Hyperlooping India

Hyperloop is a supersonic capsule that could, for example, transport you from Delhi to Mumbai in less than one hour. Hyperloop Transportation Technology (HTT) is geared to bring its super-fast mode of commuting to India. HTT is a competing with Elon Musk backed Hyperloop One for launching and commercializing 'Hyperloop'. Currently its conducting roadshows to attract $120  million for funding its pilot project. Its intending to finish the prototype for India by 2020. HTT will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a “cheaper and more efficient” model than its fellow American competitor Hyperloop One. The company said it will offer not just value for money but is also more suitable for Indian conditions than its competitor’s model. HTT has submitted a proposal to Niti Aayog, the government’s think-tank, for its project and is awaiting its approval. They have identified 15 routes, of which the government would select one for building the prototype and they can build a full-scale prototype in 38 months.

It would consists of an underground or above ground pylon-supported tube will create a "special environment" — a low pressure system — through which passenger pods will travel with very little air pressure to slow them down. An electric air compressor fan on the front of the pod will transfer high air pressure from its front to the rear and sides of the vessel. This will reduce friction in front of the pod, help propel it and create an air cushion around it, so that the pod is suspended in the air within the tube. The pod will be battery-powered and propelled by an external linear electric motor — an electric induction motor that produces motion in a straight line rather than rotational motion — similar to those us

ed in the Tesla Model S. This motor would propel the pod to subsonic velocity — that is, slower than the speed of sound, and provide a reboost about every 70 miles. many respects, it's sort of like traveling in a bullet through a shotgun barrel partly using technology from an air hockey game.Pods would travel through the Hyperloop one at a time, leaving every 30 seconds or so at rush hour and spaced 23 miles (37 kilometers) apart on average. Passengers can enter and exit the tube at each end and via branches along the loop.

As envisaged by  Elon Musk the “fifth mode of transportation” is finding initial traction in India with two companies eliciting interest in developing the Hyperloop project here Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) and Hyperloop One (HO). HO claims that “capital cost per mile of Hyperloop system is 60 per cent that of high speed rail and would be less expensive to operate”. HO would conduct a full systems test in Nevada this year, and apart from that, has four projects underway across the world. 

It’s a slow start on a long road, but if realized, the hyperloop would be a big step in the creation of a tech-driven dream world in which congestion and pollution are memories. In 2015, through SpaceX, Elon Musk launched a global competition asking mainly student teams to give his idea a whirl. In 2015, through SpaceX, Elon Musk launched a global competition asking mainly student teams to give his idea a whirl. “What this was intended to do is encourage innovation in transportation technology,” Musk said on race day. “To get people to do things in a way that isn’t just a repeat of the past.” To be clear, as of now there is no working prototype. But the pace at which the two biggest players are competing will end up fast-tracking the development of hyperloop. 

The five semi-finalists from India and their proposed routes are:

AECOM - Bengaluru-to-Chennai: 334 km in 20 minutes. Meeting the demand of a passenger and freight super-corridor growing at 15% a year.

LUX Hyperloop Network - Bengaluru-to-Thiruvananthapuram: 736 km in 41 minutes. Connects two major ports in southern India with population centres of Coimbatore and Kochi.

Dinclix GroundWorks - Delhi-to-Mumbai via Jaipur and Indore: 1,317 km in 55 minutes. Freight and passengers. Connects two megacities and creates seaport access for landlocked intermediary cities in the interior.

Hyperloop India - Mumbai-to-Chennai via Bengaluru: 1,102 km in 50 minutes. Phased development for freight and passengers. Boosts capacity at ports of Mumbai and Chennai, creates a Suez Canal-like link between India’s coasts.

Infi-Alpha - Bengaluru to Chennai: 334 km in 20 minutes: Meeting the demand of a passenger and freight super-corridor growing at 15% a year. Connects with major airports.

End of the Smartphone Era

Some believe that AR(Augmented Reality) and VR(Virtual Reality) will drive up the demand for smart phones, others hold opinion that smart phones we know will die out. Hololens inventor Alex Kipman went on to say that the phone is already dead. He believes that AI enables devices will render the smart phone obsolete. Recently Microsoft corp. introduced a new product, an easy to carry laptop with fast boot up process and new Windows version, to compete against Apple's Mac. Microsoft has explored several other categories in the hardware area like the tablet-laptops and smart phones, but with these several other gadgets in its pipeline, the absence of smart phones is conspicuous. Although the Hardware Marketing Chief of Microsoft didn't think of the absence as a big deal.

