Google patents photo-capturing walking stick

Google has got its new invention, a walking stick that takes pictures whenever it hits the ground, patented. 

According to the patent text, the stick has a sensor that provides location info about the elongated member's position, Discovery News reported. 

According to Geekwire, a patent application sketch shows the camera mounted on top of the stick; there are also multiple location sensors, a battery and a processing system in the middle and at the bottom there is a switch. 

The patent has also been extended to stick-like objects such as a cane, a crutch, a monopod, a trekking pole, a rod or a staff.

How smartphones are making customer care hi-tech

BANGALORE: Indian enterprises are increasingly using touch-enabled smartphones and data analytics tools to transform traditional call centre work, reducing workload on staff and claiming significantly improved customer satisfaction levels.

By integrating traditional voice support with real-time support through smartphones, enterprises are encouraging a form of self-service, sometimes without any human intervention.

That is being supplemented through predictive analytics to improve efficiency and sometimes forecast outcomes of interaction between a customer and a support executive. At India's second-largest private lender HDFC Bank, for instance, a customer applying for a loan only has to submit account credentials through a smartphone using the bank's customer-support platform.

The system, which incorporatesinformation pertaining to the customer, will analyse the credit background instantly and accept the application through the touch-based screen on the mobile phone. Using predictive analytics tools, the system also offers new services to existing customers based on their previous credit history.

Potentially, a man with a smartphone will have the same capabilities as an entire bank branch. Automated technologies can liberate the workforce currently engaged in primary call centres to participate in more productive activities which are higher on the value chain," said Nishant Singh, chief executive officer and founder of Noida-based customer relationship management firm CRMnext, which helped HDFC Bank create this service.

A recent survey by technology market researcher Gartner indicated that there would be a 60-85 % drop in call volumes when such automated self-service options are made available to customers. First piloted by a few banks, these tools are now being widely used by insurance companies and information technology firms.

Tata AIA Insurance and Reliance Capital are among other firms that are adopting similar technologies to improve customer care. Thanks to increased adoption of touch-based phones, more service providersCRMnext are offering innovative customer service ideas to clients.

For instance, Silicon Valley-based 24/7 has developed a single platform which integrates speech, touch and visual display.

These solutions can provide cost savings to enterprises by requiring fewer human agents," said PV Kannan, cofounder and CEO of 24/7 Inc, who claimed that service efficiency of clients improved by 50-75 % due to the adoption of visual and speech technologies.

Even companies that are not traditionally into customer service management are now keen on developing new platforms in this space. Corporations such as Convergys and Accenture have devised automated self-service platforms for various services hoping these would become the predominant form of customer engagement in the near future.

While the advantages of automated platforms are plenty, experts caution that it is too early to rule out human interaction as an integral part of customer care.

According to best estimates, 50-60 % of feedback calls still go through to human agents at contact centres," said Praveen Sengar of Gartner, adding that many customers still prefer that 'human touch' while resolving their problems. But optimistsCRMnext's Singh says the adoption of 4G technology will reduce the cost of internet connectivity, thus allowing automated mobile phone and internet based customer services to permeate into more areas, including rural markets.

Google‘s Android is eating Apple‘s lunch

Smartphones and tablets powered by Google's  Android software are devouring the mobile gadget market, eating into Apple's turf by feeding appetites for innovation and low prices, analysts say.

The Android operating system powered nearly three out of four smartphones shipped worldwide in the recently ended quarter as the mobile platform dominated the market, according to industry trackers at IDC.

"Android has been one of the primary growth engines of the smartphone market since it was launched in 2008," said IDC's mobile phones research manager Ramon Llamas.

"In every year since then, Android has effectively outpaced the market and taken market share from the competition."

In tablets, Apple's market share has fallen to just over 50 percent from 65 percent in the second quarter as Android devices gain ground, according to IDC figures.

"Having a lot of people building a lot of things covering a lot of price points with multiple brands in multiple places makes a big difference," said NPD Group analyst Stephen Baker.

"Variety is strength when it comes to moving units."

Android smartphones shipments surged to 136 million, topping those in the same three-month period last year by slightly more than 90 percent, IDC reported.

Samsung's Galaxy S3 overtook Apple's iPhone 4S in the third quarter to give the South Korean firm the world's best-selling smartphone model for the first time ever, according to research firm Strategy Analytics.

"The pace of innovation in Android is faster than Apple," said Gartner vice president of mobile computing Ken Dulaney. "They are just trying harder; Apple is way behind in that area."

Android is benefiting from being an "open-source" platform that gadget makers use free of charge and improve as they deem fit, providing Google with insights along the way.

Apple tightly controls its products from the software to the hardware and even the online shop for music, books, games or other content.

"What you get with Android is this incredible feedback loop with developers, equipment makers, customers, and designers," Dulaney said.

"At Apple, as long as they have a great vision internally it is fine but they don't have the feedback Android does."

Having thousands of different Android devices vying for consumers' cash is a strength when it comes to market share but puts hardware makers into a fiercely competitive arena, Baker noted.

"Other than Samsung, I don't know if other Android guys are making money," the analyst said.

Google gives Android away free, but the platform is crafted to make it easy for people to use the California Internet titan's money-making services such as search and maps, and get content at its online Google Play shop.

Forrester analyst Charles Golvin said that forces powering Android momentum include changing demographics of smartphone buyers.

Early adopters of smartphones focused more on new technology than on price, but the devices have gone mainstream with cost increasingly important to shoppers, according to Golvin.

"People are more inclined toward the Android platform because there is more choice and most of that choice is low price," Golvin said.

The open nature of Android and the myriad models offered by gadget makers serve as a "double-edged sword," warned the analyst.

Apple pushes annual updates of iOS mobile operating system out to its devices, while new versions of Android hit more often but must get through hardware makers and telecom services to get onto people's handsets.

"You have this lengthy chain of intermediaries who are delaying the delivery of that new software and its innovations to existing devices in the market," Golvin said.

He backed his point by noting that many Android devices in use still run on generations-old versions of the operating system.

Android gadget variety can also make it tough to design accessories or even "apps" that can be used across the array of devices.

For its part, Google has done an excellent job of improving the "ecosystem" of music, films, apps, books and more available for Android-powered devices, according to analysts.

In the red-hot tablet market effectively created by the iPad, strong growth is being seen by Android rivals including Amazon's popular Kindle Fire and Nook devices from Barnes & Noble, which run custom versions of the software.

Analysts believe that the Google-backed operating system is likely to spread to typically "dumb" gizmos like appliances.

"These platforms are becoming the molecule elements for building all kinds of hybrid devices," Dulaney said.