P.I.N.G. Issue 8.1

editorial Editors

Chaitrali Joshi 92chaitralisj@ieee.org

Jai Chhatre 173jaee@ieee.org

Rahul Baijal rahulbaijal@ieee.org

Design Courtesy

Tanvi Oka tanvioka@ieee.org

Riddhi Kedia riddhikedia@ieee.org

The PICT IEEE Student Branch (P.I.S.B.) was established in the Pune Institute of Computer Technolgy (PICT) in 1988 with the aim of inculcating in its student members the knowledge of latest advancements in technology for the benefit of humanity. P.I.S.B. holds the distinction of being one of the largest IEEE Student Branches in the IEEE Region 10. It is noteworthy that P.I.S.B. was chosen to host the IEEE Pune Section’s Congress on 9th and 10th March 2012 at PICT. Mr. Arjun R. Pillai, Vice-Chair SB Relations, IEEE GINI India, was invited to hold a workshop stressing on the benefits of IEEE membership and how to communicate and apply these benefits to the needs of members.

Credenz is the annual technical fest of the PICT IEEE Student Branch, held at PICT in September each year. Spread over three days, during which a number of individual events are held, it provides a platform for participants from universities all over the nation to compete against their peers and enhance their erudition. Synonymous with its current tag- “Beyond Conventionality”, every member of PISB endeavors to accomplish newer objectives never been attempted before and partake in its effulgent splendor.

The PICT IEEE Newsletter Group (P.I.N.G.) is the official magazine of P.I.S.B. The initiation of P.I.N.G. was through a confluence of students fascinated by the marvel of technical literature and through their inspired enthusiasm to spread it among their peers. As the mantle of this exquisite legacy was handed down year after year, it has been the earnest effort of its bearers to make it reach a new zenith incorporating new and even better features. Over the years P.I.N.G. has developed a wide and acclaimed readership. The previous issue of P.I.N.G. was distributed during the IEEE Pune Section’s Congress and received great acclamation for its inventive design and information.

We thank our contributing authors for their insightful articles and hope to see and welcome them at Credenz’12. In conclusion, we acknowledge the ardent and vehement support of our junior volunteers, without their diligent perseverance, the culmination of this issue would have been impossible.

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Dr Rajesh B. Ingle Branch Counsellor

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am happy to see P.I.N.G. along with other IEEE journals/transactions, in the journal section at PICT library. The world is going through a difficult phase, where enhancing employability and performance is a growing concern. Staying technically current is very important.

The roles of technical societies like IEEE are very crucial in providing platform for professional networking, career resources & recognition and continuing education. This official newsletter provides platform for all including student members to showcase their talent, views and further strengthen IEEE activities.

We, at P.I.S.B. took initiative and proposed IEEE Pune Section to start the Section’s Congress. IEEE Pune Section approved the proposal and PICT IEEE Student Branch was honoured to host IEEE Pune Section’s Congress 2012. The event was a first of its kind. The Congress was held on 9th and 10th of March at the Pune Institute of Computer Technology. It provided a forum for all the student branches in Pune to interact, share and express their ideas. It served as the required platform for the delegates to discuss and deliberate on several issues regarding IEEE and the student branches in Pune. A special workshop was held by the head of Global Integrated Network of IEEE (GINI)

by Mr Arjun Pillai on networking between student branches and its importance. IEEE Pune Section’s Congress 2012 was attended by Counsellors and student representatives of various student branches.

Dr Koichi Asatani, an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer, Professor at Kogakuin University, Tokyo, Japan, visited Pune from 24th January, 2012 till 26th January, 2012. He delivered a lecture on “Trends in NGN and its Issues” at PICT, on 25th January 2012. He touched upon various topics such as Global ICT Developments, Fixed-broadband, Broadband Access in Japan, Evolution in Networks and Applications, Next Generation Networks –Principle, IMS-based NGN Configuration Examples, NGN Standardization, ITU-T Recommendations on NGN and NGN Issues.

Dr Unmil Karadkar, Assistant Professor Texas Austin visited P.I.S.B. and delivered a talk on “Future of Computing: Computer for impacting other disciplines” on 7th Jan 2012, at the Seminar Hall, PICT, Pune.

On behalf of IEEE Computer Society Pune Chapter and the IEEE Pune Section, I wish the P.I.S.B. as well this newsletter all success. I congratulate the P.I.N.G. team for their commendable efforts.

Some quick links for reference: • Membership information and applications www.computer.org/membership • IEEE Web Account www.computer.org/webaccounts • Conferences www.computer.org/conferences • Technical Committees www.computer.org/tandc • Standards Working Groups CREDENZ.INFO/PING

www.computer.org/standards • Chapters and student clubs www.computer.org/chapters • Student Activities www.computer.org/students www.computer.org/education • Awards www.computer.org/awards

SEPTEMBER 2012 . P.I.N.G. ISSUE 8.1 .

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chronology

The Creative Head looks back

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t’s been a wonderful journey since 2010 when I first joined the PICT IEEE Student Branch, in my 2nd year of engineering. Aanchal Luthra, the P.I.N.G. editor at that time, used to sit with the juniors and ask them to check the submitted articles for duplicity. I didn’t understand the importance of a newsletter or the potential it had, back then. The initial issues had a very monotonous format without a cover page. I decided to take up the designing as a challenge and went home and did some research. That very day I got some good designs and tried them. Next day she sat with me for an hour and we finished the design. We were working on Word then, there was no point to put the designed image on word. So we decided to put an A4 size image there. It was a very simple fix, but this small step was the first of what was to become a revolution.

Next year when the CTD issue was due, two of my team mates Aditi Joshi and Shruti Swagatika were working with me on that issue. Due to the budget we knew we might not be able to make the cover coloured but still we tried our best. We brainstormed some ideas to encourage people to give articles, and finally decided to have a badge for everyone who gets an article published (i got ping’d!). It was a HIT! P.I.N.G. was read and distributed more than expected.

Then was the year when we were organisers of Credenz and P.I.S.B. (PICT IEEE Student Branch) and the new P.I.N.G. team was; Dimple Shah, Fareen Magdum and Pooja Bhurke . They knew what a magazine shouldn’t and should have. “The main job of the editor is to make the newsletter sound interesting” is what they said and they did exactly that. Our theme during that time, Socialize, to take the activities of the Student Branch to a new level and reach out to more number of people. We asked industry professionals to give articles and got a great response from various colleges as well as through online submissions. We took our event to a new level where P.I.N.G. was not just limited to our College but to conferences, other colleges and industry experts. All these radical changes faced a lot of resistance in the beginning but the team persisted. The newsletter got a face-lift and it 3

P.I.N.G. Issue 8.1 . September 2012

was an exciting journey. We had our previous copies online for downloads. It was going BIG and we were proud to be a part of it. PING was also appreciated at the All India IEEE Student Congress and Pycon, Pune. One major thing was that we switched to using professional softwares like Adobe InDesign. It took some time to learn but the end result was worth the effort! Finally a designer was an inherent irreplaceable part of the P.I.N.G. team!

After CTD 2012, which reflected the success of the last issue as this time we received more articles than ever before without asking anyone! We strived to make it even bigger; make it a local technology magazine. It was appreciated by the IEEE Pune Section and our editors were asked to edit the Pune Section Newsletter. We had Rahul Baijal, Jai Chhatre and Chirag Kadam helping Dimple, Fareen and Pooja with it. With every issue we get the most enthusiastic and perfect people to help us out! It is such a pleasure working with them, their exuberance to redefine what they want to do with the magazine, specifying rules and guidelines and breaking them yet again to do something even better in the next issue. It was a continuous process, reinventing the wheel as they say. P.I.N.G. was on towards becoming something entirely different from what it had started as, a newsletter.

This Credenz we had the same process of refining our previous efforts. Making it much more than a newsletter, with every word processed, scrutinized and typed, P.I.N.G. is not just a newsletter now, it is a medium we use to reach out to people and make them aware of technology, making them better engineers and inspire them to explore more!

I’m sure we will soon have a P.I.N.G. subscription form online and e-P.I.N.G. soon after that.

So keep PINGing!

-Abhimanyu Bhosale Creative Head, PICT IEEE Student Branch Fourth Year Engineering Computer Engineering Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India CREDENZ.INFO/PING

flashbacks

Reminiscence of a former member

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t has been four long years since I’ve been a part of the PICT IEEE Student Branch family. The sundry events synonymous with P.I.S.B. such as the Membership drive, Credenz, National Computing Contest, which are just a few to name, have become an indispensable part of my life. Having been a chairperson during my college days, I have not only felt this before, but still feel highly obliged, as I am not only bound to the duties that I had before but also have a responsibility of representing P.I.S.B. everywhere I am, even now.

I still remember how it all began. It was back in September 2008, when I was a fresher that year and P.I.S.B.’s annual tech fest, Credenz was going to begin in a couple of days. I was sitting in the college parking along with my newly made friends and chatting away, when one of my seniors approached us asking if anyone was interested in volunteering for the event. Now I have always been a student who looked beyond the horizons of textbooks and lectures seeking to gain out-ofthe-box knowledge, interact with people around me and overcome technical and non-technical challenges faced in the real world. Thus I volunteered to work and at the end of it all, I had a proud feeling of being a part of such a prestigious technical event in my first year. So I guess the saying which goes- ”when opportunity comes knocking at your door, grab it by both hands”- holds true!

Ever since then, the journey of being an active part of the various events of the student branch has transformed into a priceless memory to be cherished forever.

In 2010, I had become the event coordinator for Credenz and to this date, has been one of my best learning platform and opportunity. But behold my friends, as, however overwhelming and exhilarated it may seem, with great power, comes great responsibility, and I felt deeply obligated to my team and wanted to take Credenz to newer horizons.

Organizing any event, big or small is never an easy task even for the well acquainted. But when you are collaborating with a team that consist of a highly experienced, forever-ready-to-guide Branch Counselor and staff, senior members who always make efforts to correct and motivate you for the CREDENZ.INFO/PING

cause, batch mates who are present with you throughout the day with awe-inspiring dedication and last but not the least, the junior volunteers who convert their excitement into that extra hand needed in making any event successful ,there was no doubt in my mind that the event had to be a grand success!

One of IEEE’s values is Networking with people, and I was given an opportunity to do exactly the same. In the month of Sept, 2011, two more members of P.I.S.B. and I attended the IEEE’s All India Student Congress held in Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi. We met students and senior members of IEEE from all over India and some from abroad too. Being a part of such an organization also helped me quite a lot during my job interviews and tasks. A person might have brilliant technical knowledge, but in the corporate world, that only will not help you suffice. You need various other skills such as team work, communication, presentation of work and yourself, not just power-point presentations! And these are just to name a very few.

