Innovator at Work

 Daniela Rus’ Robotic Bag of Sand

History holds lessons, even for those designing futuristic robots. Daniela Rus, a computer scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found inspiration in Michelangelo’s statue of David. “David came out of the marble, and we thought we could also make things appear out of a block,” she says. That germ of an idea inspired Rus, a 2002 recipient of the MacArthur “genius” award, to begin work on a project that will eventually allow someone to reach into a bag of sand and pull out any device or structure imaginable. It’s like Harry Potter meets The Matrix, since the “bag of sand” is actually a collection of tiny robots. The robots can sense their neighbours, receive commands and attach to each other to form objects. The idea is that workers—especially those in remote or extreme conditions, such as scientists in Antarctica—could leave behind bulky toolboxes and instead bring along the high-tech sand. When a tool is needed, whether it be an adjustable wrench or a screw, they could toss a small model of the object into a bag containing a clump of sand or transmit electronic blueprints to it.

The smart sand grains would communicate with one another and magnetically form into the shape within seconds. Once the tool is no longer needed, the sand could be reused. “This could have an impact on building and manufacturing of complex devices,” says Robert Wood, founder of Harvard Microrobotics Lab. The project has a long way to go, but Rus, 48, already has a working prototype. At this point she has about 50 robotic blocks. They’re relatively large—about two-fifths of an inch on a side—but she’s gotten them to form geometric shapes. Since the components are programmable, she can also create small humanoid figures.

OLGA KHARIF BLOOMBERG BUSINESSWEEK ET120515

IPL CRICKET SPECIAL...KKR Piles up Runs, Wickets & Moolah

A fresh dose of professionalism has transformed the IPL team into a winning unit

    Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are taking their new marketing campaign, ‘New Dawn, New Knights’ quite seriously. After a dismal performance in the first three seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL), the Shah Rukh Khan-owned team started turning around last season when it made it to the playoffs; and, in the fifth edition of the IPL, KKR seems to be nearing its peak – just a whisker away from the last four and a sure-fire candidate to emerge king of the T20 hill. (AND IT DID)
KKR was at No. 2 position with its win percentage going up from 53.33 in 2011 to 60—with a win against Mumbai Indians away from home being one of its biggest victories of the season. That’s on the field.

