Japanese Real-Time Avatar Web Cam Brings Endless Possibilities to Gaming

Here’s an amazing demonstration video of new avatar web camera technology from Yasue Mitsukura and the folks at Keio University in Japan. The system presents an animated avatar which responds in coordination with the changes in the users face and position that are tracked by an ordinary web cam. Eyes, nose, and mouth are tracked as well, and as you can see in the video below, it looks pretty great when the user talks.

Diginfo news cites Mitsukura as saying that this is superior to motion capture, and far easier too:

Systems using motion capture with markers on the face aren’t convenient for ordinary users. In that sense, until now, there hasn’t been technology for moving a model freely in real time.

Of course the applications for such a system are pretty mind boggling, as it could be used in everything from Second Life-style social games, to letting users create their own anime movies, to a fun new avatar Skype-calling service.

It will be interesting to see what this Keio group does with it. But it certainly could go a long way to improving a game console like the Wii-U with its new Miiverse. Check out the demonstration video below where we see a Hatsune Miku avatar speaking along in time with the user.

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Exclusive: eBay India launches PowerShip, a shipping (meta) service for sellers

eBay India has launched its own shipping service PowerShip, enabling sellers to use eBay India’s logistic service. With PowerShip, all a seller needs to do is sign-up for the program, package the item in eBay packing material and hand over the package to the assigned Logistic Service Provider during item pick-up.

With introduction of PowerShip, there will be changes in Selling flows, Checkout and My PaisaPay with effect from midnight of 5th June 2012.

“PowerShip includes Air mode, enabling quicker delivery of items to Buyers, Surface mode to manage volumetric and large size shipments and Cash On Delivery enabled through BlueDart in addition to Aramex for buyers who wish to pay for items on delivery. PowerShip sellers can avail special courier rates and ship to over 10,000 plus locations across 2500 cities and towns in India.”

Big deal? Well, this is where eBay brings the seller side to stick to the service and in the entire process, also improves on the buying experience (the PowerShip program partners include BlueDart, FedEx, DTDC and Aramex).

In short,a meta play that brings several partners – right from sellers to logistic providers under a common platform.

Here is how PowerShip  works

Also see : ebay launches books section (You can buy used books too)

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[Echelon Live] An overview of the investment ecosystem in Southeast Asia

For the next panel, we see Pieter Kemps moderating the panel consisting of Vincent Lauria,  Ari Klinger, James Chan , Amit Anand as well as Hugh Mason, discussing on the state of investment ecosystem in Southeast Asia.

This post is part of the live coverage of Echelon 2012, Asia’s leading tech startup event happening on June 11 – 12. If you spot typos, slight inaccuracies or need more clarification, do leave a comment in the post and we’ll address it in the next edit.

Difference between Southeast Asia and the Valley

One of the key different factor pointed out during the panel is that in the Valley, those that puts money into tech startup are those that make money from tech industry itself, effectively bringing in the needed experience and connections to the table. In the Southeast Asia region too, angel stage investors are lesser than the valley. Ari also pointed out that the talent of war in the valley fueled the number of acquisitions over the years, creating acquihires, something which we dont really yet in the Southeast Asia region.

On Innovations and what’s hot

Contrary to popular belief that tech is the next big thing, Hugh Mason found out that the F&B industry in this region sees an amazing innovation. That’s nothing surprising since Southeast Asia is known for being a food haven. While Vinnie thinks that cloud is the next big thing, Amit seems to bet on SME productivity apps which focus on efficiency. Despite the slight difference in opinion, the panel seemed to agree on one thing: mobile.

So what’s the deal with mobile?

Mobile operators are starting to play a lead in driving innovation in countries like Indonesia, and with the mobile user base of Southeast Asia, there is no doubt that investors are looking towards mobile only apps. When asked to name one promising app, Hugh mentioned that ShopSpot, which recently graduated from the JFDI bootcamp, shows a lot of promise and is a perfect example of an app which comes out from the way we live our lives in Asia. James Chan mentioned Viki, one of his portfolio company which amazes him with its distribution mechanism as well as the social behaviour.

If you want to get funded, what are the hypothesis you need to prove before going for funding?

Vinnie: “In the valley, u have to bootstrap, after u do that for a few months, and have some traffic, then u go for investor. Another key difference is whether or not if you are a first time entrepreneur. If you have been there and done that, it is usually easier to raise fund”.

Amid: “You have to be clear about your product offering”.

