Beginner’s guide to car audio systems

Introduction

Good sound or good music has the ability to delight your soul. A good audio system in your car is pure eargasm while on the move. If you’re new to the world of car audio systems, check out our article on how the in-car infotainment system evolved with time here and they seem to have become more sophisticated with each passing year.

Almost everyone has different opinions on car audio systems, and some people love the look of their factory stereo. If you have a late model car with an integrated infotainment system, upgrading the stereo can be difficult. In either case, there are several ways to improve a factory sound system.

One interesting thing about upgrading your car audio is that there’s no right way or wrong way to go about it, in fact, the best thing about upgrading factory audio systems is that almost any component you replace will at least represent a marginal improvement.

The guide to “car audio” starts with an understanding of what each component contributes to the overall audio experience you have. But it’s important to be able to identify the pitfalls that you notice in your car audio, then know the right fix for each problem.

However, no matter how many complexities arise in the technological aspect, a car audio system only has three basic components. So if you’re considering upgrading your car’s audio system, keep in mind that the components listed below are the ones you must include.

If you are going by the budget-conscious piecemeal route, then you must plan on how you want the final system to look and sound like. If you do that, you’ll end up with components that work pretty well together.

There are many options when you build a car infotainment system from the ground up, so people who have never performed this task may shy away from that sort of drastic change.

Now, if you dive in, consider the types of features you want your car to sound like.

If you’re working on a tight budget, you can do some things to improve the sound quality. You can even replace components one at a time, depending on what your speculated budget permits, and eventually, you’ll have a completely custom car sound system.

Know the main components!

Head Units

This is the brain behind everything. In the beginning, head units were simply radio tuners which, as time went by, became proficient in providing audio signals from cassette tapes and CD players. In the modern-day vehicles, the head unit is often integrated into its entire “infotainment system”, which is the central console that also often houses climate controls and provides navigation.

Today, most head units have USB ports, Bluetooth connectivity, Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, etc to connect other devices and play digital music, built-in satellite and Internet capabilities, and whatnot.

Now it is entirely up to you what you want in your car.

Either way, we advise you to end up with a head unit that is capable of powering the speakers. You can also go for a head unit with pre-amp outputs and an amplifier capable of fully powering the speakers.

Speakers

It’s an old rule of thumb, but it remains true: even the best car stereo won’t sound great on lousy speakers. If your car’s stock car audio system shows distortion, lacks clarity during high-frequency ranges, and blasts hollow bass notes, you may improve the sound system in your vehicle with a worthwhile speaker upgrade.

If your car only has two or four-speaker slots, they are probably coaxial speakers, which means a single speaker head features both the woofer and a tweeter. The easiest way to replace them is with better coaxial speakers, preferably made with more superior materials.

A decent set of front speakers might only set you back less than ten grand. Component speakers provide even better sound, but that’s a complicated upgrade that’s better paired with a new car stereo.

Discrete speaker components sound even better because the tweeters and woofers operate separately, producing greater sound clarity. But this upgrade often requires cutting new speaker mounts, complex rewiring, and other actions best performed by a technician, an experienced installer of sound systems for cars.

At least four speakers make up most car audio systems, although you can play with various configurations that will allow you to add more.

There are several types of speakers, including coaxial, component, and subwoofers. A coaxial speaker is one unit that houses both the tweeter, which takes care of the treble or higher range notes and the woofer, which deals with the Bass or the lower to mid-range frequencies. On the other hand, component speakers are simply a set of speakers that separate the woofer and the tweeters. Subwoofers, meanwhile, are designed to reproduce Bass and sub-bass that is typically lower than what a woofer can generate.

More often than not, car owners prefer upgrading the speakers that come with their car because its sound quality is often poor. Go for speakers that are constructed better and are usually made of cloth and foam. Some excellent speakers have rubber, metal, silk, and other synthetic materials. Car owners can enjoy full-bodied Bass, pristine sound in high-frequency ranges, and a lack of distortion with these speakers.

Amplifiers

Turning up the volume.

If you’re concerned about high volume, an amplifier is still an essential component you need to add to your system. You’ll probably need an amp with speaker-level inputs if you’re leaving the factory stereo in place, but some premium factory fitted head units come with line-level outputs.

It’s easy to overpower the speakers when you add a powerful amplifier to a factory sound system. With that in mind, consider upgrading the speakers first if you want to crank up the volume all the way blasting out of the windows.

As mentioned above, the speakers receive the audio signal from the amplifier and serve as the output devices that in turn convert the electrical energy of that signal into sound.

Despite what we said above about having great speakers, it’s also quite true that great speakers only sound as good as their amplifier. You may get an uplift in quality with new speakers alone. Still, discrete car audio systems will require more sophisticated amplifiers that can output to multiple, distinct speaker channels. A good amp can output well to tweeters and woofers, for example, and even subwoofers, for that matter.

An amplifier does precisely what its name implies; it takes the audio signal that the head unit sends out and amplifies it on its way to the speakers. Not only does an amplifier increase the power of that audio signal from the head unit, but it also improves the quality of the sound. With speakers hooked up to an amplifier, you should be able to turn up the volume without it producing crackling sounds and distorting the audio quality. The sound is cleaner, more unmistakable, all making your listening experience much much better.

Not all amplifiers are created equal, though, so you can vastly improve your car audio by simply upgrading your amplifier to superior ones.

Adding more Bass

If the only thing you’re missing is Bass, add a subwoofer to your factory system in either of the two ways:

Add an amplifier and a subwoofer.
Add a powered subwoofer. Subwoofer in a car trunk

Powered subwoofers are a more straightforward proposition, but adding an amplifier and a subwoofer allows you more flexibility. Either way, a subwoofer is the best way to get that bass thumping.

If you want to go by the easiest way to add more bass to your car audio system, a powered amplifier with speaker-level inputs is the way to go. These units combine an amplifier and a subwoofer into one unit, and they can be hooked up to any factory or aftermarket head unit.

Doing it right

The most important thing to look for is a good wiring harness specifically designed for your vehicle requirements. This harness plugs into the factory wiring, so you won’t have to cut into any of your car stereo system wires and mess up with the electricals.

Some of these wiring harnesses are even designed to plug into a new head unit altogether, which means there’s no wiring involved at all. This is the easiest way to install a new head unit, and it ensures that you can pop the factory stereo back to stock any time you want.

What Does Your System Lack?

While many other components can affect the overall audio quality, those are the top three pieces of every car audio system. Now, consider the fact that your vehicle’s sound isn’t up to your expectations. What complaints do you have?

Your Speakers Buzz

Factory-installed speakers aren’t of the best quality, but you can easily upgrade to an aftermarket set that provides a broader range of sound. If you want an upgrade, particularly in the speaker department, install a separate woofer and tweeters along with component speakers for a good midrange sound.

There Is Not Enough Power

If the sound quality simply feels like it could need more “oomph”, your amplifier is likely the culprit in this scenario. Since it delivers more power to your new speakers, you should get more clarity without any kind of distortion.

There Isn’t Enough Detail.

If you’re a music-head audiophile, you know that layers of audio are very much essential to the full sound experience. An upgraded head unit could help enhance your jazz or classical listening, taking your hearing experience to another level.

Evaluating Your Car Audio System

If your car stereo sounds OK to you, that’s exactly what all the OEMs are looking for. Even factory-installed premium sound systems usually aren’t up to mark. So how can you tell if your factory audio needs a little tender loving care?

Here’s a test that anyone can do:

Sit in your car and close all the doors and windows.

Play your favourite music and turn up the volume.

Don’t be afraid to go higher than you usually would, but try avoiding blasting the sound and go blow-out-your-eardrums high.

