Year End Review Deptt. of Information Technology

Year End Review of Achievements and Initiatives of Department of Information Technology

Draft National Policies on Electronics-2011 and Information Technology-2011 Released

Steps taken to Make India Hub for Electronic Hardware Manufacturing

Four New Mission mode Projects (MMPs) Added under NeGP

Electronic Delivery of Services Bill Introduced in Parliament

  

Draft National Policy on Electronics – 2011

The Draft National Policy on Electronics, 2011 (NPE 2011) was released on 3.10.2011. The draft Policy envisions creating a globally competitive Electronics Systems and Design Manufacturing (ESDM) industry including nano-electronics to meet the country's needs and serve the international market. One of the important objectives of the Policy is to achieve a turnover of about USD 400 Billion by 2020 involving investment of about USD 100 Billion and employment to around 28 million by 2020. This includes achieving a turnover of USD 55 Billion of chip design and embedded software industry and USD 80 Billion of exports in the sector. Another important objective of the Policy is to significantly upscale high-end human resource creation to 2500 PhDs annually by 2020. The Policy also proposes setting up of over 200 Electronic Manufacturing clusters in the country.

Draft National Policy on Information Technology, 2011

Draft National Policy on Information Technology, 2011 (NPIT 2011) wasreleased on 7.10.2011. The Policy aims to maximally leverage the power of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to help address economic and developmental challenges of the country. The focus of the IT policy is on deployment of ICT in all sectors of the economy and on providing IT solutions to the world. The Policy focuses on application of technology-enabled approaches to overcome developmental challenges in education, health, skill development, financial inclusion, employment generation, governance etc., to greatly enhance efficiency across the board in the economy. The Policy seeks to achieve the twin goals of bringing the full power of ICT within the reach of the whole of India and harnessing the capability and human resources of the whole of India to enable India to emerge as the Global Hub and Destination for IT-ITeS Services by 2020. It is rooted in the conviction that ICT has the power to transform India and improve the lives of all Indians.

E-Governance

Mission Mode Projects (MMP)- 4 New MMPs (Education, Health, PDS and Posts) have been added under NeGP taking the total number of MMPs under NeGP to Thirty One (31). Posts has been added as a Central MMP while the remaining three (3) MMPs (Education, Health and PDS) have been added as State MMPs.

A major initiative of the Government for ushering in e-Governance on national scale, called National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) was approved on 16^thMay 2006. NeGP consists of Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and program support components which aim at creating the right governance and institutional mechanisms, core infrastructure, policies & standards and the necessary legal framework for adoption of e-Governance in the country. It is implemented at the Central, State and Local Government levels. Significant achievements in this area are as under:

Electronic Delivery of Services (EDS) Bill provisioning mandatory delivery of all public services in e-mode in next five years has been approved by the Union Cabinet on 20.12.2011 and introduced in Lok Sabha on 27.12.2011.

Common Service Centres - As on 30^th November, 2011, a total of 97,439 Common Service Centres (CSCs) have been rolled out in thirty three States and UTs. 100% CSCs have been rolled out in 13 States. A proposal to set up additional 1.5 lakh Bharat Nirman Common Service Centres so as to have one CSC in each Panchayat in whole of rural India has been prepared.

State Wide Area Networks - The State Wide Area Networks (SWANs) are already operational in 29 States.

State Data Centres - The State Data Centres have been made operational in 16 States.

e-District - e-District Pilot project has gone live in 12 States. Scheme for National Rollout of e-District MMP has been approved. Guidelines for National Rollout of e-District MMP has been finalized. 

Capacity Building (CB) - Under the CB Scheme, State e-Mission Teams (SeMTs) have been setup in 32 States and UTs. Over 1000 Government officials have been trained under Specialized Training for e-Governance Programme (STeP). The first Chief Information Officer (CIO) training for officers of Central and State & UT officials has started on 7th November, 2011.

Standards – To ensure sharing of information and seamless interoperability of data and e-Governance applications, Policy on Open Standards, Biometric standards, Metadata and Data Standards, Localization and Language Technology standards, Network and Information Security, Digital Signature, Quality Assurance, Website Design Guidelines have been notified by DIT.

