Social networking sites are a 'modern form of madness'

They may be a venue to socialise and keep in touch with people, but social networking websites like 'Facebook' and 'Twitter' are making people "less human" by isolating them from reality, a US sociologist has claimed.

According to Prof Sherry Turkle of Massachusetts Institute of Technology , the way in which people frantically communicate online via social networking sites can be seen as "a modern form of madness".

In her new book, 'Alone Together', Prof Turkle writes that a behaviour that has become typical may still express the problems "that once caused us to see it as pathological".

She explains that people are become isolated from reality due to such social networking sites because technology is dominating our lives and making us "less human", 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

Under the illusion of allowing us to communicate better, technology is actually isolating us from real human interactions in a cyber-reality that is a poor imitation of the real world, she suggests.

"We've invented inspiring and enhancing technologies, yet we have allowed them to diminish us," she writes.

Her warnings -- and those from other cyber-sceptics -- follow the death of Simone Back , a woman in Brighton who posted a suicide note on Facebook that was seen by more than 1,000 of her "friends".

Yet none of them called for help -- instead trading insults with each other on her Facebook wall.

Turkle's book has created significant attention in the US because her previous works, The Second Self and Life on the Screen, were most positive about changing technology.

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

Apple's iPad enters Singapore classrooms

If Oprah can do it, so can schools in Singapore.

Two schools in the wealthy city-state have begun handing out Apple iPads to students, relieving them of the need to carry satchels full of bulging text books and notes.

Nanyang Girls High School has spent S$135,000 (about $100,000) to buy 150 iPads for 140 students and 10 teachers in a pilot project. Users connect to the Internet using the tablet, and download books and course material.

They can take notes on the iPad, and use worksheets. "It's much more convenient," said 14-year-old Chloe Chen, sitting in a classroom wih her iPad in front of her. "Teachers can just tell us to go a website, and we can immediately go and do our work."

Last year billionaire talk show host Oprah Winfrey gave staff at her magazine an iPad and a check for $10,000 each.

Seah Hui Yong, dean of curriculum at Nanyang Girls school, said the iPad was chosen because it complemented a new method of teaching under which students are given more freedom to learn themselves, instead of relying solely on the teacher in traditional classrooms.

"It's not so much about the iPad," she said, adding that if some other better device comes along, the school could switch.

"If you talk to the girls you will realise that they practically don't need training. I think if anything, the joke is the teachers are probably taking a little bit longer time in getting used to it."

Newest economic indicator: companies buying iPads

The news last week that Apple's Steve Jobs is taking a leave of absence was a big story. But something else about the company got far less attention and could be even more important to investors this year.

Corporations "are adding iPads to their approved device list at an amazing rate," Peter Oppenheimer, Apple Inc.'s chief financial officer, told analysts Tuesday. Apple's products, more known for their consumer appeal, are now used in by employees of Wells Fargo, Archer Daniels Midland, DuPont and others.

Splurging on $500 iPads is a sign that the business cycle is starting to turn and that companies are starting to spend a record amount of cash they've accumulated. If the trend is real, companies will do what consumers haven't -- spark a strong economic recovery. That could push the Standard & Poor's 500 index to its third straight year of double-digit percentage gains. The last time that happened: the tech-boom days of the late 1990s.

"You're going to see a bigger commitment to growth this year because companies have underspent for quite some time," says Bill Stone, chief investment strategist at PNC Asset Management. Financial, technology and energy companies are the most likely to benefit from business spending, says David Bianco, a market strategist at Bank of America. Each group is up about 3 percent this year, nearly one percentage point ahead of the overall S&P 500. Those three groups account for nearly half of index's value.

The continued success of financial, energy and technology stocks would point to a new stage of this bull market, which has returned nearly 100 percent since it began in March 2009. Consumer discretionary stocks, the group of hotels, retail stores and automakers that depend on consumer spending, outperformed the last two years after being left for dead during the 2008 financial crisis. Those companies are now lagging the market, suggesting that the bounce back from the lows of the recession is over.

