Author's opinion

                             Why discover something new?

                I was thinking about my future sitting on my sofa. I was confused. I had two options: Software engineering and Biologist. I have interest in both the occupations. Soon, as always, I was lost in thoughts. One thought led to another and finally, I ended up in this: I have read stories that God didn't intend to impart knowledge to Adam and Eve. That's what I heard. So, if he didn't intend to impart knowledge to humans, we should we discover more and more? Whenever we find a new species, it becomes prone to danger in some way. All these natural disasters and calamities are caused by humans. We don't create anything, we change the form of something and make something new. So, it is all discovery not creation. Gravity existed before humans, but Sir Isaac Newton discovered it.
The ozone layer gets depleted because of human activity. So, if it is dangerous to us, why discover something new?

Science

A glass of water contains 10 million bacteria but all good, claims study

Do you know that a glass of water can contain millions of bacteria in it. Yes, you are reading right, a new study reveals that a glass water can contain more than 10 million bacteria but all are good for health as they help in purifying water.

Doctors always insist on drinking lot of fresh water as it is good for health. A new study has come up that has given another good reason to drink water. Even a glass of fresh water contains more than ten million bacteria that are good for health in some way or other, says the new study. These bacteria help in purifying water, making it healthier for drinking.

Study authors were astonished to find that water on such a large scale was purified naturally by bacteria in pipes and purification plants. Until today, scientists didn’t know about the existence of any such process.

One of the lead researchers said that they have found more than ten million good bacteria in a glass of water. Researchers explained that clean tap water always contain these good bacteria and they grow in the drinking water treatment plant and on the inside of our water pipes, which can be seen in the form of a thin, sticky coating – a so-called biofilm. All surfaces from the raw water intake to the tap are covered in this biofilm.

The new find suggests that bacteria can play a vital role in purifying the water in pipes than previously thought. The discovery lead to the theory that most of the water purification in done in pipes in water purification process rather than in purification plant.

Lead study author Catherine Paul from the University of Lund in Sweden said, “a previously completely unknown ecosystem has revealed itself to us. Formerly, you could hardly see any bacteria at all and now, thanks to techniques such as massive DNA sequencing and flow cytometry, we suddenly see eighty thousand bacteria per milliliter in drinking water.”

Paul further added that we have known about the existence of some good bacteria like in our intestine they help in digestion of food and keep us healthy. Maybe they have a much bigger role to play, beyond our imagination and we have to find that, said Paul.

Moreover, the quality of water might be directly proportional to the amount of bacteria present in water, however, further study is needed to confirm the find.

The study appeared in the journal Microbes and Environments.

Economy

Americans Will Return Up to $100B in Gifts

One hot return: Hoverboards that start fires.

Numerous hoverboards, a popular gift this year, have caught fire in the U.S.

The holidays are a special time of giving, followed by a time of returning the stuff people didn't want. Americans spent an estimated $630 billion on presents this year, according to the National Retail Federation, which also projects that up to 15 percent of those gifts will be returned -- amounting to nearly $100 billion in receipts for defective electronics or sweaters that were the wrong color.

Processing gift returns or exchanges is part of the holiday shopping season for stores, but scams can also end up costing them a fortune this time of year. Fraudulent receipts or the return of stolen merchandise are expected to cost retailers $2.2 billion this year, according to Bob Moraca, vice president of Loss Prevention with the National Retail Federation.

"While technology has played a significant role in deterring many in-person fraudulent transactions that would have otherwise gone unseen, there is little that can be done to prevent a determined criminal who will find a loophole one way or another," Moraca said in a press release.

Online sales increased between 6 percent and 8 percent this holiday season, which can make it more difficult for scammers to defraud the system but doesn't make much of a difference when it comes to legitimate gift returns.

Tech toys were among the most sought-after gifts this holiday. Hoverboards didn't have a very merry Christmas, however, as the lithium ion batteries that power the trendy self-balancing scooters have started numerous fires. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is investigating at least 22 hoverboard fires in 17 states. Amazon is offering refunds for the defective devices and urging people to recycle them to avoid the risks that they could start a fire while being returning in the mail.

[ALSO: What to Expect From Virtual Reality in 2016]

Tech

What to Expect From Virtual Reality in 2016

There is big appetite for a new generation of VR gadgets, but it will take time to prove their worth. 

For years virtual reality has been little more than a novelty, but in 2016 the tech industry will launch a huge campaign to make it part of everyday life. The next generation of immersive reality devices from companies like Sony and Microsoft are among the most highly anticipated devices of next year, and businesses ranging from fashion to film are considering the possibilities of the advancing technology.

