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Google's Streetview hits a roadblock in Bengaluru

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For the uninitiated, Google (Google Earth) has a feature called the Streetview. The Google Streetview car roams around the streets, clicking pictures as it drives by. These pictures are then stitched together to give you a virtual walkthrough. It's an amazing application, but now seems to be creating a lot of controversy, raising privacy concerns. Citizens are demanding that their street, houses should not be photographed by the car. Pic source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217775/Google_Street_View_blocked_in_Bangalore The other issue is security. After 26/11 in Mumbai, there is generally a lot of concern over security issues. The Karnataka Government has refused to allow the Google Streetview car to photograph sections of Bengaluru. This is going to spark off a debate on technology, government, privacy concerns, freedom of speech, etc. Click here for an article that has appeared on the rediff.com com home page tonight. 

Microsoft puts Office 365 in the cloud, confronts Google

An interesting development. Click --->  Microsoft puts Office 365 in the cloud, confronts Google Recently Nokia chose Microsoft's Windows Mobile OS over Google's Android. Though I personally feel that they are a bit late, because Google is not going to sit idle till the new Windows powered Nokia phones come out (In 2012!). And now this development is going to generate a lot a heat. Let's enjoy the war, because whatever the outcome I am sure the consumers/users will benefit. Probably at a little extra cost, though.

Domain names - an interesting development

Till now we had to book domain names with generic Top Level Domain names. Which means we had to choose between .com, .net. .info, .in etc. Now the rules have changed at least for those who can afford it. Do read this article: http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_not-only-coms-as-internet-body-throws-open-domain-names_1557050

You don't need a high end camera to shoot a feature film...

A few months back, I took a decision to buy Kodak Zi8 cameras for my students. Many were apprehensive about these cameras when I revealed it to them during our study tour. I am sure some thought I had gone crazy. But these cameras are full high definition (1920X1080) with excellent picture quality and also took great stills (5.3 MP). Now that they have been used for projects, I suppose my students are happy. Though the lens of the camera is rather small, like that of a mobile phone and it's not so great in low light, in normal light, the results are fantastic. It also has an audio jack to attach an external microphone and facility to mount it on a standard tripod. Today I read an interesting article in the TOI. Here's the link: http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW Electronic Media students should understand that this is the technology of the future. Our Department is rea

INDIA JOINS THE TABLET WAR

Source: www.indiatimes.com (Pl. click on blog title for the original article) Indian government backed ambitious low-cost tablet project is finally set to take off.  And the tablet comes with fantastic specifications especially when you look at the price tag of just Rs.2200/-. It is a   7-inch touchscreen tablet with inbuilt keyboard, video conferencing facility, multimedia content, Wi-Fi, USB Port, 32GB hard drive and 2GB RAM. The tablet will support Open Office, SciLab and Internet browsing.  I have been waiting for Indian companies start competing with the international firms in the market for a long time now. If this tablet lives up to expectations, we could be having a price war, benefitting the consumer. So let's keep our fingers crossed and wish the very best for this tablet.

10 things that will annoy the hell out of your Web site visitors

Making websites is one thing, making them work is another and then keeping those visitors on your site is one more art. Now here's an article that tell us what annoys the visitors. Click on the text below: 10 things that will annoy the hell out of your Web site visitors

World's biggest Internet test on Wednesday

Here is an interesting article I just read on rediff.com: If on Wednesday you find it difficult to connect to websites, such as Facebook or Google, don't worry these sites, along with hundreds of others, will be running the world's biggest test to make the Internet a much bigger place. Currently, the online world runs Internet Protocol version 4, but with new addresses, or websites, being added every day, the system is running out of space to host these addresses, therefore Internet companies will carry out a test on Wednesday to check IPv6 compatibility. According to Arin (the American Registry for Internet Numbers), the number of IPv4 addresses will be exhausted before the end of 2011. Think of it this way: When a telephone company runs of out of digits, it adds one more number. The same rule applies to Internet. Read this article on rediff.com here: http://www.rediff.com/business/slide-show/slide-show-1-tech-worlds-biggest-internet-test-on-wednesday/20110607.htm