 Virtual reality (VR) is the umbrella term for all immersive experiences, which could be created using purely real-world content, purely synthetic content or a hybrid of both.In virtual reality, everything is make-believe (simulated). In augmented reality (AR), there are virtual objects overlaid on top of real objects, but they are just little suspended movies — you can’t interact. Once you can interact with those not-really-there objects, that’s the realm of mixed reality (MR).

Smart phones transformed lives, became indispensable and continue to pervade countries and cultures. In short, they lived up to a promise made by Steve Jobs – This will change everything. They seamlessly entered every aspect of an individual’s everyday life and achieved an unprecedented rate of sales. Their portability and power to connect paved the way for them to become the first truly personal computers. Apps provided a range of services that was inconceivable before. They seamlessly entered every aspect of an individual’s everyday life. Although they did brought issues around privacy but their benefits far over-weigh their drawbacks. As their efficiency and functionality improved, so did their appeal. And while the global gap in smart phone use exists, adoption rates suggest it is closing rapidly. It would be very hard to make smart phones absolutely obsolete. As each of the offerings related to VR/AR/MR are still unfeasible for the mass market. The mass market devices do not possess the capabilities of specially-designed VR/AR but experts believe they will cater to the vast majority of VR/AR applications that will be in great demand. This mutual relationship may pave the way for a revolution. 

But Alex Kipman have points in favour of his statement too. People seem to be tiring of smartphones and have contradictory demands – they want bigger devices but also devices that have a long-lasting battery life. According to an Ericsson survey in 2015, one out of two smartphone users from one lakh respondents across 40 countries believed that smartphones will “be a thing of the past” in five years and AI would have successfully replaced it. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella put forward this view when asked about Microsoft’s seeming reluctance to continue working in the phone market. “So when you say 'when will we make more phones' I'm sure we'll make more phones. But they may not look like phones that are there today." 

Typing Telepathically

Few months ago Facebook announced its plan to bring brain computer interfacing to the average consumer. Facebook is not alone in this, Neuralink and Kernel also shares the same ambition. But this is the first time when such a project has been officially confirmed, which brought excitement as well as skepticism from the neuroscientists. Remember such interfaces are already being used by locked-in patients to communicate their thoughts. Facebook aims to ultimately merge the digital world online with the real world offline and the human mind. If communication by telepathy could be realized, the phenomenal amount of information the brain produces (1 terabyte per second) would be transmitted much more efficiently (speech achieves only 100 bytes per second). To achieve this Facebook is planning to capture all information the brain sends to our speech centres and relay it to the outside world. Facebook is emphasizing that this does not mean reading all thoughts but only the ones you choose to say. Initially Facebook is endeavoring to enable humans to click and type with their brain at a speed of 100 words per minute and ultimately they want to enable communication where one person thinks in a language and sends out the message by thought to a recipient’s skin, and the recipient is able to feel the message in an entirely different language. They want it to a tool for the people who cannot read or write but can think and feel. 

There have been previous attempts in building these technologies to accomplish things such as providing a cure for mental illness and enabling soldiers injured in the war to regain their memories. However Facebook's aim is a one which is ubiquitous and if achieved the current devices such as smartphone or wrist watch used for communicating on social media will no longer be needed as thought will suffice to connect the participants all the time.

Although, neuroscientists are questioning if the idea is practically possible. They believe that the types of brain scanners available, itself limit the technology. The best user-friendly scanner available is an EEG (electroencephalogram). Although EEG is useful if one wanted an overall picture of electrical activity in the brain, it does not possess the sensitivity to detect signals associated with specific thoughts. But for increased sensitivity you have to place the electrodes directly into the brain’s speech centers, the risk of infection is too tremendous. The skepticism arises because the announcement has been pretty vague about how Facebook is going to direct neural activity from optical techniques as state of the art is nowhere near that. Its really a challenging task for Facebook to get this highly detailed information non-invasively. And with Facebook which had unscrupulous past behavior lend weight to such concerns

Independent monitoring, and transparency around the building and testing of brain-interface technology needs to be incorporated by Facebook, if it wants skepticism around its proposal to abate. Facebook has started to work on it. It will set up an independent Ethical, Legal and Social Implications (ELSI) panel to supervise the project. Although the skin-hearing research would be absent of these kinds of institutional review boards. As their is government bodies funding involved hence Facebook is already working with institutional review boards

