GOOGLE SPECIAL ....Google looking to future after 20 years of search

Google looking to future after 20 years of search

In August 2004, Google went public on the stock market with shares priced at $85. Shares in the multi-billion-dollar company are now trading above $1,000. 

Google celebrated its 20th birthday on Monday 23^rd September, marking two decades in which it has grown from simply a better way to explore the internet to a search engine so woven into daily life its name has become a verb.

The company was set to mark its 20th anniversary with an event in San Francisco devoted to the future of online search, promising a few surprise announcements.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin were students at Stanford University -- known for its location near Silicon Valley -- when they came up with a way to efficiently index and search the internet.

The duo went beyond simply counting the number of times keywords were used, developing software that took into account factors such as relationships between webpages to help determine where they should rank in search results.

Google was launched in September 1998 in a garage rented in the Northern California city of Menlo Park. The name is a play on the mathematical term "googol," which refers to the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.

Google reportedly ran for a while on computer servers at Stanford, where a version of the search had been tested.

And Silicon Valley legend has it that Brin and Page offered to sell the company early on for a million dollars or so, but no deal came together.

Google later moved its headquarters to Mountain View, where it remains.

In August 2004, Google went public on the stock market with shares priced at $85. Shares in the multi-billion-dollar company are now trading above $1,000.

Its early code of conduct included a now-legendary "don't be evil" clause. Its stated mission is to make the world's information available to anyone.

The company hit a revenue mother lode with tools that target online ads based on what users reveal and let marketers pay only if people clicked on links in advertising.

It has now launched an array of offerings including Maps, Gmail, the Chrome internet browser, and an Android mobile device operating system that is free to smartphone or tablet makers.

Google also makes premium Pixel smartphones to showcase Android, which dominates the market with handsets made by an array of manufacturers.

Meanwhile, it bought the 18-month-old YouTube video sharing platform in 2006 in a deal valued at $1.65 billion -- which seemed astronomical at the time but has proven shrewd as entertainment moved online.

The company also began pumping money into an X Lab devoted to technology "moon shots" such as internet-linked glasses, self-driving cars, and using high-altitude balloons to provide internet service in remote locations.

Some of those have evolved into companies, such as the Waymo self-driving car unit. But Google has also seen failures, such as much-maligned Google Glass eyewear.

Elsewhere, the Google+ social network launched to compete with Facebook has seen little meaningful traction.

In October 2015, corporate restructuring saw the creation of parent company Alphabet, making subsidiaries of Google, Waymo, health sciences unit Verily and other properties.

Google is also now a major player in artificial intelligence, its digital assistant infused into smart speakers and more. Its AI rivals include Amazon, Apple and Microsoft.

Despite efforts to diversify its business, Alphabet -- which has over 80,000 employees worldwide -- still makes most of its money from online ads. Industry tracker eMarketer forecast that Google and Facebook together will capture 57.7 percent US digital ad revenue this year.

In the second quarter of 2018, Google reported profit of $3.2 billion despite a fine of $5.1 billion (4.34 billion euros) imposed by the European Union.

Google's rise put it in the crosshairs of regulators, especially in Europe, due to concerns it may be abusing its domination of online search and advertising as well as smartphone operating software.

There have been worries that Alphabet is more interested in making money from people's data than it is in safeguarding their privacy.

Google has also been accused of siphoning money and readers away from mainstream news organizations by providing stories in online search results, where it can cash in on ads.

It is among the tech companies being called upon to better guard against the spread of misinformation -- and has also been a target of US President Donald Trump, who added his voice to a chorus of Republicans who contend conservative viewpoints are downplayed in search results.

AFP  |  September 24, 2018

https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/internet/google-looking-to-future-after-20-years-of-search/65933578

WORKPLACE SPECIAL..... How to Be More Engaged at Work

How to Be More Engaged at Work

Here are four steps to feel more energized and satisfied on the job.

Are you engaged at work?

If not, don’t worry—87 percent of people worldwide report not feeling engaged on the job. Many of us don’t expect work to be something we enjoy; it’s called work for a reason, right? We feel it is normal to “check out” during the day and head home without feeling fulfilled or accomplished.

Engagement at work is a kind of authentic vitality or contented immersion in work that enables progress and growth. Studies suggest that it has four main aspects: having a sense of autonomy; making regular, meaningful progress; readily feeling positive emotions; and experiencing flow—that is, periods when you are so deeply absorbed in what you’re doing that you lose track of time.

If you are among the majority of people who don’t feel engaged at work, it’s possible to change that. You can revitalize your work life by following the science-backed steps below.

