Data portability on social networks : Bain or Boon ?

Last week's Trend Candy (Trendhunter’s weekly newsletter) got me a catchy piece of news in their Hot trends section. The head line went like “Celebrity MySpace Hacking - Paris Hilton & Lindsay Lohan's Private Pics (GALLERY)”. After being a spectator to most of their private videos, the ‘private pics’ dint lure me as much as the phrase ‘data interoperability’ which was featured as a teaser for the aforementioned trend.
I decided to Google the phrase ‘data portability” and came up with the observations:

• Dataportability.org is a work group, on the lines of ‘Open id’, that works on the philosophy of promoting the capability of controlling, sharing and moving data from one system to another thereby enabling the user to control, move and share all his personal identities and data.

• If enabled across a variety of social networks, it will allow the user to control all his accounts across these networks in a central manner. For example if you wish to change your email id from abc@xyz.com to def@pqr.com , then using data portability , you wont have to undergo the pain of changing this across every other social networking website.
Furthermore, the myriad web apps that drive users crazy can also interoperate the user’s data across various networking websites. So you can buy your friend a beer or buy him for $x at social networking site A and sell him for $y on website B. All thanks to data interoperability.

• Even though data portability lets a user access all his friends and media across all the websites and widgets, there is a possible downside to it. Different websites and web apps govern the users with their own terms of service (TOS). So In case if a user wishes to interoperate from a popular social networking site to a lesser known website then there is a fair chance of TOS conflict and in the process the user may lose his rights over his own data, very aptly phrased by Nitin Borwankar at Gigaom as

“The real problem — and the elephant in the room – is not whether web app vendors “allow” me to take my data and go play elsewhere, but whether they “play fair” with my data when it’s in the web app.”

• Going ahead on the TOS conflict, in case a user wished to delete his account from website x, he would do that in a simple manner, but website X might have already provided his email and other identity details to all the networks in the DP workgroup. Which means, there exists a possibility that the user wont be allowed to delete his account from website Y, that already posses the ID details of the user thanks to data interoperability. The argument can be furthered to a point where certain websites allow users to make different friends group thereby restricting certain friends from personal data like say ‘birthday’ or 'relationship status', while other websites in the network might not respect the same set of restrictions thereby ensuring that the users privacy is not guaranteed.

Some social networks who have already adopted data portability
|Myspace.com |Yahoo.com |Twitter.com |Ebay.com|
*courtesy Techcrunch

With all these pros and cons, it seems data portability is definitely a novel initiative trying to sort out the mess for web2.0 users; but for it to implement, a heavy collaboration amongst various social networking websites is expected else the user would eventually land up into a bigger pothole trying to save him self from a puddle of mud.Till then, I'd recommend that you read all the TOS and stop the old habit of blindly clicking on "I accept the TOS" for the sake of safeguarding your own sovereignty in Web2.0.
These are my views from a little bit of browsing across the web, I'd like to know your comments to reach a more stable conclusion.


* picture courtesy :dataporatbility.org

Rechargable AA size USB batteries

Tired of buying the conventional Li-ion AA batteries that have to be either thrown out or plugged into an additional charging unit for hours to get back their power?
If you said yes, then maybe Moxia has an answer to your worries. The USB cell ,launched in Sept,2006 ,is just like any other AA batery just that when it gets discharged, all you have to do is remove the its cap and plug it into a USB port on your computer to charge.

Sweet ans simple, right?
Theres more to it:

• Doesn't have to be thrown like the alkaline batteries creating a toxic waste.
  
  
• No need to carry a charger, plug it into your computer,gamestation, TV or anything that has a USB port.
  
  
• The rechargeable AA NiMH Battery gives 1.2v ,1300mah output.
  
  
• The price is slightly on the higher side at INR 600.00 for a two AA cell pack (I bet fake models from China would already be available, so be careful)
  
  
• Also in the pipeline are other forms of batteries like phone batteries (see adjascent pic) the 9V battery(pic below) and the AAA batery.
  