The gadgets expected to go on sale during the first half of 2016 include the Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive, the PlayStation VR headset and the augmented-reality Microsoft HoloLens, which allows the wearer to view images on top of their real-life field of vision. These headsets won't start a revolution overnight, though. Developers are eager to test the graphics power of these devices but it will likely take them until 2017 to create a wide range of programs to make the technology an everyday tool, says Brian Blau, a research director at market analysis firm Gartner.

The next generation of devices will create an even more immersive experience. The HoloLens and the HTC Vive use cameras to track how the user walks around the room and move the simulation along with the headsets, offering programmers great potential to create a real-time virtual atmosphere.Virtual reality has the potential to change daily life the way smartphones and social media did – one big reason why Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spent $2 billion to acquire Oculus. The Facebook-funded company has already released theOculus Social app, which allows people who connect through their smartphones on the Samsung Gear VR to chat with other users while watching films together in a 360-degree video atmosphere. Oculus Story Studio has also begun making short films using virtual reality and is pitching the new technology to film studios.

"It will be a great year for virtual reality in 2016, but it also going to be a big year for experimentation and figuring out what sticks," Blau says.

The appetite for the new devices is already strong ahead of their debuts. The Consumer Electronics Show, which begins on Jan. 4, will open its first augmented reality section top showcase, and the event is expected to have 77 percent more exhibitors showcasing virtual reality compared with last year's convention.

Sales of virtual reality devices are expected to reach $1.1 billion in 2016 and jump to $2.7 billion by 2020, according to IHS Technology, which predicts that there will be 38 million virtual reality headsets in use worldwide by 2020.

The Microsoft HoloLens sits on display at a media event for new Microsoft products on Oct. 6 in New York City.

Video game players are expected to be early adopters of this new wave of virtual reality: Oculus Rift will come with a controller for the Xbox and PlayStation VR will be designed to work with Sony's rival console. Virtual reality has failed to live up to its hype in the past, however. Nintendo's Virtual Boy attempted to forge a new frontier in video games but was discontinued in 1996 after lackluster sales.

Consumers are more prepared for the immersive devices this time around, says J.P. Gownder, a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research. The Internet has changed people's entertainment habits, a more tech-savvy audience has a range of Wi-Fi connected products and improved graphics technology will create a better simulation in the headsets, he says.  

"There will probably always be a proportion of the population that has trouble with 'VR nausea' no matter what," he says. "By minimizing the lag between the movement in your head and what you experience in the goggles they are able to address that issue for most people."One challenge for headset makers is how to create a virtual world without triggering motion sickness for the user. While companies like Oculus and HTC claim to have solved this design flaw Gownder says it will remain a problem for some.

The price for these new devices will be another factor in how fast the market for simulated reality takes off, so developers are likely to use them before the average consumer. This is especially true for the Microsoft HoloLens augmented reality visor, the most advanced gadget slated for release which is unique because it is a miniature computer built into a headset – and costs $3,000 for test models aimed at application developers. That price will go down eventually but businesses are likely to build demand for these new products by owning the headsets for use by their customers, Gownder predicts.

Microsoft's new cloud computing strategy focuses on business customers rather than everyday consumers, so it is fitting that " HoloLens will be a very business-driven device in 2016," he adds.

Nintendo's failed Virtual Boy is a cautionary tale of relying on hype to market virtual reality.

While gaming and media are "obvious applications" for virtual reality, Mike Zucconi, a spokesman for HTC, tells U.S. News that sectors including education, communication and design are expected to use the software as entertainment companies debut more immersive video and games.

"Outside of the gaming industry we are also working with partners in the retail, education, health and automotive industries to develop VR content," Zucconi says. "Audi will use Vive in flagship dealerships so that customers can go on virtual test drives in a fully immersive environment."

Chevrolet has also used Oculus to showcase its cars to customers by depicting a drive on exotic virtual terrain like the mountains of New Zealand.

Numerous industries are already experimenting with 360 degree video and could take their services a step further once new virtual reality devices launch. Marriott has begun using 360 video headsets to offer guests at certain hotels immersive virtual travel experiences that were filmed in the Andes Mountains in Chile, an ice cream shop in Rwanda and in the streets of Beijing.

Fashion is another sector that has used existing immersive technology and could be interested in the new headsets, Gownder predicts. Dior has used virtual reality at its boutiques to let people see behind the scenes at fashion shows and Yves Saint Laurent used the Google Glass augmented reality visor to demonstrate makeup techniques.Lowe's offers a service called its Holoroom in certain stores to help people visualize what a home improvement project will look like with the help of Google Cardboard and Oculus headsets. Gownder says real estate clients of Forrester have expressed interest in using 360-degree video to showcase pre-built condominiums by enabling people to see a simulated view of the home they want to buy.