1. Exercise autonomy and self-determination

People who feel actively engaged at work have jobs that align with their core strengths and personal values. But what can you do when the tasks on your to-do list do not match your strengths? How can you feel engaged when the goal of your organization doesn’t speak to your own priorities or sense of purpose in the world?

Research from Amy Wrzesniewski suggests that “job crafting,” a way to reflect upon and redesign your job to fit you better, leads to more engagement at work. There are three aspects of your job that you can redesign: your tasks, your relationships, and your thoughts.

In “task crafting,” you adjust the time spent on certain tasks and redesign aspects of tasks that are flexible. You may ask yourself, What are my strengths? How can I tailor my effort to leverage these strengths? For example, if you have a keen attention to detail, you might take on more operational tasks or spend time sharing your more granular input with colleagues, and let others tackle the big picture.

In “relational crafting,” you dedicate more energy to forming meaningful connections with others, and spend less time in situations that make you feel bad at work. For example, in a 2003 study, Wrzesniewski and her colleagues instructed hospital cleaning staff to relationally craft at work by interacting with patients and families in nurturing and benevolent ways. While investing in these relationships was outside the scope of their official job duties, it strengthened their sense of meaning and purpose at work.

Finally, in “cognitive crafting,” you try to think about things differently, including day-to-day tasks and social interactions. For example, a barista may reframe his job task from I brew coffee to I make something that brings people joy and gives them energy as they start their day. Another approach to cognitive crafting? Consider certain tasks at work as learning opportunities and approach them from a place of curiosity. Could you think to yourself, What can I gain or learn from this? instead of I have to do this, as you go down your list of things to do? One study found that when people are motivated by curiosity, rather than fear or obligation, they feel more satisfied about their accomplishments.

Three decades of research suggests that people who engage in job crafting are more satisfied with their jobs, perform better, experience greater happiness, and are less likely to take days off or quit. Moreover, this proactive approach to reshaping your work life fuels your sense of ownership and self-motivation, which makes you more engaged at work.

2. Celebrate your progress

The progress you make each day also contributes to engagement. When researchers Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer analyzed almost 12,000 diary entries from 238 employees about their work days, they found that the most important predictor of a good work day was making progress. According to Amabile and Kramer, when we make progress towards goals that matter to us, we feel motivated to continue; they call this pattern of progress-furthering-progress a “progress loop.”

“Even ordinary, incremental progress can increase people’s engagement in the work and their happiness during the workday,” they say.

This means that even “small wins” can make us feel good and inspire us to get more done. Conversely, they also found that small setbacks can stifle motivation, spur a loop of negative feelings, and reduce progress the following day.

While setbacks can easily dominate our perception of the day, each day likely has many small wins, such as finishing a task on schedule or your colleagues being receptive to your innovative idea. Focusing on the headway you make promotes positive emotions and progress, and one effective way to do this is to start a three small wins journal for work. Celebrating your progress reminds you that what you do is making a difference at work, which fuels your progress loop and makes you feel more engaged.

3. Prioritize activities that feel good

While making progress makes us feel good, there are many other research-backed approaches to bringing more joy and fun to work. Most practically, you can spend time doing what makes you feel happy. For example, you might allow time for lighthearted conversation with colleagues about off-work activities. Or you might take a moment to email a colleague expressing your gratitude.

Another way to enjoy more of your time at work is through humor. Shared laughter introduces levity to a situation by signaling safety, a willingness to cooperate, and shared humanity, which can make us more motivated to invest in the organization’s larger goals. Laughter itself calms the body, and engages dopamine circuits that drive novel and innovative thinking. While funny moments can feel temporary when they occur, we can accentuate their benefits by resharing funny stories with friends or taking a moment to write about them at the end of the workday.

According to research, positive emotions at work make people more creative and friendly, better at problem solving, and more resilient to workplace challenges. While it may feel unproductive to spend time on enjoyable activities, rather than jumping right on our to-do list, the boost of happiness we get provides us with the energy and capacity to be more productive and engaged the rest of the day.

4. Create space for flow

Flow states are arguably the pinnacle of engagement at work. Flow, coined by positive psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, occurs when a person is completely immersed in an activity—they lose a sense of time and forget about demands from the outside world that are not related to the task at hand. In a state of flow, we love what we are doing; we feel invigorated, in control, and appropriately challenged.

What steps can you take to achieve this state? First, it is important to choose a task that requires your full concentration and is meaningful to you. You will want to work on this task when you experience peak energy during the day. Some people require a quiet environment, and others find that listening to music helps increase their focus.

