corona

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At its most basic level, blockchain is literally just a chain of blocks, but not in the traditional sense of those words. When we say the words “block” and “chain” in this context, we are actually talking about digital information (the “block”) stored in a public database (the “chain”).

“Blocks” on the blockchain are made up of digital pieces of information. Specifically, they have three parts:

1. Blocks store information about transactions like the date, time, and dollar amount of your most recent purchase from Amazon. (NOTE: This Amazon example is for illustrative purchases; Amazon retail does not work on a blockchain principle as of this writing)
2. Blocks store information about who is participating in transactions. A block for your splurge purchase from Amazon would record your name along with Amazon .com, Inc. (AMZN). Instead of using your actual name, your purchase is recorded without any identifying information using a unique “digital signature,” sort of like a username.
3. Blocks store information that distinguishes them from other blocks. Much like you and I have names to distinguish us from one another, each block stores a unique code called a “hash” that allows us to tell it apart from every other block. Hashes are cryptographic codes created by special algorithms. Let’s say you made your splurge purchase on Amazon, but while it’s in transit, you decide you just can’t resist and need a second one. Even though the details of your new transaction would look nearly identical to your earlier purchase, we can... (More)

• Senseforth’s conversational AI platform could be the answer for brands seeking automated services during the crisis
• Enterprises had slowly been turning to AI to scale up customer services, bridge gaps and cut costs. Now, adoption is faster

Organizations like banks, hospitals and civic bodies are dealing with a growing avalanche of customer service demands. Call centres can’t scale up at this speed. This is hastening the adoption of automated options like conversational AI, or chatbots in popular parlance.Bengaluru startup Senseforth, for example, has started running a pilot project to automate citizen services in Switzerland using its conversational AI platform.

“Government services are hugely impacted as they need to respond to citizens affected by the coronavirus situation. So they’re seeing the advantages of AI-powered services,"

• The three-year-old bootstrapped startup, which was initially a consultancy called Etrix, found the ecosystem more favourable in Europe for its products
• Unlike AR apps that are bandwidth-heavy and hard to deploy, Scotty uses WebGL, a JavaScript API, to render graphics on a compatible browser

At the height of the Covid-19 outbreak in the Chinese province of Wuhan, where the coronavirus emerged, a Bengaluru startup’s innovation helped deal with it. Wuhan will be coming out of quarantine on April 8, after two and a half months of a lockdown, with new infections dropping to zero. As a Chinese official told Bloomberg in February, “It’s like fighting a war—some things are hard but must be done."

One of the measures Wuhan took was to set up emergency medical centres on a war footing. Ventilators were vital and many came from a German manufacturer, Huber & Ranner. The trouble was technicians could not go to Wuhan to help install them. This is where BlinkIn, housed in the Nasscom CoE in Bengaluru, entered the scene.

Unlike AR apps that are bandwidth-heavy and hard to deploy, Scotty uses WebGL, a JavaScript API, to render graphics on a compatible browser.

“WebGL lets you access a mobile phone’s GPU (graphics processing unit) to run computer vision algorithms. That’s how we bring AR experiences through the Web rather than a mobile app," explains Harshwardhan Kumar, CEO and co-founder of BlinkIn.

A group of startup entrepreneurs in Bengaluru is developing an app and creating technological solutions to help the government track and monitor people in home quarantine and contain the spread of Covid-19.

Globally, the number of positive cases stand at 336,000, with death toll at 14,641. In India, cases have surged to 390, including six deaths. Karnataka had 26 cases, with one death.

One such solution called ‘Q-app’ or quarantine app, expected to go live this week, aims to live-track those in home quarantine as well as provide colour-coded information to identify areas with large number of positive cases.

The core group, that was formed last Monday, includes Abhiraj Singh Bhal, co-founder of services startup, Urban Company, Vivekananda Hallekere, CEO and co-founder of app-based two-wheeler rental startup, Bounce, entrepreneur and angel investor Alok Mittal and Sanjay Vijaykumar of Startup Village.

The group is not only building the “Q-App" but also looking at creating content and dissemination of information in vernacular languages as well as solutions for medical supplies.

There are at least four versions of solutions that include mobile and web-based apps that would be handed over to the Karnataka government.