Blau predicts that by the end of 2016 there will likely be "a slew of content" for 360 video in a number of different businesses, but he says time will tell how fast consumers will embrace more advanced virtual reality as part of their daily life.

"This is still relatively new," he says. "There is a lot of hype to live up to." 

Science

This NASA image of ‘Landslide on Mars’ will mesmerize you

The image shows landslide on Mars, which was captured by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera equipped on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) back on 19 March in the year 2014. According to NASA scientists, the striking feature of the image is a boulder-covered landslide along a canyon wall.

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has tweeted a mesmerising image of relatively fresh landslide on Mars. The stunning image shows boulder covered landslip along a canyon wall.

The high-resolution image was captured by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera equipped on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) back on 19 March in the year 2014. According to NASA scientists, the striking feature of the image is a boulder-covered landslide along a canyon wall.

For readers those who don’t know — Landslides occur when steep slopes fail, sending a mass of soil and rock to flow downhill, leaving behind a scarp at the top of the slope. After reaching the shallower slopes, the mass of materials comes to rest and forms a lobe of material that forms a well-defined structure called a toe.

A landslide is the movement of rock, debris or earth down a slope. They result from the failure of the materials which make up the hill slope and are driven by the force of gravity. Landslides are known also as landslips, slumps or slope failure.

In addition, one can clearly see several small impact craters in the image. The number of impact craters and its size is more near the landslip lobe while its density decreases around valley floor. According to NASA scientists, the scarp is relatively fresh when compared to rest of the cliff, which is a remarkable find.

Also, there is a scarp on the cliff side similar to the landslip scarp in the north. Scientists say that there is not much material below the valley floor which suggest that either landslip material has been removed or buried, another proof of relatively fresh bouldery landslip.

Moreover, NASA’s Curiosity rover has been sending breathtaking images of the red planet since it landed on the planet back in 2012. The landslip is an another milestone in search of life on planet other than Earth.

Personal finance

Could Your Holiday Gift Be a Security Threat?

You might be surprised how popular gifts can open the door for hackers to steal from you. 

These simple precautions can protect your personal information from hackers this season.

A hidden threat may be lurking under your Christmas tree this year. From fitness bands to digital photo frames, some seemingly innocuous presents may harbor flaws that can be exploited by hackers.

“Most likely, a hacker isn’t very interested in how long you’ve run or [in controlling] any appliances in your home,” says Ebba Blitz, president of security and encryption firm Alertsec.  “However, anything that’s connected to the Internet could open up a potential backdoor to your laptop.”

Fortunately, there is no need to pitch all your new holiday goodies. Instead, Blitz and other security experts say consumers can protect themselves by taking a few simple precautions.

Manufacturers Skimping on Security Measures

Gary Davis, chief consumer security evangelist for Intel, says the problem lies largely with manufacturers who rush to get products on the shelves. “Most manufacturers are foregoing even the most basic of security controls,” he says.

What’s more, many of the coders who are developing these products have little to no security background. As a result, plenty of items hit the market with glaring vulnerabilities that are easy for hackers to identify and use. 

Seven out of 10 Internet-enabled devices – such as TVs, home alarms and thermostats – contain security vulnerabilities, according to a 2014 study from computer manufacturer HP. In fact, the devices studied had an average of 25 vulnerabilities each, with problems ranging from data collection and password security, to failure to encrypt transmitted information.

How Hackers Exploit Holiday Gifts

Thieves use the vulnerabilities in these devices to gain access to your network and sensitive information on your computer.

Robert Siciliano, a security and identity theft expert and consultant, explains there are four ways hackers may use everything from smart watches to cameras to attack your system.

Malware on devices: “Any device that connects to your computer can potentially come with malware,” Siciliano says. Then, when you connect the device to your computer, the malware is automatically transferred.

Hacking wireless devices: Devices that connect to the Internet wirelessly may be vulnerable if information is not sent via a secured connection. Thieves can intercept the information and use it to break into your system.

Tapping into Bluetooth: As with wireless connections, hackers may be able to use a device’s Bluetooth technology to infiltrate a phone or network.

Holes in software: A device’s software or firmware – which are instructions programmed into the device – may have gaps that allow criminals to worm their way into a device.

“If you’re able to tunnel into my laptop or mobile devices, you have unfettered access to everything,” Davis says of the threat.

6 Ways to Protect Yourself from Security Threats

Experts say a few simple security steps go a long way to ensuring the safety and privacy of your data.

“Security companies are continuing to evolve and increase security measures across the board, but just as they evolve, so do cyber criminals,” says Paige Hanson, chief of identity education for the identity theft prevention and detection firm LifeLock. “It’s important for consumers to be aware of how they might be at risk and take preventative measures.”

