[AI] In the market for an e Book reader ?

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Rediff.com

 

March 2, 2010

 

Navin Kumar

 

The e-book reader market is starting to take off and may soon go the way
of music: instead of having closets full of books, we may soon carry our
entire

libraries around with us on slim portable readers. While there are still
many hiccups along the way, the industry is definitely on the up-tick.
So if you're

in the market and looking for the best money can buy, here's a look at
some of the best e-book readers around.

 

Before we begin though, here's a small introduction of the tech terms
you need to know:

 

e-Ink

In order to understand the technology behind modern e-book readers, one
must understand e-Ink, a kind of "electronic paper" manufactured by the
E Ink Corporation,

set up in 1997.

 

Every transparent micro-capsule on the surface of the e-reader can be
either black or white; there is no colour. The pigments are changed by
applying an

electric charge. Once a particular change has happened, no further
electricity is required to maintain it, it only consumes energy when you
change pages.

 

e-Ink is the basis of most e-book readers. Most readers have no
backlights and are readable in sunlight and artificial light but not in
the dark just like

real books. The e-Ink results in lower battery strain, lower eye strain,
no limitations on viewing angles and better visibility in daylight.

 

Digital Rights Management (DRM)

Most companies selling e-book readers also sell e-books online. One
downloads them onto one's PC or wirelessly onto one's reader and reads
from there. The

problem is that many of these downloads from the company store come with
DRM restrictions. In some cases, the format is unreadable outside a
particular

reader. In many cases one isn't allowed to copy the book beyond a fixed
number of times. This can be a pain.

 

Many books are available illegally, in many cases for download online in
the form of PDF files from torrent trackers. While these are useful as
one gets

otherwise expensive e-books for free, these books are of lower quality
and readability than the ones available at company stores.

 

 

--

 

 

Available at infibeam.com, the Pi is India's first e-book reader. It
uses e-Ink technology and the company claims that it has a battery life
of 10,000 refreshes.

It can also support most Indian languages.

 

Infibeam.com has over one lakh books available for sale at its online
store, at competitive prices (ie you pay roughly the same for the e-book
as you would

for the paperback at a bookstore).

 

It has a 6" display, a resolution of 600x800 pixels and 8-level
greyscale. The device weighs 180gms, is 9.5mm thick, has enough internal
memory for 500

books (512 MB) but supports a 4GB SD card, which enables 3,000 books to
be carried.

 

It also supports mp3 -- so you can carry your music around in it and
comes with built-in Sudoku. It supports PDF, EPUB, HTML, TXT, MOBI and
DOC text files

and JPG, BMP and PNG image files.

 

While it has no backlight or glare (a problem that has been reported
with some touch-screen e-book readers) it also has no direct qwerty
keyboard for making

notes, etc that many foreign readers have. Inputs have to be through a
keyboard that is activated and controlled on the screen through the
square button.

 

It costs Rs 9,999 and the company delivers it for free anywhere in India
(delivery within three days in major metros according to the company).
It comes

with a one year warranty.

 

 

 

--

 

 

Amazon now ships the Kindle -- probably the world's most popular e-book
reader -- to India, although it doesn't say how much shipping and taxes
will cost

(although it will certainly cost a bomb).

 

The 6" version of Kindle costs $259 (approx Rs 11,900) and the 9.7"
version (Kindle DX) costs $489 (approx Rs 22,500). Both have wireless
connectivity which

the Pi lacks. However, the use of the this connectivity is questionable
in the Indian context, where there is no 3G connection anyway besides
the GPRS/EDGE

which your cell phone uses.

 

The main benefit of this is Kindle's ability to receive electronic
versions of various newspapers and flip through articles which requires
a subscription.

The Amazon library is without a doubt far more extensive than the
infibeam library.

 

Furthermore, it has a direct qwerty keyboard, allows you to make
notations and look up meanings from a built-in dictionary. The Kindle is
better technology

that the Pi but one has to weigh the benefits with the price.

 

 

 

 

--

 

 

 

 

Apple's new tablet computer is expected to revolutionise e-books. Their
store is called iBooks and publishers include Penguin, HarperCollins,
Simon & Schuster,

Macmillan, and Hachette.

 

The introduction of this store is expected to start a price war in
e-book prices, bringing down the prices of e-books, which many people
feel ought be less

than the price of their paperback counterparts.

 

The iPad library will probably have a much better user interface than
Kindl

[AI] Free alternatives to paid software...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Dunno about their accessibility, though...

http://www.techtree.com/India/Features/Free_Alternatives_to_Paid_Softwar
e/551-111080-899-1.html

 

--

 

While there are many ways of doing one particular job, we at times are
so obsessed with a particular tool that we fail to look at other
alternatives that

might help us to do the same job differently.

 

This is why we'd like to introduce you to Free alternatives to the most
popular way of doing things, in this case software that you need, but
not necessarily

the way you want it. To simplify the process and streamline the myriad
software out there, we have listed freeware in seven broad categories.

 

Before we get into the software listings, please note that all software
is related to Windows operating system, unless mentioned otherwise.
Also, note that

all prices are mentioned in Indian Rupees; actual street prices may
vary.

 

Office Software

 

As plain as the title sounds, the software is a lot more than that. It
enables one to write, imagine, graphically present ideas, etc.

 

What You Think You Want:

 

Microsoft Office Microsoft Office  - Rs. 3,000 to Rs. 8,000 depending on
the edition, with Home & Student being the cheapest, minus Microsoft
Outlook. Microsoft

Office has always been the de facto standard in Office application.
After all Microsoft are the pioneers of this commercial software.

 

What You Need:

 

Open Office

 

This is a fantastic open-source office software suite for word
processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more.
It is available in

several languages and works on all Windows versions, and most Linux
packages. It stores data in international open standard format and can
also read and

write files from other common office software packages. It is created by
Sun with

support for several plugins

that enhance functionality.

 

IBM Lotus Symphony

 

Another excellent office suite based on Open Office technology is
created by IBM. The suite though isn't as wide in functionality as Open
Office's native

Suite is. Lotus Symphony is basically three applications Lotus Symphony
Documents, Lotus Symphony Spreadsheets, Lotus Symphony Presentations
with extensible

support through

plugins.

 

Neo Office

Strictly for Mac users, Neo Office is made by users for users with
plenty of positivity and helpful donations. NeoOffice features word
processing, spreadsheet,

and presentation programs for Mac OS X. Neo Office is built on top of
Open Office.org's office suite with code enhancements for the Mac
specifically.

 

--

 

Photo Editing/Management

 

In today's age where almost every mobile phone has a camera stuffed into
it, photo editing and photo management has become not an option but a
necessity.

 

What You Think You Want:

 

Adobe Photoshop or Adobe Elements is the premier unrivalled software
when it comes to photo manipulation and editing. Though Elements is a
cut down version

of Photoshop and costs a fraction compared with Photoshop, it still
costs around Rs. 5000. It's great for amateur photographers, but
certainly not to just

edit occasional vacation photos.

 

What You Need:

 

Paint.net

Fantastic free software meant as a replacement for Microsoft Paint
included for free in Windows. This software started off as an
undergraduate program,

mentored by Microsoft itself. The program is as close as any freeware
can be to Adobe Photoshop with excellent support for layers, unlimited
undo, special

effects and an active growing community with several plugins. The
program requires

Microsoft's dotNET architecture

installed.

 

GIMP

The venerable GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It
is the first free photo manipulation program for photo retouching, image
composition

and image authoring. Created as a response to expensive commercial
software, GIMP has some very powerful tools that better Photoshop's
tools. So much so

that GIMP offered the magical "Content Aware Fill" ages back that
Photoshop CS 5 is now released with, called the "Resynth" plugin. See
the comparison

here.

 

Picasa

If it is photo management that you need, don't give Picasa a miss. It
has the easiest and the most intuitive interface any photo management
program/photo

re-touching program can have, plus it is wonderfully linked with
Google's very own Picasa online photo sharing service where you can
automatically upload

your photos through Picasa. Simplicity is bliss!

 

IrfanView

Though not the most intuitive and best looking freeware out there, it's
a great photo management software nonetheless. Sure Picasa has the looks
and the

cool functionality but IrfanView features a lot of heavyweight functions
that Picasa doesn't even come close to having.

 

 

--

 

Email Clients

 

Though not an essential tool for most, some business users swear by it.
Email clients let one view emails offline and setup multiple email
accounts all

from one place.

 

What You Think You Want:

 

Microsoft Outlook, th

[AI] Using skin-derived stem cells to treat hereditary vision defects

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

 

The Hyderabad-based LV Prasad Eye Institute has successfully converted
skin cells of mice into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) that
behave like embryonic stem cells. The Institute is trying to do the same
with human skin cells. The goal is to use skin cells of patients with
retinal problems and reprogramme them into iPS cells. These cells will
then be directed to become one of the types of retinal cells. A normal
gene, which will be synthesised and delivered into the iPS cells using a
viral vector, is expected to cure the patient. 

After establishing a procedure to restore vision in people whose cornea
has been damaged by physical or chemical injury by harvesting limbal
stem cells from the healthy eye and transplanting them to the eye that
has been damaged, the Hyderabad-based LV Prasad Eye Institute has moved
to the next stage. The Institute has successfully converted skin cells
of mice into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) that behave like
embryonic stem cells. 

The work on standardising the procedure of reprogramming skin cells into
iPS cells started 6-7 months ago. It took 3-4 months to establish the
protocol for converting skin cells into iPS cells. 

"We were able to produce iPS cells 2-3 months ago," said. Dr. D.
Balasubramanian, Research Director of the Institute. They are now in the
process of characterising the iPS cells in order to do the same with
human skin cells. 

"The protocol [of converting human skin cells to iPS cells] is the same,
but human cells [when compared to mouse cells] behave differently," he
said. "The real test is when we try doing it using human cells." 

The central idea behind the work on iPS cells is to find a way to treat
people with hereditary (genetic) diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa. 

When the technique of producing human iPS cells is perfected, the skin
cells of patients with retinal problems such as retinitis pigmentosa
will be reprogrammed into iPS cells. The iPS cells will then be directed
to become one of the types of retinal cells. Since the iPS cells will
still have the defective gene, a normal gene will be synthesised and
delivered into the iPS cells using a viral vector. The delivered normal
gene is expected to cure the patient. 

"The presence of defective genes [in addition to the normal gene] will
not be a problem. We want to see if the normal gene overrides the effect
of the defective gene," he said. 

There is hope that this procedure should work as research in 2007 at
MIT, Cambridge, showed that a mouse suffering from sickle cell anaemia
could be cured. In this case, the researchers first converted the skin
cells of the mouse into iPS cells and then directed the iPS cells to
become red blood cells. A normal gene was introduced into the iPS cells
and these cells were then transplanted into the mouse. The mouse no
longer suffered from anaemia. 

The LV Prasad Eye Institute is working on introducing the normal gene
through two routes. The first will use a viral vector, mostly a weak
attenuated adeno virus that cannot cause any disease. The second
alternative is the non-viral introduction. 

"The efficiency of gene delivery into the host cell is much higher when
a viral vector is used," he said. "But we would prefer a non-viral
vehicle." 

Having produced iPS cells using mice, work is on to deliver a normal
gene into the iPS cells. "We should be able to convert human skin cells
into iPS cells and introduce the cells with the normal gene in a year's
time," he said. A patient with retinitis pigmentosa has already been
chosen for the human study to treat the disease through cell therapy. 

The biggest advantage of using iPS cells is that skin cells from the
patient suffering from a disease are used for the cell therapy.
Therefore, the question of rejection due to tissue mismatch does not
arise. 

The iPS cells have another advantage. As adult cells from the skin are
used, the technique sidesteps the ethical problems that embryonic stem
cell research faces. The technique of producing induced pluripotent stem
cells by reprogramming adult skin cells was first done in 2006 by Dr.
Shinya Yamanaka at Kyoto University. 

Two Chinese teams in Beijing recently succeeded in producing mouse pups
using iPS cells. Pups created by one of the teams were able to sire over
200 second-generation pups. More than 100 third-generation pups were
also produced. 

Source: The Hindu



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[AI] A Govt employee facing termination...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Folks,

 

I wish to bring to your urgent attention the case of a Govt employee
from Kerala's Health Dept, who went blind recently, facing termination
and not knowing  how to proceed.  He lost his vision recently and is
facing harassment from his colleagues at the Primary Health Centre that
he works in, including not being permitted to sign on the roster.

 

He used to take his wife along to the office for assisting him, but,
even this has not been permitted.  The DMO has been telling him to
present himself before a Medical Board to prove his physical fitness and
take voluntary retirement if and when his disability is proved.

 

He has given representations to the Commissioner for PWD at
Thiruvananthapuram, but, there has been no response.  When the DMO was
shown the relevant clauses of the PwD Act, he was told that the
protection available to a person acquiring a disability while in service
will not be applicable to his cadre (I understand he works as an
assistant at the PHC). .

 

Now, he has been asked to present himself before the Medical Board next
Tuesday.  On earlier occasions, he has avoided this by taking sick
leave.  This time, he is in a dilemma as the pressure is mounting on him
to accept his disability and quit.

 

It may be noted that he has not yet  gotten himself a disability
certificate and hence theoretically  not yet a disabled person as per
his official records.

 

Pls share your views on the courses of action available to him,
including for the immediate term.

 

The moot question is, can he present himself before the Medical Board
and let himself be declared disabled (or as they would term it,
"physically unfit for work") ?  Is it time for him to challenge the
departmental harassment in Court ?  Or, should he wait for response from
the CPWD, considering he gave his representation only a month back ?

 

Looking forward to your advice at the earliest...

 

Thanks and rgds

 

RS

+ 98 472 76 126 



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[AI] Nokia launches netbooks...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Rediff.com

 

September 27, 2009

 

Nokia BookletNokia the world's largest handset maker has made its foray
in the laptop/computing space. The move does not come as a surprise.
Many tech pundits

had predicted this, considering the highly competitive mobile handset
market.

 

The Finnish company recently announced its first netbook, called the
Nokia Booklet 3G.

 

Like all netbooks, the Nokia Booklet 3G is essentially a laptop PC and
has impressive features. Nokia says the Booklet will run Windows and
claims to have

an impressive battery life of 12 hours.

 

Sources in the mobile/laptop computing world project Booklet to have a
neat modern design and a modern metallic appearance case.

 

Speaking about the company's foray, Nokia's executive vice president for
Devices, Kai Oistamo wrote on the Nokia blog, 'A growing number of
people want

the computing power of a PC with the full benefits of mobility. We are
in the business of connecting people and the Nokia Booklet 3G is a
natural evolution

for us. Nokia has a long and rich heritage in mobility and with the
outstanding battery life, premium design and all day, always on
connectivity, we will

create something quite compelling. In doing so we will make the personal
computer more social, more helpful and more personal.'

 

The Nokia Booklet's key product USP is that unlike almost all other
netbooks, it has an internal mobile broadband card with a SIM slot.
Other netbooks rely

on external USB mobile broadband modems for internet access. Embedding
of this internal wireless modem makes the Booklet 3G a sci-fi update to
Nokia's

traditional phone handset product range.

 

Since Nokia's phone handset manufacturer rivals -- such as Apple, LG and
Samsung -- have been selling netbooks for some time now, Nokia is in
danger of

losing market and customer share by these brands. Nokia will use the
Booklet to support its telecom service provider's customers and
discourage them from

taking netbooks.

 

Powered by the efficient Intel Atom processor, the Nokia Booklet
promises to deliver a broad range of connectivity options -- including
3G/ HSPA and Wi-Fi

-- gives consumers high-speed access to the internet, including Nokia's
broad suite of Ovi services.

 

Nokia also now faces new and different competitors for the Booklet that
are strong in the laptop PC space such as Dell, HP and Sony that are
weak or non-existent

players in the mobile phones market.

 

How Nokia will differentiate its product stand on mobiles and handheld
computing is a question that many are asking. The answer to which will
only come

with time.

 

Amit Nayak is CEO of Taiwan based Geek IT Stores. He can be reached at
ammeetna...@geekitstores.in.

Amit Nayak



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[AI] World White Cane DayCelebration

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !

Good morning and greetings on the World Whitecane Day.

Whitecane has long been symbolic of the visually challenged all over the
world and on this day, efforts are made to sensitise the society about
the existence and aspirations of this silent minority that lives on the
margins of the society.  

RCG-SRVC Foundation, which has been running a Resource Centre at Info
Park, Kakkanad, Kochi  for the last 18 months for training visually
challenged youngsters in employability skills like mobility, computers
and communications, is organizing an event at the Vismaya Building, Info
Park today afternoon.

Detailed schedule of the event follows.  

Kindly do participate and show your solidarity with your sightless
brethren, if time permits.

Thanks and have a great today !

Love

RS
--



--

15th October Programme
Event 1:

2:00 to 3:45 p.m - Work Shop for the visually challenged

3:50 to 4:10 p.m - Entry process at Infopark Gate, lining up school
children and other invitees for the "walk", distribution of eyeshades
and general instructions.