Listen to the music and start noticing the drawbacks.

If you need to turn up the treble due to lack of clarity, that’s something that a speaker upgrade can fix.

If you turn up the bass figure, you have the Bass sounding hollow or empty, that’s also something an upgrade can fix.

If the music sounds distorted when the volume is up really high, that’s another thing you can take care of with a bit of tinkering with the amplifying system mentioned.

So, where do you start from? There are different ways to dig into a factory sound system upgrade. Answering a handful of questions can set you on the right path:

How important is your budget? Do you have much money to spend on upgrades?
Do you want to improve the sound while keeping your factory stereo?
Would you instead ditch the factory stereo and start fresh?
How important is Bass?
Do you like listening to your music loud?

You might be surprised at how the simple act of pondering those five questions sets you on the road to building a great car audio system.

Best of CES 2022

CES is the most influential tech event globally, and just like ordinary people await a new year, tech enthusiasts wait for the CES event, which offers them a head start to begin the new year on a good note. The 2022 edition unveiled numerous out of the box products for which it has been known since its inception. Due to the ongoing Covid situation and fear of new variants like Omicron, many publications (including us) were unable to attend the CES 2022 physically.

However, the technology came in as a rescuer, as most of the publications preferred to participate in the world’s largest electronics expo remotely, making the show kind of Hybrid. The event was vast like always, but we’ve mustered up the things in categories and top picks to make things easier for you. The 52nd edition of the event spotlighted the latest innovations from leading companies such as Google, Qualcomm, Sony, Samsung, LG, BMW, and many more.

Top TVs at CES 2022

CES is known as a battleground for TV makers, and every year the show floor looks packed with several top-notch TVs, and this year was no different. Amongst the top TVs revealed at CES, the one that grabbed our attention was the Sony A95K QD-OLED, world’s first consumer QD-OLED TV which can display the full spectrum of colours even in the brightest settings.

Though, the display panel of A95K is made by none other than Samsung. We expected Samsung might come up with QD-OLED 4K TV, but the South Korean tech giant had other plans. Samsung launched its 65″ QD-Display TV with quantum dots that combines a groundbreaking new QD-OLED display. The decision went well as the TV won the Best of Innovation award at CES 2022.

Besides Sony and Samsung, LG TVs were the ones that held our attention. The company presented a number of 8K and 4K OLEDs, several new QNED mini-LED TVs, and even a MicroLED TV at CES 2022 to compete with its rivals. Along with these companies, Panasonic announces a sound-focused OLED TV to attract all the audiophiles out there.

Top Laptops at CES 2022

CES 2022 introduced several new top-notch laptops, which means the year is going to be a busy one in terms of laptop launches. The 2022 event of CES witnessed a vast number of laptops with full-HD (1080p) webcams, thanks to the work-from-home culture. The event also became a launching platform for new components like Intel (12th Gen CPUs) and Nvidia (GeForce RTX 3070 Ti and 3080 Ti laptop GPUs).

Design is the first thing we notice when looking at the techie things, and Dell XPS 13 Plus is something else in terms of design. The futuristic laptop has a remarkable design, decent specs, and it directly competes with the MacBook Air lineup. The minimalist laptop comes with the OLED touchscreen option and offers snappy performance, making it more premium than ever.

The next one on the list is Acer Predator Triton 500 SE, which has a roomy 16-inch high-refresh display, and it comes with 12th Generation Intel Core i9 processors and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 3080 Ti GPU. The top tier gaming laptop offers a 2,560 by 1,600 pixel resolution, a 240Hz refresh rate and a wide-colour-gamut panel with 550 nits of brightness.

TCL, a company known for its TV’s launched itself in the laptop industry with its first laptop called the TCL Book 14 Go. The Windows 11 laptop is packed with 12-hour battery life, 4G LTE connectivity, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7c platform. The entry-level laptop offers a 720p video camera, 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB of built-in storage and stereo speakers, along with a built-in microphone.

Top Audio Gears at CES 2022

CES is not all about big players; sometimes, a few underdogs create hype and amaze everyone. One such company is Noveto, which launched the N1 3D Audio Smart Speaker, a device with built-in Alexa intelligence and Noveto’s proprietary innovative audio beaming technology. The speciality of N1 soundbar is that it offers spatial 3D audio, and only the listener can hear the music.

HyperX Cloud Alpha is one of the most favourite headphones of gamers, and CES 2022 unveiled the wireless version of it with a massive battery said to last for a whopping 300 hours of use, which means you don’t have to worry about charging anymore. We’re not sure whether 300-hours is a marketing strategy or not, but even if it works 50% of what is promised, it would be a great move.

If you’re one of such people who own an iPhone and an Android phone but find it challenging to carry different earbuds for each of them, Belkin has something for you in-store to make your life easier. Belkin launched Belkin SOUNDFORM Immerse Noise-Cancelling Earbuds at CES 2022, which has three mics to shush the world and 8 hours of playtime for the earbuds plus 28 hours in the charging case.

Top Car-tech at CES 2022

BMW knows how to cure boredom, and that’s why they created a colour-changing car, to keep us sane from the boredom of having one coloured vehicle. The BMX iX fully electric car debuted at CES 2022, and it has body panels made from E Ink displays. The vehicle comes with luxurious features, an elegant design, and an impressive estimated 450-480 km range.

Following the footsteps of EV culture, Sony introduced their all-electric vehicle, Sony Vision-S-02. The company stated in a blog post that they will establish an operating company, ‘Sony Mobility Inc.’ in the spring of 2022, which means Sony could take on Tesla with its EV’s. The car allows you to play PlayStation games through a remote connection to a console at home; what more could you ask for in a car?

Top Wearable at CES 2022

CES 2022 was marked as a launching platform for many wearables, but only a few exciting launches stayed with us even after the event. The subtle looking Garmin Venu 2 Plus was launched at the event, an updated version of the Venu 2. The watch is compatible with Siri, Google Assistant, Bixby, and it is the first Garmin watch with a microphone, allowing you to make and take calls from the wrist.

Along with the Venu 2 Plus, Garmin launched a minimalist looking Garmin Vivomove Sport, which comes in various colours, has a five-day battery life, and offers plenty of fitness and health tracking features. Besides Garmin, Skagen launched a special limited edition version of Fossil gen 6 X Razer with three unique watch faces. It has a 1.28-inch AMOLED display, Snapdragon Wear 4100+ and 8GB of storage.

How Apps Like Instagram and TikTok Created Online Superstars

Gone are the days when fans would fill their room with posters of Shah Rukh Khan, or girls writing letters to Rajesh Khanna with their blood, or people just resorting to any level of insanity to meet their icons. The euphoria around a star has watered down. Now, we have online superstars.

Today, almost every actor is omnipresent; they are in our bedrooms, dinner tables, workspaces, and bathrooms(well, not quite literally). The ‘I wonder’ factor of the actors that we once frowned upon went in absolute absentia when their daily-life updates got conveniently displayed on our smartphones. We became aware that these superstars, whom we considered Demi-Gods, sit, walk, and talk like us.

It feels like yesterday when everyone was just too invested in Vines, and Dubsmash, a lip-syncing platform, gave birth to a new generation of content creators. And boom! There was TikTok. The lip-sync platform magnetized the whole of Generation-Z in creating feature skits and dance videos lasting for 15 seconds.

Today everyone has become fair game, with the rise of new products germinating around the contemporary cultural landscape – the social media influencers.

This relationship of the rising generation with these creative platforms is very telling of what they stand for. Across different socio-economic backgrounds, the present generation reject prejudices, stereotypes and gender-norms, and practice identity expressions with pragmatism. They are open to changes and are much more aware of the world around them.

