December 5, 2012

India has no national game


In my earlier post, I wrote about national language of India. Today, I am writing about national game of India. In India, cricket is like a religion but hockey was considered as a national game. I am saying “considered” because hockey is NOT a national game of India. This is quite surprising; rather I say shocking because everybody learned in the school textbook that hockey is national game of India. Thanks to RTI (Right to Information) act and the girl who filed an RTI query.

VIIth class student, Aishwarya Parashar filed an RTI query requesting information on national anthem, symbol, game, bird, animal and flower. In the reply of this query, ministry of youth affairs and sports cleared that India has NO national game; this means hockey is not our national game.


Our school textbook claims that hockey is our national game. Such spreading of erroneous knowledge through the textbooks reminds me the funny sentence written on the T-shirt – “I was born intelligent but education ruined me”.


November 26, 2012

TV + Smart Box = Smart TV



When I was teenager, video game was the buzz word. I was very curious about video games and that is not because of game but my curiosity was about connecting the video games devices to television (TV). Attaching different kinds of devices added new dimension to TV, and that can be used for other purposes rather only watching TV programs. Over the past few years, TV technology hasn’t upgraded much, but now TV becomes a multi-faceted device named as Smart TV.

As we are in touch with the terms like smart card, smart phone, smart money, but what does smart means? Oxford dictionary says smart means neat, stylish, fashionable, clever or ingenious. I think all these terminologies defines smart TV because it is a television set with integrated network and web connectivity facilities to connect to the internet.

The operating system and inbuilt network connectivity facilities present in Smart TV that allows us to connect to the internet, also it allows us to install and run applications as like smart phone. The smart TV is not only a TV set, but also it integrates set-top box, LAN port, blu-ray player, game console, etc devices. These devices allow user to play games, to surf on Web, to communicate with people, to search and view movies, audios, videos, photos on the Web, cable TV channel, or storage device.

The companies like Samsung, Sony, LG, Lenovo, etc are selling smart TV, but they charge much. If you have already bought a TV which doesn’t have smart capabilities, even though don’t worry. Any type of TV (CRT or LCD or LED) can be converted into smart TV, you just need a smart box. Smart box or smart TV box is a small device which adds smart label (capabilities) to regular TV.
I think, smart box is a complete package like a computer. It has a processor, operating system, set-top box, internal storage, wireless mouse and keyboard, WiFi router, LAN port, USB ports, card reader, motion sensor remote control, and HDMI audio-video ports. Then why do we need a Netbook? The smart box currently available in the market provides an Android OS which allows us to access the wide range of apps through Google Play.

The companies like Akai, Amkette, Portronics, Kickstarter and Equiso are selling smart box in the market. Akai smart box cost Rs. 6590, Amkette’s EvoTV box cost around Rs. 10,000 and Portronics Limebox cosy Rs. 8500. 

So, enjoy the new dimension in the arena of television.

October 10, 2012

Future of Computing



Can you imagine your desktop or laptop without Hard disk? In current situation, absolutely not! But in near future, we will to say bye-bye to our hard disk. 

No doubt, hard disk plays crucial role as a secondary storage medium but technology is growing very fast. When I started my computer science study in 2000, I started with 10 GB hard disk. Now-a-days, it is in TBs. By technology advancement, not only storage capacity increased but also dimensions are decreased. 2X1 cm data (memory) card can store no of GB data.

In 21st century, human’s life is very fast, we need instant things like instant coffee, instant food, instant money, etc. Human’s life become very easy with the use of ICT, but for that we need instance access to personal data and applications. If you don’t have access to your data, i.e. you don’t have your desktop PC or notebook with you then you are wedged to this situation. To thrash such situation, you have to keep your all data and applications in your pocket which is not good and feasible solution or you can keep your data and applications at some remote location and which can be accessed through internet. Currently, similar concept is implemented as thin client in our client/server model. In thin client, there is no hard disk attached to PC, all data will be stored in and accessed from central hard disk, i.e. server’s hard disk. This architecture saves not only the cost but also electrical energy.

