Paid 'Destiny' level boosts promote progression over experience

When developers Bungie and Activision released their biggest-ever paid Destiny expansion, The Taken King, it signalled a return to everything that made the game great. It appeared that both companies had addressed nearly all of the suggestions the Destiny player base had put forward, which included the re-introduction of the all-important six-player raid.

Since the expansion's debut in September, however, Bungie has also slowly introduced additional, paid mechanics. So far, they've been designed to augment players' characters but not detrimentally affect gameplay for those who choose not to buy them. But as Christmas approaches, new upgrades have hit stores, and the Destiny community is up in arms about them.
The items in question are Level 25 Upgrade Packs: $30 (£25) digital add-ons that can be applied to any Destiny character class (Hunter/Titan/Warlock) to instantly level them to Level 25. The Taken King lets players to rank their characters up to Level 40 and continue building them up by increasing Light levels via armor and weapon upgrades.
Bungie included one of these level boosts for free, called a Spark of Light, if you bought The Taken King: Legendary Edition. It was basically there for people who had completed the previous Destiny expansions with one character and wanted to rank another of their alternative classes quickly in order to better tackle end-game content.

With The Dark Below, House of Wolves and The Taken King expansions now awaiting new players, it's likely that Destiny will see a healthy boost in sales ahead of Christmas. Bungie believes that some will want to forgo the grind and pay more money to bypass some of the early content. If you bear in mind that The Taken King, which includes all of the previous expansions, currently costs $30 at some retailers, new players will effectively be buying the game twice to activate a one-time level-up.
There is a reason for the cost, though. If the upgrade is priced too low, lots of people will buy it and the players who properly leveled their characters would feel shortchanged. With a high price, it will likely be reserved for day-one Destiny players who no longer have the time or inclination to play through the earlier content again, or newbies who no idea what they're doing.
If new Destiny players decide they want to pay to level, they're not only losing out on the fun, but Bungie is basically saying that it's cool not to go back and play through earlier parts of the story. Granted, the first year of Destiny lacked direction and an overall narrative, but if you wanted the best directional jump, maximum agility and shorter recharges for your super ability, playing the early-game content was how you opened them up. Instantly ranking to Level 25 gives you subclass infusions and telemetries, so there's no need to play the whole thing through.
Bungie recently reduced the amount of XP that players earn from Weekly Nightfalls and bounties. That makes levelling characters slower, which in turn leads gamers to question developer intentions. When a paid upgrade for quick progression suddenly appears after the speed of progression is slowed down, you can understand why.
With no major expansions on the horizon, Bungie and Activision need a way to keep Destiny gamers active while they work on future updates. Sparrow racing and free timed events are likely to replace paid upgrades, so they'll need to recoup money elsewhere. Microtransactions help, but so do costly level boosts that incentivize players who value progression over experience.

Adobe Lightroom for iOS brings another desktop tool to mobile

Adobe continues to make its mobile photography apps more powerful, and a new update for Lightroom mobile on iOS delivers more of that. Leveraging another useful feature from the desktop, you can now employ a Point Curve mode to make adjustments in the Tone Curve and Split Toning tool. In other words, you now have more control when you add a tint or tone to the shadows and highlights of an image using Split Toning, for example. Lightroom mobile also allows you to "shoot through presets" now, too.

You can see what an image would look like with one of the app's filters applied before you even take the photo. Snapshots captured this way are non-destructive, so you'll always have an unedited original to work from.
Adobe already updated a few of its Photoshop iOS apps to play nice with Apple's new super-sized slate, and it's doing the same for Lightroom mobile. With the latest version of the photo-editing software, you can take advantage of the iPad Pro's expanded screen real estate to do some multitasking and enjoy the perks of iOS 9 on other devices. If you happen to have one of Apple's other new gadgets that feature 3D Touch, you can launch Lightroom's built-in camera by pressing on the app's icon. The in-app camera is accessible from the Notifications Center thanks to a handy widget.

Is Go-Jek evil?

Barely a day goes by without local news sites reporting yet another incident involving Go-Jek, Indonesia’s motorcycle ride-hailing app, which gained a ton of momentum this year. Media outlets – Tech in Asia included – scrutinize each turn along this young company’s way because it’s a captivating story. Go-Jek is the poster child of Indonesia’s new, digital economy on the rise. And it’s not always a pretty picture.