 Away from the floodlights, Venky Mysore, CEO & MD, says KKR is the first of the nine IPL franchisees to have broken even and also posted a profit of Rs.14 crore in fiscal 2012. By 2013, Mysore says the team will wipe out its accumulated losses of over  Rs.30 crore since 2008.
The journey from bottom-ofthe-heap to the champion began in 2011, when KKR appointed Mysore, a long-time insurance executive, to head the team and ‘corporatise’ it. “We knew right after the first season that we needed to corporatise things,” says Jay Mehta, co-owner of KKR, which was purchased for $75 million in 2008. “We’re not like some of the other teams who have deep pockets. It was really important for us to have (some management) controls in place. The strategy for KKR as a business is clear – we have to be profitable,” adds Mehta, a businessman with interests in cement.
Jeet Banerjee, director with the Kolkata-based sports management company Gameplan, reiterates this. “Six of the nine IPL teams have the backing of large corporate houses,” he says. “They can utilise the resources of the mother company if they want. KKR is a standalone team, and professionalising can only lead to better performances and more revenues.”
Mysore, KKR associates say, has brought some method in the madness. “We had to take some hard decisions,” says Mysore. For a side better known for its high-profile owners (Bollywood stars SRK and Juhi Chawla) and controversial decisions (like sacking skipper Sourav Ganguly) but not necessarily its hunger to win, a revamp was the only way. Mysore initiated an overhaul of the team and brought in mental skills coach Rudi Webster. On the business front, he reworked sponsorship deals, tapped into new revenue streams and new ways of increasing the fan base. But most importantly, Mysore pushed KKR to focus more on player selection. The team spends Rs. 10 crore—or almost a tenth of its revenues —on picking, grooming and managing talent, says the CEO.
It has a formidable scouting team, modelled on the BCCI’s Talent Research Development Wing. The scouts keep an eye on every kind of cricket possible, from Ranji to foreign tournaments. While talent spotting is integral to any IPL franchisee, Mysore says KKR has simply formalised the process.
Before the auctions for IPL 5, the support staff at KKR had to go through a “huge unlearning”; Mysore pushed them to think of a dream team in terms of positions and skills, not big names. “If you get attached to a name, you could falter at the auctions,” says Mysore. The backroom staff drew up a chart of skills (mainly based on conditions at Eden Gardens, where the team would play the maximum number of matches), and then tried to find names to fit each position.
“We analysed every player and put them into different buckets,” says Mysore. “It was a taxing job, but that’s what gave us the bench strength we have today.”
In the last two years, KKR has got players like James Pattinson, Shakib Al Hasan and Marchant de Lange practically at base price because nobody else knew about, or wanted, them. “This will eventually open up a new revenue stream for us,” says Mysore. “When the league starts to mature, trading of players will take place. We’re already getting calls for some of our players, but we don’t want to let anyone go right now,” says Mysore.
Mysore’s bible for the process was the book (and now film) ‘Moneyball,’ which recounts the first time a baseball team in the US was put together by statistical analysis over big names.
Since auctions are where the action is, Mysore contracted a Chennai company to give his selectors and support staff an “auction mindset”. They organised mock auctions, created simulations and built multiple ‘decision trees’, creating a cascade of choices (of line-up) around each player’s name.
Additionally, this year the team decided to spend their $2 million purse more judiciously. After splurging on marquee players like KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir ($2.4 million) and Yusuf Pathan ($2.1 million) last year, this time they invested in just three players: de Lange, Brendon McCullum again (for $900,000) and a complete nobody called Sunil Narine (for $700,000); at least two of them have proved to be match-winners.
KKR’s string of victories has already pushed up ticket sales, which brought in Rs. 25-30 crore in fiscal 20120. The 70,000-capacity Eden Gardens, the biggest stadium in the country, is running to packed houses during KKR matches. “We have seen an increase of about 25% in ticket sales since 2011, which was our best year,” says Mysore. “The way the team is going, by the end of the season, we would have touched a 30% increase.”
Since gate sales are one of several sources of revenue — the others being broadcast rights, sponsorships, merchandising and licensing — dynamic pricing of tickets is keeping the registers ringing.
“We adopted scientific ways to work out sponsorship deals as well,” says Mysore, “in the way we have priced them, the deliverables, and the brands we want to associate with.”
With the exception of anchor sponsor Nokia, which was retained, Mysore and his team created individual deals with about 20 new companies, among them Matrix, Reebok, DishTv, Spanco and Rose Valley. This has enabled KKR to charge almost 10% more for its properties, and exploit opportunities for advertising on jerseys, helmets and gear. Mysore also hired London-based company Repucom to identify new ways of brand building.
Despite a high-profile team of players and support staff, KKR has consciously tried to keep its operating costs low. KKR has the smallest squad of all the franchisees, with just 20 players, as against the 30-odd of the others. If KKR has an Achilles’ heel, it could well be their owner SRK, got embroiled in a bust-up with security officials at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. “KKR has tremendous potential as a club, but they are over-dependent on their brand ambassador who is a lightning rod for sponsors and endorsements,” says Unni Krishnan, MD of Brand Finance, the London-based brand valuation consultancy that had, in the very first season, declared KKR as the most valuable IPL franchisee, at $42.1 million.
“They need to get rid of that crutch and start focusing on other important issues.”

LABONITA GHOSH ET120518

PERSONAL TECH SPECIAL...LINUX IS NO LONGER ONLY FOR NERDS

 

Is Linux Ready For Your PC?