5G in India

Government of India has set aside Rs. 500 crores for research on the latest Telecom standard, along with setting up a high-level panel to develop a roadmap for operationalizing 5G Telecom services in India by 2020. The government has included the two ministries of Telecom, Information and Technology, and Science and Technology in this panel. This decision is coming at a time when various Telecom operators are struggling to improve the 4G services in India. Although it is appreciable that Government of India is trying to move with the same pace as the rest of the world in this sector in an effort to promote Digital India, but it seems highly unlikely that India would able to reach this target by 2020. Although if everything goes according to the plan it would effectively make wireless communication superfast by enabling higher data speed. According to the press release of the Indian government it is aiming at “a globally competitive product development and manufacturing ecosystem targeting 50% of the Indian market and 10% of global market over next five to seven years”. A consultation paper is already released by TRAI (The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) in August last year on framing regulations and standards for the roll out of 5G networks and IoT (Internet of Things).

The Telecom sector has seen a new mobile generation roughly every 10 years since the first 1G system was introduced in 1981. After 2G started to roll out in 1992, while for 3G it was year 2001. Although most Telecom firms claim that they can provide speeds up to 21.1 Mbps on their 3G networks, but this value falls when sharing among users. Other than that their is a "fair usage policy" followed by most of the firms wherein speed drops after reaching a specified download limit. Technically, 4G should have data speeds capable of reaching 100 megabytes per second while on the move, and 1 GB per second when stationary. 5G promises to give a downloading speed up to 10 gigabits per second. Another defining feature of 5G will be that unlike 4G, 5G network will offer the ability to handle a variety of devices and traffic type.

Regardless of the fact that universal 5G standards have not been agreed upon yet, some countries are aiming to launch 5G services as early as 2018. KT Corp of the South Korea has reportedly completed successful trials of the 5G system and are planning to launch it by February 2018. Japan is also planning its roll out by 2020, and so is United States. Telia and Ericsson are planning to launch 5G services in Sweden and Estonia by 2018. 

There has been a boom in mobile data usage in the last five years with 74% increase in 2015 alone taking the overall global figure to around 3.7 exabytes (one Exabyte is 1 followed by 18 zeroes) per month. The expectation of having a high-speed data connection at all times is corroborated the growth of streaming services and people's growing use of apps. Hence eventually 5G will step up. 5G means the opportunity for properly connected smart cities, remote surgery, driverless cars and the IoT. According to a study, the global 5G value chain will generate $3.5 trillion in output and support 22 million jobs in 2035. It also said that the total contribution of 5G to the global GDP would be equivalent to a country the size of India. Therefore 5G is an eventuality technically as well as economically. India was late to catch up with the 2G and 3G revolutions, but recent developments suggests India does not want that to happen again. 

But the Indian Telecom industry is unsure of India's readiness for the 5G technology. TRAI has decided the spectrum 3300-3400 Mhz and 3400-3600 Mhz bands to be used for 5G. But the industry doesn't want the spectrum auction before 2019 indicating that the ecosystem around the technology is far from being developed. Although it would generate a lot of revenue for the government but it would require the bleeding Telecom industry to invest more. 4G is still budding, its speed in India is  much slower compared to other countries, including Pakistan and Sri Lanka and 5G is not an overlay network it has to work in tandem with 4G. Although Bharti Airtel has taken some steps in implementing the 5G technology hence it would be interesting to see how things turn around. Remember no one is yet able to put a figure to the cost which will be involved in the roll-out of 5G.

International Telecommunications Union (ITU) regulates the use of frequency bands. Data is transmitted through radio waves and these waves are split into bands or ranges of different frequencies. Different bands are reserved for different type of communication like aeronautical and maritime navigation signals, television broadcasts and mobile data. Currently ITU is working on harmonising the frequency spectrum for the 5G technology.

Land Degradation: Extent-Impact-Process

Land degradation leads to a significant reduction of the productive capacity of land. Human activities contributing to land degradation include unsuitable agricultural land use, poor soil and water management practices, deforestation, removal of natural vegetation, frequent use of heavy machinery, overgrazing, improper crop rotation and poor irrigation practices. Natural disasters including droughts, floods and landslides, also contribute.

