APRIL 2009 G RS.

50

IT magazine for the contemporary woman

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WITH TECHNOLOGY
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 feature
Vol. 1 Issue 7 28 Cool, Cooler, Coolest Websites
32 An Office Suite for Free
38 Introducing Children to 76
90
Sound
42
54
Computers & Internet
Keeping Fit with Technology
Bonding Families
Around the
World in
Cashless Tour
Matters!
57 The Healing Touch of E-Therapy
80 Planet Bollywood:
The Digital Emerge

contents tech tip

60 Samsung Juke
april 2009 62 Google Sky
63 Sharing Web Pages with SimplyBox

24

tech tip
64 Enhance Power Point Presentation
with Slideshare
61
Apple’s Time
69 YouSentIt Machine
70 Google Gears
71 What’s So Unyk?
72 Listen to Music with RadioBeta

45
Style IT
73
74
75
Coollector
Gaming Websites
Online Weather
Prediction Resources
how to
98 Founder
92 Turn your PC to a Web Server Tracking Original Vishwa Nath (1917-2002)

Location of e-Mail Editor, Publisher & Printer

for Sharing Files Paresh Nath

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Letter

From Editor’s Desk

Small is beautiful
“Small is beautiful,” the legendary phrase by the economist Leopold Kohr, which later went on to become the
subject of a book by his student E.F. Schumacher, has for long embodied the fascination of the IT world for
squeezing all that complicated technology into a tiny little space. Whether it is cell phones, video cameras,
computers, or computer chips, when it comes to IT, beauty lies only in smallness.

But how small can ‘small’ really be? Well, quite a bit actually! A strand of the human hair is just about 0.05 to 0.1
mm, or as they say 50,000 to 100,000 nanometers (one nanometer is a billionth of a meter). Now imagine
working with technology on a scale less even than 100 nanometers. Put simply, it is size less than 0.0001 mm.
That’s what is called nanotechnology – working with and developing materials and devices less than that size.

But what could one possibly develop at such a small scale? And how on earth does one even work at scales that
defy human imagination? Thankfully enough, for most of us our livelihoods is not dependant on getting the
answers right to such scary questions. After all, shouldn’t these things remain confined in the dark dungeons of
scientific laboratories and high-tech research centres? What possible use could nanotechnology have for an
average Indian like us?

The answer might come as quite a surprise. According to some estimates, there are already more than 800
manufacture-identified nanoproducts that are publicly available, with new ones hitting the market every 3-4
weeks. While most of these cater to industrial and technical use, a few do find a way closer to our home.

There are so-called ‘nanopants’, stain-resistant jeans made of fabrics that contain nano-sized whiskers to repel oil
and dirt. Then there are nanocycles that are made from carbon nanotubes. These are stronger and lighter than
regular steel cycles we use. In all those lotions and creams that we use as beauty products, nanotechnology is
put to use for giving you that elegant and everlasting look. And what’s more, nanotechnology even found its way
in our chocolates. Chicago-based O’Lala Foods incorporated nanoscale crystals in its chocolate gum that
modified the surface morphology to give the gum a creamier texture and chocolate flavour, and prevented it
from falling apart.

And one need not necessarily restrict oneself to taking a literal interpretation of the word ‘nano’ when it comes to
technology and everyday use consumer products. Talk about the cult status that iPod nano enjoys amongst
music lovers the world over. The maverick CEO of Apple computer, Steve Jobs, had his marketing plans clearly
cut out when he decided to make a statement about the compactness of his latest offering by riding high on the
wave of world’s fascination with nanotechnology. The same holds true for Tata Motors, which recently launched
the much-awaited Nano car this month.

Whether in the form of actual usage as nanotechnology, or in the guise of branding gimmickry, technology in the
avatar of ‘nano’ is fast becoming a part of our consumption habits. With advancing technology, and of course
with more ingenious marketing, this role is only bound to increase in the coming years.

In this issue of Live IT, we explore some of the ways in which the nanoworld is trying to develop and take shape
around us and how best we can embrace it to our benefit.

Anant Nath
Managing Editor
 News

News compiled by Priyanka Dey

FNORD technical fest covered by Rishali Yadav

FNORD ’09
TECHNICAL FESTIAAT
NORTHERN IND OLLEGE (NIEC)
ENGINEERING C eering College (NI EC ) hel d its fou rth tec hnical fest, called FNOR
D ’09, in collaboration
l mark the birth of genius
es.
The Northern India Engin nce wil l be tes ted and talent poured. NIEC wil
partner. “Intellige
with Live IT as its media
With the emergence of
FNORD, the geek shall
inherit the earth.” With
this motto, the college
started its annual fest for
the year 2009. The
h
FNORD commenced wit
an inauguration cerem ony
and followed up by many
al
technical as well as cultur
events. Many renowned
people graced the
inaugural function. The
list of guests include
Senior Branch Manager
b
Mr. Ram Chandra, Punja
National Bank, Prolific
Head Mr. V.K. Singh,
Head of National
j
Magician Society Mr. Ra
Kumar, TICO Direct or
Jitendra Singh Saggu,
Training Engineer Pravin
Kumar, and Vijesh and
PT Education. erface, Circuitrix, LAN
Anita Chowdhary from lon g eve nt we re the programmes like 8051 Int
the three-day
The main attractions of sions, etc.
D- Tra ck, ROBO Wars, quiz ses sed her views in the follow
ing
Gaming, B-plan, Tra ce-
che r org anizer of the fest, expres IT dia
NICE and the chi ef tea ving Live as ou r me
Dr. Yamini S., Director of den ts nee d exp osu re in every technical aspect. Ha
hnical event, stu ious aspects of technology.
”
words, “Since this is a tec ts in gai ning knowledge about var following lines, “I
hel p ou r stu den con tinued in the
partner would surely me dia in- cha rge for the event, er,
r, co-ordinator and the anize the function.” Furth
Garima Bakshi, a teache of stu den ts. Th ey hav e worked very hard to org lot ou t of it. We
the enthusiasm would gain a
am overwhelmed to see hn olo gy- bas ed ma gaz ine, we thought students
it is purely a tec
she said that, “Live IT, as rt from Live IT.
to a dee per association and suppo
are looking forward

liveit.in 8 April ‘09

 OME
GOOGLE UPDATES CHR
TO BOOST SPEEDS a new version of the
Google recently released
ich is the first major
Chrome Web browser, wh
ed at the general
update of the software aim
d the browser
public since Google entere
. Th e latest version will
business six months ago
for mance and a
offer Web surfers faster per
tha t include auto-
bundle of new features
atio n on online
filling of personal inform
use rs to drag around
for ms and a new way for
es within the browser
tabs of different web pag
window.
on Google, the
According to a blog post
cer tain types of
new Chrome beta loads
to 35 per cent faster
web pages 25 per cent
n. Go ogle also has a
than the current versio
sion of Chrome,
more polished stable ver
a ver sion.
based on the older bet

WINDOWS-BASED MOSER BAER

ONLINE DESKTOP ON LAUNCHES BRAND
AIRTEL BROADBAND
Bharti Airtel has announce
d the launch of the world
NEW MP3 PLAYERS stylish MP3 players to its
gamut
Windows-based online des ’s first Moser Baer has added two available
ktop powered by Microsof ducts. The MP3 players,
and Nivio. With t of consumer electronic pro with 2 GB
and MP582-2G – come
an online desktop, in two models MP565-2G es and
ual sets of stereo earphon
users can get memory with their individ ably at Rs.
players are priced reason
access to a USB adaptor. The music
pectively.
personal virtual 1,490 and Rs. 1,190, res Officer of
According to Bh ask ar Sharma, Chief Executive
desktop from any ge of MP3
products, “The new ran
computer Moser Baer’s consumer players further
connected to the enhances our
Internet for Airtel product offering.
broadband With their sleek
customers. Online looks, sound
Desktop is accessible thr quality and
ough any computer with
connection and allows use an Internet
rs to rent software per mo economical price,
Besides the power to acc nth.
ess data anywhere and any they offer
some of the other featur time,
es include 5 GB storage customers a
anti-virus protection, ori space, free es, no
ginal and latest software listening to music at all tim
unified billing with servic on rent and constant companion for e products
e usage included in month what they are doing. Th
broadband bill. ly Airtel matter where they are and h real
carry but come packed wit
are compact and light to
nalities.”
cool features and functio

April ‘09 9 liveit.in

 News

MICROSOFT EXPLOREO S
BPL MOBILE TURNS EDUCATIONAL LINK T
LOOP MOBILE VIDEO GAMES
Microsoft has put up $1.
5 million to start The Ga
mes for Learning
y and other
Loop Mobile, the latest brand identity for BPL Mobile, with New York Universit
Institute, a joint venture er video games,
which has been operating in Mumbai for over 13 years, aimed at finding out wheth
colleges. The research is o math, science
was unveiled last month. al, can draw students int
besides special education already begun
Loop Mobile also comes with a brand new network grams. The institute has
and technology-based pro those who
in that the company has now doubled its capacity by students to study. And, for
lining up middle school this issue,
deploying the latest NGIP (Next Generation Internet only one venturing out on
thought Microsoft was the of Wisconsin have
Protocol) and EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM rchers at the University
here’s more news. Resea e scientific
Evolution) technology into its phones. of Warcraft can encourag
found that playing World mathematics and
noticed that players used
thinking. They have also world.
ns in the game's fantasy
models to deal with situatio ring a visit to
r, Craig Mundie said du
Microsoft chief researche ulate
pus that “games could stim
the company's Fargo cam develo p a hig her -order
ping people
educational abilities by hel
cognitive capability.”

Accosrding to the CEO of Loop Mobile India

Limited, Sanjeev Chachondia, “The change of the
brand name to Loop Mobile is a well thought out
conclusion of a journey that had begun some time
back. For a telco brand that is Mumbai’s oldest, we
understand the pulse and rhythm of the Mumbaikar.
Our dedication towards our subscribers and our efforts
in continuing to maintain high performance standards
and service delivery has always been acknowledged by
various surveys, including that done by the regulator.
Mumbai’s oldest network is now also its newest one and
already commands a healthy 2 million customers.”

E ANNeasOe U NCED
G.I. JOcoiEncideGwitAhM
the theatrical rel of the G.I Joe
In a bid to of the same
a video game adaptation
flick, EA has announced lusive
game will feature an exc
name. The G.I. Joe video -ac tio n mo vie leaves off. It
ere the live
storyline that picks up wh the greatest
s can re-create and re-live
is at this point that player figure toy
cartoon series and action
moments from the film, each with
e 12 G.I. Joe characters,
line. The game will featur line rush
ns. Adding to the adrena
unique abilities and weapo g two
reen co-op mode allowin
will be an intense single-sc cla ssic stru ggl e between
a team in a
players to easily unite as powers of the
rk together to defeat the
good and evil as they wo
COBRA organization.

liveit.in 10 April ‘09

FACEBOOK LETS USERS
COMMENT ON NEW
TERMS OF SERVICE
Facebook Inc has invited its loyal users/members to help shape its
governance policies after drawing their ire for a policy change.
From now on, the social networking site will be guided by a set of
principles that reflect its
dedication to
transparency and
openness in
communication. The
two proposals –
“Facebook
principles” and

PAC-MAN
“Statement of Rights and Responsibilities” – are being put to test. The
former lays out the startup company's philosophy on privacy and
control of information, while the latter is a set of operating guidelines
based on its big-picture stance. Any Facebook member can access these

AND DIG
proposals on the site and opine on them.
The networking site will also incorporate people's reviews when
firming up governance policies.

DUG TO HIT
BEBOOK PORTABLE
E-BOOK READER
FACEBOOK
Namco Bandai is offering their classic arcade games

ANNOUNCED for download through Facebook. The popular social

networking website, Facebook, is quite popular for
First there was the highly promoted Kindle and now there is the new Flash-based and in-browser games like Scrabble.
Bebook by a company called Endless Ideas. Through this move, Namco has become one of the
Bebook first major game publishers to opt for digital game
basically distribution through Facebook. The all-time classic
supports various Pac-Man and Dig Dug are already available for
digital document download through.
formats such as Namco also plans to partner with J2Play for
.doc, .txt, .pdf, building off-browser connectivity to Facebook within
.jpg, .htm and the games. Once this is implemented, the players’
.rtf files. You can achievements would be directly flashed on their
carry books and Facebook profile. Also, users will be able to chat with
documents into a other Facebook members and play games at the
device of the size same time. I
of a single book.
The device
sports e-paper
and patent e-ink technology that claims to consume low power. The
books can be read even in bright sunlight. The best part? They come
with Wi-Fi and USB connectivity.
April ‘09 11 liveit.in
 News
Here Comes the Nano!
his rocking new car from the ensemble of Tata Motors has
T already caught the fancy of middle class India. There is no
dearth of two-wheeler families who want to use the Nano to
graduate into the four-wheeler category. Demand is expected
to breach stratospheric levels. The car is as much a beautiful
aluminum sculpture, as it is an efficient machine, and it is totally
geared to enthrall, entice and more importantly, save a whole lot of
that precious gasoline. Just 3 mete rs long, it is capable of seating
four comfortably, but it is possible for five to squeeze in. But the
best thing about the Nano lies in its price; at Rupees 100000 the
car is cheapest in the world. If you want to have a comparison,
Rupees 100000 (about $2000) is what you pay to get a DVD
system incorporated into your fancy Lexus or Audi A8.
If you are worried about Global Warming and want to do
something about cutting down your carbon footprint drastically,
while still driving around in style, then this is the car that you got
to drive. Nano is compliant with the Bharat 3 and Euro 4 norms
with respect to keeping pollution at bay and it is expected to give
a mileage in the range of 23kms/liter. This ultimate green car
has its source of power in a state of the art rear-mounted 623cc,
33bhp multipoint fuel injection engine. The safety features are
also enhanced. The car has successfully cleared the full-frontal
crash and the side impact crash tests. The gearshift turns out to
be remarkably smooth, and the car accelerates quite nicely. A
small boot is good enough for storing a duffel bag. The
passenger side mirror has been done away with, and there is a
single windscreen wiper.
Anoop Verma
In fact, when it comes to driving pleasure, the Nano
possesses all the trappings of the modern car. It does not feel
cramped or low on the ground at all, and if you decide to go
in for a deluxe version, you get a fabulous air-conditioning
system that is so necessary to manage the vagaries of Indian
weather. Extras such as a radio and an airbag are optional.
The Nano’s smooth flowing aerodynamic lines, attractive rear,
squat, road-hugging design, and muscular front is just what is
needed to make every passersby turn their head for a second
look. The paint finish is superb and it matches gracefully with
the interior colour schemes and inlays. The dashboard is
remarkably uncomplicated. There are only two gauges - the
speedometer and the other is for fuel.
So what about the technologies that have been incorporated
in the Nano. The car is the culmination of five years of
domestic research and there have also been technological inputs
from across the world, including Italy and Germany. According
to reports, Tata Motors has filed 34 patents, which are related to
the innovations in the design of Nano, and just the powertrain
accounts for over half of these patents. The truth is that the
technologies used in Nano have been around for quite some
time, the car has become possible by essentially tweaking a lot of
these technologies in such a way that the costs got cut and the
fuel efficiency got improved without compromising on passenger
safety and comfort. Eager to experience driving nirvana – just
get hold of a Nano. But the only problem is that the waiting list
for bagging the car is expected to be rather long. I
 Buzz Byte
Buzz Byte
T
ake this quick, simple quiz to test your Dreamweaver skills and discover
where you may need more training. Once you are done, check out our
supplement copy to update your web design skills.

Q of Dreamweaver is:
The latest version
plication?
versions of this ap
A. Are there many
B. CS2
C. CS4
Q unded by:
HTML tags are surro
A. quote marks “”

Q used to
B. parenthesis ()
C. brackets <>
Which panel can be
new sites?
manage and create
A. Tag Inspector
B. Application
C. Files Q s into your web pa
ge that will
You can insert date d w henever you save th
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automatically
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A. png
B. gif
C. bmp

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To view
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You can use Dream B. Insert bar
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ASPX Check out the next page to
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April ‘09 13 liveit.in

 Buzz Byte

Congratulations!
You finished the quiz! Now, calculate your score. A carries 1,
B carries 2, and C carries 3 points. Did you check mostly A, B, or C?

:
If your score is
r in web
Between 21 a
nd 30:
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liveit.in 14 April ‘09

 Care IT

made up of genes, and it’s these genes that carry the

information which gives organisms their specific
characteristics, including physical appearance (such as colour
of eyes or leaves) and physiological functioning (such as
drug-resistance in bacteria), etc.
Genetic Engineering (GE) or Genetic Modification (GM)
means changing the DNA by transferring genes between and
within different living things. For example, you could take a gene
from a fish that lives in very cold seas and insert it into
strawberry DNA, so it can survive the frost.

Why is GM food produced in India?

One of the major reasons for promoting GM food is - food
scarcity and the fact that hybrids of GM crops with added
nutrients will help the poor. GM crops are promoted in
developing nations due of high yields and the

CAUTION:
promise to solve hunger.
In India, so far there were no GM food crops. It
was only a non-food crop like Bt cotton, which was
the only commercially available crop. But now we

You are about to Eat Modified Food!

Sathya Prasad
ating great food, drinking fine wine, watching a sunset, have almost all the food crops that we

E and enjoying the pleasure and laughter; who could ask

for more? That allows you to enjoy all the finer things in
life, knowing that you deserve them.
Have you ever considered how much money people spend to
find good food, good vegetables, enjoy eatables or get happiness
eat in India under different stages of
genetic modification. Bt brinjal is the
first food GM crop ready for
commercial release in India.
Currently, 169 GM food crop
just by eating? In India where food lovers rule the Kingdom of varieties are in different stages of
Food, we have the right to pursue all the details about what we trials/research at different private
eat or rather enjoy eating and that's a darn good thing as and public institutes in India.
everyone is quite busy doing just that these days. Among them are Rice, Acid lime,
Indeed, not all people spend their money on consuming only Brinjal, Castor, Chilli, Coffee, Corn,
healthy food, but think of the tremendous amount of money Groundnut, Muskmelon, Onion, Papaya, Pearl Millet, Pigeon
that people spend on their healthcare and staying fit, choosing pea, Ragi, Rice, Saff flower, Soya bean, Sunflower, Tomato,
each and every fruit and vegetable they would like to eat or Groundnut, Water Melon, Yeast, etc.
cook. Here’s a little story altogether about the modified crops
and food, which is likely to hit Indian markets soon. Advantages of GM crops
• Improved yields
What is ‘Genetically Modified’ food? • More resistance to disease
Genetically Modified foods (GM foods) have made a big splash • Less likely to be damaged by insects
in the news lately. Genetic engineering (GE) or Genetic • Tolerance to herbicides
Modification (GM) refers to techniques that are used to change • Reduce the huge volume of pesticides used
the genetic makeup of cells of animals and plants to bring about • Better nutritional value
a desired function, e.g. insect resistance, herbicide tolerance, etc. • Better climatic survival by increasing tolerance to drought,
Typically, genetically modified foods are plant products: flood or frosty conditions
soybean, corn, canola, Brinjal and cotton. The cells of all • Increased shelf life
plants and animals contain DNA; it's like the main source for • They enhance the growth of food crops to feed an
life, passed from generation to generation. Strands of DNA are increasing population at a reduced cost
 Care IT
• They are better in taste and longevity. The fibres are
adjusted to make eating smoother
• They are modified to make them more nutritious
• Nutritious crops would have higher protein content than
ordinary varieties
• Plants can be modified to resist certain fungal moulds that
can cause damage to human health.
Disadvantages of GM crops
• Concerns have been expressed that eating GM food could
cause health problems in humans, including the
development of harmful anti-biotic resistant
micro-organisms.
• It has been suggested that GM plants could breed with
other plants producing uncontrollable ‘weed’ species with
herbicide resistance.
• There are concerns that GM crops could ‘escape’ from
their fields and grow more vigorously than other crops and
wild plants.
• Many objections to GM foods appear almost completely
misplaced. Thus, the threat from eating food made from
GM food and animals is minimal because the genetic
material is broken down in food preparation and
digestion. On the other hand, there is the risk that
herbicide resistant GM crops could interbreed with related
weed varieties and create a ‘superweed’ that was also
resistant to the herbicide in question.
• There is a possibility that introducing a gene into a plant
may create a new allergen or cause an allergic reaction in
susceptible individuals. A proposal to incorporate a gene
from Brazil nuts into soybeans was abandoned because of
the fear of causing unexpected allergic reactions.
Extensive testing of GM foods may be required to avoid
the possibility of harm to consumers with food allergies.
• Introducing foreign genes into food plants may have an
unexpected and negative impact on human health. For
example, a recent article study also claimed that there
could be appreciable differences in the intestines if
humans are fed GM potatoes.
What do our politicians have to say?
Our former President, APJ Abdul Kalam had a favourable
opinion to share about GM Foods. President APJ Abdul Kalam
believes promoting of genetic engineering technology for crops
could help the country tackle problems of low productivity and
also frequent drought conditions, low temperature spells and
handicaps of salt-affected areas.
According to Dr Kalam, “While discussing with the
nutritional specialists, I realized that the population in the
country suffers from deficiencies of Vitamin A, Iodine,
Calcium and Iron. This is true for women in general and
particularly in rural populace, leading to unacceptable levels of
infant and maternal mortality rate. Supplementation of diet
with these nutrients is a problem. If crops or crop varieties rich
in Vitamin A, Iodine, Calcium and Iron can be developed by
incorporating appropriate genes, this nutrition deficiency
problem can be minimized.” Apart from Dr Kalam, other
politicians also seem to be satisfied with the introduction of
GM Foods to the country but how safe are these GM foods?
This is a big unsolved mystery to many Indian politicians.
Scientist Dr Mira Shiva, MD, International People’s Health
Council, All India Drug Action Network, says, “My complaint
against GM foods is that safety concerns aren’t being adequately
addressed. With independent experts highlighting GMO-related
bio-safety concerns, one needs to know a lot more.”
Farmers’ and NGO’s take on the issue …
Farmer groups and civil society groups like Bhartiya Kisaan
Union in Delhi have been protesting against the use of
Genetically Modified (GM) food in India.
They have been asking to ban crops like brinjal and rice but
the government is soon to give permission for GM food like
brinjal. Farmers are also worried about the fact that once they
start using the GM seeds for agriculture/cultivation, their land
might get accustomed to those seeds and fertility and they may
have to use the same GM seeds again in future as they can’t
grow crops with any other seeds. Farmers in Andhra Pradesh,
Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Maharashtra and other parts of the
country have been severely protesting against government giving
permission to manufacture and commercialize their products.
According to Mr. Rajesh Krishnan, Sustainable Agriculture
Campaigner, Greenpeace (a Global NGO Organization). “What
we need is nutritive and safe food. And, of course, we need to
know what we are buying in the name of food, so that we can
make an informed decision. But as there is no law in this
country regarding labeling of GM food, there is no question of
making that decision. We will be forced to buy GM food and eat
it, while remaining ignorant. And then when it causes health
problems, we cannot even tell a doctor what made us sick. For
that matter, there is no doctor in this country who is specialized
to treat us for GM food related diseases. At a time when organic
food is being hailed as the healthiest and safest food, our farmers
are being asked to grow food which is non-organic, full of
chemicals and something on which there is a big question mark
regarding health safety.” I

e usually buy newer game consoles
W just as the old ones start getting
outdated. But do you know that ‘Classic’
video games have become a new
phenomenon in the recent years. In this
particular process, your obsolete games
may be of interest to a person who is
gathering old game consoles. Check out
Craigslist or eBay to get the running rate
for your old games.
cientists at Osaka University, Japan have
S invented a gadget that can control other
gadgets around. This new prototype is known
as Mimi Switch that looks just like an ordinary
earphone but comes fitted with sensors to
track facial movements and can change a track
?
on your iPod, turn on the room lights and even
w
start a washing machine. It could serve as a
o
remote control for the old and the
n
physically challenged people
k
as well.
d
L
id U
ike MS Office, Open Office is loaded with
a word processor, a spreadsheet
application, a presentation manager, and a
database application. In addition, there is a
vector-graphics program and a mathematical
formula editor too.
P ayPal is the world’s largest online bank.
A large percentage of people who surf
the net big time and having online earnings
surely have a PayPal account. PayPal
supports payments in 19 currencies
including U.S. dollars, Canadian dollars,
Australian dollars, Euros, pounds, sterling,
Japanese yen, Chinese RMB, Czech koruna,
Danish krone, Hong Kong dollar,
Hungarian forint, New Zealand dollar,
Norwegian krone, Polish zloty, Singapore
dollar, Swedish krona, Swiss franc, Mexican
peso and Israeli shekel.
Did You Know
i-Fi works through Radio Frequency
W and does not require any physical
wired connection between either the sender or
receiver. Wi-Fi provides coverage to an
average radius of 50 metres. According to a
report, the United States ranks top among
Wi-Fi friendly countries followed by UK,
Germany and France.
hilips, after a long and extensive
P research, is now busy developing
transparent OLEDs that can be used as
window panes. This OLED would look like
a normal window when switched off and
will illuminate once switched on. A 12-cm
prototype has been developed to
test the concept and the
G
manufacturing giant presumes
that it could take a couple more years to
reach the retail market.
enerally, we get to see Chinese
replicates of new gadgets in the
market. For a change, it is the SBMP N90
phone that has tried to copy Dubai’s iconic
Burj Al Arab tower. The phone is not classy
or curvy as the hotel but you’ll get the
ordinary Chinese phone features like dual
SIM GSM support, 1.3MP camera, FM
Radio, EDGE, Bluetooth and a 2.2-inch
LCD. The cost of this phone is not yet
known but would definitely be lesser than a
day’s tariff at the Burj Al Arab.
t is true that online games have been
I helping many professionals, especially
physicians, to enhance the ability to
perform operations better through
simulations. This helps better eye-brain
coordination also. But be careful! Online
games in excess can cause addiction and
irreversible damage to our physical body
and life itself. I
April ‘09 17 liveit.in
 Live IT or Leave IT

UB Funkeys
These are cute little vinyl creatures that are not
only collectable but also connectable. Once
connected to a computer, they can explore the
Funkeytown, the virtual world whereUBFunkeys
live and play. Each time you connect a new
UBFunkey to the UBFunkey Hub, you unlock a
new zone containing new games and puzzles.
Thus, the more UBFunkeys you collect, the
more zones you can explore.

The Bevy
Bring home the powerful combination of an iPod case,
a key chain, an ear bud wrap, and a bottle opener. It
surely is a handy gizmo for anyone owning a Shuffle.
With the ‘earphone cord manager’, you can avoid
tangled phones by winding the cable around the Bevy's
grooved outside edge. A must-have accessory for sure.

Solar Lights
These solar lights gently cycle through various
hypnotic colours and are just perfect for your ever-
changing moods. They can even float in the water
since they come packed in a waterproof case. You
can even use these on window sills or on the porch
just in case there isn’t enough space in the garden.

liveit.in 18 April ‘09

 Hanging Alarm Clock
This hanging alarm clock has a different way of
waking you up. To use it, simply suspend it to the
ceiling of your room with the attached cable. To
switch it off, you will actually have to rouse yourself
from your bed. With the snooze getting louder, the
clock would reel up to 30 cm in one minute. Now, isn’t
that something different from ordinary alarm clocks?

Coin Saving Jar

This coin saving jar helps you save money and also calculates it
for you the amount you have saved. A simple way to keep track
of all your expenditure as well as savings. The LED display unit
shows the figures after every withdrawal and deposit.

Rock Beat Drumsticks

It’s a portable electronic drumstick for those who
love to rock with music. You just need to turn them
on and the nifty built-in speakers will blast out a
variety of drum sounds every time the rubber tips
hit a surface or strike the air with anything more
than a tap. The stick has a switch to turn it off and
on along with an LED impact to lend grace to it.