What I have noticed being on social media for a while is that while millennials prefer consuming feeds, it is the Gen-Z who are more actively creating the content.

15 Seconds of Fame

Tik-Tok introduced the concept of showing your creativity in 15 seconds, and the world went bananas. Why should I wait for a film so eagerly if I could conveniently swipe through raw and more authentic short videos of people who look like you and me?

A while back, a man from rural India, who lives in a small hut with his wife and other family members, went viral for his extraordinary dance moves. This story is just a wave in an ocean of opportunities that these ‘nobodies have been provided through this platform. The thing is, you never know what clicks among the audience until one day you turn your life upside down with millions of followers.

TikTok’s ‘cringe-including’ content is a potential meme material for Internet inhabitants, but it is a source of liberation and a confidence booster for millions of users. So mocking TikTok is alright and quite fashionable, but dismissing the platform is just plain foolish.

When TikTok got banned in India due to the rising tension between India and China, Instagram saw an opportunity there and cloned the concept in their Reels that now allows you to create content over up to a minute.

Cashing it Out

Instagram and TikTok have enabled everyone to be a creator. You don’t need high-end equipment anymore to bring your creativity out in front of the lens. You might be an actor, artist, dancer, doctor, financial advisor, student, or anything under the sun; you could be a star on Tik-Tok if you know the art of connecting with the audience.

I will be lying if I say I do not get covetous of the influencer’s ability to produce easy money through brands and advertisements while I work my ass off to afford the basic necessities. But there’s no hate here; infact, there’s a sense of understanding that they are moulding themselves to what today’s ‘social media generation’ needs, while individuals like are satisfied with just consuming or disdaining it.

The present generation has lost a sense of attentiveness when it comes to consuming content. The attention span has seemingly gone down with the introduction of the Internet. We now want to jump from one content to another without even trying to find any sense in what we have just watched. We do not know what it is to wait and think about what we just witnessed. In a sense, we are leeches in a human skull, which are harmless to none but to our own intelligence.

Now coming back to the content creators, have you ever wondered how much do influencers earn? These influencers can be 17 years old or can go up to 50, but their pay is directly related to their number of followers. Depending on the followers and their niche, they can charge from Rs 15,000 to over a lakh for a post. Moreover, a lot of people pay them for collaborations and appearances. I kid you not; there was a whole reality show on some streaming platform based on these social influencers’ lives. Such is the height of success, they get to taste.

Brands have understood that in order to connect directly with their customers, they need to give up the traditional way of advertising their products through television and instead use the tool of social media, which is much more convenient and cost-friendly.

Conclusion

It doesn’t matter whether you hate the content or love to make or consume it, you cannot ignore the fact that platforms like Instagram, Youtube, TikTok have given a chance to young minds from all nooks and corners of the world to make a universe for their own self and get to be a hero in it. Isn’t that all we want deep inside or something we dream of with our eyes wide open?

Here’s what social media is doing to the present generation.

Exhibit Tech Awards 2021

After what seems like an eternity, Exhibit hosted Exhibit Tech Awards 8.0 at Sofitel, BKC, Mumbai, on 16th December 2021. We started with selecting our nominations over two months ago. Our office is filled with ringing phones and endless mail trails—technology brands connected with our entire team to nominate their best products across all the categories.

When we spread the word on social media, we were suggested by many tech brands and their products by our trusted followers. The criteria were simple; the product should be available on sale in 2021 and ideally should be launched in the same year, matching our award categories. The pandemic had many brands slowing their launches last year, and thus some categories saw little to no launches in the past year. We aren’t the government, and hence we bent some rules to allow these products to be nominated in their respective categories.

Before we knew it, our team sorted products bombarding our office premises. From TWS earbuds to 85-inch televisions, the mix of products never fails to get our dopamine flowing. This is the eighth time we are hosting Tech Awards, but every time feels like the first time. Thanks to technology changing its pace in an ever-changing tech world. Newer products, newer brands and many unique products were just the start of the process.

A week of what seemed like a decade went by sorting the products that met our criteria. Finally, our nominations were in place, and the rest of the products were returned to their respective brands. Some categories like wearables and TWS earbuds had more entries than we anticipated. We had the best of our techies listen to the earbuds, test the wearables, and further shortlist the ones worth being the best of the rest.

Our web, social media, editors and marketing team came together as a total unit to make these nominations live on our website. We spread the word through many posts on social media, articles on the web and several emails to the respective brands. Exhibit.tech hosted a dedicated page for all the nominations, with the ability to vote for all our visitors.

The rules were simple, sign up and vote. Voters were restricted to vote only once through each IP, email ID and phone number. We wanted the voting process to be as fair as possible. And, so it was. Although some companies did opt to share the voting links among their employees and tried to increase their probability, voters across the globe are a number hard to beat. We saw an overwhelming response, and our servers were clogged for a few minutes. Votings were kept live till 10th December 2021. We witnessed IPs from across the globe voting across categories.

While the people of this world were busy voting their preferred products under each category, we had the best of professionals joining our jury panel. Meet our Jury – (Jury team and a few lines about each Eg. Arun Prabhudesai, a famous youtube tech celebrity in India with over 10.5 million followers) Our Jury brainstormed on the products nominated for a month. It was not an easy task with most Jury members located in other cities across India. Jury members risked their lives travelling, meeting and brainstorming the winners under each category.

Criteria for winning under each nomination was 60% decided by public voting and 40% by jury members. Many categories had nominees battling in a neck to neck competition, and the Jury had a hard time choosing one over the other. The Jury finalised their decisions on 8th December after hours of deliberation. Votes from the public and the Jury were counted, and our winners were decided.

Exhibit Tech Awards – The Event

Sofitel, BKC, Mumbai, was looking ready on 16th December 2021 to host the Exhibit Tech Awards 8.0. Being an invite-only event had the registration personnel scrutinising the attendees with invites, masks, vaccine certifications and everything else to ensure that the event attendees and awardees were in a safe place. Thanks to management at Sofitel, BKC, Mumbai, everyone was accommodated on their respective seats under proper social distancing guidelines. Attendees from the world of technology, Bollywood, social media influencers, bloggers and many more brought liveliness to the event. After being seated, Exhibit Tech Awards 8.0 commenced on time, adhering to strict state guidelines.

The open lawn at Sofitel, BKC, Mumbai, was our choice for the event, considering that temperatures are pleasant in Mumbai during this time of the year. Red carpet attendees were greeted and interviewed by Miss Nashpreet Singh. Before we knew it, our attendees included Mr Arjun Kapoor, Miss Tanisha Mukherjee, Miss Sanya Malhotra, Miss Ekta Maru, Mr Aryan Bajwa, Miss Claudia Cecelia and many more. A beautifully displayed Volkswagen Tiguan stood amongst the stars adding zeal to the event. The bar was open before the event started, and spirits were high. We started the show by greeting the audience, attendees, personnel, partners, and Exhibit group to arrange an outdoor event. The audience was filled with known faces across technology brands anticipating their brand and products to win.

The event started with introducing the hosts, followed by Jury introductions. Before we move further, here is our Jury – Chief executive, Reliance Digital – Mr Brian Bade, fashion and style himself – Mr Shane Peacock, a popular youtube tech and auto celebrity – Mr Arun Prabhudesai, additional DG of police and cyber security expert – Mr Brijesh Singh, ace photographer – Avinash Gowariker, joint MD at Future Retail Ltd and a tech enthusiast – Mr Rakesh Biyani, the man behind timeless tunes – DJ Aqeel, tech and gaming youtube celebrity with over 22million followers and counting – Mr Ujjwal Chaurasia and last but not the least the founder and CEO of Exhibit group – Mr Ramesh Somani.

