Lifeboat Foundation

A new smartphone is launching. And this one costs just a little bit more than a McDonald’s Happy Meal.

Despite the ubiquity of smartphones, you’d be hard pressed to find one that you could purchase with spare change. Yet Ringing Bells, a handset manufacturer from India, has managed to create one that’s only going to cost $4.

The device is called Freedom 251 and was just very recently unveiled. Specs aside, the most impressive thing about the Freedom 251 is, by far, its price. The pricing strategy and development of the technology was anchored on Narendra Modi’s intent to ‘empower India to the last person,’ and the smartphone was a way for central government to promote inclusivity among its constituents for its digital initiatives.

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This is the ‘world’s cheapest’ smartphone.

A technology company in India is launching what it claims will be the ‘world’s cheapest’ smartphone costing just $7 or around £5.

The Freedom 251 is being built by Ringing Bells and will reportedly sell for around $7 although the BBC reports that local media are pricing it even lower at just £2.50.

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Interesting read — I must admit that today’s CEOs of large companies are not like the CEOs of my grandfather’s generation who were more like the mold of Sam Walton.

This habit for grandiose predictions seems to be contagious. Last fall, Miguel McKelvey, founder of shared office space giant We Work Cos. promised his company would be in a thousand locations “in the near future.” Given that the company at the time was present in just 52 places, this promised a growth rate north of 1500 percent—but probably had some intended influence on the company’s $10 billion valuation.

In 2013, before he left Blackberry under pressure, the company’s CEO Thorsten Heins declared that “in 5 years, I don’t think there’ll be a reason to have a tablet anymore.”

Continue reading “Why the Most Famous CEOs Are Often Wrong About the Future” »

I was waiting for this HIPAA’s new guidelines for mobile apps (focuses a lot on IAM); this is only the first wave. We will see more when more AI is launched.

Federal regulators have issued new guidance, including material to clarify for healthcare entities and software developers various scenarios where HIPAA regulations might apply to mobile health applications, including situations when patients use smartphones to collect or transmit personal health data.

See Also: 2015 Breach Preparedness and Response Study: The Results

Continue reading “New HIPAA Guidance For Mobile Apps, Health Info Exchange” »

“Computers are becoming more and more intelligent in the sense that they adapt to us.”

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Expensive travel bags should do more than look good, and German high-end luggage manufacturer Rimowa would seem to agree. The company has developed an electronic luggage tag which displays baggage info in the same format, size and appearance of typical paper labels, but on a digital screen built into the unit and located near the handle.

The Rimowa e-tag is similar to a device tested by British Airways in 2013, which allowed travelers to attach it to any piece of luggage.

Continue reading “Electronic luggage tag lets travelers check-in bags from home” »

Pine A64

Meet the $15 super computer that’s the size of an iPhone.

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“There’s a reason the only robot a person is likely to have in their home today is a cleaning robot,” founder Shlomo Schwarz tells me during a recent call. “It gives added value to the person. You buy a cleaning robot because it cleans your house. You’re not buying a friend.” — when we say value; how do we know for sure. I know many consumers who bought the iRobot vacuums and don’t use them because for many of the women in my own family found it was limited in its usage.

An Israeli startup is modeling its Linux-based, Raspberry Pi-powered robot on the smartphone developer ecosystem.

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RLOL — headline alone is priceless. However, who does get blame? And, on what grounds? Negligence in the design of the product or bad product quality? What about improper application of the product because it was designed for a particular set of the population & not for a broader public use. What about the businesses using AI? Wonder what type of insurance & the amount of insurance a business would be will be required to have in place to utilize a robot cook, or robotic nurse, etc. Lots & lots of things that still require planning, restructuring, & budgeting.

Andy Rubin is best known as the creator of Android. But in 2014, he left that all behind to create his own startup called Playground, a company focused on financially backing futuristic ideas that will shape our world—hopefully for the better.

Continue reading “If Artificial Intelligence Kills Us All, I’m Blaming Android Founder Andy Rubin” »