It began with “traditional” ojek drivers protesting the new, app-based on-demand system Go-Jek introduced. Ojek is the Indonesian word for independent, informal motorcycle taxis.

An anti Go-Jek and GrabBike banner in Jakarta’s Pancoran area (from metrotvnews.com)

Go-Jek couldn’t be stopped. Its promise to drivers (more income, more efficiency) and passengers (more safety, cheap promo fares) overpowered doubters. Mid-year, Go-Jek signed up tens of thousands of new drivers onto its partner network in a mass recruiting event. But more drivers also meant more trouble.

Crackdown on fake bookings

In the past weeks, some Go-Jek drivers became vocal about their disappointment with the company. Changes the company made to the drivers’ compensation structure led to a small demonstration in Jakarta. The recent suspension of some 7,000 drivers for alleged fraud led to larger protests in Denpasar. Similar scenes were reported in Bandung.

Go-Jek drivers demonstrate in Bandung. Photo credit: Tribun Jabar

It’s possible some drivers are gaming Go-Jek’s booking system. This could be done by creating fake bookings, say from a friend’s phone. The driver snatches up the booking and collects the payment, but never actually performs the ride. But protesting drivers insisted they had done nothing wrong. They also said they weren’t given a warning before their suspension, and that the fines Go-Jek asked for were outrageous.

Go-Jek founder Nadiem Makarim, in a brief statement, argued the company collected sufficient proof against these drivers, and needed to take a strong stand to discourage future fraud attempts. But just like it’s possible some drivers did cheat, it’s possible some were wrongly snatched up by Go-Jek’s fraud detection algorithms. Go-Jek does not reveal how, specifically, it defines fraud. A company spokesperson told Tech in Asia that Go-Jek does have a process in place to deal with each driver’s suspension case by case.

Go-Jek’s founder Nadiem Makarim issued a statement via the company’s Facebook account, explaining the situation. He said more than 7,000 drivers were accused of fraud. They are given the chance to come back into the network by paying a fine.

7,000 drivers is a small number, when viewed in relation to the 200,000 drivers Go-Jek claims to have in its network. Put bluntly, Go-Jek can afford to piss off, and even lose some drivers. The incident, in the eyes of some, left the company looking evil. It coldly suspended drivers and dictated the rules of the game.

Many drivers still identify with the company despite the controversy, and are proud of their profession. The existence of make-shift Go-Jek driver cafes in many parts of the city is proof.

Go-Jek drivers gather at spots like the Gojek Warkop on Jalan Satrio in central Jakarta to take a break, to gossip, pass along information, help each other solve technical problems, and to recharge their phones and nicotine levels.

Hidayat, Sadarno, and Lokot are three drivers I met at Gojek Warkop. They were thoughtful and extremely well-informed about recent media coverage on Go-Jek. All of them joined the company about four months ago, as part of the mass recruitment effort in August. Together, we identified three areas the company could improve in to shed its evil image.

1.How it treats driver partners

None of the three drivers I interviewed ever received a suspension, but they agreed Go-Jek’s communication with drivers could be better.

“We are called partners, but we’re not involved in decision-making,” Hidayat said. He was the most talkative of the group. “When they changed the tariffs, we had no say in this. If we were truly partners, we should be involved.”

Hidayat also criticized the company for hiring too many drivers, too fast. “It used to be that we were all a team, supportive of each other. Now, we are competitors.” It’s more difficult to get bookings these days, he said. Hidayat thinks GrabBike does a better job at pairing supply with demand. “GrabBike hires in waves, and makes sure each wave of drivers gets enough rides.”

Drivers Hidayat (L) and Sadarno (R) have been with Go-Jek for four months.

Where before Go-Jek drivers could remain stationary and wait for bookings to come in, they are now expected to roam around and search for passengers proactively. Clever drivers found a workaround in using the app “FakeGPS,” Hidayat told me. With this app, drivers can pretend to be at different locations, to search for orders without tiring themselves out. But using this app, Hidayat says, is now forbidden.

It’s not clear whether using this app constitutes one element of fraudulent behavior in Go-Jek’s consideration, or how it detects if drivers use this app. When asked about its stance on FakeGPS, a company spokesperson declined to comment. Hidayat insists using FakeGPS isn’t wrong, because the bookings taken via this app are real.

Go-Jek drivers do not have a formal organization or representative body – there isn’t anyone to speak on behalf of drivers in an argument with Go-Jek’s management. Building a representative body is something Go-Jek could help facilitate to mediate future conflicts. In the US, app-based drivers associationsare starting to emerge.