Mobile Governance - A Draft Policy on Mobile Governance has been formulated.

Awareness and Communication - 11 Workshops have been held across the country. The 14^th National Conference was held in  February 2011.

Citizen Engagement and Social Media Framework - For wider and deeper participation and engagement with all stakeholders especially public at large, a Citizen Engagement Framework for e-Governance Projects has been developed.

Electronics Hardware Manufacturing (EHM)

The Government has attached high priority to electronics hardware manufacturing. It is keen to develop an ecosystem, which will make India a global destination for electronics system design and manufacturing. The significant achievements during the course of the year are as follows:

Setting up of Semiconductor Wafer Fabs: An Empowered Committee (EC) for identifying technology and investors for setting up Semiconductor Wafer Fabrication (Fab) Manufacturing facilities in the country was constituted.  The EC after interacting with the potential investors will crystallize the nature and quantum of Government support in physical/financial terms and recommend to the Government the course of action to attract investments in the sector.

Roadmap for promoting growth of semiconductor design and services industry: India Semiconductor Association (ISA) has carried out a “Study on semiconductor design, embedded software and services industry” with the support of Department of Information Technology (DIT). The report covers Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) design, Embedded software design and Hardware/board design. A roadmap has been prepared to enable semiconductor design and services industry to move up the value chain and maintain growth rate of revenue of over 17% p.a.

Roadmap for promoting growth of electronic components industry:Electronic Industries Association of India (ELCINA) has carried out a Study entitled “ELCOMOS - Electronic Components, Hardware Market and Manufacturing Output Study including related Assemblies and Value Chain in India” with DIT’s support. A roadmap has been prepared for promoting growth of electronic components industry.

Communications and Brand Building Campaign for promotion of ESDM sector in India: The Campaign has been launched with the objective to build “Made in India” as leading global brand in ESDM and increasing awareness regarding initiatives taken by Government to promote investments in ESDM sector.

Mandatory compliance of safety standards for electronic items: A draft Order in respect of safety standards for 16 selected electronic items has been prepared and consultations are underway with the Department of Consumer Affairs and Bureau of Indian Standards to notify mandatory compliance. 

National Informatics Centre (NIC)

National Informatics Centre (NIC) is the premier S&T organization under the aegis of the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and IT. It is the principal e-Governance solution provider. During last one year, it has implemented several e-Governance applications and services in addition to strengthening the computing and data communication infrastructure in the country. Notable achievements of the year are:

Augmentation of NICNET: During last one year, NIC has established three National Data Centres in the country to support large e-Governance applications.  NIC is also facilitating the hosting of more than 7000 websites/portals of various Government Departments.

e-Procurement: GePNIC is developed as a generic e-Procurement System by which manual tendering activity is carried out in a secure environment. GePNIC has been implemented in 13 State and UTs 35,146 tenders worth over Rs 45,218.10 Crores, have been processed successfully during current financial year till 30th Nov 2011. Department of Commerce has decided adoption of NIC’s e-Procurement System in Government departments of 23 states as a part of MMP on e-Procurement.

e-Court: It is a project of great importance aimed at creating ICT infrastructure for various levels of judiciary from Supreme Courts to sub-district courts, resulting in improved level of disposal of cases at various levels. The ICT infrastructure has been set up in more than 450 court complexes during the current financial year.

e-Counseling for admissions to professional courses: e-Counseling System of NIC has helped crores of students in the admission process for various professional and technical courses of more than 20 State Boards of Technical Education resulting in considerable saving of time and money on the part of admission aspirants as well as the State boards.

e-Office: e-Office enables working in the Government leading to greater transparency and efficiency. This application has been implemented in more than dozen Central Government departments and some of the State Govt. Secretariat ushering into an electronic age of management of Government files.

MGNREGASoft: This application is a centrally hosted service being used by the Department of Rural Development, Government of India and various State Governments in the management of the whole work flow of the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act right from registration to finalization of wages of workers of one of the largest social sector schemes in the world.