  
  

These batteries are developed by Moxia Energy, a UK based company that specializes in renewable energy power resources and related innovative design and engineering solutions. Their idea is to help the human to cut off from the electricity grid for petty issues like lighting, fans, charging etc. !!

With their cutting edge technology focusing on the need of the hour (especially because of the constant decay in the conventional energy resources the world over) they would definitely inspire many a young engineers to focus on this international reality.


Postroll: http://www.moixaenergy.com | http://www.usbcell.com

Microsoft Imagine Cup winners are Novices at Work

Paras Doshi, Veenit Mavani, Saili Dharia,Krunal Dedhia and Bhavik Vora from Vivekananda Education Society's Institute of Technology(VESIT) called themselves 'Novices at Work' when they unveiled their masterpiece 'Kalpavriksha' at Microsoft Imagine Cup 2008,Bangalore.

As their fate had it, the underdogs emerged triumphant at the software development contest of the Micrsoft Imagine Cup India finals and are all geared up to head to Paris this July for the World finale of the same Contest. We get up close with them and get it right from the geek's mouth.

• How does it feel, after winning IC India, in the Software design Competition?

VM: It feels great especially since we had been there last year and we knew we could pull it off this time. We felt we were a bit under prepared last time, however we did our homework this time and made sure we dint leave any stone unturned.

SD: It feels like im almost on the top of the world;Ill be there when we get to france!! But,seriously, its an amazing feeling and i sincerely wish we cross a milestone in france too.

PD: From the moment our team’s name was announced by Mr. Ravi Venkatesan (Chairman MSFT India) till today, I have been reminding myself that this is not a dream.

• What got u guys geared up for IC?

VM: This year’s theme environment seemed extremely challenging and it seemed our only way to payback to mother nature for all the atrocities that we do/commit and besides it was more about finishing the job we that we left half way last year.

PD: VESIT’s R&D lab has been working on development of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) for the past two year. For creating sustainable environment, constant monitoring of climatic parameters is imperative. Here’s where WSNs play an important role. So basically we were geared up for the theme even before it was announced.

• What made u team up together? Elaborate each individuals exclusivity

PD: To win IC one needs a team with great variety in talents. Ours is one such team. We call SD as PR GURU. She is amazing at handling corporate level presentations. By the way she’s already placed in Microsoft(MSFT). KD has a knack of working with MSFT technologies. VM is great at CS intricacies and coding. I have been working on integration of WSNs with .NET technology for quite sometime.

SD: Well, we all have our traits but work perfectly as a team. Krunal's extremely resourceful and knowledgeable, Paras is hell bent on finishing something once its begun, Veenit can get things done faster than you can blink..So, All of us coming together for IC was just a equation that fit perfectly.

• Tell us something about your project and how is it in line with the MS sentiment of exploring your own creativity by creating software design solutions that enable a sustainable environment.
  
  PD: Our project ‘Kalpavriksha’ is a decision support system for precision agriculture. It breaks the conventional approach of considering farm lands as homogeneous. Instead we divide the whole land into smaller site to perform site specific crop management. We employ WSN to monitor the in-field variability of the soil and climatic parameters. Based on the collected sensor data, our application tries to optimize the utilization of agro-resources. Our main aim is to make sure that each site produces maximum yield. Agriculture has faced a major setback because of low yield and Kalpavriksha tries to solve it. This is how our solution adheres to IC’s theme.
  
  
  
  
  
• What was it like to present in front of stalwarts from GE, IIMa, NASSCOm etc ? What was your strategy?
  VM: Its an honor to present in front of eminent personalities however the experience was worth taking the effort. Their thought process was way superior, as they delved into the intricacies of the system as if devouring each part of it and then cross questioning to test the knowledge of the presenter.
  
  SD: Well, its was intimidating to present in front of such knowledgeable people but they were perfect listeners and caught on to every word that was said. Their questions were also engineered with an outlook that was different from most people.
  