Land degradation, defined as “a reduction in the capability of the land to support a particular use” ,is considered to be one of the major problems facing the world. Land degradation is defined as the long-term loss of ecosystem function and productivity caused by disturbances from which the land cannot recover unaided. Land degradation occurs slowly and cumulatively and has long lasting impacts on rural people who become increasingly vulnerable.

It has been estimated that 23 per cent of all usable land (excluding mountains and deserts) has been affected by degradation to a degree sufficient to reduce its productivity. Soil erosion is a major factor in land degradation and has severe effects on soil functions such as the soil’s ability to act as a buffer and filter for pollutants, its role in the hydro-logical and nitrogen cycle, and its ability to provide habitat and support biodiversity. About 2000 million ha of soil, equivalent to 15 per cent of the earth’s land area, has been degraded through human activities. The main types of soil degradation in decreasing order of impact are water erosion, wind erosion, chemical degradation and physical degradation.

Approaches to soil conservation have been greatly modified since the 1970s. Earlier it used to be concentrated on mechanical protection, such as bunds and terraces, largely to control surface run-off. This has been supplemented by a new approach which calls for greater attention to biological methods of conservation, and the integration of water conservation with soil protection, through improved management of soil plant-water relationships, including reduced disturbance by till age. Within the international agricultural research system, the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, there is now a commitment to natural resource management, and explicit recognition of degraded land and desertification as environmental problems.

Despite these developments there is no clear indication that the rate of land degradation has decreased. As yet, there are no continuously monitored indicators of soil condition that would permit quantitatively based assessments of changes over time, comparable to the monitoring of deforestation.

Land degradation has multiple and complex impacts on the global environment affecting a wide range of ecosystem functions and services. These impacts can directly impact the land in a specific location and its productivity, or indirect impact on broader resources and the environmental baseline. Such impacts have consequences for global development including food security, human health, water availability and our ability to adapt to climate change.

Different processes of land degradation also confound the available statistics on soil and/or land degradation. Principal processes of land degradation include erosion by water and wind, chemical degradation including acidification ,salinization, leaching etc. and physical degradation which includes crusting, compaction, hard setting etc. Some lands or landscape units are affected by more than one process among the above mentioned.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

                     Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Introduction

‘Necessity is the mother of Invention’ is a world famous proverb which a child also knows about. The quotation is not technical; instead it’s very simple and uncomplicated to explain its meaning with certain interpretations which makes the proverb highly impactful.

The meaning of the proverb ‘Necessity is the Mother of Invention’ is not technical; it simply means that requirement or need for a particular thing drives person to create or invent something which satisfies that particular need.
The major and notable inventions have been the result of critical necessities in a human’s life; once the necessity gets satisfied, people achieve a state of happiness; they will live in harmony and thereby making the world a happy and better place to live in. Even though, the original author of this proverb is not known, but this famous quote is in use at most of the places right from the school.

Meaning

The proverb ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ implies that when we are in a dire need of  something and if we cannot be happy or survive without that particular thing, then we find means and ways to satisfy that need which may result into something called invention. If someone is hungry; then in order to satisfy the hunger, food is cooked. So hunger is the necessity and food is the invention. There are several other examples which explain the meaning of this famous proverb. In fact, most of the popular and beneficial things of the world are the result of necessity that made the inventors restless and compelled them to invent the product. Some of such greatest inventions are bulb, radio, television, motor, mobile, aeroplane and many more.

Invention and necessity are co-related and until wants become necessities a person won’t get into action. Anything and everything that we use in our day to day life is the result of need or necessity and human’s desire to fulfil that need. This signifies that even luxury items such as air conditioners, cars, etc have been invented to satisfy specific needs.

Necessity also makes us hard working and ingenuous. If we look at history, especially the primitive age when there was nothing for the mankind to survive; people invented clothes, food, shelter and thus the civilisation started.

Some inventions make our life not only comfortable but also worth living such as electricity. Imagine a life without light; thanks to Thomas Edison, whose desire to remove darkness from his surrounding gave us light and benefitted the entire world.

Necessity and Inventions are positively inter-related as necessity forces or drives people to action. Human beings, in order to survive need money, which compels them to find a job which will give them salary in the form of money and the money can be further utilised to satisfy all types of need for food, clothing, shelter, etc.