Mr Ramesh Somani facilitated the Jury members with their gift hampers. We also started by thanking our presenting partner – Reliance Digital, which has been our pillar since Exhibit tech awards 1.0; A big shout out to Volkswagen for coming back as our driven-by partner and the all-new beautiful Tiguan parked in all its glory, our celebration partner 100 pipers and gifting partner – Carerra for making this event possible in an ongoing pandemic. This was soon followed by a sneak peek of our past Exhibit Tech Awards mashup video featuring prominent brands and celebrities.

Nominations and Winners

We started the event with Mr Shane Peacock announcing the winner of smart wearable of the year. The nominations for this category were Apple Watch Series 7, Realme Watch 2 Pro, OPPO Band Style and Noise ColorFit Pro 3. The winner for smart wearable of the year was the Apple Watch Series 7.

Second up were the nominations for Home Theatre of the Year. The competitors were JBL Cinesystem 500SI, Sony HT-S40R, Yamaha YHT-3072, Zebronics – Zeb-Juke Bar 9800DWS Pro Dolby Atmos, and Samsung’s Premiere. Mr Brijesh Singh, our honourable Jury member, presented the award to the winner for Home Theatre of the Year – Sony HT-S40R.

Before we knew it, Mr Arjun Kapoor informed us that he had to be at another event. Thus, Mr Ramesh Somani and Mr Kaushal Neverekar – President & Chief Business Officer – Reliance Digital and Mr Ashish Gupta – Brand Director, Volkswagen India, awarded Mr Arjun Kapoor – the Techy Celeb of the Year award. Mr Arjun Kapoor was honoured to receive the award and thanked the Exhibit group for the same.

The next category to announce their nominations was Gaming Gear of the Year. Nominations included – HyperX Pulsefire Haste Mouse, Predator XB3 Monitor, Logitech G Pro Wireless Mouse, Seagate FireCuda 530 with Heatsink. Mr Arun Prabhudesai, a youtube influencer, announced Seagate FireCuda 530 with Heatsink as the winner.

The headphone of the year was our next category in the queue. Nominations included – Jabra Evolve2 75, Apple Airpods Max, Sennheiser IE 300 and Bose Quietcomfort 45. Mr Avinash Gowariker presented this award to the winner – Jabra Evolve2 75.

As a breather, the event shone lights on an audio-visual spectacle of Tech Fashion tour, an exciting amalgamation of Tech and Fashion from the past six years.

Soon we ventured into the category of Premium TV of the Year. The nominations for the same were The Frame by Samsung, LG OLED G1, VU Masterpiece 85″, Mi QLED TV 75″ and Hisense 55-inch QLED TV (55U6G). Mr Kaushal Neverekar, President and Chief Business Officer, Reliance Digital, presented this award to LG OLED G1.

One of the most popular and strenuous to judge categories was TWS earbuds of the year. There were numerous nominations – Jabra Elite 7 Pro, Jabra Elite 7 Active, AIWA 80X FANC, Realme Buds Air 2, OPPO Enco X, Devialet Gemini and Galaxy Buds Pro. Mr Ashish Gupta, Brand Director Volkswagen India, announced the Galaxy Buds Pro winner.

Gaming laptop of the year had most of our voters and judges brainstorming to choose one as a winner. The result was a tie, and the nominations for the same included Acer Predator Helios 300 11th Gen, Victus by HP 16″, Lenovo Legion 5 Pro and MSI GP76 Leopard 11UG. The tie winners Acer Predator Helios 300 11th Gen and Victus by HP 16″ were presented their awards by the beautiful Miss Ekta Maru.

The most popular gadget that is least thought of in our daily use was the next category – Wireless router of the year. Nominations under this category were DLink – R15, Linksys Max-Stream Mesh WiFi 6, Tenda AC10 and Motorola MH7022 Whole Home WiFi Mesh System. The winner was DLink – R15, and the handsome Mr Arjan Bajwa presented the award.

With the growing versatility of televisions, our unique product category was 4K TV of the year. Nominations included VU Cinema TV Action Series, Realme Smart TV 4K 50″, LG C1 Series, Samsung Crystal 4K UHD and Mi TV 5X 55″. The gorgeous saree Miss Tanisha Mukherjee presented the award to Miss Devita Saraf, CEO of VU Televisions for VU Cinema TV Action Series as the winner under this category.

We all love automobiles. The audience was presented with a glimpse of all the madness we as a team witnessed riding and driving at our sister concern BBC Top gear India. It was an insane rush of some of the best beauties on wheels. Bikes, cars, roads and their exhaust notes were the perfect audio-visual nirvana for automobile enthusiasts.

One of the most talked-about categories of Exhibit Tech Awards was the Budget Smartphone of the Year (Below 20k). Nominations were tough competitors, namely Moto G60, Redmi Note 10 Pro Max and Nokia G10. Our Jury member Mr Arun Prabhudesai announced Motorola G60 as the winner.

Moving on from budget smartphones, the next category and one of the most selling ones across Indian markets is Budget Television of the Year. The nominations – Hisense 55A73F (Tornado Series), Acer Boundless Series 43-inch, Intex LED 5012, Xiaomi Mi 5x and Samsung Crystal 4k UHD. The winner of this category – Xiaomi Mi 5x was a crowd and Jury favourite for the value proposition it brings to the table.

The professional camera of the year is one category that sees the same players in the industry. Nominations here were pretty new products from the camera giants of this realm – Canon EOS M50 Mark II, Nikon Z7 II, Panasonic Lumix and Fujifilm GFX 50S II. Looking stunning, Miss Claudia Ciesla presented the award to our winner – Canon EOS M50 Mark II.

Tech Leader of the Year is another category at Exhibit Tech Awards, witnessing loads of competition. Competing against the best among the best, Mr Madhav Sheth, CEO, Realme India, was awarded this honour. Due to travel and covid reasons addressed the attendees via an audio-visual presentation and thanking note.

Our next category was Storage Device of the Year with nominators SanDisk Expand Wireless Charger Sync, Toshiba Canvio Flex 4TB Portable External HDD and Seagate One Touch with Password and WD My Passport SSD. Presenting the winner WD My Passport SSD was our Jury member Mr Arun Prabhudesai.

Luxury Tech of the Year saw many products that made no sense together apart from their price tag and target audience. Nominations ranged from Acer Concept D, Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Carbon, Sennheiser IE 900, Apple Watch Series 7 Hermes, Galaxy Z Fold3 5G and Samsung Neo QLED TV. Mr Krissan Barretto presented the award to Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 5G.

Our founder and CEO, Mr Ramesh Somani, presented our awardees starting with Innovative Tech of the Year. Nominations were a mixed bag, including Jabra PanaCast 50, Hypervolt GO, Zhiyun Weebill 2 Pro, Apple Macbook Air M1 and Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G. The winner for this category was Jabra PanaCast 50 for its exciting innovations.

Following the innovations in the tech industry was the award for Innovative Tech in the Auto industry. Mr Ramesh Somani presented this award to JK Tyres for their Smart Tyre technology.

We have been A-1 since Day-1 when it comes to recognising influencer talent. The Exhibit group has recognised talent all across India for the past three years, and everyone present at the event was given a little glimpse of our IP – InfluencEX Awards

Lenovo ideapad slim 51 was awarded the winner for WFH Laptop of the Year. It was a tough competition among the nominations – HP Pavillion Aero 13, Acer Swift 3, Realme Book (slim) and the winner of this category. This category was introduced thanks to the new working habits during an ongoing pandemic.