The past few years, being associated with P.I.S.B. has truly been a wonderful learning experience and I hope to further continue being a part of this family, yes that is how I’d like to refer us to. I feel that I have not only been able to successfully nourish my technical skills but also develop important team work, leadership, decision making skills just to name a few.

Now, as an ex-member of the student branch, I feel it is one of my responsibilities to look out for the younger and newer members of this family, nourish them, guide them and at the end of the day, their efforts and happiness is what would drive me.

-Jesal N. Mistry Software Quality Analyst, ThoughtWorks Technologies (Ex Chairperson, PICT IEEE Student Branch) SEPTEMBER 2012 . P.I.N.G. ISSUE 8.1 .

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expertspeak

Insights from the Industry

The Scale of Civilizations

Measuring a civilization's level of technological advancement, based on the amount of usable energy it has at its disposal.

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nergy is the hottest topic of discussion among engineering communities today. Well that’s probably an understatement, energy is the most discussed topic with policy makers, industrialists, investors, political leaders. It’s the juice on which the entire human civilization is running, whether it is obtained from conventional fossil fuel and atomic/natural sources (coal, natural gas, nuclear fission, hydroelectric, or shale gas) or renewable sources such as solar radiation, wind power, geothermal springs etc. We are building new highefficiency coal-fired power plants, nuclear stations, dams, gas power plants, wind farms, photo voltaic arrays, all to harness more and more energy for the betterment of our civilization, to enrich our lives.

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There are many serious discussions on possible sources of energy. I thought in this article we can discuss something less serious just for fun, how a particular civilization can be classified according to the level of energy/power they consume or control.

It turns out that there is a scientifically accepted scale, called Kardashev scale, for measuring this level of civilization. And guess what, human civilization is somewhere between 0 and 1 on that scale whereas the full scale has normal ratings 1, 2, 3… and so on.

Formally speaking, the Kardashev scale is a method of measuring a civilization’s level of technological advancement, based on the amount of usable energy a it has at its disposal. The scale has CREDENZ.INFO/PING

Nanocellulose What’s brown and sticky, lightweight, flexible, stronger than steel, stiffer than kevlar and

conducts electricity? It is used for making paper and cardboard, composite, hygiene absorbant products, emulsions and disposables.

three designated categories called Type I, II, and III. A Type I civilization has available, all the energy impinging on its home planet, Type II has all the energy of its sun – its father star, and Type III of its own galaxy!

Statistically speaking, Type I civilization uses approximately 1016-1017 watts of power, Type II consumes about 1025-1026 watts, whereas the big brother Type III behemoths would use up a whopping 1037 watts! To put these numbers into perspective, the entire world’s energy consumption levels are around 20-30 terawatts i.e. 2 x 1013 watts – still only 0.2% of the lowest strata of Type I civilization!

So where does that land us? Type 0 of course! The original scale was proposed by Nikolai Semenovich Kardashev, a Russian (formerly Soviet) astrophysicist, and the deputy director of the Russian Space Research Institute. However, to make the scaling more granular, Carl Sagan suggested a modified rating with the logarithmic formula: K = log (MW)/10, where MW is the power used by the civilization in megawatts and K is called the Kardashev rating. Taking a power consumption of 20 TW, current human civilization achieves a K value of 0.73. Famous theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku suggests that maintaining the current state of advancement and technological progress, human society can achieve Type-I civilization status in 100-200 years, Type-II in few thousand years and Type-III status in a million years.

It is hypothesized that we will need complete control over nuclear fusion technology, large-scale solar power farms, and more futuristically – matter/anti-matter interaction generated energy systems to get to a Type-I civilization. For the Type-III civilizations, more exotic schemes will be needed, all of them in the realm of current science fictions such as – (a) Controlled matter annihilation in man-made tiny black holes and capturing the released photons by accretion disk. (b) Penrose process i.e. capturing photons emitted by black holes to reduce its angular momentum and collecting some energy thereby. (c) Dyson sphere or Dyson swarms which are large CREDENZ.INFO/PING

constellations of space-based solar power capturing satellites with the ability to beam down the power to the Earth. (d) Capturing power from deep-space gamma ray bursts. (e) Large-scale matter/anti-matter annihilation process.

Ultimately, for the Type-III superbeings, these same processes could be used albeit at a scale larger than the local star-system.

Obviously, all these are fun to discuss and ponder over a cup of cappuccino but nobody can predict whether human civilization can achieve such status at any future point of time. We have sent astronauts to Moon, we have landed robotic explorers on the red planet Mars, may be within the next century people will start living beyond Earth, but the technological progress must have its feet grounded on our mother Earth and continue to solve everyday problems such as food scarcity, weather prediction, providing basic necessities of life to the poorest section of society and more. Along with moving up the Kardashev scale ,the above mentioned should be immediate priorities for our budding and practicing engineers alike.

-Dr Tirthajyoti Sarkar Fairchild Semiconductor Pune, India SEPTEMBER 2012 . P.I.N.G. ISSUE 8.1 .

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our mentor speaks emphasizing on going green and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure. It is estimated that ICT energy consumption is rising at 15-20 percent per year, doubling every five years. A significant portion of the operational expenditure of a cellular network goes to pay the electricity bill. From the perspective of cellular network operators, reducing electrical energy consumption is not only matter of being green and responsible, it is also very much an economically important issue.

There are currently more than 4 million base stations and base station alone consumes 60-80% of the energy. A typical base station consumes around 4.5 MWh per year. Cellular network operators are required to increase energy efficiency in all components of cellular networks, including mobile devices, base stations, and core (backhaul) networks.

Much of the emphasis on current research has focused on the following issues: metrics to measure and define the degree of “greenness”, minimization of BS energy consumption, improvements in Power network topology and opUsing crosslayer energy efficient systems Amplifier, erations, cross layer energy efficiencies, and incorporation of alternate to incorporate alternate energies in energies. A low power wireless netCommunication Technology. work architecture and backhaul that still provides good quality of service would be an appropriate green network n recent times, mobile wireless communication architecture. It would also be interesting to conis experiencing an explosive growth rate. The sider radio techniques across all the layers of demand for service provision via the wireless the protocol stack that collectively achieve sigcommunications bearer has raised above all the exnificant power reduction. Cognitive radio and pectations. It has been reported that during the cooperating relaying are also promising techlast two decades, worldwide mobile phone subnologies in saving the energy. Most of these scriptions grew from 12.4 million to over 5.6 billion, ideas and techniques are at infancy and need penetrating about 70% of the global population. to be matured for considering the deployment.

According to the report by TRAI as of May 2012, India itself has mobile user base with over 929.37 million users which is worlds’ second largest with -Dr. Y. Ravinder overall teledensity about 79.28%. This tremendous Head of Department growth in number of subscribers triggered the exElectronics and Telecommunication pansion of network infrastructure, telecom equipPune Institute of Computer Technology ment which has raised energy consumption also.

Pune, India

Green Communication

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It has been estimated that 3 percent of the world’s annual electrical energy consumption and 2 percent of CO2 emissions are caused by the Information 7

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technocrats speak intelligentsia on the rise Fuzzy Electronics

tronic devices. In such uses it may be required to measure quantities which do not have discrete values. For example, a washing machine may need to adjust the speed of wash cycles acBridging the gap between variable cording to the load. A refrigerator would need state logic and conventional two state to adjust the temperature inside it depending on the number of items being stored. logic while incorporating human A modern sophisticated example of the use of this technology is in high-perforreasoning. mance error correction to enhance the New and fuzzy as it sounds, ‘fuzzy electronics’ reception over a limited-bandwidth link disis the wave that has taken the world by storm. turbed by noise accompanying the signals.

Fuzzy electronics refers to that field of electronics Fuzzy logic can be implemented in a standard which deals with fuzzy logic, as compared to the microcontroller to two-state logic which is used in digital electronics. regulate the speed It is a variant of sixth sense technology integrating of a universal moa wearable interface that augments the physical tor by a real time applications like performing basic actions around adjustment (every the world with digital information. Normally 30 millisecond) of control can be carried out by specialized devices the motor current. called controllers, which are used in many variations and in conjunction with other devices boost- Future scope: ing advancement in the arena of control systems. Fuzzy logic controllers are increasingly What is fuzzy logic? employed for a wide Fuzzy logic is derived from the theory of fuzzy range of applications sets which deals with reasoning that is approxi- in electric power sysmate rather than deduced precisely from classi- tem. This can be atcal predicate logic. In the classical set theory, the tributed to the fact, membership of elements in relation to a set is that fuzzy logic is a decided in binary terms with a crisp condition. powerful vehicle that An element can thus either belong to the set or allows engineers to not belong to it. However, according to the fuzzy incorporate human set theory, a gradual assessment of an element’s reasoning in the conFig: The 2012 Honda Asimo membership is done in relation to a set. A so- trol algorithm. It uses called ‘membership function’ helps in this regard. imprecise but very An important point to be noted is that fuzzy logic descriptive language deriving its algorithm from is not based on randomness; it is in fact based on fuzzy logic helping to deal with input data more like vague definitions of sets. Simply put, fuzzy logic a human operator. It provides an effective means for permits membership values between or equal to 1 capturing the approximate, inexact nature of the real and 0 and shades of grey along with black and white. world. Hence, its an upcoming field of exploration.

Fuzzy logic has found wide acceptance. However, it continues to be regarded as controversial by some.

-Srishti Ganjoo Second Year Engineering Applications of fuzzy logic: Electronics and Telecommunication The technology of fuzzy electronics finds wide Pune Institute of Computer Technology use. A number of household appliances like washPune, India ing machines and refrigerators employ fuzzy elecCREDENZ.INFO/PING

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P.I.N.G. Featured Article

How the Internet Affects Your Brain Internet is an integral part of our daily lives but few realize our constant dependencies on its services.

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he importance of the Internet in our daily lives can hardly be overstated. We use it for innumerable tasks, from research and learning new skills to social networking and entertainment. With the Internet, you essentially have the whole world at your fingertips. For most people, the Net is the medium responsible for most of the information they will absorb during the day.

in short, disjointed and often overlapping bursts. The aim of this kind of thought process is simple- the faster, the better.

None of us seem to have time to do all the things we want to do, so this kind of change makes sense. Why spend hours reading a book on economics, when you can absorb the required information in fifteen minutes with a quick Google search? Does it make sense to plod through a slow-paced, thousand-page volume on object-oriented programming, when you can learn the essentials with a free online course that covers the vital topics without boring you to death?