The free and open source operating system is no longer a geeks-only zone and is good to go for prime time

    In the battle of the desktop operating systems (OS), there are only three dominant players left – Windows, Mac and Linux. At some point, Windows was cast as the platform for the common man, Mac as the one for the artist, and Linux as the geek’s playground.
    Linux found favour in powering servers, supercomputers, large businesses and even stock exchanges. And Google even used it as the platform to build its popular Android mobile operating system. But in the desktop and notebook space, it still failed to gain traction.
    There’s an image associated with Linux that can be frightening for a normal user, invoking pictures of command lines and terminal windows. But over the past 20 years, some massive steps have been taken to make the OS more accessible.
The Linux Desktop
Linux comes in more flavours today than what you would find in an ice cream shop. Each flavour, called a ‘distribution’ or ‘distro’, is designed for a different set of users. Some of the most popular ones are Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint, OpenSUSE, Debian and CentOS.
    Each distro has its own unique, intuitive and easy to use interface, designed following rigourous user testing. Developers have carefully studied what steps people take for common day-to-day tasks and have made significant improvements to simplify as well as speed up the user experience. Still, behind all the eyecandy lies the same stability and flexibility that makes Linux the OS of choice for companies like Google, Amazon and eBay.
    Distros use different interfaces, giving a broad variety in look and feel. Popular ones are Unity, Gnome or KDE, which work best if your system has 512MB RAM or higher. If you are running an older PC or desire faster speeds, interfaces like LXDE or Xfce are the way to go.
    Each distro is open source and the applications are developed by a community of enthusiasts. This usually translates into a plethora of unique features and add-ons that make computing much easier. For example, if you have thousands of MP3 files on your hard drive, an application called Nautilus – a file explorer – lets you hold your mouse over the file for a few seconds to automatically play the track.
    Similarly, those who love instant messengers and use multiple ones – Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, Windows Live or Google Talk – might sometimes be stormed by a flurry of messages popping up together. In Linux, if you receive five messages, they all sit in the message queue. The first one shows up in the notification area, fades out, and the next one fades in. The Empathy Instant Messaging client supports all the popular chat applications, including Facebook chat, so you need only one program to connect to all your favourite chat services.
Apps: Work & Play
Initially, Linux users face a major problem in finding software for each distro, as well as installing it. But all that has changed recently. One of the things that mobile users enjoy most is the ability to discover and install applications from their phone’s app store. Similarly, Linux desktops also have app stores, such as the Ubuntu Software Center and Deepin Software Center, which offer thousands of free and paid software for gaming, education, productivity and development.
    But will Linux be fine for your usual computing needs? On the work front, it’s up to speed. For all office applications such as word processors, spreadsheets and presentations, most distros come with an office suite pre-loaded, such as LibreOffice, OpenOffice, or Calligra (or you can download them if not pre-installed). These can easily open most MS-Office files, be it one made in the latest MS Office 2010 or older versions. They can also save files to the same formats, as well as others such as PDF – perfect if you want to send an invoice to someone without allowing them to edit it.
    The only thing missing is an email suite to take on the powerful Microsoft Outlook. But Mozilla’s Thunderbird supports Linux and is more than capable of executing anything you would have done in Outlook.
    There’s no shortage of games available either. Popular titles such as Battle for Wesnoth or OpenArena will let you while away some time. And hey, what’s a computer without Solitaire? The world’s favourite digital card game and its twin FreeCell are both available on Linux, as well as Tux Math – a fun game to keep your mathematical skills sharp.
    You can play music in the wide variety of music players available, and also edit your tracks using Audacity. There’s also the ability to edit videos with Shotwell, and the famous VLC player can play most audio or video files. And of course, the Gimp image editor will make you never miss Photoshop again.
    In most cases, if you think you need a program for something, then chances are that it’s available for Linux – and now it’s easier then ever before to find it.
Secure and Updated
One of the major attractions to Linux and open source is that the software has no viruses, eliminating the headache of your PC going down every few months, or of buying expensive antivirus software.
    “There are about 60,000 viruses known for Windows, 40 or so for the Macintosh, about 5 for commercial Unix versions and perhaps 40 for Linux. Two-three of the Macintosh viruses were widespread enough to be of importance. None of the Unix or Linux viruses became widespread – most were confined to the laboratory,” write Dr. Nic Peeling and Dr Julian Satchell in their report titled Analysis of the Impact of Open Source Software.
    Linux also doesn’t slow down over time; it runs at the same speed as when it was first installed. And what's perhaps more important is that its applications theoretically won’t hang your whole system. If some program misbehaves, only that application hangs without affecting other things.
    Linux also gets rid of those constant pop-ups asking you to update a program or install drivers every time you run it. The system manages all updates centrally, so you only have one application that prompts you for the upgrade. And it’s customizable enough that you can make it automatic, ask for a notification without a pop-up, and even turn it off entirely. It makes for a clutter-free and uninterrupted computer experience.
    A major concern for computer users is the support for hardware. If you have used Linux in the past, it might have had trouble detecting your printer or a third-party device. Today, however, most of the devices work well without installing any drivers, as Linux now supports 3,000 printers, 1,000 digital cameras and 200 web cams. In fact, you can even sync your iPod/iPhone music with the Rhythmbox media player without installing iTunes.
Take the leap
If you are now ready to try Linux on your computer, you don’t need to uninstall your existing operating system. You can easily dual-boot Linux with Windows or Mac. What’s more, Linux also has the ability to run as a full OS directly off a CD or a pen drive, letting you try it out before installing it. Be warned, though, the speeds would be a little slower than what you get if you were to install it on your hard disk.
    The best part, of course, is that Linux is free. And this cost is usually passed on to the consumer, as PCs running Linux from Dell and Wipro cost about Rs. 3,000 lesser than the same model bundled with Windows. Considering the benefits, it might be worthwhile to give Linux a chance…
    