Those preventive measure include the following:

1. Install anti-virus protection on your computer. An anti-virus program should automatically scan any device you connect to your computer for malware.

2. Use guest accounts and a firewall. “Set up guest accounts for connected things and use a router-based firewall,” Blitz says. Doing so ensures that even if a device is compromised, hackers will still be boxed out of your computer.

3. Set up accounts with strong passwords. Despite all that is known about secure passwords, Davis says plenty of people still use simple codes like “1234.” He says all accounts should be set up with a strong password with letters, numbers and symbols, and whenever possible, people should use a password manager to help them create and store hard-to-crack codes.

4. Wipe old devices before disposing or gifting. Hanson says hand-me-down cellphones and mobile devices are a popular gift during the holidays, especially for teens and tweens. However, too many people fail to wipe their data from the device first. That means that not only could the new owner access your information, but hackers could too if the device isn’t used securely.

5. Turn off Bluetooth. When you’re not using it, Siciliano says it’s a good idea to turn off the Bluetooth on your devices.

6. Install device updates right away. Since devices are often rushed to the market, vulnerabilities may not be discovered until later. At that point, a manufacturer may issue a software or firmware update to correct the problem. Consumers should search for updates to any device they receive and install it immediately. “Nine out of 10 times, it will be a security patch,” Davis says.

“Working in cybersecurity certainly creates a bit of a paranoia,” Blitz says. “In my view, we can’t be too safe. Any gadgets can create backdoors.”

That means even your child’s Wi-Fi-enabled teddy bear could be an unwitting accomplice to a hacker. However, don’t feel like you need to send the toy to the trash heap. Following a few, simple safety steps can go a long way toward ensuring teddy will be your child’s favorite plaything and not a hacker’s best friend.

View

What's the big deal with Simbu's 'Beep song'?

Are the protests over Simbu’s ‘Beep song’ even necessary when Tamil cinema has had songs with far worse lyrics

There’s a new disease out there. The symptoms include reddening of the eyes, a dramatic rise in blood pressure, eyes bulging, and a manic need to bite people’s head off. It is called Taking Offenciasis, and India seems to be suffering from quite the epidemic. It was in public display recently, when middle-aged women, who seemed suspiciously infuriated, took to the streets, and burned posters of Simbu and Anirudh in protest of the recently released ‘Beep Song’.

And so, I heard this “outrageously vulgar” song, a track that sure as sunrise I wouldn’t have, if it weren’t for all the negative publicity, and imagine my surprise to find that its obscenity was nowhere in keeping with all the hype. One person said it incited violence against women, another said it represented women indecently, and there was one who hilariously accused the song of describing “a female’s parts”. That’s like calling a person nuts, and having the president of the International Nut Council file a case against you for indecent use of the word.

If anything, Simbu makes a useful point when he asks youngsters not to berate women, but blame themselves instead for falling in love with the wrong kind in the first place. In a culture whose films often show the hero descending into alcohol, abuse and violence when the heroine says no to him, I’d posit that this is some necessary development. All the obscene words are beeped out, as is usually done by television channels; I couldn’t but wonder if those angry women carrying placards on the streets even heard the song. Only two lines made me feel slightly squeamish: one that encourages men not to fall in love with women, but have one-night stands instead, and the other that says women fall in love only to make a man unhappy. Sure, it’s some seriously regressive whining, but objectionable? Come on.

We’ve had far worse over the years, and rightly refrained from making a big deal about them. ‘Kadhal En Kadhal’ in Mayakkam Enna has the frustrated hero asking for women to be hit and kicked; ‘Raathiriyil Poothirukkum’ from the original Thangamagan has lines that go, ‘Maanganigal thottinile thoonguthadi ange’, to which the female vocalist tantalisingly responds, ‘Mannavanin pasi aara, maalayile parimaara’; if the Tamil there is too chaste, ‘Maanga maanga’ from Prabhu Deva-starrerPrathap makes it easier for you to get the euphemism. I dare you to check the video, and oh, be advised that it is NSFW. Incidentally, we have songs even during the times of MGR and Sivaji that aren’t particularly odes to women; ‘Beep Song’, in contrast, is simply a star, seemingly frustrated about his love life, bemoaning his choice of women.

In MGR-starrer Vivasayi, there’s a song titled ‘Ippadithaan irukka venum pombala’, that advocates how women should behave. Advice includes ‘Uduppugalai iduppu theriya maatakoodadhu’ and ‘Udhattu melay sivapu saayam poosa koodadhu’. These are just off the top of my head. It’s often romantic to forget the failings of the past and believe that the present is the most profligate. It isn’t.