National Knowledge Network (NKN)

The Government’s decision to set up National Knowledge Network was announced in the Budget Speech of Union Budget for 2008-09. In March 2010 the Government approved the establishment of the National Knowledge Network (NKN) over a period of 10 years. The objective of the National Knowledge Network is to interconnect institutions of higher learning with a high speed data communication network. Network will consist of an ultra-high speed Core (multiples of 10Gbps and upwards), and over 1500 nodes. It is scalable to higher speed and more nodes also. The Core shall be complemented with a distribution layer at appropriate speeds. The participating institutions can directly or through distribution layer connect to the NKN at speeds of 100 Mbps /1 Gbps. The application areas envisaged under the NKN cover: Agriculture, Education, Health, e-governance, Grid Computing (High Performance Computing). As on 30^th November, 2011, a total of 450 Institutions are connected to NKN, and 43 virtual classrooms have been setup.

Nanotechnology

                Department of Information Technology (DIT) started Nanotechnology Development Programme during the 10^th Plan with the objective to create infrastructure for research in nanoelectronics and nanometrology at the national level and also to fund small and medium level research projects in specific areas such as nanomaterials, nanodevices, Carbon Nano Tubes (CNT), nanosystems etc. Two major nanoelectronics centres  have been set up in the country. These centres have become Centres of Excellence in Nanoelectronics (CEN) and are being recognized nationally and internationally and attracting young talent. The facilities of these centres are being made available to all other users in the country as well as abroad through Indian Nanoelectronics Users Programme (INUP) funded by DIT. More than 110 R&D projects from more than 100 external organizations across the country have been taken up so far under INUP. About 1150 manpower from more than 350 organizations across India have been trained through INUP.

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Source : PIB dtd 28/12/2011

Mind reading, biometric passwords could soon be a reality

Imagine a world where you don't have to pay power bills because you are able to create energy for your requirements, or you can read the mind of the person sitting next to you.

Or, imagine walking up to an ATM machine to securely withdraw money by simply speaking your name or looking into a tiny sensor that recognises the unique patterns in the retina of your eye.

All this might sound like science fiction but according to technology giant IBM, these could become reality in the next five years.

IBM has unveiled its sixth annual 'IBM Five in Five', a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next five years.

According to the company, technological advances in the coming years will enable people to utilise the energy they create through everyday activities for their power needs.

"Advances in renewable energy technology will allow individuals to collect this kinetic energy, which now goes to waste, and use it to help power our homes, workplaces and cities," IBM said in a statement.

So, imagine attaching small devices to the spokes on a bicycle wheel that recharge batteries as one peddles along. One would not only reach their destination in an eco-friendly manner, but also power some of the lights at their home.

Another innovation IBM believes could soon become a reality is mind reading.

"IBM scientists are researching how to link your brain to your devices, such as a computer or a smartphone. If you just need to think about calling someone, it happens. Or you can control the cursor on a computer screen just by thinking about where you want to move it," IBM said.

Scientists in the field of bioinformatics have designed headsets with advanced sensors to read electrical brain activity that can recognise facial expressions, excitement and concentration levels, and thoughts of a person without them physically taking any actions, it added.

IBM said within 5 years, one would begin to see early applications of this technology in the gaming and entertainment industry.

Also, doctors could use the technology to test brain patterns, possibly even assist in rehabilitation from strokes and to help in understanding brain disorders, such as autism.

Another innovation which could be of significance is not having to remember passwords.

"Your biological makeup is the key to your individual identity, and soon, it will become the key to safeguarding it," IBM said.

So, one will no longer need to create, track or remember multiple passwords for various log-ins.

Source : www.business-standard.com

Logging on with a touch or a phrase

Passwords are a pain to remember. What if a quick wiggle of five fingers on a screen could log you in instead? Or speaking a simple phrase?

Neither idea is far-fetched. Computer scientists in Brooklyn are training their iPads to recognize their owners by the touch of their fingers as they make a caressing gesture. Banks are already using software that recognizes your voice, supplementing the standard PIN.