Our next category is for workaholics around the globe. A machine that will work tirelessly irrespective of your work, flight and sleep schedules. The nominations for the Business Laptop of the Year included Dell Latitude 9520, Acer TravelMate P2, Lenovo ThinkPad T14 and MSI Summit E16 Flip A11UCT. Being a crowd favourite and aligning with Jury votes, the winner for this category was Dell Latitude 9520.

Camera Smartphone of the Year is one category with numerous nominations. Our top picks nominated were Motorola Edge 20 Pro, Vivo X70 PRO+, Oppo Reno 6 Pro 5G, Mi 11 Ultra 5G and Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G. Vivo X70 PRO+ was awarded the best among the rest in this category by Mr Kaushal Neverekar, President and Chief Business Officer, Reliance Digital.

With the gaming craze hitting the youth and young at heart in India, our next category was interesting – Gaming Smartphone of the Year. Nominations included Realme GT 5G, Motorola Edge 20 Pro, Oppo Find X3 Pro, Asus ROG 5, iQOO 7 Legend and Galaxy Z Fold3 5G. Mr Vijay Mahar presented the winner – Asus ROG 5 as the best gaming smartphone of the year.

The A+ tier is the Premium Smartphone of the Year award. Nominations were heavy hitters like the OnePlus 9 Pro, Realme GT NEO2 5G, Oppo Reno 6 Pro 5G, Apple iPhone 13 Pro and Vivo X70 Pro+. Miss Ekta Maru presented the award to Apple iPhone 13 pro as the year’s premium smartphone.

All the winners were called on stage alongside our founder and CEO, Mr Ramesh Somani, Mr Kaushal Neverekar – President & Chief Business Officer – Reliance Digital and Mr Ashish Gupta – Brand Director, Volkswagen India, for a group photo. The awardees were in plenty and filled the stage from one end to the other.

Last but not least, the dynamic trio of Mr Ramesh Somani, Founder and CEO, Exhibit group, Mr Kaushal Neverekar – President & Chief Business Officer – Reliance Digital and Mr Ashish Gupta – Brand Director, Volkswagen India presented the stunning in red Miss Sanya Malhotra as the disruptive talent of the year awardee.

After months of public and jury voting, Mr Ramesh Somani thanked the attendees and the awardees for winning their awards. The event ended on a high with a bar and dining open to all present. Our partners were thanked for their association, and the 8th edition of Exhibit Tech Awards was a great success with happy smiling faces all across the open lawns at Sofitel, BKC, Mumbai.

How IOT AND OTT applications amount to Future Technologies?

Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, and Amazon Prime Instant Video are just some of the clear examples of successful OTT content delivery services. DirectTV’s lucrative sports package and HBO’s popular Game of Thrones series are just some of the top OTT streaming content that can be streamed across multiple screens and portable devices. As Ott content is delivered over a broadband connection to the Internet, consumers also have more options.

The dramatic rise of nimble (OTT) content providers like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video challenges this dominance, reduces revenue, and threatens growth. Consider how OTT services have changed the way we consume television and the media in a very short space of time. If the network-wide and communications-wide transformation is to deliver anything, we could see a similar revolution with the arrival of over-the-top service providers (OTTs), a cocktail of innovative services, the widespread popularity of smart devices, and a hint of widespread and widely available broadband.

As network operators develop home technologies to unlock the low latency and high capacity of 5G, OTT providers and broadcasters will have the opportunity to offer their viewers services ranging from live sports, 4K and 360 videos, headcam recording, virtual reality, and other immersive experiences. Shortly, 5G is expected to disrupt the way we consume content and global OTT operators are aware of this well. It will pave the way for the fourth industrial revolution with high-speed wireless connectivity, AR and VR apps, autonomous vehicles, personalization based on consumer preferences, access to continuous health monitoring through IoT and Smart City devices, and the development of exciting and innovative services.

The Internet of Things ( IoT ) is an emerging network of smart devices and sensors including many everyday items that begin to send and receive data. New York, 2020 – Analysts predict that the Internet of Things will eventually connect 20 billion devices, and these devices will generate data that can be managed and analyzed. The Internet is part of a broader challenge to America’s network infrastructure, which is likely to see a surge in traffic, owing to the increasing use of virtual reality, machine learning, and other emerging data-intensive technologies.

The latest trend in the OTT video streaming arena is the introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT). In this scenario, OTT and video platform players compete with each other to increase their subscriber base through monetization to the IoT and since OTT enables data sharing between IoT devices and OTT services there is attractive potential. In a highly competitive OTT/video platform landscape, the skilled use of data is critical to success and requires the full deployment of technologies such as AI, machine learning, automation, and IoT.

The phenomenal growth of OTT applications is largely due to improved accessibility of content via high-speed Internet, the high-quality streaming capacity of devices, and advances in technology analysis and artificial intelligence. This outbreak has led to an increase in content consumption across devices, with consumers switching from using Amazon Fire Stick and Google Chromecast to the new era of smart TVs for OTT consumption. There are new monetization opportunities for existing networks and OTT service providers to take advantage of performance improvements and cost reductions.

While we use IoT (Internet of Things) technologies, consumers will use voice shopping in the future to maintain an effortless lifestyle. The first hurdle for OTT streaming is that other technology providers will continue to meet consumer expectations. The relationship between OTT service providers and network operators will be more akin to a merger and acquisition.

In recent years, major internet companies such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft, as well as leading OTT content providers such as Netflix have heavily invested in infrastructure such as data center space and network capacity. Digital natives and OTT competitors can piggyback on this expansive infrastructure, including the last mile services that connect consumers to the content they want to see, and they can benefit from it in a variety of ways. In the Internet of Things (IoT), there are huge untapped opportunities to bring content to portable devices like this, Miller says.

The answer is to use the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, and other self-service technologies to interact with customers on a personal level. The IoT is a hybrid network with optical fiber in new locations and many, many wireless connections, according to network infrastructure experts, which increases data capacity and coverage density with small cells and distributed antenna systems. OTT and IT mobile networks are not the only areas to be affected by the IoT.

Digital Home Services (DHS) combines emerging technologies such as Oracle, IoT, AI, mobile chatbots, and remote video to support advanced digital customer management and deliver the next-generation digital home services. Replay consists of pre-integrated OTT back-end components (CMS, SMS, OTT Middleware, engagement, usage analysis, content discovery, and ad tech solutions) together with world-class UI / UX design and application development to enable our customers to experience satisfaction and grow their business.

It changes the way we consume media, underpins the business case for new services, and offers attractive prices that reach end consumers. Market forces such as exponential growth in content and a realignment of distribution models are forcing a realignment and investigating how industry technologies such as AI, immersive reality, IoT, and 5G can be leveraged.

The FCC, major pay-TV providers, and technology startups are engaged in a multi-party dispute over the future of broadcasting television content via set-top boxes and TV app ecosystems. OTT is a media service or streaming media service offered to viewers via the Internet. The term over the top (OTT) refers to the provision of audio and video content to users over the Internet without subscribing to traditional satellite providers.

The integration of Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant into OTT platforms and streaming services will provide more user-friendly and easier search options for content, voice commands, and an enhanced customer experience through artificial intelligence. Part of the OTT model is generally an IoT experience that breaks the shackles that bind us to our old approach, with each iteration enriching the user experience and expanding the possibilities of the service.
Also read : How are Utility Tokens different from Security Tokens?

How WeWork is shaping the Post-Pandemic world?