However, have you ever wondered how your brain is affected by it?

However, all of this comes at a cost. Most people, when on the Internet, seem unable to stay at one The linear thought process is what is being spot or concentrate on one thing for more than sacrificed in exchange for the riches of the two minutes. We jump from link to link, often Internet. This kind of mind is now being replaced forgetting the reason we came online in the first by a new kind, characterized by taking information place. Finally, we go offline, having spent two hours 9

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The Logitech K310

Logitech has released the K310, its first washable keyboard. We’re not just talking about “splash proof” either — you can take the K310, immerse it in up to 30cm of water (12in) and give it a good scrub.

Is Google making you stupid, or simply freeing up your time for deeper thinking? longer in front of the computer than we intended to.

If this low attention span was restricted to online activities, it would not be much of a problem. After all, what is a little time-wasting when compared to all the things the Internet gives us? But what happens when this same impatient, hungry frame of mind is carried into the rest of our lives?

Is it possible that things are getting too easy?

Various media are not simply passive outlets of information, but they also shape the thought process. The Net just chips away the capacity for concentration and meditation. The human mind now expects to acquire information the way the Net distributes it: in a fast moving stream of particles.

Deep reading seems to be a thing of the past now. When we see an article or a blog post that is longer than three paragraphs, we tend to skim it for the keywords to get the general idea rather than read it word-for-word. In fact, most of you are probably skimming this article right now!

A new form of reading is emerging- a power browse- involving going through titles, content pages and abstracts for quick wins.

Some experts worry that are our brains are becoming simple decoders of information. Our ability to make rich mental connections through reading deeply without losing concentration, seems to be largely lost.

it by the end of the day. One might argue that memory has been made obsolete in a sense with the advent of Google. This is a valid point, since memory is certainly not the same thing as intelligence. Any information you may need, crucial or trivial, can be discovered through the wonders of information retrieval and the Net’s large database.

Why should you worry about memorizing data that you can obtain any time, when you could be exploring new horizons that are intellectually stimulating?

When Gutenberg’s printing press arrived in the fifteenth century, many people were skeptical about the easy availability of books. They were worried that it would lead to laziness and a decrease in intelligence, but were too short-sighted to see that it would also lead to spreading knowledge to all parts of the world. Perhaps it is the same with the Internet, perhaps the skeptics will be proved wrong again when books are simply obsolete relics.

Whatever the case may be, it cannot be argued that our manner of thinking is changing. Whether the change is for the better or the worse, it remains for you to decide.

-Sagar Damani Third Year Engineering Information Technology Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India

Short-term memory is another problem which is being blamed on the Internet. You may read something you need in the morning and forget CREDENZ.INFO/PING

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Nikon Coolpix S800c

It’s here: Nikon’s first Android-powered camera, Coolpix S800c is nearly as slim as a smartphone, boasting inbuilt GPS, a 10x optical zoom lens, 16 megapixel BSI CMOS sensor, 3.5-inch OLED WVGA touchscreen, a 1080p movie capture mode and running on Android

A 3D Look at the Music Industry A review on latest advancements in technologies used in Music Videography.

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ver heard anything like ‘Music Technology’? According to Wikipedia, ‘Music Technology encompasses all forms of technology involved with the musical arts, particularly the use of electronic devices and computer software to facilitate playback, recording, composition, storage, analysis, and performance.’ Even though this definition does not include ‘promotion of music’, I feel it should be taken into account because it is a part of what music technology is all about. Let me give you a few examples to show how 3D technology is being used to change the marketing aspect of music.

As 3D viewing is a relatively new concept, it is also an expensive one as multiple cameras are required to capture the artist from every single angle. Over time, costs will come down and once technology finds a way to make glasses no longer necessary for 3D viewing, more and more The music video of Tarantula by The Smash- options will open up for the music industry. ing Pumpkins which debuted on July 2, 2007 was partially shot in 3D. A full-fledged So why 3D? We all know that one of the major probthree dimensional music video for the song lems the music industry is facing today is piracy.

‘Shake The Apple’ by Ariana Gillis was shot Many feel that it will curb these problems as 3D for the first time with ARRI’s Alexa cam- is very difficult to reproduce. Also a lot of live conera and uploaded on YouTube 3D and Vimeo. certs sell out quickly and fans are disappointed.

3D motion pictures are a big hit with the global audience. Nowadays a lot of musicians are incorporating this concept as they promote their music. U2 3D is a three dimensional presentation of U2’s global ‘Vertigo’ tour in 2006. It premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Shot at seven different shows, this production employs the greatest number of 3D cameras ever used for a single project. The Black Eyed Peas recently announced plans for a 3D film that will be directed by Titanic and Avatar director James Cameron and is scheduled for release next year. Very soon, a lot of music bands will follow suit.

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In today’s age music is dependent on technology. However there has to be a balance. It is true that technology enhances music as well as makes it available to a wider audience. But, in doing so, we must take care that through technology, the essence of music still remains untouched.

-Joanne D’Cunha Second Year Engineering Information Technology Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India CREDENZ.INFO/PING

Operation Ghost Click An insight on one of the largest cyber-crime takedowns in history.

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he following warning was splashed across the Internet, Facebook, Google and newspapers, ‘you may lose your access to Internet on 9th of July.’ The reason behind it, the FBI was to take down around 100 rough DNS servers that infected over 4 million computers in over 100 countries. It was codenamed as ‘Operation Ghost Click’.

In the year 2007, a group of Estonian and Russian hackers released this DNS hijacking malware. This ‘DNS changer’ malware made its way into user’s computers by tricking them into downloading a video-codec when they visit certain websites. This malware would then amend the DNS server entries in the infected computer to point them to a rogue DNS set up by the attackers. These servers redirected connections of certain websites to advertising pages, thus pulling revenue of whooping $14 million to its creators through fraudulent advertising. The malware also avoided any installed computer virus detector from receiving security updates. Within four years of presence of this malware all over the world, its botnet (zombie network) grew to a few million.

credits to the informational campaign surrounding the malware, ISPs providing temporary DNS to the affected customers, antivirus companies doing their best along with Facebook and Google providing notifications to the visitors who were infected by the malware. It has been estimated that number of infections still present has dropped down to some ten thousands. A website http://www.dcwg. org is set up to provide information and help people scan and remove malware from their machines.

While the damage done by DNS changer is restricted to certain areas, many botnets consisting of thousands of zombies, still exist in the world. At worst, sophisticated strikes against government and military On 9th November 2011, FBI and the US authori- systems can be launched from these infected comties began the ‘Operation Ghost Click’ to take puters, which may create trouble for the end user. down this multi million cybercrime rumpus. It wouldn’t hurt to follow simple security practices Plan was to immediately take down this rouge to combat the ever-growing hackers’ underground.

DNS changer, although this would mean leaving millions of infected users without a way to -Vipul Chaskar connect to the Internet. Hence the court ordered Second Year Engineering Internet Systems Consortium (ISC) to operate Information Technology the replacement of DNS servers and prompt the Pune Institute of Computer Technology infected users about the presence of malware.

Pune, India Impact of this shutdown is considered minimal, CREDENZ.INFO/PING

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The Modern Flying Machine The dynamically evolving arena of flight avionics.

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omputing and automation find applications in all major scientific breakthroughs, in most industries and various aspects of everyday life.

The same is true for aviation. There are two primary aspects of aviation: civil and military aviation. Modern day aircrafts are evolving every day with a large percentage of the investment on R&D being dedicated to developing more sophisticated flight avionics. The science of avionics came into being during the Second World War with the evolution of the glass cockpit to monitor various systems on board bomber aircrafts.

The term avionics refers to the various systems used for communication, navigation, relaying flight controls, managing electrical systems on board modern day aircrafts. As aircrafts evolved, the number of systems on board also increased. This lead to the development of the glass cockpit in the G-14 class bomber aircrafts. Various physical means of data display were replaced by screens and digital electronic systems. Gauges and physical analogous displays were replaced by digital display systems. Avionics finds applications in the following flight controls.

• Navigation: A Boeing 737-800 has 14 computers installed for monitoring and mapping its location.

This is done by GPS and WAAS. The aircraft can be located at any corner of the globe with great accuracy.

• Communications: High frequency or satellite communication is used to communicate with the passengers and with the ground.

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• Aircraft Control Systems: Movement of flaps and the rudder are all relayed through various computers to provide flight stability and synchronise flight control systems.

• Weather systems: The weather systems include gauging the weather the aircraft will be facing, synchronising the GPS with NEXRAD to find storm patterns and also suggesting airspeed and altitude to reduce turbulence.

• Military applications: Weapons deployment finds a very important application of avionics. All missiles have systems either to relay satellite positions or to trace heat signature. To follow laser-guided pathways is an added advantage to it.

With technological advancement in the field of avionics, aircrafts are becoming safer and more efficient. Avionics has thus become a centre point of civil aviation and strategic air defence.

-Deepak Purswani Second Year Engineering Computer Engineering Jamia Islamia College of Engineering New Delhi, India CREDENZ.INFO/PING

Oculus Rift

The Oculus Rift is an upcoming virtual reality (VR) head-mounted display created

by Palmer Luckey that the company Oculus LLC is developing for virtual reality simulations and video games.

Oculus is producing an SDK (software development kit) to assist developers with integrating the Oculus Rift with their games.

Enigma - ‘Das Deutsche Wunderwerk’ A German wartime marvel, once at the pinnacle of strategic cryptography, which could have altered the course of World War Two.

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iphers have played a critical role in determining the outcome of wars, and ultimately shaping countries and continents. Today, they play a key role in strategic defence and covert communications. The Enigma is often considered to be at the peak of innovations in cryptographic science. It was developed by German engineer Arthur Sherbius at the end of the First World War. It was implemented extensively by the German army in all their wartime and covert communications.

Enigma encryptions are mathematically represented by: E = P.L.M.R U L -1.M-1.R-1.P-1 L: rotor 1 R: rotor 2 M: rotor 3 P: plug board transformations

The Germans maintained logbooks of various enigma codes written in water soluble red ink to safeguard them from piracy. The Enigma was among The Enigma machine is a rotor driven cipher ma- the strongest assets of Germany in the Second chine. There are two major physical components: World War. The British campaign to decipher the mechanical and enigma was called ‘ULelectrical. MechaniTRA’. The failure of cal subsystem conenigma was solely due sists of a keyboard, a to procedural flows. The set of rotating disks code itself remains deand rotors arranged ciphered. In the words adjacently along a of Winston Churchill, spindle. The various “The success of ‘ULstepping components TRA’ reduced the length cause one or more of the Second World rotors to switch on War by two years.” with the press of every Enigma logic has key. Electrical systems been implementinclude 26 lamps ed in modern enfor various characters crypting machines and their combinations, reflectors and entry wheels. like the M-325 by the United States navy, and the ‘GREEN’ cipher by Japan.