April ‘09 19 liveit.in

 Live IT or Leave IT

Heart Squishtie
The stretchy, squishy, heart-shaped pillow is specially
designed to lend a certain level of warmth along
with a soft and sweet feeling. You can squeeze and
squish as much as you want and the pillow, when left
alone, bounces back to its original size and shape.

Hot Choctail Maker

A stylish retro blender, especially designed for chocolate
lovers. With this chocktail maker, you can make delicious
chocolate shakes by mixing, frothing and blending the
chocolate. It will surely be a huge hit at parties.

Micro Speaker Keychain

It’s a tiny speaker, not larger than the size of a dice that music
lovers would love to treasure. Just attach it to your key ring with its
auxiliary cable to listen to the music and carry it wherever you go.
Charging it is simple: just attach it to a USB port and enjoy up to
eight hours of music once fully charged.

liveit.in 20 April ‘09

 Solar Fairy Lights
How about hanging twilights in the garden? These magical lights
are powered by the sun and apart from being eco-friendly, they also
don’t hassle you with bulky cables. Use them to decorate branches,
doorways, trellises, shrubs, parasols, whatever. They work up to 20
hours on full charge and no electricity is required as such.

Evolve Wireless
Music System
The gorgeous music system lets you listen to your
tunes anywhere in the house since its two
independent speakers are completely wireless. A
good way to blast out the music trapped in your iPod
via wireless speakers that can deliver up to 10 hours
of music between charges.

Beep Egg
Designed especially for those who love boiled
eggs but while cooking them cannot keep track
of the time taken to make perfect breakfast. This
is a clever ovoid that sits alongside your eggs in
the pan, beeping and playing various melodies to
indicate different levels of hardness. Just put this
temperature censored beep egg in the pan and it
would play a tune when the eggs are ready.
 Chatroom

ch a t r o o m
share fun solu
tions to serious tech prob
lems with our C
orresponde nt, Rishali Yad
av

The girls

Mallika Chatterjee
Software Professional,
Refine Studio
Technology today has
developed remarkably. But, as a
professional and a mother I just
wish there could be one fun-
filled technology that could help
me feed my son. A technology
that would help me feed him
breakfast, lunch, and dinner
properly and on time. If
something like that can happen,
I‘m sure it would be a blessing
for all mothers across the world.

Deepti Sharma
Home Maker, Luxemberg
Bhavya Singh
Scientists and explorers are
Student, Law Faculty
carrying out research all over the
In this high-tech era, things world. But if these researches
have become easier for the come out as a solution to serious
present generation who want problems like disability, then it
an easy way out to all their would be a boon for the society. I
problems. Be it research on once came across something
varied topics or called the Novelty Technology,
assignments/dissertation, which is not only for fun or
technology has a solution for games, but is also useful in saving
every nagging problem. one’s life. It has come up with a
Moreover, with the help of software for the blind. It’s a
computer and in particular, technology that helps the blind in
the Internet, it has become reading out text. That’s one thing
easier to find solutions to India could benefit a lot out of.
many of my problems.

“
Technology has made it
rather easy to stay in touch
with people across the globe
Be it research on
through voice chat, e-mails,
video conferencing, etc. This
varied topics or
tion,
is just an example of the
utility of technology today,
assignments/disserta
and in reality, its advantages technology has a “
solution for every
are innumerable.

liveit.in 22 April ‘09 nagging problem.

 “
one
I wish there could be “
that
fun-filled technology
my son.
could help me feed

Josna Joseph
Student
Funny solutions for serious problems
cannot be actually implied in every
aspect of life because you cannot
always handle all serious problems
with fun. Serious things need serious
concern and one even needs to act
with a sense of maturity. Everything
has its own place and importance and
thus fun should be given equal
importance along with proper study. I
haven’t come across any fun
technology as yet, but am looking
forward to some posts in ‘Live IT’.

Yukti Gupta
Delhi School of Economics
Though it is difficult to have
fun solutions for problems
but once I was at my friend’s Deepa Singh
place whose grandfather was
Student
really fond of travelling. But
that’s one thing that quite I think that we have
annoyed the rest of the many problems in our
family as he would fail to daily lives. Today, most
spend much time with them of us are going through a
owing to his travelling lot of stress. So, it is here
schedule. This is where the that online games can
live telecast of aarti and yoga come in very handy.
helped solve the problem. They can help reduce
Now, he doesn’t venture out stress and this is
to visit religious places. something I have
Instead, he can catch live personally experienced. I
action on television itself. would suggest online
games to every reader
as a fun solution to
their problems.

With Mother’s day round the corner, share your geeky ideas of what you’d like to gift your mom.
Send us your entries, with your photograph, to editor.liveit@delhipress.in

April ‘09 23 liveit.in

 Feature
o, here we are, living in a future which proudly proclaims,
S ‘Size doesn’t matter!’ Everything around is seemingly
shrinking in size … we have iPods, which weigh less than
a feather, mobile phones barely visible outside the palm,
laptops that fit into the back pocket of designer denims … the
list is endless. And then, we have the mother of all tiny
technologies – the ultimate in minuteness - Nanotechnology.
Think of nanotechnology or nanotech and the first word that
comes to mind is ‘small’. And that’s what it actually is all about.
Pick a copy of any modern dictionary and look up the meaning
for the word ‘nanotechnology’. Basically, it is the art of
manipulating materials on an atomic or molecular scale
especially to build microscopic devices (such as robots).
Nanotech deals with structures, which are 100 nanometers or
less in size. To get some perspective on how big or rather how
small a nanometer is, consider that a single strand of human
hair is around 50,000 nanometers thick, which means that
nanotech deals with materials which are 1/500 times the
thickness of human hair!
The future is now …
Nanotech deals with really, really small things, difficult to even
decipher with the naked eye. But isn’t all that simply some
science fiction mumbo-jumbo? Something that scientists discuss,
liveit.in 24 April ‘09
Roli Gupta
experiment upon in mysterious labs, produce research papers
and hold conferences about? The subject of countless movies
and books? Well, far from it. Nanotech is very much for real and
even as you are reading this article at present, nanotech is
affecting our lives in ways we cannot even begin to imagine.
Research in this field has wide ranging applications in everyday
areas of our existence including medicine, chemistry, energy,
environmental engineering, communications, aerospace
engineering, construction, household appliances, textiles,
cosmetics … a mind-boggling array indeed. This attempt to
decode what nanotech really means for our present and our
future promises to be an interesting sojourn into a world that is
far removed from our ordinary, limited perception of what’s
normal and possible.
Nanomedicine
Nanotech applications in medicine are commonly referred to as
nanomedicine. Ongoing research points to an exciting future
with the ultimate accomplishment being nanorobots - self-
assembled biocompatible nano devices that will detect, evaluate,
treat and report diseases to the clinical doctor automatically. Cell
repair machines are another possibility that would become real in
the near future – these would be nanomachines, which would
enter the body, repair and rebuild specific organs cell by cell and
restore health without invasive medicines and surgery.
Nanomedicine is making waves in drug delivery and
administration where it focuses on developing nanoscale
molecules to improve the bioavailability of the drug, thus making
the drug molecules available where they are needed and where
they will do most good. It delivers drugs at the cellular level, thus
ensuring high precision drug administration and preventing
wastage of billions of dollars worth of medication due to drug
rejection or poor drug absorption at the cellular level of the
human body. Nanoparticles can track the medicines administered
to the cells providing the doctor with essential information about
the delivery efficiency. Nanotech has led to revolutionary new
changes in the field of cancer detection and treatment.
Nanoparticles together with MRI technology are used to produce
very high quality images of tumor sites. Nanoparticles that glow
when exposed to UV light enable the surgeon to see a clear,
glowing tumor, helping in accurate surgical removal.
Additionally, there would soon be available an experimental, but
promising, treatment called the Kanzius RF therapy which
attaches microscopic nanoparticles to cancer cells and then
‘cooks’ tumors inside the body with radio waves that heat only
the nanoparticles and the adjacent (cancerous) cells, thus
avoiding the painful and detrimental effects of chemotherapy.
Sensory test particles with hundreds of nanowires can allow the
detection of several life-threatening diseases in the very early
stages through only a few drops of the patient’s blood. Nanotubes
can allow for broken bones to heal quickly by allowing a structure
for bone material to grow. Medical dressings containing silver or
aluminum silicate nanoparticles will allow open wounds to heal
faster while also providing antimicrobial effects to prevent severe
infections. In the field of surgery, use of laser beams in
conjunction with nanoshells would allow for bloodless, painless
and precise stitching and fusion together of cuts made on arteries
or tissue during surgery.
Environmental pollution
Environmental pollution affecting both air and water is a grave
concern, which the present generation is facing. Nanotechnology
is making huge inroads in helping reduce these two serious threats
being faced by the human race. Conventionally, the most
prevalent method of reducing air pollution is by transforming the
vapors emitted by cars and industrial plants into harmless gases by
using catalysts such as platinum. These catalysts, however, are
expensive and also less efficient. Catalysts made from
nanoparticles greatly improve the performance while reducing the
cost of the process of conversion of emissions because of the
greater surface area that they provide. The larger surface area
allows more chemicals to interact with the catalyst simultaneously,
which makes the catalyst more effective. Also, nanostructured
membranes are under development to separate polluting carbon
dioxide from industrial plant exhaust streams. Nanosensors are
under production to effectively gauge the pollution level at various
sites in order to implement appropriate, effective measures to
reduce air pollution. In the case of water pollution, one method is
to convert harmful industrial pollutants in water to harmless ions
by dispersing nanoparticles in the polluted ground water.
Nanoparticles can also be used to absorb radiaoactive pollutants
from water. Nanowire mats can be very effective in cleaning oils
spills in the sea. Salt water can be turned into drinking water by a
de-ionization method using electrodes composed of nano-sized
fibres at very low cost and energy requirements. While
conventional filters do not take care of disease-causing viruses,
there is tremendous scope for developing a filter made of
nanofibres capable of removing viruses from water, which would
effectively mean an end to water-borne diseases.
Energy
Conventional sources of energy are simply not enough to satisfy
the needs of a rapidly growing global population. To this end,
nanotechnology could well be the savior. Nanobattery increases
the power available from conventional batteries while reducing
the time required for recharging them by using electrodes coated
with nanoparticles. Moreover, the battery discharge which
occurs when the battery is not in use also reduces significantly.
The inflammability of batteries also decreases with the use of
nanoparticles made from non-flammable materials. All in all,
this means safer, smaller batteries working more efficiently for a
longer time. Fuel cells typically use catalysts such as platinum to
produce hydrogen ions from methanol or hydrogen. They also
require membranes to separate the hydrogen ions and oxygen in
the cell to prevent combustion. Nanotechnology has permitted
April ‘09 25 liveit.in
 Feature
the use of catalysts made from nanoparticles, thus reducing the
cost and increasing efficiency. It has also allowed for the
development of nanomembranes, which enable building
lightweight and longer lasting fuel cells. Besides this,
nanotechnology is well on the way to ensuring that the fossil fuel
reserves are used more efficiently with minimum wastage.
Catalysts used in the production of fuels from fossils can be
made more efficient by using nanoparticles. The process of
producing diesel from coal can be made economical and fuel
can also be produced from presently unusable raw materials like
low grade crude oil. A big breakthrough in producing fuel from
waste material such as wood chips and grass could be achieved
by developing engineered nanoenzymes, which could convert
the material into ethanol fuel.
Electronics
Probably the one area where nanotechnology has already shown
astounding development is that of electronics. While computer
sizes have drastically decreased to sizes inconceivable a few years
ago, nanotechnology is looking at providing even more efficient,
light-weight and less power-consuming electronic devices.
Electrodes made from nanowires enable flat screen displays to
become thinner and more flexible. Carbon nanotubes, which
direct electrons to illuminate pixels, are enabling the production
of display panels which are only a millimeter thick and weigh
less than a few grams. Nanoprobes in the making are capable of
writing data more than 1 Terabyte on polymer films measuring
a tiny 1 inch. Integrated circuits with sizes in nanometers would
further allow for drastic reduction in sizes of conventional
CPUs. Under development is Magnetoresistive Random Access
Memory (MRAM) using nanosized magnetic rings, allowing for
400 GB per square inch of memory density allowing data
processing at the speed of thought. Micro-ElectroMechanical
Systems (MEMs) are the latest, real revolution in electronics,
allowing both electronic and mechanical circuits to be built on a
single integrated circuit, which is a fraction of the size of a
conventional circuit. Some applications are already in popular
use - MEMS accelerometer chips are used to trigger airbags in
cars, projection screen TVs use MEMS mirror chips, inkjet
liveit.in 26 April ‘09
nozzles in printers are made with MEMS technology, several
medical applications use MEMS pressure sensors. A blood
pressure sensor using MEMS, which can be implanted in the
patient, is already under development.
Aerospace engineering
Nanotech in aerospace engineering could be the key to making
movies like Star Trek and 2001: A Space Odyssey a reality in
the near future. Space flight is slated to become more practical,
low-cost and more efficient. Carbon nanotubes would
significantly reduce the weight of spacecraft while increasing its
structural strength. Carbon nanotubes used to construct light
solar sails for spacecraft use the pressure of light from the sun
reflecting on the mirror like solar cells to propel spacecraft.
They drastically reduce the cost and weight of carrying fuel for
space trips. The space elevator which was once looked upon as
impossible may become possible by using cables made of highly
advanced nanomaterials. Nanosensors can search large areas
of planets such as Mars and the moon to detect various
materials such as water and gases. Additionally, they would
monitor the emissions in spaceships during flights to maintain
the required life-support systems for astronauts. Bionano robots
manufactured in layers into spacesuits are being developed to
serve two purposes – first to provide self-repair to the spacesuit
when it gets damaged and the second to respond to any medical
emergency for the astronaut by providing immediate detection,
diagnosis and treatment.
Food sciences
Nanotechnology is addressing all aspects of food sciences, right
from actual crop and farming processes to processing of food to
its packaging. These are not only impacting the taste and health
benefits of food but also aiming for reduction in costs to
eradicate hunger from the planet. In the packaging industry,
clay nanocomposites are being used to provide an impermeable
barrier to gases such as oxygen or carbon dioxide, which cause
spoiling and wastage of food in bottle, cartons and packaging
films. Similarly, silicate or zinc nanoparticles in packaging film
are in the offing to provide protection from moisture and UV
rays. Usage of
nanosensors to detect
bacteria or viruses
such as salmonella at
packaging plants
itself guarantees that
contamination-free
food reaches stores.
Plastic food storage
bins have silver
nanoparticles
embedded in the
plastic, which help
destroy any bacteria
previously present
thus removing any
probable health risk.
Nanoparticles can be developed to coat nutrients in food and
ensure direct delivery from the stomach to the bloodstream,
without changing the original taste and appearance of food. A
super vitamin storage system is under research, which would
have nanocapsules releasing nutrients into the body on
detecting nutrient deficiencies, reducing cost and wastage of
nutrients. Pesticides encapsulated in nanoparticles would allow
for release of pesticide in the insect’s stomach, eliminating
contamination of the plant itself. A network of nanosensors and
dispnsers can be built throughout the farm, which would sense
the nutrient or water requirement for each individual plant and
administer the required material accordingly, thus ensuring
minimum wastage of nutrients and water and causing optimal
growth for the plants.
Lifestyle products
Not only is nanotechnology working at the aforementioned
major aspects of life, it is also working on those areas of daily
living which affect us at smaller levels. These include major
developments in textiles, sporting products and cleaning agents.
In textiles for instance, nanowhiskers cause water to form beads
on the fabric surface, making the fabric waterproof and stain
resistant, while keeping it lightweight and easy to maintain.
Silver nanoparticles are used to make cloth resistant to bacteria
and odors. Shoe inserts manufactured with nanopores can
provide nearly 100% insulation from the cold weather.
Nanotubes can be used to create lightweight, bullet-proof fabric.
Besides this, polyurethane nanofiber meshes would provide
guaranteed protection against hazardous chemicals. Sporting
technology has undergone radical changes too – super-strong,
light and durable tennis racquets are being manufactured using
nanotubes. Golf club shafts are prone to imperfections, which
cause changes in swing and power thus affecting the quality of
the game. Filling up these imperfections with nanoparticles
allows for manufacturing of nearly perfect golf clubs, thus
improving the game by several notches. The same applies to
preventing air leaks from tennis balls, allowing them to retain
their bounce for a longer time. Bicycling is also undergoing
radical changes – handlebars made with carbon fibers are
strengthened by using nanotubes. Nanotechnology has also
made a great contribution to cleaning products. Titanium Oxide
nanoparticles, also known as photocatalysts, are being used to
make films that use light energy to kill bacteria present on
surfaces. Washing machines that use silver ions to provide
superior cleaning for clothes are already available in the market.
Car windshields can be made longer lasting and water repellant
by wiping with thin polymer layers of nanomaterial embedded
cloth. Security from terrorist threats is bound to increase by
leaps and bounds by the use of nanosensors, which would be
able to detect the tiny amounts of vapors emitted by explosives.
Caution … danger ahead!
For all these great achievements made and those which are
expected to come in the near future, nanotechnology has its own
downsides too. The implications of nanotechnology are
manifold - medical, ethical, mental, legal and environmental and
affect fields such as engineering, biology, chemistry, computing,
materials science, military applications, and communications.
Dangers to health include the unknown effects of nanoparticles
on human biology. Unmonitored use of nanomaterials in
environmental engineering may result in far-reaching
repercussions, which are currently unforeseeable. Since
nanoparticles do not occur naturally; at present technology does
not have any viable means of dealing with nanowaste and
nanopollutants. Society is bound to undergo a huge
transformation too, because the use of nanoproducts would
cause closure of many traditional industries, leading to
unemployment, economic upheaval and political changes. With
the use of nanosensors for surveillance, individual privacy is at
stake, which is essentially a moral concern. The ethics of the
entire human race may come under the scanner as
nanoengineering allows for manufacturing organs cell by cell,
which could be one of the building blocks for human cloning.
Biological warfare is a very real possibility - one which may
cause the entire planet to self-destruct.
In the face of such concerns, government regulation is necessary
and regulatory bodies such as the United States Environmental
Protection Agency and the Health & Consumer Protection
Directorate of the European Commission have started dealing
with the potential risks of nanoparticles.
The road ahead …
Like all innovations that science has seen over thousands of
years, nanotechnology draws diametrically opposite reactions –
some eulogize it, the others condemn it. The journey ahead is a
mixed one, fast and exhilarating and full of pitfalls and bumps
all along the way. The destination is unknown, but one thing is
clear…technology as we perceive it has not only changed
beyond recognition, in a few years from now, it is going to turn
everything that we know about ourselves and our planet and the
universe completely around. I
April ‘09 27 liveit.in
 Feature
E Cool,
nough about e-learning websites that allow you to share,
collaborate and learn stuff over the Internet through audio
and video images. Now, soak up some really cool websites
that allow you to become an expert within no time on just
about any topic under the sun, provided you have the passion and
enthusiasm for it. Without further ado, here are some websites that
will educate, inform and, surely, entertain you. Happy surfing!
RECYCLING-REVOLUTION.COM
As the name suggests, it’s about recycling and about creating a
revolution by following some of the recycling norms prevalent in
the world. With this website, not only will you become a
seasoned recycler, but will also be able to educate your family
and friends. Besides putting at rest all those nagging doubts and
giving answers to questions related to this topic, the website will
also help make recycling easier, more fun, and even profitable.
Almost everyone can gain something out of the website, be it
educators, students, moms, dads, businesses, non-profit
organizations or just you and me. We can all make a difference,
so why not start with it right away?
Recycling-revolution offers a simple, yet useful, introduction to
all things related to recycling, which include rules and guidelines
to adhere to if you want to make your recycling the most
efficient, and ways to recycle, such as selling old clothes and toys
in a yard sale. Remember, every little thing counts. So do your bit
and save the world.
SOUNDSNAP.COM
Are you in the process of preparing a presentation and want to
add a special sound effect to it? Or are you a music producer on
the lookout for some new sound? Then, here is the solution to all
your sound needs. Apart from providing sound solutions, this
website also tickles your creative senses. What’s more, all this for
free. You can use the sounds worldwide as they are royalty free.
However, before uploading anything on the site, make sure to read
the terms and conditions carefully.
Now downloading sounds of your choice is just a click away.
Register yourself, confirm your address on the website and you can
liveit.in 28 April ‘09
Coolest
Zahid H. Javali
start downloading and uploading music or sounds at your
convenience. You get five sounds free a month and the option to
choose from a range of categories. Once you register, you gain
access to an assorted library of sounds, which includes animals,
comic and film FX, exteriors, house, human, industry and
machines industry, interiors, multimedia, music loops, music
samples, nature, science fiction, sound art, sports, transport and
unreal ambiences.
BLOGTHINGS.COM
Blogthings offers pure indulgence in engaging quizzes that your
friends often challenge you to attempt on MySpace or Facebook.
Or maybe you can use it to throw the challenge at your friends this
time around. The website lets you do both and a lot more.
Take up a quiz to find out whether you are cute or sexy or know
more about your love life or discover more about yourself as a
person or just have a little bit of fun by answering questions about
your sexual orientation. Take your pick of the quiz, answer a few
questions and get to know more about yourself. You can also post
the answer on MySpace or Facebook and it will invite visitors to
your website or take up the quest themselves.
MOVIESTORM.CO.UK
This is touted as one of the revolutionary movie-making websites,
which even an amateur can use with ease! The tools available help
you in the minutest step of the movie making process right from the
beginning to the end. The website has user-friendly features and its
compatibility with other movie making tools makes it an obvious
choice for both the first timer users and well as the more experienced
ones. There is a unique experience in store for everyone. People
already using this website have also uploaded movies they have
made, which can be viewed while browsing the website.
The website has announced a competition this year where they
want a set to be designed and presented in the form of a short
movie of maximum 2 minutes duration. They’ve left it to you to
decide whether you want to use action, choreography, dialogue or
music and any content packs you like. Once decided, you can
Cooler,
WEBSITES
register with the website and download the software. From its
library of supplied templates and 3D models, you can create the
set and characters for your movie and also record or type the
dialogues for your characters. The characters can speak the
dialogue back to you and you can direct the scenes using the
included animations. You have the option of using multiple
cameras to film your movie and later incorporate the scenes in a
single movie. It also lets you, the user, to create movie files
compatible to upload to different video-sharing sites including your
personal Moviestormer’s page.
A unique feature of this website is that it also provides you with a
movie-making toolkit, which needs no prior experience in
animation or filmmaking. Additionally, there’s a community where
you can interact with others and get your queries resolved.
THETXSPACE.COM
Ever heard of a social networking website that supports the
transplant community? No? Then here’s some feed for you.
Thetxspace.com is the world’s first ever website of its kind, which
provides a common platform to patients, clinicians, donors, donor
families and anyone related to transplantation. Members of this
community can interact with each other to share views, exchange
ideas and in turn support each other. There are about 9000 odd
patients currently on the NHS Organ Donor list and 79000 people
are enjoying a better life after the transplantation; you too can join
this special group once you get involved with transplantation.
There’s a lot to gather from the website: you can create your
personal health network, exchange and view your case studies, and
store or even share files whether it is a picture or a document. You
can start your own community with like-minded groups; create a
journal or a blog and even publicise your events. You can also
create and promote awareness of organ and tissue donation for
transplantation through this website and raise funds for any kind of
organ donation and transplantation.
YOUTHINK.WORLDBANK.ORG
Do you belong to that generation of youth who cares about the
world outside and want to turn it into a better place? If yes, then
your search may well culminate at the threshold of this website.
Connect with youth around the globe who have similar interests
and share your views with them. It is a blog forum where youth
around the world interested in developmental issues get together
and work towards a common goal. The blogs give you access to all
kinds of information on global issues that you might think relevant
for your purpose. You can also do a quick check on the research,
knowledge and experience collated by the World Bank experts on
development issues. You can make yourself heard by sharing with
us your views because you know best what is going around you. So,
go ahead and share what kind of development or the lack of it is
going on in your world.
The affairs of this world have a ripple effect, be it education,
employment, health, trade and conflict. One affects the other
whether we are aware of it or not. The youth today are the ones
who will be able to make a change, so take a stand today and give a
better future to the world.
NEWSCIENTIST.COM
New Scientist is a magazine “for all those people who are interested
in scientific discovery and in its industrial, commercial and social
April ‘09 29 liveit.in
 Feature
consequences.” It deals with a wide variety of subjects related to
science and technology from astrobiology to dinosaurs, Mars to
genetics, and stems cells to weapon technology. Take a tour of the
site to get latest and detailed updates on this field. The website
includes news and features, engaging headlines, fascinating stories
and amazing facts, delivered through the latest news slots, in-depth
articles, videos, and blogs and commenting.
The site helps make science more appealing and interesting to us
and does away with the notion that it is only for the nerds. It is a
very user-friendly website, which is easy to browse through and
supplies plentiful of intriguing information, which will open the
window to the deepest secrets of the world. Go ahead and have
fun with science!
TEACHERS.TV
Welcome to a website designed especially for teachers, students or
someone like you or me who want to learn more about the world
around us. The site is based on information from the free-to-air
digital channel called ‘Teachers TV’. On this site you will find
information on a variety of subjects, which your children need to
know to secure some extra grades at school; plus, you can help
them learn too.
Even though the website is targeted at the UK audience,
nevertheless, the interesting content has universal appeal. The
programs are sorted according to subjects and key stages and
they cover all key stages as well as early years and further
education. The subjects vary from art and design to business
studies, design and technology to economics, English to health
and social care, history to mathematics, music to physical
education, science to religious education and much more. In
other words, the website is an inexhaustible library of
information on all subjects and is updated on a regular basis to
provide you with the latest studies. The website also provides
audio-visual means of training teachers. There’s a section
covering the latest happenings in the education world brought to
us by expert educationists and journalists. It also provides
information on students’ behaviour at school and provides tips to
handle related problems.
liveit.in 30 April ‘09
To couple learning with an element of fun, the website has
interactive games along with various documentaries related to
school improvement and a series aimed at teaching mathematics to
children in an interesting way.
Teachers TV is operated by an independent media consortium,
Education Digital, which was selected by the DCSF (now the
Department for Children, Schools and Families) in 2004 after an
extensive tender process.
COLOURLOVERS.COM
We cannot really imagine our world in black and white. Life would
be really boring if were restricted to just the two shades, right? For
those of you who thought that colour does not affect our health,
wealth and surroundings, here is a site for you to look at.
This website is all about colour, which monitors and influences
colour trends. People who use a lot of colour in their piece of work
like advertisers or for that matter anyone interested to know about
colours and their influences can use this website to find interesting
information, compare colour palettes, submit news and comments,
and read colour related articles and interviews.
Designers, ad makers or any other professional who needs to
experiment with colours in relation to his/her work and can afford
shelling out some extra bucks can now do it for free on this website!
It is paradise for the creative minded who like to play with colours.
Colourlovers.com is a colour and design community for creative
inspiration and sharing the love of colour. Here you will find over
one million colour names, hundreds of thousands of colour
palettes and patterns, comments and ratings. Interviews with top
creative professionals regarding colour and articles covering
current colour trends and news are uploaded daily.
GETSAFEONLINE.ORG
All of you are familiar with the term ‘online fraud,’ be it through
the credit card or through fraudulent mails and websites.
According to expert estimates, working adults on an average salary
can be worth Rs. 13 lakhs (per fraud attempt) to online criminals!
This is taking into account recommended savings allowance and
typical access to credit cards.
 GetSafeOnline.org is a website that gives everyone the tools and
confidence they need to enjoy and use the Internet safely.
According to the website, Internet fraudsters take as much
advantage of an individual’s accessible finances as they can in a
short time before moving on to the next victim. This could mean
anything from emptying an individual’s current and saving
accounts to maxing out credit cards!
Since Internet users are largely susceptible to online frauds, they
need to take special measures to prevent themselves from
becoming victim to online criminal activity, a sophisticated
industry by itself.
Installing the essential software and learning about the key safety
measures on the website takes only a few hours. However, this is a
small yet worthwhile inconvenience compared to the potential loss!
Statistics reveal that almost half of UK’s internet users do not
update their anti-virus software frequently enough to ensure it
remains effective. In addition, almost a quarter do not have any
spyware protection, and nearly half (47%) do not have website
authentication software to protect themselves from ‘phishing’
attacks. ‘Phishing’ is the term given to fraudulent e-mails designed
to trick Internet users into submitting their financial or other
confidential details. These are automated attacks and involve
sending out thousands of messages, thus ensuring that even a few
responses are profitable. For more information and advice on how
to guard against online identity fraud and other Internet crimes,
you now know where to head!
NETHACKZ.COM
Ever since its inception, the Internet has gained widespread
popularity and has grown at an alarming pace. Users, world over,
are still struggling to come to terms with this growth and are in the
process of learning how to use it effectively.
NetHackz.com is a blog that delivers Internet productivity tips
and software applications to online users. You can lay your hands
on some great tips and tricks to make your online pursuits more
productive and advantageous.
Though an informative website, there are the occasional picture
posts and videos that are guaranteed to entertain you!
NetHackz.com is joined by MarketingHackz.com, PCHackz.com
and GreenHackz.com to form ‘The Hackz Network!’ There are
going to be more additions to this network, so stay tuned!
The blog has everything and anything to do with online activities
that includes tips on free web conferencing tools to the best free
software of 2009 to even the history of the Silicon Valley! There is
one feature that lists 25 mobile applications for people on the go!
There is also a video by the founder of Wired magazine, Kevin
Kelly, that talks about the next 5,000 days of the Internet.
It talks about this application Away Find (awayfind.com),
where you get to know how to keep e-mail from ruining your life.
This site is a contact page that lets people get in touch with you
only if they really need you. It sends SMS, e-mail and the like,
but is completely unobtrusive. Using this service makes you feel
like you are ‘connected’ but you don’t panic by having an inbox
filled with mails.
The content presented here is in a typical blog format complete
with style and layout where you will find recent posts on the main
page panel and a link to the categorized sections a little lower on
the right. It also has links to some useful applications and websites.
PERIODICVIDEOS.COM
Chemical elements have been the bane of many a students over the
years! The tables that are used to chart the chemical elements since
the 19th century are boring, and hence have no takers. However,
the modern version now has a short video about each one!
Since the time the website made its foray in the world wide web,
these videos have been watched more than 4.8 million times! And,
that’s not all! The videos are being updated with new stories, better
samples and bigger experiments.
The website has been put together by the academics at the
University of Nottingham. Each of the chemical elements in the
periodic table has a video explanation along with cool scientific
experiments. These guys really know how to convert a boring and
nonsensical subject into fun! So, go ahead, pay a visit to the site
and learn about science in a fun way!
BLENDER.ORG
Have you always wanted to get into 3D animation designing but
did not know where to start? Blender.org comes with a great
tutorial for beginners, which will be your first step towards learning
designing. Even if you don’t become a pro at it right away, you can
be sure of starting with it within hours. If you are used to
animation designing then all you have to do is just download and
install it for free and start using it. In the next few minutes, you can
create your own low budget production!
SCRIBUS.NET
This one’s for those who always wanted free desktop publishing
software and did not know where to find it. Here is a site that
solves this problem. You can design and publish pretty much any
kind of document that you can think of and more. It comes with a
lot of support options to help you achieve the best result. To get
started, run the program and enjoy its features. It might look a little
complicated to work with at first but if are used to publishing and
with the kind of support that the website provides, you can master
the art very easily. I
April ‘09 31 liveit.in
 Feature
An Office Suite
for FREE
Zoho OpenOffice
A
n office suite for free! So, what’s the big deal about it,
you may wonder. After all, India happens to be a
country where most computers are powered with
pirated office suites that cost zilch. A pirated version of
office suite naturally means a Microsoft Office suite, which could
easily rank amongst the most pirated softwares in the world. It is
amazing that people prefer to work on pirated software even
though it is possible for them to get a legal version, created by a
different company, for free.
The pirated Microsoft Office suite might work as well as the
original version, but it does not give you access to free updates
and just in case you start facing a glitch in your software’s
operation, you can’t expect any help from Microsoft’s tech
support. So to my mind, it is better to go for a free but original
Office suite from a reputed company rather than stick to a
pirated version. All you need is high speed broadband, as these
free Office suites are downloadable from their websites.
Some of the best alternatives to Microsoft Office worth taking
a look at, include:
IBM is finally gearing itself up to mount a serious challenge to
Microsoft’s dominance on personal computer software. The
challenge comes in the form of a free software called Lotus
liveit.in 32 April ‘09
Anoop Verma
IBM Lotus Symphony
Symphony, which includes a Word Processor, Spreadsheet and
Presentation software. While these two goliaths battle it out, it
is the consumer who will have the last laugh with lots of
freebies coming his way. The Lotus Symphony software can
be downloaded for free from the IBM website at:
http://symphony.
lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.jspa.
This is one software that runs without any hassles and is also
compatible with all versions of MS Office. This means you
can open MS office files by using the Lotus Symphony
program, work on them and save them back in MS document
format. The only problem with this software is its heavy
download time. The program is really heavy, as any Office
suite is supposed to be, and judging by the way broadband
speeds work in India, it could take you hours to download and
install it in your computer.
But once you are done with the installation process, this
program can prove to be a real boon. Its word processor is
considered extremely efficient and easy to use. Second, as it is
based on the Open Document Format (ODF) standard, it is
not locked into proprietary file formats and software licensing
agreements. That leaves you freedom for lots of choice. You
can go in for a host of free tools, plug-ins and upgrades.
Available for free, OpenOffice does all the work that MS Office
does. To grab this software all you need is to log on to the site:
www.openoffice.org. The software can also be downloaded from
a page on Sun Microsystems website at www.sun.com/software/
star/openoffice/index.xml. The OpenOffice software excels
among other software due to the great compatibility it shows
with the popular versions of MS Office.
This means, you don’t face any problem in opening
documents created in MS Office with the OpenOffice software
that you have downloaded. The software is also compatible with
most operating systems. So, it does not really matter what
operating system you are using because OpenOffice runs on
Windows, Linux, Solaris, Mac OS X, as well as on many other
platforms. Available in over 100 languages, including Hindi,
OpenOffice is truly magnificent.
And if you are a developer, then you can seek access to the
source code that is written in C++ and add your own interesting
ideas to make the program even better.
Star Office Google Docs
This Office suite is not available for free. It will cost a fraction of
what Microsoft Office does. The Star Office Software from Sun
Microsystems can be yours for less than INR 5000. To download
it online, all you need to do is go to the site:
http://www.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/index.jsp. Here,
you will be required to pay a sum of $ 69.95 before you can be
allowed to download the software. This Office suite boasts of
powerful and integrated word processing, spreadsheet,
presentation, drawing, and database capabilities. With this
software too you can read, edit and save MS Office files.
These days, you don’t need to
have a bulky Office suite in
order to access word processing
or spreadsheet programs. By
offering free Office suite
facilities online, Google Docs
could as well prove to be the
biggest threat to Microsoft’s
dominance. If you have used
Google Docs once then you are
probably already hooked to the concept. Google Docs allows
you to import documents, spreadsheets or presentations that you
have created using any PC-based program or you can create
new ones from scratch.
The system even allows more than one account holder to
collaborate on the same document. As the files get saved on a
secure Google server, they are relatively safe from any virus
attack or software glitches. Also, by saving your documents
online, you are no longer tied to the same computer. You can
access your documents from any part of the world by merely
logging on to your account. It is expected that as Internet grows
in popularity, the Office suite business could move completely
online, which could make Google the ultimate winner in the
software game.
ThinkFree is yet another online Office suite
available for free at http://www.thinkfree.
com/common/main.tfo. ThinkFree offers
1 GB of free storage and to use it all you
have to do is open an account on its website.
Thereafter, you are free to access its online
ThinkFree Others
features just as in the case of Google Docs. Also, the interface
for each application is very similar to MS Office, including the
toolbars, icons, and functions.
There is no dearth of users who claim that Zoho offers the best
online Office suite. How much truth there is in that claim you
can find out for yourself by signing up on their website:
www.zoho.com. By patronizing Zoho you can do just about
everything that you can do in Google Docs.
You can access, edit, and share documents from anywhere. It
also allows you to import documents created in any file format
and collaborate or share these with other account holders. You
can also post your documents for public viewing. Zoho further
gives you facilities such as ZohoWiki, using which you can create
an easy to use full-featured Wiki.
Lesser known suites and processors
Looks like programmers around the world are working overtime
in coming up with programs that can beat Microsoft in its own
game. The online world is littered with suites and processors that
people might not have even heard of. But just because
something is not popular does not mean that it is not good.
Some excellent Office suites worth a look are Abi Word, Jarte
Word Processor, Yeah Write for Windows, Gnome Office,
NeoOffice, NeoOffice/J and Koffice and SSuite Personal Office.
However, not all are compatible with the Windows operating
system. Some are also meant for Mac and for Linux only; so
better go through the website and read the instructions carefully
before you press that download button. I
April ‘09 33 liveit.in
 Snapshots