Regardless, it is important to take measures to prevent interruptions by working in a secluded place or shutting your office door. You may want to turn off or put away your smartphone to minimize distractions, as research suggests that the mere presence of a smartphone will make you less productive. Lastly, you may find that hiding the clock that’s typically in the corner of your computer screen, by adjusting display settings, can help you lose track of time.

Achieving flow is not always easy, and it may take time to find the right environment or the right kind of task. With practice, you can achieve flow and significantly increase your overall engagement at work.

We all want to feel happy and engaged at work, and leave the office with a sense of meaningful accomplishment. While achieving this takes effort and you may not see changes overnight, improvement in even a single component of engagement will help you move closer to that goal.

BY JESSICA LINDSEY | AUGUST 21, 2018

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_be_more_engaged_at_work?utm_source=Greater+Good+Science+Center&utm_campaign=92ce4d79d6-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_GG_Newsletter_Aug_22_2018&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5ae73e326e-92ce4d79d6-51482775

INDUSTRY SPECIAL .......Crude oil to chemicals - an emerging challenge for the chemical industry

Crude oil to chemicals - an emerging challenge for the chemical industry

The crude oil refining industry has traditionally focussed on meeting the energy needs of economies through the supply of fuels – liquid or gaseous – for transportation, power generation or consumption in homes. In the first category are petrol, diesel, ATF, fuel oil etc., and in the last kerosene and LPG. Only a small fraction of the crude oil processed now serves as feedstock for chemical production, primarily going to naphtha crackers and aromatics extraction units to produce olefins and aromatics respectively, to be used as feedstock for several chemicals and polymers (plastics, synthetic rubbers and textiles).

This emphasis on fuels is now changing, both in India and abroad, and this trend has to do with fundamental changes taking place in energy markets, in general, and transportation fuels, in particular. In addition, growths in chemical markets are expected to outpace that in energy, offering significant investment opportunities in the latter. In response, new refinery configurations are emerging, including the direct conversion of crude oil to chemicals (COTC), with wide-ranging impacts on the chemical industry.

Slowing demand growth for automotive fuels

The first dynamic is the on-going transformation in the automotive industry. Electric vehicles (EVs) in different avatars such as hybrids and all-electric are now a reality in some countries, albeit not in large numbers. There is some disagreement over the pace at which EVs will scale up to become mainstream, with sceptics believing the lack of battery charging infrastructure will be a bottleneck to quick adoption. Battery costs have already fallen significantly in recent years, thanks to steady innovation, but there is more to come, both in improving the amount of energy batteries can hold and hence driving range, and how fast it can be delivered to give the needed acceleration. Several chemical companies are active in these efforts, usually in partnerships, and see EVs as a sustainable transportation option for the future. Several countries – India included – have announced plans to electrify their automotive fleet, but as of now China is most ahead in terms of number of cars on the road. There are some issues related to the availability of some precious metals such as cobalt, lithium etc. that go into making batteries, and fears that scale-up could lead to shortages.

When (not if) they come, EVs will eat into the market for automotive fuels, though it is premature to gauge their impact and when it will pinch refiners.

Biofuels – small dent in nearer term

Biofuels could also make a dent in markets for automotive fuels – gasoline (petrol), in particular. In India, the US, Brazil, China and several other countries, there are plans to incorporate up to 20% of bio-ethanol (now mainly produced from sugarcane or corn) in gasoline sold at retail pumps. India’s national blending levels are now 3-4%, but there is a stated policy to take it to 20% within a decade or so. The merits of the exercise – be it environmental, social or economic – varies from country to country – and, at times, is questionable, but that has not deterred governments from using biofuels as an option in a broad energy self-sufficiency strategy.

Incorporation of biodiesel into petroleum-derived diesel is more complicated and likely to be limited. The use of edible oils & fats for making biodiesel raises uncomfortable issues, and in any case, biodiesel is not much of an option for India, which is starved of both vegetable oils and crude oil. There has been some excitement here recently stemming from a single flight of a plane fuelled by bio-ATF, made by hydrotreating jatropha oil, but scaling this up to make a dent in markets for ATF is a long journey that few countries have had any success in.

In summary, biofuels could have a small impact on markets for transportation fuels, but this could be sooner than from EVs.