Event 2:

4:15 p.m  -  Administration of Oath by Ms. Ranjini Haridas,
followed by distribution of White Canes and Flag-off by Sri. Dilip,
Cine Actor

4:30 - 4:45 p.m - The "blind walk" - 150m

4:50 - 5:00 p.m -  Tea break, receiving guests and class room visit by
guests

5:00 p.m : Entertainment programme by visually challenged students

Event 3:

5:30 p.m :  Formal function starts with prayer song by student

5:33 p.m : Welcome address by Rotary Club President, Dr.Thomas Paul

5:38 p.m : Presentation on the Centre activities by Mr.M.C.Roy,
Project Director, RCG-SRVC

5:45 p.m : Presidential address  and launch of website by Hon. Justice
Sri. Kurian Joseph

5:50 p.m : Inauguration of the function and official launch of
Resource Centre by Chief Guest Sri. Jairam, Cine Actor
by lighting the lamp

5:55 p.m : Inaugural address by Sri.Jairam

6:00 p.m : Distribution of Certificates and Valedictory address by
Sri. Madhav Chandran, Asst.Governor, Rotary Club

6:10 p.m : Honouring achievers by Sri.Venugopal C Govind, Past
District Governor, Rotary Club, followed by short message

6:14 p.m : Honouring employers by Prof.V.J.Pappu, President SRVC,
followed by short message

6:18 p.m : Honouring resource persons by Sri.C.J.Mathew, Development
Commissioner CSEZ, followed by   short message


6:22 p.m : Honouring volunteers by Sri. Suresh Joseph, GM, DP World,
followed by short message

 (Introduction of all the awardees to be done by
Mr.Sunil J Mathew, Project Coordinator, RCG-SRVC)

6:26 p.m : Vote of Thanks by Dr.John, President RCG-SRVC

6:30 p.m : National Anthem by students



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[AI] Net Books usability & accessibility.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !

 

Appreciate if you could share your experiences using Netbooks.  

 

What I am specifically interested in knowing are :

 

1.  Usability of the small keyboard.  Does the smaller size tax us
too heavily in terms of strain to the fingers, especially if used for
long durations ?
2.  While using Jaws, what keyboard layout  needs to be configured
to give the best results ? (viz. laptop, classic laptop etc)
3.  Does the lesser processing power of the Atom processor adversely
impact performance while running Windows 7, Jaws and MS Office
applications simultaneously ?
4.  Any particular functionalities one needs to factor in while
making a buy decision.

 

 

Glad if you could give some specific model recommendations, with prices,
too.

 

Thanks and rgds

 

RS

+ 98 472 76 126 



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[AI] Online do's and don'ts...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Forwarding a lil' chat published in rediff.com.  Definitely, an attempt
to market Norton solutions, but, it is informative as well and contains
URLs of some good security-related web resources...

 

November 10, 2009

 

 

Do you know how to decide which blocked downloads to download? Which is
the best anti-virus solution that can protect your computer from
malicious attacks?

Do anti-virus suites slow down your computer?

 

What is the best way of protecting your online identity? How to guard
against phishing or identity thefts?

 

David Hall of Symantec answered these and other queries related to
protecing you and your computer on the Internet in a chat with readers
on November 6.

 

For those of you who missed the chat, here's the unedited transcript:

 

csacs asked, hello how to detect malware?

 

David Hall from Symantec answers,  at 2009-11-06 15:27:53The best way to
detect malicious software that could be running on a machine is to
install a security

suite and run a full system scan.

 

ols asked, which is best anti virus? along with anti-virus should one
also use trojan remover. What basic things should be taken care with a
website?

David Hall from Symantec answers, With today's threat landscape
antivirus alone is not enough to be able to protect you against all the
weapons that Cybercriminals

have in their arsenal. I would suggest a full Internet Security solution
like Norton Internet Security 2010 as it offers both antivirus and
protection

from threats and scams that are now delivered from the web most
commonly. Good security suites will keep you protected against trojans,
rootkits, worms

and now the new drive by downloads that are so common that we see
100,000 websites a day attacking consumers.

 

kannan asked, there is nothing as best antivirus. if it is for home use,
there are plenty of free antivirus software available on the net. Any AV
software

that gives you regular updates, should be fine

David Hall from Symantec answers, You have a good point that there are
many free antivirus programs out there these days. With Norton products
we are now

releasing 10's of thousands of signatures a day to keep up with the
latest threats. We are now streaming updates out every 5 to 15 mins to
keep PC's protected.There

is now so many threats per day that we have needed to release a new
style of protection based around the concept of reputation which is able
to block the

latest threats before traditional signatures are available.

 

aj asked, how to decide which blocked downloads to download ?

David Hall from Symantec answers, Ifyou are unsure of the safety of a
site that you are downloading from it is always best to check it our
with a site reputation

service like safeweb.norton.com to see if it is clean or it has been
hosting threats before. If you are running a Secuurity product that uses
a new styled

reputation engine you can also query that once you have downloaded it to
know if it is safe to install. It's always wise to double check before
you double

click.

 

kannan asked, u have plethora of security issues. so having a good
antivirus doesn't necessarily guarantee you protection. there are basic
precaution that

you have to take when you are on the net. It has been found that some so
called security software are actually a 'trojan' which creates the
security hole

David Hall from Symantec answers, One scam that is on the rise is called
"scareware" which pretends to be legitimate security software but
actually is a

misleading application that falsely scares you into thinking you have
threats on your machine. We have seen about 250 unique versions of these
in the last

12 months alone. A quick search on your favourite search engine will
quikly determine if other users are complaining that the application is
"scareware".

 

kannan asked, if you are using a wireless network for internet, ensure
your neighbours are not allowed to use your connectivity. introduce
basic WEP security

David Hall from Symantec answers, Thats good advice, it only takes a
couple of mins to set it up and it stops any freeloaders hopping onto
your connection.

 

kannan asked, there is nothing as fully secure. it is a race. you have
to continuously update your guard. Similar to human security - this gets
much more

complex in the technology industry due to anonymity. If I tell you, to
keep only the software that you use - then for students, exploring is
lost. So -

don't mix business & pleasure. keep them separate.

David Hall from Symantec answers, You are correct that there is no magic
silver bullet technology that will solve every problem that the Malware
writers

use today. That's why it is best to use layers of security to block all
the different threats. Firewalls, Anti Phishing, Antivirus and Web
Reputation all

layer on top of each other to keep the bad things off of your PC. Don't
underestimate the power of education, if you understand how the bad guys
are attacking

you are less likely to fal

[AI] An entrepreneur with accessibility solutions...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

http://getahead.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/nov/19/slide-show-1-achiever-
shilpi-kapoor.htm

 

Interesting interview with Shilpi Kapoor of BarrierBreak Technologies,
Mumbai who has forged a sustainable business model out of accessibility
and assistive technologies.



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[AI] Help now just a key away

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

 

Help now just a key away

SECURITY ON MOBILES.

Thomas K. Thomas

New Delhi, Dec. 8

The next time you are in trouble help could be just a button away.

A Delhi-based security alarm systems company has developed an
application that allows mobile users to send an SoS message by the press
of a single key.

The application will automatically send out alert messages to five
predetermined numbers with the exact location of the user through GPS
(Global Positioning System).

The application is being launched by Indianeye Alarm Systems, which has
partnered with an Israeli-based technology company.

Speaking to Business Line, Mr Harry Dhaul, Director, Indianeye Alarm
Systems, said, "Since everyone these days has a mobile phone what better
way than to bring an application that provides security to the people
through just a single touch on their phone. The service can be accessed
by anyone who has a symbian-based mobile phone. The user will have to
download the application onto the handset. GPRS connectivity is not
required since it is based on the SMS platform."

The service was launched here on Tuesday on a pilot basis.

The service will be made available in other cities soon on a
subscription basis; the rate is yet to be decided. "This can be very
useful, especially for women who have to put up with eve-teasing and
more serious offences with no help around. With this application, an SoS
alert will be sent to their parents or any contacts that they choose
instantly," Mr Dhaul said.

To back up the SMS-based alert system, the company will also set up a
contact centre wherein those who have been alerted by any user can call
in and find more details.

Similar applications have been launched in other countries, including
the UK and Japa



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[AI] Feedback solicited - Angel eBook Reader.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !

 

Just came across a low-priced gadget called Angel which seems to offer
most features of Victor Reader Stream and such other devices that are
priced at least 3 times over.

 

Angel offers text reading, voice recording, music and daisy / audio book
playing, radio etc.

 

Would like to get user feedback from people who might have tried this
out, especially regarding :

 

*   Quality of TTS used - is text clearly understandable as with
say, Eloquence TTS of Jaws ?

*   > Ease of navigation

*   > Quality of audio (for music listening).

*   > Ruggedness

*   > After sales support, etc.

 

Appreciate if experienced users could comment, especially with respect
to more established models like Victor, Plextalk etc.

 

Thanks and rgds

 

RS

 

  



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[AI] Battery performance of Angel eBook Reader.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Good morning, folks...

 

I have been using Angel since mid-April this year and I have been
noticing a gradual reduction of battery  performance over the last 3
months.

 

The charge does not seem to hold for more than 1 hour after a full
charging of 5 hours, as recommended.  Please note that the gadget is
mainly used for playing .mp3 files (not music though).

 

Appreciate if other users of Angel could share their experiences in this
regard.  I want to compare notes before taking up with the concerned
dealer.

 

Thanks

 

RS

+ 98 472 76 126 

Voice your thoughts in the blog to discuss the Rights of persons with 
disability bill at:
http://www.accessindia.org.in/harish/blog.htm

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[AI] Receiving 2 copies of each message.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Folks,

 

I checked my Access India folder after a long gap today and found that I
am receiving 2 copies of every message for the past several days.

 

Have anybody else encountered this issue ?

 

Appreciate if Moderator could look into this if this is indeed a common
experience.  Otherwise, please let me know what needs to be checked at
my end.  I am receiving the group mails in my corporate email id, which
is  configured on MS Exchange server and I check it using MS Outlook
2003 with automatic routing configured to a personal folder.

 

Thanks and rgds

 

RS

+ 98 472 76 126

Voice your thoughts in the blog to discuss the Rights of persons with 
disability bill at:
http://www.accessindia.org.in/harish/blog.htm

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[AI] Contact info of Syed Imran.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi !

Will appreciate if someone can provide me with the email id and or cell number 
of Syed Imran ASAP on my id - [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Thanks and rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126
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[AI] Unemployment up among the disabled in India.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

rediff.com

November 22, 2007 10:16 IST

A World Bank report has found levels of unemployment increasing among disabled 
persons in the country.

The study commissioned by the Government of India and based on a sample of 
2,000 households in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh says that employment rate among
people with disability (PWD) fell from 42.7 per cent in 1991 down to 37.6 per 
cent in 2002.

The five percentage point difference results in part from the different sample 
as people with mental illness and retardation were not counted as PWD in
the 47th round but were in the 58th round, where they were the PWD sub groups 
with the lowest employment rates.

However, the finding of a reduced employment rate among PWD between the early 
1990s and the early 2000s holds even when mental illness and mental retardation
people are omitted from the 58th round sample.

Excluding MI and MR, the study says that the employment rate of PWD still 
stands at 39.6 in 2002 i.e. 3.1 percentage points lower than in 1991. This 
compares
to a fall of only 1.1 percentage points for the general population (from 58.6 
to 57.5 per cent) between 1993 and 2000, the report points out.

The report finds no explanation for this decline in employment rates over a 
decade among people with disability. Says lead author Philip O'Keefe: "We are
still looking for answers for this one. I feel better reporting and better 
awareness about the matter could explain the figures partly."

The report, People with Disabilities in India: From Commitments to Outcomes, 
concludes that further research is needed to understand the determinants of
the decline in the job rate of persons with physical and sensory disabilities 
between 1991 and 2002, particularly to assess if it results from changes
in the demographic composition of the population with disabilities, in the 
increased severity of disability or factors in the labour market and society.

The report goes on to say that fall in the employment rates of PWD relative to 
the general working age population during the 1990s is almost universal across
the country except Sikkim. But the extent of the relative decline varies.

States like Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra exhibit small falls in the 
PWD/non PWD employment ratios, while others like J& K, Bihar, and Assam have 
seen
large falls in the relative employment position of PWD.

A further aspect of the unfair gap between the employment rates of the PWD and 
the general working age population is the variations between the two in the
levels of education.

The study says that the gap in employment rates between the two is more 
pronounced for those with the lowest levels of education in both periods. The 
gap
in employment levels has widened for all education levels, the study shows.

For the illiterate PWD population, their employment rate was 64 per cent of the 
of the general illiterate population in the early 1990s. This fell sharply
to 47 per cent by the early 2000s. Not only have PWDs lost out in employment 
terms in 1990s, but those likely to be the poorest have lost out proportionately
more, the report says.
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Re: [AI] Article on T V Raman

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Dear Prashant, 

Can you share Dr T V Raman's contact info, please, if you have it ?  Pl send it 
to my id, [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Thanks and rgds

RS
M: 098 472 76 126  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Prashant
Naik
Sent: Wednesday, November 14, 2007 9:05 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] Article on T V Raman


Really wonderful job by T. V. Raman.  It was our great luck last month that
we XRCVC team members met him in mumbai.  It was great experience talking to
him and knowing so many things about technology and about him.

regards,
prashant naik


On 11/14/07, Nicky Varma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> +11: Cracking the Code of Accessible Search
>
> by Dan Jellinek. (Taken from November, 07 issue of E-Access Bulletin)
>
>
>
>
>
> It was revealed this month that Google has become the fifth biggest
>
> company in the US, bigger even than McDonalds and Disney: a
>
> reflection of the fact that the way we search the internet has become
>
> one of the most important parts of our lives.
>
>
>
> As no-one with a disability or who works with or is close to someone
>
> with a disability needs reminding, the desires and needs of people with
>
> disabilities are precisely the same as those of everybody else, which
>
> means that searching the internet is high on their list, too.
>
>
>
> Google was always a highly usable site, one of the secrets of its
>
> success: simple and functional and text-based, which means it is fairly
>
> accessible already to people navigating the internet using text-to-
>
> speech converters or other special access technologies. But in recent
>
> years the company has realised that it is not just access to the search
>
> interface, but browsing the results; and even the accessibility of the
>
> sites returned as results that dictates how accessible the whole search
>
> experience has become.
>
>
>
> The man charged with looking at these issues for Google is research
>
> scientist T.V. Raman. Based at Google HQ in Mountain View,
>
> California, Raman is responsible for developing Google Accessible
>
> Search (
>
> http://labs.google.com/accessible/ ),
>
> a trial version of the Google search interface that is designed to be
>
> easier to use by people with impaired vision or other disabilities,
>
> including a system of ranking search results according to the
>
> accessibility of the site.
>
>
>
> "My job is to look at what Google technology can do for users with
>
> disabilities: to make sure it works with assistive technology, and also
>
> to look at what we can build to help in new ways," he told E-Access
>
> Bulletin in an exclusive interview recorded during a UK trip last
>
> month.
>
>
>
> "Search is very useful for people with impaired vision, but one of the
>
> things I had observed over the years is that websites returned on the
>
> third, fourth or fifth page of results were often the most easy to read.
>
>
>
> "I built accessible search last year to address this. It is not a
> different
>
> one: it is Google, the same index, the same magic. But it swaps the
>
> order of search results depending on whether they are easy to read."
>
>
>
> To make this assessment, the software looks at a group of 'design
>
> patterns' such as whether the HTML code is clearly structured;
>
> whether the page makes sense with images turned off; how the page
>
> uses colour; and whether the page can be used without a mouse.
>
>
>
> "It looks at a whole bunch of things, some positive, some negative.
>
> And it gets trained: using user feedback on the results, it is trained to
>
> learn over time about which sites are the most useful."
>
>
>
> The accessible search tool is still in development, though it is publicly
>
> available through the Google testbed area 'labs.google.com'. While
>
> still primarily marketed by word of mouth, the ultimate goal is to make
>
> it a choice on the main Google home page, T.V. said.
>
>
>
> As befits a multi-billion pound technology company, these days
>
> Google's activities extend far beyond its initial core offering of an
>
> internet search engine, and T.V.'s work also includes looking at the
>
> wider range of Google's work such as web-based software and desktop
>
> tools to try to ensure that these, too, are as accessible as possible.
>
>
>
> "I am looking at the whole range of Google products that have rich
>
> value to people with impaired vision. Blind users for example want
>
> simple ways to add events to a calendar." To help people gain access,
>
> Google has released the source code to its API (application
>
> programming interface)", he said, "and we are also looking for how we
>
> can make highly interactive web applications work better with assistive
>
> technologies."
>
>
>
> T.V.'s background is an unusual one for a Silicon Valley high flyer.
>
> His initials are a clue: they stand for Tiruvilwamalai Venkatraman,
>
> being respectively his ancestral village and his father's name,

[AI] Hope to cure Corneal blindness...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

[Sudhir R]  Doctor with a heart 

In conversation with Prof. Falcinelli who pioneered the technique of using a 
tooth to nurture the eye. 

Caring touch: Prof. Falcinelli. 
An eye for an eye will only make the whole world blind, said Mahatma Gandhi in 
a non-medical context. But a tooth to nurture 

an eye can actually give vision. Thanks to MOOKP - Modified Osteo Odonto kerato 
prosthesis (osteo (bone), odonto 

(tooth), keratoprosthesis (artificial cornea) - pioneered by Italian surgeon 
Prof. Giancarlo Falcinelli, Chief Ophthalmologist 

Emeritus S. Camillo Hospital and Scientific Director of the Osteo Odonto 
Keratoprosthesis Foundation, there is new hope for 

corneal blindness (there are 10 million across the world and India accounts for 
4.6 million).

