Chirag's Space

Amazon created the smart speaker category a few years ago when it launched Alexa devices. Just Google or Bing ‘smart speaker market’ to see how this has since become an industry in itself. Many homes are infiltrated with Alexas and Google Homes. Supposedly compromised privacy in exchange for some convenience.

When smartphones usage started overtaking that of desktops or laptops, it became imperative for all websites to ensure they rendered well on mobile devices. Would it not be nice if websites had an audio version too? It would be called ‘websounds’. An example:

Me: Alexa, take me to apple.com.

Alexa: Opening Apple.com. Would you like to browse hear about products or support or perform a search?

Me: Search Airpods.

Alexa: We have three products under Airpods category. Airpods, Airpods Pro and Airpods 2nd generation. Which one would you like to hear about?

Me: Airpods Pro.

Alexa: Airpods Pro have active noise cancellation, transparency mode, and a customizable fit. Would you like to learn more or buy for $249?

Me: Buy.

Alexa: Placing order. Shipping to your home address in two days. Say OK to confirm, or cancel to cancel.

Me: OK.

Today, Alexa also allows placing verbal orders on Amazon. With websounds, each website will have an option to render an audio version with content and e-commerce transaction options.

King County Library System (KCLS) is funded by property taxes. Not only does it offer a wide collection of books and magazines as you would expect from any good library, it also offers e-books, music CDs, e-books, even devices, and the list goes on. They have red colored library-t0-go trucks in which the library can come to your school once every week, carrying books that would appeal to the targeted age group. On the digital front, the KCLS mobile app allows you to check out Kindle books and also integrates with Audible, Overdrive and several other formats and channels. So much innovation and it is incredibly impressive. Their tag line is – ‘Turn to us. The choices will surprise you.”

So far so good. Many times when I try to check out a book using the app, the app tells me ‘All copies in use’ and gives me an option to put my selection on hold. I will be notified via email once a patron returns their checked-out copy, and the book will be ready for me to check out at my selected library location. Understandable, because books are physical in nature, and there are limited number of copies to go around. The problem is that this even happens with e-Books!

The music industry has evolved its business model such that the same song can be streamed unlimited number of times, simultaneously, by an infinite number of people. The artist or the entity with the rights to that song is paid a royalty each time the song is streamed. The book industry on the other hand digitized the books into digital formats, but has been unable to transform its traditional business models, especially when it comes to their contracts with libraries. Even though technologically it is possible to eliminate wait times from the customer experience, the real transformation will occur when entities in the ecosystem rewrite their contractual relationships to exploit digital possibilities.

Many of us relate to world wars as historic events of the past. Typically, our only exposure to them is limited to a sepia documentary footage on Netflix, or perhaps in a book if it’s an area of interest. We never hope to see another world war in our lifetime. The world is more interconnected than ever. All countries understand that no one can be a real winner in a mass global conflict. Everybody loses and it’s only the degree of loss that differs. This makes us practice diplomacy for the most part to maintain peace and world order.

A pandemic, as I am coming to realize, is not much different from a war. I oxymoronically call it a ‘peaceful war’. Quarantine orders keep you home almost like blackout orders during war times. Social media activity replaces the radio walkie-talkies that battalions of soldiers use to caution each other of the enemy’s movements. The economic impact has started with workers losing jobs as shops, restaurants and small businesses shut down. Factories are repurposing their skills to mass produce essentials like masks and sanitizers.

This is indeed a war. It is World War 3. Like a world war, it started in one region and has sucked into it every inhabitable region on earth. It is a war not among countries, but with a common enemy that is known but invisible. This Coronovirus enemy is like the Greek trojan horse. It may look like a friend whose hands you shake, or a checkout screen at a retail counter that you unsuspectingly touch, but it can devastate your health or of those around you by making you its carrier. Even visually, some cities across the world have started to look like war zones with the military coming out to help us conquer this enemy. 

We all know, or at least hope, that it is only a matter of time when the health impact of this virus will be contained. We also fear, rather know, that its economic wreckage will be gruesome and long lasting. Even the best economists do not have a foolproof template to prevent a recession. The economy is like a vast manmade ocean. A pandemic is an underwater earthquake that causes an economic tsunami. Those living on the coasts are hit first and worst. In our connected world, very few live far from that ocean. Unfortunately, these times stress-test and mostly expose our social safety nets.

The human brain took us to the top of the food chain. This virus is giving human intelligence a tough fight. We know how to stop it from spreading. However, our political structures and consequently the responses, differ from country to country. Sometimes even from state to state. We have learnt about flattening the curve. The corresponding twitter hashtags almost feel like a message transmission among a rabble of bees. The authorities are experimenting with different approaches to flatten that curve. Some governments are implementing a top-down approach with curfews and lockdowns, while others are providing guidance and letting people self-police their behavior. It is a balancing act between the health and economic impact.

Though at the moment we are most concerned about human well-being, the virus should also remind us of the harm we have caused to thousands of other species. They do not have the gift of human consciousness. They simply go extinct when faced with an external adversity, without ever sensing any danger around them. 

So, yes – the war. The healthcare workers are clearly our frontline soldiers in this war and we salute them. We have so many other professions to be appreciative of. The retail and supply chain workers who are striving to keep our food supplies intact. The airline pilots and industry workers who are extracting people from high risk areas and bringing them back to their home countries. The technology industry which is enabling work from home while keeping people entertained, and supporting uptime of many other industries. The list is endless. These unsung heroes deserve our salutes. We are living through historic times that will be remembered in the twenty-second century and beyond.