Brisk chemical demand

On the demand side, energy markets are expected to see modest growth of the order of 2-3% on a global basis, driven largely by emerging markets wherein growth rates could be twice as high. Markets for chemicals – admittedly an order of magnitude smaller – are likely to see global demand growth of 5-6%, with emerging markets again posting nearly double of that. Just as importantly, chemicals represent a business area that is less volatile in terms of pricing, and usually free from government interference. Petrochemicals are a significant value-add to petroleum fractions and thus a logical forward diversification strategy for oil refiners – more so in a world where there are strict quality specifications on the fuels produced.

Refinery-petrochemical integration is widely practiced today for several operational reasons: savings in utilities & energy bills; valorisation of low value refinery streams; and tight hydrogen integration – to name a few. Several national oil companies (NOCs) and international oil companies (IOCs) have taken this logical step. In India, for instance, nearly every refiner is eyeing investments in petrochemicals, either by going the whole hog and setting up a naphtha cracker and a downstream derivatives complex, or in a more focussed foray by investing in advanced processing units, such as fluidised catalytic crackers, to produce propylene (along with small quantities of other olefins). While the latter approach most likely will not lead to olefin availability at a scale needed to support polyolefin plants (unless the refinery is mammoth like the Reliance refinery at Jamnagar or the one planned for Ratnagiri), it can support plants for several propylene-derived chemicals such as phenol & acetone, acrylic acid & acrylate esters, oxo-alcohols, propylene oxide & glycol etc. This is the approach BPCL, for instance, has taken at its Kochi refinery.

COTC: taking integration to the next step

The idea of integration is now being taken forward to a whole new dimension with what are being called as crude oil-to-chemicals (COTC) approaches. While tightly integrated refinery-petrochemical units have 15-20% conversion of crude to chemicals, the COTC units are aiming to transform 40-60%, by using advances in catalytic technologies and innovative refinery configurations.

The idea was pioneered at the ExxonMobil refinery in Singapore, which processes light crude oil, but is now being taken to a whole new level at three Chinese sites and one in Brunei (also with Chinese investments) where aromatic crude is being directly converted to produce para-xylene (PX) – a key raw material for polyesters – along with significant quantities of benzene. With the conversion to aromatics expected to be 40-45%, these plants are expected to quickly close the demand-supply gap in China for PX, and so eliminate export opportunities for producers from several countries that counted on China as a permanent large sink for their output.

In Saudi Arabia, the oil giant Saudi Aramco and the petrochemical flagship, Sabic, are planning on a COTC project, in a bid to diversify the kingdom’s industrial base and reduce reliance on crude oil exports. The complex planned is expected to process 400,000-bpd (barrels per day) of Arabian Light crude oil, to produce 9-mtpa each of chemicals and fuels. EPCs, process licensors and technology developers like CB&I, Axens, UOP/Honeywell, etc. are also pursuing technology programmes in these direct conversion routes.

Challenges to chemical producers

For chemical producers the entry of large NOCs/IOCs into the chemicals business will bring many challenges. Since refinery capacity is approximately 10 times higher than current world-scale petrochemical plants, COTC in effect raises petrochemical production to an unprecedented refinery scale. For example, the global demand for ethylene and propylene are about 160-mt and 111-mt, respectively, and at 4% annual growth, the required global annual capacity additions would be 6.4-mtpa and 4.4-mtpa of ethylene and propylene, respectively. These volumes could nearly be supplied from two large-scale 200,000-bpd COTC complexes, instead of four conventional state-of-the-art naphtha-cracking light olefins plants.

Importantly, refiners have traditionally been used to running businesses on low returns compared to the chemical industry, and their muscling into chemicals markets could change the competitive landscape very significantly. Watch this space!

---

- Ravi Raghavan

Chemical Weekly Issue date: 11th September 2018

BOOK SPECIAL.... Five Leaders Forged in Crisis, and What We Can Learn From Them PART II

Five Leaders Forged in Crisis, and What We Can Learn From Them

PART II

·                AUTHOR INTERVIEW  

Leadership Under Fire

Interview by Dina Gerdeman

Gerdeman: Even when Bonhoeffer was in prison, he woke up at a certain time, exercised by pacing his cell, and pinpointed certain times for reading and writing. What is the importance of focus and discipline—and is it harder today with all of our distractions?

Koehn: We certainly have distractions, but I don’t think it’s necessarily tougher to focus today. When Lincoln was president, for example, he had hundreds of citizens lining up at the White House to speak to him, many with issues that needed executive attention. His office was at the center of the war effort and he had no joint chiefs of staff, so he had scores of military issues swirling around him at all times. He also had to deal with constant political pressures—in Congress and with the states. While all this was happening, Lincoln was the focal point for enormous amounts of vitriol and hatred stirred up by the war. He didn’t have Twitter or television, but the sixteenth president kept in close touch with politicians and ordinary Americans through his speeches, letters to editors, individual communications to citizens, including his weekday office hours [in which anyone could line up to see the president], and ongoing visits to the battlefields. So we may think modern leaders have a lot coming at them, but it’s hard to argue the leaders in the past, like Lincoln, were not similarly besieged.