2. Focus on the core product

Go-Jek’s app is very often “error,” everyone agrees. “Error” being Indonesia’s universal word for buggy and unreliable. As a regular Go-Jek passenger, I’ve had that experience myself many times. Bookings freeze or can’t be canceled. If the app’s functions fail, the call center is difficult to get through to. Drivers seem to be experiencing a similar unreliability. If drivers are judged based on the number of double bookings, cancellations, and other data tracked by the app, Go-Jek’s priority should be to increase the app’s performance and reliability.

But rather than dedicating itself to increasing app stability and the flawless functioning of its core products, Go-Jek rolled out new features, and has another major product announcement lined up for the new year.

3. Release more data

Of the three drivers I spoke with at the cafe, none had been a traditional ojek driver before. Hidayat worked at a hip restaurant in the business district, but decided to give Go-Jek a try because he wanted more freedom. Lokot and Sadarno were both peddling other jobs on the side. Driving motorcycles for Go-Jek, to them, is just one source of income.

But they all voiced concern for drivers who relied on Go-Jek entirely, and even suggested those who don’t have other jobs should be given more bookings.

Drivers use informal gathering spots like these to recharge their phones, and to help each other solve technical issues with the app.

Go-Jek sits on a wealth of data about people working in the informal sector, and it wants to play an even bigger role in Indonesia’s services industry with its cleaning, beauty salon, and massage services.

Go-Jek could improve its public image by releasing more data. How many of its current partners rely on the service for a living? How many do it part-time? How many have made the switch from being a traditional independent motorcycle taxi driver to joining Go-Jek? This would help understand the impact of on-demand services, and would at the same time deliver valuable data about Indonesia’s informal labor sector.

Loyalty not guaranteed

Hidayat, Sudarno and Lokot accept that Go-Jek is an opportunity they have now, but that it might not last. “We got by before Go-Jek, and we will get by without Go-Jek,” Hidayat concludes. He says he is still loyal with Go-Jek for now, but would also consider trying out other motorcycle services, if those offered better conditions. Drivers pay attention to the details: they criticized Go-Jek for limiting the opportunities to withdraw money from their accounts. GrabBike, on the other hand, transfers the money, which they find preferable.

Go-Jek drivers Lokot, Sulaiman, and Hidayat. Sulaiman joined the conversation at a later point.

Can Go-Jek keep the loyalty of its supposed network of 200,000 drivers once the days of cheap promotions for passengers are over? There are plenty ofalternative apps waiting for the opportunity to carve out a niche. One of them is the up-and-coming Philippine startup U-Hop, which has plans to come to Indonesia with its own on-demand motorcycle fleet this month.

U-Hop founder Marvin Dela Cruz is quite critical of Go-Jek. He says drivers “deserve better.” He believes U-Hop’s system, which offers monthly subscriptions for regular users, is much better at providing security for the drivers, because they get a fixed base rate. U-Hop will even end up costing less than the existing on-demand motorcycles for subscribers, claims Marvin.

Go-Jek will soon face competition from companies with new ideas, alternative driver compensation models, and a pronounced “pro-driver” attitude. It should start shedding some of its “evil” ways to retain user confidence and driver loyalty.

‘Making money is easy, spending it is hard’ Jack Ma

For a man who says he’s afraid of giving speeches, Alibaba founder Jack Ma gives a lot of speeches. His latest came Tuesday at the opening ceremonies for a Peking University MBA program, where he reportedly spoke about his personal approach to philanthropy.

In the wake of the Tianjin explosion, Ma was beset with demands online that he donate money. But during his speech, he argued that in the context of a developing country, investing is better than donating, as it theoretically creates more jobs and more wealth.

Ma also said that in China, making charitable donations is particularly tough when one attempts to figure out who to give to. China lacks infrastructure, talent training, and the proper legal framework to ensure that charitable donations go to good use. Setting that up doesn’t happen overnight, Ma said.

Ma also complained a bit about the problems that plague the super-rich. “When you’ve got one or two million, that’s your money and you’re very happy. When you’ve got ten or twenty million, then the problems come; you’ve got to think about the devaluation of the renminbi and investment problems.”

“When you’ve got a few hundred million or billion, you must absolutely remember that it isn’t your money. Society has entrusted you with it to invest, it’s a kind of trust in you and a responsibility that you take on.”

