Category: Technology

IBM has recently come out with their very own open source development tool called Quarks. The development tool is supposed to help manufacturers and programmers build efficient Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

Quarks has been designed by IBM to let programmers develop applications based on IoT sensor data from connected devices. The open source development tool has its roots in IBM Streams, which is an enterprise tool used for processing large amounts of live data. But as per IBM, Quarks has been redesigned from the ground up and lets programmers develop applications on top of connected devices. What that means is that Quarks can help capture live data from live devices.

IBM’s recent interest in machine intelligence and cognitive learning certainly suggests that Quarks would be soon plugged into and used in Watson Health.

Quarks would certainly give the ability to develop applications that live stream data like a wearable device which could track the health status of a diabetic or a mine worker wearing a helmet with sensors. The development tool would help not only monitor data, but will also help people monitor and access it in real time and relay that information to people who might need it immediately.

Only time will tell whether Quarks will be a success or not. But IBM has to be applauded for working on Internet of Things solutions.

A couple of years back, Facebook ventured into the domain of paid advertising. Clearly, this was a move to promote the idea of profit generation through Facebook. What had once been the medium for creative and inquisitive minds now became a thriving alley for the ones who could swipe their Credit Cards on a regular basis.
Undoubtedly, we all are fond of Facebook likes, and entrepreneurs, we want our business to thrive online, which on Facebook, is reflected through the number of likes. While this may not be conclusive in nature, it does offer enough potential for businesses to expand and reach out to new customers. The curiosity inside us pertaining to the likes on Facebook was what the social media giant capitalized upon, thus building an advertising portal that managed to fool countless people across the globe.
If we do a digital throwback relevant to websites, we shall discover that history has been kind to the innovations that have been unique and user friendly. Many businesses invest a heavy sum in order to get their business online, and yet, they fail to get the desired output. This can be attributed to the fact that companies tend to focus so many resources on their advertising, that they often sideline the primary aspect, which is their very own product.
The story of Facebook subscribers is similar. A swipe of your Credit Card does promise countless likes on your portal, but it doesn’t guarantee any results. The fate of paid advertising on Facebook was soon out in the open as analysts and researchers began discovering the flaw behind the idea of paid advertising.
To witness the implications of the hysteria of paid advertising, go online and visit a few news portals, and calculate the ratio between the active followers on their page against the total subscribers, and you shall find acquaintance with the tragic tale of Facebook Likes.

Twitter is all set to shock its audience of millions worldwide as it plans to roll out a feature that would enable users to extend the length of their tweets from the existing 140 characters. While this shakes the foundation on which Twitter marketed itself for almost a decade, developers are expecting to usher in a new era of tweeting with this upgrade.
So, the first question certainly wishes to reason with this curious move. It doesn’t come as a surprise now when reports from various social media analysts depict the falling traffic of this networking portal. Certainly, a lull has been witnessed in the networking arena for all websites, and that has led to ventures innovating with new ideas, topping the chart with ads.
Twitter, as users have known it for years, comes across as a portal where people are shackled by word count, but not by wit or freedom. The cheeky ones have already made enough merry out of this mayhem, while celebrities enjoyed a greater degree of privacy, teasing their fans on multiple occasions.
What could this move spell for Twitter? Some might argue for a more relaxed form of communication, but hey! Don’t we have Facebook for that already? Instagram (a part of Facebook now) already hosts an array of images. One cannot help but think about the desperation that’s driving Twitter to a point where it ends up killing its own USP.
For the ones who are veteran Twitter users, this upgrade won’t be a happy one. The experiment with 140 characters yielded unforeseen benefits for the website, ranging from Tweet marathons to celeb Q/As. As we approach a new era of social media where privacy ranks higher than interface, we wish for Twitter to innovate within 140 characters only, because that’s what Twitter is all about!

Before you lose yourself in the title, let me inform you that Microsoft has launched an extensive range of toys, leaving most of us surprised. Microsoft isn’t really NSA when it comes to keeping secrets (Snowden would think otherwise though), and yet, they manage to grab a few eyeballs here and there after their annual event. So, let’s get down to the specifics; Microsoft opened us up to a new Surface Pro Tablet (Alright, calm down iPad Pro), a couple of Lumia phones (Quiet! Nexus), and another Microsoft Band fitness (Yep, they still produce these). However, Microsoft went a notch further in challenging Apple’s idea for a smart keyboard with a tiny convertible laptop dubbed as the Surface Book.
However, let’s talk about Microsoft’s numbers. Today, close to 110 million devices are running on Windows 10, more than a century of game play streamed in terms of years, a billion questions for ‘Cortana’, 1.25 Billion downloads from the Microsoft App Store, and an enthralling 400% increase in developer revenue since the new version of Windows was rolled out. For the sake of not being too mathematical, let’s just ignore the fact that there are 8 million PCs that are already using Windows 10.
Make no mistake, these numbers do not mean much in the World market. For a consumer, this is nothing but a long string of numbers that do not support his momentum in Temple Run or Subway Surfers. Microsoft, with all its surprises can attain a respectable position in the world market, yes, but can it rival its biggest competitor when it comes to mobiles and tablets? Will the world ever be crazy for Surface Pro as they are for iPad Pro, even with the latter being an overpriced digital commodity? Apple, with its desktops and the recently launched iPad Pro, took the fight to Microsoft. A sweet session of browsing and game playing on iPad Air can convince anyone to dump their desktops so deep that they never have to worry about them again. Apple is well on its way to become Microsoft, but can Microsoft ever be Apple?
For the ones who managed to escape the complexity of this title, here are few things to ponder upon? What drives Apple today, or what drove Microsoft yesterday, to the pinnacles of success and an expansion rate that defied every business model there ever was?
The past, the present, and the future, are written by the ones who dare to innovate. Apple has been successfully doing that. Even with little roadblocks, it has managed to retain the attention concentrated upon the brand worldwide. Microsoft has some hope with the new version of Windows doing well, but it’s not the engine of the car that is failing them, it’s the car itself. Apple, well you guys have managed to design a pretty good car, just keep that engine running. Apple is what Microsoft meant to us in the 90s, and the eye raising question is, who will own the next decade of technology worldwide?