Author: Uma Iyer

While we read a lot about large tech establishments, we must also take note of the smaller technology companies, says Uma Iyer The Advent of the IT and IT-enabled services have now given the pedestal to the innovative and next generation companies where firms like Patni systems were big in 1980s, then went on to the likes of Infosys, now the next-gen are start-ups like Grey Orange Robotics, Medgenome, Blackbuck, Bankbazaar, Uniphore, et al. Source: indiancompanies.in While the education system in India has been influenced by the colonial mentality; the 1960s and 70s were defined by having a stable government…

Uma Iyer looks at the current state of the IT service industry in India and the challenges faced by the new entrants. In the past decade, let us begin with naming one big Information Technology giant that succeeded in setting up a service industry in the Indian shores. If it is tough to think of even one, it is time to review the thriving service industry in India and what sustains the big players only! The Big 5! Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), WIPRO, HCL, Cognizant — all are companies that do not even require their full names while discussing…

Artificial intelligence may inherit, or even amplify, the biases of its creators, who are often mostly male. Uma Iyer finds out what the future holds for AI and women in society. What is the ‘gender’ of Artificial Intelligence? How do we as a society perceive sentient technology? If we look at our art, particularly science fiction, whether it be Robin Williams in Bicentennial Man or Rajinikanth in Robot, it is evident that AI is almost always seen as ‘male’. However, on the flip side if one looks at assistance apps for navigation or Interactive Voice Response Systems in a telephonic…

Science and technology has always been seen as a ‘guy thing’ but that conception must give way to a gender neutral one if we hope to go beyond its current expression. Uma Iyer explores… Let’s start by closing our eyes and visualise 5 famous men, 5 famous women and at least one of them who identify themselves are nonbinary/trans/gender-fluid working in technology? If your answer is 5/5 men, while 2/3 women and none in others, then read on! Decades of work has gone in bringing about equality in workplace, however, gender equality seems far away when it comes to technology.…

From finding out audience interest to calculating market interactions, data analytics are the in-thing. Uma finds out how. The entire world has been talking about Data and the importance of Data and Privacy. There are systems being developed, cloud networks being built, to manage the amount of data and the magnitude of information being stored, processed, and analyzed. The key to any data is the ability to access, breakdown and process the information to support the transaction it serves. When we were in the 1990s and computers were becoming a household utility, there was a saying in programming called ‘Garbage…

Cloud computing may conjure up images of breezy unreal things but it is very real and is changing the world as we speak. Uma finds out how Ever wondered where the information you key into the digital space is stored? Where does it ultimately reside? Or how safe is it? And how it is ensured that it does not get into the hands of people who can misuse or manipulate it? The traditional definition of anything to do with ‘cloud’ may lead to ideas of ‘wooliness’, ‘lost in reverie’ and other notions of intangibility. What started as a non-starter, is…

Move aside Father’s Day, World Wi-Fi Day is here on the 20th of June Much time has passed since when we looked for telephone booths and rummaged for coins to connect with our kith and kin. In fact, we have gone past grumbling about the connectivity bar on the cellular phone was at full force. Now we need to be connected all the time; hotels even have ‘free dedicated Wi-Fi’ as their main feature when listing their rooms. Many of the rooms are rated on their basis of the ‘Wi-Fi strength’ since many of us tend to work even from…

Microsoft’s OG browser shuts down after 27 years! Internet Explorer will be gone but not forgotten For the 80s and 90s born today marks an end of an era of how they have seen the ‘window’ to the world! Internet Explorer will be gone, but not forgotten by the generation that learnt what it meant to ‘browse’ and on the flip side learnt the ‘virtue of patience’ when the browser never responded! Internet Explorer officially shuts down today (June 15, 2022) after 27 years. While Bill Gates jokingly mentioned that this is because of the shortage of microchips, this change…

You don’t want to spend more money, how could you make your internet speed better? Sometimes, adding more horsepower to the car may not necessarily guarantee a smoother faster drive. The same concept exists with internet! Let us do the customary quiz… a. My first internet connection was in an ‘internet café’ b. My first email account was Hotmail or Yahoo! c. My first home connection made me think that data had to tear its way through the dial up machine! d. The fastest internet I had was in my office! e. I don’t recognize any of the above as…

A tweet is estimated to have a footprint of 0.2g CO2e (although Twitter did not respond to requests to confirm this figure) while sending a message via a private messaging app such as WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger is estimated by Freitag to be only slightly less carbon intensive than sending an email What if we told you that the harmless ‘Good morning’ forward and the gifs that your unassuming Dad or uncle sends you in that WhatsApp message contributes to global warming? If you are intrigued, read on… In 2020, people created 1.7 MB of data every second according to…