There’s a great seduction to our iPhones. I often say to executives that they’re like our lovers. We keep them close; we depend on them; we even stroke them; we’re anxious if we’re not near them. Most of us have some small or large addiction problem with our technology. But, at some point, leaders need to turn away from their inboxes and newsfeeds and Twitter notifications and realize that they don’t contain all the answers, and that they often prevent us from seeing a range of important things.

One of the other critical lessons in the book related to focus is that making a big, worthy difference is never about the 10 things in front of a leader; instead, it is about one or two or three key issues. And with all the stuff coming at leaders so much of the time, we have to be reminded of that.

Before he became president, Lincoln gave a lecture to law students saying that if he could swing the jury to one or two of the points that really mattered to the case, he could give away the rest of the points to the opposition. This makes for smart negotiation tactics—disarm your opponent by relinquishing the points that you don't need to keep while holding onto the essential issues—but it is also a leadership mantra.

Gerdeman: The leaders you write about have these “gathering periods”—times when there may not be any great outward progress, but they gather their tools and experiences and find the strength to take the next step forward.

Koehn: Yes, all of the people in this book had these periods in which they were not checking off a lot of items on life’s to-do list, and they weren’t seeming to make a great difference in the external world. Lincoln spends six years practicing law and keeping himself informed about politics. He is watching the cauldron of slavery gather to a rising boil, but the resume isn’t crowded in those years. Shackleton is waiting for the ice to break up. Carson is working at the Fish and Wildlife Service, but not accomplishing a great deal on what today we might call her bucket list.

What’s happening to these people during these moments? They are investing in themselves. They’re learning a great deal about their thinking and possible contribution to the great events of the day. Those periods of not accomplishing things externally were, instead, about building their equipment inside—emotionally, intellectually, and in some cases spiritually—to be ready for their moment. They’re not losing sight of the big picture and the stage on which they’re going to make a big difference. These are people who commit to getting better from the inside-out.

These gathering years are important for our Millennial students to understand. Your moment doesn’t always have to happen in a dramatic, made-for-the-movies way when you’re 27. You prepare yourself for the next big move you’ll make, but you can’t make that move until you understand the stage.

Gerdeman: You talk about Rachel Carson’s struggle to find that work-life balance—something many working women relate to. It’s important for leaders to take care of themselves, right?

Koehn: Rachel was so careful about understanding the natural world and bringing this understanding to a larger audience. She understood organisms and what made them thrive. But she didn’t turn that same care and attention to herself. She gave and gave and gave to others and to her work without consistently feeding and watering herself very well.

Today, we know a lot more now about the relationship between emotional duress and diseases like cancer than medical science did in the early 1960s when Carson was writing Silent Spring, her magnum opus. But, I will always think that Rachel’s battles with breast cancer were partly related to all the years she worked so hard and did so much giving without much refueling. For several decades, she was the primary breadwinner for her family as well as being an important caretaker for the same people.

In some ways, Carson’s dilemma was a particularly female one. Like many women, she kept giving and supporting and fluffing and buffing the people she loved. She focused on that and often neglected the fuel she herself needed. Sometimes women need to put up boundaries and say, “No, I can’t do that” in the interest of taking care of themselves. I think women often have a harder time doing this than men. The feeding and watering and protecting of one’s energy is important. Mothers are great leaders, but every mom knows what it’s like to run out of gas.

Recently, I was at dinner with a dozen high-ranking executives and someone said, “If you as the leader flag, everything flags. Everything becomes vulnerable.” It’s really important to remember that, especially for women leaders.

Gerdeman: You mention that charisma and aggressiveness—two traits we often associate with important leaders—aren't essential to making a big impact.

Koehn: The stories in this book demonstrate that charisma and aggressiveness aren’t essential characteristics for courageous leaders. Carson and Bonhoeffer were not aggressive. Their cause and their sense of integrity created energy around them that was compelling for others. Both of these people were also deeply reflective. Carson was shy. Bonhoeffer was a man of fewer rather than many words. But these people motivated others to do the hard stuff and work from their better selves.

In this context, one thing these stories can do is expand our idea of what a great, effective leader is. We’re wedded to thinking that if someone is hard-charging, quick-acting, compelling, and charismatic, those are the people we must follow and elect and support. That’s not the whole story by any means.