The point is not that we missed great opportunities at getting outraged and taking to the streets. It is about how much we are now curtailing expression — even if tasteless — and how art is in serious danger of asphyxiation in our society. Can you imagine the mind-numbing monotony of politically correct art? Aren’t we the same people who complain of boredom when a star provides only diplomatic answers in interviews? Art, like humour, must not have boundaries, and practitioners must not have to work under the looming threat of public backlash and potential imprisonment. Earlier this year, a renowned sculptor installed a statue of female genitalia in Versailles, and of an old queen, no less. The artist is very much at large, and working on another exhibition. No, decadence is not the word; tolerance is.

Interestingly, I find that the commoners aren’t the ones usually baying for blood in response to such work. Most people I know simply find the song amusing and dismiss it as the bawling of an infantile artist. What about those protestors though?

Those women out on the streets, looking like they would settle for nothing but prison time for Simbu and Anirudh… Do they really represent us? Or is their wrath politically motivated? Is it possible that criticism of anything related to cinema is a great way to popularise a political party? Over the years, haven’t we had them raise a ruckus about everything from smoking to drinking to even movie titling? Is it possible at all that they are not just selfless people tirelessly working for the purging of the immoral?

And now, there’s controversy over the upcoming Bryan Singer film, X-Men: Apocalypse, in which the antagonist in the film, a mutant, calls himself “Ra, Krishna, and Yahweh”. As you probably guessed, Egyptians and Israelites aren’t shouting themselves hoarse over the “inappropriate usage” of their gods. Only we are. The floods have receded, and normalcy has returned.

Health

New Year's Resolution: Be (and Find) Good Role Models for Kids

To achieve, children need help and support in the form of good role models. 

For better or worse, children model their behavior after people both inside and outside of the home.

As every year comes to a close, we not only reflect on the events that defined our time in the last 12 months, but also begin to look forward, setting our agenda for the coming year. For many, this includes defining our goals, often by setting New Year’s resolutions. As we think about those plans, we need to ensure that they are reasonable, actionable and attainable. These tenets ring true for children as well as for adults. 

It's clear that children’s health is dependent on many factors, one of the most significant being making choices that support well-being, whether that is specific symptom management, general health maintenance such as weight management, or psychological health. All are reasonable and necessary goals, but to ensure that they are attainable requires one overall theme: support. To achieve, children need help.  Perhaps, then, the best New Year’s resolution is to find role models that can show the way to success.

It has long been accepted that much of learning is related to observation and modeling behavior. Developing a sense of other people’s feelings; learning to deal with adversity; understanding the expected social norms. Children learn these skills by watching and experimenting. Making sure the right template is in front of them is a challenging part of parenting.

For all children, the parent as role model cannot be underestimated.  Especially with younger children, the primary nuclear family members comprise the vast majority of their universe. When parents treat others, including their children, with respect and kindness; converse routinely about everyone’s day; and show love for the significant others in their lives, the effects on young kids are monumental and can last forever.

Positive displays of the morals and ethics that a family has embedded into their values system can allow children to imprint and adopt these desired behaviors. Take the concept of service for example. In households where one caregiver volunteers to a community organization, youth in that same family are twice as likely to participate in service. Approximately three-fourths of kids who do service volunteerism report doing so through religious, school or a youth organization – places led by adults who value and participate in service. The result? Approximately 55 percent of the total youth population in America participates in community service with only 5 percent reporting it as a school requirement. If you add that up, the sum total is 1.3 billion hours of service activity annually by people ages 18 or younger. 

As children get a bit older, the circle widens and the choice of people to emulate increases, almost to a staggering number. Although we may think teens don’t always crave adult influence in their lives, 56 percent report self-identifying with role models. And that same subset also reports higher levels of self-esteem and academic success. 

More adolescents identify with people who live outside of their home than younger children. This may include close family friends, religious leaders, coaches and teachers. How to pick someone to look up to can get more complicated for teens, especially in a society that loves the famous, in particular, professional athletes. Helping children identify specifically the qualities they admire in people who inspire them may help inform their choice. Talking openly with them about the people  their family and society respect may assist them in culling through the vast choices.

In addition, talking about negative role models also serves an important purpose: Seeing the type of person we do not want to be can be life-defining. We can point out those who embrace the opposite of our goals and the expectations we set for our children, like those who court violence, sexism, racism and substance abuse. It also allows for the beginning of conversation about good people who make bad choices – and how one can recover his or her integrity after a fall from grace. Citing the good and the bad can give an overall understanding of the people we aspire to be in life.