Work From Home or “WFH” is the latest trend, and it’s challenging to get folks to come to the office so much that the underlying sentiment is to quit rather than be confined to a desk space. WeWork has lots at stake, has prime-time real estate with 35 offices pan India, and is on a continually rising progress graph. We got Karan Virwani, 29-year-old CEO of WeWork India, with considerable stakes in the family-owned 3000 crore Embassy Group – one of the most influential names in Bangalore as a real estate developer. Ramesh Somani took him for a drive in the all-new Audi E-Tron in a stimulating conversation on startups, entrepreneurship, and everything in between.

Ramesh Somani: How did you get the idea from WeWork to get to India?
Karan Viirwani: It all started with my journey to starting my own business. When I was out of University, I started a hospitality business that is still running to this day, and we have a few restaurants around the city as of now. While I was doing that, even with the infrastructure and background that I had, it wasn’t easy to set up. When that happened, I went to work with my father and was training with him for almost two and a half years in the Embassy Group, where I just sat and listened to meetings and didn’t do anything significant but learn a lot.

I got considerable exposure to the real estate industry in India, and I saw that we were building a lot of office spaces for large companies. Still, no one was addressing any office space for smaller companies or startups or smaller businesses, and that’s where the idea of setting up smaller offices came into my mind.

Later on, when I was doing a lot of research, I kept reading about WeWork, and then WeWork came to India and looked for buildings for their expansion. That’s where we met, and that’s how we formed a partnership. It’s been four years since we first opened our first building, and I think we changed a bit of the country’s commercial office ecosystem.

RS: What has been your most significant learning in the Pandemic?
Karan Viirwani: I think regardless of what business it is, the pandemic has changed everyone’s plans. We went straight into controlling the costs, so we shut down all unnecessary spending, but we were lucky to get a round of funding. We raised about US$100 Million last year, just before the pandemic. So we had a lot of dry powder to survive these last two years. We managed the cash and kept as much of it in the Bank as possible. Lastly, we focussed on our people as much as possible, because finally, it’s the people who will bring the company back. Also, we’re lucky to have many good partners and build many good relationships over the journey. Unfortunately, many smaller companies left us, but many larger enterprises continued to stay with us today.

Ramesh Somani: You run WeWork as a separate entity. So tell us about that, how different you are from WeWork globally, and about your connections with them?
Karan Viirwani: I mean, now there are shareholders, and we have the brand name. So there is some amount of impact or connection. We’ve done it constantly since day one because we’ve focused heavily on building a profitable business. Even though we’re scaling very fast, we always keep an eye on making sure the unit economics are great. That allowed us to always have a business that made sense. Many people question the WeWork business model because of what happened globally. Still, if you spend time on the numbers and run this business with some discipline, it’s certainly a great business.

Ramesh Somani: What are the opportunities and challenges that you see now that work from home is coming? What do you think are the most significant opportunities and challenges ahead of WeWork?
Karan Viirwani: I think the world has a fun way of working itself out, and everyone would believe that the pandemic is terrible for us, but if you see what has happened, it’s changed everyone’s mindset on how to work and how the office needs to be treated. Earlier, people thought it was a must to have central headquarters, big offices, et cetera. But now people have realized that they want flexibility and want to be able to scale back. If something like a pandemic happens, they can reduce costs. I think coming out of this is an enormous opportunity for us. Right now, we’re probably going through the most significant threat of our business as there is no one coming to the actual office, but soon, we’ll hit back. If Zoom is a pandemic company, then I think WeWork will be the post-pandemic company for sure.

Ramesh Somani: What are the other technologies that fascinated you, and how tech are you? Also, what do you think of EV’s or particularly Audi E-Tron?
Karan Virwani: I’m very fascinated by technology. I think I was the first IT guy at WeWork. I think a lot about green tech; it has been fascinating to me, and anything that can help the environment to a more sustainable future is exciting to me. And about EV’s, I don’t think there’s any question about whether EVs are the future anymore and talking about Audi E-Tron, it is the first EV I’ve ever driven, and I’m going to remember this car for a long time. Also, what can I say about Audi’s? I’m a big Audi fan, it’s my favourite car company, and about E-Tron, it has an attractive futuristic design and luxurious interiors, and the driving experience is silently refined.

Ramesh Somani: What is the one truth you think people aren’t familiar with business and life on purpose?
Karan Virwani: I think people underestimate the value of really investing in a relationship long term. Some people always get transactional and always look at how can I gain something immediately from this relationship? I sometimes think just investing in a relationship without getting anything comes full circle at some point in life, whether it’s a year from today or ten years from today, that’s honestly something I’ve learned from my father.

Ramesh Somani: What do you think is one subject which all aspiring leaders should learn?
Karan Virwani: In today’s world, aspiring leaders should learn coding or anything related to understanding future technologies. Leaders and entrepreneurs should at least learn to understand it because leveraging that can be huge in the future because if you look at it, you are a customer of the future. Our kids are born today who grew up holding an iPad. So, I think coding should be taught in school, like a common language.

Ramesh Somani: One book that you keep reading or suggest to people, which is very inspirational?
Karan Virwani: I’m not such an avid reader, but I recently read this book by Ben Horowitz called The Hard Thing About Hard Things. And this has so many business lessons that I could relate to while growing a business that came about things, mistakes that I made, and how I should maybe handle certain situations better. I’m always following some entrepreneur or the other and trying to learn as much from that and more into youtube and watching videos.

Ramesh Somani: Are you into cycling? What are the things you do for fitness? And how do you keep yourself in such good shape?
Karam Virwani: I’m an early riser; I work out every day, and during weekends, I do lots of treks around Bangalore with my friends. I also like horse riding. We have one, which is an Embassy riding school. And so ever since I was six years old, I’ve been riding.

Ramesh Somani: How difficult is it to maintain a work-life balance?
It was initially tough to find that balance. But, I think for me, it’s not easy to say because work is a kind of life and life is a kind of work. It kind of merges in between because it’s something that we’re always doing, but I think the secret is having discipline, carving out time or taking particular time off in the year for family and people you love, or even taking a short holiday. That’s how I find it the easiest to balance.

Ramesh Somani: Every leader has to fail. The more they fail, the more they learn. Tell us some of your most significant falls? And how do you overcome them? What are the thoughts behind it?
Karan Virwani: I’ve had so many failures. Before WeWork, we had an online food delivery business, which I started through my hospitality and restaurant businesses. It was called Entree. If you look at it right now, it was a great idea, but it was not an easy task. It needs a lot of capital, and it’s more like you’re giving your life to that kind of mission. And that wasn’t necessarily my life’s mission.
We did gain a lot of popularity in Bangalore, but we had to shut down just for financial reasons. I think that was one of the most challenging conversations I had with the employees there and being upfront with them. I think that was one failure for sure. Still, I’m a believer that there’s no real thing as a failure. Even at WeWork, we constantly keep trying things, and failing, and learning from them. I believe you learned the most out of the losses, and we’ve learned a lot about what not to do.

Ramesh Somani: What does your garage look like? Also, what do you think about autonomous driving?
Karan Virwani: It’s all black. I have two Range Rovers and a lot of Audi cars. Now, many younger kids don’t even learn how to drive because they have Ubers and things like that. So over time, I believe autonomous driving will become a future.

Ramesh Somani: So where next and what next? What are your other plans? Karan Virwani: We have a lot happening. I mean, both within WeWork and outside. We’re going to grow the business; as I said, the opportunity we feel coming out of this will be vast and exciting. Also, on the Embassy side, we’re going through a significant merger with Indiabulls, which will take us through PAN India.

Ramesh Somani: What do you think of cryptocurrency and will you accept it?
Karan Virwani: Yes, that has the possibility of becoming a significant asset class within investment and a currency that people use, but I think it’s a bit of a bet. In India right now, it’s challenging, but once that gets better, there’s no looking back.