James: “Understand how your startup fit into an investor’s portfolio, see whether there is a fit and know how to pitch towards that angle”

Hugh: “Understand the problem, show that you have the solution, show the market wants your solution”

Close with a 140-character advice?

Vinnie: “Show me the crazy”

Hugh: “Show me traction”

Amit: “There are a lot of companies before you were even born”

James: “Show me how you develop your product”

Ari: “Bake in your competitive advantage”

Thanks for following the live coverage of Echelon 2012. If you’ll like to check out more coverage of the sessions at Echelon 2012, follow this link.

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[Echelon Live] An overview of the investment ecosystem in Southeast Asia

For the next panel, we see Pieter Kemps moderating the panel consisting of Vincent Lauria,  Ari Klinger, James Chan , Amit Anand as well as Hugh Mason, discussing on the state of investment ecosystem in Southeast Asia.

This post is part of the live coverage of Echelon 2012, Asia’s leading tech startup event happening on June 11 – 12. If you spot typos, slight inaccuracies or need more clarification, do leave a comment in the post and we’ll address it in the next edit.

Difference between Southeast Asia and the Valley

One of the key different factor pointed out during the panel is that in the Valley, those that puts money into tech startup are those that make money from tech industry itself, effectively bringing in the needed experience and connections to the table. In the Southeast Asia region too, angel stage investors are lesser than the valley. Ari also pointed out that the talent of war in the valley fueled the number of acquisitions over the years, creating acquihires, something which we dont really yet in the Southeast Asia region.

On Innovations and what’s hot

Contrary to popular belief that tech is the next big thing, Hugh Mason found out that the F&B industry in this region sees an amazing innovation. That’s nothing surprising since Southeast Asia is known for being a food haven. While Vinnie thinks that cloud is the next big thing, Amit seems to bet on SME productivity apps which focus on efficiency. Despite the slight difference in opinion, the panel seemed to agree on one thing: mobile.

So what’s the deal with mobile?

Mobile operators are starting to play a lead in driving innovation in countries like Indonesia, and with the mobile user base of Southeast Asia, there is no doubt that investors are looking towards mobile only apps. When asked to name one promising app, Hugh mentioned that ShopSpot, which recently graduated from the JFDI bootcamp, shows a lot of promise and is a perfect example of an app which comes out from the way we live our lives in Asia. James Chan mentioned Viki, one of his portfolio company which amazes him with its distribution mechanism as well as the social behaviour.

If you want to get funded, what are the hypothesis you need to prove before going for funding?

Vinnie: “In the valley, u have to bootstrap, after u do that for a few months, and have some traffic, then u go for investor. Another key difference is whether or not if you are a first time entrepreneur. If you have been there and done that, it is usually easier to raise fund”.

Amid: “You have to be clear about your product offering”.

James: “Understand how your startup fit into an investor’s portfolio, see whether there is a fit and know how to pitch towards that angle”

Hugh: “Understand the problem, show that you have the solution, show the market wants your solution”

Close with a 140-character advice?

Vinnie: “Show me the crazy”

Hugh: “Show me traction”

Amit: “There are a lot of companies before you were even born”

James: “Show me how you develop your product”

Ari: “Bake in your competitive advantage”

Thanks for following the live coverage of Echelon 2012. If you’ll like to check out more coverage of the sessions at Echelon 2012, follow this link.

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[Echelon Live] Four key lessons in disruptive innovation

Scott Anthony, Managing Director of Innosight talks about some of the important lessons learnt using examples of businesses that Innosight has ventured into.

This post is part of the live coverage of Echelon 2012, Asia’s leading tech startup event happening on June 11 – 12. If you spot typos, slight inaccuracies or need more clarification, do leave a comment in the post and we’ll address it in the next edit.

At the keynote, “Lessons from the trenches of disruptive innovation,”Scott shares the four lessons that he has learned along the way while at Innosight

White spaces:  sometimes they exist for a reason

In starting a business, it is alway important to find a market that exist. Scott stresses that as an entrepreneur, always ask the following questions before starting a business:

1. Why doesn’t the business exist?

2. Is this the market space that you are out to target?

Scott gave the example of a business in a white space that Innosight started out in india called “Razor rave”, which was inspired by the success of  cheap and reliable Singaporean barber shop, “QB house”.

The problem that they saw was that the problem of having ‘too much hair in India’. To get a shave or a haircut for men, one can either go to a six star hotel or an open roadside barber shop. He saw the opportunity of recreating a similar haircut experience as QB house in India and decided to open a chain of barber kiosks in India.