“How do you manage that money well? You can’t go stupidly donating it out,” Ma explained. “You’ve got to wait for the talent, the organization, and the system to be ready before doing it. That’s why I say that spending money is much harder than making money.”

Ma says he does admire those who donate money, though: “I most admire the kind of person who makes 200 RMB [US$31] a month and still donates 1 RMB, or even 1 RMB per day. It is they who are the most amazing cornerstone of society.”

New Cardboard Apps make your phone be VR cameras

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Available only on Android, the Cardboard Camera app essentially lets you take 360-degree photos, but with a twist. You tap the camera button and turn around in a full circle just like you would capture a panorama. But once you put the phone into Cardboard, those photos will magically transform into something Google calls "VR photos." The images are suddenly three-dimensional; objects in the distance are far away while close-up items seem so close you can touch them. What's more, you can also choose to record surrounding audio as you're capturing the panorama. And then when you're playing it back, the sound makes the 360-degree three-dimensional imagery feel even more immersive.

I tried out a preview version of the app a few days ago at Google's San Francisco office and I was very impressed at how simple panoramic photos could become 360-degree 3D images. Taking a VR photo was as easy as taking a regular panorama -- simply tap the camera button and follow the arrow as closely as you can in a slow and steady pace. Then I placed the phone (with the app enabled) in a Cardboard viewer, and was able to see the same photo in all its 3D glory. I also viewed some VR photos captured by Google employees; one particularly compelling example was of a scene on Mount Kilimanjaro. In mere seconds, I felt transported to chilly mountain peaks with the sound of the wind whipping around me.

Mike Podwal, a product manager for Cardboard, tells me that the app is able to transform those panoramic photos into 3D via some computational software and the same stitching technology used in Google's Jump VR platform. I did notice some slight aberration located where the panorama begins and ends, but Podwal says the team is working on smoothing that stitching out so that it looks cleaner. To be fair, the lack of aberration also depends on the photo you're taking -- if it's of something that's moving, the chance for jagged edges increase dramatically.

As for what kind of phone you can use it with, pretty much any modern Android smartphone should be compatible, according to Podwal. The Cardboard Camera app is available starting today on the Google Play store in 17 languages.

Rumor: Apple has an updated 4-inch iPhone due early next year

Want a handset with Apple's fancy new A9 processor, a colorful metal caseand a slightly smaller display? GHI Securities' Ming-Chi Kuo says you're going to get one. According to the analyst's latest research, Apple is on track to launch a 4-inch Apple 5 successor in early 2016 -- painting the picture of a device with the same A9 processor as the iPhone 6s, NFC support for Apple Pay, a metal case with multiple color options and a $400-500 off-contract price tag aimed at the budget market.

If real, the device could be a welcome followup to Apple's"unapologetically plastic" 5c smartphone -- retaining the smaller footprint of the iPhone 5/6 and still integrating some of the best tweaks introduced with the 6s. Still, take the rumor with a grain of salt: Ming-Chi Kuo has a decent track record when it comes to Apple predictions, but he isn't alwaysright.

Startup builder LiteLabs enters Indonesia, unfazed by ecommerce giants

LiteLabs team

Some experts will tell you it’s too late to catch the fast-moving ecommerce train in Indonesia, as names like Lazada, MatahariMall, Tokopedia, and Bukulapak may soon have the mainstream consumer market sewn up. LiteLabs— a startup and innovation lab operating in Singapore, Jakarta, and Bangalore — would argue against that idea. The international company builder’s co-founder and CEO Dipendra Singh Jain is betting that the archipelago still has many greenfield opportunities in ecommerce.

“Some of the biggest names in India were successful models in the USA,” explains Dipendra. “However, the success for these startups lies in the fact that the ventures were able to plug the holes in the [existing] operating models […] This is lacking to a certain extent in Indonesian startups, where execution still seems to be tougher in spite of the creative ideas.”

Dipendra spent his formative years in Indonesia during the early 1990s, when the internet was just getting started, he says. Abroad, he worked for a few “top Fortune 100 companies,” with stints at Dell, HP, Accenture, and others. Now, he’s back in the archipelago with what he believes is the right know-how to “capture a piece of the Indonesian ecommerce pie.”