Entertainment

‘I lead a boring life’

Samantha on her forthcoming film with Dhanush, her journey in films and more

The name ‘Samantha’ almost sounds foreign. Like she was born and brought up abroad and came to south India to do movies. But she isn’t. She’s from — hold your breath — Pallavaram, studied in Holy Angels and Stella Maris. She is, as she insists, “just another ordinary Chennai girl who made it big.”

Indeed she has. Currently, Samantha has movies with the top stars in town — Thanga Magan with Dhanush (which releases this Friday) and 24 with Suriya. Her last couple of Kollywood releases were biggies as well — Kaththi with Vijay and 10 Enradhukulla with Vikram. In a telephonic chat with Metroplus , the actor spills the beans on her upcoming Dhanush-starrer, the journey so far and more.

You’re known for associating with social causes and recently donated Rs. 30 lakhs for people affected by the floods in Chennai…

Yes, it will be used for rehabilitating people affected by the floods in the city. A majority of it will be used in the Pallavaram area, where I hail from.

You are one of the top heroines in Tamil today…

I’m extremely happy with the work I’m getting in Kollywood.

Women have a significant contribution in the scripts these days, and I’m satisfied with the direction my career is taking.

Tell us about how you pick your projects…

I've been saying that I’m looking for different kind of roles for a long time. In the past, I’ve been fed up of the stereotypical cute roles offered to me. In that way, I’m thrilled that all my roles in my current films are very different with each other and require mature performances.

Thanga Magan , your release this week, must have been one such…

Yes, it is. It required a mature performance. It’s not often that you get to work with such talented co-stars.

What’s it about Dhanush that everyone keeps raving about?

He’s extremely talented; that’s something everyone knows. I found his take on things — on all aspects of filmmaking — very different. In a way, I had to unlearn some things that I’d learnt in the past.

Can you give us an example?

When we act, it’s usually loud. Like many others, I also tend to move my eyebrows and eyes a lot when in front of the camera. But in Thanga Magan , it’s all controlled and restrained. It taught me how to use my eyes to speak, in a sense.

You’re wearing saris and look a bit older in the trailer …

It’s not new to me; I played the mother of a four-year-old in my Telugu film, Manam , didn’t I? As an actor, you want to be offered things not in your comfort zone.

Finally, what does Samantha do when she’s not shooting?

I lead a boring life. I’m always usually with a book — definitely not fiction — or catching a film.

I found Dhanush’s take on all aspects of cinema very different. In a way, I had to unlearn some things that I’d learnt in the past while working with him.

                                                                                                                Courtesy: The Hindu

Tech Update

Google Glass is back: Filing points to a sleeker, more durable, foldable version for enterprises.

File photo of Google co-founder Sergey Brin wearing Glass. 

Earlier this year, Google had announced that its much-hyped Glass project had been temporarily shelved. The company had announced it was time for Glass to grow out of its baby steps and put on their big kid shoes. In other words, stop selling its head-mounted computer to consumers and come back with a new, improved version.

Well, it’s back. Made especially for the workplace, the aptly dubbed Google Glass ‘Enterprise Edition’ is on its way to make a mark in a territory that had received it positively and seen many use cases when it debuted. According to the pictures filed by Google with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the new Glass features a foldable form, thanks to the addition of a hinge that makes it fold down like a regular pair of glasses. 9to5Google reports that the hardware being used for Enterprise Edition is much better from the earlier one, with an Intel Atom processor, improved battery life and better wireless connectivity with a 5GHz Wi-Fi band for video streaming applications. The report also reveals that the new Glass boasts of better heat management, thanks to the new chip and its improved performance.

FCC images of Glass reveal a larger prism too. The report also explains how the power button has been moved from its awkward location on the inside to the back of the device. The front light comes on when the camera is in use and there is a yet-to-be-seen external battery, made by Google that attaches to the device magnetically. Also, the report claims that the device is waterproof and closed-off to keep it safe from debris and other substances that might find its way to the hardware. While Google has made no formal announcements, sources tell 9to5Google that the device has been in the hands of hundreds of people across Glass for Work startups and might be released soon.

Tech Update

IIT, IISc professors call Facebook’s Free Basics 'misleading and flawed' in statement to TRAI

While Facebook has been getting more than its fair share of criticism from the online media for its Free Basics program, the company has been trying its level best, spending more money to promote and gain acceptance from users. On the other hand we have those who are a part of the industry dissing the whole program and today there’s some more news on that front.

And now its the IIT and IISc professors who have taken a stand against Facebook’s Free Basics. More than 75 professors have signed up in a joint statement to TRAI calling Free Basics “misleading and flawed”.

Free Basic. Screengrab

And it gets worse. The statement goes to various lengths to explain how Free Basics is a “lethal combination which will lead to total lack of freedom on how Indians can use their own public utility”.