The cipher generated is polyalphabetic substituted. With the use of current reflectors the electrical The Enigma is a keystone of modern warpathways keep switching setting different sets of time history. Modern mathematicians and rotors into action with the press of each key. One cryptographers are again exploring Enigma rotor will always be in action. With a further hit, ad- logic which is finding innumerable applicaditional rotors will move thus generating separate tions in commerce and strategic defence. outputs for simultaneous hits of the same button.

Some enigma codes include: -Aman Singh X: space, full stop Second Year Engineering Y: comma Computer Engineering 2, 3 and 4 zeroes by ceria, mile, myria Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India CREDENZ.INFO/PING

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Alternative Energy

Subsaulter, winner of the Startups for good challenge, aims to bring solar panel electricity to villages and backward areas in the developing world that have never had access to electricity.

They have optimised the energy collection process by designing solar panels which rotate to face the sun.

Medicine - The 10-9 way!

Prelude towards ingenious Nanomedical approaches to drug delivery.

A breakthrough to cure cancer?

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all it the past when terms like big, large, enormous were correlated with the idea of dominance in the field of science. With the rapid emergence of fields like Nanotechnology, which discovers some remarkable properties of nanoparticles, having numerous applications, these seemingly small substances are indeed doing wonders! Nanobiotechnology is a very recent, upcoming field which involves the intersection of biology and nanotechnology, serving as a blanket term for various related technologies.

Nanobiotechnology indicates the merging of biological research with various fields of nanotechnology.

Concepts that are developed through nano-biology 15

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include nano-devices, nano-particles and the nano-scale phenomena that occur within the discipline of nanotechnology. This technical approach to biology allows the scientists to imagine and create systems that can be used for biological research. Biologically inspired nanotechnology uses biological systems as the inspirations for technologies not yet created. The biological and medical research communities have exploited the unique properties of nano-materials for various applications (e.g. contrast agents for cell imaging and therapeutics for treating cancer). Functionalities can be added to nanomaterials by interfacing them with biological molecules or structures. The size of nanomaterials (approx.10 nm) is similar to that of most biological molecules and structures and hence, nanomaterials can be useful for both in vivo and in vitro biomedical research and applications.

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So far, the amalgamation of nanomaterials with biology has led to the development of diagnostic devices, contrast agents, analytical tools, physical therapy applications, and drug delivery vehicles.

Nanomedical approaches to drug delivery focus on developing nanoscale particles or molecules to improve drug bioavailability. Bioavailability refers to the presence of drug molecules where they are needed in the body to be most effective. Drug delivery focuses on maximizing bioavailability both at specific places in the body over a period of time.

This can potentially be achieved by molecular targeting with the help of nanoengineered devices. It is all about targeting the molecules and delivering drugs with cell precision. More than $65 billion are wasted each year due to poor bioavailability. In vivo imaging is another area where tools and devices are being developed. Using nanoparticle contrast agents, images such as ultrasound and MRI have a favorable distribution and improved contrast. The new methods of nanoengineered materials that are being developed might be effective in treating illnesses and diseases such as cancer.

What nanoscientists will be able to achieve in the future is beyond current imagination.

This might be accomplished by self assembled biocompatible nanodevices that will detect, evaluate, treat and report to the clinical doctor automatically.

Drug delivery systems, lipid- or polymer-based nanoparticles, can be designed to improve the pharmacological and therapeutic properties of drugs. The strength of drug delivery systems is their ability to alter the pharmacokinetics and bio-distribution of the drug. When designed to avoid the body's defense mechanisms, nanoparticles have beneficial properties that can be used to improve drug delivery. Where larger particles would have been cleared from the body, cells CREDENZ.INFO/PING

take up these nanoparticles because of their size.

Complex drug delivery mechanisms are being developed, including the ability to get drugs through cell membranes and into cell cytoplasm.

Efficiency is important because many diseases depend upon processes within the cell and can only be impeded by drugs that make their way into the cell. Triggered response is one way for drug molecules to be used more efficiently. Drugs are placed in the body and activate only on encountering a particular signal. Also, a drug may cause tissue damage, but with drug delivery, regulated drug release can eliminate the problem.

If a drug is cleared too quickly from the body, this could force a patient to use high doses. With the help of drug delivery systems, clearance can be reduced by altering the pharmacokinetics of the drug. Poor bio-distribution is a problem that can affect normal tissues through widespread distribution, but the particulates from drug delivery systems lower the volume of distribution and reduce the effect on non-target tissue.

Potential nanodrugs work by very specific and well understood mechanisms. One of the major impacts of nanotechnology and nanoscience will be in leading development of completely new drugs with more useful behavior and less side effects.

Thus, Nanotechnology promises to eventually change the way people look at ‘small’ things and it wouldn’t be long when these ‘micro’ and ‘nano’ particles would reign the world, in their own tiny (yet ironically gigantic) way!

-Madhura Murar Third Year Bachelor of Science Abasaheb Garware College Pune, India SEPTEMBER 2012 . P.I.N.G. ISSUE 8.1 .

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Mars Calling Again

NASA’s Mars obsession continues. The space agency selected a new mission set to touch down on the planet in September 2016 and investigate Mars core for clues on how the planet developed. The effort, called InSight, beat out two other proposals, one aimed at investigating a comet and the other to Saturn’s moon Titan.

The Small World of Big Data

With large data, comes an even larger responsibility to manage it. What’s more, is how to use it efficiently.

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he title, comprising simple words, talks about the newest technological advancement that deals with management of data that is too big, moves too fast, or doesn’t fit the strictures of common database architectures.

massively parallel-processing (MPP) databases, search-based applications, data-mining grids, distributed file systems, distributed databases, cloud computing platforms, the Internet, and scalable storage systems. Real or near-real time information delivery is one of the defining characBig data is data that exceeds the processing capacity teristics of big data analytics. The majority of big of conventional database systems. For example, the data solutions are now provided in three forms: four main detectors at the Large Hadron Collider software-only, as an appliance or cloud-based.

(LHC) at CERN produced 13 petabytes of data in 2010, Wal-Mart handles more than 1 million cus- Advantages: tomer transactions every hour, which is imported Martin Varsavsky is one of Europe’s leading techinto databases estimated to contain more than 2.5 nology entrepreneurs. While speaking to Fortune petabytes of data, Facebook handles 40 billion pho- recently, he stated,” The world's technological pertos from its user base. Also, the smartphone era capita capacity to store information has roughly increases again the rate of data inflow, as consum- doubled every 40 months since the 1980s; as of ers carry with them 2012, every day 2.5 a streaming source quintillion (2.5 x of geolocated im1018) bytes of data is agery and audio data. created”. In such a Previously, handling situation, it’s not data this big was a surprising that the very difficult task. benefit gained from Some part of the the ability to prodata had to be discess large amounts carded or neglected of information is without making the the main attraction full use of it. But of big data analytbig data has altered ics. Having more this situation comdata beats out having Fig: Large Hadron Collider at CERN pletely. With its help, better models! it is now possible to process every item of data in Currently, leading corporations such as Wal-Mart reasonable time and avoid its underutilization. or Google use this technology very effectively Interestingly, big data is a relative term; it var- but at a very high monetary value. But in coming ies from organization to organization de- times this factor also could be eliminated. Today’s pending upon their definition of ‘small data’! big data will be tomorrow’s small data.

The phenomenon of big data is closely tied to the emergence of data science, a discipline that com-Shruti Palaskar bines math, programming and scientific instinct.

First Year Engineering Pune Institute of Computer Technology Applications: Pune, India Technologies being applied to big data include 17

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Digital Mortality

After death, what happens to your online virtual life?

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ou’ve spent years cultivating an online persona and archive of your life. Maybe you never thought of your Facebook account, your eBay shop, or your virtual land on Farmville as an asset. But think about all the information, docs and apps (such as what may be stored in the cloud) in these accounts and the potential value they possess. They represent blogs and websites you own, banking, brokerage, retirement plan, credit card, loan, and insurance accounts that you access online, online retail accounts and apps from stores, flash sale sites or marketplaces like eBay, Amazon, and iTunes all can be included in your digital inventory. If you're a photographer, for example, then much of your valuable work may be digital and stored in passwordprotected areas of your computer or in the cloud.

It is estimated that 63 percent of people donate their assets in fear of what will happen to their digital assets when they die because it’s all online, stored in digital bits that theoretically last forever. Donating provides a sense of relief and security that it will all be there when you wake up the next morning.

But what happens to all this stuff after your death?

and the death certificate. But even then, the company doesn't promise that it will let anyone into a loved one’s email account. In few cases, they may provide the content of a deceased person’s account to a lawful representative of the person.

Yahoo speaks upon this as all accounts are non-transferable and it will delete an account when they receive a death certificate.

Twitter provides only one option of deactivating the account on its Help Center site. However the process isn’t easy! You need to fax Twitter copies of the death certificate and your government-issued ID (such as a driver’s license), along with a signed, notarized statement and either a link to an online obituary or a copy of the obituary from a local paper.

To access your YouTube account after your demise, the person you appoint as your account bearer will need to send YouTube a copy of your death certificate and a copy of a document saying he/she has power of attorney over your account.

“Facebook provides two options for a dead users account”, their spokesperson said. The primary option permits an account to be remembered, which leaves the profile up so that friends and family can leave posts in remembrance. This restricts the profile and related content to the Facebook ‘friends’ that the deceased had while alive. However, the family must produce a proof of death so that the account can be memorialized. In some cases Facebook allows family members to have an account deactivated.

So, think of your survivors. Computers left behind can become electronic locked boxes. If your survivors don't have entry to your email accounts, they may not even know that some financial accounts exist if you've signed up for paperless statements. Online billing due dates may come and go, endangering account cessation or insurance forfeiture. In the real world, will set out instructions to family and business colleagues in the event of death. But those post-mortem road maps are sorely sparse in the virtual world. So being unplanned about your digital after-life is a very bad idea!

When we talk of a Gmail account, Google says that it will allow only family members to access the deceased person’s account. In limited cases, the family member requesting this access must send Google a copy of his or her government-issued ID

-Chandrika Parimoo Second Year Engineering Information Technology Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India

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Eyeborg

An eyeborg is a cybernetic body apparatus which typically fits on the wearer’s head and is designed to allow people to perceive color through sound waves. It is mostly used by blind people or by people with visual impairments.