• Did you guys get a pat on the back from any venture capitalist? What are the future prospects of this project?

VM: We did get encouragement via the panelists on stage. However R. K Misra showed keen interest in out project. He has an ongoing project called ‘change India’ and feels that out project fits in line with it. We will be contacting him soon. Moreover we also will be getting training from IIMA’s Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship regarding A-Z of incubation of projects and entrepreneurship. We are eagerly looking forward to it although it clashes with our Univ exams, we are ready to take on the challenge and make the most of the opportunity provided to us by Microsoft.

PD: Mr. Misra was really interested in our project. His speech inspires us to complete this project from a prototype to a complete system.

· Gyaan for the kids: ?who can goto IC

BV: Imagine cup is for those who can think creatively. Also it not only inspires u but also helps you to realise your potential by bringing the best out of you. Imagine cup is where talent meets innovation. IC is all around a theme that is a real problem. Its not a theme actually (but a real world problem).

SD: Imagine cup is all about the right mix of passion and dedication. You think your innovation can be implemented, then get out there and show everybody. Its all about making this world a better place using your innovative thoughts. So, your imagination->your implementation

KD: Imagine cup is, as(the) name suggest more of imagination and innovation. You need to take a step further to think above all (the) solutions available and proceed. It can be perceived as finding out new (a) solution or looking (at an) old solution in a new way and bettering it.

VM: Anybody who has passion for technology and thinks he has got in him what it takes to compete with the most innovative minds in the world can take part in the competition. All one needs is, to come up with a wacky idea in congruence with the theme and then build on it using Microsoft technologies.

· How was it to have a fellow batchmate(Bhavik Vora) to mentor the team?

SD: Bhavik's been a constant supporter and helped us out of many rough areas. He's really creative and has always been more confident about our team than we could ever be.

VM: Although quite a few people think that mentor should be some one older , however we feel a ,mentor is someone who can lead us and guide us. Bhavik did exactly that. He always kept on adding bits and pieces to our project idea trying to make it complete on all fronts. Moreover another advantage one has with a mentor of the same age is that there is zero communication barrier and hence easy flow of ideas and guidance.

KD: A mentor is friend at first place and Bhavik was really (the) one we needed. He has knowledge , brains (and he) knew us through .We couldn’t have expected more or given out more without him.

· Bhavik, tell us about your last years stint at IC that eventually got you placed at Microsoft.

BV: Well, the (top) ten teams were going be interviewed for the intership. I got through the tele-interview and had done an internship of 6 weeks. Well after that it was a cakewalk. The interview for recruitment was a formality.

Elecrama '08: the industrial electronics hub

1. Its not the best thing to do when you decide to visit Elecrama on the last day, not only do u gasp at its humongous outreach as a first timer but you are also left asking for more.

Ive been postponing my visit to this international industrial electronics exhibition ever since my first year in Electronics engineering, but now in the final year , the guilt was to high to ignore, so i made a business class visit with my uncle.
Elecrama '08 in its eight year had over 1000 exhibitors in addition to select student projects spread across the entire areas of the Bombay Exhibhition Center. That just explains why people ain't done in a day(no pun intended).The event was held for four days and manifested a smooth and delightful visit for the guests.

VESIT has been consistently winning the trophy in the students category, and this year too they bagged the first and third prizes from among the five projects they submitted.The winners had designed an excellent solution for industrial power distribution by making it completely wireless(thats like wi-fi switch controls for machines from a central room). The runners up were from K.J Somaiya's Baraccuda team (the F1 car they recently produced), but the project was to lame for the second place. Why would you replace a remote by a wheel-paddle setup to drive a toy car with a camera? Well engineers don't take Economics too seriously, so real estate is literally a bubble.The 2nd runners up again from VESIT, had presented a prototype of an uber cool wireless telemetry system named 'Scryer'(see pic). Apart from technical excellence, the VESIT exhibitors manifested professionalism in their attire, presentation ; they even had brochures stocked to distribute akin to the industrial exhibitors, that made my uncle ask what exactly was I doing in this engineering college,just to get back a smirk.

