Today, everybody
talks about how much information is bombarding us. Imagine what it must have
been like after the printing press when people who had been totally devoid of
information had all of this information flooding them. The powers-that-be
rebelled against that. Shortly after the printing press was developed, a Swiss
scholar sat down and said, “I’m going to catalogue all of the books that have
been printed thus far.” He ended up warning of the harmful magnitude of books
and how it will create nothing but chaos. Well, that’s kind of like what we’re
experiencing today on the internet, isn’t it?
How streaming
content providers like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video is changing the game.
HBO is so successful
because it never had to cater to advertisers. It only had to cater to its
audience, who was paying them directly to not have ads. Amazon is more
audience-focused than advertiser-focused.
As Apple and Amazon compete
for a greater share of consumer dollars and attention, they also have a
particularly intimate business relationship: Apple is spending more than $30
million a month on Amazon’s cloud. At these rates, AWS would be picking up more
revenue from Apple than from several other companies,
including Adobe, Capital
One, Intuit, Lyft and Pinterest. People use more than 1
billion Apple devices each month, and accordingly, Apple has considerable
computing and storage requirements. The company is investing heavily to build
its own infrastructure: In January 2018, Apple announced plans to spend $10
billion on data centers in the U.S. within five years. In December, Apple said
it would spend $4.5 billion of that amount through 2019.
An EV with a daily
commuting distance of 30–40 km needs 6-8 kWh of energy, equivalent to the daily
power needs of a small household. If 80% of India adopts EVs, the total power
demand could touch 100 Terawatt-hour or about 5% of the total electricity demand
of India by 2030.
This presents unique
challenges for power utilities, which will need to increase production and
resolve the issue of too many people charging at the same time from a single
grid.
This additional
burden can be managed only by deploying intelligent tariff and pricing
solutions, with minimal network investment.
Another solution
deployed by states like Maharashtra is a variable tariff structure called time
of use (ToU). It means power tariffs will be cheaper at certain times of the
day when the demand is usually low.
Integrating power
generation from renewable sources with conventional grids in order to meet EVs’
demand is key. If India wants to see an effective reduction in pollution levels
through EVs, the sector cannot be seen in isolation.\A vehicle running on electricity
may be considered clean, but it is not really a zero-emission vehicle if the
power source is coal. India generates a majority—about 65%—of its energy demand
through coal.
When you speak, your
brain sends signals to your lips, tongue, jaw, and larynx, which work together
to produce the intended sounds. Now scientists in San Francisco say they’ve
tapped these brain signals to create a device capable of spitting out complete
phrases. The effort doesn’t pick up on abstract thought, but instead listens
for nerves firing as they tell your vocal organs to move. Previously,
researchers have used such motor signals from other parts of the brain to
control robotic arms.