However, they soon encountered the problem of whether anybody is going to invest in a business that lies in a white space. After spending $70,000 out of their own pockets, there wasn’t anyone who was going to invest in them again. On the other hand, a company like iTwin has decided to enter into a crowded space that offered many similar solutions like dropbox, sugarsync and  box. But because there are a lot of things happening in the space, a lot more people will be giving money to fund it.

Scott gave a piece of advice for entrepreneurs looking into entering a white space: “If  no one has started this business, make sure you have a very rich friend because no one is going to fund you.”

Love

Giving the example of one of Innosight’s businesses, “Guaranteach”, an online teaching site similar to that of Khan academy, Scott explains how the lack of love despite all the useful features and videos put up can affect the success of a company.  The number one reason why startups fails is because of the lack of connection with the consumer.

Unit cost: know them, cover them

After generating love, the next important step is to know how to convert them into cost.  Scott further explains this with his example of the laundry kiosk service, “Chamak” that the company has came up with. b figure out sustainable business model. Even though there were customers who were willing to pay for it, they never figured out how to cover up their monthly incremental cost. He stresses that companies should make sure that at the very least, they should  understand what their unit cost  are. Businesses that never figure out how to cover their  unit cost usually fail.

Funding

For his last pointer, Scott talks about how startups usually  underestimate things.  However long a startup thinks it takes to get funding, he will always underestimate it. Every entrepreneur  always has great plans on how their business can grow but we all know that these will never happen.

Quoting Guy Kawasaki,”As a rule of thumb, when I see a projection, I add one year to the delivery time and multiply revenues by 0.1″

Thanks for following the live coverage of Echelon 2012. If you’ll like to check out more coverage of the sessions at Echelon 2012, follow this link.

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[Echelon Live] Four key lessons in disruptive innovation

Scott Anthony, Managing Director of Innosight talks about some of the important lessons learnt using examples of businesses that Innosight has ventured into.

This post is part of the live coverage of Echelon 2012, Asia’s leading tech startup event happening on June 11 – 12. If you spot typos, slight inaccuracies or need more clarification, do leave a comment in the post and we’ll address it in the next edit.

At the keynote, “Lessons from the trenches of disruptive innovation,”Scott shares the four lessons that he has learned along the way while at Innosight

White spaces:  sometimes they exist for a reason

In starting a business, it is alway important to find a market that exist. Scott stresses that as an entrepreneur, always ask the following questions before starting a business:

1. Why doesn’t the business exist?

2. Is this the market space that you are out to target?

Scott gave the example of a business in a white space that Innosight started out in india called “Razor rave”, which was inspired by the success of  cheap and reliable Singaporean barber shop, “QB house”.

The problem that they saw was that the problem of having ‘too much hair in India’. To get a shave or a haircut for men, one can either go to a six star hotel or an open roadside barber shop. He saw the opportunity of recreating a similar haircut experience as QB house in India and decided to open a chain of barber kiosks in India.

However, they soon encountered the problem of whether anybody is going to invest in a business that lies in a white space. After spending $70,000 out of their own pockets, there wasn’t anyone who was going to invest in them again. On the other hand, a company like iTwin has decided to enter into a crowded space that offered many similar solutions like dropbox, sugarsync and  box. But because there are a lot of things happening in the space, a lot more people will be giving money to fund it.

Scott gave a piece of advice for entrepreneurs looking into entering a white space: “If  no one has started this business, make sure you have a very rich friend because no one is going to fund you.”

Love

Giving the example of one of Innosight’s businesses, “Guaranteach”, an online teaching site similar to that of Khan academy, Scott explains how the lack of love despite all the useful features and videos put up can affect the success of a company.  The number one reason why startups fails is because of the lack of connection with the consumer.

Unit cost: know them, cover them

After generating love, the next important step is to know how to convert them into cost.  Scott further explains this with his example of the laundry kiosk service, “Chamak” that the company has came up with. b figure out sustainable business model. Even though there were customers who were willing to pay for it, they never figured out how to cover up their monthly incremental cost. He stresses that companies should make sure that at the very least, they should  understand what their unit cost  are. Businesses that never figure out how to cover their  unit cost usually fail.

Funding

For his last pointer, Scott talks about how startups usually  underestimate things.  However long a startup thinks it takes to get funding, he will always underestimate it. Every entrepreneur  always has great plans on how their business can grow but we all know that these will never happen.

Quoting Guy Kawasaki,”As a rule of thumb, when I see a projection, I add one year to the delivery time and multiply revenues by 0.1″

Thanks for following the live coverage of Echelon 2012. If you’ll like to check out more coverage of the sessions at Echelon 2012, follow this link.

