ANDROID WEAR: WEARABLES ARE MAKING BODIES SMARTER Leslie DMonte Mint On 17 October, 2012, Sarah Rotman Epps,

an analyst with Forrester Research Inc, predicted a paradigm shift in computing. She christened it Smart Body, Smart World to describe how computing has evolved from mainframes to desktops to sensor-laden devices (SLDs) like wearables and electronic tatoos. SLDs, she said in a post on the research firms official blog, included wearable devices worn in or on the body that include accessories like Google Glass or the Nike+ FuelBand, and electronics actually enmeshed in our skin and organs like the electronic tattoos developed by Nanshu Lu at the University of Texas at Austin, or the heads-up display contact lenses developed by researchers at Washington University. On 3 June, 2013, Jayanth Kolla, partner and founder of research firm Convergence Catalyst, forecast in his blog post that it seems only logical that after filling up our rooms (mainframes), desks (PCs) and now pockets (smartphones), computing devices will soon be on our bodies. He pointed out that there are two key dependencies for wearable computing to go mainstreamtechnology and human behaviour. He predicted that all sensor-enabled devices will slowly but surely keep altering human behaviour and adoption patterns and that users will start identifying the limits of these devices and yearn for more, all-encompassing gadgets.

NOKIA STAFF SENDS SOS TO JAYA GOVT Chennai The Economic Times (Bangalore edition) Nokia India employees, who are worried that legal wrangles could come in the way of Microsoft taking over their unit as part of a global merger, are planning to approach the state government led by J Jayalalithaa and seek its help in saving their jobs. The mobile handset maker is mired in a legal wrangle with the tax authorities who have alleged that the company has not paid the taxes due on royalty payments made to its parent firm in Finland. Last year, Nokia India was slapped with a tax notice of Rs 21,000 crore. The Supreme Court recently upheld Delhi High Courts earlier verdict asking Nokia India to provide a tax guarantee until which its Chennai facility would remain frozen. This means Microsoft which took over Nokias devices and services business last year, could go ahead with the acquisition process without taking its Chennai factory into its fold. The Nokia India Employees Union will approach the labour department of the Tamil Nadu government this week and ask it to intervene.

HANDSET MAKERS SAY NOT MANY TAKERS FOR WEARABLE DEVICES IN INDIA Gulveen Aulakh, New Delhi The Economic Times Wearable devices may be the next big thing to hit the world of telecom, but they will find very few takers in India anytime in the near future, some handset makers and experts say. Karbonn Mobiles, India's third largest smartphone seller, feels that wearable technology including Android Wear announced recently by Google, is only an accessory but the company may consider developing wearable devices on a trial basis. Wearable devices are "more of a fad. There are very few tangible use cases and it's more of an accessory", said Shashin Devsare, executive director at Karbonn Mobiles. He was speaking on the sidelines of launching three smartphone models which will help the company increase annual revenue to Rs 8,000 crore in the financial year 2014-15, 60% higher than in the current fiscal year. On Tuesday, Google announced Android Wear, an operating system tailored for smart watches and wearable technology. LG and Motorola have said that they will come out with G Watch and Moto 360 in this category. Google is working with leading multinational device makers like Samsung, Asus and HTC and chipmakers, including Qualcomm, Intel and Mediatek, for spreading this technology for wider adoption.