MOOKP, in which a person's own tooth is used as biological tissue to integrate 
a plastic cornea with the eye, comes as a boon 

for patients with severe dry eyes and ocular damage in whom conventional 
corneal transplants are of no help.

Prof. Falcinelli trained a team of surgeons at the Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, 
led by the late Dr. G. Sitalakshmi who he recalls 

possessed excellent surgical skills and operated with great confidence and 
intelligence and successfully restored sight to 33 

patients. Prof. Falcinelli was in Chennai recently to launch India's first 
MOOKP training programme at Sankara Nethralaya. 

The technique 
Compassionate and caring, the 84-year-old surgeon is a doctor with a heart. 
Borrowing the original technique from his mentor 

Prof. Strampelli, Prof Falcinelli made several refinements, simplifying and 
perfecting the technique to provide clearer vision for 

the patient and ensure longer life for the prosthesis.

"What we are putting in is an artificial cornea because the original is 
irreparably damaged due to trauma, accidents, chemical 

injuries, Steven Johnson's syndrome (severe allergy to medication) or other 
immune disorders. Before MOOKP, all our efforts 

to provide an artificial cornea without the support of a biocompatible tissue 
were desperate attempts" says Prof Falcinelli 

What does it take for a surgeon to be able to perform MOOKP? "MOOKP requires 
tremendous patience because it's a long 

procedure and necessitates a lot of interaction with the patient. Whoever does 
MOOKP takes on a great responsibility since it's 

a little known procedure and, after the surgery, patients have to necessarily 
come back to the same surgeon."

Interest in the eye 
Ask Prof. Falcinelli how he got interested in the eye and he turns emotional. 
Peppino, a childhood friend, wanted to keep his 

hands warm in winter. So he devised a contraption: a container that had lime in 
it with water dripping from another source. 

Unfortunately too much water got in and the mixture splashed on his face 
resulting in loss of vision. 

This inspired Prof. Falcinelli to become an eye surgeon. He travelled across 
the world studying artificial corneas. After years of 

perfecting the MOOKP he operated on Peppino and gave him the gift of sight . 

As for the advances we can expect in the future, he says the first is economic. 
"This is not a one shot operation. The procedure 

consists of at least two stages, each of four to five hours duration. It is 
expensive because of the time spent by the surgeons and 

the support staff the hospital needs to dedicate. In the time required to do 
MOOKP many other corneal surgeries can be done." 

Though corneal blindness is not peculiar to poor countries, he is pained that 
he hasn't been able to take this procedure to some 

affluent countries because insurance companies are not ready to pay.

Other patients 
Prof. Falcinelli is also concerned that quite a few patients who come for the 
MOOKP procedure also suffer from glaucoma. "It 

would be a tragedy if patients who regained vision due to MOOKP had to lose it 
to glaucoma. In such cases I have devised two 

procedures, which helps 80 per cent of the patients get over the problem. For 
the remainder, a cure must be found. Looking at 

the skill and the dedication of my Indian colleagues, I am hopeful of finding a 
solution with their support," he says by way of a 

tribute .

* * * 

About MOOKP 
Stage 1A is the initial stage to examine the inside of the eye and to assess 
the status of the retina and the optic nerve, which have 

to be healthy for good results. Stage 1B involves removal of the mucous 
membrane from the inside of the cheek and placing it 

on the surface of the eye (most cases of corneal blindness have extremely dry 
eyes). Simultaneously a canine tooth is extracted 

with the surrounding bone and root, a hole is drilled and the plastic cylinder 
(plastic cornea) made of the same material as an 

intraocular lens used after cataract surgery is fixed and the prosthesis is 
placed under the skin of the cheek, just below the eye to 

enable it to develop a soft tissue covering. 

In the final stage the prosthesis is removed fr

[AI] Jaws cursor on laptop

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Folks,

Would appreciate if someone could educate me how to switch to the Jaws cursor 
in a HP Compaq laptop that uses the laptop keyboard layout in Jaws settings.  
Also, how can I route the PC cursor to Jaws cursor and vice versa ? (OS is Win 
XP and Jaws 8.0 is doing the honours.)

Thanks and rgds

RS
M: 098 472 76 126
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[AI] On laptops and Operating Systems

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !

I have been following the various threads on AI dealing with laptops and the 
various OSs like Windows Vista, Windows XP, Ubuntu etc and am utterly confused 
as to the right choice (if there is something like that) since I am myself 
contemplating the purchase of a laptop.

On the one hand, most reputed manufacturers (except Dell) seem to have stopped 
shipping XP-based machines, while Vista is a real pain from what Vetri and Syed 
have been reporting and I discovered myself.  Ubuntu seems to be good from the 
point of view of immunity from malware though I am not too sure whether we have 
a good eco-system  to support us like a large community of blind users, 
applications for use in a business environment etc.  We cannot take political 
decisions on matters of OS, you know, just because Open Source is the latest 
fad and we all love to hate Bill Gates. (smile)

What about iMacs, laptops running Mac OSX, which, I understand, is a Linux 
variant and equally immune from malware.  I remember reading somewhere that Mac 
OSX comes bundled with a screen reader, and, since it is a proprietory product, 
getting support from the company will be easy.  The only remaining question is 
whether we have a community of blind Mac users (either in India or abroad) to 
pose queries to, as we do in AI ?

Pl share your views and experiences on iMac, Mac OSX, the bundled screen reader 
and the eco-system.  Would request someone like Vetri, who is in the Apple 
country and purchased a laptop recently, to tell us why he opted for one 
running Bill's latest (still-born ?) baby ?

Thanks and rgds

RS
M: 098 472 76 126   
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Re: [AI] bollywould article!

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Well, Rajjesh, you have raised a very interesting topic for debate, especially 
of importance for visually challenged persons losing sight on account of 
degenerative diseases like RP.  A host of homeopaths, practitioners of 
Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani, Naturopathy etc make tall claims about the potency of 
their treatments for stopping or slowing down the deterioration of vision and 
the desperate patients and their families spend a lot of their time, money and 
effort  following their medication and therapies, usually to no avail.  I have 
myself been a victim of such professional cheating rackets flourishing in 
different parts of Kerala which are still attracting patients from all over 
India and abroad.  

Looking back, I wish I had spent those 10 years of my life picking up Java, 
Oracle or some such IT-related topics with my residual vision.  But then, 
sadly, I had not heard of screen readers till finally losing my sight.  
Nowadays, when I try to persuade other RP patients from wasting their time and 
money in  alternate systems of medicines and concentrate on getting 
rehabilitation inputs to prepare for the eventual blindness, there are few 
takers.  Guess every patient is as afraid of blindness and the vegetative, 
marginalised existence it conjures up as much as I was, and, may be, we all 
have to learn these things the long and hard way.

Btw, I hope all the group members are aware of Dr Reshmi Pramod from Kochi, who 
is a visually challenged Ayurveda doctor.  She has restarted her practice after 
a traumatic 3 years and is doing well and even planning to launch full-fledged 
web-based consultancy soon.

Rgds

RS

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Rajesh
Asudani
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 10:13 AM
To: Mamta; accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] bollywould article!


A blind person practicing ayurveda is surely commendable, however, I do not 
endorse bolywood advertisement for any doctor, and that too in this list.

On a personal Note, I am often amazed by tall claims of ayurveda, homoeopathy 
and other such systems of medicine, but they readily give up in cases of 
emergency and compell one to fall back on allopathy.

Perhaps they are suitable only for some chronic conditions not requiring dyre 
medical interventions and even in those conditions, acute phase requires 
allopathic intervention and then allopaths rightly blame patients for not 
availing medicine at the right time.

All this I am writing out of personal experience, of UNANI HAQUIMS WHO BOAST OF 
RESUSCITATING A DEAD PERSON WITHIN SIX HOURS OF HIS DEMISE BUT WHO RUN TO 
ALLOPATHS WHEN THEY THEMSELVES GET SLIGHTEST CARDIAC TROUBLE

RAJESH

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Mamta
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 1:50 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: [AI] bollywould article!

Ashmit Patel
Bollywood:

Ashmit Patel is a happy man since he doesn't need to worry much about his 
general wellbeing these days. One of his closest confidantes is a very special
doctor. Amisha Patel's kid brother shares a great bond with Dr. Samir Mansuri 
who was born blind and has been practicing Ayurveda for almost ten years
Reveals Ashmit,"Actually a friend of mine talked about this blind association 
which was organizing an event in Ahmedabad. I met Dr. Mansuri at the airport
and we readily struck up a very good rapport. Ayurveda usually works on the 
sense of touch. So just by shaking hands with me he was able to tell me about
the problems I had."

now. The actor happened to meet him some two years back.
Dr Mansuri who has also treated the likes of
Vivek Oberoi,
Salman Khan
, Subhash Ghai and Ashok Mehta is equally impressed with Ashmit. He says, "I 
was looking for a celebrity to grace a cultural programme for blind singers
and dancers some two years back. And somebody suggested Ashmit's name. I met 
him on the 5TH OF September, 2005 at Ahmedabad airport and when just by shaking
hands with him and feeling his pulse, I was able to tell him about his 
problems, he was impressed and happy. I prescribed him medicines and thereby a 
friendship
was built. After knowing him so well, I can prescribe medicines over the phone 
too."

Dr Mansuri is now in the process of opening an organization for blind people 
called 'Blind Dream'. He has got a clinic for himself in Mumbai too and Ashmit
meets him often there.

"He is really gifted. I talk to him quite a bit and meet up often, almost every 
week. If I am ailing or something he can tell right away what ailment I
may be having, even over the phone. He does a lot of work for the welfare of 
the blind as he is blind himself and I am there in every capacity to help
him out. Because what he has given me is really much more," says Ashmit who has 
been lying low for a while but has a number of interesting films scheduled
for release in 2008.

Dr Mansuri also showers high words of 

[AI] Laptop commands, please...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !

Still struggling with the laptop.  Can you pl help me out with commands for 
reading the status bar, spelling the current word etc ?

The hardware and software involved are  HP laptop running Win XP and Jaws 8.x.

Thanks and rgds

RS
M: 098 472 76 126
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Re: [AI] A treat for visually challenged children

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

You are right there, Vetri.  But, why just blame the political class ?  
Physically challenged, especially the visually challenged, are the favourite 
"hug and kiss" targets for celebrities too, who find it create excellent photo 
ops.  Unfortunately, our so-called NGOs and media walk straight into their 
ensnaring web and waste their time and column centimetres with such hyped up 
reaching out gestures.  Sickening.

RS

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Vetrivel
Adhimoolam
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 10:41 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] A treat for visually challenged children


Ya. But the problem with these top officials is that they will not 
contribute to our genuine development. As long as we remain as their 
advertising tools, there will be more of such events. But when we begin to 
assert our voices, then we become the unwanted citizens of this country. 
That's the attitude of present politicians towards physically challenged in 
general and visually challenged in particular.

Vetri.
- Original Message - 
From: renuka warriar
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 11:59 PM
Subject: [AI] A treat for visually challenged children


Date:12/12/2007 URL: 
http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/12/stories/2007121262231700.htm

National

A treat for visually challenged children

Antara Das

- Photo: SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH

Affectionate touch: West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi shows visually 
handicapped children around in the Raj Bhavan gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Kolkata: As the evening chill set in on Tuesday on the sprawling gardens of 
the Raj Bhavan here, another world seemed suddenly possible, at least for 
the
visually challenged children who had gathered there to soak in the fragrance 
of the various flowers blooming on the lawns.

Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi had invited the visually handicapped and street 
children, belonging to the Voice of World and Future Hope organisations, to
experience and appreciate the fragrance of the flowers, especially that of 
Cestrum Nocturnum, commonly known as 'Raat ki rani' or 'Hasnuhana' that 
casts
its enchanting smell in the evening when it blooms.

Mr. Gandhi showed the children around, describing in detail how the flowers 
looked.


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[AI] Protect your PC and personal data from hackers and malware.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

rediff.com

December 11, 2007

You do it almost everyday. You login into your computer, send e-mails, open 
attachments from friends and strangers, shop online, transfer money using your
banks secured payment gateway, chat with friends and upload personal 
information on social networking sites.

But have you ever given a thought to someone who is keeping a close watch on 
all your online activities. Someone, somewhere in some corner of this planet
trying to get inside your computer and filch one of the most important 
resources of information age: personal data.

Data that can be abused to make purchases online, send malicious programmes to 
all those on your contact list and many such things to harm you. Welcome
to the age of hackers (these are people who try to gain access to your computer 
using various hacking tools and misuse your personal data) and spies lurking
on the vast Internet highway.

But don't worry. There are ways in which you can beat the hackers.However, when 
it comes to security nothing is 100 per cent secure. Loads of exploits are
developed everyday. Updating the knowledgebase should be a regular process. 
Following could be few of the many measures that could be taken to protect
your computer and all things that you do online:

~ Install the latest antivirus software (I recommend Kaspersky, Eset Nod32, 
Quickheal, F-Secure) on the computer and never ever disable or turn it off.
Install a personal firewall (
www.sygate.com
and
www.zonelabs.com
offer free versions) and Spyware Checker (I recommend Spybot Search & Destroy).

~ Keep updating antivirus/anti spywares at least every 15 days. Use separate
Trojan
removers like anti Trojan shield if possible. Full system scan with your anti 
virus at least once in a week or better set it to scan periodically and give
a small interval say every Friday (the day may vary according to your choice).

~ There are a few free online scanners available at
http://housecall.trendmicro.com
or
http://www.kaspersky.com/kos/eng/partner/us/kavwebscan.html,
and
http://support.f-secure.com/enu/home/ols.shtml.

~ Get System's health checked regularly at
http://www.pcpitstop.com/.
The site checks the overall system health, tunes up the system and finds out 
the vulnerabilities. It's a free service.

~ Don't ever download or open attachments whose source you are not certain 
about. Even if the source is trusted, see if the content is relevant. Even 
non-executable
files like *.Doc files can contain macro viruses and Trojans. There are some 
special sort of programmes called worms, which don't need human interaction.
You just open a mail or visit any website and that's it. So always stay alert. 
Avoid opening e-mail attachments that contain '.vbs', '.scr', '.exe', or
'.pif' file extensions. Files that end in these extensions are most likely to 
contain some sort of virus.

~ Web browsers like Fire Fox, IE 7 & Opera offer good security features. Test 
your Web Browser for Vulnerability at
http://bcheck.scanit.be/bcheck/.

~ Never download any files specially executables over P2P (peer-to-peer) 
sharing networks, because you cannot be absolutely certain what they are. P2P 
file
sharing programmes can lead to the installation of a lot of adware and spyware. 
Try downloading executables from authentic and well-known sites; don't
just download files from anywhere.

~ Try not to visit porn sites, Warez, sites of cracks and serials because most 
of them have hell lot of latest spywares, Trojans and viruses .One visit
and you are gone if your virus definitions are not up to date.

~ Be familiar with the installed programmes on your computer. If you notice a 
new programme installed, which you didn't in the first place, possibilities
are that it might be something malicious.

~ Read the installation agreements carefully when you download something from 
the Internet. Pay attention to the terms and conditions or EULA (end-user
license agreements) of the program being installed. Reference to third party 
installation should be given more attention. Some EULA's tell you that, if
you install the program, you have also agreed to install some spyware with the 
software. Do check the independent sources as some EULA's do not mention
about the Spywares.

~ Back up your computer data on a regular basis, at least weekly. Copy your 
important documents and files onto a floppy disk, removable drives, CD or a
DVD for safekeeping. Don't wait for the disaster to happen, take the precaution 
before hand. Create system restore points periodically

~ Use e-mail encryption like PGP to send important information via emails. 
Don't send important information in plain text.

~ Never respond to unsolicited e-mail. To those who send spam, one response or 
'hit' from thousands of e-mails is enough to justify the practice. Additionally,
it validates your email address as active, which makes it more valuable, and 
therefore opens the door to more spam.

~ Beware of phishing attacks. Sites like
www.an

Re: [AI] A treat for visually challenged children

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

You are forgetting, Dinesh, that this news item would never have made it to the 
papers (or channels) if the visitors were just kids from some schools.  And, I 
am sure kids are allowed to visit the gardens of the Raj Bhavans and 
Rashtrapathi Bhavan routinely, but, rarely shown around by the dignitary 
himself unless it is a photo op with "children of a lesser God". (smile)

As for celebrities reaching out to the disabled, you need to be very careful in 
Kerala, especially on special occasions like the Whitecane Day or the World Day 
for the Disabled, lest, these insufferable creatures come around with a bunch 
of camera crews and start hugging and kissing you. (smile)

RS 

RS 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Dinesh
Kaushal
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 11:14 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] A treat for visually challenged children


I don't think there is any harm in such activities, if children from schools
in general are sent to similar events, then why not special children?

This seems to me very genuin event.

Regards
Dinesh Kaushal

blog at 
dineshkaushal.blogspot.com

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sudhir R
(NeSTIT)
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 10:52 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] A treat for visually challenged children

You are right there, Vetri.  But, why just blame the political class ?
Physically challenged, especially the visually challenged, are the favourite
"hug and kiss" targets for celebrities too, who find it create excellent
photo ops.  Unfortunately, our so-called NGOs and media walk straight into
their ensnaring web and waste their time and column centimetres with such
hyped up reaching out gestures.  Sickening.