And after years of predicting its demise, security researchers are renewing their efforts to supplement and perhaps one day obliterate the old-fashioned password.

"If you ask me what is the biggest nuisance today, I would say it's the 40 different passwords I have to create and change," said Nasir Memon, a computer science professor at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University in Brooklyn who is leading the iPad project.

Many people would agree. The password has become a monkey on our digital backs - an essential key to our many devices and accounts, but increasingly a source of exasperation and insecurity.

The research arm of the Defense Department is looking for ways to use cues like a person's typing quirks to continuously verify identity - in case, say, a soldier's laptop ends up in enemy hands on the battlefield. In a more ordinary example, Google recently began nudging users to consider a two-step log-in system, combining a password with a code sent to their phones. Google's latest Android software can unlock a phone when it recognizes the owner's face or - not so safe - when it is tricked by someone holding up a photograph of the owner's face.

Still, despite these recent advances, it may be premature to announce the end of passwords, as Bill Gates famously did in 2004, when he said "the password is dead."

"The spectacularly incorrect assumption 'passwords are dead' has been harmful, discouraging research on how to improve the lot of close to two billion people who use them," Cormac Herley, a researcher at Microsoft, the company that Mr. Gates founded, wrote in a recent paper. Mr. Herley suggested instead that developers try "to better support the use of passwords" - for example, by helping people protect their wireless connections from eavesdroppers. "Passwords," Mr. Herley continued, "have proved themselves a worthy opponent: all those who have attempted to replace them have failed."

The touch-screen approach of Professor Memon in Brooklyn works because, as it happens, each person makes the same gesture uniquely. Their fingers are different, they move at different speeds, they have what he calls a different "flair." He wants logging in to be easy; besides, he said, some people find biometric measures like an iris scan to be "creepy." In his research, the most popular gestures turned out to be the ones that feel most intuitive. One was to turn the image of a combination lock 90 degrees in one direction. Another was to sign one's name on the screen. In principle, the gesture can be used to unlock a device, or an app on the device that safely holds a variety of passwords.

Despite their resilience, passwords are weak, notably because their users have limited memories and a weakness for blurting out secrets. Most people need dozens of them, and they tend to pick ones that are so complex they need to be written down, or so simple they can be easily guessed. Recently, criminals have become adept at stealing passwords by sneaking malicious software onto computers or tricking users into typing them into an illegitimate site.

Companies like Facebook and Twitter have sought to address the frustration with passwords by allowing their usernames and passwords to open the door to millions of Web sites, a convenience that brings obvious risks. A thief with access to a master username and password can have access to a host of accounts.

Rachna Dhamija, a California computer scientist turned entrepreneur, sought to combat those weaknesses by breaking up the password. The user first logs in to the service that Ms. Dhamija built, UsableLogin, and signs in with her own partial password. Behind the scenes, the service verifies that the user is on an authorized device, and pulls the third piece from the cloud, generating a unique password for any Web site that the user wants to log in to - Facebook, for instance. In other words, one piece of the password rests with the user, another is stored in her device, and a third piece is kept online.

"You take a secret and you spread it across," said Ms. Dhamija, whose service was recently acquired by Webroot Software, based in Broomfield, Colo. "You're spreading the risk. The password is not stored in its whole form anywhere."

But even if a user has been authorized at the start of a session, what if someone else gains access to her computer an hour later? Darpa, the Defense Department's technology research arm, has invited security researchers to develop ways to verify a user every instant, based on the way the individual uses the machine - "for example, how the user handles the mouse and how the user crafts written language in an e-mail or document," it explains on its Web site.

Each of these techniques is driven by the notion that a password alone is an insufficient means to verify online identity. Think of them as a fortification: a password-plus. Many companies use a smart card or a security "dongle" - a small piece of hardware that plugs into the computer and functions as a key - as that second step of verification to allow access to internal networks. Today, biometrics - an individual's unique physical traits - are emerging as an alternative.