World is shifting towards cloud computing. The cloud computing is a technology which allows you to store your data and applications over internet in a protected form. You can store everything like Softwares, Movies, Music, and Documents in the cloud (storage center). Now-a-days, cloud computing is not a regular practice, large organizations are using it, but in near future it will be a common practice. Currently, companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon are providing the cloud computing on commercial as well as free basis (Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive)

In June 2011, Google has launched its next generation laptop named as Chromebook. The Chromebook will not have its own Hard Disk (only minimal space for secondary storage); all data will be stored in the Google’s cloud. This is the step towards using the cloud computing at personal level. Recently, IITs have launched world’s cheapest Tablet PC named as Aakash II. Tablet PC has very less internal and external storage so they will also alternatively use cloud computing technology. Cloud computing requires a Web connection to access the contents of cloud. In the country like India where we are struggling for a getting Web connection, that’s why it will take time to widespread use of cloud computing.

Nanotechnology will play crucial role in storage technology of computing. Currently magnetic technology will be replaced by nano-chips to store a large amount of data. In nano-chips, we can store ample amount of data with a very low cost.

DNA computing is a form of computing which uses DNA, biochemistry and molecular biology, instead of the traditional silicon-based computer technologies. DNA computing, or, more generally, biomolecular computing, is a fast developing interdisciplinary area. DNA has capabilities to transfer the data faster than electrons to have effective communication in computer system. These computers will be eco-friendly computers. The research and development in this area concerns theory, experiments and applications of DNA computing.

In future, we may have chemical based computer. Chemical computer also called reaction-diffusion computer, BZ computer (stands for Belousov–Zhabotinsky computer) or gooware computer. These computers will be based on a semi-solid chemical "soup" where data is represented by varying concentrations of chemicals. The computations are performed by naturally occurring chemical reactions. So far it is still in a very early experimental stage, but may have great potential for the computer industry.

Ultrabook is the slimmest version of laptop. These laptops are the very expensive in cost but they are very versatile, you can easily make them move. This kind of laptop will be popular in business but I think this will not good buy for common people.

Tablet PC (or simply tablet) is a small (not smallest) size handheld PC. By dimension, it lies between smart phone and Netbook. Tablet PC comes in 7” or 10” sizes. Tablet PC’s touch screen, GPS and motion sensor are the very attractive features to users. People loves touch experience (which is lacking in laptop and desktops). No doubt, tablet PC will be popular because of their low cost, but doubt about the usability of tablet PC. For miniature work or entertainment, it’s fine to use Tablet PC but if you want to work hard (say for 5 hours) then surely tablet PC will not good deal. Second thing that I experienced that you are getting that working feel like laptop because apps are in compact version. You have to rely on laptop or Netbook.

Netbook is a small size laptop which is low configured small screen laptop. Netbook is internet ready machine to easily access the Web. It has very less internal storage memory so we can keep our documents in cloud.

This is a snapshot of future computing but science also experienced magic which is called Eureka, so you can also expect some Eureka in computing also.



September 15, 2012

Which is the national language of India?

Most favorable answer would be Hindi, but this is not right. Actually, India has NO national language. India has national flower (Lotus), national animal (tiger), national bird (Peacock), but in Indian constitution, there is no provision of having national language, so, there is no national language for India by law.

Article 343 (1) talks about official languages of India. According to article 343 (1), Hindi and English are official languages of India.

Suresh Kachhadia has filed PIL about national language of India. Gujarat High Court has clarified that, Hindi is not the national language of India.



September 11, 2012

Different ways to shutdown Windows XP



Þ     Start Shut Down (Turn Off Computer) Shut Down
Þ     Start u u
Þ     Alt + F4 (on Desktop)u
Þ     Ctrl + Esc uu
Þ     Window Button u u
Þ     Make a shortcut on Desktop and type shutdown -s -t 00 in the area where you are asked to specify the location of the program file. Now you can just double click this icon to turn off the computer.
Þ     Start Run Type “shutdown –s”
Þ     When working with any window, click on task bar by keeping window as it is Alt + Spacebar c u
Þ     There is one more way to shutdown through task manager but not all task manager have ‘shutdown down’ option.