Shutterbugs Paradise

With the camera, a photographer looking at the screen can change the focal point. In one show, the image shows the droplets of water on the window and the crystal clear Lonavala landscape through the same window the next instant.

Since Lytro takes in-depth images, they can also be viewed in 3D. Also, the image information will be recorded for the users, but the facility to view its 3D versions will be provided by future version of the company's software.

The interactivity is not restricted to the camera since its software allows to do the same operation on computers. Initially only a Mac application will be available at the launch, though a Windows version will be available soon after that, and Lytro plans viewer apps for mobile smart phones as well.

Some might enjoy exploring the new sphere of shift-able focus, but a lot of people taking snapshots just want it in focus in the first place. Lytro will have to prove its way here, too.

The brand new phenomenon that is here to forever change the way we look at photography.

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repare yourself for ‘Camera 3.0’ because this Fall, you might have to settle on whether an 11-megaray sensor is enough for your new light-field camera, or not!

Lytro, a Silicon Valley start-up, has unveiled its dynamic new camera-also called ‘The Lytro’.

With this key breakthrough, the 50-MillionDollar company hopes to alter the convention with a technology called light-field photography.

"Camera 1.0 was film. Camera 2.0 was digital," said Ren Ng, who had been researching on this technology at Stanford University before starting Lytro, originally called Refocus Imaging, in 2006. "3.0 is a light-field camera that promises a whole new variety of experiences for photography."

It has an outstanding industrial design which will blow away the minds of photographers, especially those accustomed to bulky cameras decked with buttons, knobs, lenses, and scroll wheels. But the main difference lies inside this miracle device.

“It's got an instant shutter. You press the button-BANG! It takes the picture right away,” Ren Ng said. “We have that unique feature-shoot first, focus later. The camera doesn't have to physically focus while you take the shot”, he added.

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So there are challenges. But if the company can get a grip, it can grow and it has got Moore's Law on its part, because much of the test of light-field photography is in the image processing to a certain extent, than in the optics.

-Eshaan Kaul First Year Engineering Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India CREDENZ.INFO/PING

Sunny outlook

by Cloud

Soon to be seen as a Government’s enterprise, will it solve the existing issues of e-governance?

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loud computing implies the use of Internet (cloud) based computer technology catering to a wide range of services. It is a style of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualised resources are provided as a service over the Internet. Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure “in the cloud" that supports them.

IT companies like HP, IBM, Cisco and Dell for the same. This may cost the Centre less than Rs 100 crore, and will help the exchequer (governmental department in charge of the public revenues) avoid wastage of money on duplication of resources.

Telecom and IT Minister Kapil Sibal launched the National Cloud Computing Initiative that will drastically reduce the cost of computer based services in the country. It is expected that the draft framework for the same will be ready in three months. He said it is the economic model of the cloud computing Experts in Information and Communications Tech- that can bring down cost of computing and result nology (ICT) believe cloud computing offers many in fast delivery of e-governance services to citizens. potential benefits. Private cloud computing is the best option for businesses, with five distinct advantages Infosys’ executive co-chairman S Gopalakrishnan – focusing information technology on business, and head of government’s committee on cloud greater economies of scale, smarter support resourc- computing said, “We will have two-three more es, guaranteed uptime and hassle-free upgrades. meetings on this. Template on cloud computing framework will be ready in three months which Also at the same time experts feel cloud com- will be put for public comments”. During the disputing is a hyped-up term. But behind the cussion, representatives from various organisahype there are significant benefits to some tions raised some important issues like the need technologies in the cloud industry and some to develop standards, common architecture specific of the terms being floated around in the to need of India, accreditation, licensing issues, cloud are bigger buzzwords than others. security, jurisdiction, legal and taxation issues that should be addressed. In the present environment, At a time when cloud computing is in its initial it is very difficult to persuade states for a common stages of development, India's Central Government solution because they have their own vendor and has taken a bold decision to migrate critical infor- cloud preferences, which are very complex issues. mation infrastructure on the cloud. Department of Information Technology is planning to set up a na- With the Indian government getting ready to load tional cloud based nexus that sets up connection critical data on the Cloud, let’s see how the Cloud amongst state data centres. This would prepare takes the country by storm. the backbone of national e-governance plan, which when completed would deliver many government -Bhavana Nadoni schemes to citizens and government business serFirst Year M.B.B.S. vices via the internet. Each of the 28 states and 7 unS.S I.M.S.R.C ion territories will be provided with a private cloud.

Davangere, India The Department of IT has called for proposals from CREDENZ.INFO/PING

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Start-ups and how they see it

Was the Instagram Acquirement the last of its kind?

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fter Instagram being acquired by Facebook for a whooping billion dollars, the sky is the limit for new young start-ups and this has been proved by Pinterest. Following are a few interesting start-ups that aren’t struggling for attention.

Viddy: Viddy, stands for “Viddyographers”. “We’ve built a community unlike any other, with passionate ‘Viddyographers’ that are engaged with us and each other,” said CEO and co-founder Brett O’Brien.

This Los Angeles-based start-up has an iPhone app, which allows users to capture, ‘smarten’ and share video content in 15-second ‘moments’.

These moments can then be followed by users, just as one follows ‘tweets’ in Twitter. Lucky for O’Brien that his hard work paid off rather well.

They are now enjoying all investor attention possible and are a hot company for acquisition.

Kickboard: “There are a lot of companies that make software for classroom management, measuring academic progress and maintaining relationships with parents”, said marketing head and former teacher Stew Stout.

Kickboard is a New Orleans-based start-up built by teachers and it helps academicians efficiently capture, evaluate and share student academic and behavioural data for boosting student performance.

Their goal is to catalyze the creation of analytical teaching. They grew from three-school beta test to 70 schools and preparation organizations in 3 years.

They received an angel-funding round in 2011.

HootSuite: “Social media has gone from dorm room to 21

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boardroom pretty much overnight”, said HootSuite CEO Ryan Holmes. “But the tools to manage it have lagged behind”. That’s when the world needed a social media platform that manages and measures social networks, and HootSuite did not take too long to engage this vacancy.

HootSuite has grabbed massive market share using a “freemium” business model.

But fortunately for HootSuite , the larger companies end up upgrading for more powerful tools. Seventy-nine Fortune 100 companies are HootSuite clients. In 2011, HootSuite had a turnover of $11 million, and that’s sizable amount considering it was founded in 2008. The company has acquired regular funding since 2009, in March; it secured an additional $20 million through a secondary venture capital investment. Industrial-grade tools for managing social media are being added to HootSuite to make it more versatile and useful in a range of workplaces, from small businesses to large enterprises.

In India, our exposure is limited to Facebook.

But the world has moved on. Pinterest, Tumblr, Behance, Concept feedback, Swagbucks and the amazing start-ups above prove that. We should be open to new things and give new entrepreneurs a chance. According to Harvard Business Review August 2012, there is a shortage of entrepreneurs, and they call entrepreneurs “heroes”. So my view on this is that if new entrepreneurs are scarce, at least we should support our Indian heroes.

-Raunaq Singh Sahni First Year Engineering Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India CREDENZ.INFO/PING

Google Wave Google Wave is a web-based computing platform and communication channel designed to merge key features of communications media such as email, instant messaging, wikis, and social networking.

Google Wave initially received positive press coverage but it failed to amass the buzz expected.

Know your Android

A review on the ever evolving phenomenon that is this exciting new Operating System.

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here are over 300 million Android devices today and 10 billion applications downloaded from the Android market till December 2011. Staggering!

from the web with data on the user’s mobile, such as the user’s contacts, calendar, or geographic location, to give it a more relevant user experience.

Android was built from the scratch to enable developers to craft compelling mobile applications that take complete benefit of all that a handset has to offer. It was built to be truly open. For example, an application can call upon any of the phone’s core functionality such as making calls, sending text messages, or using the camera, permitting developers to create richer and more unified experiences for users. Android is built on the open Linux kernel. Furthermore, it uses a custom virtual machine that was projected to optimize memory and hardware chattels in a mobile environment. Android is open source; it can be liberally extended and upgraded to incorporate new innovative technologies as they emerge.

The platform will evolve further as the developer community comes up with innovative mobile applications.

Android offers a way into a wide range of useful libraries and tools that can be used to put up rich applications. For example, Android allows developers to obtain the location of the device, and allows communication of users with one another leading to rich peer–to–peer social applications.

In addition, Android comprises of a complete set of tools that have been constructed alongside the platform for giving developers with high productivity and deep insight into their applications.

Android has been penetrating the mobile world at unimaginable speed. Now it is not only the mobile but also lot of the other futuristic devices coming from the Ultra-secret X labs of Google that are going to function with Android as its OS. The most fascinating among the advents at the X labs is the Google glasses which would alApplications: low hands free display of information with natural Android does not differentiate between the phone’s voice commands. The hi-tech glasses which existed core applications and third-party applications. To in the science fiction till yesterday are now a reality! provide user with access to various applications equally, the above differentiation is not considered.

-Abhiskek Gune With devices built on the Android Platform, users get Third Year Engineering the opportunity to exploit their phone to maximum Electrical and Electronics extent. They can swap out the phone's home screen, Birla Institute of Technology the style of the dialler, or any of the applications.

Pilani, India Android breaks down the obstacles to building new and innovative applications. For example, a developer can form a combination of information CREDENZ.INFO/PING

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F-ASCII-nating Art

In a world before Photoshop, this is how it was done with only text editors. ll great stories begin with "Once Upon a Time..." and so,once upon a time, the Internet was used by only the military powers of the world. It was designed to be a way to communicate if all other methods failed. People were stationed at computers throughout the world. They were instructed to send messages to other computer stations every hour to ensure that the system was operating. This was also a way to make sure that the computer operators remained awake!

is an acronym for the “American Standard Code of Information Interchange”. This is the 7-bit code system which enables computers to exchange information. Without going into technological details, ASCII characters are those which are found on a typical U.S. keyboard. This includes numbers, basic punctuation marks, all uppercase and lowercase letters, and the space bar. Other “fancy” characters such as the English Sterling pound symbol, the cedilla, dieresis, or any accented letters are not part of the standard ASCII code and are not used in true ASCII art.

To help pass the time, these computer operators ASCII art was important when universities, comwould create pictures while sitting at their mercial and medical institutions joined the governstations. Their palette was limited to the charac- ment and defense on the Internet. The early Interters found on their keyboards. These text-based net was primarily text based. Graphic files such as pictures were often JPGs and GIFs were their message to othnot universal from er computer stations. system to system.