Prakash Advani- The author is Regional Manager – Asia Pacific, Canonical. 

SUMMER SPECIAL..PLAY IT COOL

PLAY IT COOL

I N SUMMER, your health can take a serious beating if you don’t give it the necessary nutrients to tackle the heat. Here’s what you need.
WATER: Our bodies are 2/3rds water and it’s an important component of food. Think of it as not just a fluid but also a source of essential minerals. These minerals are essential for the body.
BARLEY: This is one of the more effective cooling foods. It is rich in minerals like copper, selenium, tryptophan, manganese and phosphorus. Barley is recommended for stomach ailments like gastritis and ulcers. It is very good for treating kidney ailments. It is popular all over the world in different forms, right from Japan to the US. Barley-based beverages are very popular in summers.
COCONUT WATER: This is one of the best sports drinks as it is rich in calcium, potassium and magnesium. Coconut water is very cooling for the body and also supplies essential electrolytes which are required to tackle the summer heat. It is beneficial for people with urinary tract infections. It is also very good for sufferers of hypothyroidism and water retention.
BROWN RICE: The process that produces brown rice removes only the outermost layer – the hull – of the rice kernel and is least damaging to its nutritional value. The complete milling and polishing that converts brown rice into white rice destroys 67 per cent of the vitamin B3, 80 per cent of vitamin B1, 90 per cent of vitamin B6, half of the manganese content, half the phosphorus content, 60 per cent of the iron content, and all of the dietary fibre and essential fatty acids. Brown rice is very cooling and is recommended for almost all digestive problems. Brown rice khichdi is a must in summers to tackle from heatrelated ailments.
BOTTLE GOURD/LAUKI: Also called dudhi, this vegetable helps keep the body cool in summer. It is excellent for treating liver problems like jaundice, intestinal problems like gastritis and other heat related problems.
Lauki is also very good for people with weak digestion. The vegetable comprises 96 per cent water and minerals. Lauki juice mixed with tomato and beetroot is an excellent weight loss drink. However, always remember to never consume bitter lauki as it can be toxic.
MELONS: Being rich in water and many minerals, melons are an ideal summer fruit. Melon juice can also be made into a summer drink and benefits those with liver disorders, stomach problems, fatigue and other problems connected to the nervous system.