Mobile Journalism

Writing for mobile media is a trick every future journalist should learn. What we see today is that all journalistic content is still written for traditional media and is 'designed' in terms of layout and placement for the mobile media. By mobile media, I mean mobile phones, iPods, iPads, tablet PCs, etc. What is necessary is that not layout, but content itself has to be re-written for smaller spaces and lesser word limits. So how does one learn to write for these new media? I had gone to train media students in Tezpur University at the beginning of this month. One trick I suggested is as follows: Write your story as you would normally do so in about 300 to 500 words. Now edit it to about 200 words. Again edit it to about 100 words. Take care that you don't lose the context and the important facts in the story while re-editing it. Now consider this: Facebook allows  420 characters to share with your friends Twitter allows 140 characters Your SMS allows about 150

At last, an Indian vernacular language translation tool

This is what I have been waiting for. A tool, a software that can translate ( not transliterate ) English into Indian languages and vice-versa. Kudos to IIIT Hyderabad and the IITs who have collaborated, to have come up with such a tool - Indian Language Machine Translation System . Google, for example, offers to translate into English a webpage into several languages, once you get the search results. If you try this for Indian languages, all you normally get it gibberish.This is exactly what India needs to stay ahead in the global village. I recall that a few years back, an OCR tool for Hindi and other Indian languages was developed in Kolkata, if I am right. I hope that that software too is perfected, which will allow users to scan printed vernacular documents and convert them to editable text files. The Indian Language Machine Tranaslation System is an application, a software to be installed on a computer. You will just have to copy-paste the content from one language in one win

Media Economics

Recently, I came across a book on Media Economics. I was, and still am fascinated by the subject and have decided to include it in our curriculum. Though change in the syllabus will take some time, I have already started discussing the subject in the classroom. Most of the posts on this blog will deal with the subject of Media Economics for some time. Here are some facts and figures:   Media & Entertainment, 6th June 2009 Indian media and entertainment industry expected to clock a growth of about 19% by 2010 compared with a growth of 17% in year 2008. The turnover of India's Media and Entertainment sector expected to double to about $20 billion (Rs.100,000 crore) by 2011-12. Total turnover of the sector estimated at about $10 billion (Rs.50,000 crore) in 2008-09. The turnover (including both subscription and advertising revenue) of the television segment expected to reach at $10.4 billion (Rs.52,000 crore) in the next three years from the current level of about $4 billio

Crowd Power

What do YouTube, Twitter and Facebook have in common? Crowds. That applies to all blogs and all online social media websites. If these websites don't have crowds with them, they will have to be shut down. This is the age of crowdsourcing and crowd computing. For the time being let's not talk of TV channels, which are anyway facing problems in generating content. But the newly arriving 3G telephony is where we need to concentrate on. If 3G services are to be successful, all service providers will have to create or buy compelling content to keep their viewers hooked. The service providers cannot be content (pun intended) and dependent on revenues generated by users browsing the internet or making phone calls. It is video that will play the most important role and it will not be surprising if 3G service providers turn to the crowds to generate their content. The videos will have to be short, relevant and compelling, because longer videos will involve more data transfer and h

How effective are New Media campaigns?

Very briefly, the CNN Effect emphasizes on the effect of media on government policy decisions. There have been instances where wide coverage given by the media has partially had an effect on policy. However, the CNN Effect concept has generated a lot of debates and controversies. However, it needs to be seen how effective are the new media - blogs, Facebook, Twitter, etc. in having an impact on government policy. The Clinton - Lewinsky story was first broken in a blog and picked up by the media. However, the scaandal, if one may call it had little impact on Clinton's career. Back home, Shashi Tharoor's tweets led to his downfall, at least for the time being. The 'Pink Chaddi Campaign' was an equally sensationalist and radical campaign against a sensationalist and radical Muthalik. But what about real issues? What kind of issues are discussed on these new media and how many read them? Recently I got a lot of requests asking me to join the 'Save the Tiger' campa

IPL is live on YouTube! I really don't NEED the TV anymore!