August 30, 2012

Can’t establish a reliable data connection to the server



I am using android based Samsung’s Galaxy Pop CDMA (SCH-I559) cell phone. I was eager to connect to internet to access the Web on my cell phone. But, whenever I was accessing the web based apps (Play store, gmail, etc) on my cell phone, it asked for a Gmail credentials. I gave my Gmail credentials but it gave the error message “Can’t establish a reliable data connection to the server”

 













On Web, I searched about this problem. Results show the only solution is that “you need to reset the phone”. The problem with resetting the phone is that, you lose all the data. I found the solution in that you will not lose the data.

Firstly, I want to tell you, why phone displays such error when you tried to use apps. When you start your android phone first time then you need to configure the account with Gmail address. If you ignore that configuration then you will get the above message when you access the apps.

Note: I think, this trick may work on all android phone

To rectify the problem, you just access Youtube app from your android phone (But you need your Google credential attached to Youtube.com account. For that, on computer you login on Gmail and then on another tab open Youtube.com. You need to signin with Google credentials). Now go to Youtube App and login with Google credentials.

After you have signed in via the Youtube app, exit the Youtube app (without closing the app; by pressing the Home button) and go to the main Android Settings menu. Then go to Accounts and sync. In Accounts and sync, you will see email id that you used to login in Youtube app; tap on that account. After the account has been brought up, check the checkbox for Sync Contacts or Sync Gmail, this will synchronies Google account.

 














Now, you can tap on Gmail or Play store app, it will automatically login in that app with Your Google account details.

It is very important to configure Google account, as per my experience. I have applied visible pattern to my cell phone. My little cousin drawn tried a lot wrong pattern and the visible pattern was trapped. I thought, I should have to update the phone’s firmware and I will lose my all data. There is one option, “Forgot pattern?”, but it ask Google credential but I thought it will not work because there is no data plan was activated on phone. But I entered the Google credentials and that was accepted and I got my phone’s desktop.


(Images are copied from Web just for explanation)



July 25, 2012

What does CE, FCC actually means?



When I was studying my graduation course, I bought a scientific calculator. There are some logos (CE, FCC) behind the calculator. One of my friends told me that CE means “China Electronics”, but my friend was wrong. Actually, meaning of that logos are very different.

Every country has some standards to trade a product in that country. If any company wants to sell a product in the market, then that product must follow that country’s product standards. If product follows the standard then that product can be traded in the country. European Union Countries follows CE (European Community), United States follows FCC (Federal Communications Commission), and China follows CCC (China Compulsory Certification).


April 11, 2012

Water Management – Today’s need for sustainable development


The basic needs of human being is food, apparel, and shelter. Even though these are the basic needs but human being cannot sustain/survive without water. Water is a small and very simple word (Pani – jal – neer) but it covers whole Earth. In science, water is known as H2O, which is made up of 2 atoms of Hydrogen and 1 atom Oxygen but scientist cannot generate water molecule in laboratory till date. This means, for water, we have to be dependent  on natural sources. If we exploit the water as we are exploiting it today then one day the natural sources of water will be exhausted.

An importance of water is well-explained in our mythology. Water is mentioned numerous times in the Bible, for example: "The earth was formed out of water and by water" (NIV). In the Qur'an, it is stated that "Living things are made of water" and also it is often used to describe Paradise. In Sanskrit, the water word is synonymical for jivan (life). Also, in economics terminology water is phrased as Blue Gold.

 71% of the Earth's surface is covered by water.  Oceans hold 97% of surface water which is saline water, and only 3% is fresh water. Out of 3% of fresher water, 2.4 % is in the form of glaciers and polar ice caps, and other land surface water such as rivers, lakes and ponds is only 0.6%. This means, we only have 0.6% of total present water on the Earth.

India has 17% population compared to world. We have only 4% water and 2.5% land availability as compared to whole world. In Indian context, population-water-land ratio is very contradictory. Indian economy is developing stage, and water is very important indicator for growth of country.