1 2

A rare example of modernization

and natural serenity, Chandigarh is
moving with modern times
embracing newer technologies to
turn into one of the most high-tech
cities in India.
Rishali Yadav
Eco-friendly polythene bags
1 Chandigarh, in a move to protect the environment,
along with the NGO ‘International Society for Cooperation
and Development (ISCD)’ and in collaboration with a South 5
Korean scientist, has come up with bio- degradable, eco-
friendly plastic bags. The team of scientists has been invited
by the NGO to promote these plastic bags in India. The
bags can be used as an alternative to the plastic bags
Smoke-free website
currently in use.
3 The government of Chandigarh along with the NGO
‘Burning Brain Society’, has launched a website
State-level energy park
2 The administration of Chandigarh is taking every step
www.chandigarh.tobaccofreeindia.com to turn the city into a
smoke-free zone. Chandigarh is one of the first cities in India
for the betterment of the society as a whole. The latest to take this novel initiative for the welfare of the society at
initiative is the making of the state-level energy park. The park large. People can use the website to directly report to the
has been set up in the Botanical Garden area, in Sarangpur police and health department of any violation whatsoever.
village. The initiative was taken by the Department of Science The website will also spread and disseminate information and
and Technology with the assistance of the Ministry of New proper guidelines about various laws regarding smoking and
and Renewable Energy to increase awareness about the use of tobacco control.
renewable energy. The park, besides being a source of
entertainment and amusement, would spread awareness
among the general public about energy.

liveit.in 34 April ‘09

 3 4
6 getting tenant and even domestic help registration
4 Parties get tech-savvy ahead of elections
Information technology is not unknown or new to
political parties in Chandigarh. The city is getting tech-
savvy even in terms of politics. The Bhartiya Janta Party in
Chandigarh is using a new software, which would help the
political parties gather the demographic profile of the
voters. Apart from this, it would also segregate the voters
according to their age groups. The software would
maintain a data of the profile of their party workers on the
website and, thus, any information would be just a mouse
click away. The residents can look out for any information
on the Internet without any hassle.
Transacting online
5 Chandigarh is a city fast embracing the
benefits of latest technological advancements. The city
is now making its way to development through
‘Transact Online’ facility. This is a facility to make our
lives easier and comfortable with the help of
technology. Transact Online has been designed to help
the people of Chandigarh make all kinds of payments
sitting at home with the help of the Internet. Payments
can be made for electricity and water bills with the
help of Chandigarh administration’s website. Besides
payment of bills, the website would also help one in
done. What’s more, you can also pay your traffic
challan through the website.
6 Hotels to install CCTV and
caller-ID phones
Every move towards the betterment of the society as a
whole is a sign of development, and Chandigarh
seems to have adapted this idea in every sphere. The
Chandigarh administration has decided to install
CCTV cameras both in private as well as government
hotels for the security purpose. The CCTV cameras
have been installed at both entry and exit gates,
reception, underground space, and parking lot. The
record of this would be maintained once a month.
April ‘09 35 liveit.in
Feature

Introducing Children
to Computers &
Internet – Resmi Jaimon
 omputers and the Internet have become
C indispensable part of every day life in many adults’
life. Children too consider these as a vital part of
their life. It is either because their parents have
encouraged them to use computers for multiple reasons or the
children themselves have found an interest early in their life. But,
is it a good option for children to have exposure to computers
and Internet at an early age?
Baby steps
As in most cases, there is difference of opinion as regards the
question when children should be introduced to the world of
computers and Internet. Working parents find solace in
buying CDs, such as those with nursery rhymes and animated
movies, for toddlers who enjoy these colourful pictures on
screen. Also, since
these toddlers
grow up seeing
their parents using
computers, they
also get
accustomed to
working with the
mouse and tapping
on the keyboard.
Even before
children get to
know what a
computer is, it is
often the parents,
more for their own
convenience, make
their children get
familiar with
computers. These
children see
computers or
laptops kept aside them since almost the time they are born
and they start playing with the keyboard and the mouse as
soon as their little fingers can tap or hold them.
Instead of books, parents also encourage children to learn
numbers, understand colours and so on through the various
CDs available in the market. Also, there are various websites
with interactive pages to attract children. So, it is through the
digital learning that the children get a chance to learn much
more than what they would from seeing children books or
televisions. This way, even before young children get a chance to
interact with the outside world, they are comfortable with their
home computers. The first lessons should not be in such a way
that the children look forward only for switching on the
computer. They should get a chance to play with their toys and
computers should only be a part of their education curriculum.
Since computer is a common appliance at most homes, many
experts feel children should be introduced to the computer from
the beginning. Sharon Miller Cindrich, author of E-Parenting:
Keeping up with Your Tech-Savvy Kids, says, “According to the
American Academy of Pediatrics, children under the age of two
do not need any screen time. However, by three, children can
spend small amounts of time playing educational games as well
as learning very basic tech skills (use the mouse, identify
numbers and letters on the keyboard, spell their name, etc.).”
You, as a parent, should therefore be careful while selecting a
CD or teaching your young one about computers. Teach them
only what is appropriate. Some children like drawing and filling
colours, which you could probably start after they start school.
Never force your child to learn these skills as they might just be
more comfortable drawing on paper and filling colours with
brush and paint or crayons. Giving your child general guidance
on using the computers before they enter kindergarten is good.
Some children have shown exceptional achievements, after
having started to learn using computers as early as two and gone
to make their names known in various computer-related
activities and projects.
Parental control
Allowing your child to play with computers does not
generally mean any harm. However, parents should have a
control on the sites the youngsters visit and should keep a
regular check on their e-mail friends. What could parents do
to control their youngsters in using the Internet? “Keep the
computer in a public area and within reach; you must never
shut it away in a child’s room or in a place where there
cannot be good oversight. Ask your child about the types of
sites they visit and the things they do. Kids need to
understand that people who prey on children can be tricky –
they disguise themselves to be other kids, for example, and
they are very good about getting a child into a conversation
that begins innocently enough, but can become unhealthy
very quickly,” adds Corinne Gregory.
As a parent, you can have control over the time your child
spends on using computers as well as the Internet. “When you
should introduce your child to the Internet depends on the child
and his/her development level. Some children can be taught
April ‘09 39 liveit.in
 Feature

about computers at age two, some older. Your child will often let
you know if you give them brief exposures to it and gauge their
interest,” says Dr. Erik A. Fisher, clinical psychologist and author
of The Art of Empowered Parenting: The Manual You Wish Your Kids
Came With.

Dangers of early exposure

Usage of computers to a certain extent is good. How
about the other side? Too much of computer and Internet
usage could affect a child in various ways. It could cut
down and have a potential damage to a child’s social
skills. Says Corinne Gregory, President & Founder,
SocialSmarts, Washington, “Face-to-face contact is the best
form since all our senses get involved in this kind of
communication – voice, inflection and body language. Each
time we remove one layer of personalization, we also Children, however experienced they might be in using
remove one layer of communication ability. Internet is computers and the Internet, are not efficient in handling
fantasy or made up, and our kids are becoming more and problems. They might never even understand if there is a
more immune to what is required to develop true, problem at all. For instance, cyber bullying is a major issue.
complete, personal relationships with one another. So, One might get hooked to being a victim without even
computer use, especially among young children, can harm realizing it and by the time parents or other elders are aware
us from learning what skills and abilities are needed to of the situation, it could be out of control. So, let your child
develop healthy relationships, grow and nurture them, and grow and know, but make sure they get to know the right thing
let them be satisfying elements in daily lives.” at the right time. I

liveit.in 40 April ‘09

 Inbox

Letters to the Editor

MARCH 2009 RS. 50
G

I went through the table of Superb issue. KUDOS for

content of Live IT. It truly does bringing out a superb issue
IT magazine for the contemporary woman
justice to the contemporary (March). The excellent
women seeking to blend IT in compilation and coverage of
CAMPUS LIFE AT
SECOND LIFE
their lifestyle. Our college full gamut of IT knowledge
HOTS & LEARNING made for nostalgic reading. I
TECHNOLOGIES ranking among one of the
COURSES WITHOUT feel each new issue is superior
PRICE TAGS best Engineering Colleges in
in content and information to
ONLINE DEGREES Goa, is sure to benefit from
ACCREDITED? the previous one. The
THE INTERNET
the subjects covered in your coverage, quality of
COOKBOOK
magazine. I request you to presentation and the freshness
E-LEARNING
GAMES TO kindly send a sample copy of of LIVE IT speak volumes of the
TEACH KIDS
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DIGITAL AGE
LEARNING Reshma Toraskar, Goa Vinod C. DIXIT, Ahmedabad

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 Feature

Keeping Fit with

Techn o logy

of information, and that

includes fitness info. Unsure of how to
start your routine? Type ‘fitness’ into Google and
you’ll get thousands of pages that can help you. The
excellent About.com site has a comprehensive set of guides
at www.about.com/health. The site includes articles on
Sudarshan Purohit nutrition, exercise, body care, and the latest news on

R
related topics.
ashmi couldn’t help but be annoyed at her son. The Sites such as freetrainers.com and fullfitness.net focus on
moment she came home from her office, she saw him creating a customized exercise routine for you. Log in, enter
sprawled out on the sofa, playing on a gaming console. your requirements, and get customized schedules for exercises
“I sit at my desk, staring at a computer screen all day, and helpful hints to keep you motivated.
because it’s my job. But why does he ruin his health by playing Whether it’s running, aerobics, or yoga, there are guides for
these computer games?” each type of exercise on the net. Even Baba Ramdev, the yoga
Rashmi is not the only one complaining. The common guru, has a website from where you can order DVDs. YouTube
perception is that while technology has made life easier for us, it has videos of his yoga exercises which you could watch online.
has also made us considerably lazy, obese, couch potatoes.
Nearly all desk jobs today require heavy use of computers,
which strains the eyes, back, and hands, leading to new problems
like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. The new entertainment trends –
YouTube, DVDs, social networking, and game consoles,
encourage sedentary use. Perhaps the worst affected are children
and college goers, who adopt these new activities due to peer
pressure and give up physically intense activities entirely.
But technology is a double-edged sword. If one looks in the
right places, it also provides one with easier, better ways to
remain fit and healthy. Harness the right tools, and you’ll find
yourself crediting the latest technological advances for your
newfound fitness.

Starting off
Let’s start with the most popular and admired scapegoat,
the Internet. The net has become a repository for all sorts

liveit.in 42 April ‘09

The most common exercises – yogic, aerobic, freestyle – are
available as videos on YouTube as demonstrations.
Want even more specialized help? Turn to the countless
support forums. Answers.yahoo.com is a generic forum, but it is
surprisingly effective for your health- and nutrition-related
questions. Whether you want to know how many calories are
required, or how to do the Surya Namaskar correctly, there’s sure
to be someone who can help you with your query. Make sure
you try and answer others, too – the community thrives on
active participation.
Keeping track
So you’ve decided on some routine that’ll help you lose weight
and feel great. But, how do you make sure you’re burning
enough calories? Technology comes to the rescue again.
Traditionally, joggers and walkers have been using a mechanical
device called the ‘Pedometer’. This device is hung from your
belt, and keeps track of how many steps you’ve walked in a day.
Multiply this number by the length of your stride, and you get
the distance travelled.
But pedometer technology has changed dramatically over
the years. The most recent entrants here are mobile phones.
The latest models of mobiles have a GPS (Geographic
Position System) that connects to an overhead satellite and
tells you within a few metres’ accuracy where you are on a
map. Now these same GPS systems can be used as a
pedometer. Simply keep the GPS app on all day, and let it
keep track of each location you walked to. By the end of the
day, the phone itself can
give you an idea of how
much you’ve walked, and
consequently how many
calories you’ve burnt.
Medically fit
One area, where perhaps
technology has made the
greatest difference is in
medical equipment.
Instruments that were
once expensive and could
only be owned by
hospitals are available at
chemists’ shops now. Take
the example of the blood
pressure meter (technically called a sphygmomanometer). As
you grow older, along with your exercise routine, it is wise to
make sure you aren’t falling prey to diseases. It is here that
the sphyg-momanometer is a must if you have a family
history of high or low blood pressure. It’s a small device
that you can learn to use with ease. Blood sugar
measurement, pregnancy tests, etc. have all become easier
to get done, thanks to the advancements made in the field of
medical technology.
At the gym
If you decide not to take up an exercise routine by yourself, but
join a gym instead, you’ll find many changes in the gym as
compared to a few years ago. An American company named
Expresso Bikes recently introduced an exercise cycle with an
LCD screen mounted
over the handlebars.
This screen shows a
virtual world that you
can move around in.
The faster you cycle, the
faster you can move
around the scenery on
the screen. When you
are cycling ‘uphill’ on
the screen, it gets harder
to pedal the cycle and
when you go downhill,
it becomes easier. With
the cyclist lost in the
scenery, the exercise
changes from torture
into a fun expedition.
Exercising technology brought home
All of these options are great for Rashmi, but what about her
computer-game playing son? Luckily, there are great options for
him as well.
Last year, Nintendo, the Japanese video game console
manufacturer, revolutionized the game industry with their Wii
game system. The Wii transforms video games by making them
genuinely immersive.
For example, Nintendo included a game package called
‘Wii Sports’ along with the system. This features games like
Tennis, Boxing and Bowling. To play Tennis, you need to actually
stand in front of your TV and swing your arms around to hit
the ball. The game controller is strapped to your arm, and it
measures your movements. The character on the screen
follows your movements. So, playing a game of tennis on the
Wii makes you stand up and move around and actually play
it! This is unlike ordinary video games where you just press
buttons.
And, that’s not all! Many games came out for the Wii that
make the player swing a sword, aim a gun, point at the screen,
steer a car, and so on. The Wii became a tool for gamers to be
active and get some exercise, all while having fun. A few months
later, Nintendo introduced an accessory called a ‘Wii Fitness
Board’, which connects to the Wii and guides you through
yoga and aerobic fitness routines, and actually measures your
performance. Everyone in the family could now compete against
one another in a race for fitness.
A few weeks after the Wii was released, gamers began to post
and share their gaming routines through blogs on the Internet,
along with their weight, height, blood pressure, etc. As the
April ‘09 43 liveit.in
 Feature

weeks progressed, it was apparent that continuously playing

with the Wii improved physical fitness and stamina –
something never before seen with video games. The Wii
acquired a cult following.
The Wii was released in India recently, and it is worth a look if
you are interested in turning your exercise into a game.

Dance Dance Revolution

Dance Dance Revolution is a Japanese arcade game that allows
players to compete in a very unusual way – by dancing! The
players stand on a special platform, and the game plays some
catchy tunes. The screen tells them the steps they need to dance
to in order to keep up with the time and the players try to follow
along as the tempo increases, until they simply cannot dance
fast enough.
The game created a sensation first in Japan, then in the
U.S., with crowds at the arcades watching enthusiastic
players drenched in sweat, as they played the game. Video
arcades in India too have the game, and it’s a perfect
example of how a video game can be designed to involve the
player in an active way.

Gamercize
What about the other extreme – turning the video games you
already have into a fun-filled exercise? A UK-based company
called Gamercize aims to fulfil the aim. Its products include a
rower, a cycle, and a foot pedalling device, that connect to your
game console –
your Xbox, PS3, or
your Wii. When you
want to play the
game, you can being surrounded by a real-looking world that you can move,
simply start using run, play and fight in. Though its first application will probably
the machines. As be for training and entertainment, fitness applications will not
long as you’re be far behind. Imagine running your daily jogging routine on
pedalling, or Mars, or in a fantasy land.
cycling, the game Coaches may become obsolete in the near future with the
continues. The latest products. Motion Capture technology is a tool currently
moment you stop, used in animating Hollywood movies, where actors have
the game stops, too. sensors placed on their bodies, and their exact movements
Being immersed in recorded. Once Motion Capture becomes more commonplace,
the game takes your it would be simple to use it to record exercise movements,
mind off the effort, analyze them, and create automatic computer reports telling
and helps you burn you what you’re doing right, and where you need to get better.
more calories. Who needs a coach, then?
As Internet bandwidth increases, it may become possible for
What next? Wii-style physical games to be played over the net, with dozens,
At the speed with which technology moves today, it would be if not thousands, of players joining in tournaments to fight,
no surprise to see more innovations in the market that are dance, and play their way to fitness.
targeted at health enthusiasts. Several technologies show a lot Rashmi finally became of the many new followers of
of promise. technology for fitness. She decided to download and follow a
The first is Virtual Reality. This has been a dream for a long daily yoga routine for herself, and invested in a Wii for her son.
time, but as display technologies grow more sophisticated, we She and her husband, however, play with the Wii as much as
may see virtual reality systems in the market soon. Imagine their son does, and they’ve all become quite good at it. I

liveit.in 44 April ‘09


style it
Model: Sadhana Singh
Photography: Niloy Kumar De
Makeup: Virendra Narvekar
Hair: Rita
Stylist: Zohra Mughal
Gadgets: Sony India
Bond
with
Sony
We use a lot of electronic equipment in our
day-to-day life. Consumer electronics are most
often used in entertainment, communications,
home and office productivity. It is true that
consumers all over look for sophistication
blended with style, and tech-suaveness with
international appeal. There is great demand
for gigabytes of storage, multiple functions,
and 24-hour accessibility. People want to
remain connected wherever they may be,
making portability and wireless features
important in their hand-held gadgets. Adopting
devices that are smaller than credit cards and
cost as little as zilch, they are aiming to make
the best use of technology possible. Using this
technology and designed to meet these
criteria, Sony ensures that you enjoy long-
lasting and unsurpassed experience with their
range of products. Along with the gadgets,
there are a variety of accessories, big or small,
significant or frivolous, that always add to their
enhanced performance.
Live IT presents in the following pages, a
choice of consumer electronic goods, courtesy
Sony India, that are carefully made with quality
in mind and technology to support.
April ‘09 45 liveit.in
 Style IT

VAIO-P (Pocket
Style PC)
Surf the web or play
songs quickly in ‘instant
mode’, video chat and
blog on the go. And
once you are done, just,
shut it off and keep it in
your back pocket. As
they say, it’s truly a small
wonder.
Handycam AVCHD
HDD - HDR-XR100E
The Now record 1920 x
1080i Full HD video to a
built-in 80 GB hard disk
drive. The AVCHD
handycam comes with
Face Detection and
Smile Shutter
technology, Optical
SteadyShot and 2.7 (6.9
cm) touch panel LCD.
 Style IT

PS3 (160 GB)

This new PS3 includes the
rumbleized DualShock
3 controller and two
games: Uncharted:
Drake's Fortune and
Pain. This is a Core
model with a bigger
hard drive, so no built-in
flash card reader, no
backward compatibility
with PS2 games.
 Style IT

Sony PlayStation
Portable
Big things come in
small sizes. The
portable PlayStation
from Sony packs a
powerful punch with its
compact and stylish
design, offering a
whole lot of mobile fun
with its music, video
and gaming abilities.
 Digital Camera
DSC-T500/T2
This is dynamite designed to fit
conveniently in your pocket.
Share your videos and
pictures on the huge 3.5"
touch screen LCD, your PC or
HDTV. Equipped with Face
Detection technology that
automatically adjusts
exposure and colour to make
faces look their best as well as
High Sensitivity ISO 3200 for
low light shooting without a
flash, it's easy to capture the
perfect moment.stylish as well.
 Style IT

Noise Cancellation
Ear Phone
Enhance your listening
experience and reduce
unwanted ambient noise
by 90 per cent with Sony’s
MDR-NC7 noise cancelling
headphones. These are
perfect for travel or daily
commute with a
convenient, foldable and
swivel design and a
battery life of
approximately 50 hours.
 Feature

Bonding
Resmi Jaimon
ears roll by. Those who were alive yesterday pass away

Y and those who live cherishing today’s moment may

bid goodbye to their life in one of the forthcoming
days or years. All of us have had
parents, siblings and their families, uncles and
aunts, cousins and their families – a long list of
relatives, some of them whom they have never
met in their life and some they have never even
heard of. The truth remains – they are all part of
a large family, which has existed over the years
and continues to expand.
Or, may be you have a great uncle
who moved to the U.S. years ago and
set up a family there, someone who
lost in touch with most of the family
members back home. But someone –
your mother or her relatives – may
still know of him. Whether it is a long
lost or never-known relative, as you
find out who is who, you will be glad
to know more about him or her,
his/her immediate family and see how
much he or she resembles you or your
great grandmother.