RS

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Vetrivel
Adhimoolam
Sent: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 10:41 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] A treat for visually challenged children


Ya. But the problem with these top officials is that they will not
contribute to our genuine development. As long as we remain as their
advertising tools, there will be more of such events. But when we begin to
assert our voices, then we become the unwanted citizens of this country. 
That's the attitude of present politicians towards physically challenged in
general and visually challenged in particular.

Vetri.
- Original Message -
From: renuka warriar
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 11:59 PM
Subject: [AI] A treat for visually challenged children


Date:12/12/2007 URL: 
http://www.thehindu.com/2007/12/12/stories/2007121262231700.htm

National

A treat for visually challenged children

Antara Das

- Photo: SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH

Affectionate touch: West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi shows visually 
handicapped children around in the Raj Bhavan gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday.

Kolkata: As the evening chill set in on Tuesday on the sprawling gardens of 
the Raj Bhavan here, another world seemed suddenly possible, at least for 
the
visually challenged children who had gathered there to soak in the fragrance

of the various flowers blooming on the lawns.

Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi had invited the visually handicapped and street

children, belonging to the Voice of World and Future Hope organisations, to
experience and appreciate the fragrance of the flowers, especially that of 
Cestrum Nocturnum, commonly known as 'Raat ki rani' or 'Hasnuhana' that 
casts
its enchanting smell in the evening when it blooms.

Mr. Gandhi showed the children around, describing in detail how the flowers 
looked.


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[AI] Ansar makes waves as a foot reflexologist...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

www.newindpress.com

KOCHI

Dec 18, 2007

Paradise regained
Tuesday December 18 2007 09:21 IST

Sudha Nambudiri

Buy/Sell/Rent Property of your Choice in your City.

KOCHI: Turning blind one fine morning was a reality, hard to come to terms with 
for Ansar.

But from there, he negotiated a tough terrain and is today bringing relief to 
others from physical pain!

Ansar, the foot reflexologist at Taj Residency at Marine Drive, can massage 
your ailment away by working on the feet alone!

His work requires supple hands and tremendous concentration, but he has picked 
the gauntlet with confidence.

"My massage works effectively on those with sciatica problems, stomach pain, 
stress-related complaints and diabetes," he says.

A trained masseur in panchakarma, Swedish massage and yoga, Ansar had been 
working at ayurvedic centres when life took a cruel turn, making him blind.

"God must have known that I would be turning blind in my twenties which was why 
he gave me this gift," says Ansar.

Ansar is on call for guests of the hotel and does foot massage in the privacy 
of their room where the guest can feel relaxed.

He has a basket which contains a lotion, a towel and a cream. "No medicine is 
applied. The solution lies in the way the foot is massaged," he tells, showing
where the sensitive points of a various parts of the body like sinus regions, 
sciatia, stomach, kidneys, shoulders etc reach beneath the foot."

The massage extends from half-an-hour to an hour. "It is very helpful for those 
who are tired, unable to sleep and suffer from a jet lag or severe exhaustion."

He has been there at the hotel for a couple of months now and is already a 
familiar face among the guests.

When he joined the hotel, Ansar walked around on all floors to find his way 
with the help of another guy. Now all he needs to know is the room number and
he reaches there on his own.

"Many guests who are on business trips ask for my services whenever they come 
here," he says. Acknowledging his abilities, the Taj management has arranged
a poolside facility for Ansar to do foot massages for those who don't stay at 
the hotel.

"Even people in the city can call up the hotel and avail my services at the 
hotel," he says.

So how does he manage life? "My timings here are from 9 am to 7 pm. I come from 
my home at Aluva by bus and get down at Menaka stop.

There's always someone to help me cross the road and slowly I make it here."

Ansar talks of the days when he turned blind. "I caught conjunctivitis and my 
eyes developed an allergy to the medicine that was administered.

Initially the eyes turned red but the complications took me to the point of 
becoming blind. For many days I just sat at home, frustrated and down, wondering
how I would go on with life as a blind man."

He then got in touch with the Society for Rehabilitation of the Visually 
Handicapped (SRVC) and asked them to help him out with a job so that he could 
become
independent.

"It was through SRVC that I got an opening at the Taj group," says Ansar, 
spreading light all around him with a beaming face.

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Re: [AI] history of computer education for blind in india

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Dear Harish bhai,

Your story is indeed inspiring for ordinary mortals like us who keep cribbing 
these days even with easy and relatively cheap access to sophisticated 
assistive technology devices.  Please continue the narration.

As my technology guru who had taught me the basics of internet surfing way back 
in 2004 on your visit to Kochi, I feel I have a moral responsibility  to write 
your biography if you are game. (smile)

Hats off to you, boss...

Love

RS  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Harish
Kotian
Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 10:31 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] history of computer education for blind in india


Hi all

I joined the RBI in 81 as a telephone operator when I was in the middle of 
HSC which is equivalent to 12th std. Telephonist was sort of the only job 
available to the educated blind then. It was a fun job, but I was feeling 
intelectually choked as it was a very mechanical type of work.

I looked for some alternatives and I fancied for the IAS and I learnt in the 
west, the blind were also into programming. This fired my imagination and 
started digging info on it. I got convincedI could make it.

The next task was to get myself trained in programming. None of the 
institutes would admit me. Even those who were then technologically savy 
pronounced it was impossible for a blind to do programming.

To make a long story short, I got admission to one institute the owner of it 
was my father's friend.

I started with COBOL language.I had no access technology at all. I would 
write my programme in Braille, read it out to the computer operator, who 
would key it in and tell me the output. It was a very frustrating way to 
work on as I got into major miscommunication problems.
Despite it all, I topped the class.

The trend that time was to learn the major languages one after another. I 
however, took a different path. I gave myself a break and practised the 
language very intensively and only thereafter moved to the other language. I 
gained immensely by this approach.

Computer time during those days was very precious and scarce, some gentle 
souls, did give it to me. I  later came across a person, who owned a Apple 
system which had built in speech synthesizer. I was very thrilled to hear 
it. However I learnt later, it could only be used in games and no screen 
reader in it. These were all all 8 bit processors and few other systems too 
came in the market with like capabilities. I had my hands on most of them as 
and when they hit the market.


I came across a person in Canada who was willing to sell a second hand 
terminal. Those days even that costed a fortune and there was lots of 
restriction importing anything. I did not buy it although I felt very bitter 
missing on it.

Years later, at Blind Graduates forrum of India we bought the Mimmic speech 
synthesizer with HAL screen reader. I had access to it. This was the biggest 
moment and turning point in my life.It was the first time, I could work on 
the computer absolutely independently. I had the synthesizer but no 
computer. At National center for software technology NCST an Premier 
institution offered unlimited access to their systems. My father would bring 
the synthesizer to the railway station in the evening after my job, 
Thereafter we would head to NCST and I would spend some hours there. Most of 
the sundays I would spend there.

After being sufficiently proficient with it, I bought my own system. It was 
a 16 bit PC with 512 KB RAM running at 10 mhz with 2 5 1/4 floppy drives of 
360 KB each. No hard disk at all. Years later I bought a 20 MB hard disk. I 
kept this system going until 96 when I got transfered to Bangalore.

Honestly, this system was very fast compared to the resources we drive now.

I came across very interesting gears. When we started computer classes at 
BGFI, we were gifted with an Apple system No access technology of course, It 
had a built in Basic interpretor it was connected to the Black and White TV 
as a monitor.

I had got a very novel screen reader which did not drive a speech 
synthesizer. Its output was in Morse code using PC's speaker. The lowest 
speed it could go to was 10 WPM. This too was fast for me. A friend of mine 
brought the speed down to 5 WPM using reverse engineering and working on a 
binary file.

My college friend gave me a lap top, it turned out it had only 
wordprocessing capability and no possibility to run a screen reader. I 
returned it to her not finding use for it.

Arround early 90's I learnt somebody had developed a speech synthesizer at 
Bangalore, primarily for defense use. When I tested it, I found It  to be 
unsuitable for screen reader. Later, I got yet another information someone 
else had developed a speech synthesizer. I somehow felt this is the right 
place and I took a train for Bangalore. I went to Advanced electronics I was 
greeted by Kashinathan he showed me the s

Re: [AI] Visually Impaired duo atains biz goal (and digression)

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi Shadab,

Learning to navigate safely using the white cane is a skill we can acquire only 
through determination and regular practice.  While I am still scared of 
venturing out into the wide, open world on my own with my cane (which I use to 
navigate around my office), Ansar, the foot reflexologist whose story I had 
posted to the group yesterday, picked up the skill quite fast and relies on it 
to travel around 20 km to the busiest centre of Kochi city.  For your info, 
Ansar lost his sight barely 15 months back while I am quite senior in this 
field with a track-record of 6 years. (smile)

So, take heart and start now.  The independence it endows us is with is 
unmatched.

Rgds

RS  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Shadab
Husain
Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 12:41 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: [AI] Visually Impaired duo atains biz goal (and digression)


I have never used a white cane, but now I really
regret for having done so. Bashfulness barded me to
use it, and consequently, now I am paying heavily for
it.

There is another problem with me: whenever I walk
alone on the roads or any unrecognizable place, I
digress from the straight path. (Pray, don't take the
metaphoric meaning of digressing from the straight
path!) I mean, I cannot walk in a straight direction.

This thing also happens with me when I hold anything
like tea or sort of that. My hand tilts towards left
or right direction. Furthermore, whenever I offer my
devotions, (namaz), I turn towards right or left
directions.

I look greedily to Access Indians that they move
independently. But now I am in my twenties so how can
I learn moving independently? Please tell me.

Regards

Shadab HUSAIN


Love is seldom mutual


  Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now, on 
http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html/


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Re: [AI] A QUERY REGARDING SOUND RECORDER

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

I have just purchased a digital voice recorder with a 32 MB flash memory that 
can easily be operated by a visually challenged person.  It also doubles up as 
a pen drive, though you need to use a USB cord to connect to the computer and 
use their proprietory software interface to make transfers.

The file format for the recordings is .tsh and a built-in functionality is 
available to convert it to .wav.  It also comes bundled with a microphone, ear 
phone and an audio cord to interface with  other audio equipment.  There is 
even a contraption to automatically record telephone conversations, just in 
case you are planning to eavesdrop. (smile)

It can record over 1000 minutes of voice in the low quality mode and around 360 
m in the high quality mode.

Found it to be more useful for visually challenged students than standard 
pendrive-cum-voice recorder-cum-mp3 players seen in the market which often 
create accessibility problems by building too many functionalities into the 
same button.

It is a Korean product with the brand name Cenix and different models with 
varying memory sizes are available.  The 32 MB one cost me Rs 2,300.

Thought I would share this piece of good news with group members.

Rgds

RS
M: 098 472 76 126

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Subramani L
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 10:37 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] A QUERY REGARDING SOUND RECORDER


I have a digital recorder and can also use it as a pen-drive to view the
files and play the audio files on the computer. But, is there a way to
learn the format of the files --for instance, if they are wave or mp3
files?

Subramani 



-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Vikas
Kapoor
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 8:04 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] A QUERY REGARDING SOUND RECORDER

It does in the sense that first you make a blank wave file by choosing
the 
option of decrease speed and then save it and the next time open the
file 
and start recording! I was able to make a maximum of 64 minutes file
with 
640MB and beyond that my computer's memory did not support.
Regards,
Vikas Kapoor,
MSN Id:[EMAIL PROTECTED], Yahoo&Skype Id: dl_vikas,
Mobile: (+91) 9891098137.
- Original Message - 
From: "Harish Kotian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 7:34 PM
Subject: Re: [AI] A QUERY REGARDING SOUND RECORDER


Hi
I don't think you can get a greater recording time. You can I guess
increase
the playing time.It is as if our former PM starts of with an oratory

like make it speak fast /slow.
Harish.


- Original Message - 
From: "Vikas Kapoor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Tuesday, December 25, 2007 11:50 PM
Subject: Re: [AI] A QUERY REGARDING SOUND RECORDER


> So now the question arises: what is the maximum duration that we can
keep?
> and also, it doesn't announce anything when we decrease the same, is
there
> any way to confirm that it has really increased the speed? and also
let me
> know what does the "increase speed by 100%" mean?
> Vikas Kapoor,
> MSN Id:[EMAIL PROTECTED], Yahoo&Skype Id: dl_vikas,
> Mobile: (+91) 9891098137.
> - Original Message - 
> From: "Vetrivel Adhimoolam" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: 
> Sent: Tuesday, December 25, 2007 11:30 PM
> Subject: Re: [AI] A QUERY REGARDING SOUND RECORDER
>
>
> You can go to effect and then decrease speed. each time you decrease
the
> speed, the length of the track gets doubled.
> - Original Message - 
> From: Vikas Kapoor
> To: Access India
> Sent: Tuesday, December 25, 2007 12:39 PM
> Subject: [AI] A QUERY REGARDING SOUND RECORDER
>
>
> Folks, can anybody tell me how to increase the default one minute
> recording
> limit in the windows in-built sound recorder?
> Regards,
> Vikas Kapoor,
> MSN Id:[EMAIL PROTECTED], Yahoo&Skype Id: dl_vikas,
> Mobile: (+91) 9891098137.
> To unsubscribe send a message to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> with
> the subject unsubscribe.
>
> To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes,
> please
> visit the list home page at
>
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n
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>



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Re: [AI] A QUERY REGARDING SOUND RECORDER

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Any idea how much it costs ?  And, whether it is available in Bangalore ?  The 
Cenix recorder is the best bet I could find for a boy in the 5th std, who is 
not braille-literate and  computer savvy and is attending school after a three 
year break after going blind.

To contribute to another thread, I have seen visually challenged students who 
record lectures on their laptops using the 
Audacity application.  This does not limit the duration of the recording and 
the clarity is also good, though I am not sure what is the original format in 
which it records.  Facility to convert to the wav and mp3 formats is built into 
this ap.

RS


  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Subramani L
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 11:38 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] A QUERY REGARDING SOUND RECORDER


The one I have was bought in Japan by my brother. I wouldn't say it is
extremely accessible, though most of us who are used to the dictophones
and recorders can manage quite well with it. It has 2 GB memory space
and can capture five feature films (my brother told me this). The best
thing about this, called Olympus (don't know if this is made in Japan),
is that it can record in stereophonic --you can exactly hear a person's
voice on one side and the other on the other side. THe other thing about
this is that it doesn't require any installation of drivers or
proprietary software for file transfers, you can more or less use it
like any other pen drive, with or without a chord. 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Vetrivel
Adhimoolam
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 11:03 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] A QUERY REGARDING SOUND RECORDER

I am glad that it is accessible to us, but RS 2300 for a 32 MB recorder
is a 
bit too much. We can actually get cheaper recorders with more storage 
capacity. Perhaps folks in Delhi can throw light on that. But recording
with 
computers is more crystal and clear. Almost like hearing a live
broadcast in 
an FM radio.

Vetri.

- Original Message ----- 
From: Sudhir R (NeSTIT)
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 12:15 AM
Subject: Re: [AI] A QUERY REGARDING SOUND RECORDER


I have just purchased a digital voice recorder with a 32 MB flash memory

that can easily be operated by a visually challenged person.  It also 
doubles up as a pen drive, though you need to use a USB cord to connect
to 
the computer and use their proprietory software interface to make
transfers.

The file format for the recordings is .tsh and a built-in functionality
is 
available to convert it to .wav.  It also comes bundled with a
microphone, 
ear phone and an audio cord to interface with  other audio equipment.
There 
is even a contraption to automatically record telephone conversations,
just 
in case you are planning to eavesdrop. (smile)

It can record over 1000 minutes of voice in the low quality mode and
around 
360 m in the high quality mode.

Found it to be more useful for visually challenged students than
standard 
pendrive-cum-voice recorder-cum-mp3 players seen in the market which
often 
create accessibility problems by building too many functionalities into
the 
same button.

It is a Korean product with the brand name Cenix and different models
with 
varying memory sizes are available.  The 32 MB one cost me Rs 2,300.

Thought I would share this piece of good news with group members.

Rgds

RS
M: 098 472 76 126

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Subramani L
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 10:37 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] A QUERY REGARDING SOUND RECORDER


I have a digital recorder and can also use it as a pen-drive to view the
files and play the audio files on the computer. But, is there a way to
learn the format of the files --for instance, if they are wave or mp3
files?

Subramani



-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Vikas
Kapoor
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 8:04 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] A QUERY REGARDING SOUND RECORDER

It does in the sense that first you make a blank wave file by choosing
the
option of decrease speed and then save it and the next time open the
file
and start recording! I was able to make a maximum of 64 minutes file
with
640MB and beyond that my computer's memory did not support.
Regards,
Vikas Kapoor,
MSN Id:[EMAIL PROTECTED], Yahoo&Skype Id: dl_vikas,
Mobile: (+91) 9891098137.
- Original Message - 
From: "Harish Kotian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, December 26, 2007 7:34 PM
Subject: Re: [AI] A QUERY REGARDING SOUND RECORDER


Hi
I don't think you can get a greater recording time. You can I guess
increase
the playing time.It is as if our former PM starts

[AI] Recognition failure in Kurzweil.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi !

A student friend who is a novice to computers reports a problem with Kurzweil - 
a page gets scanned, but, recognition fails halfway through.  He has 
experimented with many versions of Kurzweil, including 9 and 10.  Operating 
system is Win XP and the RAM size is 512 MB.  What could be going wrong ?