At least a half-dozen banks in the United States ask their customers to verify who they are by reciting a two-second phrase to a computer over the phone, in addition to punching in their PINs. It could be as simple as "at my bank," and a million customers could recite the very same phrase and still sound unique, according to Nuance Communications, a company based in Burlington, Mass., that makes the technology.

As mobile phones become bodily appendages for people worldwide, they too are emerging as instruments to verify identity. Google introduced its two-step process earlier this year. It sends a six-digit code to an application on a Google user's cellphone to be entered, along with a password, when signing onto a Google account on a computer or tablet. The code can also be sent as a text message for those who don't have smartphones, or it can be conveyed through a phone call.

The extra step is not mandatory, and the company will not say how widely it has been adopted. But as vulnerable as passwords are to theft and compromise, Google says, it is increasingly important for a user's identity to be verified through another channel - a cellphone, in this case.

"I think we'll start to see people using their mobile devices as their pervasive identifiers," said Brendon Wilson, a security researcher at Symantec. "The password will no longer be the final arbiter that you are you. You will see layers on top."

© 2011 The New York Times News Service

Source : Business-standard

Aakash Tablet PC – DataWind Product

Aakash Tablet PC is mini laptop or tablet pc introduced by Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal. Aakash tablet PC is world ‘s first low price tablet pc which made for students and teachers and government will pay 50% subsidy on each purchase of product. It is manufacture by DataWind, UK and developed by IIT Rajasthan and datawind company.

Government ordered 1,00,000 pc tablet which will 10000 delivered to IIT Rajasthan and 90,000 tablet will be distribution for other institution and market. It is not available in market for sale. After three or four month after, will launch in market for sale. The cost of Aakash tablet PC will be Rs. 1100 to Rs. 1500 for students and Rs. 2250 to Rs. 2999.

Aakash tablet pc has many features and specification which make it best device. This tablet work on Android 2.2 operating system with 7 inch touch screen display, 256 MB ram, 2 GB hard drive which expendable to 32 GB by micro MMC and 2-3 hour battery backup. This device support various document, video and audio formats and also compatible for Internet browser and wi-fi connectivity.

Courtesy : http://aakashtabletpc.com/

Indiapost Released Srinivasa Ramanujam Stamp on 26.12.2011

India Post released New stamp for Srinivasa Ramanujam in his 125th birth anniversary. Stamp Released by our honorable Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in Chennai also declared December 22, the birthday of Ramanujan, as ‘National Mathematics Day.’ 

Srinivasa Iyengar Ramanujan ( 22 December 1887 – 26 April 1920 ) was an Indian mathematician, Born in Erode, Tamil Nadu, India, to a poor Brahmin family, Ramanujan first encountered formal mathematics at age10. He demonstrated a natural ability, and was given books on advanced trigonometry written by S. L. Loney. He mastered them by age 12, and even discovered theorems of his own, including independently re-discovering Euler's identity. He demonstrated unusual mathematical skills at school, winning accolades and awards. By 17, Ramanujan conducted his own mathematical research on Bernoulli numbers and the Euler–Mascheroni constant. He received a scholarship to study at Government College in Kumbakonam, but lost it when he failed his non-mathematical coursework. 

He joined another college to pursue independent mathematical research, working as a clerk in the Accountant-General's office at the Madras Port Trust Office to support himself. In 1912–1913, he sent samples of his theorems to three academics at the University of Cambridge. Only Hardy recognised the brilliance of his work, subsequently inviting Ramanujan to visit and work with him at Cambridge. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, dying of illness, malnutrition and possibly liver infection in 1920 at the age of 32.

During his short lifetime, Ramanujan independently compiled nearly 3900 results (mostly identities and equations).Although a small number of these results were actually false and some were already known, most of his claims have now been proven correct. He stated results that were both original and highly unconventional, such as the Ramanujan prime and the Ramanujan theta function, and these have inspired a vast amount of further research. However, the mathematical mainstream has been rather slow in absorbing some of his major discoveries. The Ramanujan Journal, an international publication, was launched to publish work in all areas of mathematics influenced by his work.