Lincoln was a good public speaker and people wanted to be around him, but he was slow-moving. He was hardly hard-charging. People called him a country bumpkin in his early years in the White House. He often looked at every angle of a decision before making a choice. When the stakes were really high and the emotions around an issue were charged, Lincoln often did nothing in the heat of the moment. And this is a vital lesson for our time. Sometimes doing nothing is the most powerful something we can offer in service to our ultimate purpose. If we’re too aggressive and act quickly, we can sabotage our mission or make the situation more incendiary than it needs to be.

Gerdeman: You say in the book that we live in a moment when our collective faith in government, business, and religion is waning. Do you think people have a growing concern that we’re experiencing a void in great leadership?

Koehn: There’s no question we have a leadership vacuum here. It’s not confined to the executive wing. It’s also in Congress and across the political spectrum.

This void is partly a result of the lapses of integrity and judgment and decency that contributed to the financial crisis of 2008—and regrettably, many of these lapses were never made right, just as many of the people responsible for them were not held accountable. And this lowered standards for people in power in a range of organizations.

At the same time, we voters have become seduced by what I call “leadership bling”: by who’s on the red carpet, who got rich quick, by who seems sexy and full of charisma and decisiveness. All this interest in celebrity and wealth has kept us from focusing on what really matters in the people we elect and follow and that is people of strong and decent character, people who want to serve others and advance the collective good.

As citizens, we need to pay closer attention to these kinds of priorities, and this means asking different questions, such as, how did a given individual respond to adversity? That will tell us a lot about whether that person’s master is the people or his or her own self-interest. We need to be much more demanding of the people we choose to be our leaders.

Gerdeman: And that’s something business leaders should realize as well?

Koehn: Yes, courageous leadership is courageous leadership. If the leader of an organization can find a worthy purpose, you inspire the people around you to personify the kind of behavior needed to accomplish that purpose. And this makes the company run better and the country run better.

One of the things I have learned writing this book is that leaders come in all shapes and sizes. School librarians can be effective leaders. So can firefighters and chemo nurses and CEOs. And as our collective disillusionment with our national officials grows, so, too, does our search for real leaders in other places and other roles.

We very much want to believe in courageous leadership. At a time when many of our leaders are showing up as petty and divisive and disrespectful, the call to lead with integrity and honor could not be louder.

One of the messages of this book for executives and the general readership base is: This is your moment to step on to the stage and lead from your stronger self, because the world needs you now like it’s never needed you before.

https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5-leaders-forged-in-crisis-and-what-we-can-learn-from-them?cid=spmailing-22164410-WK%20Newsletter%2009-26-2018%20(1)-September%2026,%202018

GADGET SPECIAL.... Mesh Routers and more PART I

Mesh Routers and  more PART I

AND WHY YOU NEED THEM

With mesh routers, you can now convert your entire home – even multiple floors – into a hotspot with no dead zones. Why you need to consider these new type of routers and even suggest some of the devices you can use along with them to make your home so much smarter…

WHAT ARE MESH ROUTERS?

Mesh routers comprise a master router that is linked to an internet line via its Ethernet (RJ45) port, and two or more satellites or nodes that interconnect with each other to create a wireless “mesh”. The nodes can be placed in different rooms to increase coverage area while maintaining signal quality and overall bandwidth (measured in Mbps).

Mesh routers are ideal for covering areas over 1,000 to 5,000 square feet. In practise, they work better than range boosters because you are promised the same signal strength with each node. Boosters, on the other hand, relay the original signal which tends to degrade over a larger spread. You should consider a mesh router in places where concrete walls, glass doors and home appliances like microwave ovens weaken the wireless signal to result in dead spots around the house.

Physically, the master and nodes look identical, require a power source, and usually have the same number of wired network ports (RJ45). These ports in each hub can be used to connect desktop computers or network storage devices that do not come with built-in Wi-Fi.

Mesh routers transmit and receive data over two frequency bands: 2.4GHz and 5GHz. In the case of triband routers, data is handled over one 2.4GHz band and two 5GHz bands. Dualband compatible devices – like smartphones, streaming devices and laptops with support for the “802.11ac” standard – will connect to either of these bands automatically, thereby reducing over-crowding on a single band.

BUT ARE THEY TOUGH TO SET UP?

Mesh routers are easy to set up and require you to connect and power up the routers (master and satellite) in a particular sequence that is illustrated in their manuals. In most cases, you can visit the brand’s website, and follow onscreen instructions on how to make the nodes sync with each other.

