Author: Yashveer Ramparsad
Publish Date: 05/01/2021
2021 - Feels like De Ja Vu..... Wow
Well, behold we are once again in lock down level 4, things did look up for a while, but sadly have regressed some. A quick update on what's been happening in South Africa these past months since the last blog post. Our vaccine rollouts have been kicking off and well reaching a fair amount of people, getting close now to when I can also get mine (currently over 35's only ... yes I am not old). With South Africa (looking at you Durban), coming to a standstill with unrest these past weeks, things have been tense. But it has not been all doom and gloom, the people have risen and continue to rise we must. We shall not let the nay sayers rule our thoughts and curtail our journey toward our futures. We must work together now for a better tomorrow. Open to any suggestions.
Busy times these past months?
This journey of entrepreneurship has been a wonderful one thus far, filled with many lessons (failures are just learning opportunities as many have said). Since the last blog post which has been ages ago, sorry, we have been busy toiling away trying to grind out some good work. Some of the projects that we have been working on: an e-commerce marketplace platform that targets loaning out items. Quite an interesting topic, why buy when you can rent (damn hammer in my closet which I don't need right now). There were a few interested parties at the time, but with COVID hitting some hard, those parties decided to close off funding for external project at this time. I guess a lot of businesses had to do the same and that was understandable. It was an exciting opportunity none the less with some fantastic learnings. I will post more about it with pictures and project details on the personal projects portion shortly.
Cloud Access Control with 2 Factor Authentication
Phew!, that's a mouthful to say. Another key project which we identified to be done was the implementation of a access control system utlising License Plate Recognition with 2 factor authentication , the need it satisfies is the obvious one during COVID, biometric free. This solution leverages local and cloud infrastructure for fast and efficient turn around times on the recognition and authentication portions of the solution. With the 2 factor authentication method, this has significant security advantages over remote access and biometric access.
Health
Apple,
at WWDC 2021, introduced a host of new and exciting features with regards to Health (HealthKit upgrades, CareKit with health records, and Apple Watch health integrations). This sparked a series of new initiatives from me, which I think would help the world in a positive way. One of those ways is better patient records management, and in this space Apple has shown us how this can be achieved using FHIR (a health record standard). One of the ways in which I will look to change the manner in which health records are currently being stored, distributed and used, is integrating the FHIR standard into existing developed apps. I envision then, that using the patient as the record holder (mobile phone securely stored information) makes the solution that less a burden of resources on the health care professionals.
There is also a case for using Crypto in this area for patient records. There are some very interesting projects in this area and would love to reach out to the companies that are handling this to perhaps collaborate going forward.
Community Programs
As I touched on in my intro, there has been a large burst of protest and unrest in South Africa. The dire living state of our people have not gone unnoticed. It has sparked discussions that need to happen. We all have a place in building for the future and I am one of those that believes we can. This then got me thinking how can we best assist people? I remember Earl Nightingale saying that you should never stray far from your field if you are to offer services to others. With this in mind the community programs that we mostly are involved in are technology related , where we offer some solution that communities or NGO's are struggling with currently. So if you are not sure where you can help or how to, remember what you are good at and offer a service with that skill in mind.
Well that's all folks, that was an update of what is currently on going in my life right now. Stay safe, and I hope you have an incredible day. This is me signing out, Ciao!!