As I walked down a New York City street on a beautiful fall day, people stared. But they weren’t looking at me. They were fixated on the small round robot that followed a few feet behind me, stopping when I stopped, speeding up when I picked up my pace, and carefully rolling down the curb as I started to cross the street. advertisement advertisement My robot companion’s name was Gita—a semi-autonomous robot designed to carry your stuff for you. Its plethora of sensors and cameras lock onto the volume of your body, using your legs as a guide to navigate the streets. Gita could keep up with me as I wandered, though it couldn’t tackle curbs and I was able to lose it relatively easily with a sharp turn or all-out sprint (it can travel up to six miles per hour). Designed to convince suburban families to actually walk in their neighborhood rather than drive everywhere, Gita can hold up to 40 pounds, and its trashcan-like cavity can fit two shopping … [Read more...] about The makers of Vespa built a $3,250 high-tech granny cart
High tech business decisions
The one-trick tech pony is dead
New York (CNN Business)The rise and fall of Fitbit on Wall Street is a cautionary tale for other one-trick pony techs. Fitbit makes activity trackers and smartwatches that are beloved by many. But it ultimately couldn't compete with similar products from tech giants Apple and Samsung. That's a big reason why Fitbit recently agreed to sell itself to Google owner Alphabet. Shares of Fitbit (FIT) were languishing below $4.50 until speculation of the deal surfaced late last month. The stock spiked on the takeover rumors and Google (GOOGL) ultimately agreed to pay $7.35 a share, or $2.1 billion in cash, for the fitness tracker. Still, that's a far cry from when Fitbit traded above $50 a share in July 2015, just a few months after the wearables company went public. The lesson here may be that at a time when Google and fellow tech titans Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT) seem intent on getting bigger -- despite antitrust and other regulatory concerns -- niche … [Read more...] about The one-trick tech pony is dead
Feature: One British entrepreneur’s business venture in China
Video PlayerClose by Xinhua writer Zhou Xiaoli BEIJING, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- Richard Coward, a British entrepreneur, is the founder and CEO of China Admissions, an education platform that helps international students get into Chinese universities. The 31-year-old comes from a family that has historical ties with China dating back 100 years. Coward said he "was blown away by the scale of growth and opportunity" when he first arrived in the country. Two years later, he managed to find niche for his own business in China's education industry. KNOWING CHINA Coward's great grandfather was the owner of a trading company in London in the 1920s, importing high quality clothing materials such as silk from China to Europe. Like his great grandfather, Coward gained his first-hand experience with China through business activities. At the age of 15, Coward started to sell ebooks, wristbands, and other tech products from China on the internet. Coward said that this early experience made him "see … [Read more...] about Feature: One British entrepreneur’s business venture in China
Nervous power networks look beyond the UK
Energy suppliers may be on the frontline of the battle to win public trust in the industry, but it is the companies behind the gas pipes and electricity wires which have emerged as the easiest political targets. The network operators, including National Grid and UK Power Networks, are facing a fierce political skirmish. The industry regulator has already cut the returns they are allowed to make to all-time lows. An even greater risk looms beyond the next general election, now that Labour has pledged to bring the companies back under public control. Critics of the firms argue that the crackdown is an inevitable consequence of the years they have spent “inflating” household energy bills while siphoning off billions in dividends for their international investment-fund owners. They are held up, alongside water companies and rail operators, as evidence of Britain’s failed experiment with privatisation. The companies are quick to point out that the prices they levy through … [Read more...] about Nervous power networks look beyond the UK
Lakshmi Mittal ‘s global empire: An asset or a liability in his Essar Steel bid?
In many ways, Lakshmi Niwas Mittal’s global trek began with the acquisition of a plant in Trinidad & Tobago in 1989.Earlier in 1976, as a 26-year-old, he set up a plant in Indonesia for his father Mohanlal Mittal. But it was far away in the Caribbean island that Mittal first sowed seeds of a global strategy, which over the next two decades made him the largest steelmaker in the world. ArcelorMittal’s presence would go on to include plants in 18 countries and offices in 60.Thirty years since that first acquisition though, the Trinidad and Tobago unit is a part of Mittal’s global empire that doesn’t make for a pretty picture.Close ArcelorMittal closed the Point Lisas plant in 2016, a day after the worker’s union got a favourable decision from the courts on a pay hike. Low steel prices and increasing costs had already impacted the operations. related news Bharti Airtel posts staggering Rs 23,045 cr net loss in Q2 after AGR provisioning Glenmark … [Read more...] about Lakshmi Mittal ‘s global empire: An asset or a liability in his Essar Steel bid?