Fifteen Greatest Invention

1.       World First Digital Camera (1975): Created by Kodak's engineer Steve Sasson In December 1975, Kodak engineer Steve Sasson invented something that would, decades later, revolutionize photography: the world’s first digital camera. It was the size of a toaster, and captured black and white images at a resolution of 100×100 - or 0.01 megapixels in today’s marketing terminology. The images were stored on cassette tape, taking 23 seconds to write. The camera uses an ADC from Motorola, a bog-standard (for the 1970s) lens from a Kodak movie camera, and a CCD chip from Fairchild Semiconductor - the same technology that digital cameras still use today. To playback the images, a special computer and tape reader setup (pictured below) was built, outputting the grainy images on a standard TV. It took a further 23 seconds to read each image from tape

2. World's First Motel (1925): Motel Inn Motel Inn in San Luis Obispo, California, is the world’s first motel. It was built in 1925 by LA architect Arthur Heineman, who coined the term motel meaning "motor hotel." Motel Inn was originally called the Milestone Mo-Tel. Back then, one night stay was $1.25. Heineman couldn’t afford the trademark registration fee, so his competitors were able to use the word "motel." The motel is still in operation today.

3. World's First Album Cover (1938): Smash Song Hits by Rodgers and Hart Before Alex Steinweiss, then a 23-year-old designer, invented album covers in 1938 for Columbia Records, albums were sold in plain brown wrappers. The album "Smash Song Hits by Rodgers and Hart" was the very first album cover in the world.

4. World's First Novel (1007): Tale of Genji More than a thousend years ago, on 1007, a Japanese court lady put the finishing touches on what is considered the world's first novel. Spanning 75 years, more than 350 characters, and brimming with romantic poems, the "Tale of Genji" tells the story of an emperor's son, his quest for love, and the many women he meets along the way. It is attributed to the Japanese noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu

5. World's First Web Server and Web Site (1990): a NeXT computer at CERN Info.cern.ch was the address of the world's first-ever web site and web server, running on a NeXT computer at CERN. The first web page address was http://info. cern.ch/hypertex t/WWW/TheProject .html, made by Tim Berners-Lee.

6. World's First Motorcycle (1885): Daimler's "riding car" The First Motorcycle was designed and built by the German inventors Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach in Bad Cannstatt (Stuttgart) in 1885. It was essentially a motorised bicycle, although the inventors called their invention the Reitwagen ("riding car"). It was also the first petroleum-powered vehicle.

7. World's First X-Ray (1895): Röntgen's wife hand In 1895 Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, professor of physics the University of Wurburg in Germany, was doing experiments with electrical discharges in evacuated glass tubes. Late in 1895 Wilhelm Röntgen was alone at night doing his experiments, this time in the dark and noticed a glow was produced on the wall, which he knew was not caused by fluorescence or visible light. He named these new, unidentified rays 'X' or if you prefer; X-rays. After several months of playing with his discovery he noticed that objects place in the path of the rays cast shadows and created images on the wall. Soon after he used a photographic plate and had his wife, Frau Röntgen, place her hand in the path of the X-rays, creating the world's first X-ray picture. In 1901 Wilhelm Röntgen was awarded the very first Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery.

8. World's First Computer Mouse (1964): by Douglas Engelbart The world's first computer mouse was made by Douglas Engelbart in 1964, it consisted of two gear-wheels positioned perpendicular to each other -- allowing movement on one axis. Ergonomic shape, great button placement -- and it's made of wood.

9. World's First Skyscraper (1885): Home Insurance Building in Chicago Considered to be the first skyscraper in the world due to the building's unique architecture and unique weight bearing frame, the Home Insurance Building was built in 1885 in Chicago, Illinois and demolished in 1931 to make way for the Field Building (now the LaSalle National Bank Building). It was the first building to use structural steel in its frame, but the majority of its structure was composed of cast and wrought iron. It was the first tall building to be supported, both inside and outside, by a fireproof metal frame. It had 10 stories and rose to a height of 138 feet (42 m) high.