Alternatively, you can use their companion apps (for Android and iOS) to set up your mesh router. The mobile app also makes it easier to manage the routers. It clearly shows you the status of the routers on the network, along with the devices that are connected to each node/satellite.

When you create an online account via the app, you will be able to remotely control and configure your wireless network from anywhere.

Mesh routers come with management features like parental controls, scheduling and a guest mode for restricted access to the home network. The can also be updated, over-the-air via the app.

WHICH MESH ROUTERS SHOULD I BUY?

Tenda Nova MW3 | ₹8,000 | 2 nodes | Dual-band | Coverage: 3,500 sq ft D-Link Covr-1203 | ₹12,900 | 3 nodes| Dual-band | Coverage: 5,000 sq ft Tenda Nova MW6 | ₹16,000 | 3 nodes| Dual-band | Coverage: 6,000 sq ft Netgear Orbi RBK40 | ₹22,999 | 2 nodes | Tri-band | Coverage: 4,000 sq ft Mesh routers are scalable, so you can add more nodes to increase the coverage area, or opt for a model that is better suited to cover a larger area. As an alternative, look at the… Asus AiMESH router | ₹9,000 onward | 1 node | Dual-band | Coverage: NA Its proprietary AiMesh system allows you to buy a single router and mix-and-match with any other AiMesh router in its range.

Ashutosh Desai and Savio D’Souza

toi21jul18

ECO SPECIAL....... PET Bottles: Upcyling Instead of Recycling

PET Bottles: Upcyling Instead of Recycling

A new research project is developing an innovative process for high quality cycle utilization of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The research project called Upcycle PET, enables the recovery of PET waste from plastic bottles to be used in high-grade industrial applications, and it targets to reduce the use of new polyamide-based plastic parts.

Darmstadt/Germany — The project team consists of the company Easicomp, the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability LBF, and the Institute for Applied Ecology (Öko-Institut e.V.). Further details on these studies will be presented at the Compounding World Expo 2018 in Essen, from June 27 to June 28, at booth 707.

According to Dr.-Ing. Tapio Harmia, CEO of Easicomp, explains the researchers would not like to use recycled PET just for plastic bottles, but would also like to use it in the production of durable and long lasting products. This idea is called upcycling. Dr. Volker Strubel, coordinator of the project, adds that with this upcycling the team was creating lightweight components out of fiber-reinforced recycled PET, and were thus reducing the use of glass fiber reinforced polyamides typically applied in the production of automotive parts, e.g. engine mounts or cross members.

For the project Upcycle PET the partners are drawing on knowledge from the material and process development, in order to create an integrated manufacturing process for the production of fiber-reinforced PET components. A pultrusion process is used in order to reinforce the PET with long glass fibers and thus to upgrade PET technically. This kind of approach combines the mechanical advantages of the very strong long glass fibers with the special properties of PET. The lower swelling capacity and good dimensional stability are part of these properties. This approach combines two processing steps that are separated in modern practice and customizes the properties of the recycling PET by chemical modifications and suitable addition of additives.

The production is cost effective, since all necessary processing steps are completed in one manufacturing plant. The project team uses a lightweight component from the automotive industry in order to evaluate the potential for technical replacement of the materials and demonstrates possible ecological as well as economic advantages. Dr. Andreas R. Köhler from Öko-Institut said that he is expecting an innovation boost for high quality plastics recycling in Germany from the Upcycle PET project. Upcyling of PET waste had significant potential as an environmentally friendly solution, since it facilitates the creation of long lasting products, while also serving as a replacement for plastics with much higher greenhouse gas emissions, he said.

Background: Recyling of PET Bottles

The trend of recycling polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from plastic bottle waste has reached a high level in Germany. Thanks to the deposit system implemented in Germany, there have been more than 97 % of PET bottles recycled in 2015. After their lifecycle as drinking water bottle, they are valuable sources of PET, which is used for production of new PET bottles, and especially in Asia, it is also processed into textiles. However, this waste can also be used as a particularly high-quality recycling material in order to open up possibilities for long lasting technical applications beyond the packaging and textile industries ("upcycling"). This approach is now gaining importance, since China released a ban on the import of plastic waste at the beginning of this year.

Editor: Alexander Stark PROCESS WORLDWIDE

PERSONAL SPECIAL.... Why Achieving Everything Can Make Your Life Worse

Why Achieving Everything Can Make Your Life Worse

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A lot of the things we want in life stem from our need for stability.