Connecting families online

The expanding community on the Internet allows
families to come online and build a community or a
network for the family in cyber space. And now with
each nuclear family settled across countries, unlike
the joint family days when everyone knew each other,
one needs a common platform to meet another family member.
This is where these online spaces act as a boon to bind together
otherwise lost or relatives with less (as well as frequent) contacts. dedicated for the family alone and, thus, it makes the
Now, with people moving out of India for higher studies, communication easier. Also, you feel more
post-marriage and for work, the need to stay connected with comfortable sharing personal photos and those of
family back home is also essential. Social networking sites such your family members.
as Orkut let you connect with friends but there is no dedicated Like many other online services, building your
space for the family. With an online family tree, you get a space personalized family tree also comes for free as well as

liveit.in 54 April ‘09

Families with a fee-based subscription. The
features and services available with
each provider differ and also depend
on whether it is free or fee-based.
According to MyHeritage’s blog,
MyHeritage (www.myheritage.com) touched
30 millionth mark in March 2009. They
also claim to have family trees with 320
million profiles. The numbers indicate how
much people depend on a family tree
builder to find their family. MyHeritage
brings cheer to people reading and
speaking 34 languages including English
and Hindi. Geni (www.geni.com) is another
popular family tree builder.

The add-ons
Sign up and create your profile in a family tree
builder. Once you are through with the sign-up
process, you can access and create a family tree
by inviting or adding your family and giving
them appropriate spaces. The process of
signing up may vary. Like, in
MyHeritage, you will find a different
process to register. To register here,
all you have to do is create a simple
family tree. You have to provide your
name and e-mail address and also
your father’s last name.
For instance, in MyHeritage, you can
add a welcome message in your home
page, display slide shows of random
photos, you have control on which family
tree to be shown in the home page. You can
send calendar alerts by e-mail or send SMS to
close relatives, distant relatives or first-degree
relatives. You can even import events from your family
tree into the calendar and set the number of years you want
the event to repeat.

April ‘09 55 liveit.in

 Feature

Married women can opt to

choose to display their surnames
(pre- and post-marriage) in the
various styles available.
MyHeritage’s feature allows
displaying married name only,
maiden name only, married name
and maiden name or maiden name
and married name. There may be
circumstances when some of your
relatives know you only by your
maiden name and some others by
your married name. In that case,
you have a good option to choose.
Most sites allow you to print your
family tree and some allow exporting

You can add your parents,

siblings, partner and add on further
to each wing to find the long list of
members in your family. You can
also find where your relative lived
earlier and where he is posted now.
It is also fun looking for names and
details of multiple generations. You
can add photos, videos and audio
files. Through the network, you can
share your favourite photos with
your grandmother, the great
grandfather your cousin never met,
your toddler pictures to your
daughter; you can share videos of
the celebrations you have had over
the years – birthdays, house-warming ceremony, wedding, your tree as a GEDCOM file. GEDCOM (GEnealogical Data
anniversaries and family get together. Multiple users in your COMmunication) is a standard file format which helps you to save
network can tag their content – photos and video. The end and transfer genealogical data. Once you download a GEDCOM
result is a photo or video album with several photos taken by file, you can save your family tree in your computer.
different members of the same family under a single title – say, MyHeritage’s Basic Plan allows you to add up to 500 people in
of wedding ceremony or family gathering. the online tree and use a storage space up to 100 MB. If you opt
Once you are part of such a network, you can’t have an for a premium plan, i.e., $3.95 per month, you can add up to
excuse or forget your uncle’s wedding anniversary. If your cousin 2500 people in your family tree and use up to 500 MB of space.
has added his anniversary date in his profile, you will receive a Now, how about sending a surprise gift? You can do that even
notification stating so and now you too can relax and wish him without spending that extra buck. Think of sending a virtual gift.
in time without another embarrassing year. You can also share There are several other features available in the family tree networks
and announce upcoming family events. Some of the sites let you as more technologies are evolving and are being implemented at
have a discussion space, where you can discuss topics with the both Geni and MyHeritage. So, enjoy, explore and find your family!
other members of your network. You may soon have a story to tell about your ancestors. I

liveit.in 56 April ‘09


T
he lives of millions of people around the world have
become so deeply integrated with the Internet
that the first thought when we are seeking
information, help or any kind of advice is to go
online. We tend to look at the facet of ‘going online’ as an
ultimate panacea that will provide solution to any
conundrum we may be facing! And more often than not,
the online space does manage to come up with relevant
answers. It is also a fact that the net-savvy amongst us are
more comfortable communicating via IM, chat or e-mail
rather than by a person-to-person contact or even over the
telephone. It might even turn out to be easier to open up to a
doctor when you are communicating with him through the
impersonal medium of cyberspace. Sitting at a computer
cocooned in a world that is completely private, one is able to
focus more closely on inner feelings without being overpowered
by the ego’s need to ‘look good’ to peers.
Maybe that was the reason why Sigmund
Freud extensively utilized letters to
communicate with his patients. His seminal
book of psychoanalysis, The Interpretation of
Dreams, is based almost entirely on the data
gathered from the myriad letters that he received
from many of his patients. In a way, by using letters as a
primary means of communication, Freud had laid great emphasis
on the value of privacy as well as convenience. It is quite possible
that if Freud had been alive today, he might have been tempted to
write a book titled, The Interpretation of Web Experience. Instead of
communicating with his patients through the medium of letters, a
private individual like Freud would have preferred to use e-mail,
IM or chat. He might even have had a website, where patients
from around the world could log in and seek his guidance
on a variety of issues related to mental and
psychological health.
The Healing
Touch of
E-Therapy
Anoop Verma
Feature
These days communication is possible between
anyone on earth with the skills, desire, and technology
to reach across barriers and boundaries, and that is having
a seminal effect on the way we seek medical help.
Consulting physicians via e-mail or IM is turning
out to be a norm rather than an exception. A
specialist based in Norway may receive relevant
information through e-mail or chat about a
sick child in Africa and despite the
geographical distance, he would face no
difficulty in making a diagnosis and
prescribing a course of treatment. At
times people prefer to do their own
research on various diseases. They
might start by making a search on
Google, or they can log on to websites,
like http://health.yahoo.com and others,
that provide rudimentary information on all
sorts of major or minor ailments.
Then there is the field of e-therapy, where
psychologists are using the online medium
for interacting with their patients.
What is e-Therapy?
e-Therapy is a relatively new development in the
area of mental health, where a therapist or a
counsellor provides psychological advice or
support via the cyberspace. The system is attractive
for users, as it emphasizes secrecy, introspection,
immediacy, ease, and the relatively lower costs. The
patients and the counsellors can come in contact and
discuss issues related to mental health through e-mails,
chat, video conferencing, Internet phone, etc. But e-therapy,
in its most common form, entails an online support group that
allows individuals to log in and talk to others who
might be suffering from a similar disorder or
grappling with similar issues as their own.
Such online support groups are especially
beneficial as they allow individuals to share their
experiences about a specific issue, disorder, or
ailment. As people don’t get to see each other, their privacy is
assured, and they are able to discuss their problems more openly.
The fact is that there is a social stigma attached to disorders
related to mental health. There is no reason for such a stigma to
exist, but that is the way modern
society is and people generally
consider any visit to a
therapist’s office to be a
 Feature
cumbersome task. Online support groups offer a safe, easy-to-
access way of seeking medical help, without compromising on
privacy. By being in the online company of many others who
have undergone similar problems as they are facing, people can
realize the extent of their problems and develop confidence that
they need to seek professional help.
One of the first Internet-based online support groups where
users could log in and discuss their problems related to mental
health was launched in the middle eighties on Usenet, called
‘alt.support.depression’. Soon many more groups started to
emerge under the ‘alt.support’ category and till this day
thousands of people continue to make posts on such
newsgroups. But the popularity of the Internet had the unsavory
side effect of increasing the number of fake users, who would
make frivolous and outrageous posts, which were often
motivated by the simple desire of eliciting response. When
incidences of improper and off-topic postings turned into a
virtual avalanche, many of the newsgroups saw an exodus to
other online forms of communication and community.
Some users turned to electronic mailing lists to keep in contact
with the members of their support group. However, the idea of
e-therapy really took off in the 1990s when Internet was opened
for commercial use. It is not possible to pick up any
psychotherapist who was the first to start providing his or her
services online for a fee, and that is primarily because a number
of them tried to take their practice online at the same time.
The first e-Therapists
David Sommers began giving online therapy in 1995 to clients,
belonging to as far-flung areas as Arctic Circle and Kuwait. But
he was forced to close down his services after only three years in
1998, since he found the rigmarole involved in going online too
time consuming. Similarly, another psychologist, Larry Holmes
stopped his practice after a couple of years, as he found that
most of his online clients failed to pay.
It was in 1997 that Richard Sansbury, based in Bethesda,
Maryland started his online counselling practice. His practice is
still running and he continues to interact with his patients
through his website www.headworks.com. The website is easy to
use and it is created in such a way that it can easily win the trust
of patients. During the last two decades, Richard Sansbury has
treated thousands of patients through his website. But where
www.headworks.com succeeded, there were many other online
practices catering to mental health that failed to make a mark.
Websites like www.lifehelper.com, www.etherapy.com,
www.here2listen.com were launched with great fanfare, with
glossy write-ups in popular magazines and impressive coverage
in TV programs, but they failed to make a mark and ultimately
disappeared from the limelight due to lack of funds.
In 1997 a group of online mental health professionals and
consumers met at the American Psychological Association’s
annual convention in Chicago, Illinois, and they decided to form
a non-profit society called the International Society for Mental
Health Online. The society has its website at www.ismho.org
liveit.in 58 April ‘09
and it remains functional till this day. Primarily it is dedicated to
coming up with policies that will bring transparency in the work
of e-therapists engaged in offering online treatments to their
patients. In 1999, the American Counseling Association
published a set of ethical guidelines for online counselors to
follow. But despite the rising popularity of fee-based e-therapy,
most insurance companies still refuse to reimburse their clients
for charges incurred during e-therapy or similar services.
Popular e-Therapy destinations
It was in the year 1999 that Michael Tagatac, a former Wall
Street financial analyst, got the idea of using the power of the
Internet to reach out to people who otherwise would not seek
mental health services. By 2001, his website
www.helphorizons.com got fully operational and to this day it
continues to provide services to thousands of patients. If you
check out this website, you will find it very easy to use. On the
home page itself, Help Horizons has a list of some of the most
common mental health issues that patients may face. There are
topics like ‘Addiction and Recovery’, ‘Coping with Depression’,
‘Coping with Pain’, ‘Relationship Issues’, etc. There is a series of
free articles and stories relevant to that particular malady.
But if you want to get a more personalized treatment with any
professional e-therapists listed on Help Horizons, then you have
to pay for their time. Just click on the link ‘Our Professionals’
placed on the top band of the website. The new page will show
you the list of professional consultants that are available. You
can check the resume of any consultant by clicking on his or her
name. You also have the option of contacting them by means of
a secure e-mail. But only registered members of the website are
allowed to contact the team of consultants. The registration
process is quite simple and it is free. You need to pay up only
when you start receiving expert medical help. A typical
30-minute online session with a consultant would cost the
patient around $30 only, which turns out to be much cheaper
than the non-online forms of receiving treatment.
Another website that has managed to make a significant
impact in the field of online counselling is www.find-a-therapist.com.
It was in 1996 that this website was launched and since then they
have managed to help thousands of people in finding the right
therapist. To find the therapist who is most suited to your needs, all
you need to do is click on the link that says ‘Therapist Directory’ on
the homepage. You will be taken to a new page that has various
states of the U.S. listed in alphabetical manner. Click on the most
suitable name, and the names with a short biography of the therapist
residing in that geographical area will flash on the screen. Currently,
the names of therapists based outside the U.S. are not listed on this
directory, but if you are seeking consultation online, then
geographical location should not matter.
The future of e-Therapy
Imagine a future where mental health care specialists are
easily abundantly available and anyone can have state of art
treatment by merely logging on to a website. In few years or
decades, we might as well be living in that kind of rosy future.
However, one thing is for certain – the future does belong to
ideas like e-therapy. It is likely that in times to come, e-therapy
will be able to outgrow national and cultural boundaries and
become a truly international phenomenon. But even as e-
therapy heralds a future of more choices for patients, it is also
plagued by many potential pitfalls, which if left unattended
might derail the growth of this type of healthcare.
Here is a list of some of the issues
1. e-Therapy has been made possible only due to the rapid
advances made in the field of online communications
technology. But this overt dependence on technology might also
turn out to be a disadvantage. After all, not everyone in this
world has knowledge of computers and Internet. There is no
way these people can have access to e-therapy. So, the growth of
e-therapy is directly linked to the growth of computer literacy.
2. There is also the aspect of non-verbal communication, which
refers to our body language – things like posture, gestures, dress and
appearance, facial expressions, etc. Many psychiatrists consider non-
verbal communication necessary but that is difficult to achieve when
the form of interaction is through the means of e-mails and chat
messages. Video conferencing poses as a good possibility, but not
many people around the world have access to video conferencing.
3. It may also be inappropriate to use the system of
online treatments with patients who pose some kind of danger to
themselves and to others. Online treatments can also not be used
in times of emergencies, during situations where a patient has
thoughts of physically harming himself or someone else. It
cannot be used in situations where a patient is utterly delusional,
or is caught in some kind of abusive relationship or has already
developed suicidal tendencies. Even in cases where the patient
might be actively misusing alcohol or drugs, the efficacy of
online consultations are doubtful.
4. Counsellors should also avoid picking up patients with acute
mental problems who are not located within reasonable
geographical distance. That is because in case of an emergency
the counsellor should be able to provide a proper in-clinic
treatment. But, if the counsellor has to pick up long distance
patients, then both parties should agree on a contingency
referral system, so that the patient can receive an in-clinic
treatment in case the need arises.
5. These days, it has become quite easy for anyone to
create a fake online identity. In most cases, such fake identities
prove to be quite harmless, but what if a delusional patient
created a fake identity in order to cheat on his or her counsellor
for whatever reason? The scenario is not that impossible to
imagine. In any case, it is bound to be problematic for clinicians
to therapeutically engage with clients about whose identity they
can’t be sure. So, it is imperative that any conscientious clinician
must insist on knowing the full identity of the online caller
before he accepts him or her as patient.
6. Then there are the questions that have to do with
International law. It might not be legal for a medical professional
licensed in India, to provide medical help to patients in living in
China, U.S., or Europe. The fact is medical laws and ethical
standards differ from state to state and country to country. So it
is necessary for the e-therapists to find out the geographical
location of their online caller, before they take him as their
patient. In fact, most e-therapy websites usually accept patients
from their home country only.
7. The biggest draw in e-therapy for most patients is the
aspect of privacy that is concomitant in it. In normal
circumstances, all therapists are required by law to maintain
their patient’s records in strict confidentiality. To make the data
collected from their patients safe from hackers, the e-therapists
should use at least 128-bit encryption of their websites.
However, if there are cases that involve instances of child abuse,
abuse of elders, domestic violence, suicidal tendencies, threats of
murder or physical violence, then the privacy stipulation fails to
hold and the therapists are required by law to bring the case to
the notice of the concerned authorities.
8. Not everyone who contacts an e-therapist might
actually be able in need of medical help or even be seeking it in
real sense of the term. It is possible that a user might have
bumped into the website during a random browsing session and
then he decided to linger around for a free interaction with a
therapist. This sort of behaviour can be especially expected from
the new generation, which has grown up to use, and at times
misuse, the Internet. So before they go online, e-therapists need
to decide for what kind of services they are going to charge a fee,
and what, if anything, they are willing to offer for free.
9. An e-therapist needs to be a fluent and expressive writer;
otherwise he might not be able to make his point of view clear
to his patients. However, it is not necessary that every
medical professional who can write brilliantly can also be a good
online therapist. While trying to find a good consultant online,
this is one problem that many patients face. Their means of
verifying the credentials of the consultant are very limited. In
the online mode, there is no lavish office and there is no wall of
certificates, and most patients are forced to accept the data given
on the website at its face value.
So, the bottom line is that like most other worthwhile
endeavours in human history, the phenomenon of e-therapy too
faces a future filled with both risk and opportunity. I
April ‘09 59 liveit.in
 Tech Tip
W
ell, Samsung Juke is considerably a rather petite,
cute and fashionable phone that is also incorporated
with a reasonably decent music system. Yes, we are
talking about the Juke. The cell phone boasts of an
innovative switchblade design where a touch at the edge of the
phone will flip it open in the manner of any switchblade. Then
there are the features like 2 GB of flash memory, Bluetooth support,
and GPS capabilities. However, it does not support 3G, so this
gizmo is not for those who want to browse the net at scorching high
speed. The main plus point is that it is quite cheap as compared to
other cell phones that offer similar features.
Since the Samsung Juke comes pre-loaded with all the necessary
software, to connect it to the PC, you just need to go through the
USB route. Once the connection has been made, the Juke will
automatically search your PC for MP3 files and import the
available songs into its system. You will be prompted before any
song gets imported, so you can enjoy complete control on the
process. As the phone has a limited memory of 2 GB only, you can
import approximately 49 albums in it. In addition to MP3 files, the
Samsung Juke can also play Window Media Audio (WMA), MP3,
and Apple AAC files. The process by which the music gets
uploaded on the phone is quite fast; it takes just a couple of
minutes to get about 25 songs transferred to the device.
am e S C H - u 4 7 0
S
su n g J u k
liveit.in 60 April ‘09
When it comes to the quality of music, you can rest assured that
you would get nothing less than the best, thanks to the 2.5 mm jack
and the pair of earphones that comes with the Juke. The phone
can also be used for browsing for e-mail, but the speed can be
considerably slow because of the lack of 3G compatibility. To view
your e-mails and video files, you have to use the 1.45-inch display,
which boasts of a 128 x 220 resolution. There’s an ordinary VGA
camera fitted on the back of the phone, so don’t expect
professional quality photographs out of this one. But then, that’s
not what the Juke is meant for. It is basically a music player with
phone capabilities built into it. A battery life of 16 hours should
give you enough time to enjoy your favourite music.
The phone itself is about 0.8 inch thick and just 1.2 inch wide.
The scroll wheel provided makes it easier to browse for music.
But you can’t use the Juke to download unlimited number of
songs, primarily because there is no provision for extra storing
space. It does not have a MicroSD card slot that is typically
found on most other phones. And that is a pity, as these days
most of us have started taking ample storage space for granted.
But surprisingly the quality of sound goes down when you are
using a Bluetooth on this phone. You may have to use your
earphones, in place of Bluetooth, but that will leave wires
dangling across your body. I
Cell Phone
Tech Tips by: Anoop Verma
T
he fascinating aspect of physically journeying
through different time zones may still belong to the
realm of science fiction, but in the context of
computing on Apple computers, powered by state of
the art software Mac OS X, it has seen the dawn of the day.
It is possible for you to travel back and forth in time and find
out how the data stored in your computer looked on any
given date in the past. The system is pertinently named
‘Time Machine’ and it allows you to recover any file – digital
was, so that it can resume its task once the system goes live
again. But for any reason if you want to exclude certain files
or folders from the process, you can go to Time Machine
Options and mark the folders, the contents of which you
don’t want backup for. It is even possible for you to delete
certain backup files or folders. All you need to do is launch
Time Machine and select the items to be deleted. Next, just
go to the action menu in the Finder toolbar. Here you can
choose the option ‘Delete from all backups’ and those files or

Apple’s
photos, music, movies, TV shows, and documents – as it was folders will be deleted from the backup directory.
It is also possible for you to connect your Time Machine to
more than one Mac system. The backup material from
different Macs will get stored in separate folders. A standard
file system is used to store all the information and so you can
rest assured that nothing gets hidden ever again in your
Time Machine. I

Time Machine
on any given date. To make full use of this function, all you
have to do is connect an external drive, which is sold
separately, to your Mac running on OS X. The moment the
external drive gets connected, a pop-up window will open up
to ask if you want it to be your backup drive. Just select ‘Yes’
as your answer.
That’s it. There is nothing else you need to do.
Your external drive has now started functioning
as your personal time machine. It will keep
working silently in the background, backing
up your data. You will no longer need to
provide any inputs from your side. The
system works by copying the entire
content of your computer into the backup
drive. And in days to come, as changes get
made into the existing files and new files
get added, the Time Machine only makes
incremental backups, and that means it
will copy only the files that have
undergone some kind of change. But what
makes the Time Machine different from
other applications is the fact that it is capable
of remembering how the data in your system
looked on a day-to-day basis. Let’s say, you
want to access a file in the format as it was six
months from today; you can do this by using the
Time Machine.
The system is so perfect that even if you shut down
your Mac while the Time Machine is still in the middle of
making a backup, it will remember where its exact position

April ‘09 61 liveit.in

 Tech Tip
S
o you thought that the only way you can enjoy some
scintillating views of outer space is by a visit to nearest
planetarium. But why go to the planetarium when you
can explore space on your laptop, by using Google
Sky. A rewarding tour of space can be had for free at the
site, www.google.com/sky. In the usual Google style, the
home page out here is remarkably uncluttered. There is
a black screen that shows views from outer space. When
you move your cursor across the screen, it will show you
the exact coordinates of where you are in the universe. Images
of many heavenly bodies and galaxies are visible on the screen;
if you want to have closer view of any entity, you have to click
on it few times.
At the bottom of the screen there are eight links that lead to
fascinating images of the universe from different perspectives.
The links are – Solar System, Constellations, Hubble Telescope,
Backyard Astronomy, Chandra X-Ray Showcase, Galex
Ultraviolet Showcase, Spitzer Infrared Showcase and Earth &
Sky Podcasts. Well, if you want to have a closer view of different
planets and moons in the Solar System, you have to click its link.
When you want to visit the various constellations, you click on its
icon. By clicking on the Hubble Telescope icon, you can view
some of the most tantalizing pictures of outer space that have
been taken with help of the Hubble Telescope.
The Backyard Astronomy icon will take you to another array
of images of mysterious entities that abound in the outer space.
Scientists and astronomers are still looking for an explanation to
these entities that at times defy imagination. Chandra X-Ray
liveit.in 62 April ‘09
Showcase, Galex Ultraviolet Showcase and Spitzer Infrared
Showcase are also about different images from outer space. But
by clicking on the icon that says Earth & Sky Podcasts, you get
transported to a page full of images of planets and moons that
exist relatively close to earth. All the images appear as
thumbnails at the bottom of the page and you have to double
click on the image that you want to view in greater detail.
Google Sky can be viewed in three formats - Infrared,
Microwave or Historical. It is best to check out every image
in all the three formats as they are from different sources and
hence offer slightly different perspectives on the universe. The
infrared view of the sky comes from the resource of Infrared
Astronomical Satellite (IRAS). The view of microwave sky
comes from NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
(WMAP). And the historical view of sky comes mostly from the
paintings and drawings that ancient astronomers and thinkers
have made. But you must download the latest version of Google
Earth software in order to be able to enjoy the Google Sky
feature in its entirety.
Once Google Earth is installed in your system, you can take it
into Sky mode by a simple click of the mouse. After that you are
free to fly around, just as you do in Google Earth, and
explore the farthest reaches of the Universe. Most of the
images and other kinds of data are incorporated from NASA,
and other reliable scientific institutes, so you can rest
assured that the version of universe that you are
seeing is authentic, as authentic as human
knowledge happens to be at this point of time. I
Capture and
Share Web Pages
with SimplyBox
T
he Internet is turning out to be such a cornucopia of
information as well as entertainment that while browsing
it is quite normal for us to come across websites whose
content we would like to store and even share with like-
minded people. However, saving an entire web page in your
computer can turn out to be a cumbersome process; it is almost
like trying to save an entire mountain in order to have access to
a molehill. But these days there are many free applications, such
as SimplyBox, that allow you to snag and capture only those
parts of any website that are relevant to you.
Visit http://simplybox.com to understand what the
application is all about and the ways you can benefit from it.
Here you can click on the sign up link and in the new page that
opens, you have to create a username and a password. You are
also required to enter a valid e-mail address. Within moments, a
confirmation mail, with a link, will be mailed to you. You just
have to click on the link to verify your identity and after that you
will be taken to the page from where you can download your
own SimplyBox toolbar. The application is very small in size and
the process of downloading and installation should take less than
two minutes.
Once the installation is complete, you will see the SimplyBox
toolbar, which appears below the menu bar in your browser.
Now you are ready to save pictures or any other type of content
that you may encounter during your browsing activities.
Whenever you want to save something, all you have to do is click
on the ‘Box and Save’ icon that is there in the SimplyBox
toolbar. You will be prompted to highlight
the area that you want to save. As soon as the
relevant area is highlighted, a set of boxes will appear at the
bottom of the browser. These boxes work like folders and
they will help you manage the data you save.
You can either save the data in the default boxes or you can
create a new box, by clicking on the New Box area. A pop-up
menu will appear and it will ask you to name the new box. Fill in
the suitable name and click ok. The new box created by you will
now start showing at the bottom of the browser. To store your
data in this box, simply drag and drop it down there. Even if
you have made an error and saved the data in the wrong box,
you can rectify the problem later by rearranging the boxes and
the data that they hold.
One of the best advantages of SimplyBox is that along with
saving data from websites, it also remembers their URLs. So, if
at any point of time you want to go back to the original source,
you can do so by clicking on the link that SimplyBox highlights
besides the data. The application is also very conducive in
sharing the files that you have saved, and that opens new
avenues for collaboration among people around the world. I
April ‘09 63 liveit.in
 Tech Tip

W
hat is the best way to come up with an impressive
Powerpoint presentation? Simple, isn’t it? Just pick up
a bunch of slides and throw them one after the other.
For those who think this is the right way, think again.
The truth is that this is probably the best way to lose your client and
your reputation as well. Even if you are not an expert in the process
of creating a PowerPoint presentation, you can take help of web-
based applications like SlideShare to have a good enough result.
Basically, SlideShare is a presentation sharing site, which has in
recent times transmogrified into being the world’s largest
community for uploading of presentations and slideshows. Here
you can upload your presentation in the PowerPoint, PDF or
OpenOffice formats. The maximum allowed file size is 100 MB.
Just open the link www.slideshare.net and you get introduced to a