This was the start of The best way for peowhat is now known ple to share pictures/ as "ASCII Art". graphs on the Internet was through the Now what is this text-based ASCII art.

ASCII we’re talking about here? I’m sure To date, ASCII art most of you must be is still used. To view saying to yourselves ASCII art properly, “Oh, come on man! one must use a fixedOff with the elemenwidth font such as tary school crap!”

Courier, Monoco, or But for those who’re FixedSys. These fonts truly clueless, ASCII are the typewriter23

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type fonts where each letter is of the same width.

Popular proportional fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman will skew the ASCII art. All computer systems have options for the fixedwidth font so that ASCII art can be viewed by all.

Those of you who download content online might identify ASCII-art in the signatures used by the “publishers” there in the read-me files provided (many don’t bother with read-me’s, I know).

Those who do might know popular names like aXXo, Razor1911, yiFy, Skullptura, TPTB, ToED, etcetera etcetera with their distinctly awesome ASCII signatures and unique MIDI music.

Even while programming in C, some of us, like yours truly, may express their laziness by avoiding addition of the trivial graphics.h library.

When you find yourself in a similar position, you force your mind to think, “In a world without graphics.h in Turbo-C++, how do you design a logo for your name?” And soon, your mind conjures up all sorts of ASCII-artistic creations for you. If you haven’t done this already, do try it out!

In a world with Flash, Shockwave and WebGL, ASCII Art might seem so primeval. And yet, small factions of people all over the web still use it as it’s a form of simple creativity that is truly impressive and never loses its charm. As long as text is alive, so will ASCII art thrive in cyberspace.

On a closing note, I’m sure by now you’re aware of how ASCII-Art is much more than a bunch of smileys and emoticons. But if you want to see ASCII-Art in all its glory, I suggest you visit www.ascii-art.de or www.chris.com/ascii. The latter includes all the art depicted here and a lot more. If you thought the ones used here were nice, prepare to be awed! And yes, if you liked this form of art, do help keep it alive by creating your own and spreading the idea...

-Debojeet Chatterjee Third Year Engineering Computer Engineering Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India

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Quick Fix

Save your bandwidth!

Do you have multiple machines connected to the internet at home? Do you download songs, movies and stream videos on your phone and update softwares regularly on your desktop? Then here is a quick fix to save your bandwidth by picking up repeated downloads from a local cache.

Many a times we tend to download the same stuff which is already available on a peer machine on the LAN. For example, if my roommate downloads a movie, there are times when I download it again or I have to make an effort to copy it on a pen drive and take it. Well you can do away with that and save your bandwidth by using local caching softwares, which are available readily on the internet. Softwares like branch cache (for Windows), Squid, apt-cacher ng (for Linux) are available both in paid and free version forms.

Why should one take the pains to learn and install such a software? The advantages are manifold. It can improve application response time and reduce WAN traffic. Cached content can either be distributed across peer machines (peer to peer distributed cache mode) or centrally hosted on a sever (client server hosted cache mode). Basically, set it up and save bandwidth to download content which no one has viewed or downloaded yet.

The most impressive part about most of these caching softwares is that it takes care of software uploads, media streaming as well as system updates.

DC++ is a basic sharing software which is the apt place to start out with. It takes care of network sharing minus the caching with the minor issue of searching for the file in DC++ first.

So go ahead, google a bit and make your LAN network smarter!

-Pooja Bhurke Fourth Year Engineering Ex-Editor P.I.N.G. Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India SEPTEMBER 2012 . P.I.N.G. ISSUE 8.1 .

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Augumented Reality-Feel the Unreal Augmented Reality is an interesting frontier which continues to provoke one’s imagination.

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he technology that is going to play a significant role in the future is Augmented Reality. Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. In English language, to augment means to grow, increase or become greater. In layman’s terms augmented reality can be described as placing a computer between yourself and the real world to display images or provide extra information. Thus it can be said augmented reality is a technology which will make the whole experience of sight a more comprehensive reality than what we just see with our sensory organs.

Augmentation usually works in real-time and seems to interact with the environmental elements, such as sports scores on TV during a match.

With the help of additional AR technology like adding computer vision or object recognition the environment’s information can even be digitally manipulated and an active interaction can be established.

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For with play right your

example, iOS app “Star Walk” works the iPhone’s camera and GPS to disstar constellations, planets and satellites on top of whatever you’ve captured in iPhone’s lens, making for a great demo.

Augmented reality has its origin in the concept of virtual reality. Virtual reality is a term that applies to computer-simulated environments that can simulate physical presence in the real world, as well as in imaginary worlds. In virtual reality, time, physical laws and material properties may no longer be thought of as true, in contrast to the real-world environment. Instead of considering AR as the complete opposite of virtual reality it can be seen that AR is the go between reality and simulated system.

Different types of AR are marker based, object based or location based. A key measure of AR systems is how realistically they integrate augmentations with the real world. The software must derive real world coordinates, independent from the camera, from camera images. That process is called image registration. Usually those methods consist of two parts; First detect interCREDENZ.INFO/PING

Amazon Glacier

Glacier could be attractive to businesses as well as individuals who want to securely back up data they don’t need to access often but don’t want to risk losing.Amazon has kicked off a new cloud storage service it calls “Glacier.” It keeps data stored securely in the cloud, but it only allows a relatively slow upload and download speed.

est points or optical flow in the camera images.

The second stage restores a real world coordinate system from the data obtained in the first stage.

Some of the main applications of AR are entertainment, education, consumer design, engineering design, gaming, manufacturing, maintenance and repair, medical, military training, etc.

We are seeing a lot of cutting edge technologies weaving into the forefront of the sport venue business. It is possible to procure the game statistics and player information in real time or instantaneously. This information can be monitored and communicated instantly back to spectators or the broadcast medium. This information when made available will revolutionize sports as we experience it today.

and usher them into the real world, to play. For example in 2006 the Come Out & Play Festival turned New York City into a playground for a weekend, then did the same for the city of Amsterdam in 2007. Hundreds of players gathered to play dozens different Big games in different cities.

It aids in providing task support. Complex tasks such as assembly, maintenance and surgery can be simplified by inserting additional information into the field of view. For example, labels can be displayed on parts of a system to clarify operating instructions for a mechanic who is performing maintenance on the system.

The leading AR technology that is available to the masses, is the smart phones having AR. AR has great potential in the field of education There are numerous apps that use the basic too. It appeals to constructivist notion of educa- camera option available in almost all mobiles tion where students take control of their own and an in-built algorithm to implement AR. learning. It provides opportunities for more authentic learning and appeals to multiple One of the main considerations that need to be learning styles. It shows the way by which each and explored is the lack of privacy an augmented reevery student can find his own unique discovery ality presents. The amount of personal inforpath. AR can be used to enhance skills training, mod- mation, that we have made available without eling objects, books, discovery based learning, etc. regard to our privacy, is tremendous. Thus AR providing a platform for more ready made inNeedless to say AR plays a major role in gaming formation instantly is not desirable. Another industry. AR has the potential to do something concern is that it may not live up to its high exparents can’t: free gamers from their couches pectation. It’s a much hyped about technology and it may never be implemented in such a fashion.

Despite the concerns, AR is probably going to be the reality tomorrow and we might all just have Terminator like glasses which give so much information - necessary and useless. For example, even before meeting a person we can know all details from their favorite color to their dog’s name.

A more enhanced existence seems inevitable.

-Mathangi Krishnamurthi Third Year Engineering Information Technology Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India

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NVIDIA’s new GPUs

Nvidia is promising gamers major performance improvements with its Kepler GPUs(graphical processing units), and the boost won’t be limited to full-size PCs. Its new line includes several that are compatible with Ultrabooks, which could give gaming consoles a run for their money in the living room.

The New Identity Take a look at this giant leap in the field of Personal Security.

BIOLOCK promises to revolutionize this intriguing world of personal security.

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one are the times when we had to physically go to a bank to carry out transactions like cash deposit and withdrawal. Today, all you have to do is sit and click your way through it! Just sitting at home can earn you huge profits. The term office today goes hand-in-hand with home. Now, this is what we call technological advancement!

would use the concept of “bioimpedance” or the resistance to the flow of electrons by the tissues in your body. This would be done by small electrodes which would measure this factor which changes from person to person. It With all these facilities like “in-home-bank- is a lock, a Biological Lock and unlocks only ing” maintaining Personal Security is a big is- and only when you are the one in front of it! sue. Fraud verification has to be very stringent.

Checks like fingerprint scan, face recognition, But, wait! It doesn’t end here! digital signature (though not very effective) have The researchers also say that once this device is become common to all of us now. What you are connected to you, it can co-ordinate with others. about to read is an advancement in this field. So, the other devices could join the party through An idea has been proposed by a group of researchers from Dartmouth University to develop a device that would act as an identity authenticator and computer systems that are mobile, based on the electrical properties possessed by a person.

This, perhaps, also defines one of the most ways in which a person’s uniqueness could be defined.

In reality, there is an alternating current of different frequencies running through you and this in turn causes a reaction that is completely different from anybody else’s. This property possessed by every human is being put to use to develop a device called the Amulet.

The Amulet, a topic under much discussion, would be nothing but a simple watch-like device proposed to take measurement of a person’s electrical property, confirming the identity of that person based on the data originally fed to the system. The device 27

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a mere physical contact-maybe when slipped into the pocket or being strapped on. Presently Sony has implemented this technology through its NFCs. A metal tag has some data stored in it and hence when a device (like a mobile phone) is brought in its vicinity, the phone changes some of its properties like profile change and ringer volume change.

The research is currently going on in developing the Amulet. Its developers say that a better way of reliably interpreting the data coming from the sensor will still take time as the most important aspect of a device of such a build is reliability!

-Sidhesh Badrinarayan Second Year Engineering Information Technology Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India

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Apple iMove

Apple is about to launch another product whose name will of course begin with that signature lowercase “i”. Their newest venture: a hybrid car.

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t was revealed by an Apple board member that Steve Jobs had dreamt of creating an iCar before his sad demise in October last year. Speaking at a Fast Company conference, Mickey Drexler stated that Steve’s dream of designing a hybrid car would give the entire automotive industry in America the stimulus it needed. Italy based auto designer Liviu Tudoran did a thorough study of the Apple products, their styling and features, and put forth a design called iMove for the year 2020.

5. It would be a three-seater car and would provide luggage space like never before. The elastic textile material at the back of the car would be able to hold any type of object under its pressure thus rendering enormous amount of storage space for luggage.