10. World's First Concept Car (1938): Buick Y-Job Designed in 1938 by the famous General Motors designer Harley Earl, the Buick Y-Job is considered by most to be the first concept car. The car had power-operated hidden headlamps, "gunsight" hood ornament, wraparound bumpers, flush door handles, and prefigured styling cues used by Buick until the 1950s.

11. World's First MP3 Player (1998): MPMan 32MB Released in 1998, the Eiger Labs MPMan was the world's first MP3 player, boasting 32MB of internal memory -- expandable to 64MB. Available in F10 or F20 models, the latter boasting SmartMedia compatibility, this player set you back a mere $69 + shipping. It measures a slim 91 x 70 x 16.5 mm

12. World's First Crossword (1913): Arthur Wynne's Invention In 1913, Arthur Wynne had the job of devising the weekly puzzle page for Fun, the eight-page comic section of the New York World, a major newspaper of the time. When he devised what he called a Word-cross for the Christmas edition, published on 21 December, he could have no idea that he would be starting a worldwide craze.

13. World's First Microprocessor (1971): Intel 4004 In November, 1971, a company called Intel publicly introduced the world's first single chip microprocessor, the Intel 4004 (U.S. Patent #3,821,715), invented by Intel engineers Federico Faggin, Ted Hoff, and Stan Mazor. After the invention of integrated circuits revolutionized computer design, the only place to go was down -- in size that is. The Intel 4004 chip took the integrated circuit down one step further by placing all the parts that made a computer think (i.e. central processing unit, memory, input and output controls) on one small chip. Programming intelligence into inanimate objects had now become possible.

14. World's First Magazine (1731): The Gentleman's Magazine The Gentleman's Magazine, first published in 1731, in London, is considered to have been the first magazine. Edward Cave, who edited The Gentleman's Magazine under the pen name "Sylvanus Urban", was the first to use the term "magazine", on the analogy of a military storehouse of varied materiel, originally derived from the Arabic makazin "storehouses" . It ceased publication in September, 1907.

15. World's First Photograph (1826): "View from the Window at Le Gras" Centuries of advances in chemistry and optics, including the invention of the camera obscura, set the stage for the world’s first photograph. In 1826, French scientist Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, took that photograph, titled View from the Window at Le Gras at his family’s country home. Niépce produced his photo—a view of a courtyard and outbuildings seen from the house’s upstairs window—by exposing a bitumen-coated plate in a camera  obscura  for several hours on his windowsill

Collected by  S Jayachandran , SA, Divisional Office , Mavelikara -690101

Chennai to be included in digital mapping exercise soon

Mapping of utilities, a tool to identify gaps in civic amenities, may soon cover more areas in major cities, including Chennai, with the National Informatics Centre planning to suggest measures for suitable modifications to the Ministry of Defence guidelines on digital map data handling.

This follows an appeal to this effect to the NIC from officials of the civic bodies of Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Hyderabad, at a meeting in New Delhi last week. The officials pointed to the existing restrictions pertaining to various aspects of geo-reference maps, starting with collecting and disseminating information about certain areas and facilities.

Sources in the Chennai Corporation said that though it was unlikely that all restrictions would be removed, on account of strategic reasons, there are some areas where an amount of freedom can be expected. A more detailed digital map, they added, would help plan civic amenities better.

The benefit of any change in the Defence Ministry guidelines is expected to be more pronounced for the expanded areas of Chennai since the digital mapping project is yet to be launched there. Moreover, many of these areas also host sensitive installations.

The utility mapping is used for improving solid waste management, roads, traffic management and infrastructure development and helps in preparing plans at the ward level. Apart from Chennai Corporation, various agencies in the city have initiated digital mapping projects, including for disaster preparedness and urban planning and development.

The Corporation is also developing a Geographical Information System (GIS) based on the digital mapping.

As the Corporation has been expanded from 174 sq km to 426 sq km, there is an urgent need of data pertaining to digital mapping of the urban landscape for better planning and improvement of civic amenities, sources added.


Source : The Hindu dtd 24/12/2011

Some Interesting Facts About Technology

Bill Gates house was designed using a Macintosh computer.

By the year 2012 there will be approximately 17 billion devices connected to the Internet.