Enhance Power Point

Presentations with SlideShare

business, templates, gadgets, automotive, education, etc. are taken

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world of top quality PowerPoint presentations. If you are planning
to create a new presentation, then this could turn out to be a just
the right place for some inspiration. On the home page you will find
a plethora of small icons that serve as links to various presentations
that fall in the most popular category. If there is something specific
that you are looking for, then you can browse through the various
categories listed here. All the popular categories like health, finance,
care of; so, it is quite likely that if you look carefully, you will be able
to find the kind of presentation that you are looking for.
Once your presentation is ready, you can have it uploaded on
SlideShare and share it with just about anyone, anywhere in the
world. The process of uploading is really simple. Just sign up on the
website by creating a username and password. You are also
required to provide your e-mail address. After that you will be taken
to the page where you can start uploading your files by clicking on
the upload link. During the upload process, the blue progress bar
will appear to keep you informed that the uploading process is
going on in the background. The time taken for the process to be
completed will depend on the file size and also on how fast your
Internet connection is. Nevertheless, don’t expect things to happen
in a jiffy; you have to be patient.
SlideShare also gives you the option to decide who gets to see
your presentation. The privacy icon is by default set to ‘everyone’
and that means anyone who logs on to the website can see it. But
you can change the default option to ensure that it is only your
contacts that are able to see the presentation. Another great thing
about SlideShare is that it can be used to embed a slide show into
your blog. When you are watching a slide show on the website, at
the right hand side of the slideshow player, you will find a text box
called ‘Embed into your blog’. This text box has few lines of code in
it. Just copy the code and paste it on your blog. The slide show will
start appearing there instantly. I

liveit.in 64 April ‘09

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 Tech Tip

receiver, as well as the sender, will get an e-mail with a link to the
page where the file has been stored on the website. By clicking
on the link, you can download the file to your own computer
within a seven-day period.
To send/receive/track files with sizes larger than 100 MB, you
will have to open an account. YouSendIt provides you with a
variety of options. If you opt for a Pro Account, then you have
to pay $9.99 per month, or $109.99 per year. With this account
you can send multiple files of up to 2 GB each. The service even
makes it possible for you to see who downloaded your file and
when. You can also go in for the Pay Per Use plan that will cost
you anywhere between $3.99 to $8.99 for each delivery,
depending on the kind of service you might be looking for.
However, for most of us, the services of this website come

Want to send a
for free, because we will hardly need to send a file that is
larger than 100 MB.
To ensure that
data is not
compromised in
either transfer,
YouSendIt employs

heavy file?
the Secure Socket Layer
(SSL) protocol. So, you
can rest assured that the
files you are sending will
reach their destination in a
safe and secure manner. If
you need additional

Try YouSendIt
security, you can have your files
password protected, so that only a
specific person can receive it.
However, to avail of this
service, you have to pay a sum
of $3.99. After all, too much

T
security can never come for
hese days it has become quite common for most of us free; it is always followed
to use e-mail attachments for sending files. The process by a price tag. I
works quite well if the size of the file is small, but if it
happens to be a large file, then it may take forever to
send it through e-mail attachments. This is where YouSendIt
comes in. By using this web-based application, you can send,
receive and track unlimited number of heavy files. If the file size
is up to 100 MB (and that is quite large by any standards), you
don’t have to pay anything in order to send it. It is only when the
file size crosses the 100 MB limit that you are required to pay a
nominal fee. To use this application, first of all you have to go to
the site www.yousendit.com.
On the right hand side of the home page, you will find a form
that you have to fill in order to avail of the free service of
sending up to 100 MB files. Just fill in the receiver’s e-mail
address and then your own e-mail address. Thereafter, you can
directly click on the browse icon. Select the file or folder that you
want to send. Once the file has been selected, just click on the
‘yousendit’ icon that appears at the bottom of the form. The

April ‘09 69 liveit.in

 Tech Tip
Offline
Access
using
Go gle
I Gears
n the normal scheme of things, an
Internet connection would be
considered an absolute necessity for
accessing your e-mail account. But that
sort of system is now passé. You may not
be able to have your cake and eat it too in real life, but with
Google Gears you can manage to browse through your e-mail
account even if you get unplugged from the Internet. Google
Gears is actually a plug-in that can extend your browser to
create a richer platform for web applications. The plug-in can be
downloaded for free from http://gears.google.com. The size of
the file is quite small, and the download and installation process
are usually over in a jiffy. The minimum system requirements
are Windows XP/Vista and the browser requirements are
Firefox 1.5+ and IE 6+.
Once the application is installed, Gmail will download your
e-mail, every last gigabyte of it to your desktop. To access your
account in the offline mode, you still have to go through the sign-
up process, and the Gmail account will appear on your computer
screen in the same way as it does in the online mode. Then
onwards, whenever you compose new e-mails, they will be stored
in the outbox and will automatically get sent to their destination
as soon as you get online. Gmail works in the offline mode, by
using the local cache, but it continues to synchronize your mail
with the server in the background. One advantage of using
offline mode is that it turns out to be much faster, as Gmail does
not have to hit the Google server to download your old e-mails.
liveit.in 70 April ‘09
The scope of Google
Gears is not limited to
Gmail only. In fact, this
plug-in is proving to be a
boon for developers
around the world who are using it to provide offline interaction
to the visitors to their site, and to create content based on
geographical location. A number of web-based applications,
including Google Reader and Google Docs, are currently
compatible with Google Gears. Popular websites like Zoho and
Remember the Milk have also been using Gears since their
inception. In fact, the ability to access the documents stored in
your Zoho account or in Google Docs can turn out to be a great
convenience for most users. It is almost like having a new version
of Office software, with many web-related features, right there
on your desktop.
Just because you have the plug-in installed in your browser, it
does not mean that every website using Google Gears will
automatically be able to download its information on your
desktop. Before the download happens, a pop-up box will
appear on the screen and you will be asked if you wish to allow
the site to use Gears. You can cancel the pop-up if you have no
need for the data from this site, but if you need it, then you will
have to enable Gears by checking “I trust this site. Allow it to use
Gears.” It is also possible for you to change your preferences at
any later stage. This system is also available in versions that are
compatible with Mobile and Linux. I
I
t is quite common these days to have multiple e-mail
accounts – one for family and close friends, one or two for
official purposes, for blogging and yet another one for
sending out job applications, etc. But the plethora of
e-mail accounts has the undesirable effect of making our list of
contacts difficult to manage. Unyk is designed to solve exactly
that nagging problem for you. It is a smart address book, which
allows you to keep all your contacts from Hotmail, Yahoo!
mail, Gmail, Outlook, etc. in one place. The best thing about
this web-based address book is that it gets automatically
updated the moment any of your contacts changes his/her
contact info in Unyk.
To start using Unyk, you have to begin by registering yourself
at the website www.unyk.com. The registration process is quite
simple: just fill in your first name, last name, gender, date of
birth, nationality and your primary e-mail address. On the next
o
page you will have to create a unique Unyk ID, which comprises
What’s S
of three letters and three digits, and a password.
Thereafter, you will be sent a verification e-mail containing
a link, which you have to click in order to confirm your identity.
Now you are ready to share your contact info quickly and
automatically with one easy ID, which henceforth will be known
as your Unyk.
To start uploading your contacts into your Unyk address book,
first of all you will have to log on to your account and then go to
the section that says, ‘Add Contact.’ Here you can select the e-
mail account from which you would like to import contacts –
Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, or Outlook. Enter the e-mail
address and the password for the e-mail service that you have
chosen and click on the button that says, ‘View.’ This will
automatically update all your contacts on your Unyk account.
After the first e-mail account is done, you can follow a similar
process for uploading contacts from other e-mail accounts. But
if you want to import contacts from any account other than the
four listed above, then you will have to do it manually. For this,
you will have to go to the ‘Manually Add Contacts’ section.
Unlike in social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, etc.
where users can easily view your contacts and check their
profiles, in Unyk your personal information is kept strictly
private. So, you can rest assured that none of your contacts will
be plagued with an extra dose of spam mails. Only you and
?
k
y
n
U
those authorized by you have access to your contact list. You also
have the option to restrict access to some of your info by
indicating that it is ‘confidential,’ which gives you further
flexibility in managing your privacy requirements. It is possible
for you to synchronize your mobile with your Unyk account, but
you must have a mobile Internet connection plus your mobile
must support SyncML technology, which is used to transfer data
between mobiles and Web platform.
However, the system cannot be used for chatting or online dating.
Currently, 12 million users worldwide are said to be using Unyk. I
April ‘09 71 liveit.in
 Tech Tip
or music aficionados this site may turn out to be a
F proverbial dream come true. RadioBeta
(www.radiobeta.com) allows you to listen to your
favourite music artists from around the world. Basically, it
is a web-based application that can stream all kinds of radio
broadcasts. You can even create your personalized playlist, so
that it is easier for you to enjoy your kind of music in future.
And the best thing is the service is entirely free. All you need is a
PC or laptop with a good speaker system and a fast broadband
connection, all of which are omnipresent these days. Just log on
to the site www.radiobeta.com and discover a world of music.
On the website’s homepage you will find a search box, in
which you can type in the name of the radio station of your
choice or the frequency. After that you can search either by the
geographical location or by genre. Whatever way you choose to
Listen to Music
search for, you will get the link to more than one radio station.
As most radio stations use commonly available technologies like
Windows Media, Real Audio or MP3 to broadcast, no special
download is required on your part. You can simply press the
Play icon and the radio program will start playing on your PC or
laptop. But RadioBeta only carries feeds from radio stations that
are broadcast for free.
For those who don’t have Windows Media or Real Audio in
their PC or laptop, they can download and install the latest
versions of these software. Although you are not required to
create an account with Radio Beta in order to listen to their
programs, many users prefer to have an account since it enables
them to create their own playlist. While you are on the move,
you can access your playlist from any Internet connected system
and tune into your favourite radio stations without any
with
Radio
Beta
problem. To create an account, you have to
choose a username, password and provide a
valid e-mail address.
You can even use the website to search for
completely new kind of music. For example, if
you click on the icon that says ‘Search by
Genre’ on the homepage, it will lead you to a
new page filled with a plethora of tags. You can
go in for 60s, 70s or 80s kind of music. You can
also choose to listen to local talk by simply clicking
on the tag by that name. There are tags that say,
‘Top Hits’, ‘Tango’, ‘Jazz’, ‘Indie’, etc. In fact, there
is no dearth of classifications. RadioBeta can also be
used to search for some very good radio stations that
broadcast music in local Indian languages, like Tamil,
Telugu, Hindi, etc. I

COOLLECTOR
I
f you are a hard core movie freak, then Coollector might turn
out to be just what the doctor has prescribed. Billed as the Swiss
Army Knife for movie lovers, Coollector is a freeware available
for download at www.coollector.com. Making use of the software
is simple: all you need to do is click on the green button on the
homepage that says ‘Download Now’. Once the downloading and
installation process is over, you get access to a feature-rich movie
encyclopedia, a collector-organizer and a DVD price watch system.
The innovatively styled Coollector is so different from what you
generally find in this sort of programs that it might even mystify you
a little during your initial interactions with it, for instance, the
placing of command icons. Instead of being at the top, they run up
and down vertically through the middle of the interface.
Let’s say, there is a movie of your choice, whose page you open,
using the Coollector system in your computer. In order to check out
the plotline of this movie, all you have to do is scroll down the
window located at the bottom of the interface. And for the cast of
characters, there is another window within the interface that you can
scroll up or down. If you click on the name of the director, you will
get the list of other movies that the director has been involved in.
Similarly, a click on the name of an actor or actress shows up the list
of all the other films they have acted in. You can also get other tidbits
of information, like what role any actor has played in the other films,
and how were the reviews like. At any point of time, you are free to
follow any link and move on to other movies and people.
As of now, the program contains a personalized encyclopedia of
more than 50,000 movies and 109,000 people. But the list is
constantly updated as and when there is more information on
newer movies and personalities. The MyCoollection tab lets you
add movies to the list of your personal collection. Using the
program, you can rate movies and also the people associated with
the movie industry. You can even keep track of the videos you own,
as well as those you might have loaned. Coolector also boasts of the
feature through which you can find best bargains on movie DVDs.
But this particular feature might not turn out to be as useful in
context of Indian users, as the idea of buying DVDs online is yet to
really catch up in this country.
At 14 MB, the program is certainly hefty and depending on the
speed of your connection, it is going to take quite some time to have
it downloaded and installed. But the awesome features that it packs,
makes it certainly worth all the time, space and effort you spend on
downloading and installing it. I
 Tech Tip

W
hoever said the famous lines, “truth is stranger
than fiction”, probably never had a chance to
play modern video games. Had he played a truly
avant-garde video game, he would surely have
realized that real life is no match to the exciting scenario
available in virtual reality. If anything, the world of video games
has received a significant boost with the expanding reach of the
Internet. And now, adrenalin pumping excitement is available at
the click of a mouse. It is also quite common these days for
many players to get online and pit their gaming talents against
each other. Plus, there is an increasing tendency to download
games, instead of buying them off the shelf in CD or DVD
formats. Players also like to check out the reviews that other
gamers might have written and posted on the Internet.

Gaming GameSpot is a graphic-rich site, which caters to needs of the

gaming community in every possible way. PC, XBOX 360, Wii,
PS3, and almost all the popular gaming modes get featured out
here. There are also product reviews and many more exciting stuff

Websites
to download free as well as ample opportunities to pay and get
more interesting content. The website also has a vibrant forum,
where you can post your own views on any game and take credence
of the views expressed by others. If you click on the Sports icon on
the top band of the website, you will be taken to a page where video
games based on popular sports are listed. A click on the News icon
gets you the latest news from the world of video games.
GameFly is another innovate website that is constantly
updated with latest video games. Out here it is possible for you
to rent a video game. As of now this website has 6,000 titles, and
they are capable of delivering the widest selection of games for
Playstation 3, Playstation 2, PSP, Xbox 360, Xbox, Wii,
GameCube, Nintendo DS and GameBoy. All you have to do is
pay a fixed monthly rental. For $22.95 a month, GameFly
members can rent two games at a time and keep them for as
long as they like. But as of now, GameFly is shipping its games
only to customers based in the U.S., so Indian gamers will have
to wait a while before they can enjoy this kind of facility. I

There are websites like GameDaily (www.gamedaily.com),

GameSpot (www.gamespot.com) and GameFly
(www.gamefly.com) that are turning out to be excellent
resources for catering to the gaming audience. Of these,
GameDaily is reputed to reach about 15 million gamers each
month. Managed by editor-in-chief Libe Goad, who herself
happens to be a video game veteran, GameDaily provides
information on all sorts of consoles, gaming machines as well as
downloads of some of the top games and reviews. One can find
just about anything here. In other words, it provides the much-
needed oxygen and water to a dedicated gamer. Some games
are available for free, but for most of the newest games, you
have to pay.

liveit.in 74 April ‘09

M
ost of us prefer to depend on the
meteorologists appearing on TV
shows, or on graphics in
newspapers, to
gather information about
how the weather would
be like in the next few
days to come. On many
occasions the
meteorologist’s
predictions turn out to be
somewhat topsy-turvy, but
that can always be blamed
on the vagaries of nature,
which happens to be so
capricious and
unpredictable. Then
there is the world of
the Internet that is
full of information
about everything,
including predictions
about weather conditions. There
is a plethora of websites that are
currently engaged in the

Online
business of disseminating
information on how the climate will be
like in the days to come.

Weather Prediction Resources

Most of these websites offer free service, but if you need a
rather intricate analysis of the weather pattern, then you might
have to pay. One of the best online weather resources on the
block for any layman is clearly http://weather.yahoo. com.
This website is easy to use and its information is totally free.
When you log on to this website, by default its homepage will
open with a focus on the U.S. If you need to find the
weather patterns in any U.S. city, you can either enter its
name or its Zip code in the search box. On pressing the
search button, the website will take you to a new page where
you will find complete details about this city or town’s
weather pattern.
If you are looking for information about the weather
pattern in an Asian country, say India, then you have to click
on Asia from the list titled International Forecasts. A list of all
the Asian countries will appear on the screen. From this list,
you can choose India. In the next page you will find a list of
all the major cities or towns. Click on the name of the city or
town, whose weather pattern is of interest to you. Along with
showing the weather pattern for the next 6 to 10 days, this
website also shows a satellite picture, which gives an overview
of the major natural forces that are moulding the climate
system of the entire area.
Another good resource for exploring the weather patterns in
various parts of India is the Government of India website,
www.weather.nic.in. The home page of this website contains
links to the direct feed from India’s various satellites in the
orbit. By studying the feeds, experts can take view on what the
weather will be like in the next few days. On top of the
website there is a link that says, “Current Weather
Conditions.” Click on it to go to a page that has a list of
India’s major towns and cities arranged in an alphabetical
manner. You can click on the name of any city or town to
discover its weather pattern. www.weather.nic.in also has a
very good system for tracking cyclones and the general
condition in the seas close to India’s coastline. I

April ‘09 75 liveit.in

 Feature

nanth Ahuja leaves for work in the morning. As he other bills like mobile, electricity, etc. are managed by an e-

A starts his car, he realizes that that his vehicle is low on

fuel. So, he drives down to the nearest petrol station,
gets it refueled and hands over his Petrocard to the
attendant for making the payment. At lunch break, he takes his
team out for a lunch meet. This time, he uses his Visa credit
card to pay for the group. On his way back home, the
reminder on his phone flashes to remind him about the
purchases he has to make from the food mall – groceries,
vegetables, fruit, etc. He swiftly makes all the necessary
purchases and gets his food card swiped there. From another
retail outlet, he picks up some bakery articles and pays by the
food coupons as they do not accept credit cards for bills below
a certain amount. At night, they plan to watch a movie over
the weekend, so he books the tickets online using his VISA
card again. And at the end of the month, all his credit card
payments are done automatically with a transfer from his bank
account online. Sometimes, to book theatre tickets, he uses the
SMS facility of BookMyShow. He then simply shows the
booking ID and collects the tickets at the counter. Similarly,
cheque or online transfer from his bank account.
Ananth is just one of the million Indians of today’s techno-
savvy generation who has converted his spending lifestyle from
cash to cashless. The concept of paying out currency notes is
being alienated slowly. Many developed nations, like the USA,
are almost a plastic economy today and developing countries like
ours are heading that way. Though we have long way to go, the
idea of cashless transactions has entrenched itself to some extent
in everyone’s lifestyles. And we are not just talking Metros. The
influx of credit and debit cards, the latter having wider usage,
has begun to take root in the Indian’s payment cycle. A recent
survey by a research and consulting firm Celent, has forecast the
Indian credit and debit card usage to go up to 200 million by
2010, which is an increase by almost 55%. No wonder India is
cited to be one of the fastest growing markets for credit and
debit cards.
The other avenue for spending via credit and debit cards,
which has fuelled the usage further, is the facility of online
transactions. The Internet has opened humungous market

the Wor ld i n
ou nd
Ar Click e
Travel
T y p
h Karwa
a l Sha
Pay
opportunities and a new platform for e-commerce. Again, with
an increasing number of Internet users logging on to the
product or service websites to make purchases online, it has
enhanced lifestyles and lent impetus to many a businesses,
especially that of travel.
According to a study released by PhoCusWright (an online
travel analytic), the Indian online travel is expected to be a $2-
billion industry this year. With about 50 million Internet users
and most of them resorting to online transactions for travel, this
is quite credible. Some of the factors which have led to this
immense growth in the e-commerce of travel are:
a) Introduction of online payment facilities like credit and
debit cards
b) Hassle-free, fast and convenient
c) The consumer has complete access to information and
user-generated content based on which he/she can take
their travel-related decisions
d) Better Internet connection facilities like Broadband, etc.
According to Sharath Dhall, MD - Tripadvisor.com, people
usually spend online on entertainment, travel and for shopping.
“The credit card companies are presenting various alluring
rewards and cashback offers to their customers, which
contributes to diverting the potential consumer into
one.” So, this play of the dual market-forces of
Cas
increase in Net usage and that of credit
card usage has led to a
hle
ss
T
ou
r
spurt in ‘cashless travel’. Besides plastic money replacing hard
cash, travel agents are also making it simpler for the customer by
offering direct transfer facilities.
Virtual money, real travel
Business travel: Did you know that more than 20% of flight
booking in India is done via Internet websites? People travelling
for business purposes or for leisure usually make use of online
methods to get the best deals. Even online travel agents book
their tickets online and e-tickets are sent across to the traveler,
which can simply be printed and exchanged for a boarding pass.
Holiday travel: Holiday tour operators have simplified things
and have made it flexible for customers to pay via cashless
methods, i.e., they can opt to pay by cheque, wire transfers,
credit card or online third party transfer.
A research has revealed that 62% travellers prefer a
customized and individual trip over a group or package tour.
While tour operators like Kuoni, Raj, Kesari, etc. have fixed
and flexi packages catering to a certain section of the target
group, the younger generation prefers to customize their travel
plans. For instance, Rakesh Nair, a cloth merchant by
profession, takes a holiday abroad once in a while. “I prefer
doing my own research and bookings. We went sort of
backpacking, my wife and I, to Spain, within limited budgets.
We did not want a flamboyant holiday but wanted to optimize
it at the same time. I looked for the best deals and budget
accommodation, and thanks to the options of online
bookings, I could pay for my entire trip via just my credit
card.” What does Rakesh have to say about cashless
transactions using his credit card? “It was fantastic,” he says,
“I simply review the various destinations, hotels, etc. on a
Tripadvisor or someone’s blog, and when convinced, make the
bookings online. I haven’t yet faced any problem; in fact it’s so
simple and smooth. Except once when I missed clicking a
confirmatory link, because that site was in Spanish! But
otherwise, this is one of the best and most convenient
ways to travel. Everything is taken care of and the
systems abroad are much better equipped and updated
so there are usually no glitches.”
Thus increasingly, most travellers taking trips to places
outside India are resorting to this method of virtual
money payment. No wonder the dozen online travel
websites including makemytrip, travelchacha, yatra, etc. are
a sure hit amongst the e-age travellers. The new services and
trends like meta search engines have made it cooler to search for
good deals. For those looking for the cheapest flight out, but
inundated with a zillion options, Ixigo or Ezeego could be
good options to check out. These meta search engines will
make your life easier as they filter all special deals from the
various travel-related websites – both domestic and
international travel – and display them on your screen. So you get
all options on one platform, with competitive rates.
So, now the question remains – how can you travel the world
without paying hard cash?
April ‘09 77 liveit.in
 Feature
Payment card options for international travel
Says Sharath Dhall, “One does not exactly travel without any
money at all. You may have to carry the currency of the country
you are travelling to for smaller expenses like street shopping.
However, for the bigger expenses, you can always use the credit
card or the travellers’ cheques. It’s less risky and you can be at
peace then.”
So, once your bookings, etc. are done, and you ‘set sail’ to a
distant and unknown destination, it is always advisable to carry
very little amount of hard cash. Whatever you carry can be kept
safe in your hotel room locker. And when you venture out, you can
take a part of the money, which you foresee being used. You can
make most high value purchases using plastic money or other tools.
What are the cashless tools or plastic money options to choose
from? There are various options of which you can use the ones
most suited to you, or even all options depending on your
requirement. For instance, you have:
• Credit card (internationally accepted, i.e., Visa,
Mastercard, Amex, Diner, etc.)
• Debit card (internationally accepted Visa, Mastercard
(Maestro), Cirrus, etc.)
• Travellers’ cheques (can be exchanged at any travel agent’s
centre in exchange of money of that amount)
• Pre-paid travel cards
• Gift coupons, etc.
Perceived benefits of using payment cards
• Cashback offers: With the spate of credit and debit card
markets zooming ahead, online shopping or travel sites tie
up with various card brands to woo customers. For
instance recently, makemytrip has associated with HSBC
credit cards giving various cashback offers on airfare, both
domestic and international travel.
• Rewards & redemption points: Similarly, yatra.com has
tied up with Barclays cards to offer the Barclays Yatra card
equipped with various facilities and rewards like points
redemption, etc.
• Better discounts and deals: Credit cards also offer decent
discounts through tie-ups with airlines or hotels on
partnership basis.
Unseen benefits of using payment cards
• Hassle-free transactions
• Faster and reliable source since one can keep records and
check receipts online
• Globally accepted norms, seamless transactions and no
geographical barriers
• Most credit cards offer a credit period of 30-40 days
• In case of debit cards, no hassle of carrying cash around;
direct payments can be made on the spot.
You can also use your credit card for any additional or
uncalled expenses while sightseeing or shopping, if they cost on
the higher side. For instance, entry fees to the amusement park,
which is generally not included in your tour expenses or you like
liveit.in 78 April ‘09
a souvenir which is pricey but you want to purchase for your best
friend. That’s where, again, your credit card comes in handy.
When Gaurav Khanna travelled to Mauritius, he had not
planned to take the underwater submarine ride. But when his
friends, who had pre-booked their seat in advance, cajoled him,
he decided to go for it. He realized that the ride would cost him
over 5000 INR (approximately 3750 Mauritian rupees) but he
wasn’t carrying hard cash with him then. That’s when his Visa
card came to the rescue. He requested the attendants to swipe
the card and bingo! In 5 minutes he was aboard the speedboat
on the way to the submarine with his group.
Using payment cards for domestic travel
Get trained: Did you know that the Indian Railways was one of
the first travel corporations to offer e-commerce options, about
more than a decade ago. But then things were different. Credit
card had no credit in the Indian mindset. But today, a huge
amount of tickets are sold via their website, i.e., irctc.com. The
Indian Railways has associated with various credit card and
bank brands to offer online transaction facilities. You can
register for a free online account with various credit card
payment options and book your e-tickets for any train traveling
within India. You can even check your seat status and avail of
various route options. Cancellation facilities are also made easier
for a minimal cancellation charge.
To take off, go online: Most domestic low-cost carriers and
flights book tickets via online processes. Almost 40% of the
ticket sales in domestic flight bookings account for this. You can
use the various travel websites or directly visit the airline site to
book yours. However, ensure that you choose to buy from the
resource which offers the best deal, whether it is from the travel
site or the carrier’s site.
Developed countries have introduced the concept of ‘cashless
cabins’ wherein the airlines do not accept cash payments
anymore. For instance, United Airlines customers can avail of a
seat on the flight via plastic money only, and gain various
advantages of point redemptions, frequent flier programs, etc.
Other cashless payment tools
Using cash cards
Another mode of payment, which appeals more to the middle
class strata (who are not yet into the credit card swing), is the
prepaid or cash cards option. Most of these cash cards have a
Visa or Mastercard affiliation, and resemble a credit/debit
card. These cards can also be used for making bill payments,
buying travel tickets, paying for meals, etc. There are cash
cards designed especially for travellers. For example, the
ForexPlus Card by HDFC, SmartTravel by Standard
Chartered, SBI’s Vishwa Yatra card, etc., which are safer
options to travel cards. Some of them can be recharged only
in India though and might not be accepted everywhere, so it is
better to check into all these aspects before selecting one.
The benefits of using prepaid cards are that there are no
hidden costs or transaction fees and they can also be gifted to
someone based on the required value. Besides banks, private
players like ItzCash also offer prepaid card facilities, which
have limited usage but could be useful while travelling to
bigger cities.
International prepaid travel cards
While prepaid traveller cards or Itz cash cards cater to the
domestic traveller, Indian companies are also launching
international pre-paid travel cards. Yes Bank, in association with
Corporation Bank, recently launched India’s first ever pre-paid
travel card to counter the problems of a debit card and provide
a good option to traveller cheques and cash. Based on the
technology processes of the leading financial service
organization JP Morgan and with a Visa affiliation, the card
would delete the risks run by using credit or debit card, as it is a
prepaid tool with specified upper limits
Credit or debit card – Be secured in either case
If you are considering which of the two are better, it is
always better to carry at least one of both when travelling.
However, a debit card cannot be used for online transactions
since one needs to key in a pin number. Both do run an
equal risk of being used by frauds. However, take certain
basic precautions while using your cards, to avoid
unfortunate incidents.
1) When travelling abroad, note down the emergency contact
number in the country you are travelling to, of your card
type. In case of problems like theft or loss of either card,
communicate the same to them immediately to have the
card cancelled.
2) Make sure that the sites you are transacting on for online
purchases, have the prefix of the url as https://. This
means the website is secured. Another way of finding out
if the website you are visiting is secure or not is that a
‘lock’ icon would appear on your screen if the site is risk-
free. For instance, makemytrip.com assures you of safe
transactions using SSL encryption technology.
3) Do not give out your pin numbers or CVV digits, etc. via
e-mail for the fear of being searched by sites.
4) Avoid replying to spam or phishing mails asking for
personal data and important information.
5) Do not leave your cards unattended for fear of being
duplicated (called skimming).
6) Avoid making transactions in cyber cafes or on any
public computer.
7) While travelling out of the country, do not put all your
cards in the same place or in one wallet.
In India, still a large section of consumers are skeptical to use
credit cards for online transactions. But we will soon have
something to cheer about for strict authentication will be made
compulsory by August this year, in accordance with the rules
passed by the RBI, to increase security measures. Online alerts
for the card users, consumer authentication, etc. will be made
mandatory. Cyber security and authentication experts like
VeriSign will have a major role to play in this case. But, as a
proactive measure, banks and credit card companies send out
SMS messages to the customer informing them of the
transaction of above a certain amount.
Mobile payments – The future of e-Commerce
m-Commerce or the mobile version of cashless transactions is
soon emerging as a new trend. With the explosion of mobile
phone usage and options to link the credit/debit card with one’s
phone, customers can avail of cashless payments even in the
absence of Internet facilities. Operators like bookmyshow,
ngpay, banks, etc. are already offering payment facilities via the
mobile phone. The process would ideally be more secure than
online as giving out passwords or typing in a TIN is not at risk
of being exposed.
So, then leisure in the beaches of Mauritius or Australia, sip
wine in the restaurants of Italy or France, watch the Broadway
in New York just with a click or a swipe. Luxuriate in your
vacation without having to spare a single thought on the safety
of your money. Travel the world in 80 dollars, literally. I
April ‘09 79 liveit.in
 Feature
O
f late trends in film making have gone through a
massive change. Earlier great care was taken on
how a film should be made. Now, a film
strategically placed for distribution, enables it to
be focused to the right audience, thus bringing in larger
returns. In the age of faster communication, distributors want
a system so arranged that the movie reaches the audience
before the pirates can do any damage to the returns. The
intent is to cut down the tedious and expensive process of
duplicating and distributing prints, which are prone to be
destroyed on the way.
Digital cinema is a recent phenomenon, and has started to
pick up because of the advantages it offers to distributors and
filmmakers. The film is transmitted in digital form to cinema
halls, using satellite technology, and projected to the customers
through an enhanced high-definition television system. The
system, also known as cyber cinema, basically means that when
a film is viewed digitally, you will see it as the maker intended for
you to see it. The film will be presented before you in greater
clarity and detail. The film is not prone to deterioration,
scratches, fading, and damage as a result of repeated viewing,
etc. and will be at its best quality, regardless.
Digital cinema includes every aspect of the film making
process, from production and post-production to distribution
and projection. While digital cameras are not new, and post-
THE DIGITAL EMERGE
production houses have of late been using digital equipment
to edit and master films and animation, the all-digital
distribution and projection of films has only recently arrived
to complete the chain.
Directors abroad seemed to have fallen in love with this sort
of technology, until recently. Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the
Clones was released in May 2002, and was the first all-digital
live action feature, shot without a single roll of film. The
response was tremendous. A number of major Hollywood
studios joined hands and formed the Digital Cinema
Initiatives (DCI) body that has come up with standard formats
for digital cinema content. Animation movies like Beowulf,
Harry Potter and Spiderman soon followed, recording a major
part of their box office collections through digital theatres
around the world. It’s said that nearly 50% of the screens
around the world are to go digital by 2013.
Luke Lieberman, President, Red Sonja LLC, has his doubts,
“Digital cinema never took off the way people thought it would.
In part, this is because HD (High Definition) doesn't really have
that film magic quality and the DPs (Director of Photography)
never took to it; in part it is because the cost savings, relative to
the budget of a major motion picture, is really not much but I
think a lot of it has to do with the fact that digital stuff is too
easy to rip off. If you are going to plow a bunch of cash into a
project, you want to make sure people can't just duplicate it like
Puja Goyal
they do with music. The film industry is trying to avoid the fate
of the music industry.”
India's economy is not yet ready to fully adopt the DCI
norms for digital cinema probably for the same reasons as cited approximately 1/12 of the disk space occupied by
by Lieberman. The biggest problem in India is piracy. High
quality projections make it easy for pirates to record these films stored more easily.
via camcorders to pirate the movie. Digital cinema system is
said to cut down the cost of releasing actual celluloid prints
and also ensure release throughout the network. At the same
time, it is said to cut down the incentives of piracy. Also, the
systems are not very bulky making it easy for exhibitors to
adapt to this new system.
One stream sure to reap the benefits of digitizing is the
animation industry. The content produced is mainly in the
digital format. To release in Indian cinemas, they have to release
physical prints. The evolution of digital cinema will cut down
this step saving a lot of the producer's money, which can be put
into use for the other aspects of film production. A major
challenge of digital cinema in India is the conversion cost.
Indian cinema is geared up to converting its halls into a digital
format and this is happening slowly but steadily.
very popular: transmission of container-less files via the
Internet, followed by storage on computers, iPODs, etc. MP3 is
an audio compression file format in which music occupy
uncompressed files, enabling them to be transmitted faster and
Musicians and other professionals, etc. have been embracing
this technology for years. The former, unable to obtain
contracts with record companies, have realized that, at modest
cost, they can easily record their work in MP3 format and
instantly make it available over the Internet. The rest have
discovered that they can easily obtain MP3 copies of most of
the songs of their favourite musicians via the Internet. Only
last year did people realize the magnanimity of the situation
both in terms of a boon and a curse. While music was easily
available and cut down on production and distribution costs, a
high percentage of the MP3 recordings available in this
manner are prepared without the permission of the legal
owners of the music.
When a CD was sold, most of the cost went to the
manufacturer, distributor, the retail store, or