Ramesh Somani: Some life learnings such as entrepreneurship that you would like to share?
Karan Virwani: One is to stop worrying about things outside of your control. I think there are certain things you can control, and there are certain things you can’t. And a lot of people get stressed and worried about things that are outside of their control. So there’s no point in worrying about those and focusing on what you can control. Patience is probably good learning I’ve had over these last two years.

Ramesh Somani: How would you like your epitaph to look? How many desks did you sell that’s going to be on my tombstone? Karan Virwani: We have a running joke in the office where we always ask at the end, but how many desks? So maybe that, but I think it’s just to be known for someone, who always tried new things and outside of the box ideas, that would be enough.

Top Companies That Have Gone Bankrupt During The COVID-19 Phase

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed society by disrupting our day-to-day life and triggered a massive economic slowdown throughout the world. The forced lockdown leads to the inability for companies to run normally, which eventually results in the highest percentage of unemployment and dramatic shutdowns of some of the well-known companies.

Some of the companies survived the situation by filing for bankruptcy, but going down the route doesn’t help them bounce back fully as the financial fallout from Covod-19 continues with the second wave. While the term bankruptcy doesn’t remarkably suggest that these companies are shut permanently, they only shrink some of their wings, which causes them a massive amount of loss. Here’s the list of companies that have gone bankrupt during the COVID-19 phase.

Hertz

The Estero, Florida-based Hertz Corporation is a popular American car rental company that operates about 12,000 franchises worldwide and has served people for more than 100 years in the car rental business. The novel coronavirus pandemic that has crippled the global travel scenario made Hertz sink drastically in the business and forced them to ask for support from its lenders.

Unfortunately, it failed to convince the lenders and did not reach an agreement with top lenders, which resulted in filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Along with zero business, Hertz has also been plagued by management outbursts and changed its CEO, its fourth in six years.

Hertz financed itself mostly by taking out loans secured by its fleet of cars, but it decreased the value and sales of used cars along with most of its customers. After a year full of struggle, on 1st July 2021, Hertz emerged from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy with backing by new investors to eliminate the debt.

Aldo

Aldo Bensadoun founded the Canadian shoe retailer Aldo in Montreal, Quebec, in 1972, which operates nearly 3,000 stores and employs 8000 people across 100 countries. The company was already struggling with the business for the last few years, and then the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, forcing them to shut down the stores and make the situation worse than ever.

The Canadian company has asked for protection using the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and is looking forward to stabilising business that has suffered due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has moved its base to a nearby location in Saint-Laurent, Montreal, and more than half of the employees at its headquarters have been furloughed.

Gold’s Gym

If you’ve ever considered joining a gym to get back in shape, you must have penned down a list of nearby gyms and being one of the oldest ones in the gym business, Gold’s Gym would’ve topped the list. Former American bodybuilder Joe Gold founded Gold’s Gym at Venice Beach, California, in 1965, with weight-lifting equipment he built himself.

The American chain of international co-ed fitness centres has various franchise based gyms across the six continents. The company has been in the business for the last 50 years, and during all of these years, the founder would have never imagined in his wildest dreams that something like the COVID-19 pandemic will destroy his business, but unfortunately, it happened.

The fitness centre saw its business drop during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in April 2020, the company said that it would permanently close 30 of its locations. On 4th May 2020, Gold’s Gym and its 14 affiliated debtors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Later on, in August 2020, Gold’s Gym was bought out of bankruptcy by European fitness giant RSG Group GmbH, which also owns the McFit fitness brand. Luckily, the bankruptcy doesn’t impact its centres in most countries, including India.

Avianca

Humans have been flying since the Wright Brothers invented the world’s first successful motor-operated aeroplane, but the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic locked us inside our beloved homes, which harshly impacted the airline business. Avianca, the oldest airline in the Western Hemisphere and the second-oldest extant airline in the world after KLM grounded their aeroplanes and filed for Chapter 11 protection bankruptcy for the second time in its history as the aviation industry suffered a heavy blow due to COVID-19.

The Columbian airline company was founded in 1919 and certified as a 3-Star Airline for the quality of its airport, onboard product and staff service. The 101 years old airline company was already in massive debt when COVID-19 struck the world, forcing the airline to stop scheduled flights for 2 months. The situation made 20,000 employees suffer without pay scale throughout the crisis. The company was expected to emerge from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process during 2021, but wistfully it starts 2021 with a $311 million net loss.

Digicel

The Caribbean mobile phone network and home entertainment providing company were founded in 2001 by Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien. Digicel is a sponsor of Caribbean, Central American and Asia-Pacific sports teams, including The West Indies cricket team, which collaborated with Digicel for 13 long years from 2005-2018. The Caribbean region’s top network providing company suffered severely during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic and filed for bankruptcy with $7.4 Billion in unsustainable debts.

Later on, in May 2020, the company announced plans to restructure its debt. The restructuring plan was approved by Digicel’s bondholders and concluded in June 2020. As part of the exchange, the founder of the company contributed $50 million in assets to Digicel, consisting of the company’s Jamaican headquarters and $25 million in cash, but all of these attempts couldn’t help the company to get back in the business as its earnings proceeded to drop deep in the black hole.

Intelsat

Intelsat Corporation is the world’s largest satellite service provider, which was founded in 1964. The Virginia headquartered company provides services to the BBC, 21st Century Fox, Warner Media, and the Walt Disney Company. On the verge of the new 5G spectrum auctions, the company filed for a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy in US courts during the mid of May 2020, with over US$15 billion in total debt.

The company has been delisted from the New York stock exchange after filing for bankruptcy. According to a few reports, the company is anticipating restructuring to raise requisite capital to launch new satellite technology in 2022/2023, at the cost of some US$1.6 billion. Now, it’s been a year since the company is in bankruptcy, struggling to gain the support of a group of creditors to seize control of restructuring.

Brooks Brothers

Brooks Brothers have defined the American way of dressing for success since its foundation in 1818. It is the oldest clothing retailer in the United States, producing clothing for men, women and children, and home furnishings. The company faced a dramatic low in the business during the COVID-19 pandemic as people dressed down executive/formal wear and preferred athleisure clothes with the rising of work from home culture.

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a disturbing economic impact on the oldest ready-to-wear clothing retailer of the United States, and due to declining sales, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2020 and planned to close 51 of its 250 locations in North America. A brand development firm Authentic Brands Group and SPARC Group LLC won court approval to acquire Brooks Brothers for $325 million and agreed to continue operating at least 125 Brooks Brothers retail locations in the US and worldwide.

Ultra Petroleum

Ultra Petroleum Corporation is an independent oil and gas company founded in 1979. The Centennial-based natural gas producer focuses on developing its natural gas reserves in the Green River Basin of southwestern Wyoming, Utah, Pennsylvania and Bohai Bay, China.

Ultra reached an influential turning point in 1996 when it bought 130,000 acres in the Rocky Mountains, and the company never looked back until 2016. Ultra Petroleum became a major victim of depressed oil and gas prices, which forced the company to file petitions in the United States Bankruptcy Court.

The Oil and natural gas drilling corporation emerged from chapter 11 in 2017 but shifted its headquarters from Houston in 2018. The company moved on from the bankruptcy chapter and generated $742 million in revenue from its natural gas operations in 2019, and soon it faced business disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic.

The oil and gas company filed for bankruptcy for the second time in 4 years on 14th May 2020, when the Natural gas prices had been at historic lows. Though the Covid-19 pandemic didn’t stop the company from bouncing back, Ultra Petroleum completed its financial restructuring by eliminating approximately $2.0 billion of indebtedness from its balance sheet, which helped the company emerge from bankruptcy.