United Nations declared that safe and clean drinking water is a human right. But according to UN’s WHO/UNICEF, 2005: 40 report, one of sixth people in world does not get safe drinking water to drink. United Nation’s report (2006) states that “there is enough water for everyone”, but the access (availability) of the water is hampered by mismanagement and corruption problems.

I want to point out one example of improper management and one proper management of water. Cherrapunji is known as wettest place in India which receives 11,777 mm rainfall, even though Cherrapunji is facing water scarcity problems. In contrast to that some places of Rajasthan state is getting low rainfall but the people learned the proper management techniques of water conservation and they are enjoying enough water for their use


80% of total water is consumed by agriculture sector and remaining 20% of water is used for drinking, industry, and etc. But agriculture sector contributes only about 23% to our GDP. This points out that, there is mismanagement in utilization of water in agriculture sector. Green revolution increased productivity but what about sustainable development? Will there be water to feed crops? As a largest stakeholders in water consumption, farmers of India can play crucial role in water management. By adopting advanced techniques for irrigation like drip irrigation, sprinkler irrigation, farm ponding, and etc.


Now-a-days monsoon is very irregular. Due to irregularity of monsoon, there are sometime lots of water but sometimes there is no water. But what about the areas who receive average rainfall? We get rain water in 4 months and we need to use that water for whole year. But are we storing/managing that water properly? No, we don’t. That’s why this water flows away and meets this fresh water to some sea (saline water).Due to global warming, polar glaciers are melting and increasing the sea water level. If we properly conserved rainwater in the earth which is flowing to the sea, then we can postpone the sea flooding effect(climate change).

I really appreciate the steps taken by the Indian government in the form of watershed management, river linking and irrigation projects. In 12th plan, the planning commission will have major focus on water management. Also, government is funding lots of money to NGO’s, to research and implement watershed management projects. 

When I was child, government started National Literacy Mission to literate Indian citizens. After that government started e-literacy (cyber-literacy), now time comes government should start mega-mission of water literacy (Jal Saksharata). Under this mission, government should aware people about proper water utilization and management.

In 2009, I attended Jal sahitya sambelan where I came across a buzz word (Jal Sakshar) that is very much important for sustainable development of the nation. Today, at least 5/6th of world’s population is getting safe drinking water but what about next generation? Will they get safe or unsafe water?

Like farmers, women can play critical role in proper management of water. I want to focus 2 main things for women. First, women have whole day relation with water. All women use water for every day’s household activates. If they critically understood the need of water management then they can save plenty of water by reducing the use of water and reusing it. And second, according to me, woman plays key role in teaching moral values to her children than man. Once I read an article in Lokmant’s Manthan supplement, that article is based on real story of woman from Nasik and her child (who was 8th std. student). In that article, she said that, her child is average in education, but one day, when she was washing the dishes, he came and asked why are you wasting so much of water? She was wedged. By that incidence, that woman understands what wrong she was doing. Also she gave his 2-3 examples of recycling and littering. She feels proud for her child and she ends her article by saying “my child is not good at education but my child will become good citizen of our country”. In this example child taught her mother but if every woman is able to give such moral values to her children then at least next generation will not exploit such natural resources and use it critically.

American secret agency has given treat warning of war for water in next 10 years. I think that is why, visionary American president John F Kennedy said that the one who will solve the problem of water, that person should get 2 Nobel prizes – one is for science and other is for peace. Also in 1995 the World Bank Vice President Ismail Serageldin quoted the prediction for the new millennium: “If the wars of this century were fought for oil, the wars of the next century will be fought over water”.

NOTE: The World Bank predicts that by 2025 about two-thirds of the world’s population will suffer from scarcity of clean and safe water even for drinking purposes.