“
Talks with PVR Cinemas, Inox and other film the record company that produced the
screening units revealed that they believe digital
The film is recording. The artist would hardly receive
cinema in India will revolutionize the way transmitted in more than 16% of the purchase price. But if
movies will be seen, in terms of space quality
and operational convenience.
digital form, using the music was distributed over the Internet by
the artist himself, almost all cost associated
Security concerns will, however, remain the satellite technology, with making and distributing of CDs could
same as before and there’s not much that digital and projected be eliminated. Thus, musicians could earn
cinema can do in this respect. Websites would
allow movies to be downloaded and pirate
markets will still sell cheap versions. The only high-definition
“ more or consumers could pay less or both. It
through an enhanced would also be convenient for the musicians
and consumers because tedious procedures
thing it will do is help cinema distributors in the
advertisement point of view in terms of RTC
television system. could be eliminated like travelling, music
being out of stock, etc. Internet distribution
Conversion. Advertisers, in order to advertise would allow the music to be available when
their products, can now simply give a CD, which can be run in- the consumer would require, instantly.
between intervals. Unlike before where there would be many The musicians would get a platform to exhibit their talent and
technicians working to get the film’s screening, with digital not be dependent on flimsy production companies, which makes
broadcasting one would require just one technician who will it easier to reach an ever larger audience. Most musicians now
screen a film merely by inserting a DVD or CD into the player. have websites and promotional music uploaded online for their
Filmmakers have to get their films converted from their pre- listeners; even music companies are following suit. They upload
existent formats for their film to get released in all the digital samples of upcoming albums onto their websites for the
theatres. This might add up to the costs and discourage the consumers to have a taste of what’s next.
industry to adopt digital cinema. Therefore, if digital cinema The greatest benefit that digital music/cinema has derived is
has to be adopted, the industry has to work together for the that of decentralizing a monotonous power hold that production
establishment of the same as a standard. Converting halls into houses, music industries, distributors, etc. had on the product.
the new format will take some time. Exposing format has to be The first, already mentioned, consists of the expansion of the set
revamped and this needs to be done without disturbing the of musicians and filmmakers who can reach wide audiences,
process of screening and without affecting viewer turnover in while shrinking the control of record companies and production
theatre halls. houses. The second consists of the ease with which ‘consumers’
Conversion and multiplying costs have also come down as far of digital music/cinema can manipulate it, recombine pieces of
as digital music is concerned. It has also helped reduce it, and blend it with their own material and remix – indirectly
electronic waste in the market. Until recently, most digital music becoming producers of the same. The next generation of
was sold in the compact disc format. But in the past few years, a compression formats – MP4 – is increasing those opportunities
new method of distributing digital music, i.e., MP3 has become for interaction and alteration.

April ‘09 81 liveit.in

 Regrettably, distribution of digital music/cinema via the
Internet also has a very substantial drawback: it undermines the
ability of creators to earn money. The biggest reason for this is
that MP3 files are unsecured. Nothing prevents a person who has
acquired (with/without permission) an MP3 file to make
unlimited copies. The copies made using digital technology are
same as the original. Illegal MP3 copies of copyrighted recordings
are available on the Internet for free. The boost of unauthorized
free copies has become a big concern for music/cinema makers
who now are trying to find remedies to this problem. Compact
discs bearing Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) is another
alternative to protect piracy of movies and music.
David Bowie’s suggested this option through his innovative
website. People visiting Bowie’s website are invited to become
members of the Bowie ‘Community’ after which they are
encouraged to participate in the website programs, chat rooms,
etc. They are also offered a wide variety of products and
services, loosely related to Bowie's artistry.
The same has now been absorbed by other musicians and
filmmakers who have started to offer incentives to viewers in the
form of freebies, which could range from T-shirts, posters,
videos, sheet music, mouse pads, etc. Some also offer Internet
access, unlimited e-mail addresses and web spaces. In the end,
one would think, why would viewers and browsers go to such
websites and avail of these offers? It could be because they
appreciate the artist or film and enjoy participating and
encouraging the product.
Most artists and filmmakers have also started asking for
donations indirectly through their websites. They don’t charge the
liveit.in 82 April ‘09
visitor for downloading music or movies, but ask for a donation.
This is an off-shoot idea taken from radio stations and religious
organizations. For example: If you are interested in buying a copy
of John Mayer’s latest song, you could simply Google his name.
The first search result that shows up would be his official website
from where you can browse through a complete list of his songs,
listen to a sample and download them if you want; all this, of
course, for a small amount. This would be quite less compared to
the amount you would pay for entire album.
In the end, the object of this discussion remains whether
digital cinema and music are a boon or a curse. India is seeing
its advent for the first time and is yet to pick up; therefore, the
end result needs to be seen. But considering what has
happened to digital music in the past few years, it would be
wise to proceed with preparation and caution. What needs to
be done is to derive maximum benefit by reducing the
negativities. The idea now would be to reap the box office
collections as soon as the prints are exposed to the viewers;
before the pirates get to them. This way even if the prints are
leaked, the returns are secured. The onus now lies on a
perfectly laid plan of distribution. I
 Fiction
The Mobile Mutants
O
n a brightly lit stage, singer Kishore Kumar was
crooning a soulful melody, ‘Zindagi ek safar hai suhana …
Yahan kal kya ho kisne jana.’ Parul sat on the first row of
the auditorium enjoying the performance. She knew
that the song was from the classical film Andaz. In fact, she knew
the name of every film that Kishore had ever lent his voice to.
Such was she in love with his golden voice that it didn’t even matter
to her that the Kishore singing on the stage was a cyborg. To put it
in simple words, he was a very advanced robotic double of the
famous Bollywood singer. He so closely resembled the iconic singer
that not anyone present at the auditorium, and those watching the
live telecast from elsewhere, could have an iota of doubt that it was
not the ‘real’ Kishore in flesh and blood but just a clone. It was the
year 2087 whereas the real Kishore had left the mortal world way
back in 1987; the cyborg on the stage was performing to celebrate
the 100th death anniversary of the legendary singer.
Soon the cyborg started singing another popular song, this time
from the film Anamika, ‘Meri bheegi bheegi si …. ’ This particular
song topped Parul’s list of favourites. She was so mesmerized by
the sight of an actual Kishore look-alike singing this song that
tears welled up in her eyes. But these were the tears of joy, the
sheer pleasure that she felt at being able to watch her most
beloved singer sing her favourite song. Though she was young in
years, her tastes were quite unconventional, especially when it
came to her choice of music. So much so that her colleagues at
liveit.in 84 April ‘09
Anoop Verma
the workplace almost bracketed her in the old fashioned category,
but she didn’t mind that at all. She would rather be old fashioned
and enjoy soulful melodies than waste her time on the new age
Jazz, the techno-beats and the rave drums that were considered to
be the hot favourite of today’s generation.
The other day at office, one of her colleague – an absolute freak
about techno-beat kind of music – informed her that her old
fashioned taste in music might have much to do with her low IQ.
Parul felt quite rattled by these words, but she refrained from
making an issue out of it, as it was not her habit to get into petty
quarrels. “Low IQ , my foot!” Parul murmured with a flash of
anger, “I have enough IQ to decide what I want from life.” The
matter of fact was that ever since the development of BNM
(bionic nano memory-chips), in the year 2065, it had become very
common for people to get their brainpower artificially enhanced.
Till 2065 it had been a norm for an average person to have an IQ
of 90-115, and for someone who was extremely gifted, the IQ
could range from 125 to 140. “Even Kishore might not have had
an IQ of over 140, but such humane level of IQ did not stop him
from creating top class music,” Parul convinced herself.
Despite her initial resistance to let modern science tamper with
her brain, she had been ultimately forced to get two BNM chips
incorporated in her brain. Thanks to the high-tech chips, her IQ
graph had now soared to four figures, which was considered quite
normal in the modern era. The truth was that it was essential to
have a four-figure IQ graph these days to grab a decent job for
oneself. With higher IQ , Parul’s reflexes had become much better
and her memory was enhanced manifolds. But even an IQ in four
figures was not considered well enough for most people. Her boss
at office, for instance, had so many BNM chips generated in his
brain that he could boast of an IQ in five figures. Alongside
accomplishing the normal tasks associated with the brain, he
could run a variety of software simultaneously inside his head. He
could use the circuits inside his brain to make or receive phone
calls, browse for information on the Internet, memorize data,
listen to music and do a lot many other things.
Actually Parul had coined a special term for people like her
boss. She called them ‘mobile mutants’. After all, how could
anyone enjoy having their mobile phones and information
searching mechanisms embedded within their brains?
However, she was clearly in a minority on this issue, because
the trend of having five-figure IQ and operating mobile
phones, search engines and all kinds of software from inside
the brain was surely catching up. And, it wasn’t just her boss;
at least 30% of the people at her office had that sort of system
incorporated in their brain. What’s more, in the days to come
it was quite likely that many more individuals would opt for
transmogrifying into some kind of a mobile mutant. While
walking on the streets, it was quite a common sight to find
people talking by themselves; in fact, they would actually be
conducting a phone conversation through an invisible bionic
phone embedded in their head.
As far as she was concerned, she continued to use an old-
fashioned mobile phone that came in the form of a handheld device
and a bluetooth, shaped like a diamond earring. So what if carrying
a handheld device and wearing a bluetooth were out of fashion in
the year 2087? All she was bothered about was her own tastes and
preferences. She believed in leading her life in her own way, rather
than being a blind follower of fashion. Her acquaintances would
often complain that she appeared too intellectual, that she did not
care about popular cultural icons, that she was too philosophical.
“Perhaps what they say about me is true,” she thought. “I am too
philosophical. But it is also true that it needs a philosophical bent of
mind to comprehend the beauty of the music from someone like
Kishore.” If listening to Kishore’s music and wearing a bluetooth
made her stand out from the crowd, then so be it. She didn’t care
about the new breed of mobile mutants at all.
Soon the concert was over and she trotted out of the hall, still
under the mesmerizing spell of Kishore’s performance. She stood
in the foyer trying to decide where she should go. The urge that
she had felt while watching the robotic Kishore’s performance was
prompted yet again; all her reasoning would do nothing to
dissuade her mind from craving for a closer companionship with
her favourite singer. But the truth remained that Kishore had died
hundred years ago, and no one like him had ever been born in
this world ever again. The performance she had enjoyed in the
auditorium had been from a robotic cyborg and not from the real
person. A sigh escaped her lips as she walked out into the street.
With its round-the–clock, sun-like illumination, this part of the
city was bright and cheerful. The walls glowed. Even the streets
were paved with colourful ceramic.
She took out a small toy peacock, just about an inch long, that
she had been carrying in her pocket all the time. Pointing her
mobile phone towards the toy peacock, she pressed a button and
the peacock started gaining in size. In less than a minute, it was
as big as any vehicle. It was in fact a vehicle that could fly in the
air, swim on the water and run on the streets. On the peacock’s
body there was a door, which she opened and entered. The
interior of the peacock was built like any normal car. There were
plush seats and a dashboard outfitted with an elaborate control
panel that included a joystick. On the street other people who
had emerged from the auditorium were activating their own
vehicles, and the area was abuzz with all sorts of fascinating
contraptions. There were a few elephants, a giraffe, a couple of
lions, a tiger, a deer, a parrot and, of course, Parul’s peacock.
Then there were vehicles shaped like planes, helicopters,
spacecrafts and even missiles. There were two vehicles very
similar in looks to tanks, which were being boarded by some
military type individuals.
The advantage of such vehicles, created with nanotechnology,
was that they could be contracted to the size of a matchbox when
they were not in use and when they were required to move around
they could be expanded to full size. Parul set her peacock in the
flight mode and they took off in one direction. She wanted to visit
the cultural centre where she preferred to hang out. En route, a
vehicle shaped like a tiger flew past her. The passenger in it was
laughing and talking by himself. “Another mobile mutant!” Parul
said with a feeling of disgust. Reassuringly, she moved her hand
over the bluetooth, which was stuck on her ear lobe. “Come what
may! I will never allow myself to become a mobile mutant,” she
told herself with satisfaction. It was not as if she was against
technological advances, which she was not; what she was strictly
against was using science to tamper with human body. “You can’t
incorporate the functions of a mobile phone, an MP3 player and
a laptop inside the brain. That is not the right way,” she told
herself emphatically.
The fact of the matter remained that getting too many implants
embedded in one’s brain also made a person vulnerable to
hacking. Many cases had come to light where criminal
organizations had been able to gain unauthorized access to an
individual’s brain by hacking into the search systems or the mobile
phone systems embedded in his head. The grey market was full of
software tools that allowed hackers to take control of an individual
by obliterating his real memory and downloading a new memory
in its place. Of course, there were built-in bionic firewall that
came with the systems but these were hardly perfect. A
determined hacker was often able to break through the bionic
firewall and gain access to the brain of an unsuspecting
individual. Parul shuddered at the thought of someone gaining
access to her brain. But then it was impossible for anyone to hack
into her brain since her head was free of the new-fangled bionic
devices that ran all kinds of software and were directly connected
to mobile and Internet systems.
April ‘09 85 liveit.in
 Fiction
On reaching the area, where the cultural centre was
located, she brought her peacock down and emerged from it.
When she pressed the dedicated button on her mobile, the
peacock again contracted to the size of a matchbox, and she
firmly placed it in her purse. The cultural centre being a
popular hangout area, many young men and women were
loitering around. Few of the young men had started eyeing
Parul with interest; she could feel their eyes boring into her
and she smiled by herself.
“Hi, honey! Looking for a date?” she heard someone say.
The flamboyantly spoken invitations of roadside Romeos
seldom rattled her, and on most occasions she would move ahead
without even condescending to glance at the Romeo’s face. But it
was different this time. There was something in this Romeo’s voice
that bade her to stop in her tracks. She looked back, and found
that the Romeo was looking at her flirtingly. A wave of excitement
ran through her body as she realized that he looked exactly like
Kishore, when he was young. For the initial few moments, her
mind doubted that it could be the cyborg of Kishore who must
have followed her here. But she knew that cyborgs don’t do that
sort of thing. They don’t follow people around. “Who are you?”
she asked breathlessly.
“The name is Kishore,” he said in a voice that turned out to
be an exact replica of the singer’s voice. There was no doubt at
all that this man carried the aura of Kishore about him in more
ways than one.
“Are you a robot?”
“I was born as a natural human being. But after a string of
updates over the years, my body now has only 20% human parts
left; the rest of me, say about 80%, consists of hardware and
software implants.”
“So you are a mobile mutant?” mused Parul.
“Mobile mutant? What’s that?”
“I am sorry that I used that term,” Parul said sheepishly.
“Actually I call people who carry too many implants inside them
as mobile mutants.”
“That’s a funny term,” laughed Kishore. “But, what about
you? I am sure you must be having as many implants inside
you as I do.”
“Actually I don’t. I had my IQ enhanced to 4 figures, and that’s
it. I am proud to say that I am 100% human. Not a bit of artificial
hardware or software running inside me.”
“Really,” Kishore looked at her with surprise. “But how can
anyone survive in this age without having themselves updated by
latest hardware and software?”
“I am right here, in front of you,” Parul shrugged. “I think I am
surviving quite well without turning myself into a cyborg that is
part human and part machine.”
“Don’t you think you are being old fashioned?”
These were just the kind of words that anyone could have said
to make Parul feel hurt. And in this case the feeling of hurt was
exemplified by the fact that the man who threw this epithet at her
resembled her favourite singing icon, Kishore. “Well, if you don’t
like me then you should not have whistled at me and made that
liveit.in 86 April ‘09
date offer,” said Parul emphatically. “I will be on my way now.”
She turned to walk away from the Kishore look-alike.
“Please wait,” said Kishore. “I had no intention to hurt your
feelings. The thing is that it is very rarely that I get to meet
someone who is 100% human.”
“Well, if you don’t get to meet 100% humans like me then that
is your problem and not mine.”
“Sure. But I would still like to take you out on a date.”
Parul thought for a moment or two before answering, “Sure, we
can have a cup of Mars coffee together.” Despite a subtle display
of hesitation, she was still quite eager to spend some time with
someone who resembled her favourite singer so completely. He
offered her his hand, and she, somewhat passive and shy, took his
arm and they walked towards a nearby coffee shop that was
managed entirely by robotic staff. The specialty of this coffee shop
was that it offered coffee that were grown on planet Mars. It
seemed as if there were not too many takers for Mars coffee
because there were only three guests in the entire restaurant, but
Parul was a devoted follower of this brand of coffee. They took a
seat next to a large square cut window, which offered enticing
views of a water fountain, embellished with great 3D effects.
“Wow!” Kishore said happily, when they had taken their seats
opposite each other across the table and she had pointed out to
him the view out of the window.
“I am glad that you like the view,” she simpered.
A digital menu popped on the top of the table and they started
browsing for the items that they wanted to order. She decided to
have a cup of Espresso Mars Coffee and spam sandwich. He
decided to have the same items that she was having. Soon they
were taking a bite out of their sandwich and sipping on their
coffee. But Parul was quite curious about Kishore. She wanted to
know more about him, curious to find things that could make him
more familiar to her. In the end, she did not even have to try too
hard to get all that information out of him; he turned out to be a
very voluble person. She only had to prod him a little to get him
to talk about himself.
His full name was Kishore Devyani and he was born in
Bombay. At the tender age of four, he had already mastered the
first 77 volumes of the Encyclopedia Galactica. But his erudition
was considered below par, four year olds were expected to be
fluent with at least 770 volumes of the Encyclopedia. So his
parents were forced to send him to the medical institute where all
sorts of scientific tests were conducted on him. Soon the verdict
was out: he was suffering from ACLD or Advanced Cyborg
Learning Disorder.
Once his condition had been diagnosed, the medical institute
referred him to the cyborg laboratory where the software in his
brain was completely formatted and re-installed and his hardware
was updated with latest updates. Cyborgology had so advanced
that a complete retooling of his body and mind was possible at the
very nano level. Soon he emerged from the retooling factory
complete cured of ACLD.
“Well, that is how I became a cyborg at a very young age,”
smiled Kishore, looking directly into Parul’s eyes.
 “Yours’ is an interesting story,” said Parul, “but I am also
interested in knowing how you acquired a face that looks so
similar to Kishore.”
“Oh that,” Kishore exclaimed. “I was about ten years old when
I fell in love with Kishore’s music. After that I decided to get hold
of a face and a voice similar to him. My father agreed to foot the
bill for my transformation, so I faced no trouble at all in getting a
digital face mask and a voice synthesizer installed in my system.”
“Now, that’s interesting. Tell me about the other updates that
you have got done in your body.”
“I have been making trips to various cyborg laboratories on a
very regular basis,” said Kishore cheerfully. “It has always been
my endeavour to keep myself upgraded with all the new software
and hardware advancements that kept happening from time to
time. In one of my trips to the cyborg laboratory, I had a one-
hour procedure done to get a new pair of eyes, which could detect
infrared light waves, and link up to satellite signals from any part
of the universe. On another occasion, I had my hands upgraded.
My old hands were just fine but it was lot more fun having hands
that packed superhuman strength and were versatile enough to
catch packages travelling on the instantaneous PVC rocket
conduits crisscrossing the globe. With my new, improved hands I
can catch packages weighing nearly double my weight and
travelling at supersonic speeds. I can also play better basketball.”
He held out his super-hands for Parul to have a closer look at
them. Parul took his right hand in her hands, it looked like any
normal hand, but when she pressed at the fleshy tissue, she could
feel the raw strength of a machine that lay beneath the skin.
“Wow!” she murmured, before letting go of his hand.
“I have also got my feet updated,” he continued. “My old feet
were just not fast enough. I craved for super-feet that could make
me zip around at supersonic speeds. For a while I even tried back
wings; they were kind of fun. The wings made me feel as if I was
fluttering like a merry little dragonfly, and every time I got the
wind on my face, it made me feel so good. But at some point of
time I got tired of them, so I handed them over to a real robot,
with not a single bit of human tissue in its body. On top of my
shoulders, I have a pair of mini-gills installed. These gills are
especially conducive for underwater walks. Whenever I go
underwater, I have no issues breathing; I can breathe like a fish.
Once, when I was vacationing in the Swiss Alps, I had hurt my left
knee while skiing. It was then that I decided to go in for a new
kneecap manufactured by Microsoft. This kneecap gave me the
balance that I needed to indulge in my passion for sports.”
Parul was somewhat horrified by the vast range of updates that
Kishore had got done to his body. “What about your brain?” she
asked urgently. “I hope you have not tampered with your brain by
inflicting too many updates on it.”
“Are you kidding?” he laughed aloud. “The natural brain that
all of us are born with way too outdated and simply inefficient to
allow us to lead a full life in the year 2087. There is no way I could
have lived without getting my brain updated. I carry inside my
head almost every brain update that is available in the market. My
brain carries a mobile phone update, an Internet search system,
MP3 player, multi-band radio, e-mail facility and a gargantuan
storage space. To work more than one system simultaneously, I
have had my brain updated with excellent multitasking software.
In fact, even as I am talking to you, my brain is engaged in
responding to 15 e-mails. I am listening to two different songs
right now, one on the radio and the other on MP3 player, I am
searching for information on inter-brain Internet search system, I
am looking for latest breaking news, stock prices, sports updates,
etc. I am also sending SMS text messages to two different people
using my inbuilt mobile update.”
 Fiction
“Unbelievable!” acclaimed Parul. “I had been under the
impression that you are only talking to me, but now I know what
all is happening at the back of your brain.”
“And that is not all,” he said pompously, “I even have a
camera installed in my brain. My eyes serve as a lens to this
camera; everything that I see gets automatically photographed
and stored in the storage area of my brain. I must confess that I
have managed to click very good photographs of you.” He
laughed mischievously.
“I don’t mind being photographed by you at all,” she smiled.
“I am glad to hear that. By the way, my sense of hearing too
has been updated to make it possible for my brain to store every
sound that I hear.” Suddenly, in the middle of this conversation,
his voice started to slur and the broad smile vanished from his
face. Moments later, the colour of his skin turned pale and the
expression on his face became contorted.
Parul was clueless about what was happening to him and with
an air of concern, she asked, “What happened?” It seemed as if
he was trying to say something, but could not let the words out of
his mouth. He was making strange gurgling sounds, almost as if
he might be choking on something. “Are you having a heart
attack,” Parul ejaculated, as she rose from her chair. “Should I
summon a doctor?”
“No,” finally he managed to whisper. “My heart has already
been updated, so I can never have a heart attack. The problem is
with my brain. I was using the bionic search engine in my head to
search for information, when something went wrong. I can sense
sections of my brain shutting down due to some unknown
problem. I don’t know for how long I will be able to talk to you or
remain conscious. Please do something ….”
“God!” Parul screamed. “I know what is happening to you.
Your brain is being hacked. Someone has been able to use the
Internet to shatter your firewall and hack into your brain.”
By now Kishore’s condition had deteriorated. His eyes looked
hazy and he was frothing from his mouth. The robotic waitresses
and the robotic receptionist manning the restaurant wanted to
summon an online doctor, but Parul convinced them that there
was nothing that a doctor could do in this case. In any case,
during the few minutes that it would have taken for any doctor to
arrive, the hackers would have taken complete control of
Kishore’s brain and turned him into their personal zombie
forever. But that was an eventuality that Parul was never going to
let happen. As she happened to be a trained anti-hacking
professional, she did possess the skills needed to help Kishore.
With the assistance of the restaurant’s robotic staff, she had
Kishore laid down on one of the tables comfortably.
She took out her state-of-the-art laptop from her purse and
through it she quickly tried to make a connection to Kishore’s
brain. In order to save Kishore from being turned into a zombie,
she had to access his brain but the firewall started to thwart her
attempts to gain entry. Parul was left with no other alternative
than to break through the firewall. She typed furiously on her
laptop and finally found a network in Kishore’s brain that was
relatively unguarded and through it she gained an entry. Using the
liveit.in 88 April ‘09
ultra-advanced system in her small laptop that was capable of
achieving more than 50000 TFlop/s (50000 trillion calculations
per second), she browsed through the trillions of lines of code that
were incorporated into Kishore’s brain. All his past memories, his
feelings, his emotions, the entire story of his life, zipped through
the screen in front of her at an unrealistic speed. But that was not
what Parul was looking for; all she was interested in was the
software virus that the hackers had implanted in the brain.
Finally she had a hit. The hackers had not even cared to
disguise the virus that they had implanted, but that sort of
mistake on their part was understandable; after all, they could
not have known that someone like Parul would be at hand to
identify the virus and excise it from Mahesh’s system. Parul
quickly wrote a few lines of code that effectively quarantined
the virus, before deleting it entirely. As soon as the virus had
been removed, Kishore’s eyelids started fluttering and colour
returned to his skin. Parul folded her laptop and safely put it
back in her handbag. It took only a minute for Kishore to
return to normalcy and he seemed surprised to find himself
lying down on the restaurant’s table.
“What am I doing on this table?” he said with embarrassment.
“I should have been occupying my chair.” He got off the table
and looked incredulously at Parul and at the robotic waitresses
and receptionist who were gathered around him. “Can I have
another cup of coffee please?” he said taking a seat at the table.
“A cup of coffee for me too,” said Parul. The two waitresses left
to get the orders ready, while the receptionist went back to man
her position behind the desk. Looking at Kishore, she said,
“Thank God, you are back as a real person. Your brain had been
hacked and if I had not taken action quickly, the hackers could
have turned you into a zombie living being.”
“I am so thankful to you for what you have done for me,”
Kishore said passionately. “There is no way I can ever pay you
back for saving my consciousness.”
“Well, there is! In fact, you can pay me back if you want to,”
injected Parul.
“Please tell me.”
“You can have all those silly updates, which make your brain
vulnerable to hacking, removed from your brain. Each one of
those updates must go and you should start living through the
normal brain that nature has granted you.”
There was a look of complete surprise on Kishore’s face. “But
… but how is that possible?” he stammered feebly. “I mean, how
can I live without my updates?”
“Somehow I had a feeling that you would never agree to have
the updates removed,” said Parul with contempt. She rose from
her seat, and tersely said, “Good bye.”
“Please wait, I still have so much to talk to you.”
“I have better things to do,” said Parul, before she picked up
her purse and marched away from the table. On her way out of
the restaurant, she told the waitress to cancel her order for a
second cup of coffee. Kishore kept calling for her but she had
decided to leave for good. After all, he was no better than any
other mobile mutant. I
 Tech Career
Sound Matters!
“
I come from a country and a civilization that gave
“
the universal word. That word is preceded by
silence, followed by more silence. That word is “Om.” So I
dedicate this award to my country. Thank you Academy, this is
not just a sound award, this is history being
handed over to me.
T
hese words come from Resul Pookutty, the
sound artist who made all of us proud by winning the
world’s most prestigious award, the Oscar, for his
contribution in the multiple award-winning movie,
Slumdog Millionaire.
Thup, Thup, Thup, Tick, Tick, Tick … if minor sounds like
these grab your attention, if the sound of music runs in your
soul, then sound/audio engineering can be a good career option
for you.
Sound engineering simply means editing audio. An audio
engineer is someone with experience and training in
production and manipulation of sound. So, basically he is
the one who can manipulate your voice to make you sound like
Donald Duck if you are not good to him. He is the person
responsible for Himesh sounding nasal and other such sound
gimmicks. Imagine movies with no sounds. For example, the
sound of footsteps, the sound of clock ticking, the noise of a
gathering say, at a tea stall, etc. give a sense of life to the
movies we enjoy. Imagine Tom and Jerry cartoons with no
sound of Jerry banging a heavy iron on Tom. These are just
liveit.in 90 April ‘09
Viny Velayudhan
a few examples where sound adds that additional entertainment
value. That’s where sound artists use their expertise.
Audio engineers operate mixing consoles, microphones, signal
processors, tape machines, digital audio workstations,
sequencing software and other futuristic things. So you need
some basic gadget knowledge to venture into this field. It
includes mastering any music software like Reason or Logic pro
in which music is recorded and tracks are composed.
Technology here is not related much to creativity but it involves
more of technical aspects like mastering, mixing music, etc.
Sound engineers need to be creative, patient and technically
good. They should be able to work in a team as this work involves
coordinating with other artists. And yes this is not for those who
want a 9 to 5 office job. To make a career in this field, you should
be willing to work long and irregular hours. You may need to
serve not so creative clients and so have to be patient and creative
at the same time. You need to have a good sense of rhythm,
pitch, timing and concentration to generate good work.
Career options in this field
• Sound designer: He is the one who designs and makes
soundtracks, works on sounds for dialogues to the re-
recording of final soundtracks. He generates sounds
for non-compositional aspects of music, performances
and films, etc.
• Sound effects editor: A sound effects editor works on the
final version of the sound effects.
 • Sound editor: There are three divisions in sound editors
that are music editors, sound effects editor and dialogue
editors. Sound editors should primarily be able to handle
these divisions although the big industries will have
separate editor posts.
• Sound recordist.
• Mastering engineer: The mastering engineer co-ordinates
the final mix and the CD. He is also known as the post-
production engineer.
• Broadcast engineer: He is someone who take care of all
the broadcast equipment.
• Music editor: A music editor performs the key role of
editing music tracks.
• Dialogue editor: He works on editing the dialogues in the
movies, TV shows, etc.
• Recording engineer: A recording engineer looks after the
recording equipment including microphones, placing the
instruments, mixing the headphones for the musicians, etc.
• Studio engineer: It is one of the major positions in audio
engineering. A studio engineer records music, sounds and
speech in the studio and makes the sounds better by
controlling it.
• Mix engineer: A mix engineer generates the final output,
the music. He combines all the recordings and also receives
the royalty of the work, something that makes this post
quite attractive.
• Studio manager: The studio manager handles the booking
and maintenance of all the recordings in the studio. He
should be well organized. Apart from taking care of
finances, he also has to perform all the background work
for music producers, the musicians, and engineers.
Training
A degree or certificate course in sound/audio can be beneficial
for aspiring sound artists.
The study of the technical and creative aspects of sound
recording, editing and mixing is carried out in these courses. The
syllabus for most of the sound courses involves basic theories and
frequencies of sound, recording, post production, live-sound
reinforcement and broadcasting. Training is also provided in
technical aspects like special effects, sound mixing, using the
recording tools, audio wiring, MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital
Interface), multi-track production techniques and also in dubbing.
There is no specific eligibility requirement for entering this
field as such but some training institutes do ask for a minimum
requirement of Physics and Mathematics as your subjects in
your 11th and 12th grades of formal education. Knowledge of
Physics and Mathematics will be an added advantage for
students of audio engineering.
A good number of audio engineers are music and sound
fanatics with no formal training.
Resul Pookutty once said that almost 99% of top Bollywood
sound engineers are from Film and Television Institute of India
(FTII), Pune from where Pookutty himself got his training. Not
everyone is lucky to secure an admission seat in FTII, which is our
country’s premier institute for film studies because of limited
number of seats. Besides the FTII, there are also many other well
known film schools like Whistling Woods or Digital Academy,
Mumbai that can teach you the art of sound recording. SAE schools,
particularly the one at Chennai, are reputed. Schools like FTII,
Whistling Woods, etc. train students on the latest audio consoles as
per international standards giving them the best education in this
field. The Mumbai University has come up with a course on sound
engineering. In order to keep pace with current technology
standards, remember to ensure that your school teaches you on
digital and not analog systems. There are more film schools, both
public and private, coming up with new courses on sound training.
For those aspiring to make a living out of editing audio, Bali
Ram, Lead Guitarist and Tutor - Pro Guitar Academy, Mumbai
recommends, “You start small-time at home. Download software
like Audacity and Wave pad to get a hang of it. Then maybe
you’d like to graduate to actual studio editing.”
Sound professionals recommend aspiring artists to listen to
good music and avoid MP3 music. Music is something that gets
fed into you, especially if you listen to good quality music. It’ll
help you in this field, if you’re really interested. Try to avoid
listening to MP3s as they mess up the frequencies at certain
places. Normally human ears can’t figure out the minute
difference but the compressed MP3 music affects the
frequencies. Listening to CD quality music is a good habit to be
developed for people who wish to pursue a career in this field.
In this industry, the better you work, the better your paychecks
will be. It depends on how much effort you are willing to put in,
and how hard you work. Audio engineers can enjoy fame and
fortune if their work gets recognized. They will begin their
career in a company with a starting salary of around Rs. 10,000
and this will increase with experience. A recognized audio
engineer can easily get a high paycheck in the industry. If artists
get good opportunities abroad, a comparatively high pay
package can be expected in the beginning of their career.
Audio engineers have job opportunities in the fields of
advertising, films, television, broadcasting, live concerts, multimedia
organizations, CD production, schools, disc jockeying, etc.
Freelance work is also available for experienced sound professionals.
So, the next time when you hear some sound don’t just consider it
to be a silly sound but a wide avenue to a great sounding career. I
April ‘09 91 liveit.in
 How To