• SHIKHA SHARMA HTBR120513

FOOD SPECIAL...It’s a Scoop…. Frozen desserts

    Frozen desserts, which look and taste like ice cream but are made out of vegetable fat, have silently grabbed a 40% share in India’s  Rs.1,800-crore organised ice-cream market without most consumers realizing they are not ice cream.
Led by Hindustan Unilever’s Kwality Walls, Vadilal, Lazza Ice Creams and Cream Bell, frozen desserts— served in identical cups, cones and sticks as ice cream—have found a strong foothold in the country in less than two decades since Kwality Walls introduced them.
But food authority officials and original ice-cream makers such as Amul and Mother Dairy feel these companies are misleading consumers by masquerading frozen dessert as ice cream. While real ice cream is made with milk fat, frozen dessert is made with vegetable fat, which is almost 80% cheaper.
“The clandestine manner in which the labelling (of frozen desserts) is done and the way they are marketed in television commercials are a matter of concern,” says H G Koshiya, commissioner of Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration.
He says the state authority plans to bring the issue to the notice of the Central Advisory Committee of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India. “Let consumers know what frozen dessert is all about and then if they consume it, it is a matter of choice,” Koshiya says.
ICE CRIME
Ice-cream makers such as Amul and Mother Dairy that use only dairy fat say frozen dessert makers have been misleading consumers by passing them on as ice cream.
“Consumers have been eating frozen desserts presuming them to be ice creams,” says Munish Soni, head (dairy product division) at Mother Dairy, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board.
Amul, the category leader in ice creams with 40% market share, says companies are misleading consumers by not mentioning upfront they are frozen desserts and pricing them as much as ice cream despite lower costs.
“Consumers are fooled into buying frozen desserts. It is a lookalike category. Most brands mention frozen desserts in small letters and push the category instead of advertising it as dessert,” says R S Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, which owns Amul brand. He says dairy fat costs Rs.300/kg, while vegetable fat is Rs.50-60 a kilo. “Frozen desserts play with huge margins and cheat consumers.”
Consumer rights activist Pritee Shah says frozen dessert is masquerading itself as ice cream. “They must mention frozen dessert upfront in their advertisements and the products in lieu of which it amounts to cheating the consumer,” says Shah, who is the chief general manager at Ahmedabadbased consumer group Consumer Education and Research Centre.
NO HEALTH HAZARD
Nutritionists say there is nothing terribly wrong about vegetable fat. After all, edible oil is regularly used in Indian cooking and snacks. But it could be more harmful than milk fat. Mumbaibased consultant nutritionist Niti Desai says although vegetable fat contained in frozen desserts is generally unsaturated and hence, healthier, the catch is that the plant fat used will be generally hydrogenated or trans fat. “Trans fats can raise cholesterol levels as much or more than saturated fat, and increases the risk of developing heart disease and stroke. It’s also associated with a higher risk of developing diabetes,” he says. “In the West, it is mandatory to mention trans fats used in packaged foods,” Desai adds. While most manufacturers in India use palm oil, which is the cheapest, to make frozen desserts, some may use soybean oil or coconut oil.
UPBEAT PLAYERS
Frozen dessert makers are, meanwhile, upbeat about the prospects of this category.
Hindustan Unilever’s Kwality Walls, which makes only frozen desserts and does not use milk fat, says the category is growing on the strength of a series of exciting products.
Nitin Arora, CEO of Cream Bell, an ice cream and frozen dessert brand of RJ Corp’s Devyani Food Industries, says that frozen desserts account for 50% of its sales. The company entered the category in 2006. “There is no dearth of takers for frozen desserts in the Indian market now. For us, both categories are growing at 25-30%,” Arora says. “Indian mindsets have changed towards frozen desserts and the consumer is comfortable in consuming them,” he adds.
South Indian ice cream player Lazza Ice Creams, which introduced frozen desserts a decade ago, has seen the vegetable stuff overtaking ice cream in the last five years when it has been growing 50% year-on-year. Frozen desserts accounted for 55% of Lazza’s turnover of Rs.150 crore in 2010-11.

SHRAMANA GANGULY MEHTA AHMEDABAD ET120516

CAREER SPECIAL...Five Ways To Handling a Career Transition

CAREER TRANSITION

It’s never easy to get out of the comfort zone of an existing career and dive into something completely new. The older you get and the higher you climb on the career ladder, the more unsettling it may get to make that switch. Nevertheless, a career transition, if handled the right way, can be just the right ticket to a fresh lease of professional life.