Unfortunately, I neither have the expertise nor the access to his PC to tinker 
around.  Would appreciate if I could get a  few trouble-shooting tips and 
configuration steps that I can pass on to him.

Thanks and rgds

RS
M: 098 472 76 126  
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[AI] Laptops to suit everyone's needs and budgets...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

rediff.com

Laptops to suit your style, and pocket
January 21, 2008

If you have been aspiring to own a mobile computer, and have been waiting to 
upgrade to one to suit your style, you may well be spoilt for choice. The good
news though is now, you need not contemplate having to rob a bank like you 
might have had a few years ago. Here's a selection of five laptops with just
the right combination of price, performance and features to suit you.

HCL 'MiLeap' goes under Rs 14,000
Now where can you hope to get a laptop with prices starting at Rs 13,990 and 
weighing under a kilo? HCL's new year launch MiLeap X Series is exactly this:
a computer with a 7 inch screen with full functionality you can expect in a PC, 
including being WiFi ready.

An ideal machine for those looking a for a light weight mobility solution, it 
works very well for students as well as for those living on the wrong side
of the digital divide. Corporates can equip their sales and service teams to 
ensure connectivity on the move. It is ideal to be carried to work, to school,
in a park or a gym or even working on cramped seats in the economy section of 
flights.

Available with both flash-based and disk-based storage versions, its sturdy 
design incorporates features that make it dustproof, shock-proof and durable.

For those looking for a more loaded version, they have the option of the MiLeap 
Y Series. Powered by Intel Ultra Mobile Platform and Microsoft's Vista Home
Premium, it comes with a swivel 7" touch screen, 80GB HDD and Bluetooth.

Both the models have network ports, are Wi-Fi ready, have the option for a 
'Data Card' and are available with GUI enabled user friendly Linux OS.

Approximate price: Starts at Rs 13,990 for the MiLeap X Series and Rs 29,990 
for the MiLeap Y Series.

Zenith Director
January 21, 2008

If you want to go for a regular sized screen, but still want to stay within a 
budget, opt for Zenith's offerings -- three new WiFi enabled laptops priced
under Rs 30,000 -- all pre-loaded with Microsoft Windows Vista.

The Zenith Director is the most attractively priced of the three at Rs 24,990 
and comes with a 15.4" wide screen display. The Zenith Admirale comes with
the Intel Graphic Media Accelerator and integrated Bluetooth for easy 
communication and works on the Intel Centrino technology.

It is the Zenith Presidio you may want to pick up if you're looking for a 
laptop that is easy on your shoulders. Thin and light, weighing a mere 1.75 kg,
it has a 12.1 inch XGA display. It is based on Intel Centrino mobile technology 
and can be upgraded to an Intel Core Duo 2.33 GHz CPU.

Approximate price: Zenith Director: Rs 24,990; Zenith Admirale: Rs 28,000; 
Zenith Presidio: Rs 29,000


Dell XPS M1530
January 21, 2008

If you want your laptop to pack a bigger punch, check out the Dell XPS 1530. A 
sleek 15.4-inch notebook, it comes with touch-sensitive multimedia buttons,
brushed aluminum accents and a choice of two colours -- Tuxedo Black and Alpine 
White.

With a starting weight of just under six pounds and featuring a trim 1-inch 
profile, standard features include a high definition widescreen 15.4" display,
slot-load optical drive, DirectX 10 capable graphics, sophisticated touch 
sensitive media buttons, webcam and a fingerprint reader.

For multimedia enthusiasts, there is the optional Blu-ray disc drive and 
included noise cancellation earbuds and travel remote that stores away in the 
ExpressCard
card slot.

Approximate price: Starts at Rs 53,000


Talk about colour -- five laptops in five colours from Sony, the VGN-CR series, 
in options of pure white, indigo blue, blazing red, beauty pink and aroma
black. A truly personal laptop for those young in their outlook.

Basic specifications include WindowVista Home Basic, 14.1 WXGA screen, DVD RW, 
1 GB RAM and 80 GB Hard Disk and weighs 2.5 kgs.

It is easy to finance too -- 12 equal monthly instalments, with a 2 per cent 
initial processing fee ensuring you don't need to save up for a year before
you can lay your hands on these mean machines.

Price: Starts at Rs 54,990

The big launch by Steve Jobs at the Mac World Expo this month, the MacBook Air 
is as slim as your index finger and literally feels like air in your hands.
Powered by the 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors in the two model 
offerings, even the chip was custom-built to fit within the compact dimensions
of this machine.

Other cool features include an oversize trackpad with multi-touch technology; 
you can pinch, swipe, or rotate to zoom in on text, advance through a photo
album, or adjust an image. This gesture-based input has already been highly 
successful on the iPod touch.

It also includes a built-in iSight camera, smartly integrated so you hardly 
notice it's there. The iSight camera and iChat software make video chatting
easy anywhere there's a wireless network.

Then there's the innovative now-you-see-it, now-you-don't port hatch that flips 
down to reveal (and closes to hide) a

[AI] Cheap laptops - things to watch out for

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

rediff.com

January 24, 2008 01:49 IST

Personal computer (laptop and desktop) prices may have crashed. The low price 
tags, however, can be misleading ? especially for first-time buyers.

Consider this. All low-cost laptops and desktops come pre-loaded with a Linux 
OS or a DOS version (obsolete on desktops).

The installation of a legal Microsoft operating system (OS) and office suite 
(for word, excel, etc) will increase the price of the desktop or laptop by
20 to 35 per cent.

What's wrong with a free Linux OS and office suite like openoffice.org, one may 
ask? Linux is free but has no support unless one gets it installed from
Red Hat or Novell (that charge for support and maintenance, since the OS is 
free).

This increases the cost. Besides, analysts aver, 95 per cent or more of the 
current 22 million users in India use Microsoft OS and Office on the desktop.

Of this, it is estimated, over 70 per cent of Microsoft OS, and over 90 per 
cent of Microsoft Office, is pirated. With Microsoft clamping on piracy, getting
a legal OS becomes imperative.

"While the mid- and low-range PC market is growing, how much impact the 
introduction of low-cost PC/laptops has on the market is too early to predict. 
While
the hardware players have done their bit of reducing cost, it is now up to the 
other players to come up with solutions that will make consumers adopt the
technology," says Piyush Pushkal, Assistant Director, Research, IDC.

The cheapest laptop from HCL Infosystems [
Get Quote]
 ? 'MiLeap', for instance, comes for just Rs 13,990. It sports a flash drive, 
free Linux OS and a seven-inch screen.

The ACi Ethos 7 model (from Allied Computers International, Asia) for Rs 
14,999, on the other hand, comes with DOS. The cost of the system increases 
substantially
when you think of a larger screen and additional features.

The HCL [
Get Quote]
 high-end Y series, for instance, would have multiple navigational features 
such as a touch screen, thumboard, stylus, keyboard and touch buttons, with
Windows Vista (Home) as the OS.

However, it will cost anywhere between Rs 29,990 and Rs 39,990 ? more than 
double the price of the basic version. Users would also either have to upgrade
the DOS version of the ACi Ethos model with the free Linux OS or Microsoft XP 
or Vista.

This will add Rs 1,500 to Rs 7,000, depending on whether it is a starter, home 
or student version. Microsoft Office will set a user back by another Rs 8,500
to Rs 15,000.

Acer was one of the few early manufacturers to introduce low-cost products. 
"Hardware prices have surely come down but OS prices, when compared to this
fall, have not followed the trend," said Harish Kohli, chief sales officer, 
Acer India. But he does feel that people are much more conscious about upgrades
and the pitfalls of buying illegal OS copies.

"I think the starters edition has made good inroads. Compared to this, Linux 
usage has been very marginal," he said.

Raj Saraf, chairman and MD, Zenith Computers [
Get Quote]
, felt that software prices not keeping pace with hardware pricing would lead 
to piracy. Industry players thought Microsoft, with the largest market share
in OS, is aware of the market condition.

"In countries like India, China and other markets there is a clear message 
coming out that the cost of software has to come down," said George Paul, 
associate
VP-marketing, HCL Infosystems.

The price of a desktop or laptop that runs a legal Microsoft OS (XP or Vista) 
and Office suite increases 20 to 35 per cent, admitted Doug Hauger, chief
operating officer, Microsoft India.

The prices, he explains, "are not as high as users think they are. We give 
rebates to our channel partners who pre-load the branded computers. This helps
reduce the street price. We are seeing a dramatic increase in the adoption of 
legal software in branded laptops".

A few prominent vendors do propagate Microsoft Starter Edition (a stripped-down 
version for emerging economies).

R Manikandan, Business Group Head IT, LG, said: "If you compare products at the 
launch time, and after the lapse of a year, the price difference will be
8 to 10 per cent. The moment hardware prices drop, the configuration of the 
product goes up one layer."
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[AI] IT sector starts shedding its differently abled resources.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

> Hi folks !
> 
> Hope the list members recollect an issue I had raised about six months back - 
> about the so-called  new employers of the differently abled, the IT & ITES 
> companies, keeping the disabled resources on long periods of contract, 
> without confirming them.
> 
> The ensuing discussion had centred on the benefits of the contract system and 
> how it was really progressive.  The issue was swept under the carpet unlike 
> other "serious" issues like discrimination by airlines against the visually 
> challenged, the mistakes in grammar in the list postings, etc.
> 
> Now that  the IT sector has started feeling the heat of the Rupee 
> appreciation and the US economic melt-down, the poor disabled  resources have 
> started getting contract termination notices.  Funnily, a multinational 
> behemoth which describes itself as an equal opportunity employer and draws 
> lot of media publicity from this is one of the first to initiate action that 
> might impact some of our own list members.
> 
> There is little that we can do but sit and watch as the most important social 
> security mechanism available to the Indian blind, a steady job, is kicked out 
> from their grasp thanks to biased corporate policies.  While appreciating the 
> fact that job mobility is the in-thing in a globalised existence, let us not 
> forget that the disadvantaged in India, like us disabled, do not have an 
> elaborate social security mechanism to fall back on in such circumstances.
> 
> Finally, when all the hype dies down, the only recourse to the disabled who 
> are not from well-heeled families may still be government jobs and / or 
> traditional sectors like teaching, vocational trades and self-employment.
> 
> Rgds
> 
> RS
> M: 98 472 76 126
> 
> 
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Re: [AI] IT sector starts shedding its differently abled resources.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Dear Harish,

I fully agree with you about the need to be vigilant and watch out for 
opportunities to move on.

But, we need to appreciate a few hard facts when it comes to job mobility in 
India.  Indian demographics is fully loaded in favour of the twenty-somethings, 
since they constitute about 50% of the population and employers prefer to have 
them on rolls as they can put in longer hours.  By forty, these resources 
become expendable for the company who can get fresh supplies of younger blood.  
Here-in lies the trap of the contract system.  Instead of taking resources on 
rolls, companies prefer to engage them on (fatter) contracts, dumping them at 
their whim and pleasure.

This scenario of hiring and firing is OK in a mature market like the developed 
nations, where tough laws guarantee certain rights to such employees and also 
unemployment doles ensure they can meet their basic needs till another job 
comes by.  In India, this could spell disaster to older, disabled or otherwise 
disadvantaged resources.

My lawyer friends tell me that maintaining resources on long-term contracts is 
itself an illegal act as per existing Indian law.  Let us not exonerate this 
illegal act of these companies under the garb of right-sizing.

What we need is concerted action in creating awareness in regulatory bodies 
about such mal-practices, legal action or legislation to prevent such 
happenings and exposing of the sham of disabled-friendliness of such 
publicity-crazy corporates.  Hope the issue is taken up with the same vigour 
and solidarity as earlier issues like air travel discrimination and 
examination-related problems.

Thanks and rgds

RS

 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Harish
Kotian
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 9:21 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector starts shedding its differently abled
resources.


Hi Sudhir

Yes, this is a run down on facts, but it does not carry us to any solution. 
There is no government job at all. So, no point on counting it.

In such a cenerio, makes more sense being vigilant and keenly look for 
opportunities and willingness to move on.

Another advise would be not to squander money when going is good and run 
into debts if it could be avoided.
Harish
- Original Message - 
From: "Sudhir R (NeSTIT)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, February 20, 2008 12:48 PM
Subject: [AI] IT sector starts shedding its differently abled resources.


>
>> Hi folks !
>>
>> Hope the list members recollect an issue I had raised about six months 
>> back - about the so-called  new employers of the differently abled, the 
>> IT & ITES companies, keeping the disabled resources on long periods of 
>> contract, without confirming them.
>>
>> The ensuing discussion had centred on the benefits of the contract system 
>> and how it was really progressive.  The issue was swept under the carpet 
>> unlike other "serious" issues like discrimination by airlines against the 
>> visually challenged, the mistakes in grammar in the list postings, etc.
>>
>> Now that  the IT sector has started feeling the heat of the Rupee 
>> appreciation and the US economic melt-down, the poor disabled  resources 
>> have started getting contract termination notices.  Funnily, a 
>> multinational behemoth which describes itself as an equal opportunity 
>> employer and draws lot of media publicity from this is one of the first 
>> to initiate action that might impact some of our own list members.
>>
>> There is little that we can do but sit and watch as the most important 
>> social security mechanism available to the Indian blind, a steady job, is 
>> kicked out from their grasp thanks to biased corporate policies.  While 
>> appreciating the fact that job mobility is the in-thing in a globalised 
>> existence, let us not forget that the disadvantaged in India, like us 
>> disabled, do not have an elaborate social security mechanism to fall back 
>> on in such circumstances.
>>
>> Finally, when all the hype dies down, the only recourse to the disabled 
>> who are not from well-heeled families may still be government jobs and / 
>> or traditional sectors like teaching, vocational trades and 
>> self-employment.
>>
>> Rgds
>>
>> RS
>> M: 98 472 76 126
>>
>>
> To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> with the subject unsubscribe.
>
> To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, 
> please visit the list home page at
>  http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
> 



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[AI] "I Lend My Eyes" - An inspiring story of a grandma

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

"I Lend My Eyes"

For innumerable blind people, this grandma is a window to the world of
books and learning

By Padmavathi Subramanian

(From the Reader's Digest - India Edition - February 2008)

Seated by her bedroom window, 83-year-old Annam Narayan is reading a
book. It's a bright afternoon, but she needs a tubelight too. In
between sentences, she carefully presses the keys of a strange grey
machine that's reminiscent of an antique typewriter. "These machines,"
she smiles, "I've used them since 1971."

Annam Narayan is no everyday grandmother. And that machine is no
ordinary typewriter - it's her trusty old brailler. Annam has used
braillers to translate textbooks, short stories and college notes into
braille so that the blind can read them too. It's impossible to count
how many sheets of braille she's created so far, but Anand Athalekar,
honorary secretary of the National Association for the Blind (NAB)
estimates that it must be "several lakhs." And Annam has done all that
without ever taking a fee because, as she puts it, "God has blessed me
with eyes and limbs so that I can be of help to those whom He sent
without them."

Annam's world revolved around her husband and her two young sons,
until one day, in 1971, she read an appeal in a magazine which sought
out a reader for a blind boy. Annam decided to help. The boy was
Rajinder Singh Sethi, an MA history student. Annam used to go over to
his home for an hour daily and read to him from his books and notes.
"I found it very interesting," recalls Annam, who never went to
college. "I was reading great books and biographies and learning new
things." As she read to him, Rajinder took down notes in braille using
a braille slate and stylus. Braille codes text using a system of six
raised dots in different combinations that blind people can read by
touch.

While helping Rajinder, Annam got an idea. Why not transcribe these
books into braille myself? She got a teach-yourself book and, by
watching Rajinder too, learnt braille. Later, the NAB gave her a
brailler machine. Soon Annam was transcribing whole books into
millions of dots. "You can traverse the entire world with the six
dots," she beams.

Then one day, she says, something strange happened. She was reading by
her window when a small picture of Satya Sai Baba came blowing in the
wind and settled into her open book. It had the saying "Hands that
help are holier than lips that pray" printed on it. Annam took that as
a sign: What she was doing must indeed be her calling.

Before her marriage in 1941, when Annam lived in her hometown of
Palakkad, Kerala, she knew only Tamil, English and Malayalam. When her
husband, a Tata official, got his transfers, Annam moved to other
cities with him. In Chennai, for instance, she and a few like-minded
friends volunteered to help half a dozen blind students write their
examinations. Meanwhile, Annam was also learning Hindi, Marathi and
Gujarati, again using self-help books, and transcribing text from
these languages too into braille. "Once you're really interested, you
can do anything," she says.

Among the countless blind students Annam has helped is Garimella
Subramaniam, 45, for whom she read books, did transcription, and
worked as a writer for his college examinations. Subramaniam is now a
senior assistant editor with The Hindu in Chennai. "Mrs. Narayan is
remarkable," he says. "Her abilities and motivation continue to
inspire me." And what became of that first college kid she read to?
Sethi, now 61, was until recently vice president of NAB. He now works
for other blind people at the Helen Keller Institute, Mumbai.

Says Rajendra T. Vyas, NAB's  founder and honorary secretary general,
"It's hard to find social workers who are as meticulous as Mrs.
Narayan."

Annam Narayan smiles at that. "I have the greatest admiration for
those who are visually impaired," she says. "With a little help, they
can stand on their own feet. For us who are sighted and healthy,
opportunities to help them are always there."