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This was a comment I made on Buzz, Facebook and Twitter. And I stand by it. The future is here and we are still living in the past. For the past 3 months, because I wanted my son to concentrate on his studies for his 10th standard examinations, my TataSky set top box was bundled back into its carton and kept out of his reach. Some of my friends and colleagues thought I was being cruel and authoritarian, but I am sure all the fathers will agree, that sometimes one has to be. I only hope that his brain has not already got fuddled by the crap that is dished out on the idiot box. I am sure that he is sensible enough and will not restart his day long vigil in front of the television once his exams are over on Wednesday. Coming back to my statement, we are living in the past. No one can deny the power of television and its vivid, real-time imagery. The images evoke emotions, bring laughter and enjoyment to our households. They keep us engrossed for hours. But the power is quickly fadin

The Language of the Government

The Language of the Government In my earlier study I had emphasized the need for the importance of vernacular language in websites of political parties. In the study, it was clear that many political parties in India have not realized the importance of creating content in Indian languages for their websites. They are missing the convergence bus. Today, there are 48 million Internet users in India and the figures are rising every year. The literacy rate in India stands at about 66%. Out of this literate population, 83% of rural literates are not conversent with English. If we are talking of growing literacy along with growing Internet users, it can be argued that the number of Internet users who do not understand English will keep on growing. This new literate internet users will understand and like to read/browse through online content in their own language. This was my premise for conducting another study, this time of the websites of State Governments in India. As in the previous

Indian Political Parties Miss the Convergence Bus

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So the election results are out and the Congress and its allies have won. Hearty congratulations to the UPA. While everyone was busy discussing the possible outcome of the elections, I conducted a research on the political parties' websites. Now why would I do that? I am sure most of you (possible net addicts like me) will agree that you just can not ignore the Internet users anymore. A recent article pegged 4 crores as the population of Internet users in India. How can a political party ignore this population of net-savvy individuals who. like me, go to the net for info?  Agreed that having a website, and a good one at that, may not affect the outcome of the election result, but again, it just may. Otherwise, why did Shri. L. K. Advani have such a comprehensive site and why was it promoted so aggressively? Arguing that BJP lost, why did Shri. Milind Deora, Ms. Priya Dutt and Shri. Sanjay Nirupam have their well made websites too? There are many other good individual websites on th

Is convergence killing journalism as we know it?

The word convergence originates from mathematics and science. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines convergence as the merging of distinct technologies, industries, or devices into a unified whole. The concept of convergence was first popularised by Ithiel de Sola Pool in his landmark 1983 book, "The Technologies of Freedom,". Pool described what he called "the convergence of modes:" "The explanation for the current convergence between historically separated modes of communication lies in the ability of digital electronics. Conversation, theater, news and text are all increasingly delivered electronically ... [E]lectronic technology is bringing all modes of communications into one grand system." The two most important convergent technologies today are the computer and the mobile phones. With increased processor speeds and larger storage spaces, the computer has become the most powerful technologically convergent gadget. Text, voice, pictures, video, fax a

The Multi-tasking Professional

Only the fittest will survive. So said Charles Darwin. And how true it is in today's world! With the world going digital, it is important for every professional to learn multiple skills and be able to produce content for multiple media, be it for the print, television, radio, computers or mobile phones. If you work in a corporate house, you should be able to put together a good presentation and also be able to work on a spread sheet. If you are in advertising, you need to understand Photoshop, CorelDraw and Powerpoint to present your work to your clients. As a journalist, you should be able to produce content for all the media. In short, one has to be a multi-skilled individual to survive. I have been fortunate to have worked with all the media in one capacity or the other. I got introduced to computers in 1991 and immediately got addicted to them. The past 18 years has been an exciting roller-coaster ride for me and my computer(with several upgrades) and I do call myself a multi-t

Electronic Media

In 1947, the first transistor was invented by William Shockley and in 1958, Jack Kilby invented the first IC or Integrated Circuit. These are arguably two of the greatest inventions of the twentieth century. These two inventions kickstarted the electronic industry and the result is for all to see. Today there is electronics in almost every facet of our life. From the time you are woken up by the electronic beep of your alarm clock to the time you crash out in the bed with the remote in your hand, electronics rules your life.  In his book 'The Medium is the Massage', Marchall McLuhan argues that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived. Meaning the medium itself becomes the message. He also writes about how modern media are extensions of human senses. It is very important that a student of electronic media should learn the medium itself as well as the message that can be broad