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News Roundup: Expedia to open retail outlets in India

Online travel agent, Expedia is planning to open retail outlets for the Indian market. Though first for the company globally, OTAs in India have taken a hybrid model to sell tickets/packages – MakeMyTrip has 54 stores across India. Yatra.com has 23 outlets, including one in Kathmandu, which it refers to as ‘Yatra holiday lounges’.[source]

Madhu Koda charged for using Skype in jail

Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, is accused of keeping regular contact with his business partners through cell phones and Skype. He is accused of keeping regular contact with his friends, especially business partners and investors, settled across various places in India and countries like Dubai, Indonesia and Thailand, through cell phones and Skype. [source]

RIL plans to go it alone in telecom; will set up its own towers, says no plan to buy GTL or RCOM

Reliance Industries plans to go solo on its telecom initiative of providing high-end data offerings and is exploring the possibility of building its own mobile phones, a senior company official said at its annual general body meeting on Thursday. There was widespread speculation that RIL would buy GTL Infrastructure or tie up with RCOM to use the telecom tower infrastructure for its service rollout. [source]

Telcos miss deadline for detection of accurate user location

Telecom companies have missed the May-end deadline to comply with regulatory norms on detection of accurate user location and cited huge cost and technology unavailability as reasons for not meeting the target. The Department of Telecom (DoT) had amended licence conditions of telecom service providers and asked them to provide location details of users as part of call data records.

Earlier, Indian government had asked telecom operators to make Location Based Tracking operational By May 31st

India’s L1B visa rejections to the US at record high

Denial rates for Indian-born applicants for new L1B visa petitions filed with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which are used to transfer employees with ‘specialised knowledge’ into the United States, has surged from 2.8 per cent in FY 2008 to a record 13.4 per cent in FY 2011. [source]

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Huawei, ZTE Execs Sentenced to Ten Years for Corruption in Algeria

Chinese mobile phone giants Huawei and ZTE have been met with more than a little skepticism in their efforts to move beyond the Chinese market. But suspicions of corruption and spying are one thing, convictions are quite another. In Algeria, select Huawei and ZTE executives got a dose of the latter recently when an Algeria court sentenced them to ten years in prison.

The men — ZTE’s Dong Tao and Chen Zhibo and Huawei’s Xiao Chunfa — were accused of involvement in a bribery scandal that saw they attempting to gain advantages for their companies with state-owned Algérie Télécom. The men were tried in absentia, found guilty, and sentenced to ten years in prison, as well as fined five million dinars (about $65,000). The companies Huawei and ZTE have also been fined and banned from partnerships with state-owned companies in Algeria for two years.

Unsurprisingly, the companies have denied the bribery charges, and Huawei told Light Reading that the charges were “very serious” and that it was investigating them. Supposedly, international arrest warrants have also been issued.

Whether they’re guilty or not, Dong, Chen, and Xiao can probably rest easy; it seems unlikely that China would extradite them. But their conviction on corruption charges will only accelerate the swirling suspicions that Chinese tech companies are untrustworthy.

[Light Reading via Sina Tech]

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The Multi-SIM market in India: Nokia leads the pack with 30% market share

The multi-SIM market in India is growing at a phenomenal rate and Nokia, even though a late entrant to multi-SIM industry, has garnered 30% market share, followed by Samsung (16%). The category was earlier dominated by local brands like Micromax and Karbonn, who now have 12% and 4% market share respectively.

As per a report by Neilsen, there are 71 million unique subscribers that use multi-SIMs in India, driven by youth segment.  The reach peaks in towns with a population of five to ten lakh, where 21 percent of the populace use multiSIMs. The corresponding figure in a town class with 40 lakh plus population is just 11 percent!

As far as reasons for buying multi-SIMs handsets are concerned, the desire to optimize tariff (avail better deals from operators) tops the chart, followed by ‘staying connected at all times/emergency, avail CUG scheme etc (note that privacy constitutes only 8% of the reasons to buy a multi-SIM handset).

An interesting finding of the report is that users prefer to have both SIM cards as prepaid to have a better control on costs as well as to capitalize on monthly deals offered by operators. As far as operator share is concerned, smaller operators have a  higher market share with Uninor having 6% market share in Multi-SIM market (has only 1% market share, otherwise).

The study* (download link) was done across 18 cities and had a sample size of 20,000 mobile users in 18-55 age group.

*: Aside, before you trust any survey report, we recommend you to read Why and how to read survey reports? [Data, Intuition and Truth].

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