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Re: [AI] IT sector starts shedding its differently abled resources.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !

As someone who raised the issue in this list the first and second time, let me 
make something very clear.

a) By no means am I asking for special treatment for the disabled either in the 
private sector or in the IT field.

b) Nobody is disputing the importance of either productivity or performance, 
either in the private or the government sector.  (After all, I have myself put 
in 16 years in the public sector and 3 more in the private IT sector and know 
these factors make a difference.)

I still believe in the capacity of the IT/ITES sectors being able to provide 
employment to lot of our visually challenged young friends.  But, like all 
emerging sectors, regulations need to be in place to prevent discrimination and 
exploitation.

We are very happy to see our friends like Manish and Geetha proving themselves 
in their respective professions and remaining employed and productive in spite 
of industry shake-outs and down-sizing.  We want all those younger resources 
being placed by NGOs in IT /ITES companies to also have high "TINA" (There is 
No Alternative)  factors like these role models.

For this to happen, a few facts need to be understood by our young friends and 
other list members at the outset :

a) Just because an employer describes itself as an "equal opportunity employer" 
and provides impressive statistics of employing disabled resources, a resource 
who has just been placed with this company should not take his / her job for 
granted.  He / She should work hard to build competencies that ensure job 
mobility even in the worst scenario.

b)  A resource should keep his / her options open as to future employment.  IT 
/ ITES sectors compensate better and are more glamourous, but, one's decision 
should be based on an objective assessment of one's own skill-sets, 
limitations, economic background etc.  Let us not discount the importance of 
job security (read economic independence) for disabled candidates coming from 
middle class or lower middle class backgrounds.  In spite of all discrimination 
/ non-compliance with rules, the Government sector is the only place a disabled 
resource can get job security,  and legal redressal in case of violation of 
rights accorded by the (discredited yet extant)  PWD Act.

c) As a group of opinion leaders with good networking and a proven ability to 
act as a pressure group, Access India can still do a lot to create awareness 
and influence opinion in industry bodies like the NASSCOM, so that disabled 
resources get a level playing field (not special treatment or charity) and 
ensure fair employment practices are followed.  Let us have concerted action in 
this too since this sector can still absorb large quantities of disabled 
resources.   

d) Performance appraissal is still a subjective process and a lot still depends 
on the equation between an employee and his / her immediate boss.  The 
resources who are placed in companies by NGOs are not often trained in handling 
office relationships though they excel in computer skills and have specific 
competencies required for the job.  Perhaps, senior members of AI should mentor 
the younger ones in dealing with office scenarios.

To sum up, my attempt has only been to bring out the dark underbelly of the IT 
employment myth as a warning to young, starry-eyed resources.  The next time we 
read about a company, an NGO or a person who is "selflessly" working for 
empowering the disabled - whether by furthering education, training or 
employment - let us keep a pinch of salt ready . (smile)

Regards

RS
M: 098 472 76 126
  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Geetha
Shamanna
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 2:38 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector starts shedding its differently abled
resources.


Hi Manish,

I cannot agree more. Performance and productivity still remain the key 
criteria for retaining a job in the private sector, be it for an employee or 
a contract worker.

Since most messages in this thread expressed the view that disabled contract 
employees are specially being targeted, I would like to add here that I have 
been working oncontract for the past four years now. Companies *do* value 
skill and performance. Rather than implicating the private sector, let us 
concentrate on being better workers in order to ward off layoffs.

Geetha
- Original Message - 
From: "Manish Agrawal" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2008 4:13 PM
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector starts shedding its differently abled resources.


> Someone on this thread said:  I have repeatedly said that being
> handicaps we deserve more than
> others from the nation. 
>
> I couldn't disagree more with this statement.
> We deserve equal or less than what we contribute to the nation and there
> is no other factor that determines what we deserve.
> It is a debate at the paradigm level and I don't want to move this

[AI] Fifteen myths about memory

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

 

Fifteen myths about memory 


In a hormonal sense, the brain is best suited for learning in the
morning. It shows the highest alertness and the best balance between
attention and creativity. The gains in knowledge structure and the speed
of processing greatly outweigh all minor advantages of late-night
learning. 


Chennai: Considering that today's academic load on students is far
higher than what used to be a few decades ago, in what ways can a
professional student enhance his throughput and at the same time enjoy
the exercise? 

On this apparently loaded question about `load,' Prof K. Ganapathy,
Neurosurgeon, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, has a different view. He
concedes that today's academic load on students is higher than earlier,
but he also insists that it is equally true that learning tools and
exposure have developed even faster than the quantum of knowledge that
needs to be imbibed. 

"Today we are in an era of information overload," notes Prof Ganapathy
(www.kganapathy.com), in the course of an e-mail interaction with
Business Line. 

"In the 1960s and 1970s we had to spend hundreds of unproductive hours
searching for information rather than studying the information. That was
the BC (Before Computers) era," he adds, with a touch of humour. 

"I do not think today's student has too much to complain. My
three-and-a-half-year-old grandson is already at home with a computer.
As Samuel Johnson once remarked, an educated person is one who know
where the information is." 

It is not necessary to store thousands of facts in one's brain, argues
Prof Ganapathy. Once we learn how to learn, what to learn and where to
learn, confronting the so-called academic load is a matter of effective
time management, he reasons. "The Internet and the World Wide Web if
properly used can certainly enhance a student's throughput and at the
same time he can enjoy the exercise." 

Excerpts from the interview: 

What are the common myths about memory that can bog down a student's
productivity? 

There are many myths about memory. 

The first myth is, `It is possible to produce everlasting memories.' The
fact, however, is that it is possible to learn things well enough to
make it nearly impossible to forget them in lifetime. However, every
long-term memory, depending on its strength, has an expected lifetime. 

Here are more myths. 

Myth 2: We never forget. 

Fact: All knowledge is subject to gradual decay. It is only a matter of
probability. Strong memories are very unlikely to be forgotten. In the
normal course one does not forget one's name. 

Myth 3: Memory is infinite. 

Fact: Memories are stored in a finite number of states of finite
receptors in finite synapses in a finite volume of the human central
nervous system. Even worse, storing information long-term is not easy.
Most people will find it hard to store beyond 3,00,000 facts. 

Myth 4: Mnemonics are a panacea to poor memory. 

Fact: Mnemonic techniques reduce the difficulty of retaining things in
memory. Repetition is still needed, even though it can be less frequent.


Myth 5: The more you repeat the better. 

Fact: The fastest way to building long-lasting memories is to review
material in precisely determined moments of time. For long memories with
minimum effort, spaced repetition should be used. 

Myth 6: We cannot improve memory by training. 

Fact: If considered at a very low synaptic level, this is true.
Biologically the synapses of a low-IQ (intelligence quotient) individual
are not too different from that of a genius or the mollusc Aplysia or
the fruit fly Drosophila. However, there is more to memory and learning
than just a single synapse. The main difference between poor students
and geniuses is in their skill to represent information for learning. A
genius quickly dismembers information and forms simple models that make
life easy. Simple models of reality help understand it, process it and
remember it. Molecular or synaptic memory need not improve. What needs
to improve is their skill to handle knowledge. Consequently, they can
remember more and longer. Learning is a self-accelerating and
self-amplifying process. 

Myth 7: Mind maps are always better than pictures. A picture is worth a
thousand words. 

Fact: It depends on the material. Text is compact and easy to reproduce.
To memorise your spouse's birthday or the date of India's independence,
a picture is not required. On the other hand, a video clipping of an
operative procedure is easier to remember and recall than factual data. 

Myth 8: Learn new things before sleep - for, there is a widespread myth
claiming that the best time for learning is right before sleep to ensure
that newly-learned knowledge gets quickly consolidated overnight. 

Fact: The opposite is true. The best time for learning in most healthy
individuals is early morning. In a hormonal sense, the brain is best
suited for learning in the morning. It shows the highest alertness and
the best balance between attention and creativity.

[AI] Interview with the co-founder of the Ability Foundation.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

"We want to promote the "I Can" attitude among people."

Rediff.com

February 26, 2008

C K Ranganathan, CMD , CavinKare talked to Business Standard about the recently 
held Employability Fair, the Ability awards and his relationship with the
Ability Foundation

You are known as the sachet king ever since your company pioneered in marketing 
goods in sachets. How did you get associated with disability, and what led
to the formation of the Ability Foundation?

We were always doing stuff for social welfare but were not focussed on 
disability. The story of the foundation started when I was a tenant of Jaishree 
Raveendran,
the founder of Ability Foundation.

She told me one day that she could start a magazine for the disabled if she had 
Rs 25,000. I immediately handed her a cheque and she was surprised. She
said she hadn't asked for money.

But I said good things should not be delayed. Then we kept discussing the 
magazine and we felt that a foundation would be even better. So, the Ability 
foundation
was formed in 1995 and I along with Jaishri and Thankavel became the founder 
members.

So it is not a CSR foundation of CavinKare?

No. Both are separate. While I founded the company, I am a founder member of 
the foundation and I fund it substantially. But the funding is part of our
CSR.

How much do you finance annually?

About Rs 4 crore (Rs 40 million).

The Foundation is now known for the Ability awards and the Employment fair it 
organisers annually. Why did you decide to move the job fair for disabled
out of Chennai to Delhi?

This is the first step after we started the fair in 2004. We now want the fair 
in all the metros and then in smaller towns. Why should people from far off
places take so much pains to come all the way to Chennai or Delhi for a job? It 
will mean that the funds would have to go up several times.

What kind of jobs are usually offered in this fair?

These are all white collar jobs. We want to expand it to include blue collar 
jobs as well from next year.

What is the response?

There are about 70 companies taking part in the fair each year. This year the 
new entrants included Microsoft, Coke, Pepsi, Mahindra Consulting, Maruti
[
Get Quote]
.

How do you identify winners for the Ability awards?

We have a team verifying applications across the country the whole year. It is 
part of our strategy to promote the spirit of 'I Can' as opposed to 'I cannot'.
This year for instance, one man with no vision got the award for running a 
centre for physiotherapy that is now helping hundreds of disabled in Bhopal.
It is an example that can inspire even the able-bodied into doing more.

The award which started six years ago is like a catalyst for change in 
attitudes. If it makes one man change his mind about himself, our day is made.

You sound more like a social worker than a businessman. How do you find time 
for all this from your successful business?

Many people watch TV in their spare time, Some others travel. For me this work 
brings happiness.
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[AI] Excel tutorials required urgently.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Friends,
 
I need tutorials on the following topics rather urgently.
 
 

1)  Creating Databases based on usage

a.   Structure - Process of building a database, identifying fields etc.,

b.  Formatting

c.   Data Types

 

2)  Common Functions

a.   IF

b.  Sum / Sumif

c.   SumProduct

d.  Count / Countif

e.  Average

f.Min - Median - Max

g.   Time and date addition and subtraction (ESOP Vesting, experience 
computing, age etc)

h.  Paste Special etc.,

i. Usage of filters

Etc.,

 

3)  Advanced Functions

a.   Lookups (V & H)

b.  Nested IF

c.   PMT 

d.  Range manipulation

e.  Array Manipulation

f.Multiple formula  etc.,

g.   Mailmerge

h.  Data validation 

 

4)  Graphs; Charts; Pivots

 

 

Highly obbliged if you could send whatever you have to my mail id, [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]

 

Thanks and rgds

 

RS

M: 98 472 76 126

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[AI] A self-employment opportunity for the rural visually challenged ?

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Casting a web over rural India.

Rediff.com

March 11, 2008 11:55 IST
E-kiosks for services like bill payment and job queries are mushrooming all 
over rural India. Pradipta Mukherjee visits one such centre in a Bengal village.

Gorachand Banerjee runs a common service centre in Kapasaria village in 
Chanditala 2 block, 20 km away from Kolkata.

Banerjee, who has studied till class X, is today a village level entrepreneur 
under the common service centre scheme of the Government of India.

He had to pay Rs 30,000 as down payment and another sum of Rs 90,000 to a 
private company - Srei Infrastructure to gain ownership. Now, it is up to him
to make it worth the money by adding more and more services.

He has employed two persons whom he pays about Rs 2,000 each to carry out the 
work of the centre.

The work includes collection of electricity and other bills from villagers, and 
running a course in English and computer training.

Each bill fetches him Rs 3 from Srei, while the course gets him Rs 450 and Rs 
750 respectively from every student.

There are 25 youths in the village who have enrolled so far. Banerji's expenses 
are the rent and salaries he pays.  "I have studied till class X and earn
between Rs 3000-Rs 5,000 per month at this CSC," says Banerjee.

"I learnt about this centre from advertisements. It was a good offer that could 
make me the boss of a CSC," Banerjee added.

Kapasaria may well be the look that many villages in India would sport as the 
common service centre scheme under the National e-Governance Programme of
the Union Ministry for Communications and IT reaches its target of 600,000 
centres.

The ministry is in partnership with states as well as private companies who 
respond to invitations to bid.

About 13 companies, including biggies like Reliance Infocom and Wipro [
Get Quote]
, have opened shop under the programme in 20 states after winning bids, says 
Aruna Sunderrajan, CEO, Community Service Centres under the Department of 
Information
and Technology Ministry.

In Bengal Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd [
Get Quote]
 is one of the two companies - the other being Reliance Infocom of the Anil 
Ambani group - that won the bid to set up centres in Bengal villages. While
SREI will set up 5,000 Sahaj e-villages along with Wipro, Reliance 
Communications [
Get Quote]
 will set up 1,860 centres in North 24 Parganas, West Midnapur, Burdwan and 
Purulia districts, to benefit 2.6 million households in the state.  The number
of customers and the number of services offered determines the profitability of 
each centre.

In Kapasaria village in Chanditala 2, the CSC offers services like online 
payment of phone and electricity bills, classes in English and computer use, 
besides
works as a studio with a camera installed to click passport size pictures.

Each CSC is run by a village-level-entrepreneur (VLE), thereby creating 
employment for as many villagers as more CSCs are set up.

At a centre in Begampur village in the same block in the district, Moumita Das, 
is busy collecting as many telephone and electricity bills she can. Her
pay depends on the number of bills she collects.

"I make payments for them online through the Sahaj website. For instance, for 
every telephone bill payment I make on behalf of a villager, I get Rs 3. The
centre has an email login which we use to log onto the Sahaj website and make 
payments online," she says.

Das has completed her graduation. At Begampur CSC, villagers visit the centre 
to have photographs taken as the centre has a camera.

The centre also serves as the nearest station for Government services like 
registration of death and birth and delivery of certificates for the same, 
besides
tax payments.

"We get Rs 5 for every electricity bill payment we make on behalf of a villager 
through the Sahaj website," says Mallick, an employee at another centre
in the block.

The CSCs are usually 150 sq ft rooms and are open from 10 am till 6 pm.

According to Sabahat Azim, CEO Srei, "We are investing Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 
billion) to set up 4,937 CSCs by May 2008. Of these 650 CSCs are already 
operational
in West Bengal."

According to Azim, over 47 million people in the villages of West Bengal would 
benefit through this programme.

The programme envisages setting up one CSC for each cluster of six villages 
falling within each Gram Panchayat and Panchayat Samiti offices.

SREI will set up CSCs in 14 districts of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, 
Uttar Dinajpur and Dakhin Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia and South 24
Parganas, Purba Midnapore, Bankura, Birbhum, Howrah and Hooghly in Public 
Private Partnership with the State Government and Centre.

Initially, each centre would be able to earn close to Rs 3,000 per month after 
payment of salaries and rent for the building. This could go up to Rs 15,000,
depending on the scale of operations and the variety of services, say Srei 
officials.

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[AI] How can we do aerobic exercise ?

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !

With the kind permission of our beloved moderator, I would like to pose a few, 
non-techy  queries to the list.

We are advised to do aerobic exercises, viz. exercises like walking, jogging, 
swimming etc where the heart also exercises along with other parts of the body, 
to keep our body parameters like BP, blood sugar, cholesterol etc in check.  
Being visually challenged and mobility-impaired, most of the recommended 
exercises are out of bounds for me and, may be, most of us.

So, how do you people keep in shape ?  

Do any of you use tread mills ?  If so, are they safe for us ?  What additional 
safety features do we have to look for while buying a TM ?  What other 
alternatives are there ? (Recently, I came across a strange new exercising 
machine that costs just Rs 7500 where one can lie on one's back and keep the 
feet on its pedals that then move on electric power.  Pl see morningwalker.com 
for more details.)

Please share your valuable experiences in remaining healthy with our 
disability.  Being on the wrong side of forty and with a sedentary yet 
stressful IT job, I look forward to your valuable inputs for keeping my body 
and soul together. (smile)

Happy Holi and thanks...

Rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126 
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Re: [AI] How can we do aerobic exercise ?

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Dear Harish,

Aerobic walking recommended by cardiologists is a really brisk walk, covering 
about 5 km in 50 minutes.  I doubt if we can replicate it indoors without using 
a TM.

As for Yoga, yes, it is an option, but, can one learn it after losing sight ?  
The various asanas have to be performed very deliberately and with regulated 
breathing and can trainers communicate all these nuances effectively to us ?  
And, is Yoga really aerobic the same way that walking, jogging or swimming are ?

Sorry for posing more queries. (smile)

Rgds

RS
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Harish
Kotian
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2008 11:42 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] How can we do aerobic exercise ?


