other whose family raised him without the knowledge of signing. The image above is one of the act where the characters Sylvia and Billy interacting with each other. Almost a year before this play (2009) I came across a notable concept design by Mac Funamizu, A wearable sign language interpreter (refer images below courtesy Mac Funamizu) which would bridge the gap of communication with the Deaf community. I was wondering if this concept would remain a concept for a long time. Thy Moore’s...
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In the 80’s the American classic TV series Knight Rider fascinated the world with its KITT a Pontiac controlled by artificial intelligence of a computer. Many automotive fans wondered if they would ever get those gizmos featured in KITT for real. The modern day car has almost all the features (to some extend) minus the lethal fire power of KITT in the form of In Vehicle Infotainment system and other gadgets etc. We interact with these multimodal gadgets everyday while we are driving the car as Music, Video, car phone, GPS Navigation, Night vision, Proximity detector and others. These gadgets...
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The trend to design inclusive of elders is catching up with the manufacturers to cater the grey pound/dollar market, in the process of designing an usable product for the elderly people many manufacturers fail to note how the elder people perceive the product when they use it and how others perceive those products while the elders use them. Some products are merely designed based on the stereotypes linked to the age group of the elderly person and not based on their actual capabilities. Product designers who design products based only on the age group of the users may perhaps be...
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Yesterday I went to shop for a power drill, not that I was in the plan of building a Noah’s Ark but I thought it was necessary to have a power drill to make the life of a house handyman easy. And a discount of 20% on tools offered by a vendor was the driving force. While I was browsing through the several models of power drills I came across the smart select range of power tools from Black Decker. Those smart select power tools did not have the numerical dial to adjust the torque instead they had the visual icon...
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