Most young people make critical decisions about their future lives and careers based on factors that they assume will give them some sense of predictability.

Similarly, many adults strive for financial freedom, so they don’t have to think about money as something that deters them from fully controlling their lives.

We dream about the white picket fence, a secure job, and a nice car or two in the garage so that we can be sure that we have some sort of foundation on which to build our lives. We need security, and we crave order, and we make a quiet presumption that our achievements will get us there.

It makes sense, too. If we didn’t have this orientation and if we didn’t have a solid foundation, we’d be continuously exposed to chaos and uncertainty, and we would have a much harder time feeling grounded and safe.

There are many people that don’t have any sort of stability in their lives — people that are poor or people without strong career prospects, for example — that we can look to who reassure us that these things are worth having.

Yet, in a world where, fortunately, more people than not have some kind of grounded foundation providing this stability, we still see large-scale dissatisfaction, boredom, and a general sense of purposelessness.

This sense of dissatisfaction, boredom, and purposelessness may be temporarily subdued when we find ourselves striving for the next thing that we presume will bring us stability, but for many, it’s still not too far away.

What exactly are we missing?

The Hidden Curse of Achievement

Let’s break down the process of achievement into two different states.

There is a state of striving where we are moving and working towards a goal. And then there is a state of accomplishment after having achieved said goal, thus achieving a form of stability.

The general assumption we all make is that achieving this stability is what will make us satisfied. After all, that is the hidden purpose behind whatever goals we choose to define when we decide that we want something.

First, we decide that a particular future will make us happier. Then, we choose a particular aim which we feel will allow us to experience said future. Finally, we set ourselves on our way to figuring out how to get to that goal.

By definition, then, when we are striving — which is most of the time — we are in a state of instability. When we accomplish something, we gain ourselves stability. That’s how most of us intuitively think and feel about this process.

Except, that’s not how it really works. The paradox is that achieving a goal is what leads to instability, whereas the state of striving provides stability.

Once we accomplish something, we lose our sense of orientation and get swayed towards the chaos that we naturally fear. On the other hand, while there is discomfort in the act of striving — which we confuse for instability — it’s ironically the only thing that actually keeps us grounded over time.

Being in a state of unquestioned movement is what protects us from feeling that we are without a foundation. Achievement, however, is static. Once acquired, it fades towards instability.

Volatility as a Measure of Well-Being

In finance, volatility is essentially a measure of how much the returns of an asset are expected to deviate. It’s the variation in price over a set period.

The daily difference between the closing price of a stock, for example, could be something you might measure the volatility of. If it deviates a lot, then the volatility of that stock is high. If it doesn’t deviate much, then it’s low.

According to author and statistician Nassim Taleb, systems of any kind with no volatility are bad at absorbing shocks, and thus fragile. Systems with some day to day volatile, however, can use such movement to absorb shocks well, and sometimes, even benefit from them. It’s what he calls antifragility.

When we are in a state of striving, we are constantly on the move over a sustained period of time. Some days, we move a lot. Other days, not so much.

On a day to day basis, this movement may even be uncomfortable, but over time, it keeps us stable by protecting us from the chaos of disorientation.

In a state of accomplishment, however, we don’t move much at all. We’ve achieved what we wanted to, assuming we have acquired a sense of stability.

On a day to day basis, we may even enjoy this lack of movement, but over time, if the lack of orientation catches up to us, it immediately throws us into a state of instability, causing damage that we don’t even see coming.

Humans, like most systems of the world, need a degree of volatility to stay healthy and being in a position where you have everything you could ever want makes you fragile to the instability that we instinctively aim to avoid.

Not having every luxury of stability, ironically, is what keeps us stable.

Where’s the Balance?

Naturally, no matter what the system, too much volatility can itself be harmful. Having some sort of a foundation is necessary.

If we don’t completely limit downside, then that same volatility can shock itself out of temporary and varying instability into complete chaos.

Humans need some foundation of achievement, and we obviously need many of our basic needs met in order to have a shot at contentment. Getting some of the things we want is healthy and important.

That said, the assumption that once we have everything we can imagine and want, we will be satisfied beyond our current level is more than flawed.

While things like complete financial freedom or a career that goes perfectly according to plan can bring a lot of joy and value to many people, these same things can also indirectly cause a lot of misery. And they often do.

It’s easy to see how not having enough can be an issue, but it’s even easier to overlook how getting what you want might be similarly problematic.

Sometimes, what you don’t have is just as important as what you do have.

https://medium.com/personal-growth/why-getting-everything-you-want-can-make-your-life-worse-9b32671c4ea0