The statement points out to three critical flaws. The first revolves around how Facebook defines what the basic services are while the second clarifies how Facebook is utilizing data obtained from its Free Basics app. Lastly, the third flaw explains how the term ‘free’ in Free Basics is marketing gimmick.

In case you are unaware you can look at our article that covers the myths and facts about Facebook’s Free Basics.

The joint statement issued by the IIT and IISc members is as reproduced below:

“Allowing a private entity
to define for Indian Internet users what is ‘basic’,
to control what content costs how much, and
to have access to the personal content created and used by millions of Indians

is a lethal combination which will lead to total lack of freedom on how Indians can use their own public utility, the Internet. Facebook’s ‘free basics’ proposal is such a lethal combination, having several deep flaws, beneath the veil of altruism wrapped around it in TV and other media advertisements, as detailed below.

Flaw 1: Facebook defines what is ‘basic’.

The first obvious flaw in the proposal is that Facebook assumes control of defining what a ‘basic’ service is. They have in fact set up an interface for services to ‘submit’ themselves to Facebook for approval to be a ‘basic’ service. This means: what are the ‘basic’ digital services Indians will access using their own air waves will be decided by a private corporation, and that too one based on foreign soil. The sheer absurdity of this is too obvious to point out.

To draw an analogy, suppose a chocolate company wishes to provide ‘free basic food’ for all Indians, but retains control of what constitutes ‘basic’ food — this would clearly be absurd. Further, if the same company defines its own brand of ‘toffee’ as a ‘basic’ food, it would be doubly absurd and its motives highly questionable. While the Internet is not as essential as food, that the Internet is a public utility touching the lives of rich and poor alike cannot be denied. What Facebook is proposing to do with this public utility is no different from the hypothetical chocolate company. In fact, it has defined itself to be the first ‘basic’ service, as evident from Reliance’s ads on Free Facebook. Now, it will require quite a stretch of imagination to classify Facebook as ‘basic’. This is why Facebook’s own ad script writers have prompted Mr. Zuckerberg to instead make emotional appeals of education and healthcare for the poor Indian masses; these appeals are misleading, to say the least.

Flaw 2: Facebook will have access to all your apps’ contents.

The second major flaw in the model, is that Facebook would be able to decrypt the contents of the ‘basic’ apps on its servers. This flaw is not visible to the lay person as it’s a technical detail, but it has deep and disturbing implications. Since Facebook can access un-encrypted contents of users’ ‘basic’ services, either we get to consider health apps to be not basic, or risk revealing health records of all Indians to Facebook. Either we get to consider our banking apps to be not ‘basic’, or risk exposing the financial information of all Indians to Facebook. And so on. This is mind boggling even under normal circumstances, and even more so considering the recent internal and international snooping activities by the NSA in the US.

Flaw 3: It’s not free.

The third flaw is that the term ‘free’ in ‘free basics’ is a marketing gimmick. If you see an ad which says ‘buy a bottle of hair oil, get a comb free’, you know that the cost of the comb is added somewhere. If something comes for free, its cost has to appear somewhere else. Telecom operators will have to recover the cost of ‘free basic’ apps from the non-free services (otherwise, why not make everything free?). So effectively, whatever Facebook does not consider ‘basic’ will cost more.

If Facebook gets to decide what costs how much, in effect Indians will be surrendering their digital freedom, and freedom in the digital economy, to Facebook. So this is not an issue of elite Indians able to pay for the Internet versus poor Indians, as Facebook is trying to portray. It is an issue of whether all Indians want to surrender their digital freedom to Facebook.

That the ‘Free Basics’ proposal is flawed as above is alarming but not surprising, for it violates one of the core architectural principles of Internet design: net neutrality. Compromising net neutrality, an important design principle of the Internet, would invariably lead to deep consequences on people’s freedom to access and use information. We therefore urge that the TRAI should support net neutrality in its strongest form, and thoroughly reject Facebook’s ‘free basics’ proposal.

