In India, we have lots of variety when it comes to smartphones. We are one of the leading producers of them. Whether you belong from today’s era of from old generation, everyone likes to use such a phone that has trusted features and safe to use. Do you know recently Bill gates has announced really something very nice in which he has committed to offering prize money of Rs. 70 lakh to those who will build a payment app for dumb feature phones? This looks like a good opportunity for all those developers who can try their luck and win this whopping amount.

NPCI partners with CIIE.Co and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for the app development

NPCI which is popularly known as (National Payments Corporation of India) has collaborated with CIIE.Co and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for creating such an app that will help people to make hassle-free transactions through a dumb feature phone. They have announced a competition in which they have called all the developers to provide their innovative solutions and the winner would be taking home Rs. 70 lakhs.

Both the entities have announced a competition together

They have come together and announced a competition, calling developers to provide innovative solutions to make this happen — with the winner taking home $100,000 or Rs 70 lakhs.

Chief of Innovation at NPCI, Vishal Anand Kanvaty says,  “Feature phones hold a significant share of the mobile user base in rural and semi-urban population to anchor India’s move to a cashless economy rapidly. With the help of the government and the payments ecosystem, it is crucial that we should focus on providing smart and simple payments solution to feature phone users. Our aim is to help reach the digital payments system in tier 2 and 3 cities where feature phones are still in demand.”

He further added, “Understanding usage pattern of feature phone users will help us to ideate a better strategy for them to educate and empower them on digital payments even without smartphones. This will also boost the government’s agenda of less-cash societies in a cost-effective manner”.

Winners will not only receive prize money of Rs. 70 lakhs, they will also get support from CIIE.CO’s Bharat Inclusion Initiative provides support to startups to grow further.

Applications will be accepted till 12th January 2020

All the willing participants can take part in this challenge. The applications will be accepted till 12th January 2020.

Virtual Reality (VR) has come a very long way in a few short years, and its meteoric rise has meant that the technology has advanced leaps and bounds. Apart from the gaming industry, VR is becoming an indispensable tool in other industries, like healthcare, construction, sports, and the auto industry, where Siddharth Kashyap discussed how VR is valuable as a training and design tool. But, while a truly realistic VR experience requires a tethered connection to a stationary PC or laptop, a new VR evolution, the VR backpack is set to become a game-changer offering total VR freedom.

Why VR Backpacks

VR backpacks include features and components found in the highest-end gaming PCs and laptops but redesigned into a smaller, lightweight wearable chassis where the only limits are how big of an area you can play in and the backpack’s battery life. They are built to be durable and specifically engineered with VR in mind: from specialized designs that optimize airflow away from the body to hot-swappable batteries for extended use and the position of the various ports.

Additionally, due to their powerful RTX Nvidia GPUs, VR backpacks also meet and even exceed the minimum industry standards for performance set by major VR manufacturers like HTC, Oculus, and Valve. With this in mind, companies like HP, and MSI, among others, have come up with what is essentially a powerful mini PC you can strap to your back, for a truly immersive VR experience.

HP VR Backpack G2

HP has had a few VR backpack offerings on the market in the last couple of years, from the HP Omen X to the business-orientated HP Z VR Backpack G1 Workstation, but their latest, the HP VR Backpack G2 crams the latest hardware and is touted by Gizmodo as the world’s most compact VR desktop. Updated with an 8th gen Intel Core i7 CPU, Nvidia RTX 2080 with 8GB of dedicated GDDR6 memory and 16GB of system memory, the result is a powerful PC for a wide range of applications.

From gaming to development, HP’s latest backpack delivers the closest thing to true VR freedom. This is why the HP VR Backpack G2 is built for both commercial as well as home use, making it a potentially useful tool for architects, museums, retailers, and virtually any business that can come up with a way to leverage it. The HP backpack can also be used as a valuable training tool or 3D development station. The only downside is the one-hour battery life, however, with hot-swappable batteries you never have to take more than a quick break to extend your VR session.

MSI VR One Backpack PC

Unlike the HP G2, MSI’s VR backpack looks like a futuristic powerpack right out of a sci-fi film. The VR One Backpack PC is a sleek and aerodynamic powerhouse, that weighs just 3.6Kg. Unlike HP’s latest offering, however, MSI’s guts are a generation older, with an overclocked 7th gen Core i7 and Nvidia 1070 GTX GPU. Having said that, it’s still powerful enough to handle the most intensive VR games, but you won’t be able to take advantage of the RTX’s real-time ray tracing, AI-based scalable performance, and programmable shading.

While MSI’s product is less of a dual-purpose design than the HP system, and it’s hot-swappable batteries are part of the main body, it can still be used as a desktop PC when needed. Where the VR One excels, though, is with its 90-minute battery life, and price around $1,600 – $1,700 that’s almost half that of HP’s. At $3,200 MSRP, the HP will be out of reach for most casual gamers, but its performance will appeal to hard-core gaming enthusiasts, developers and businesses that require the walkabout freedom afforded by a high-end VR backpack.

Microsoft’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Satya Nadella has occupied the top position in Fortune’s Businessperson of the year 2019 list which was released by the American business magazine, Fortune. It has ranked the business leaders based on the challenges they have faced in running their organization. Nadella was not the only Indian who was present on the Fortune’s list, there were two more Indians i.e. Mastercard’s CEO, Ajay Banga who got the 8th spot and Arista head Jayshree Ullal who took 18th spot. They both were also among the top 20 Businessperson of the year 2019 besides Nadella.

Fortune’s list featured 20 business leaders in totality

via: Twitter

Fortune’s annual Businessperson of the Year list features 20 business leaders in all “who tackled audacious goals, overcame impossible odds, found creative solutions”. Among the leaders featured in the list, Nadella received the top spot.

Kind words dedicated to Nadella by Fortune

via: Investor’s Business Daily

“In a year dominated by political chaos and bluster, it was a rare brand of steady – even quiet – leadership that won the day in the business world. And no one epitomizes that brand of obsessively results-driven, team-based leadership more than our new No. 1 Businessperson of the Year,” Fortune said.

Fortune commented on Satya’s dedication and execution at Microsoft

via: Twitter

Fortune comments on his hard-work and dedication towards the company, Microsoft. He’s neither a founder like Bill Gates, nor a big-personality sales leader like the predecessor, Steve Ballmer, but it’s his sheer hard work that brought him to the CEO’s chair in 2014.

Fortune also mentions that Satya never worked on Finance

Fortune also told that Satya Nadella never took training on Finance which is an important training ground for other CEOs. He fought the competition within the Microsoft well since his joining in the year 1992.

Satya is the name behind Microsoft’s success

via: Quartz

Satya took over the position of Microsoft’s CEO in February 2014. That was the time when the company was not doing well. Their smartphone business wasn’t going good and consumers were not happy from their performance despite being innovative.

Satya made some noteworthy changes after joining the company

On joining the company, Satya has changed many things to bring the company’s growth back on track. Since then, the company is showing considerable growth by generating good revenue.

We wish all the best to Satya Nadella for bringing the significant change to Microsoft and congratulate him on gaining the top spot by standing out from the crowd.