See: No country for ecommerce unicorns: why the word ‘bubble’ may not apply to Indonesia

Investment snipers

With a modest bankroll of US$5 million, Dipendra says LiteLabs is currently working on seven in-house startup concepts. In the investment game, US$5 million is a small sum. Dipendra knows that, which is why LiteLabs won’t be able to adopt the spray and pray investment thesis in Jakarta. It also won’t be able to launch firms that can compete with those of Rocket Internet right out of the gate. Instead, Dipendra and his crew will need to aim carefully, and act more like a sniper with only a couple bullets.

LiteLabs is working on multiple projects for Indonesia. But Dipendra discloses only two of them to Tech in Asia. The first is a product called SearchOn, which isn’t live yet. Dipendra says, “SearchOn will be a game changer for online ticket bookings, for movies and events, and more.” According to him, the firm will let users set up a night out on the town, and have nearly every aspect planned for them, before they step out of the house. Ideally, SearchOn users will be able to buy cinema passes for the exact seats they want to sit in. They’ll also be able to make dinner reservations, and arrange for scheduled transportation to and from the evening’s destinations.

Many will agree movie tickets seem like a good idea in the archipelago. But others may argue transport is a problem that’s already being solved by the likes of Uber, Go-Jek, and GrabTaxi. True skeptics are sure to suggest SearchOn will need to search on for a better product-market fit, as many startups have tried to do restaurant reservations in Indonesia, but alas saw questionable local demand, and ended up pivoting. Yet Dipendra remains confident in his team’s ability to execute.

He also says LiteLabs is hatching a startup called LiteRents, which he says will be a “real estate ecommerce” site, but did not elaborate further on the business model.

See: For foodie startup Qraved to succeed, it’s shedding its Rocket Internet ways

Skin in the game to ensure focus

LiteLabs isn’t looking to make external investments, but instead build everything in-house. “Since we are not a [traditional] incubator, we are focused on our strategy to grow organically for the first three years,” says Dipendra. “We would be keen on acquisitions if there is a strong fit in the long term. Given that the Indonesian market will see more activity in the years to come, we will be scouting for targets. However, expansion to other Southeast Asian countries would depend on the success of our product, and if localization […] is possible.”

Dipendra says LiteLabs will use its own funds for the early stages of its in-house ventures. However, should they start to see traction, the team will search for later stage funding from outside investors like VCs and larger firms. Dipendra feels that by paying out of pocket in the beginning, the LiteLabs team will be forced to put all of its focus and passion into the first couple startups.

He shares a couple more clues. “[SearchOn] will be available online as well as on iOS and Android. Apart from these, we are working on developing an ecommerce delivery system,” he says. “We are [also] focusing on developing a logistics and supply chain model.”

Dipendra didn’t mention where the funds for LiteLabs come from exactly, but he did say that he and fellow co-founders Rishi and Manish Sharda pulled the cash together themselves. “Based on the burn rate […] we would be continuously assessing the need for capital requirements,” he adds.

In his mind, the top three challenges LiteLabs will face in Indonesia are scalability, managing regulatory issues, and understanding the way locals adopt new tech. He says, “For me right now the adoption rate is a bigger concern, considering the low internet and mobile penetration rates […] Our goal is to develop a successful product which has a high adoption rate, and which ultimately becomes synonymous [in terms of adoption] with Go-Jek, Lazada, and Lamudi.”

Google makes big clean energy purchase to power data centers

Powering Google's online empire takes a lot of energy, and the company wants to use all clean sources to run its data centers by 2025. The company announced the next step towards that milestone today with word that it purchased 842 megawatts of renewable energy on three continents. The purchase includes solar and wind power in locales that range from North Carolina to Chile and Sweden, doubling what it had bought so far. Google says today's announcement is the largest purchase of clean energy by a non-utility company ever.

With the new agreements, Mountain View signed contracts with the energy companies that range from 10 to 20 years, which it hopes will foster more widespread adoption and help the power providers expand their facilities. The purchase also brings Google's renewable energy total to two gigawatts, or as Wired puts it, enough to power all of the homes in San Francisco... twice. The company says it's 37 percent of the way to its goal of tripling its clean energy and using it solely to power its services.Thatprocess includes $2.5 million in investments at 22 renewable energy projects in places like Germany, Kansas and Kenya.

How supercomputing can survive beyond Moore's Law

Today’s technology makes a 1-exaflop supercomputer capable of performing 1 million trillion floating-point operations per second almost inevitable. But pushing supercomputing beyond that point to 10 exaflops or more will require major changes in both computing technologies and computer architectures.