Hi Sudhir

I do pace inside my house whenever I am free and listening to music or some 
lite entertainment.

I get some exercise. Yoga is of course accessable and can be performed by 
one selfwithout taking assistance from anyone.
Harish.

- Original Message - 
From: "Sudhir R (NeSTIT)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2008 11:16 AM
Subject: [AI] How can we do aerobic exercise ?


> Hi folks !
>
> With the kind permission of our beloved moderator, I would like to pose a 
> few, non-techy  queries to the list.
>
> We are advised to do aerobic exercises, viz. exercises like walking, 
> jogging, swimming etc where the heart also exercises along with other 
> parts of the body, to keep our body parameters like BP, blood sugar, 
> cholesterol etc in check.  Being visually challenged and 
> mobility-impaired, most of the recommended exercises are out of bounds for 
> me and, may be, most of us.
>
> So, how do you people keep in shape ?
>
> Do any of you use tread mills ?  If so, are they safe for us ?  What 
> additional safety features do we have to look for while buying a TM ? 
> What other alternatives are there ? (Recently, I came across a strange new 
> exercising machine that costs just Rs 7500 where one can lie on one's back 
> and keep the feet on its pedals that then move on electric power.  Pl see 
> morningwalker.com for more details.)
>
> Please share your valuable experiences in remaining healthy with our 
> disability.  Being on the wrong side of forty and with a sedentary yet 
> stressful IT job, I look forward to your valuable inputs for keeping my 
> body and soul together. (smile)
>
> Happy Holi and thanks...
>
> Rgds
>
> RS
> M: 98 472 76 126
> To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> with the subject unsubscribe.
>
> To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, 
> please visit the list home page at
>  http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
> 



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Re: [AI] How can we do aerobic exercise ?

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Thanks for this update.  Any idea whether it is good ?

Rgds

RS

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Anshul
Kapoor
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2008 11:23 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] How can we do aerobic exercise ?


The home walker or morning walker is available for Rs. 2500/- in Delhi. 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sudhir R
(NeSTIT)
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2008 11:16 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: [AI] How can we do aerobic exercise ?

Hi folks !

With the kind permission of our beloved moderator, I would like to pose
a few, non-techy  queries to the list.

We are advised to do aerobic exercises, viz. exercises like walking,
jogging, swimming etc where the heart also exercises along with other
parts of the body, to keep our body parameters like BP, blood sugar,
cholesterol etc in check.  Being visually challenged and
mobility-impaired, most of the recommended exercises are out of bounds
for me and, may be, most of us.

So, how do you people keep in shape ?  

Do any of you use tread mills ?  If so, are they safe for us ?  What
additional safety features do we have to look for while buying a TM ?
What other alternatives are there ? (Recently, I came across a strange
new exercising machine that costs just Rs 7500 where one can lie on
one's back and keep the feet on its pedals that then move on electric
power.  Pl see morningwalker.com for more details.)

Please share your valuable experiences in remaining healthy with our
disability.  Being on the wrong side of forty and with a sedentary yet
stressful IT job, I look forward to your valuable inputs for keeping my
body and soul together. (smile)

Happy Holi and thanks...

Rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126 
To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
with the subject unsubscribe.

To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes,
please visit the list home page at
 
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n



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[AI] How to avoid email threats

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

 

How to avoid email threats

 

  

Checking your email has become a dangerous business. The number and types of 
email borne threats that can cause harm to your computer or your privacy are 
growing.  Sometimes the actual danger imposed by these threats can be over 
hyped, but you still need to know what could constitute a dangerous email 
message and how to respond to the threat.

 

Virus attacks

 

When emails are sent as plain text, it becomes impossible to contract a 
computer virus just by reading email. That's because something -- a programme, 
worm, or other active threat -- actually has to run on your computer in order 
to infect it.  Increasingly today, we all send and receive emails in HTML 
format, this makes users more vulnerable to contracting a potentially 
destructive computer virus that plain text emails.  As when an email is sent in 
an HTML format (the same format used to create Web pages, on which various 
types of programmes can be run automatically) the possibility of receiving a 
virus on reading an email message does exist.

There are, however, ways to safeguard against this. The first is to keep your 
email security programme updated, downloading and applying the latest security 
patches and fixes.  Second is to set up your email programme to allow messages 
to be read only in plain text format. Most email programmes provide this 
option. In Microsoft's Outlook programme, for instance, you would open the 
Tools menu, and select Options.

 

Then, from the Options dialog box, click E-mail Options, and select the check 
box labelled "Read all standard mail in plain text."

 

 

Dangerous links

  

Remember, though, that most email viruses are contracted when you perform some 
action, such as opening an infected attachment or clicking a link that takes 
you to a site that downloads a virus on to your computer.

 

So the golden rule of reading email is this: if it looks suspicious, don't open 
anything attached to it or click any links in it. These days, in fact, it makes 
sense not to click links in email messages at all. Instead, if you think a 
legitimate source has sent you a message, open a web browser separately and 
visit the website.

 

 

Email 'bomb' at work

  

An email "bomb" refers to the large number of email messages sent to an account 
with the primary aim of bringing the account down. When an email server is 
flooded with email messages, it is unable to receive other email messages and 
effectively becomes useless.  An account that receives an email bomb will also 
experience an interruption in the transfer and processing of legitimate mail, 
as well.  Email bombs are particularly dangerous as even if an email server is 
brought down to stave off the problem, the email bombardment will continue 
where it left off when the server is restarted.  Another type of "bombing" 
occurs when a user signs someone for multiple newsletter services and other 
automatic email generation services that can bring a person's inbox to its 
knees.

 

The only way to recover from an email bomb is probably to contact your Internet 
service provider for help. It may be necessary for you to disable or change 
your email address, at least temporarily.

 

 

Spammers on the move

  

You think those spam mails only clutter your inbox, there's more they can do. 
This includes installing spytools or other malware on your comp.  Sender of 
spam and potentially harmful emails use a number of tactics to get your email 
address. If you have posted your email address anywhere on the Internet, it can 
be "harvested" by programmes designed to scour the Internet and retrieve freely 
available email addresses.

 

To prevent this from happening, never post your email address anywhere on the 
Internet -- including message boards and personal websites -- in an unaltered 
form.

 

If you must post your address somewhere online, write it in a form that is 
understandable by humans but not by a machine, such as "yourname -- at-- 
hotmail.com." Also, take advantage of the multiple email accounts you can have.

 

 

Email Spyware

  

Another significant email threat is email spyware. Most often transmitted as 
part of another related software programme, email spyware compromises personal 
information, distributing it to unauthorised parties. While some spyware 
programmes are distributed through email by association with Trojan horses, 
others are sent directly as a worm or virus.

 

An example of an email spyware is 'Ssppyy programme' which gathers sensitive 
information from infected computers and transmits it to an e-mail address. 
Ssy arrives as an electronic greeting card, and, once opened, the e-mail 
spyware installs itself surreptitiously on the user's computer.

 

 

Can kill privacy

  

Emails can also threaten your privacy. Remember, they can be forwarded to any 
number of people and can be used against you. If you do not want to risk

[AI] Regenerating Retinas proving successful ?

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

 

Eyes have self-healing powers


According to a new study it has been discovered that it might be possible to 
turn on the eye's own resources to regenerate damaged retinas. Read on to know 
more...


 

According to a new study, it has been found that it might be possible to turn 
on the eye's own resources to regenerate damaged retinas, without the need for 
transplanting outside retinal tissue or stem cells. Researchers have discovered 
a chemical in the eye that triggers the dormant capacity of certain 
non-neuronal cells to transform into progenitor cells, a stem-like cell, that 
can generate new retinal cells.


If the next step works in animal disease models, then clinical testing would be 
a possibility soon, offering hopes for millions of victims of degenerative eye 
diseases.


Scientists have long been aware of Müller cells (existing in the eye), 
presuming that they were responsible for keeping retinal tissue protected and 
clear of debris.


In recent years, however, researchers have reported that these cells sometimes 
exhibit progenitor cell behaviour and re-enter the cell cycle (dividing and 
differentiating into other type of cells). Progenitor cells are similar to stem 
cells but are more mature and are more limited in the number of cells types 
they can become.


But until this study, scientists have not understood what triggers the 
transformation. In their study, Dong Feng Chen of Harvard Medical School and 
her team observed that when the naturally occurring chemicals known as 
glutamate and aminoadipate (derivative of glutamate) were injected into the 
eye, Müller cells began to divide and proliferate.


Not certain if these chemicals directly signalled the transformation, they 
tested them in the lab and in mice. They added each chemical separately to 
cultures of pure Müller cells and injected each into the space below the retina 
in healthy mice.


In both cases, the cells became progenitor cells and then changed into retinal 
cells. And with aminoadipate, the newly minted retinal cells migrated to where 
they might be needed in the retina and turned into desirable cell types.


Specifically, they showed that by injecting the chemical below the retina, the 
cells give rise to new photoreceptors - the type of cells that are lost in 
retinitis pigmentosa or macular degeneration leading to blindness.


The discovery has been published in the March issue of Investigative 
Ophthalmology and Visual Science.

 

Source: Indo-Asian News Service

 

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[AI] Malware now takes the HTTP route...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

rediff.com

April 01, 2008 08:56 IST

The amount of new malware has never been higher, says F-Secure, a global 
provider of anti-virus and intrusion prevention solutions.

F-Secure said on Monday that its labs are receiving an average of 25,000 
malware samples every day, seven days a week. 'If this trend continues, the 
total
number of viruses and Trojans will pass the one million mark by the end of 
2008. While there are more viruses being created than ever before, people often
actually report seeing less of them,' F-Secure said.

One reason behind this illusion is that malware authors are once again changing 
their tactics in how to infect our computers. A year or two ago, most malware
was spread via e-mail attachments, which resulted in mass outbreaks like Bagle, 
Mydoom and Warezov. Nowadays sending .EXE attachments in e-mail doesn't
work so well for the criminals because almost every company and organisation is 
filtering out such risky attachments from their e-mail traffic.

The criminals' new preferred way of spreading malware is by drive-by downloads 
on the Web. These attacks often still start with an e-mail spam run but the
attachment in the e-mail has been replaced by a web link, which takes you to 
the malicious web site. So instead of getting infected over SMTP, you get
infected over HTTP.

Drive-by downloads

Infection by a drive-by download can happen automatically just by visiting a 
Web site, unless you have a fully patched operating system, browser and browser
plug-ins. Unfortunately, most people have some vulnerabilities in their 
systems. Infection can also take place when you are fooled into manually 
clicking
on a download and running a program from the web page that contains the malware.

There are several methods criminals use to gather traffic to these Web sites. A 
common approach is to launch an e-mail spam campaign containing messages
that tempt people to click on a link. Messages like 'There is a video of you on 
YouTube,' or 'You have received a greeting card,' or 'Thank you for your
order' have been popular baits.

Another method used by criminals is to create many web pages with thousands of 
different keywords which are indexed by Google, and then simply wait for
people to visit these sites.

So when you do a search for something innocuous like 'knitting mittens' (as a 
random example), and click on a search result that looks just like all the
others, you are actually getting your computer infected.

Typically, an infection by an automatic exploit happens without you realizing 
it or seeing anything strange on the computer screen.

The third method of distributing malware involves the criminals hacking into 
existing high profile, high traffic web sites.

Unlike the joke defacements that some hackers played on the front pages of 
prominent web sites in the past, today's criminal hackers don't change the front
page at all. They simply insert a line of javascript on the front page which 
uses an exploit to infect your machine when you go there. Everything works
and looks as normal.

This has happened to the Web sites of some popular magazines which can have a 
million users every single day. People trust sites that are part of their
daily routine, and they couldn't suspect that anything bad could happen when 
they go there.

Another vector for drive-by downloads is infiltrated ad networks. 'We are 
seeing more and more advertising displayed on high-profile Web sites. By 
infiltrating
the ad networks, the criminals don't have to hack a site but their exploit code 
will still be shown to millions of users, often without the knowledge of
the webmaster of those sites. Examples of where this has happened include 
TV4.se, Expedia, NHL, and MLB,' F-Secure said.

It is important to be aware of this shift from SMTP to HTTP infections, which 
can be exploited by the criminals in many ways. Companies often measure their
risk of getting infected by looking at the amount of stopped attachments at 
their e-mail gateway. Those numbers are definitely going down, but the actual
risk of getting infected probably is not, the anti-virus firm said.

Individuals and companies should therefore be scanning their Web traffic for 
malware -- as well as filtering their FTP traffic. In parallel to the switch
from SMTP to HTTP as a way of spreading malware, we are now also seeing more 
and more malicious e-mails that link to malware via FTP links.

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[AI] New wellness portal launched on Yugadi...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !

Mighty glad to inform all of you that Dr Reshmi Pramod has hosted her website, 
www.jeevaniyam.com, today to coincide with the auspicious occasion of Yugadi.

Dr Reshmi, who restarted her practice of Ayurveda at Kochi about 18 months ago 
after losing her eye-sight four years back, intends to use her new web 
initiative to provide holistic solutions to suffering humanity around the globe 
leveraging on the latest delivery platforms provided by the WWW and mobile 
internet devices.  

She has brought together a panel of experts in Ayurveda, Pranayama, Yoga, 
counselling, rehabilitation and spiritual mentoring to rejuvenate and 
regenerate  people like us who are zapped by our high-pressure jobs, sedentary 
lifestyles, fast food culture, lifestyle diseases, mental stress, existential 
sorrow and spiritual disconnectedness.

She expects to upgrade the current site with its static content into a 
full-fledged interactive one, offering online yoga classes, therapy training 
etc, shortly.  

Meanwhile, she needs your support in terms of honest feedback about the site, 
references to friends and family for site promotion etc.

Let us congratulate her (send your mails to [EMAIL PROTECTED]) and wish her all 
the best in doing another Sabir Bhatia (Hotmail) or Mark Zuckerberg (FaceBook) 
with her latest web offering...

Wishing Dr Reshmi and all of you a very Happy and prosperous New Year this 
Yugadi...

Love

RS
M: 98 472 76 126 
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[AI] Securing wireless connections...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

  Rediff.com
 
October 10, 2008
 
The whole aspect of security of wireless networks has become very important 
ever since terror e-mails were sent to media by alleged terrorists. Terrorists
used unsecured wireless networks to hack into an individual's Wi-Fi network and 
sent e-mails just before bombs went off in Ahmedabad [
Images]
 and New Delhi [
Images]
.
 
It is in this environment protecting your unsecured Wi-Fi network becomes very 
important lest somebody misuses the same.
 
Here are 10 simple ways in which you can secure your wireless network.
 
1. Change default administrator usernames and passwords
 
Most
routers
or access points come enabled with a default set of username / password 
combinations. These combinations are well documented and available online for 
hackers
to use. If a hacker can access your device's administrative pages they can 
modify the configuration and control all aspects of your device. These username
/ password combinations can be changed from the administrative panel and should 
be set to something difficult to guess.
 
Keep a password which is difficult to guess and not easy to crack. A good 
password is 8 characters long, not easily guessable, contains mixture of 
uppercase
and lowercase letters as well as numbers and preferably contains special 
characters like $,*,%,!.
 
2. Turn on encryption
 
All wireless devices support some form of
encryption.
Encryption technology scrambles messages sent over the air and ensures that 
they cannot be intercepted by hackers. Several encryption technologies exist
for wireless communication today.
WPA
is the strongest commonly available encryption technology for home devices. 
While
WEP
can also be used cracking WEP is just a matter of few minutes.
 
We would advice corporates to go for WPA with
EAP Authentication,
TKIP / RC4 Encryption
or WPA 2 with EAP Authentication,
AES-CCMP encryption
for better security
 
3. Change the default SSID
 
Access points and routers all use a network name called the
SSID.
Manufacturers normally ship their products with the same SSID set for all 
routers. For example, the SSID for Netgear devices is normally 'NETGEAR'. The
default SSID can be changed from the administrative panel and should be set to 
something unique.
 
4. Enable MAC Address filtering
 
Each wireless device possesses a unique identifier called the physical address 
or
MAC address.
Access points and routers keep track of the MAC addresses for all devices that 
connect to them. Wireless routers offer the option to key in the MAC addresses
of your home equipment so as to restrict the network to only allow connections 
from those devices.
 
It ensures that rogue users cannot connect to the wireless router without using 
advanced MAC spoofing techniques.
 
5. Disable SSID Broadcast
 
The wireless access point or router typically broadcasts the network name 
(SSID) over the air at regular intervals. This feature was designed for 
businesses
and mobile hotspots where wireless clients may roam in and out of range. For 
the home user, this roaming feature is unnecessary, and it increases the 
likelihood
someone will try to log in to your home network.
 
Fortunately, most wireless access points allow the
SSID Broadcast
feature to be disabled by the network administrator. Your SSID name can be 
manually entered into your devices to prevent the need for SSID Broadcasts to
be enabled.
 
6. Do not auto-connect to open wireless networks
 
Connecting to an open wireless network such as a free wireless hotspot or your 
neighbour's router exposes your computer to security risks and attacks. Although
not normally enabled, most computers have a setting available allowing these 
connections to happen automatically without notifying the user. This setting
should not be enabled except in temporary situations.
 
7. Assign static IP addresses to devices
 
Most home wireless devices use dynamic
IP addresses.
DHCP technology
is indeed easy to set up. Unfortunately, this convenience also works to the 
advantage of network attackers, who can easily obtain valid IP addresses from
your network's DHCP pool.
 