All said and done, this place is certainly worth a visit if you looking for some kind of a solution for your business or just wish to keep yourself abreast with the latest happenings in the industrial field

copyrights reserved by Pseudonormicks and boy luvarien.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed are solely the author's and are subjective.They are not intended to influence,offend or hurt anybody living or dead.The articles may have a tendency to be satirical and or sarcastic.

ROBO-KAAND

Whiling away my precious PL(prep leave) morning over the myriad newspapers I have subscribed to, I came across a little piece :a pseudonorm that said ”South Korea plans Code of Ethics for Robots” : The scarcely populated country which comprises of old people (unlike ours which is heavily populated with a good proportion of young blood) would have new citizens 10 years down the line. These robots would also be guarding the delicate border separating the nation with North Korea.

Recently Prof Warwick (the first man to have a chip implanted in his body) had come down to India giving a series of lectures on the importance of implanting these chips .Prof. Warwick predicts that the world will be full of robots in the next 25-50 years and so to survive , one definitely requires these chips that could keep man still superior over his creation.

So, the next-gen cool kids won’t be the one’s who’ve got pierced at odd places, but the one’s who’ll have implants at maybe even places. To add to it, they might even carry tags saying “Powered by XYZ Corp.” This seems to be an excellent brand building tool complimenting the much sought after evolution of mankind. Especially when R&D work is being done on building intelligent robots who can take their own decisions, there’s a lot more to see for the current young guns and off course their kids (that’s if they reproduce humans instead of bots)

If you haven’t sensed the sarcasm above, let me brief you about the preventive measures proposed to the much dreaded future (only witnessed in Sci-Fis): Coming back to the South Korea article, they’ve set up a team of esteemed scientists, lawyers and doctors to come up with a set of rules that would prevent android (human look alike robot) abuse and define the relationship between man and these machines. They might even consider Issac Asimov’s (sci-fi author,”I,robot”) laws laid 60 years back:
a) Robots may not injure humans or allow harm to come to them
b) Should obey orders given by humans (not overriding the above law)
c) Must protect their own existence (not overriding the above 2 laws)

It is difficult to understand how exactly these laws might be inherited if these robots are to guard a country’s border, however, I give the benefit of doubt and wait for them to come up with their set of laws.
Laws made would possibly differ among nations and might lead to the setting up of an international federation of Robotic rights and proliferation (I’d prefer a kewler name though) and the then superpower would decide the fate of this creation that may have just evolved out of the human fetish for owning slaves.

I feel I’m virtually on my way to build my first work of fiction and eventually perform a fast Fourier transform of the nightmarius-producto-hormones in side your cerebrum (or is it cerebellum?) , so preventing any further deflection on my guilt-o-meter ,I take your leave ; but do ponder.

Pseudonormicks copyright 2007
The views and opinions expressed are solely the authors's and are subjective.

Pseudonormicks Fab Phone Awards 2006

-- XeoN

2006 was a roller coaster ride in the cell phone arena as we saw better cameras getting built into handsets, fashion phones walking the ramp, GPS and Wi-Fi integration becoming more essential, and advancement in mobile networks exposing us to faster downloads for content. Scouring the latest mobile devices on the Mumbai market, special attention was paid to design, features, functions, as well as value.

Camera phones pushed into the 3-megapixel space with Sony Ericsson ™ and Nokia™ both launching 3G handsets that took best-quality snaps. The K800i edged in front of N73 in terms of ease-of-use, but what I appreciate is Nokia's integration with Flickr for uploading photos.
While LG™ introduced the innovative Chocolate KG800 phone, it's the company's clever marketing strategy -- to call a handset something that's instantly recognizable -- which is being imitated by others. Arguably though, Motorola™ got there first with the iconic MOTORAZR, which continues to be popular in all the iterations we've seen this year.