Planning for such challenges has been a major focus for Erik DeBenedictis, a computer engineer at the Advanced Device Technologies department at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, NM. He has worked with the IEEE Rebooting Computing initiative and International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors to pave the way for the future of both computing and supercomputing.

DeBenedictis outlined several possible technology paths for supercomputing—the millivolt switch, 3-D integration, and specialized architecture—at the  session titled “Beyond Moore's Law” at the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC15) held from November 15–20 in Austin, Texas.

This interview has been condensed and edited.

IEEE Spectrum: The “Beyond Moore's Law” session covered three general technology areas that could aid development of exascale supercomputing: the millivolt switch, 3-D integration, and specialized architecture. Which of the three areas piqued the most interest among attendees?

Erik DeBenedictis: I think it was clear that the audience understood what the set issues were and realized that all three paths were desirable options, if they work out. In particular, we don’t know when the millivolt switch will work out. There were only a few people who said: “I’m only really interested in option one, two, or three.” The rest of them were largely supercomputer users who were looking for what’s in the future, and I think we convinced them to pay attention to all the options.

During the discussion session, we went around the room and had a show of hands to see who was interested in each of the technology approaches. And it sort of came out to be an even split. But a lot of people were interested in all of them.

IEEE Spectrum: Did you come away from the conference with any new food for thought about planning for the future of supercomputing?

Erik DeBenedictis: My thoughts after the conference session were focused on the fact that there was a bunch of people outside the door who couldn’t get in. We had a room that held probably 40 people, and around 80 people were interested. I remember the room was full and people were lined up outside the door trying to peer inside. I think the lesson is that this is an interesting area and there should be additional [supercomputing conference] tracks about ensuring the supply of more capable machines. 

IEEE Spectrum: It’s a bit surprising there weren’t many other sessions focused on the future of supercomputing.

Erik DeBenedictis: There was a panel discussion on future computing technologies such as quantum computing and neuromorphic computing across the hall. That session was also standing room only, although they didn’t have people in the hall. They probably had five times as many people in a room five times as big as ours, and they packed the room.

Now, I found that kind of surprising, because that panel discussion was fundamentally different. What we were talking about in our session were things that could result in supercomputing that these guys could use for their current applications, whereas neither neuromorphic computing nor quantum computing is a replacement for most supercomputing applications today.

IEEE Spectrum: What are your next steps in planning for the future of supercomputing?

Erik DeBenedictis: The next thing we have going on is the IEEE Rebooting Computing Summit 4 in Washington, D.C. from December 9–11. We managed to get some of the government agencies to attend in fairly strong numbers. But I’d say the spin we’re going to put on Rebooting Computing Summit 4 is not quite as focused on supercomputing.

The interest of the supercomputer community is a subset of the overall computing industry. In some ways, the pressures are going to be greater on supercomputing because they have driven up the usage and requirements for the logic portion—like floating point logic—really high over the years. There’s little slack and little room for improvement until they hit the physical limits. 

The interest of the government—for example the National Strategic Computing Initiative—has increased focus on data analytics and learning techniques related to neuromorphic computing. Since those areas received less attention in the past, there is perhaps more low-hanging fruit; there is more technology to be gained for less effort. So that’s where the IEEE Rebooting Computing initiative is focused. But we’ll continue to support the supercomputing guys. They have legitimate needs, but their upside potential is somewhat less; there is no low-hanging fruit left.

IEEE Spectrum: Will supercomputing will be able to simply reap the benefits of technology developments in the broader computing industry?

Erik DeBenedictis: The answer is really yes and no. Industry will spend billions developing chips for smartphones. It's not going to actually develop much for supercomputers, but of course a lot of the technology carries across. But it’s only going to come partly for free. 

IEEE Spectrum: Because the technology still needs to be adapted for supercomputing?

Erik DeBenedictis: The industry won’t actually have made the technology for supercomputer architecture, like floating-point format, and so that’ll be a remaining task.

IEEE Spectrum: Does there need to be more awareness of these technology trends among supercomputer users?

Erik DeBenedictis: It’s not just about making them aware. There is a major effort that needs to take place in planning ahead. The lifespan of software tends to be vastly longer than the lifespan of hardware. When we put in new hardware at Sandia [National Laboratories], a top machine has a lifespan of three to four years, and you plan three to four years in advance. So that’s a total life cycle of six to eight years. But the issue is the software also needs to be written with a much longer timeframe in mind.