henever we need to share our working

Turn your W files with someone off the network, we

first need to upload the files to a server
and allow the other person to
download from there. Now, that’s surely a time-
consuming process, especially if the files are too
large. You must also be running a network with good

PC to a
bandwidth and high-speed Internet connectivity to
perform this task.
Don’t lose heart! Technology has given yet
another boon in the form of Izimi! Now you can
share your files easily and instantly from your
computer and there’s absolutely no need for an
external server for uploading.

Web Server You can share as many files as

you want and they can be of any
size or file type. You don’t have
any limitations or restrictions on
what you want to share because

for Sharing Files

Uma Narayanan

liveit.in 92 April ‘09

files are being shared straight from your computer. This
means, the person who is downloading the shared files is
doing it from your computer slashing down the intermediate
pain and procedure!

Using Izimi, the moment you wish to share some files, you
simply have to send a link to the person and he/she can start
downloading the files immediately. This type of sharing is
called ‘Live Sharing’. The entire process is made possible by
Izimi, which turns your computer into a kind of temporary
server. Here, when the machine works like a server, it is
important that you keep your machine switched on for another
person to download the files directly from your PC and, as
mentioned earlier, should have a high-speed Internet
connection. Avoid installing Izimi on your laptop, which means
don’t make your laptop to behave like a server. But you can feel
free to access files from your laptop using any web browser from person with whom you wish to share the file. Once you share a
anywhere on the planet. file, you will see it immediately in the ‘Files’ section of the
Izimi is easy to use and allows you to instantly share hundreds application. Izimi separates files out, groups them according to
of files! Once you install the software, you can start sharing files their file type as photos, videos, documents, music, etc. It
by right-clicking a file on your computer and choosing from the facilitates an easy way to place the files into their respective
three new Izimi options listed: Share Publicly, Share Privately, categories automatically.
and Create an Advert.

When you choose the option for sharing, your files however
large or small will be ‘shared’ immediately and you will get a
dialog box with the web address (URL) for the content page
of your profile on Izimi. You can send this link to your friends
or colleagues through e-mail so that they can download or So, isn’t it simple and easy to share files across networks?
view the files. Just right-click and choose the right option to see your files
If you share a file publicly, the link is shown on the content get transferred instantly. All you have to do is simply log
page of your Izimi profile. If you share files privately, you will into your Izimi profile and start accessing the files from any
be required to send the corresponding link to the concerned web browser! I

April ‘09 93 liveit.in

 How To

here are tens of thousands of videos available on your portable media player. This could be due the

T various sites on the Internet, like for example

YouTube. Now, out of these, there may me few you
might find useful and would like to download. Not just
that, but you may also want to convert them for your iPod,
Apple TV, iPhone, or simply watch it in iTunes.
While some sites allow free download of their video
collection, some don’t. Even when you freely download a
video clip of your choice, you may not be able to play it on
compatibility factor of file types.
There are a few vital things that we need to remember.
We have some constraints in playing a video directly on
the iPod. The first limitation is its resolution. A resolution
of 320x240 @ 768 Kbps on H.264/MPEG-4 encoded
videos and 480x480 @ 2.5Mbps and an AAC audio bit
rate up to 160 Kbps @ 48 Khz is compatible with most
iPods. These figures are definitely incomprehensible to

Uma Narayanan

liveit.in 94 April ‘09

many iPod users but you can probably get the video file
converted according to the specifications and view them on
your iPod.
To help you covert video files for your portable devices,
there are a number of easy and hard ways using specific
applications. myMovo is one such web application that
allows you to search, download and convert videos from
the Internet into suitable file types for your iPod, Zune,
cell phone, or Pocket PC (compatible with Windows XP

and Windows Vista but not with Mac). The difference

between other similar software and myMovo is that the
latter helps right from searching a particular video clip,
download, convert and finally help to transfer the video to
your device.
myMovo brings a wide variety of video content from news to
sports to music and entertainment videos from an array of sites
like ABC, Fox, CNN, Discovery channel, EOnline, ESPN, MTV,
Yahoo!, YouTube, etc. for your handheld devices. The
application streams videos through your computer and onto
your media player.
You can download this web/desktop application from
http://www.mymovo.com/downloads.html. Once the
download is complete, install the software and register for a
free account online to get started. Now, log in to your
myMovo account with your username and password and set
up your profile. Next, select your media player (for example,
iPod, Nano, PSP, Zune, iPhone, Blackberry, Nokia, Motorola,
and Samsung) to which the files are to be transferred. Check
the configuration for required options before starting to
convert. This would tell you how much space the application
can use on your hard drive for temporarily storing video files
for conversion.
Many people will have some favourite personal videos
stored on their computer. Using myMovo you can transfer
and carry them on your mobile media player as well. The
conversion of video files from one format to another may
take a few minutes to a couple of hours, depending on the
size of the file being converted. myMovo has a special
feature that comes handy to help you schedule the
conversions at a time you prefer.
Yet another in-built capability of this software is that it works
with iTunes, Zune and Windows Media Player. In case of
iTunes, myMovo can sync videos to your iPod automatically.
Nowadays, latest news comes forth in the form of ‘Feeds’,
which is a great way of keeping in touch with the latest
developments happening in the area of your interest. myMovo
also allows users to subscribe to RSS podcasts and it will
automatically convert any new video files to the format
required by your media player. If you are looking for an all-
purpose media converter for your videos, both online and
desktop, try myMovo and enjoy your favourite clips on your
portable media devices. I

April ‘09 95 liveit.in

How To

How to
Photograph
your Home
Zahid H. Javali
H
ome sweet home. Now, the point is how to capture its
charm for posterity? The answer lies in photography,
of course. There’s a separate department that solely
takes care of this and it goes by the name of
‘architectural photography’. But you don’t have to be a pro to
master it. Some will, some determination, and some passion is
all it takes for you to make a big impression. Here are some tips
on how you can get that far.

The thumb rules

1. The building should tell the story without any artificial
lighting to jazz it up. Try and photograph it the way it is. If the
house is not well lit, don’t use too much light to show how bright Helpful camera techniques
Photograph life-size. And for this, go for 12-24 mm ultra wide
angle lens for maximum effect. Using wide apertures and long
shutter times will provide warmth and give your shots some
character. Add a touch of flash (1/64th) to combat colour shift and
to add highlights to the scene. Try and keep your ISO at 400 or
640 because anything faster is too grainy and anything slower shifts
the colours a little too much. Make the most of the wide angle lens.
A 12 mm lens will allow you to get great shots of even the smallest
powder room, and will show large spaces quite accurately.
Hold the camera to your eye and back up until you have the
widest shot you can get, then you can set the tripod down and
compose your shot. Always shoot below the eye level to give the
building an imposing persona and an overwhelming presence.
And always keep your camera’s sensor clean. When you do your
light measurements, metering the dark part of the scene and
exposing for that will overexpose the remainder of the scene and
it is. Similarly, if it’s too bright, don’t shut out the windows and not underexpose it.
portray something it is not.
2. The time of day and the season is crucial, too. Avoid rainy
or cloudy days when there isn’t enough natural light to lend an
added shine to your picture. Sun rays coming from windows and
doors are something you cannot do without in inclement weather.
Much of the home’s character is lost if done without the sun.
3. Spend some time and experiment as much as possible. Don’t
worry about the number of pictures you take. Try and play with
different exposures, shutter speeds and angles. The more you shoot,
the more chances there are that you have more quality pictures.
4. Be passionate. Only then will you gain enough experience
to define your style of architectural photography. It is this
photography from the heart that will score over the others.
5. With RAW images, you can nicely pull back detail from
an overexposed image within a stop or maybe two, but in an
underexposed image, you cannot increase the exposure
without introducing noise. Better to overexpose with digital And finally …
than underexpose. While some of these tips can be applied for any compact
6. While some photographers advocate the expensive Expo camera, other tips that involve manually setting the aperture and
Disc for maintaining White Balance, there’s a cheaper attaching a wide angle lens only work for a digital SLR camera
alternative: a white coffee filter. It does the same thing but that’s at least 6-10 megapixel. What is also advised is a tripod
doesn’t cost as much. Just place it over the lens and take your with geared head for making fine adjustments and a hot shoe
picture. Your camera has to be on manual to do that, and then bubble level. Not to mention, flash units – you can use one or
go to your White Balance setting and adjust. even six SB-800’s if you desire. Good luck! I

April ‘09 97 liveit.in

 How To

Tracking
Google’s Gmail
1. Log into your account and open the e-mail you want to
track the original location for.
2. Click on the down arrow. This is located to the right of
the Reply link. Choose Show Original from the list of

original
options available.
Now here’s the technical part of it: You need to look for the

the
lines of text that start with ‘Received: from’. It might be easier
to simply press Ctrl + F and make a search for that phase.
However, you will notice that there are several ‘Received From’

location
entries in the message header. This is because the message

of e-mail
Priyanka Dey

W
ant to find out where you
got the last distressing
e-mail from?
Follow the
quick steps given here to
track the e-mail to its
original location by
figuring out the e-
mail’s IP address. header contains the IP addresses of all of
This surely comes in servers involved in routing that e-mail to you.
as a very useful In order to locate the first computer that
method on many originally sent the e-mail, you will have to find the Received
occasions for verification From that’s farthest down. See the image here to get an idea:
purposes. Quite a bit of technical detail goes in for tracking the the first one is from a computer called ‘aseem’ with the IP
IP address of an e-mail sender, so you must be all geared up to address 72.204.154.191. It was next routed to the ISP’s server
get into this and dig your heels in. at eastrmmtao104.cox.net and so on till it got delivered to your
The process of tracking the original location of an e-mail e-mail server.
basically involves two steps: the first being to find the IP address The computer aseem is the person’s, who sent the mail,
in the e-mail header section and then looking up the location of personal home computer and that’s his public IP address! Now,
the IP address. let’s take a look at Yahoo! And Outlook before we track the
location of that IP address.
Finding the IP address of an e-mail sender
in Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and Outlook Yahoo Mail Beta
Let us first take a look at how we can track the original location 1. Log into your account and open the e-mail (if you’re using
of an e-mail for Google, Yahoo and Outlook since these are the Yahoo Mail Beta with the new preview interface make sure
most popular e-mail clients. you double-click on the e-mail so that it opens in a new tab).

liveit.in 98 April ‘09

 2. At the top right, you will find a drop-down option where
Standard Header is selected by default.
3. Click on it and choose Full Header.
Again, you’ll see the same information as before, but in a
new window:
Microsoft Outlook
1. Double on the e-mail to open it in Outlook.
2. Go to View at the top menu (the menu options for the e-mail,
not the main Outlook window) and
choose Options.
A dialog box will appear. Here you can
set the message options and at the
bottom you’ll see the Internet Headers
box. As the box is very small, you might
have to scroll a lot, so it’s best to simply
copy and paste the text into Notepad for
a better view.
Tracking the location of an IP address
Now that you got the originating IP address of
72.204.154.191, let’s find out where that is! You can do this by
performing a location search on the IP address. Some good
websites to perform this search are IP2Location and
GeoBytes IP Locator.
GeoBytes also throws up a big map of the place it looks
up along with a bunch of other information about the
location itself.
IP2Location also gives the same information pretty much,
including the ISP (Cox Communications). To get more
information, you could do a WHOIS database search also.
ARIN WHOIS Database Search is a good place. This will give
you information on who hosts that IP address and their
registration information. You can always contact them to try and
get more information on that particular IP address.
So, have fun tracking down those e-mails now! I
April ‘09 99 liveit.in
 How To

I
f you are looking for a way to create a password-protected,
secure, hidden or locked folder in Windows XP and don’t
want to spend a dime on the same, then read on! You might
just find here what you are looking for. It’s quite a sad thing
that Windows XP does not have any user-friendly built-in tools to
create secure folders on computers with multiple users. But then
you can always encrypt data on your hard disk. However, this

Secure &
Lock Folders
in Windows XP
Priyanka Dey
only helps if your computer is stolen. There are ways to hide a
folder in Windows XP using a rudimentary built-in feature. This
is a method that’s quite useful if you want to hide a folder or file
and you’re pretty sure that anyone who is using the computer will
have no idea how to unhide the data. But, if there’s someone a
little more computer savvy, there is another way to create a secure
locked folder without having to buy any third- party software.
The software involves using a script to morph the folder into
something completely different so that it’s still visible, but nothing
inside the folder is accessible. Here, if you want to view the data,
you will have to run another script to morph it
back. Anyone who clicks on the folder will be
brought to the Control Panel and simply take
the folder to be a shortcut.
Here are a few steps to create a protected folder in
Windows XP:
1. First, create a folder that you will use to store your
confidential data. Let’s say, we use the folder named

liveit.in 100 April ‘09

 ‘Fonts’ in this example. The folder has been created at the
root of the D drive. Since the hidden folder will bring you
to the Control Panel, it’s best to name the folder as one of
the programs inside there.
2. In the same location where you created the new folder,
create a new file in Notepad. Here, copy the following
below into it, replace Fonts with the name of your folder
and save it as loc.
bat.ren Fonts Fonts.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-002B30309D}
3. To save the file as a .bat file in Notepad, remember to
put the whole thing in quotes, like “loc.bat” and then
click Save.
4. Now you should have a bat file named loc in the same
directory as your Fonts folder, and not inside the
Fonts folder.
5. Next, create another NotePad file and type in the
following listed below, saving it as “key.bat”
.ren Fonts.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} Fonts
6. Now you will have loc.bat and key.bat along with your
folder. So, that’s all you have to do to secure your folder.
Just go ahead and double-click on loc.bat. Your folder
will turn into the Control Panel and nothing inside can
be viewed. The moment you click on it, the Control
Panel will open up. You will also notice that the icon
should have changed.
7. To view the data inside your folder again, click on
key.bat and your folder will return to normal!
Pretty simple!
However, you should bear in mind not to keep the key.bat file
in the same folder, which would ultimately defeat the purpose of
securing the folder. So, it’s best to move the key.bat file
somewhere else, or even better, put it on a USB stick or CD that
only you can access it.
Most people will probably look at the folder and simply
ignore it since it has the control panel icon and it links directly
there. Of course, if someone knows this trick also, they can
create their own key.bat file, etc. and open it back up.
However, if you’re dealing with someone who can do all of
that, it’s best you check out more advanced third-party
software to lock down a folder.
A good alternative
If you’re having trouble with the method just mentioned, then
here’s another trick that could work wonders and also serve your
purpose. This is a program called Free Hide Folder from
Cleanersoft, which is a free way to create a secure folder in
Windows XP and allows you to easily hide your private folders.
Your folders are completely hidden and you must supply a
password to open the program to unhide the folders. You can
get the personal edition of Free Hide Folder for free. Just click
the Skip Registration button unless you’re using it for
commercial purposes.
I’ve tried this program myself and I cannot access the
hidden folder via Windows Explorer nor the command
prompt. So, if the above method fails to work, you know what
to do next! Enjoy! I
April ‘09 101 liveit.in
 Star Diary

Neetu Chandra
Few actors dare to dream big. Even fewer see their dreams shape into reality.
Hailing from a middle class family in Patna’s small township called Patliputra,
Neetu Chandra has set an example for many aspiring actors. Dare to dream
big, is her message to all, something that is well reflected in her performances
in films like Traffic Signal, Garam Masala, One Two Three, Oye Lucky, Lucky
Oye and the very recent horror flick 13B. We did a quick check with her to find
out her tech-suaveness.
What’s your favourite piece of technology? Do you consider yourself to be a novice
The all new Macbook. It has some superb features. or a nerd?
A novice in every sense of the word.
How has it improved your life?
It lets me stay connected round-the-clock. I can What’s the most expensive technology gadget
send/receive e-mails and chat in a flash. It makes life you’ve ever used?
so much easier! The new game censor television.

How often do you use it, and what for?
Well, not a day passes by without having used the
Macbook. I like to carry it with me wherever I go.
What additional things would you like to add
to your Macbook?
It would be great to have loads of fun games as well
as the various kinds of music topping the Eastern and
Western charts.
What piece of technology would you most
like to own?
I may sound way too weird but maybe I would love to
own a rocket some day.
Your surfing experiences on the Internet?
The whole world seems to be at my doorstep, thanks
to the wide world of the Internet. I

What are your tips for other users/non-users?