LG

The last company that knocked our list of bankrupt companies is LG. However, LG didn’t file for any bankruptcy; it still created big news when the South Korean electronics giant withdrew itself from the market of smartphone makers. The company has been producing mobile devices since the 90s, rolled out the first capacitive touch screen phone in the market and introduced us to slow-motion video recording, failed to impress the fast-fashioned millenials and couldn’t keep up with the current pace of the technology revolution.

LG phones faced stiff competition from rival Samsung and Chinese budget brands such as Oppo and Xiaomi, resulting in occupying only 2% of sales share over the past year. The company has been figuring losses over the sale of smartphones since 2015, and in 2020, it recorded almost 4.5 billion losses, forcing them to shut down the mobile manufacturing division. The company will release its last smartphone on 31st July 2021 and continue to provide service support for already sold devices and regular software updates.

The list of bankrupt companies doesn’t end here as many other well-known companies filed for bankruptcy during the Covid-19 pandemic creating stress for their owners and leaving behind their workers jobless.

Spotify’s Integration With Windows 11 – A Cool Combination

Sometimes I feel like getting fed up with offensive ads provided by Spotify. As if they let you like you are somewhere deprived of so many cool things that Spotify has kept as a treasure. In the end, I felt like paying INR 1348/- for the whole year as a premium subscription. But with this announcement that Microsoft is integrating your Spotify account into it, it is like reaching the zenith of peace. Considering the workload that one faces every day, music is the only option that doesn’t allow me to get into the lethargic mode. But people like me and you will surely welcome this step by Microsoft. Let’s get more ideas related to Spotify’s integration with Windows 11 through this Exhibit blog.

How did this news come out?

Microsoft has added a feature. You can call it a Focus Session. In this Focus Session, you can find a Pomodoro-style timer. The news related to this came out through a tweet by a Microsoft hype man Panos Panay. Panos laid out some of Microsoft’s interesting features to its new flagship product – Windows 11. Some of you may feel like you have not a single clue about this Pomodoro-style timer. But you don’t need to worry as you are on a platform that tries to make the perfect blend of lifestyle and technology. Let’s understand it with some examples later in this article.

About Pomodoro Timer

A Pomodoro timer can help you in making yourself more productive. How? Consider that you can concentrate on your laptop for 1 hour and then you need to stretch your legs and relax your eyes. So what? Well, you will take a short break in relaxing, say about 10 minutes. But what in these 10 minutes? Well, here’s the catch. If you add a keyword like a paradise with this timer and application, it may open Spotify and let you listen to Mylo Xyloto’s album’s Paradise song. Now, that should get a big Wow! isn’t it? Well, I leave such expressions to your wisdom. But it is cool that once you take a break, Windows 11 can directly open this song for you without taking any action, not even with your voice. Well, Windows 11 has also eased the work of Cortana.

How does this Spotify’s integration work with Windows 11?

Well, I guess the Microsoft development team has requested an API from Spotify to get access to the user’s account. Now, if you start working, a program will run in the background that will measure your work in real-time, along with the current time. Now, before running this program, Windows 11 has stored some essential keywords and activities that it has to perform in case the user, like you, takes a break or needs a distraction (if the keyword is Spotify, music, or any relevant word, it will open Spotify).

Final Word

Microsoft! You are simply amazing. But I will like what more applications Windows 11 will integrate into it. However, as of now, there’s a thumbs up from my side for Spotify’s integration with Windows 11.

Is zero-carbon token future of tomorrow?

Fortunately, late developments and advances, for example, the blockchain have prompted a few answers for address these issues, and quite possibly the most encouraging arrangements come from Zero Carbon, a blockchain-based task that is ready to shake the business with its exceptional way to deal with how energy is burned-through today.

A Zero Carbon token utilizes blockchain to battle environmental change. Customers can save money on energy and earn Zero Carbon token coins by switching to zero-carbon energy in the crypto market. Introducers might gain from spreading the word as well. By undercutting both renewable energy and fossil fuels on price, the Zero Carbon

The market can produce a faster reduction in carbon emissions. An established blockchain-driven economy with Energy tokens as significant reward-based incentives for customer activity can also act as the catalyst for change. A project in the area that aims to use blockchain technology to reshape the online travel sector has a very high incentive in the future.

This idea is a blockchain revolution uniquely, combining logistics with zero-carbon options. In this awful era of global warming and pandemics, the world must become carbon-free. Zero carbon tokens will be used to communicate important aspects of the digital ecosystem. It will provide token utility as well as a more advanced blockchain platform. These tokens have utility worth since energy providers need to source them to pay the exchange charges needed to take part in the Zero Carbon Market.

How does it work?.

The Zero Carbon token tackles climate change by lowering carbon emissions directly around the world. They do it by utilizing a mechanism that utilizes international carbon credits to balance the carbon emissions of energy contracts in a considerably more cost-effective manner than relying just on renewable energy.

Not only is this technology substantially less expensive than renewable energy, but it also cuts total carbon emissions by the same amount at a fraction of the cost! One unique feature of Zero Carbon is that energy suppliers pay the platform’s transaction fees rather than end-users, though consumers can decide to pay the transaction fees in exchange for lower energy rates.

Consumers can purchase electricity packages from suppliers through Zero Carbon’s market, which allows energy suppliers to list and sell their contracts to consumers. Consumers can choose from a list of suppliers, much as in a traditional marketplace, and Zero Carbon will display important information such as the cost of power or the advantages offered by each source to help them make smarter decisions.

Also read: What is Lightning Network in the world of crypto?

What is Lightning Network in the world of crypto?

At one point in history, sending a telegram was the quickest and most effective method of long-distance communication. To do so, you had to travel to your local post office, fill out a form, and pay based on the number of letters in your message. The message would then be telegraphed to the nearest telegraph office, where it would be sent to the far end. The telegraph would subsequently be delivered to its intended recipient by a postman.

Basically, sending a simple brief message involved a large number of individuals, and you had to pay a significant sum of money to do so. That’s very much where the Bitcoin network is right now. In this analogy, the Lightning Network is similar to having contact on speed dial: all you have to do is press “1,” and your friend’s phone will begin to ring.

When Satoshi Nakamoto first proposed Bitcoin in 2008, James A. Donald offered the first public remark on the system, saying, “the way I interpret your concept, it does not seem to scale to the requisite size.” Scalability is still the largest issue for Bitcoin and other seasoned cryptocurrency systems ten years later.

What does it mean to be scalable? On the other hand, Bitcoin has only been able to execute about 7 transactions per second throughout its history. While this was sufficient at first, the system has been clogged for several years. As a result, transactions take a long time to complete, and transaction fees are astronomically high.

Bitcoin will need to be able to compete with existing payment methods if it is ever to become a full-fledged alternative to them. It’s not even close right now. Simply compare Bitcoin’s minuscule 7 transactions per second to Visa’s average of 24,000 and peak capacity of nearly 50,000 transactions per second to see the gravity of the matter. The Bitcoin community has come up with several proposals to increase Bitcoin’s scalability throughout the years, but no overall consensus has been established. As a result, multiple Bitcoin-like networks have splintered off from the original. However, there is one proposed method that is now being evaluated and may just work. The Lightning Network is what it’s called.

Simply expressed, the Bitcoin Lightning Network’s concept would have sounded like this: we don’t need to preserve a record of every single transaction on the blockchain. On the other hand, the Lightning Network adds another layer to Bitcoin’s blockchain, allowing users to construct payment channels between any two parties on that extra layer. These channels can last as long as they’re needed, and because they’re set up between two people, transactions will be nearly instantaneous, and costs will be minimal, if not non-existent.

Also read: Which Cryptocurrency Has The Best Future?