Conclusion

Necessity must be seen as an opportunity to do better and achieve success in life and no destructive inventions should be undertaken to harm others. The proverb has been taught to people since their childhood in positive aspect and the meaning of the proverb must remain so and not in the negative manner.
Technology is been advancing at a fast pace and various types of modern weapons such as nuclear bomb, atom bomb, etc are also types of invention. But these are destructive weapons which may destroy the mankind and entire world ultimately. Thus, it is important an invention is such which doesn’t destroy people and the relationships; instead helps self and others.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention – Detailed Explanation

Necessity forces people to get into action

People try to achieve something wholeheartedly only when it is truly necessary for them.

Necessity instils passion for achieving one’s goals. Any work that is done passionately is bound to have positive outcome.

Natural Resources

                       Natural Resources

Our nature is bountiful. It has variety of plants, animals, minerals, fuels, water, soil etc. on which man is dependent for his daily needs and luxuries. All such substances used by man for sustenance and welfare are called resources.
Man is dependent on plants and animals. Plants and animals in turn are dependent on natural substances like air, water, soil, minerals etc. All such resources existing in nature are called natural resources.

Energy From Sun

The sun is the main source of energy for the earth. Green plants use this energy to prepare food for all other organisms on this earth by the process of photosynthesis. Thus, green plants convert solar energy into chemical energy which is stored in plants. Animals also get their energy from plants. Therefore, all living organisms directly or indirectly depend upon the sun as the source of their energy.

Types Of  Natural Resources

There are two types of natural resources:

    1.Renewable resources

    2.Non-renewable resources

Renewable Natural Resources

Renewable resources are those which are regenerated through natural-cycles. For example, oxygen in the air is regenerated through photosynthesis by the plants and fresh water is renewed through the water- cycle.
Therefore, air and water are renewable resources. Sun, plants, animals, wind and soil are other renewable resources. There are chances that these renewable natural resources may exhaust after some time. This is because of the limited availability of substances in nature.

(i) Water as a Renewable Natural Resource: 

Water is a renewable natural resource and vital for all life. There is no substitute for water. Man uses water not only for drinking but also for a number of other activities like bathing, cooking, washing, irrigation, power generation and also as a means of transportation.
Our water requirement is fulfilled entirely by nature. We get water through rainfall and from oceans, rivers, canals and wells. Whenever the water-cycle in nature is disrupted, the ecological-balance in nature is disturbed.
(ii) Soil as a Renewable Natural Resource:
Soil is also a renewable natural resource. Man depends on agriculture for food, clothing, medicine and many other necessities. Land is also being used for industrialization and urbanization. We know that the surface of the earth is limited and so is its soil.
Random and excessive cutting down of trees, quarrying for minerals and ores followed by heavy rains leads to washing away of the rich top soil necessary for plants. It may even lead to landslides causing great damage to man.
(iii) Forest as a Renewable Natural Resource:
Forests are one of the most useful renewable resources. They are our national wealth. They provide the best habitat for various kinds of wild animals. Forests are a must for the survival of animals. They purify air, control pollution to some extent, regulate the climate, control floods, prevent soil erosion and maintain soil fertility.We also get numerous useful products like wood, rubber, gum, resin, honey, bee wax, medicinal plants, bamboo, lac, timber etc. from plants. One of the most important uses of forest is that it helps in maintaining the ecological-balance of a place.

Non-renewable Natural Resources

Non-renewable resources are those which are not replaced in the environment after their utilization. Metals, coal, natural gas, minerals etc. are non­-renewable resources. Man has to be very careful in using these resources so that he may obtain the maximum benefit from them. This is because these resources are limited in quantity and are not renewable. 

Conservation of Renewable Natural Resources: 
Man’s progress in the present days in this world is directly dependent on renewable natural resources. If we wish to make steady progress, we should conserve natural resources so that they last longer for human welfare. It is, therefore, necessary that natural resources are used judiciously.
Conservation is defined as the judicious and wise use of natural resources without wasting them and replacing them whenever possible. Thus, these resources can be utilized without causing any ecological- imbalance. We should use only what is necessary.
(A) Conservation of Soil:
The conservation of land or soil is known as soil conservation.
It is done by:
(i) Prevention of Soil Erosion:
(a) Trees should not be cut down unless absolutely necessary. Only a few trees should be cut down at one time and whenever possible trees should be planted (afforestation). Plants like bamboos and other suitable species should be planted. These plants help as soil binders by not allowing top soil to run down with the flow of water. The roots of these plants hold the soil firmly together.
(b) Trees should be planted in rows. Trees planted in rows act as wind-breakers. They break the force and speed of a strong wind and prevent it from carrying away the fertile top soil and help to prevent wind erosion.
(c) In agricultural fields, there should be proper irrigation and drainage system so that top soil is not washed away with the flow of water.