What features will iMove offer that would make it unique in the crowd of other best-known brands?

7. The photochromic material used for exterior transparent area of the car gives the option of customization. Thus, the owners can switch the way their car appears, using various available presets and personalize it.

Let us have a look at a few of them: 1. It would be an electric car.

2. The traditional steering wheel will be replaced by a touch screen panel.

3. To provide the driver with a cabriolet feeling, the car body would be covered with transparent materials.

4. The roof of the car that would have pyramid shaped glass receptors. They will charge the car’s electronic dashboard.

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6. The top part of the car is inspired by the Apple’s Macintosh mouse shape. It is possible to open it while driving.

If this fantasy-car becomes a reality, then it will probably take up 50 per cent of the total global market. Given the fact that iMove is inspired from Apple products, there’s no doubt that it is conceived to revolutionize the concept of automobiles!

-Amol Modi First Year Engineering Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India

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Web 3.0 - The future P.A. Growth of the World Wide Web stems yet another prodigy, Web 3.0. Will it live up to its claim of bringing in an era of personalized Internet?

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he Internet – as a medium of communication, has been evolving at an unprecedented speed. We are already in the process of transition from Web 2.0 to Web 3.0; and the interesting thing about the new web is that it’s all about ‘mobile & apps’. Web 3.0, the term first coined by John Markoff of the New York Times, 2006 is all about ‘personalized Internet’.

or not. Thus if you type the term "Saturn," you'd end up with results for Web pages about the planet and others about the car manufacturer. Compared to this, Web 3.0 search engine will not only find the keywords in your search, but will also interpret the context of your request. It would return relevant search results by interpreting your request properly.

Web 3.0 Approaches: While searching for any information on the The technologies and software necessary for Web Internet, Web 3.0 will act just like a personal as- 3.0 are not fully developed yet. sistant who keeps all the records about you and can access all the information as per your The foundation for Web 3.0 will be Application Proneed. While Web 2.0 uses the Internet to make gramming Interfaces (APIs). An API is an interface connections between people, Web 3.0 will use the designed to allow developers to create applications Internet to make connections with information. that take advantage of a certain set of resources. Many Right now, while using any search engine, the en- Web 2.0 sites include APIs that give programmers gine just finds web pages that contain the keywords access to the sites' unique data and capabilities. For typed and doesn’t bother to ‘understand’ your example, Facebook's API allows developers to crerequirement. In other words, it is unable to predict ate programs that use Facebook as a staging ground whether the Web page is actually relevant for you for games, quizzes, product reviews and more.

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Pulse App

This amazing app displays a grid of news feeds as thumbnail images with a short caption preview, gained a following after Apple Inc. chief executive Steve Jobs featured it during the iPad’s launch.

Founders Akshay Kothari and his partner, Ankit Gupta have no experience in journalism. Yet their creation, is one of the top-selling news apps for the iPad and its smaller cousin, the iPhone.

One Web 2.0 trend that could boost the development of Web 3.0 is the mashup. A mashup is the combination of two or more applications into a single application. For example, a developer might combine a program that lets users review restaurants with Google Maps. The new mashup application would show not only restaurant reviews, but also map them out so that the user could see the restaurants' locations. Some Internet experts believe that creating mashups will be so easy in Web 3.0 that anyone will be able to do it.

you use the Web, the browser learns more about you and remembers it and in future you’ll need to be less specific with your questions. Eventually you might be able to ask your browser direct questions like "Where should I have dinner?", then the browser would consult its previous records of your preferences and likes, take into account your current location and then suggest a list of restaurants.

Thus in the form of Web 3.0, we’ll have a personal assistant at our disposal! Users will constantly consult the Web for their every trivial requirement and in return get satisfactory, The Future of a search: You've decided to watch a funny movie and then tailor-made solutions. In fact, as people will achave an Italian dinner. Then checking customer re- cess the Web through their mobile phones, views for the restaurants using Web 3.0 will be an mobile commerce is going to be the real deal ! easier task. Instead of multiple searches, you’ll need -Nutan Shinde to type a complex sentence in the Web 3.0 browser, Third Year Engineering and the rest will be taken care of. In our example, Information Technology you could type "I want to see a funny movie and Pune Institute of Computer Technology then eat at a good Italian restaurant. What are my Pune, India options?". The Web 3.0 browser will interpret and analyze your response, track for all probable options, and then compile the results for you. And that's not all; during this process the browser understands what you are interested in. Each time

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Automate your road travel

Fig: The Audi

TTS

Soon, driving licenses will be obsolete because your car would already be qualified! This may be the dawn of autonomous vehicles.

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eople have dreamt of sitting in a car relaxed with the vehicle driving on its own. A fascinating idea is to imagine getting in your vehicle, stating your address, sitting back and relaxing while you are chauffeured to your home. While we are coming closer to this technology, we still got to achieve a lot before they can be safely deployed on streets.

and many others. In order to identify correct navigation paths, as well as to get to know the barriers, signage interpretation is carried out by advanced control systems. Considering the navigation system to be updated timely, autonomous vehicles by default update their maps based on sensory input, such that they can navigate through uncharted environments.

Vehicular automation is a field which comprises mechatronics and artificial intelligence to guide a vehicle-operator. These characteristic features and the vehicles employing them may be labeled as intelligent or smart.

How do Autonomous Vehicles work?

Any autonomous vehicle consists of the following parts: 1. Radar (RAdio Detection And Ranging )– Radar sensors are used in order to notice potentially dangerous obstacles in the vehicle’s An autonomous car is capable of sensing its sur- way that are a few hundred meters away. rounding and navigating on its own. A human may choose a final location, but is not expected 2. Optic Video cameras are used to take note to perform any mechanical operation of the car. of the road markings and traffic signals.

Autonomous vehicles sense the world with such techniques as radar, lidar, GP and computer vision 3. LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging, 31

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Samsung’s Drive Link

Until self-driving cars become mainstream, it’s best to keep both eyes on roads and hand’s off phones. Samsung’s debuting Drive Link, an app that balances in-car essentials with driver safety. It is fully loaded with hands free calling and audio-tainment from you phone based files.

also LADAR) is an optical remote sensing Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Ford, General Motechnology that can determine the distance to tors, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Volor other properties of a target by illuminating vo have begun testing driverless car systems. the target with light, often using a laser pulse.

1. BMW is testing its unique autonomous car sys4. GPS (Global Positioning System) is a sys- tems since 2005. tem comprising three satellites located in space for navigation system that gives us 2. In 2011, Mercedes-Benz announced its 2013 Slocation and time information in all surround- Class will feature a driverless automobile system. ing conditions, anywhere on or near the Earth. At speeds of up to 25 mph, the S-Class will move through slow-moving traffic jams with the help of Problems arising due to loss of information, con- cameras and radar-based systems. nectivity issues of GPS (tunnels,heavy bridges etc) can be solved by pre-training the car i.e. 3. The Volkswagen Golf GTI 53+1 is a modified storing static 3d maps which the car can use to drive. Volkswagen Golf GTI having capability of driverless driving. The Golf GTI 53+1 has created system Autonomous cars are not in widespread use, but that can be integrated into most of the cars. they offer several direct advantages like lesser number of accidents and mishaps, easier traffic flow 4. The Audi TTS Pikes Peak is a newer version of management, sense of relief on occupant’s menAudi TTS, that works completely on GPS. The car tal state or no boundaries of physical age, reducwas designed by Burkhard Huhnke of Volkswagen tion in the necessity for a traffic controller etc.

Research.

-Hatim Khadkiwala Projects and Research: Third Year Engineering Many automotive manufacturers such as Information Technology Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India Fig: Inside the Volkswagen Golf GTI 53+1

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iPhone 5

In a recent survey the most asked for feature on the iPhone 5 was a stronger display, with the iPhone 4’s screen being notoriously easy to crack users are now hoping that Apple will use a much stronger display.

The new apple iphone 5 is rumoured to launch this October at a whopping 699 pounds.

Code Smart

Using Light Table-The reactive IDE

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re you frustrated at toggling and cycling through windows and tabs to switch from debuggers to editors to execution screens? Then Light Table might be the perfect thing for you! Despite the dramatic shift towards simplification in software interfaces, programmers are still waiting for the best software to carry out their daily work. Why is everything just static in a programmer's life which seems mundane to the average I’m-not-a-programmer? First we code, then we compile (or interpret), and then we actually see how the program runs or functions. Even with small and insignificant changes, you have to go through the whole cycle of hatred, press the F9 key once more, every now and then.

Building on Bret Victor's idea of “Inventing on Principle” and actually being able to see changes in real time as you make them, Light Table seems to be the closest to real world emulation of how a programmer would have worked if there was a provision of an actual coding surface.

Light Table is based on a very simple idea: we need a real work surface to code on, not just an editor and a project explorer. The most astounding features of Light Table are: • Never need to hunt for documentation. It's all right there!

• Editors have no restriction on placing, and can show you much more than text.

• Insta-Results for the usual hit-and-trials.

• Custom Lighting for required snippets of code.

Light and dark.

While encountering a new code, documentation is like a boon granted to the coder so that he/she can find his/her way around. With Light table, the need to scour thousands of lines of documentation to find what you need is gone .Just highlight and you’re CTRL-F away from what you exactly need.

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This is especially handy for finding functions you may not even know exist and seeing their docs right there. No need to look at some other generated documentation. Instant FeedBack is ready to blow you away. With Light Table, you can actually see how the code is “flowing”, right from where you are to where you want to be. This basically creates a real-time debugger, allowing you to quickly try various inputs and watch it flow through your code. There's no faster way to catch bugs than to watch your program work while you're making it.

From making simple hello world programs to calculators to actually making games, Light Table can show you what you are doing as you do it, wherever you want to see it. A little illumination never hurts anyone, that's why Light table's Light Mode allows you to see what functions are used inside the one you're currently working on, by not just highlighting them in your code, but by actually showing you their code by the side. The languages which are planned to be supported in the first release are Clojure and JavaScript but since Light Table has Extensibility as a building principle, adding new languages should not be that hard through plugins.

The core of Light Table will be available as an open source once it is launched. The tentative plan for a full beta to be released is towards the end of this year followed by the final launch in May of next year. If Light Table actually turns out to be as functional as it claims to be, then we might just be witnessing the very revolution in how programs are made, and how programmers make them.

-Ashish Gupta Second Year Engineering Information Technology Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India CREDENZ.INFO/PING

Flame Virus - Is your PC in Flames?