We’re just a couple generations away from the end of scaling for the current generation supercomputing. If you can project what a supercomputer is going to look like in the second half of its lifespan for a piece of software, why not write that software for the computer it’s going to run on for most of its lifespan, because we can predict it? At least have the software engineers understand what the machine their software runs on is going to look like in 10 to 15 years.

IEEE Spectrum: So there hasn’t been such great communication between the hardware developers and the software developers?

Erik DeBenedictis: I’ll give you an example of this. When all of a sudden multicore [processors] appeared around 2003, that disrupted everything because everybody needed more parallelism than they were planning. The programmers weren’t told until it was too late. With zero notice, dual core came out at lower clock rate and sort of caught the software guys by surprise, because their code was no longer partitioned properly for twice the processor count at half the clock rate.

So the equivalent thing is happening now in that we’re seeing the processors, you know, the [Intel] Knight’s Landing [Xeon Phi processor] and the GPU assists and all that kind of stuff, with a lot of extra threads like GPU threads; they're slow but there's a lot of them. Nobody is really thinking about how to code for the next generation of those processors. Is anybody thinking about how we’ll have to code differently to accommodate the jump from a 1-exaflop supercomputer to 10 exaflops? There is not enough attention being paid to this issue.

500 Startups joins follow-on funding for bargain shopping app Loco

40Tasks, the Singaporean company behind hyperlocal flash deals app Loco, is on a roll. Four months after raising seed funding worth US$357,000, the company told Tech in Asia today it raised a pre-series A round of S$400,000 (roughly US$285,000). The round was led by 500 Startups’ regional fund 500 Durians and existing investor Tri5 Ventures.

40Tasks founder ZP Lee says they will use the money to expand into Malaysia and Thailand.

Loco allows brick-and-mortar stores to advertise deals to shoppers passing by.

“So you can be walking around a mall with Loco installed, a shop owner may want to target users to sell their products,” explains ZP. “This might be to clear their perishable stocks before the end of the day, or to spike up sales on a quiet day. Using Loco, they are able to create a deal listing instantly and the notifications will be pushed out to everyone in the vicinity.”

That means Loco is different from struggling daily deals companies like Groupon and LivingSocial in that stores take control of their own deal campaigns. In other words, Loco allows store owners to react to different situations and set up different offers to users. “The traditional deals market focuses on listings and driving impressions. The merchants have little control over the deals they are able to put up or limit. Conversion rates are low so merchants are starting to be more resistant to such platforms,” ZP says.

Loco also capitalizes on the principle of impulse buying. “Because of the nature of the deals, the push notifications which Loco sends have a much higher conversion rate of 10 percent than the industry’s 0.1 percent rate,” he claims.

The notifications Loco sends out are targeted, meaning consumers receive them based on their proximity to the shop, their shopping behavior in the past, and their demographics.

Unlike Groupon and LivingSocial, which sell vouchers to people, Loco users show up at stores and all redemptions are done over-the-counter. Loco doesn’t take a commission off the sales, but charges retailers based on the number of notifications sent out. Its packages start at US$30.

“Our unique merchant pay-per-use pricing strategy has proven to have high penetration rates, which could potentially unlock the whole market in this region,” ZP says. “This investment round is a strong indication in our product’s potential and that of the deal industry as a whole.”

New markets

40Tasks will use the follow-on funds to add more features to Loco, including a digital wallet and a social referral system that can help deals go viral.

The wallet will allow Loco users to redeem deals without the need for cash. It can be topped up using credit cards or PayPal. The wallet also serves as a loyalty stamp card where stamps are added based on the number of redemptions per store. When users have collected enough stamps, they can redeem better deals from merchants.

The referral system, on the other hand, allows users to invite friends or strangers nearby to join them in purchasing items to avail of bigger deals. For example, a store may allow two users to buy items at a 15 percent discount, versus only five percent if it’s just one user redeeming an offer.

ZP says it plans to take Loco to Malaysia and Thailand – markets that are familiar to them.

“Having extensively studied these markets, we see similarities in terms of problems and opportunities such as increasing mobile adoption and decreasing sales in physical shops which Loco was able to address in the local market,” he tells Tech in Asia.

He adds, “There’s a geographical factor as these markets are near to our base of operations. We see them so close to home, it’s a logical decision to quickly move in. Our synergy with our investors will also give us access to new markets in the region.”

By next year, 40Tasks plans to transform the app into a marketplace where merchants can take preorders, accept payments, and arrange deliveries.