(B) Conservation of Water:
There are two main methods for conservation of water:-
(i) Maintenance of the Water-Cycle:
(a) Healthy forests are essential for facilitating rainfall in various regions. Therefore, the water-cycle will depend on the preservation and planting of trees.
(b) The water in swamps, marshes, tanks and lakes must be carefully guarded. Wetland areas should not be filled with mud and reclaimed as land as they play an important role in the water-cycle.

(ii) Prevention of Water Pollution:
(a) Industrialists should be advised not to empty their industrial wastes directly into lakes and rivers. If at all the waste is to be poured into running waters or lakes, the waste material should be treated and filtered out.
(b) The organic wastes from cities (sewage) should not be allowed to pollute the surrounding water. Special sewage plants should be made to bring about oxidation of sewage. Finally, the water free of sewage should be released into rivers or lakes.


2. Conservation of Non-Renewable Natural Resources:
 Since non-renewable resources cannot be replaced once they are exhausted, we should use these as sparingly as possible. Among these the important ones are minerals, coal and oil. Alternatively, we should search for such sources of power generation which will not be exhausted i.e. wind and solar energy.
Industries which recover and recycle waste materials should be encouraged because they play a major role in conserving natural resources. Wasteful use of resources should be discouraged.
After recognizing the impact of human interference causing changes in the environment, every citizen should try to conserve the natural resources and the natural environment. Only then can man hope to lead a heal their life in future.



“This universe is the creation of the Supreme Power, meant for the benefit, of all His creations, Individual species, must, therefore, learn to enjoy, its benefits, by forming a part of the system, in close relation, with other species. Let not anyone species, encroach upon the others rights.”

                                                                                                              SAVE NATURE,SAVE LIFE

Supercharging

The ultrafast charging, improved durability and stability of the Li-ion batteries is not just the requirement of the smart phone industry but its need is also highlighted by the situation of electric vehicles. Researchers at Rice University

have recently found that Lithium batteries operated on asphalt-nanoribbon anodes experience a ten - or twenty-fold rise in rate of charging. Another essential part of the development is that asphalt-derived carbon thwarted dendrite formation. Li-dendrites are mossy deposits which branch into the battery's electrolyte, and when allowed to grow long enough they short-circuit cathode and anode (the positive and negative terminals) leading to battery failure, burning or even explosion (remember the Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 phones case!). Even after 500 cycles of charging and discharging they displayed remarkable stability. That means that you can bring these batteries from zero charge to full charge in five minutes against the typical two hours or more needed by other batteries.

 Asphalt, generally known as blacktop pavement, is, in the technical sense, a viscous, semi-liquid hydrocarbon, that is one of the components of the paving material.

“A battery is really a bomb that releases its energy in a controlled way,” said Qichao Hu, a former researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founder of SolidEnergy Systems, a battery startup. A lot of players in the industry of battery are now endeavouring to achieve further compactness and durability, and cater to consumer demand. But some of the events in the past like explosions of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 phone and in 2013, when some Li-ion batteries of the Boeing 787 system caught fire, forcing all members of the fleet to ground raised questions about the fundamental safety issues related with all batteries. It's known that chances of a battery explosion decreases as we get to higher energy density and faster charge. Also, lithium possesses the advantage of the lightest metal which needs least space for the same amount of energy. Since experts are divided on whether the potential of li-ion technology is beginning to saturate research towards safer batteries and alternate technologies is underway, with lithium metal batteries among others being explored.

“A battery is really a bomb that releases its energy in a controlled way,” said Qichao Hu, a former researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and founder of SolidEnergy Systems, a battery startup. A lot of players in the industry of battery are now endeavoring to achieve further compactness and durability, and cater to consumer demand. But some of the events in the past like explosions of Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 phone and in 2013, when some Li-ion batteries of the Boeing 787 system caught fire, forcing all members of the fleet to ground raised questions about the fundamental safety issues related with all batteries. It's known that chances of a battery explosion decreases as we get to higher energy density and faster charge. Also, lithium possesses the advantage of the lightest metal which needs least space for the same amount of energy. Since experts are divided on whether the potential of li-ion technology is beginning to saturate research towards safer batteries and alternate technologies is underway, with lithium metal batteries among others being explored.