Windows Mobile devices tried their best to steal some of the enterprise market from RIM, with the introduction of push e-mail, but the Blackberry maker retaliated with the 3G-capbable 8707 and the Pearl, the first consumer-oriented Blackberry that features a built-in camera, expandable memory and multimedia playback.

Following the popular adage:” There is no right no wrong.” And of course” Beauty les in the eyes of the beholder” , we thought of giving out The Pseudonormicks Fab Phone Awards (PFPA) 2006 spanning across different categories chosen and analyzed by our brand new tech contributor XeoN.


Best camera phone of 2006 – Nokia N73

The hotly anticipated Nokia N73 camera phone has nearly every bell and whistle under the sun. With the Carl Zeiss 3.2 Mega Pixel lens, the N73 snaps superb hi-resolution stills with accurate colours and precise focus, letting users who want more control tweak a range of options to get pictures just the way they want them - including colour effects and red eye removal. Also, the large, high-resolution screen not only makes a great viewfinder but works a charm for browsing or viewing pictures you've already taken, which can also be shared and printed in all thinkable and unthinkable ways. Business users will also get a good companion in the N73 since it has Symbian OS 9.1 (S60 v3) & thanks to its many quality connectivity options as well as its ability to view documents in popular Office formats, decent scheduling capabilities, bundled mp3 player & FM radio & also 3D stereo speakers. It’s priced at Rs.23k in Mumbai.

Best Music phone - Sony Ericsson W810i

With the W810i, the act of navigating music has been vastly improved as the navigational pad now lets users easily skip forwards and backwards as well as play and pause music in a one-step process. As presented through the bright and crisp 1.8-inch medium resolution screen, the Walkman interface remains one of the best in existence for music management. Picking up where the W800i left off, the Sony Ericsson W810i offers improved music navigation in tandem with the same excellent music management capabilities and decent amount of bundled memory as its predecessor. Other musical tidbits worthy of mention include the ability to activate the well-performing stereo FM radio with RDS through a dedicated play/stop button on the left side of the phone is a handy feature. W810i is the phone that came closest to being an "iPod Killer". Priced at Rs.15.5k in Mumbai.


Most Ergonomic phone of the year - LG Chocolate KG800


Straight out of a Space Odyssey, LG's new KG800 (aka Chocolate) is a black monolith of a slider with an unusually stylish exterior. Joining a crowded space, the fashionable LG KG800 slim phone has its work cut out for it. At 95 x 48 x 15.2 mm and 83 g, it's slim, lightweight and undoubtedly one of the most stylish handsets I have ever seen. In fact, its front half is completely flush; flick the handset open, and 9 touch-sensitive navigational controls are lit up in bright red. While Motorola's RAZR still manages to trigger ultra-thin fashion clones, LG has moved in a different direction with the Chocolate KG800, an understated and stylish mobile phone with a beguiling design twist. Its priced at Rs.13.5k in Mumbai.






Chic phone of the year – Nokia 7370

Trendy colours and a faux leather exterior combine with a solid, compact spinner design to render the Nokia 7370 a stylish contender with classic touches. A crisp and colourful 2-inch QVGA screen ranks as its most impressive feature, contributing to hassle-free navigation throughout Nokia's Series 40 interface courtesy of its high resolution - the latter of which joins EDGE in making WAP browsing a similarly pleasant affair. Keypad and navigation buttons are, for once, first-rate with regard to both looks and usability, proving text input needs not be sacrificed on the altar of style. A fully adequate 1.3 Megapixel camera with an intuitive interface has also taken up residence within the 7370, adjacent to 10 MB of memory. Available in Mumbai at a price of Rs.13.5k.