BlackBerry's new phone to segregate personal, work related data

Research In Motion aims to keep its dominance of the corporate smartphone market by enabling the BlackBerry to segregate a user's personal data from work-related emails and other applications sponsored by employers.

A senior RIM executive says the company would soon introduce software that would effectively give users two phones in one. It's part of RIM's strategy to arrest a steady erosion of its leadership in the corporate segment as Apple's iPhone and other consumer-friendly devices make inroads.

Many corporations are now allowing employees to use their own smartphones at work, forcing IT departments to manage confidential information on the iPhone and devices running on Google's Android operating system.

But those devices are not equipped with the security and system features that have long given the BlackBerry an edge among corporations and other organisations that put a high value on confidentiality and control.

"There are two fundamental use cases on the smartphone -- enterprise and personal. The problem is that they are conflicting," said Jeff McDowell, RIM's senior vice-president for business and platform marketing.

RIM's solution is software called BlackBerry Balance, which will allow corporate IT departments to retain control over data such as business-related email sent via a BlackBerry Enterprise Server , or BES, while keeping the Web browser and an employee's social networking and photographs separate.

Inside Bluetooth ULP technology

Bluetooth Version 2.1 + EDR and Version 3.0 + HS (commonly referred to as "Classic Bluetooth technology") and Bluetooth low-energy technology have much in common: they are all low cost, short range, interoperable, robust wireless technologies operating in the license-free 2.4GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) RF band.

But there is one critical difference: Bluetooth low-energy technology was designed from the outset to be an "ultra-low power" (ULP) wireless technology whereas Classic Bluetooth technology forms a "low power" wireless connection.

Classic Bluetooth technology is a "connection oriented" radio with a fixed connection interval ideal for high activity connections like mobile phones linking with wireless headsets. In contrast, Bluetooth low-energy technology employs a variable connection interval that can be set from a few milliseconds to several seconds depending on the application.

 In addition, because it features a very rapid connection, Bluetooth low-energy technology can normally be in a "not connected" state (saving power) where the two ends of a link are aware of each other, but only link up when absolutely necessary and then for as short a time as possible.

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

Master chess players use hidden brain parts: Study

Professional chess players have long stumped fans with how they make killer moves so swiftly and intuitively, and a Japanese study published on Friday may have unlocked their secret.

Tracking blood flow in the brain to detect spikes of activity, researchers found that master players of shogi -- a Japanese game similar to chess -- use two regions of the brain to make critical moves.

Unlike amateur players, who use the precuneus area of the parietal lobe, professionals use the caudate nucleus in the center of the brain, said Keiji Tanaka at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute's Cognitive Brain Mapping Laboratory.

"Professionals are trained extensively for a long time, over 10 years, hours every day. This extensive training (may have) shifted the activity from the cerebral cortex to the caudate nucleus," the study's lead author Tanaka said.

"Amateurs use the precuneus only a third of the time (that professionals do)," Tanaka said.

The findings were published in the journal Science.

Experts believe the caudate nucleus is responsible for switching bodily movements.

"The caudate nucleus is very well developed in rats and mice, while the cerebral cortex is very developed in primates ... by becoming expert, shogi masters start to use all parts of the brain," Tanaka said.

Tanaka hoped the study would inspire research into developing the intuitive powers of the caudate nucleus.

"Board games may not be very important for society ... but auditors, crime investigators, doctors all need (intuition) to find the point of concern, the point of abnormality," he said.

"Systems engineers often have to depend on intuition to locate the source of trouble. Excellent engineers can't explain why they are good, it's very similar to chess."

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

Review: HTC 7 Mozart

Windows Phone 7 might not yet have been “officially” launched in India but the first Windows Phone devices are already out in the market. First off the mark was the large-screen HTC HD7 , and now comes the second, again from HTC, the MTC 7 Mozart .

