Laser Assisted Automatic Braking

Laser assisted braking sensors on the front windscreen

I am amazed how little information is available in internet on the new jargon 'Laser assisted automatic braking' introduced by Volvo in their new car models like S60, S80 and XC60. It makes me wonder whether this just a marketing jargon.

However, coming from a brand like 'Volvo' it doesn't sound logical they would use some jargon without the technological backup. In fact, googling on the term found just one satisfactory description which says "Lasers mounted in key points on the car read how far you are away from an object. If you get to close they apply the brakes automatically to stop the car. Its basically to stop you backing into fences or other cars when your reversing."

The picture above shows the laser assisted braking sensors on the front windscreen of a Volvo model which lends credence to the description of laser assisted braking in the above paragraph.

Amazon Mechanical Turk

Amazon Mechanical Turk is an online market place that automatically pairs tasks that are simple (yet too hard for a computer to do) with people who want to do them for money (often just a few cents).

The tasks are available to be executed and it is available in units of HIT(Human Intelligent Task). As a Mechanical Turk Worker, you can search and browse for HITs and click on the ones that interest you. After you accept the HIT, follow the instructions to execute the task and get paid paid through your Amazon Payments Account once the Requester approves the work.

Mechanical Turk Requesters are the ones who offer HITs. Data cleanup, categorization, content creation & moderation, feedbacks are a few of the common categories of tasks on offer. Registering to be a Requester provides the job providers access to an on-demand scalable work force who are flexible and provide high quality cost-effective results within minutes. And the payment needs to be released only if you're satisfied with the results.

At this point of time, the web portal claims to have more than 4.5 lakhs of HITs on offer.

Arsenal and Honda

Arsenal and Honda SIEL, though worlds apart in their chosen domain have lot of similarities in their current predicament. The first one is a top football club in English Premier league whereas the latter is the Indian arm of the renowned automobile manufacturing company, Honda, from Japan.

Arsenal looked totally left out in the last summer at the end of the transfer window. The coach cum manager, Arsene Wenger had bet big on upcoming talent than established players making Arsenal look like a bunch of inexperienced Amateurs.

In case of Honda, they were riding high in the Indian market around a year back with its City touted as the best petrol sedan. Honda never believed in discounts neither dilution of value of their cars. Irrespective of those, they were in such a fine position that buyers used to hoard any offering from Honda. But the steep hike in petrol prices put paid to their free run. With no diesel vehicle in their portfolio, Honda cars sale dipped.

Sticking to their years old method and being inflexible are widely regarded as the reason for both the company's current downward spiral. The EPL giants are still sticking to their method of spending little for new buys and Honda is persisting with the portfolio filled with petrol vehicles.

It will be huge relief for their fans and well wishers to see these trail blazing companies halt their decline and succeed.

Murthy speak

Assembling a team of extraordinary people who have displayed outstanding capabilities through their value system competence, low ego and high energy is crucial to the progress of any institution.

Different people run out of endurance and intellectual horsepower at different points of time. Some people drop out of the marathon since they do not see any value in an organization when their own time under the arc light is over. A leader's responsibility is to recognize this, provide them opportunities outside the organization, and usher in suitable replacements.

Minimalist foot wear

In a matter of an year or lesser, minimalist foot-wear is going to be the in-thing in foot wear fashion. You will be seeing a whole lot of branded running shoe fans going the minimalist way. You will be hearing a lot about the benefits of running bare foot against using jogging shoes.
Now, there is a small but growing set of researchers who are of the opinion that bare foot is the way humans should use their feet.

Ball man

Brands entering into art space has always evoked mixed reactions.It is a precarious feat for a brand to attempt because it can easily go wrong and have the exact opposite of the desired effect. A branded piece of art can be viewed as too promotional, too gaudy, too imposing and an intrusion into “public space.”
However, THEY are intruding into the art space and surprisingly, some pretty awesome results have emerged.

Nike’s 20-meter-high, 4.75-ton Ball Man made of 5,500 Brazilian Skill Balls was a huge hit during the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. It was on display, suspended from the ceiling in the Atrium of the Carlton Centre mall in central Johannesburg, strung together by over 10 kilometres of cable wire.

This certainly takes the scale to a whole new level.

Rahul Gandhi

Some how, seeing the actions of Rahul Gandhi, I get this feeling that he is going to die at a young age. He is such an open target for terrorists while embarking on his populist actions that, by this time a terrorist group would've identified loop holes in his security.
But even if something happens to him, we cannot blame him. After living his whole life inside a security cordon one could be pardoned for this indiscretion, even if it costs his life.