1 TAKE STOCK OF PRIORITIES

Do a self-analysis before taking the plunge, advises MD of head hunting firm Executive Access Ronesh Puri. "List out all your skills as well as the challenges you anticipate in the new career. Identify how your previous experience can complement your new role," he says.

2 DON’T BE SCARED TO TAKE A RISK

Your priorities keep changing, so you might need to do a coursecorrection. Don’t be scared to experiment. "A lot of people are riskaverse. But nothing in life is zerorisk," says Puri. If you are at a stage in your life when you are not in a position to take that risk, postpone your decision. But don’t let it constrict you, he adds.

3 HAVE A BACK-UP PLAN

What is your continuity plan? How will you handle things if your new career doesn’t pan out well for you? Your confidence levels will be much higher if you have a back-up plan in place.

4 PLAN YOUR FINANCES WELL

In certain cases, a career transition may involve a reduction in income and a consequent hit on finances. That’s why you need to think ahead about how to manage your family obligations, EMIs and other expenses. It could mean cutting down on your indulgences; dipping into your savings or some other avenue.

 5 ENHANCE YOUR SKILLS

Develop new skills that are required for the career change. Take an online programme or read up as much as you can about your new career choice. "Acquire all the skills, knowledge and information possible about the new field before entering it. Do your groundwork well," says CEO

executive search firm Symbiosis Management Consultants Vinay Grover.

Sreeradha D Basu. ET120515

ENGLISH SPECIAL..DO YOU KNOW HOW TO WRITE

Under a spelling

JUST BECAUSE YOU KNOW HOW TO SPEAK IT YOU DON’T NECESSARILY KNOW HOW TO WRITE ENGLISH

Unless I’m mistaken it was a Hindi teacher at Doon School who first made me aware of the idiosyncrasies of English pronunciation. Mr Chandna was a small man, with a large round head and a very precise way of speaking. When he wanted to make a point he would do it with a delightful degree of over-emphasis.
“What sort of language is this?”, he would begin. “P..U..T is put yet B…U…T is but. N…O is no but K…N…O…W is also know! There’s no consistency, no rules, no logic. That’s just the way it is.”
At the time I found Mr Chandna’s comment witty. A recent email from my cousin Lakshman Menon who, incidentally, Mr Chandna failed to make proficient in Hindi, has made me realise how profound his witticism actually was.
Read the following paragraph and see if you can get the pronunciation correct without pausing to double-check and re-consider. And here is a tip: if you’ve got the pronunciation right the meaning will be obvious. If not, it’ll be gobbledygook:
The bandage was wound around the wound.
The farm was used to produce produce.
The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
We must polish the Polish furniture.
He could lead if he would get the lead out.
The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.
When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes. I did not object to the object. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.
They were too close to the door to close it.
The buck does funny things when the does are present.
To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?
Most of the above trick words are homonyms. That is to say they are different words, with different meanings, but the same spelling. However, its even more intriguing — or do I mean confusing?— when the pronunciation is the same but the spelling is different. Beach and Beech are examples. So too witch and which. Or blue and blew. And, if you’re a little weary, don’t forget tire and tyre.
So, what’s the conclusion? Words with different spellings can have the same pronunciation while words with the same spelling can have different pronunciations. This also means that just because you know how to speak it you don’t necessarily know how to write English or if you can spell it correctly that’s no guarantee you can pronounce it properly.
If it’s any consolation, the British don’t have an agreed pronunciation for their language. They may call it ‘the Queen’s English’ but her pronunciation is by no means a guide for her subjects. They revel — or rebel? — in regional accents. Henry Higgins makes the point most tellingly in My Fair Lady: “Why can’t the English teach their children how to speak? This verbal class distinction by now should be antique!” Alas, he failed. And, as Mr Chandna declared, “That’s just the way it is.”

KARAN THAPAR HT 120513