The Flame virus went virtually undetected for two years by every online security firm, now it’s taking the world in a storm.

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ver wondered what is Flame virus?

Here's what you need to know about In order to gather intelligence on Iran’s nuclewhat Kaspersky calls “one of the ar programme Flame was created. It was also most complex threats ever discovered.” developed to enable cyber operations that would slow Iran’s alleged plans. The virus "Flame", a highly sophisticated section of malware was launched five years ago,according to The , has become the finest known computer malware! Washington Post as a result of a classified U.S.Researchers at Russia-based Kaspersky Lab, a Israel collaborative project. Flame’s developers computer security company, worked upon and dis- hoped that their hard work would buy more time covered it. The Flame is a worm that supervises the for aligned talks and U.N. backed sanctions, withdigital motion and correspondence of its victims out permitting the option of military involvement. and also steals important data. Quite similar to the As claimed by Iran, it completely wiped the hard other fictional piece of malware, the Flame creates drives of some computers. But Kaspersky claims backdoors to get into computers on a network and that the malware responsible, called Wiper, isn't broadens through shared files or USB flash drives. necessarily related. Wiper attacks were isolated to The virus is reminiscent of the Stuxnet worm that Iran, while Flame has been found in other countries. created chaos in Iran in 2010; but Kaspersky says Flame is much more intricate, with its modules occupying more than 20 MB of code. “Consider Why Flame is undetectable? this: it took us several months to analyze the 500K To avoid itself being forensically examcode of Stuxnet. It will probably take a year to fully ined by experts, Flame has been conveyed a self-destruct instruction by its creators. understand the 20MB of code of Flame,” the Researchers from Symantec, a safety firm assistfirm said. ing with the overall scenario, reported that the code "tries to leave no traces of the infection behind".

How does Flame work?

Flame is just the right word for malware According to Kaspersky, instead of making it easy storm, performance as a backdoor, a Tro- for forensic analysis which is the primary goal jan and displaying worm-like features at of self-destruct command, it creates obstacles in the same time, according to Kaspersky Lab. investigation work. Experts have previously said that the spiteful software was far more powerful than any A backdoor is what it sounds like: an alterna- other known computer-generated warfare program. tive way to tap into susceptible information with- Kaspersky security senior researcher added that if out using appropriate authorised channels. Be- Flame went on undiscovered for five years, "The ing a Trojan, Flame is capable of disguising itself only logical conclusion is that there are other opas a legal file, masquerading as a routine Mi- erations going on that we don't know about". crosoft software update. And because it demon-Kshitij Khakurdikar strates worm-like properties, Flame can create a Third Year Engineering copy of itself after introducing a host and spreads Computer Engineering to other systems if suggested by the attackers.

K.K. Wagh Institute of Engineering Nasik, India Why was Flame created?

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A Step Towards Sensible Computing Context awareness sharpens relevance when responding to user-initiated action.

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hen humans talk with humans, they are able to use implicit situational information, or context, to increase the conversational bandwidth. Unfortunately, this ability to convey ideas does not transfer well to humans interacting with computers. In traditional interactive computing, users have an impoverished mechanism for providing input to computers. By improving the computer’s access to context, we increase the richness of communication in human-computer interaction and make it possible to produce more useful computational services. The use of context is increasingly important in the fields of handheld and ubiquitous computing, where the user’s context is changing rapidly.

lize information about the context of a device to provide services that are appropriate for a particular person, place, time, events, and so forth. For example, a cell phone will always vibrate and never beep in a concert if the system can know the location of the cell phone and the concert schedule. However, this is more than simply a question of gathering more and more contextual information about complex situations. More information is not necessarily more helpful. Further, gathering information about our activities intrudes on our privacy. Context information is useful only when it can be usefully interpreted, and it must be treated with sensitivity.

Context awareness sharpens relevance when reThe advent of context-aware computing is sponding to user-initiated actions (such as prodtherefore concomitant with the increased em- uct search and support calls). It also enables bedding of technology. Context refers to the proactive communications through pattern analytphysical and social situation in which com- ics over both user behaviour and user environment. putational devices are embedded. One goal of context-aware computing is to acquire and uti- Physical or sensed context is captured using 35

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Sony HMZ-T2 3D The device is aimed at gamers and TV watchers, generating a 3D image with use of a pair of 0.7-inch OLED panels, which each display separate images, doing away with the ghost imagery that often comes along with 3D displays.

GPS and other devices. It is decorated using linked open data, other aspects of user-provided context, and social networks, and further analyzed, in complex commercial ecosystems of context providers and brokers. This derived context becomes the target of content providers and advertisers, who receive context views of users created using context caching, indexing, and partitioning algorithms. The content and services can either be pushed into context by the provider or pulled into it by the user. Now the question is how context aware computing will make our gadgets smarter?

Small handheld devices equipped with low-power sensors could signal a new class of “context-aware” gadgets that are more like personal companions. Such devices would anticipate your moods, be aware of your feelings and make suggestions based on them, says Intel. Context-aware computing is poised to fundamentally change how we interact with our devices, “Future devices will learn about you, your day, where you are and where you are going to know what you want”, it added. “They will know your likes and dislikes”.

Context-aware computing is different from the simple sensor-based applications seen on smart phones today. For instance, consumers today go to an app like Yelp and search for restaurants nearby or by cuisine and price. A context -aware device would have a similar feature that would know what restaurants you have picked in the past, how you liked the food and then make suggestions for restaurants nearby based on those preferences. Additionally, it would be integrated into maps and other programs on the device.

Thus, context-aware computing offers us the opportunity to see these issues emerge and begin to tackle the theoretical and practical problems that result from these new technologies. We cannot be sure what solutions will emerge as we explore the issues.

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We can be sure, however, that context-aware computing will increasingly become part of our lives and a fundamental feature of our interactive experience.

The integration of computing into the everyday world is as important a topic for human- computer interaction researchers and practitioners as the spread of interactive computing and the globalization of networked information have been and the problems are even tougher. This special issue seeks to bring the questions to our attention and show both the range of current thinking about the issues.

-Swetambari Varma Third Year Engineering Information Technology Pune Institute of Computer Technology Pune, India

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crossword Answers to this crossword lie within the included articles

Across 5. A field involving the integration of biology and nanotechnology. (17) 8. The Operation that began to take down the multi million cybercrime rumpus. (11) 9. This method of computing is the use of computing resources that are delivered as a service over the Internet. (5) 14. The term Web 3.0 was first coined by this journalist of the New York Times in 2006. (11) 17. A hybrid car being developed by an electronics giant. This will also embark their first venture into the automotive industry. (5) 18. A business model by which a product or service is provided free of charge, but a premium is charged for updates. (8) 19. Technical term for a threaded conversation that can include multiple parties including robots and humans, comparable to one’s IM message history with someone. (4) 22. Text-based pictures/designs often intended as messages to other computer stations. (8) 23. Apart from Angry Birds, this game developed by the same company also received much appreciation. (11) 24. This kind of Web provides a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. (8) 25. Its tag : Capture life in the moment. (5) 26. A major American conglomerate company that produces a variety of commercial and consumer products, engineering services, and aerospace systems for a wide variety of customers, from private consumers to major corporations and governments. (9) 27. Systems used for communication, navigation, relaying flight controls and managing electrical systems on board modern day aircrafts.

(8) 28. Gadgets acting like personal companions and would anticipate your mood and make suggestions based on them. (13)

Down 1. Ellie Goulding’s song “Anything Could Happen” had pictures edited by this app’s filters. (9) 2. A language used for artificial intelligence simulations. (4) 3. A radar used to monitor weather changes, deployed in the USA. (6) 4. Another name for the cockpit of modern day aircrafts with screens and digital control systems for monitoring various systems on board the aircraft. (12) 6. A cipher developed during the first world war, played a key role in determining the outcome of the Second World War. (6) 7. General term for a software required for playing a video format.

(10) 10. Air navigation system aimed at augmenting GPS by improving its accuracy, integrity and availability (4) 11. The original name for Lytro. (14) 12. A small start up which has gained popularity for its “freemiums”. (9) 13. An optical remote sensing technology that can measure the distance to, or other properties of a target by illuminating the target with light, often using pulses from a laser. (5) 15. A new trend in online reading wherein users only go through titles, content pages and abstracts for quick wins. (11) 16. Refers to the availability of drug molecules in the body where they will be most effective. (15) 18. A probabilistic logic in which reasoning is approximate, the value variables in this logic can take truth values between 0 and 1 as opposed to binary logic. (10) 20. A data that exceeds the processing capacity of conventional database systems. (7) 21. A content sharing service that allows members to “pin” images, videos and other objects to their pinboard. (9)

glimpses of P.I.S.B.

Dr Koichi Asatani with Dr Prahlad Kulkarni, Principal, PICT, Dr Rajesh Ingle, Branch Counsellor, P.I.S.B. and student members of P.I.S.B. after delivering his talk on Trends in NGN and Its Issues, January 2012.

OFFICE BEARERS OF P.I.S.B. 2012-2013 Branch Counsellor: Dr Rajesh Ingle Chairperson: Kshitiz Dange Vice Chairperson: Hrishikesh Saraf Treasurer: Sanket Savla Vice Treasurer: Kartik Nagre Secretary: Aditi Tatti Vashishtha Adtani Joint-Secretary: Harshita Gangrade Ira Ramtirth Secretary of Finance: Vijay Malhotra Joint Secretary of Finance: Chirag Kadam VNL Head: Rohan Raheja Sakshi Jain VNL Team: Sphoorti Joglekar Yogesh Thosare PRO Head: Aditi Joshi PRO Team: Apurwa Jadhav Shruti Kuber Creative Head: Abhimanyu Bhosle Design Team: Riddhi Kedia Tanvi Oka

Web Head: Amar Chaudhari Web Team: Lakshmi Sharma Madhuri Gole Saurabh Kulkarni P.I.N.G. Head: Dimple Shah Fareen Magdum Pooja Bhurke P.I.N.G. Team: Chaitrali Joshi Jai Chhatre Rahul Baijal Senior Council: Amey Phutane Bhavin Thakkar Jaspreet Hora Mukund Malani Madhura Kaple Narendra Pal Parth Pandya Rahul Katariya Saif Sayed

Junior Council:

Abhijeet Mahajan Aditya Gurjar

Amogh Palnitkar

Archit Doshi

Deven Bawale

Eshan Joshi

Ifa Chiya

Luv Varma Priya Avhad

Rutugandha Bapat

Sahil Uppal

Tarun Gupta

Vishakha Damle

Vrushali Desale

Yashashri Bhandari