With the rising popularity and falling prices of the electric vehicles, a fast charging system is a must for further progress. Except Tesla no other company had worked towards setting up an adequate and fast charging infrastructure early enough. It takes EV's with Li-ion batteries 20-30 minutes to recharge even with the fast charging system, and achieve a range of 300-400 kilometers. Fuel-reliant cars however can fuel up within few minutes.

There have been several efforts towards fast charging from different groups before Rice University. The Israeli startup, StoreDot presented it's FlashBattery technology  for smartphones in 2015 and promised charging up to 100% in five minutes. It's expected to be ready in 2018. StoreDot also revealed an electric car battery that would take just five minutes to charge against Tesla's supercharging technology which takes 75 minutes with a range of 300 miles. Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4 system was released in Nov, 2016 promising 5 of 5; at least 5 hours of battery life from 5 minutes of charging. It also offered a 0 to 50 percent charge in about 15 minutes or less. Others include a solid state battery using sulfide superionic conductors developed by Toyota scientists with improved stability and safety and a charge or discharge cycle of 7 minutes – an ideal candidate for cars and a scalable battery by MIT Scientists can charge to the maximum in just 6-minutes with improved durability. But Rice University's battery components low price is definitely an advantage. Hence it would be interesting to see which of these techs get commercially available first. 

India's Internet Revolution

Aided by the plummeting smart phone prices and data charges India now has 355 million Internet users which amounts to about 27% of the population of 1.3 billion people of the country. The figures released by the Mary Meeker's annual Internet trends report, shows that India is now the next major target market for tech businesses. This year her report had a lot of focus on India. 55 of the 355 pages report were solely dedicated to the state of Internet and mobile access in India. It points out how the growing market with intense competition is ultimately benefitting the consumer. India’s Internet users continue to grow, and it now stands at 355 million Internet users, which puts India number two in the market just after China.

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 Mary Meeker is an American venture capitalist and former Wall Street securities analyst. Currently she is a partner at the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Her annual Internet trends report is considered one of the most authoritative reports on the Internet economy and ecosystem around the world. Her report is much awaited as it gives an overview of the entire industry. She was once described as the "best at spotting big-picture trends" before they became big or even trends by the Fortune Magazine. She was also listed as the 77th most powerful women in the world in 2014 by Forbes

It's been a known fact for quite a while now that India's Internet revolution will be driven by the mobile phones as most of the first time Internet users are coming online via their smartphone in the country. The mobile web traffic is 80% in India, well above the global average. The Mary Meeker's Internet trends 2017 report also confirmed that India’s smartphone shipments continue to grow 15 per cent year-on-year after including the first quarter this year. Report also shows that Indians spend 45 per cent of their time on mobile phones, seven times more than they do on T.V. With phones getting cheaper and better, Chinese manufacturers like Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo made gains along with the Indian players like Lava, Micromax, and Jio with their low cost 4G feature phones. As the report stated it's not a “shift to mobile” as much as “the addition of mobile”, because desktop usage hasn't declined much.  

Thanks to the entry of Jio, Telecom companies like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea which maintain over 60% of the market share, were forced to cut their data rates. Google chrome, owning 32% of the market share is beaten by China's UC Web, which has 50 per cent market share. In the top 10 list of India’s top downloaded Android apps is WhatsApp, which is number one followed by Facebook Messenger and only two Indian apps, JioTV and HotStar. The Mary Meeker report also talks about the Aadhaar trends data, notes that over 82 per cent of the population is covered under this scheme. It also talks about digital payments how it is rapidly ramping up users, thanks to offline and online commerce. The report also suggests that Jio has been a driving factor in India's rapidly expanding Internet usage. 

However the report also notes that India’s Internet penetration is still at 27 per cent, which means that India still needs a lot of structural reforms to even cross the 50 per cent mark in Internet penetration. While it's true that overall prices of the smart phone and the data charges have declined, still majority of the 1.3 billion population cannot afford it. India's growing youth and its pace of job creation is out of sync. Gender disparity and female participation in the workforce stands at an abysmal 27 per cent, nearly half of the global average of about 50 per cent. This affects consumption patterns. On the infrastructure front a lot is yet to be done. On a scale of 1-8, India ranks at 4.03 below the average as per World Bank's infrastructure rankings for Asia. Hence, continue economic reforms if it wants to extend the full benefits of the digital economy to its growing population.