Users: please enjoy the way I enjoy it … enhance it.
Non-users: sorry to say that, but you guys are
the biggest losers.

liveit.in 102 April ‘09

 Interview
Get, Set, iXiGO
Resmi Jaimon
Aloke Bajpai, the CEO of iXiGO, India’s leading travel
search engine and fastest growing online travel site,
was recognized in the NASSCOM 100 IT Innovators list
2007 and was a finalist at the Red Herring 100 Asia
awards 2007 as well as the Red Herring 100 Global
awards 2007. In an interview with Resmi Jaimon, he
talks about iXiGO, how online travel agencies differ
from other run-of-the-mill travel search engines and
the future plans of iXiGO and online travel segment.
Q.What exactly is iXiGO?
iXiGO is a travel search engine for Indian consumers. Our purpose
is to aggregate travel information and to make the same searchable
and useful. We search for the best travel deals on multiple travel
sites, and then take the user directly to the airline or online travel
agency site so that he/she can make the required bookings there.
Our core strength is technology. We offer a powerful search and
planning tool to travellers, so that they can have a more
comprehensive and transparent comparison of prices and options.
We thus become very qualified lead generators for all the partners
we work with.
How does a travel search engine (like iXiGO)
Q.differ from online travel agencies like
MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip, Yatra, and the like?
Unlike other travel agencies, iXiGO allows travellers to search for
and book directly on the airline/hotel-aggregator websites. This
ensures a one-to-one relationship between the supplier (airline)
and traveller; the latter is also guaranteed of availing the best offer
and cheapest deal without any commission.
By being unbiased, transparent and comprehensive, we fill
some of the drawbacks of other travel agencies such as non-
transparent pricing (prices don’t always include taxes and fees, or
change at the last step), additional booking fees/charges, missed
flights, inability to combine results efficiently, ‘intermediation’
effects in cost and response time to customer service for
cancellations/changes.
Secondly, prices offered by these travel agencies will always vary
depending on the kind of discount they offer, which is based on
their relationship with the carrier. We don’t charge additional fees.
We simply aggregate fares in real-time from airlines, and redirect
you to the airlines website for the ticket you wish to purchase.
Thirdly, not many Indian consumers are comfortable entering
their credit card details for payment on travel agency sites. They,
instead, prefer well known airline websites for purchasing tickets.
liveit.in 104 April ‘09
Also, many customers are using other travel agencies for better
fares and then booking directly on the airline website (majority of
B2C bookings still happen directly on airline website). We plan to
attract those customers to our platform since it eases their search
on multiple airline websites.
Finally, we believe that our user experience, constant listening to
feedback, and superior search algorithms will remain significant
points of differentiation. Most importantly, since we do not cater
to booking of tickets, we do not compete directly with the online
travel agencies. On the other hand, in many cases we partner with
them and promote them within our sponsored listings.
What kind of products do you handle
Q.at iXiGO?
We have a range of products at iXiGO, all of which allow the user
to book directly on their websites and the mobile search allows for
booking directly on their call centres at the click of a mouse.
• Domestic flight search searches across all airlines in India
• International flight search (beta version launched
in January) searches across major international airlines in India
• Domestic & international hotel search allows you to search
for hotel aggregators globally
• Bus search looks across all bus ticketing sites in India
• Mobile search on WAP goes through all airlines and hotel
sites in India
We have emerged as the largest flights meta-search in the
country, powering nearly 2% of total online flight bookings. In
an effort to provide the best services to consumers, we have
commercially partnered with all the leading airlines, hotels and
bus aggregators to record outstanding growth in business.
 For hotels, based on its extensive real-time inventory tie-ups,
iXiGO.com has emerged as the ‘biggest hotel meta-search in the
world’ ahead of established international companies.
Consumers have as many as forty websites to browse through
where they can look up for about 220,000 budget and luxury
hotels across 23,400 cities in 202 countries.
Considering you have initiated a new trend
Q.in the travel segment, what were the
challenges you faced during the launch of
iXiGO? Do they still persist?
The biggest challenge we faced post launch was to educate the
industry on the benefits of the meta-search model and show
value to our partners in order to scale acceptance within the
industry. The response has been mind boggling – not only did
we find acceptance but were given a warm welcome by our
partners, who today see us as a strategic partner for the long
term. We have succeeded in creating our own space in the
ecosystem without stepping on someone else’s territory.
Since all our growth so far has been word-of-mouth driven, the
next big challenge we have to overcome is to go from our current
scale to 10x of our current scale without spending the many
“
millions of dollars that the
other online travel
iXiGO companies spent to get there.
aggregates travel To achieve critical mass
will mean greater support
information and then and deeper relationships
to the travel
“
takes the user directly from other constituents of
the travel ecosystem –
GDSs, offline travel agents,
agency site international airlines/hotels,
activities/tours, etc. Some-
times this means spending more time helping them understand
our business model and how we are different.
The other challenges we face now are the ones that are
common to the industry:
• How to balance the needs of suppliers as well as the users
• How to ensure equitable profit to all partners from our
platform without any sense of bias whatsoever
• How to catalyze the growth of online transactions in the
hotels segment
• How to ensure that the best interests of suppliers and other
travel agencies do not conflict entirely with ours, since this is
imperative to our model.
Can you explain the future of Indian online
Q.travel segment? How is it going to evolve in
2009 and beyond?
Online travel in India continues to be one of the best performing e-
commerce segments in the country. In 2008, more than 70% of the
transactions happening online were travel-related and online travel
touched a market size of US $ 2.6 billion. This year, it is expected to
continue to grow at over 20% per annum. A large contributor was
of course the Indian Railways website (IRCTC) which, in 2009, is
expected to generate revenues worth over $1 billion.
Air travel, especially international, and luxury hotel bookings
may suffer setback as a result of the pinch the consumers are
feeling in their pockets this year. However, the lowering of oil
prices have ensured that air travel in 2009 will be more
affordable on average than what it was in the year 2008.
Online bus bookings continue to trend upwards, and it is
not surprising to see new entrants in the online bus ticketing
business segment.
The top three trends shaping the online travel industry are:
Meta-search and its impact on the ecosystem: With
meta-searches such as iXiGO.com now powering a significant
percentage of online bookings, they have definitely started
making their presence felt in the boardrooms at airlines, hotel
chains and online travel agencies. Marketing heads of travel
companies are figuring out strategies to leverage their growth to
their advantage and the online advertising/media entities are
taking note of this high-potential medium.
Supplier-direct marketing/direct sales strategies
getting stronger: Airlines and hotels have now discovered the
benefits of building their own brands and growing their direct
sales. Meta-search engines such as iXiGO.com have helped
enable the shift from OTAs to supplier-direct platforms. A strong
reliance on direct bookings on their own website is a pre-requisite
for airlines in order to push zero sales commission to travel agents
and increase ancillary revenue.
Content and community will gain as much
importance as search and transactions: We will see
strong growth of online travel sites with quality content,
unbiased display of information and strong leverage of
communities/social networks. It will be interesting to see how
these players partner with transactional sites and meta-searches
to grow the value they offer to their users.
In a nutshell, 2009 will be exciting and a year to look forward
to, despite the turbulence in the macro-environment.
What does iXiGO have in the offing,
Q.especially in 2009?
iXiGO.com plans to continue to beat the global downturn with its
double-digit month-on-month growth in 2009 by consistently
adding new products and services to its portfolio. We have
succeeded in establishing the viability and scalability of the travel
meta-search model in the Indian market, and now have the
confidence to take the concept to the rest of the world.
Our international flights (still in beta) will be readying up for a
formal launch in a few weeks. The other products we plan to work
on include a train search and a product to search multiple
car/taxi booking sites.
In 2008, we had partnered with NDTV, TravelGuru, Sulekha and
12 other concerns for powering their flight search engines. In 2009, we
are signing up hotel affiliates and will also be launching our affiliate
program to allow third- party websites to benefit from our product and
earn with the content and traffic they can generate out of it. I
April ‘09 105 liveit.in
 Profile
G Mythology
adget lovers have enough
reasons to rejoice. From
catching their favourite
celebrities like Sachin
Tendulkar, Sehwag, MS Dhoni, GM
Viswanathan Anand to consulting their
numerologist Sanjay B. Jummani, they
can access all right on their mobile
screens. So, games from a small online
gaming company to a leading mobile
content and from application developer
providing products to mobile operators
have been the order of the day. Right
from Archie comics to high-tech games,
wallpapers to songs, sports games to
puzzles, and entertainment masala to
sacred mantras, mobile content targeting
entertainment has become the new
entertainment need of consumers in
cyber days.
Keeping the changing and increasing
demand of mobile content developers,
the company launched its 2D game based
on Mahabharata’s Eklavya, which is
available on J2ME and brew platforms
across all operators’ decks, effectively
bringing together mythology with
technology. The games portray original
incidents from the epic and offer an
opportunity to gamers to know more
about Indian mythology and heritage.
Aiming at consumers’ interests and
preferences, the mobile content
developers are busy creating a richer,
more artistic and engaging platform
that can be played on the iPhone. The
games are just a journey into the
Indian mythology. The games are made
in 2D, which are easily supported by
most of the handsets and targeted
across all age groups.
Nitish Mittersain, all of 27 and CEO
of Nazara Technologies, is one of the
young achievers who embarked upon his
entrepreneurial mission of building an
online venture when he was merely out
of college, and at the worst possible
time, right in the middle of the dotcom
meltdown. Fuelled by the passion for
technology and a strong determination
to succeed, his belief in himself and in
what he was doing, and invariable
perseverance, has helped him walk the
tight rope with a firm belief that his idea
liveit.in 106 April ‘09
Paving Way for
Technology
Nitish Mittersain, CEO and promoter of Nazara
Technologies, set out to build an online venture at a time
when the dotcom business was sensing a considerable
meltdown. However, his passion for technology and
determination to succeed crowned him as the winner.
Santosh Kumar Biswal talks to him about his venture into
the online gaming sector.
was a winner. And, he hasn’t looked rejected by his Guru, learns archery in
back since then. Today, not only is his the presence of a clay image of Drona.
business growing at an alarming pace, The user, in the game, is being instructed
but it is also among the top three players by a clay statue of Drona, which gives the
in the field. user targets to achieve in a given level.
When asked what kind of games are The game has been provided with an
Indian consumers demanding now and interactive screen, where the guru talks to
will demand in future, this is what the student through the various stages of
Nitish had to say, “Currently, we are the game. It has 12 levels, which depict
developing content in several verticals the story of Eklavya incorporating
like launching of games based on incidents from his life. The game takes
Indian epics and heritage. We are close to an hour for a player to go
already working on games like through all levels.
Mahabharata, Ramayana, Panchatantra and Talking on games based on
Akbar Birbal. People can now watch their mythological themes, Nitish shares, “We
epic heroes on their personal mobile have created a richly artistic and engaging
screens. Owing to cater to users’ platform that can now be played on the
changing interests, we presented a iPhone. The game we have just launched
unique 2D game based on Mahabharata’s is a journey into epic Indian mythology.
Eklavya, which is available on J2ME We are very excited about bringing this
and Brew platforms. The game portrays game to the Indian market. The game is
original incidents from the epic and made in 2D, which is easily supported by
gives an opportunity to gamers to most of the handsets and targeted across
gather more knowledge about Indian all age groups.”
mythology and heritage. We hope to The current download reports in India
launch games based on Bengali and reveal that the game has managed to
Marathi movies and in other vernacular attract many buyers. “As of now, we have
languages. Many such movies are on many mobile users, who if you track
the cards.” month after month, will see the same guys
Gurubhakta Ekalavya is a case in point. coming. So it is possible that the number
It is the story of a Prince who once of people who play mobile games in

India is not going to be huge or
phenomenal but there is steady base,
which will keep the business at least stable
generating good annual returns,” says
Nitish emphatically.
Corroborating with the fact, IDC, the
premier global provider of market
intelligence, advisory services, and events
for the information technology,
telecommunications, and consumer
technology markets, reveals that revenue
for the mobile online games market in
APEJ grew 35% in 2006. The total
number of mobile online gamers reached
97.6 mn last year, with over half (51.3%)
from China. Korea and India made up
the next two largest markets, at 25.3%
and 11.4%, respectively.
“Mobile as a gaming device is gaining
popularity in our country. Through a
series of mythological games we intend
“ Keeping the
increasing demand of
mobile content
developers, the
company launched its
2D game based on
Mahabharata’s
“ In India, the arrival of 3G will only
Eklavya.
to reach out to a larger section of
audience and grab a greater chunk of the
growing mobile gaming industry,” points
out Nitish.
Dr. B. Srinivas, a leading economist
and professor in Economics at Jamia
Millia Islamia, opinioned, “The
opportunities within this market have
caught the attention of developers,
animators, musicians, content providers,
operators and handset manufacturers. In-
Stat/MDR estimates that the Indian
market will generate close to $336 mn in
annual revenue by 2009. It also predicts
that the global mobile gaming market will
top $6.8 bn by 2013.
add to the growth by making it possible to
develop and sell high-end games. These
games will match the quality of what was
seen on first generation Play Station
consoles. But till then, due to
infrastructure constraints, mobile gaming
will continue to suffer.
Piracy has plagued several industries
worldwide. And this industry is not spared
from this undesirable disease. When asked
how to minimize the piracy of mobile
games in India, Nitish said, “It is
important to implement DRM. Also,
mobile carriers can put in controls to
prevent this. Pricing should be low so that
users can afford games and are not
pushed towards piracy.” I
April ‘09 107 liveit.in
 Peek & Pick

Product Reviews: Anurag Ghosh

iBall Take
Note A414
Now art goes digital as the iBall Take Note A414 digitally
captures and stores everything you draw or write. This
sleek and stylish digital notepad captures your artwork
and hand-written notes, which can be easily organized
and shared with your laptop. It also features an online
writing function, which synchronizes your artwork with
software in Windows. It simply makes you feel as if you
are writing on ordinary paper and view the same
simultaneously on a computer screen. With a storage
capacity of 32 MB, it can store more than 100 A4 size
pages. It is light-weight and includes a digital pen, USB
cable, a Take Note Manager Software, handwriting
recognition software and other general accessories. So,
the next time you want to jot down some notes or draw
some masterpiece, do it digitally.

Logitech Cordless
Internet Handset
VoIP technology has taken initiatives like Skype to kick-start its
popular acceptance. Skype allows users to make superior quality calls
by just using their desktops or laptops connected to the Internet.
Skype’s fame has been enhanced by introducing devices aimed at
widening its range of operability. One such state-of-the-art device is
the Logitech Cordless Internet Handset, which has been designed to
be used with Skype voicemail, Skypein and Skypeout. You just need to
start the supplied software and connect the receiver unit with the
computer. The included software will install Skype for you. The
Logitech Cordless Internet Handset is slightly larger than a standard
cell phone with a colour LCD screen and an illuminated alpha
numeric keypad. The LCD display displays contact lists, caller ID and
voicemail. A must for compulsive Skype users!

liveit.in 108 April ‘09

ASUS Eee
PC 1000H
Netbook
Ultra-portable netbooks are in great
demand among corporate goers.
But, the ASUS Eee PC 1000H
differs from conventional ultra-
portable laptops when it comes to
size and operating system. This
fairly large netbook is armed with a
Windows XP operating system, a
rare sight among popular notebooks
mainly built around Linux
operating systems to minimize cost.
Moreover, it uses a solid 80 GB hard
drive, which provides more storage
space than most SSD-based
netbooks. The netbook has a
10-inch WSVGA wide LCD screen,
again something that most netbooks
lack. The wide screen provides
easier reading of up to 1024 x 600
resolutions. Powered by the Intel
Atom N270 Mobile Processor, the
PC 1000H boasts an impressive
battery life. Other additional
features include Bluetooth and
Draft-n Wireless support.

April ‘09 109 liveit.in

 Peek & Pick

HP Photosmart
D7268 Printer-
CC975D
Titled as a really cool and smart printer in all aspects, the HP
Photosmart D7268 Printer-CC975D is compatible with
Microsoft Windows XP Professional, XP Home edition, and
certified for Windows Vista. The printer has a unique 3.5
touchscreen that helps you to print laser-quality documents
and lab-quality photographs. Smart features, including
economical printing with six individual inks, super fast printing
and built-in Ethernet, makes it a perfect choice for both home
and corporate users. It encourages borderless printing up to
215 x 610 mm. It has a maximum input capacity of 30 labels,
10 envelopes and up to 50 sheets of standard A4 and A5 sizes
of papers. With so many features under one roof, it can
certainly be your best corporate gadget gift.

liveit.in 110 April ‘09

Nintendo DS Lite
Attention all gaming geeks out there! The Nintendo
DS franchise is back again with something new and
innovative. This time, it’s the DS Lite. It boasts a
3-inch transmissive TFT color LCD touch screen
with a 256 x 192 pixel resolution that displays
260,000 colours. You can enjoy all of your Nintendo
DS as well as Game Boy Advance games through its
dual port. It also features multiplayer games that can
be played using just one DS card. This portable
handheld gaming system features embedded
Pictochat software that allows more than 10 users to
chat within a local range. DS Lite’s stereo speakers
provide virtual surround sound that takes gaming
experience to a completely new level.

O2 Graphite
The O2 Graphite combines a variety of
applications in one single handset. You can make
voice and video calls, browse the web and access
e-mail, or just play music in your spare time. This
candybar styled Smartphone weighs just 105 grams
and is small enough to fit in your pocket or
handbag. It houses a 2 megapixel camera with a
built-in flash and a secondary VGA camera for
making video calls. Its Windows Mobile 5.0
platform boasts an additional Microsoft Security
and Messaging pack and the latest version of
MS Office. The Graphite also acts as a portable
multimedia handset with support for MP3, WAV
and WMA formats. Although some applications
run slower than most PDAs, the Graphite is a
perfect piece for your corporate needs. So, if you
are upgrading to a Smartphone for the first time,
the O2 Graphite will certainly make a good
transition piece.

April ‘09 111 liveit.in

 Peek & Pick

Olympus
Mju – 1030SW
The Olympus SW range of rugged, shockproof cameras
always gets a little smarter and tougher with each new
model. The 1030SW is a top-end 10-megapixel model
with awesome specifications and features. This digicam
can be truly termed ‘rugged’ as it can withstand any
damage even when dropped from a considerable height.
It can even make a scuba diver gape with awe and
surprise as the waterproofing is extended to 10 meter
deep. The Olympus Mju-1030SW has a wide-angle 28
mm lens for extreme outdoor conditions. Some of its
other features include face detection and shadow
adjustment technologies, which are worth an inclusion,
but a bit ineffective as compared to other cutting edge
cameras. With tough looks and a user-friendly menu
system, it is genuinely a robust camera for both amateurs
and expert photographers.

Tag Heuer
Formula 1 Watches
Named after formula one speedsters, the Tag
Heuer Formula 1 collection is an all-round
performer. This rugged Swiss watch boasts
an ‘Easy Grip’ system with a screw-in crown
and double seal. The black titanium carbide
coating protects it against scratches. The
SuperLuminova C3 GLS, a special
luminescent material, adorns the hands and
hour markers, assuring excellent readability.
The Tag Heuer Formula 1’s sapphire crystal
is three times harder than mineral glass and
is resistant to scratches. A 200-meter depth
rating ensures fumble-proof visibility on land
and sea. Its polished fixed bezel with 12-hour
scale for alarm function is one of the best
features. The stainless steel bracelet has a
double safety clasp with an extension system
to fit over a diving suit.

liveit.in 112 April ‘09

 Creative Zen
X-Fi 8GB

The Creative Zen X-Fi 8GB boasts all the features of a rich multimedia player including photo viewer, video
player and, of course, an impressive music player with MP3 and AAC support. With multiple equalizer settings,
WiFi capability and the innovative X-Fi sound enhancement technology, the Creative Zen X-Fi is built to satisfy
your listening pleasures. The upgraded EP-830 earphones assure top-notch sound output. This 8 GB music
monster can store up to 2000 MP3 files and up to 4,000 AAC files that can be played for up to 36 hours nonstop
playtime. It can play WMV9, MPEG4-SP3, MJPEG, DivX3 and XviD3 video formats with ease and assure up to
5 hours of video playtime. Additional features include a voice recorder and FM radio with 32 presets.

April ‘09 113 liveit.in

 Shopper’s Guide
The surf shop
News (pages 8-11)
Moser Baer MP3 Player
MP565-2G and MP582-2G
Buy online: www.moserbaer.com
Price: Rs. 1,490 and Rs. 1,190
Bebook Portable E-book Reader
Buy online: www.mybebook.com
Price: 280 USD
Live IT or Leave IT
(pages 18-21)
Micro Speaker Keychain
Buy online: www.firebox.com
Price: 09.95 Euro
UB Fun Keys
Buy online:
Price: 4.95 Euro
Rock Beat Drumsticks
Buy online: www.firebox.com
Price: 9.95 Euro
Beep Egg
Buy online: www.firebox.com
Price: 9.95 Euro
Solar Fairy Lights
Buy online: www.firebox.com
Price: 29.95 Euro
The Bevy
Buy online: www.firebox.com
Price: 9.95 Euro
Hanging Alarm Clock
Buy online: www.firebox.com
Price: 19.95 Euro
Coin Saving Jar
Buy online: www.firebox.com
Price: 12.95 Euro
liveit.in 114 April ‘09
Live IT provides you the following shopping guide which should
help to get you started on a fabulous online shopping spree. Call
it an easy finder or a quick search, the list compiles all the gadgets
and gizmos featured in this issue with appropriate links of the
best possible places for you to shop wisely and browse coolly!
Solar Lights Peek & Pick (pages 108-113)
Buy online: www.firebox.com Tag Heuer Formula 1 Watches
Price: 8.95 Euro Buy online:
https://www.amazon.com
Evolve Wireless Music System Price: 249.00 USD
Buy online: www.firebox.com
Price: 299.95 Euro Olympus Mju-1030SW
Buy online: www.paypal.com
Hot Choctail Maker Price: $269.99
Buy online: www.firebox.com
Price: 35.95 Euro O2 Graphite
Buy online:
Heart Squishtie http://eshop.webindia123.com
Price: Rs. 11,165
Buy online: www.firebox.com
Price: 9.95 Euro
Logitech Cordless Internet
Handset
Style IT (pages 45-53)
PSP Portable
Buy online:
www.gadgetsguru.com
Buy online: www.sony.co.in
Price: Rs. 6,995
Price: Rs. 9,490
iBall Take Note A414
PlayStation 3
Buy online:
Buy online: www.sony.co.in http://orders.ebay.in.
Price: Rs. 25,990 Price: Rs. 10,990
VIAO-P Laptop HP Photosmart D7268
Buy online: www.sony.co.in Printer-CC975D
Price: Rs. 64,990 Buy online:
http://www.gadgetsguru.com
AVCHD HDD - HDR-XR100E Price: Rs. 9,500
Buy online: www.sony.co.in
Price: Rs. 39,990 ASUS Eee PC 1000H Netbook
Buy online: http://cgi.ebay.in
Digital Camera DSC-T2/B Rs. 25,490
Buy online: www.sony.co.in
Price: Rs. 14,990 Creative Zen X-Fi 8GB
https://www.gadgets.in
Noise Cancellation Head Phone Price: Rs.11,099
MDRN-C7
Buy online: www.sony.co.in (Note: Prices may vary or discounts may
Price: Rs. 4,990 be available on some products.) I

How is nanotechnology
different from micro-
technology?
The automatic door locks in a car, a cell
phone, or a microwave oven – these are
all examples of gadgets made using
micro-technology, which means
miniaturized circuits that enable
technology to operate on a dramatically
smaller scale but work more efficiently.
Nanotechnology (technology at one-
billionth of a meter) is taking the
applications of science and technology at
the micro level even further. It proposes
to make devices even smaller than a
microchip. Nanotech scientists are
hopeful of a future with spy planes the
size of insects and biotech implants that
correct deficient genes.
Are nanoparticles safe?
As we commonly think of the term ‘safe’,
some nanoparticles are undoubtedly safe.
In each breath we take in a city, we
breathe in more than 1000000
nanoparticles without any apparent ill-
effect. The concept of safe nanoparticles
depends on the material itself (not all
nanoparticles have the same toxicity) and
the levels at which people or the
environment are exposed to it.
Which country leads in
nanotechnology?
In general, nanotechnology is quite
different from other major technological
innovations. Nowadays, around the
world, high quality precision work is
being witnessed. Countries with a
higher number of engineering
graduates, reduced R&D costs and less-
stringent environmental rules are
progressing ahead.
What will nanotechnology
bring us in the future?
More realistically, in a short-term period,
nanotechnology will lead to important
advancements in computing, medicine
and technologies to benefit the
environment and military science. For
example, medical scientists have
developed ways to direct drugs to
cancerous tumours in tiny ‘smart bombs’
Q&A
or deliver them through contact lenses. In
the future, tiny nano devices might
protect our arteries, fighting infections
and diagnosing diseases.
Can nanotechnology be used
in medical diagnosis? How?
Detection of cancer at an early stage is a
crucial step in cancer treatment.
Nanotechnology comes across as a
promising early detection tool for several
reasons. Presently, detection and
diagnosis of cancer depend on changes
in cells and tissues that are detected by a
doctor’s physical exam or imaging
procedure. Now, scientists want to make
it possible to detect cancer when the
earliest molecular changes are
happening, long before a physical exam
or imaging technology is done. To
successfully detect cancer at its earliest
stages, it must be detected when it
occurs only in a small percentage of
cells. This requires extremely sensitive
tools. The potential for nano structures
to enter and analyze single cells suggests
they could meet this need. Many
nanotechnology tools will make it
possible for clinicians to run tests
without physically altering the cells or
tissues they take from a patient.
What are the career options in
the field of nanotechnology?
Nanotechnology is a great career option
for young people. It is the technique of
miniaturization and is possible in every
field. It has a very large scope and is
expected to have more demand in
future. The application of
nanotechnology will open new avenues
of research in the world of science and
engineering, from medicine to fabrics.
Owing to this fact, this relatively new
field is fast emerging as a favourite and
will be one of the most significant
enabling technologies in the future. I
If you have any queries, write to us at:
editor.liveit@delhipress.in
or mail your queries to
Live IT,
E-3, Jhandewala Estate, New Delhi - 110055
April ‘09 115 liveit.in
 Glossary
THE
Geekspeak
ActionScript
A simple programming
language, like JavaScript, that
Flash designers and developers
can use to customize the
behaviour of a movie and
enhance it with interactive
modules.
....Concatenate
To join together or attach
one item to another. For
e.g., if you concatenate
someone’s first name with
their last name, the result
will be their full name.
Spider
Electronic information
gatherers that are
employed by search
engines to create an
index of the web.
Motion Tween
A process to create
animation in Flash. If an
image in one key frame is
moved to a different position on
the ‘Stage’ in a second
keyframe, a motion ‘tween’
can be applied to show
change in position of the
image gradually
between frames.
Animated
GIF
A moving version of the
Graphics Interchange Format
that is used widely on web pages.
Animated gifs can be built with
Breadcrumbs image editing programs such as
A form of website Photoshop by putting different
navigation that displays elements together on layers,
information to the user as tweening them together and then
exporting the graphic as an
to the depth that they
animated gif via Adobe
have navigated to ImageReady.
within a website or
section of it.
Layer Slash Syntax
An organizational tool in The forward slashes (/)
the Flash Timeline. Objects used to describe paths
Common placed on the ‘Stage’ in one to objects. It is
Gateway layer will appear in front of supported by Flash 3
Interface objects in a second layer. On and later.
From web design the Timeline, objects assigned to
point of view, it is a the layer names on top will
program that can
appear in front of objects placed
take data from a web
on successive layers.
server and perform an
action with it. An example
is redirecting a web form into
an e-mail that is delivered
to an Inbox. Event Handler
An action that determines
Dynamic what triggers another action.
Web Pages The on(release) event handler
Web documents that are will trigger a nested action
generated automatically when a button has been
usually using information from a clicked on and
database and utilizing server released.
or scripting technology like
PHP, ASP, .NET, etc.
Gradient Mirror Site
A gradual transition A duplicate of a web or FTP site
of colours often used
to create three- used to balance the load of a
dimensional effects on web very busy site. This is often used by
pages. In a radial gradient,
websites that provide free
the transition is centred
downloads due to the amount of
round a specific point. In
a linear gradient, the bandwidth that can be used
transition is along
at any one time.
a line.