Domain names are being registered at a rate of more than one million names every month.

E-mail has been around longer than the World Wide Web.

The average 21 year old has spent 5,000 hours playing video games, has exchanged 250,000 e-mails, instant and text messages and has spent 10,000 hours on the mobile phone.

Another name for a Microsoft Windows tutorial is 'Crash Course'!

One of every 8 married couples in the US last year met online.

The average computer user blinks 7 times a minute, less than half the normal rate of 20.

The first banner advertising was used in 1994.

The first computer mouse was invented by Doug Engelbart in around 1964 and was made of wood.

The world's first computer, called the Z1, was invented by Konrad Zuse in 1936. His next invention, the Z2 was finished in 1939 and was the first fully functioning electro-mechanical computer

There are approximately 1,319,872,109 people on the Internet.

While it took the radio 38 years, and the television a short 13 years, it took the World Wide Web only 4 years to reach 50 million users.

20.70% of virus writers work under contract for organized crime syndicates

The worst MS-DOS virus ever, Michelangelo (1991) attacked the boot sector of your hard drive and any floppy drive inserted into the computer, which caused the virus to spread rapidly.

A virus can not appear on your computer all by iself. You have to get it by sharing infected files or diskettes, or by downloading infected files from the Internet.

Country with the highest percentage of net users is Sweden (75%).

The first popular web browser was called Mosaic and was released in 1993.

There are approximately 1.06 billion instant messaging accounts worldwide.

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Integrated Postal Services will be in place in two years, says Sachin Pilot

Union minister of state for communication and information technology, Sachin Pilot, Union Minister for renewable energy Dr, Farooq Abdullah and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah at the inauguration of the floating post office in the Dal Lake in Srinagar on Monday.

There is a plan to add banking facilities in post offices at a cost of Rs. 19,000 crores'

Faced with the challenge posed by the Information Technology revolution, the Ministry of Communications plans to have integrated postal services in two years.

Speaking to The Hindu, Union Minister of State for Communications Sachin Pilot said a good amount of work had been done in this direction but it would take his department two years to complete the task and “keep our thread with the people alive.”

Mr. Pilot disagreed with the view that with the internet revolution spreading, the postal services were losing clientele. “We have not closed a single post office and their relevance is not lost. But we have to integrate that with other services like banking, insurance and other day-to-day needs of the people,” he said. India today had 1,55,000 post offices with 5,80,000 employees.

Mr. Pilot said IT had progressed very well with 2.6 million getting jobs in the sector. He said his department had moved a proposal to add banking facilities in post offices at a cost of about Rs. 19,000 crores. “This would prove a turnaround in reviving the post offices and making them viable delivering centers,” he said adding that computerization and internet connectivity of all the post offices was another remarkable initiative in the offing.

The Minister said the Speed Post Service had grown popular. “There is 20 to 30 per cent growth in this service every year,” he added.

Floating post office

Mr. Pilot, who was on a three-day visit to Kashmir, inaugurated a computer programme in Kashmiri language at the DOAEEC Centre. Similar programmes will be launched in Dogri and Gojri languages. He also inaugurated a floating post office in the Dal Lake. This project is being revived after many years. “Similar post offices will be revived in Pahalgam and Gulmarg,” he said.

Telephone facility

Mr. Pilot said he had ordered that 300 digital satellite phones be made available in border areas where the people did not have access to mobile phones. Only the BSNL was offering telephone facility in remote areas. “In Kargil, we are the only service provider,” he said adding, “our objective is not to earn profit but to give facilities to people.”

With 1,700 post offices in Jammu and Kashmir, the Ministry was in the process of computerizing all the post offices and work was going on in full gear. “Geographically, we are the largest stake holder in the State and we will not fail the people,” he said.

On lifting the ban on pre-paid SMS, Mr. Pilot said it was the subject of law enforcement agencies. “We are working with the MHA on this and trying to find a solution, which also should not jeopardize the security of the State. But I am hopeful of a solution,” he said.

Courtesy: The Hindu, August 24, 2011