Signed by:
Krithi Ramamritham, Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Bhaskaran Raman, Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Siddhartha Chaudhuri, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Ashwin Gumaste, Associate Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Kameswari Chebrolu, Associate Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Uday Khedker, Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Madhu N. Belur, Professor, EE, IIT Bombay
Mukul Chandorkar, Professor, EE, IIT Bombay
Amitabha Bagchi, Associate Professor, CS&E, IIT Delhi
Vinay Ribeiro, Associate Professor, CS&E, IIT Delhi
Niloy Ganguly, Professor, CS&E, IIT Kharagpur
Animesh Kumar, Assistant Professor, EE, IIT Bombay
Animesh Mukherjee, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIT Kharagpur
Subhashis Banerjee, Professor, CSE, IIT Delhi
Shivaram Kalyanakrishnan, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Saswat Chakrabarti, Professor, GSSST, IIT Kharagpur
H.Narayanan, Professor, EE, I.I.T Bombay
Vinayak Naik, Associate Professor, CSE, IIIT-Delhi
Aurobinda Routray, Professor, EE, IIT Kharagpur
Naveen Garg, Professor, CSE, IIT Delhi
Amarjeet Singh, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIIT-Delhi
Purushottam Kulkarni, Associate Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Supratik Chakraborty, Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Kavi Arya, Associate Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
S. Akshay, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Jyoti Sinha, Visiting Faculty, Robotics, IIIT Delhi
Joydeep Chandra, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIT Patna
Parag Chaudhuri, Associate Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Rajiv Raman, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIIT-Delhi
Mayank Vatsa, Associate Professor, CSE, IIIT-Delhi
Anirban Mukherjee, Associate Professor, EE, IIT Kharagpur
Pushpendra Singh, Associate Professor, CSE, IIIT-Delhi
Partha Pratim Das, Professor, CSE, IIT Kharagpur
Dheeraj Sanghi, Professor, CSE, IIIT Delhi
Karabi Biswas, Associate Professor, EE, IIT Kharagpur
Bikash Kumar Dey, Professor, EE, IIT Bombay
Mohammad Hashmi, Assistant Professor, ECE, IIIT Delhi
Venu Madhav Govindu, Assistant Professor, EE, IISc Bengaluru
Murali Krishna Ramanathan, Assistant Professor, CSA, IISc Bangalore
Sridhar Iyer, Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Sujay Deb, Assistant Professor, ECE, IIIT Delhi
Virendra Sule, Professor, EE, IIT Bombay
Om Damani, Associate Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
V Rajbabu, Assistant Professor, EE, IIT Bombay
Hema Murthy, Professor, CSE, IIT Madras
Anupam Basu, Professor, CSE, IIT Kharagpur
Sriram Srinivasan, Adjunct Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
K.V.S. Hari, Professor, ECE, IISc, Bengaluru
Shalabh Gupta, Associate Professor, EE, IIT Bombay
Suman Kumar Maji, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIT Patna
Udayan Ganguly, Associate Professor, EE, IIT Bombay
Rahul Banerjee, Professor, CSE, BITS Pilani
R K. Shevgaonkar, Professor, EE, IIT Bombay
S.C. Gupta, Visiting Faculty, CSE, IIT Delhi
Ashutosh Gupta, Reader, STCS, TIFR
V Krishna Nandivada, Associate Professor, CSE, IIT Madras
Ashutosh Trivedi, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Ganesh Ramakrishnan, Associate Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Amit Patra, Professor, EE, IIT Kharagpur
Jayalal Sarma, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIT Madras
Rajesh Sundaresan, Associate Professor, ECE, IISc Bangalore
Deepak Khemani, Professor, CSE, IIT Madras
Vinod Prabhakaran, Reader, TCS, TIFR
Saroj Kaushik, Professor, CSE, IIT Delhi
Kumar Appaiah, Assistant Professor, EE, IIT Bombay
Bijendra N Jain, Professor, CSE, IIT Delhi
Aaditeshwar Seth, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIT Delhi
Nupur Dasgupta, Jadavpur University
C.Chandra Sekhar, Professor, CSE, IIT Madras
Pralay Mitra, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIT Kharagpur
Krishna Jagannathan, Assistant Professor, EE, IIT Madras
Venkatesh Tamarapalli, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIT Guwahati
Ajit Rajwade, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
D. Manjunath, Professor, EE, IIT Bombay
Subhasis Chaudhuri, EE, IIT Bombay
S. Arun-Kumar, Professor, CS&E, IIT Delhi
Alka Hingorani, Associate Professor, IIT Bombay
Swaroop Ganguly, Associate Professor, EE, IIT Bombay
Shishir K. Jha, Associate Professor, SJMSOM, IIT Bombay
Sabyasachi SenGupta, Professor, EE, IIT Kharagpur
Mythili Vutukuru, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Harish Karnick, Professor, CSE, IIT Kanpur.
Piyush Rai, Assistant Professor, CSE, IIT Kanpur
Jayakrishnan Nair, Assistant Professor, EE, IIT Bombay
T.V.Prabhakar, Professor, CSE, IIT Kanpur
Nitin Saxena, Associate Professor, CSE, IIT Kanpur.
Sundar Viswanathan, Professor, CSE, IIT Bombay
Sushobhan Avasthi, Assistant Professor, CeNSE, IISc Bangalore
Sumit Darak, Assistant Professor, IIIT Delhi”