Super slim phone - Samsung D900

Samsung released the Black Carbon with the claim that it is the world's thinnest slider, and I couldn’t find anything thinner than the D900's half-inch (12.9mm). The phone has a glossy, fingerprint prone front with rubberized sides and backing. As a stylish slider, the Samsung SGH-D900 "Black Carbon" is worth a look, if you can overlook some imperfections. The menu system is very convenient, and the interface in general was a pleasure to work with. The 3-megapixel camera puts the phone ahead of the mass of camera equipped handsets, but the slow interface resulted in many failed shots, and the lack of good software on the PC means this camera phone is not for novices. This may make a great companion for those who want a sidekick to their larger digital SLRs, but don't toss your mid-range digital for this phone.D900 is available in Mumbai at Rs. 20k


Best smart phone for executives – Palm Treo 700p

The Palm Treo 700p Smartphone delivers everything you need without compromise. The Smartphone combines a smarter phone with broadband-like speeds and rich-media capabilities, all in one. This Treo phone brings Palm's world-class ease of use to the Palm OS Mobile platform. Connect with people in multiple ways: voice, e-mail, SMS, or MMS3. Your contacts are always reachable from any application on the 700p. Palm sees the Treo 700p as a phone first, and it shows in their tweaks. The Today Screen has a speed dial plugin with shortcuts similar to the Treo 650, and there's even a photo dialer (thumbnails of any contacts you wish) on the home screen. Simply tap the photo to dial that person. As with the Treo 650, you can also assign any letter on the QWERTY thumb keyboard to a contact for speed dial. Its available in Mumbai markets at a price of around Rs. 28k.



Best phone for e-mail – Nokia E61

The E61 does what Nokia does best: connects people. Its all-encompassing connectivity setup is exploited in full by a broad line-up of quality messaging, office and browsing applications which run in tandem with a superb screen and more than decent thumb board. HSCSD, GPRS and EDGE bring up the rear for data across quad-band GSM support on the go, while Wi-Fi 802.11b/g takes care of high-speed local connectivity. Add Bluetooth for use as a modem, synchronization, connecting headsets and printing; USB for synchronization and data transfers. Also with good handy utilities, good battery life and a compact form factor, and you end up with a very solid business phone contender indeed. Its available in Mumbai at a price of Rs. 19k.



Best Touchscreen phone – Sony Ericsson M600i
A number of factors combine to render the M600i an ideal device for enterprise e-mail, the most prominent of which is the unusual yet surprisingly well-working thumbboard - complete with a near 90-degree learning curve. Hot on its heels follows Exchange ActiveSync support, which can be configured either for true push e-mail or scheduled retrievals, while a scroll wheel and the brilliant screen chime in for terrific, thumb-driven e-mail triage. Reading e-mail attachments is a breeze with the built-in viewers for Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Acrobat documents, and particularly so when the screen's landscape view is enabled. 3G and Bluetooth serve as a springboard for getting ones laptop online. It also delivers a solid impression in every other department, with the near-sole disappointment being its lack of a bundled USB cable and USB charging support. Add good battery life and nice touches such as a scroll wheel, stereo Bluetooth audio and a clever, agenda-style standby screen. Its priced at Rs.18.6k in Mumbai.


Most anticipated phone for 2007 – Nokia N95
While it was hard to stick to Nokia’s mantra that their new N-Series are not phones (they're "multimedia computers”), we can't argue with the raw power of the N95.The size of a small slider phone, the screen on the N95 is bright and clear, perfect for the incredibly smooth interface. GPS features are striking, especially the 3-D mapping. Based on the rendering of the 3-D map, the N95 looks to have some graphical prowess -- at last, a phone that seems capable of true 3-D. Movies are bright and clear on the QVGA (320x240) screen, though a wide-screen ratio would have prevented the letterbox bars on movies that made them look small. The N95 sports a 5-megapixel camera and a video recorder capable of VGA (640x480) recording, all of which can be stored on microSD cards, as well as a TV-out port and speedy HSDPA data support. Set for release in Indian markets in 1st quarter of 2007,the pricing is yet to be announced.

* Prices quoted are approximate, verification of the same is highly recommended.
** The views and opionions quoted are solely the author's and are subjective.
copyrights reserved by Pseudonormicks.