Where the HD7 had an almost smallish tablet-like design, with the 4.3 inch screen dominating, the Mozart has a relatively smaller (but still big) 3.7 inch display. Its frame is also less wide but it retains the relative slimness of the HD7, making it one of the most palm-friendly larger touchscreen devices we have seen. But what really stands out is its design — in the HTC Legend tradition, the Mozart has been crafted out of a single piece of anodized aluminum.

This does not seem to be evident from the front of the phone, which is dominated by the 480 x 800 display, but comes to the fore when you turn the phone over and see the anodized aluminum with the company name engraved on it. The front has three soft keys (Home, Search and Back), there is a dedicated camera key on the right side and rather unusually, the volume rocker on the left. The innards, like the HD 7, are impressive too — a 1GHz processor, 576 MB RAM and 8GB onboard storage.

However, while the HD7 was very much a professional device, the Mozart is targeted at the multimedia loving crowd. The display is lovely (very good for Web browsing and watching video), there is high-fidelity virtual surround sound which sounds just wonderful, and most significant of all, an 8.0-megapixel camera with autofocus and a Xenon flash, no less. And this being Windows Phone 7, it is all covered in a brilliant tile interface where you can add any number of tiles (representing shortcuts and/or apps) to a vertically scrolling homescreen, which works with butter-like smoothness with hardly any lags and comes with mail and office apps out of the box. The Mozart is a great-looking phone with a very good looking OS to boot.

Disclaimer: All information on this news has been compiled from their respective official websites or through public domain sites and leading newspapers. Although, we have taken reasonable efforts to provide you with accurate information, but we assumes no responsibility for the accuracy (or inaccuracy) of the Information and would advise you to verify it from the official product provider. We cannot guarantee that the information on this page is 100% correct. If you would like to advertise on our site please contact us

Like cellphones, 'App stores' in vogue for computers

For most people, the term “app” is now synonymous with cellphones. However, the fact is that applications were once the preserve of computers, with users spending hours downloading dozens of applications that ranged from the utterly mundane to the useful, legally and less than legally.

Websites offering software for computer users have been around for more than a decade, but have seldom received the kind of attention that mobile app stores are now getting.

However, that might change with many software developers and computer manufacturers attempting to replicate the mobile app store model for computer software. The idea behind a computer app store is the same as that of a mobile app one - to provide users with a single, easy to browse and download, source of applications for their computers.

Some of the biggest names in the industry including the likes of Google and Apple have already got into the act, while others such as Acer, Asus and Amazon are making plans for their own stores. There are already a number of sources for your you to go app shopping on your computer.

MindTree says its vision & strategies in right direction

Mindtree has said that the firm has the right strategies and a credible management to take it on the right path, and that being innovative and flexible will help it win customers in a dynamic market place. The firm was responding to an article in ET dated January 21, which said that it faces an uncertain future due to strategic bets going wrong and slippages in performance.

The company’s executive chairman Ashok Soota and CEO and MD N Krishnakumar have said that MindTree is an 11-year young company, which has achieved a run rate of $340m in revenues . “You would appreciate that among the many IT services companies which started around the same time, very few of them exist today as independent companies or have completed an IPO. MindTree is one of the few exceptions.”

They add that at a revenue level, MindTree has a CAGR of 22%, 28% and 39% in the last three, five and ten years, respectively. “We have a strong organic growth engine and acquisitions have contributed only about 20% of our growth. All acquisitions have been well integrated and have strengthened our service offerings.

The article talks about “Bad Decisions and some wrong strategies” . MindTree does not wish to be a “me too” company. And this has built a differentiated , sustainable, next generation services company , which appeals to the younger workforce.

The letter added that the acquisition cost of Kyocera Wireless India was only $6m, and the acquisition in itself has yielded favorable results. The revenues from services to Kyocera Corporation since the time of acquisition till date have been $22m, with healthy margins.