March 17, 2012

Vulnerability of Information Technology

Information Technology (IT) is playing great role in Web and internet development. Information Technology works beyond the borders of countries and cultures that is why; it made the world as a global village. With Web 2.0 and 3.0, we can share information but usually people share the things without authenticating. Such sharing indirectly spreads wrong knowledge to people. So such vulnerability in Information Technology is very dangerous for the community.
Here I am mentioning few examples of Information Technology vulnerability:

There is email forwards flooding around which claims that UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has chosen the Indian National Anthem (Jana Gana Mana) as the best national anthem in the world. I confirmed this from various sources, like website of UNESCO and various news channel's website that, no such declaration made by UNESCO or any other organisation.

On Facebook, I came across two photographs of Gandhiji. In first photograph, Nathuram Godase is standing in front of Gandhiji before assassination and in second photograph, Gandhiji is dancing with a white lady. Both photographs looks like a genuine but thanks to Satrajit Choudhury who cleared that both photographs are not original. The detail explanatory analysis is given on Satrajit's post.
On social networking sites, most of people shares picture of small boy/girl mentioning that, this child has cancer and if you share this photograph then Facebook/Orkut are agreed to pay $1 to his parents for further treatment. Such claims are fake claims; no one pays for such sharing on social sites.
I am fed of emails saying that, this email came from ..... God, send this email to 10 people, if you ignore this email, you will get bad news, and if you send this email to 10 people then you will get good news. How can people believe such emails and keep sending to others?

Also, I got the email-picture stating that, Wikileaks released names of Indian people whose black money is in Swiss bank. I confirmed from Wikileaks's twitter page that, Wikileaks haven't published any such list.

There are many more examples of hoax news and fake photographs on Web like five headed snake, three headed snake, fake photograph of Osama Bin Laden, etc etc....

I came across three websites to confirm the news is fake or not.

You can search the news on Hoax-slayer.com and Urbanlegends.about.com to test the news is hoax or not. These websites analyse the news and publishes its detailed report regarding it. You can subscribe the email newsletters of the website in free of cost.

Also, you can visit the Discovery Channel's mythbusters section at http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/mythbusters/ to find out the results of myths. Here you can see the myth buster videos.

As we are becoming more and more digital, people are violating more and more copyright rules. Plagiarism is one of the big problem. People don’t understand the difference between copying and sharing. They thinks that everything on Web is free or freely distributable. That is why; I support SOPA and PIPA bills of US government.

No doubt, Information Technology has number of merits but we cannot and should not ignore "some" vulnerable things. Keep sharing with naked eyes.


January 30, 2012

Review of Aadhaar Card (UID) form: Bugs of Aadhaar card forms

When I brought an enrolment form to get Aadhaar card for me, I found some silly mistakes in Aadhaar card’s enrolment form, which I would like to share with you.
1.     To fill the address details there is an option to enter your village/town/city and district place, but there is no such provision to enter your Taluka (or tehsil). For giving the complete address details, Taluka is equally important
2.     This is the first form which I have ever seen without the signature of the applicant
3.      In this form, part ‘B’ is entitled as “Relation Details” and in Marathi it is entitled as “नातेवाईकांची माहीती”. In Marathi it is ok but in English it should be “Relationship Details”
4.     Part ‘B’ is entitled as à¤¨ातेवाईकांची माहीतीwhich is plural but there is only one column to fill the details of relationship
5.     Part ‘B’ is to be filled compulsory for children below age 5. To fill the relationship details of the child, options are given mother/father/wife/husband/guardian. If the child the below the age 5, how can the option husband/wife legally applicable to him or her?
6.     In part C, after Phone No./Mobile No., option is given to fill Email it is incorrect. Email means Electronic Mail, it should be Email ID.

There is one additional form with this form named as “Additional Information for Maharashtra Government”. This form is in Marathi language only which has number of uncountable mistakes. Here, I am mentioning few of them. In section 17, if boy/girl is “बालकामगार” this means the child is part time worker or full time worker. If the child is working part time or full time then how can that child go to school as a full time?  Section 19 takes educational details…………..

How can be this project become successful if the initial step towards the project is with so many mistakes? So, I request you to take all the above points into consideration and take some serious action at the earliest.


I sent this email to Prime minister, Nandan Nilkeni, Oposition leader of Lok sabha and Rajya sabha, CM of Maharashtra.....But no one has given attention to this issue.



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