Turn off DHCP on the router or access point, set a fixed IP address range 
instead and then configure each connected device to match. Using a private IP
address range (like 10.0.0.x) prevents computers from being reached directly 
from the Internet.
 
8. Enable firewalls on each computer and router
 
Modern network routers contain built-in firewall capability, but the option 
also exists to disable them. Ensure that your router's firewall is turned on.
For extra protection, consider installing and running personal firewall 
software on each computer connected to the router.
 
9. Position the router or access point safely
 
Wireless signals normally reach to the exterior of a home. A small amount of 
signal leakage outdoors is not a problem, but the further this signal reaches,
the easier it is for others to detect and exploit. Wireless signals often reach 
throu

[AI] Training centres in Nepal ?

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !
 
Good morning and greetings on the World Whitecane Day !
 
Any idea whether computer training centers are available in Nepal for the 
visually challenged ?  If yes, can someone please on the contact info to me ?
 
Thanks and rgds
 
RS
M: + 98 472 76 126
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[AI] Navigating non-uniform tables.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !
 
Sorry to be asking elementary questions bright and early this morning, but, 
just how does one navigate through non-uniform tables smoothly ?  I am still 
using Jaws 7 and have to deal with lots of non-uniform tables in Word documents 
and the navigation using control, alt and cursor keys often is erratic and the 
screen reader often does not read contents.  I take sighted help on such 
frustrating occasions, but, guess there must be smart ways of handling 
non-uniform tables that I have not come across.
 
Guidance, please...
 
Thanks and rgds
 
RS
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[AI] Microsoft introduces Windows 7, dumps Vista....

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

JOHN MARKOFF
Published: October 28, 2008

LOS ANGELES -
Microsoft
introduced what it said would be a slimmer and more responsive version of its 
Windows operating system on Tuesday, while unceremoniously dropping the brand
name Vista for the new product.

Related

Microsoft Plans 'Cloud' Operating System
(October 28, 2008)

Times Topics: Microsoft Corporation

The new version will instead be branded Windows 7, because it is the seventh of 
a long line of operating systems for PCs developed by the company since
the 1980s. The company did not say when it would sell Windows 7 to the public.

The company also said that it was planning to introduce a Web-based version of 
its Office programs, which is aimed at heading off a new wave of competitors
like
Google
Docs and Zoho, which have deployed word processors, spreadsheets and 
presentation programs that run on a Web browser. The company was vague, 
however, about
how it would price the programs and acknowledged that it would face skeptical 
Wall Street analysts who think the strategy would cannibalize the company's
profitable Office franchise.

After almost two years, Windows Vista is still getting a lackluster reception 
from consumers and facing a relentless marketing barrage from
Apple.

The problem was highlighted last week when Microsoft reported its financial 
results for the most recent quarter. Its Windows unit reported just a 2 percent
rise in revenue against a 4 percent decline in operating income. The computer 
industry viewed the setback as a shift of historic proportions. The company
acknowledged last week that the mix of Windows sales in both mature and 
emerging markets had tipped more toward low-cost PCs, which come with 
lower-margin
versions of Windows and often not Vista. Sales of Office software rose 23 
percent, bringing in more revenue than the operating system.

On Tuesday morning, the company demonstrated Windows 7 before a group of more 
than 6,000 programmers attending the company's Professional Developers' 
Conference
being held here through Thursday.

"We've done a lot of work around how you manage the windows, how you launch 
programs and how you manage the windows of the programs that you've launched,"
said Steven Sinofsky, the Microsoft technologist who has led the development of 
the new version of Windows. "It's all about personalization and putting
you in control of the PC, and that's a big initiative that we've had."

Mr. Sinofsky took the stage and issued an apology of sorts for the problems and 
frustrations associated with Windows Vista. He said the company had listened
to and was responding to the feedback.

"We got feedback from reviews, from the press, a few bloggers here and there, 
oh, and some commercials," he said, with a nod to a lengthy Apple advertising
campaign that has mercilessly poked fun at Microsoft's woes.

He also said that he had not taken particular offense at Apple's ad campaign 
teasing the giant software developer. However, the laptop did have an "I'm
a PC" sticker on its cover, a reference to a recent series of ads Microsoft ran 
that were widely viewed as a somewhat belated response to Apple. "As an
engineering team we have to do what engineers do, when you build a product, 
when you build a service, you step back and say what have we learned from this,
what can we do better, what went well, how do we build on our experience," he 
added.

He then demonstrated a "pre-beta" version of Windows, acknowledging that some 
features were still missing. The presentation focused generally on the more
polished control features of Windows 7 including how on-screen notifications 
are handled, an issue that was an irritant for early Vista users who complained
about the nannylike behavior of the software.

Other new features in this very early version included an enhanced and more 
flexible task-bar, more powerful search features, and an easier-to-use home
network and file sharing. There was also a hint that Microsoft plans to revise 
Windows 7 to take advantage of the coming wave of multicore microprocessors
from
Intel
and
Advanced Micro Devices.
Mr. Sinofsky said the company would give more details on the ability of the new 
program to handle up to 256 processors.

Mr. Sinofsky, who previously led the development of the company's Office 
application, showed Windows 7 running on a low-priced Lenovo notebook computer
equipped with just one gigabyte of memory and a relatively low-power Intel Atom 
microprocessor. This suggests that the new version of the program will
require far fewer resources than its predecessor, although Mr. Sinofsky 
declined to make specific performance promises.

Microsoft also said that it planned to offer versions of a number of its Office 
applications via a Web browser instead of as an application on a PC, via
the Microsoft Office Live Web service, and to businesses through a hosted 
subscription.
More Articles in Technology »
A version of this article appeared in print on October 29, 2

[AI] Can we use a scribe to write the MAT ?

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !

 

A young friend planning to take the MAT conducted by the All India
Management Association reports that she is finding it difficult to get a
suitable response from the authorities for her requests to be
sanctioned a scribe.

 

Initially, the form that one needs to fill up while registering for the
test had no provision to include this request.  So, she sent many mails
to the contact email id given on the Prospectus making her request, but,
has not received any response so far.  Unfortunately, the prospectus
does not contain any telephone numbers where she could get help.

 

She is growing tense as the exam is scheduled for this Sunday, Dec 7,
2008.

 

Would appreciate if anyone, particularly those who have already written
MAT, could guide us on what to do.  Pl share your experiences, any
contact ids or telephone numbers of administrators etc which would help
us resolve this issue in the next two days.

 

An early reply would be highly appreciated.

 

Thanks and rgds

 

RS

098 472 76 126

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[AI] IBM plans to make WWW talk...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

rediff.com

 

January 07, 2009 03:22 IST

 

'You will talk to the Web... and the Web will talk back,' predicts IBM
in its latest list of innovations that "have the potential to change the
way people

work, live and play over the next five years".

 

The IT giant, however, wants this web to work on cellphones rather than
a personal computer (PC), since mobile devices dramatically outnumber
PCs -- over

335 million cellphones versus below 30 million PCs in India alone.
Moreover, IBM's Institute for Business Value predicts the number of
mobile web users

worldwide will reach one billion by 2011.

 

The concept is gathering steam with a project named "Spoken Web" that is
being led by IBM's India Research Laboratory (IRL) team, and also being
incubated

in IBM's eight global labs in six countries. In fact, the corporation
recently completed a pilot in Andhra Pradesh to implement the concept.

 

"The project was very successful. It started out with around 100
villagers but many hundreds joined later after seeing the response,"
Guruduth Banavar,

director, IBM India Research Laboratory (IRL), told Business Standard.

 

The reason for this enthusiasm, he said, is simple. "Most people do not
have a PC. Even smartphones are far and few. Besides, most people,
especially the

semi-literate kind, are not comfortable using a visual interface. But
what most of the Indian population can do is talk. So the spoken web
project makes

immense sense." he added.

 

The spoken web works like the World Wide Web. Just as the web is a
collection of websites, the spoken web is a network of voice sites or
interconnected

voice applications. These voice sites are accessed through a telephone
over an audio channel. Callers can create their own voice sites or
access those

of others. The calls are routed through a telecom operator.

 

A semi-literate plumber, for instance, can create his voice site by
calling a dedicated phone number. The IBM solution guides the plumber
(in his local

language) through a voice-driven interface, prompting for inputs
whenever necessary. The plumber provides basic information about
himself, such as his

service description, working hours, etc. He does not understand how the
system enables this, but selects the option through a voice-prompted
"yes". He

then gets a message stating his phone has been enabled with a voice
site.

 

Local citizens in the area who encounter a plumbing problem simply use
the telephone directory or an online yellow pages service to locate
plumbers in the

vicinity. If the plumber is busy, the call gets routed to the voice
site, which presents a voice prompt, stating that the plumber is busy
currently and

provides the caller with an option of scheduling an appointment.

 

A fisherman, on the other hand, can create his own voice site that has
information and pricing of fish available with him. He can further link
his voice

site to a payment gateway voicesite to enable transactions. Villagers
can call his voice site and order fish and make payments, while the
fisherman is

busy fishing in nearby waters.

 

To manage these transfers, IBM has developed a new protocol, Hyperspeech
Transfer Protocol (HSTP), which is similar to the Hypertext Transfer
Protocol (HTTP)

that the web uses to help people move from one website to another. IBM's
IRL team is also working on a simple audio browser to make surfing voice
sites

possible, and creating a true internet. The browser can also be
implemented on the device itself, but that would require speech
recognition support on

the device.

 

The possibilities are endless, notes Banavar. Fishermen need weather
information before heading out to sea; farmers need to look up commodity
prices; plumbers

can schedule appointments, set up transfers to partners, use
advertisements; and grocery shops can display catalogues, offer order
placement and display

personalised targeted advertisements or reminders.

 

Such locally-relevant information is not available for a majority of the
world's population. Computer access, he adds, is not enough because
there is a

need to know what to look for, how to access it and how to use it.

 

Powered by



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[AI] Inspiring... times of india article

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

 

LIVING LIFE TO THE FULL 

 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

 

Hyderabad: She might have missed the sight of Aamir Khan's eight-pack
abs in 'Ghajini' but still enjoyed every bit of the movie. Her recent
trip to a village
might be sans any colour or shape but she can recount every minute of
the journey. She loves the rain and enjoys the sound of music. Life
could not be
better for her than this. 
   After living with visual impairment for almost 17 years now, Payal
Kapoor has perhaps learnt how to live life, despite all odds. A
successful professional
as a Relationship Manager with the Residency Hotel, Payal juggles
domestic chores (cooking and cleaning) and ~professional commitments
with ease. Her visual
impairment is a "non issue'' as she deftly makes client calls,
introduces the hotel to them and encourages them to patronise it. 
   On World Braille Day, Payal shares the story of how she lost her
sight at the prime of her youth at 22. But she narrates it hearteningly
in the same
vein in which she discusses the long drives she takes with her husband
to the city outskirts or reads a book on the computer. 
   That Payal was not born blind but lost her sight at a much later age
makes her dogged determination to strike back more significant. Payal
lost not
only her complete vision but also her sense of taste, smell and touch at
22. She still cannot hear from the left ear, a result of the cerebral
attack that
she suffered then and an infection that damaged her optic nerve. 
   A student of hotel management and then a front desk employee at
Krishna Oberoi (Taj Krishna now), Payal says she stayed in denial for
six years (after
being declared visually impaired). "After visiting every church, temple,
dargah and baba in the country, I realised that there was no cure to
what had
happened and I had to live with it. Enough is enough I said and decided
to move on,'' says the 39-yearold without any lump in her voice. 
   A rehabilitation programme along with words of encouragement from
family and friends brought some hope and she soon became a counsellor
and rehabilitator
herself in no time. She says she had realised the power of technology
and how it could bring back normalcy into any blind person's life. She
even started
visiting government hostels and schools for the blind to teach them
spoken English and other day-to-day skills. "I thought it was my moral
responsibility,''
says Payal who is also the chief functionary of Maitree, a group that
works for the uplift of the visually challenged. 
   Advanced technology, love and support of dear ones has helped Payal
deal with her disability. 
 
NO LOOKING BACK: Payal Kapoor who lost her sight 17 years ago 
Times of India 4th Jan 2008 



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Re: [AI] pdf image files

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi Rajesh !

I too deal with lots of scanned docs, usually image PDFs.  Usually, I
first convert them to .tiff files using MS Paint or MS Picture Manager
and then apply MS Document Imaging to convert them to text.  If the
images are clear, the text doc is usually error-free.

Rgds

RS 

-Original Message-
From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
[mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of Asudani,
Rajesh
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 2:40 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: [AI] pdf image files


Sorry for bringing up the topic once again, but there seems to be no
efficient way of reading pdf image files apart from finereader 8 or
later which have to be purchased.
Does microsoft document imaging read them?
I was not successful to do so.
If there is any other way, please apprise me of the same, or else I will
have to take printouts of the said documents and scann them all over
again.
However, you will agree this is not an efficient way of dealing with
such nuissance like pdf image files, as if pdf itself were a lesser
hurdle, now everything is coming in pdf image!!!

Any efficient way, please.

Rajesh


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[AI] Sreedhareeyam & Retinitis Pigmentosa.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !

 

Been following the thread on Sreedhareeyam and thought I should share my
experiences and observations, being a RP patient myself and one who has
been associated with this institution since its inception.

 

a)   Sreedhareeyam has good treatments for eye disorders like
hyper-myopia, astigmatism, etc.  I have seen radical improvements in
patients who are able to reduce the power of their eye glasses after a
few bouts of in-patient treatments.  But, here I should also mention
that the eye exercises prescribed by the Arvind Institute for Perfect
Sight, Thiruvananthapuram are equally good in bringing down refractive
disorders.  They hold camps for 2 weeks where they teach simple eye
exercises designed to strengthen eye muscles and thus correct the
curvature of the eye lens.  Exercises include palming, following a ball
as it bounces from one hand to the ground and catching it with the other
hand, staring at the sun with eyes closed, staring at darkness and a
lighted candle alternately etc.  This hardly costs  anything and can be
continued in the privacy of one's home after the initial non-residential
training.

 

b)   Retinitis Pigmentosa is a family of diseases with varying
manifestations in different patients.  I have seen patients for whom
only the lateral vision is getting affected and they have no problem
reading or recognizing people since their central vision acuity is
maintained, though the field of vision narrows down progressively.  But,
for a lot of people including me, RP is also accompanied by macular
degeneration and optic atrophy and here there is very little that one
can do.

 

c)   ) Sreedhareeyam's cure for RP is a bit hyped, if one is polite
about it.  Usually, RP is also associated with high refraction problems
like myopia, astigmatism etc and these are addressed to a large extent,
especially in younger patients, but, this is not due to improvements in
retinual attenuation or pigmentation, the root causes of RP.   What
usually happens is that one is influenced by the positive vibes existing
in their campus between the patients that makes one feel good.  Usually,
patients who reach Sreedhareeyam are facing vision loss and are
undergoing the associated trauma of depression, self-hatred, rejection
from mainstream society or self-withdrawal.  In Sreedhareeyam, we come
across people of our own kind and it consoles us tremendously.  Then,
there are the unconfirmed stories of how some guy or gal  has been
"cured" by the treatment which instills hopes in us.  Sadly, as a lot of
ex-patients have vouched for in AI, these hopes turn into
disillusionments quite fast.

 

d)   My friend, Dr Reshmi Pramod, an Ayurvedic doctor herself and
now visually challenged, tells me that Susrutha (Acharya of Ayurveda)
himself says diseases of the Retina cannot be cured.  I request Reshmi
to comment further on this, especially since she herself was a patient
of Sreedhareeyam for multiple bouts.

 

 

 

e)The treatments at Sreedhareeyam has become very costly over
the years.  In 1999, when they started off, it was a very small,
intimate affair where there was excellent interaction between the
limited patients, therapists and the doctors and their family members.
Progressively, as it grew from the small Illam (traditional Kerala
House) to the complex of modern buildings and cottages, it has lost its
intimate character and is today a commercial entity, mainly into medical
tourism, targeting rich NRIs and foreigners.

 

f) In conclusion, if one has the luxury of time and money, one
can keep on experimenting with Sreedhareeyam and similar institutions in
Kerala (who also claim cures for RP).  I feel bad for middle class / low
income group parents of blind / low vision kids who trek religiously to
this place every 3/6/12 months and spend time and money trying to cure
blindness or reverse deterioration.  Wherever possible, our self-help
group in Kerala reaches out to such patients and reach them the
redeeming message of assistive technologies and urge them to continue
their studies / professions using computers.  Prasanna Kumar, Reshmi,
Renuka and countless others from Kerala  have been able to use computers
instead of running after miracle cures and are productively engaged
today.  I myself often rue the 10 years I wasted in pursuing treatments
of all genres (homeo, naturopathy, suddha, unani, ayurveda at
Sreedhareeyam and at other places) and wish I had learnt Java and Oracle
instead with all that time, money and residual vision. (smile)  At
least, that would have contributed better to my new career (started
after losing sight and then having to quit a public sector company
through a voluntary retirement)  as a marketing manager in a software
company !

 

g)   I Do not wish to discourage anybody from trying Sreedhareeyam,
but, please note that all that glitters is not gold. (smile)

 

Thanks and rgds

 

RS

Kochi

sudhi...@nestgroup.net

098 472 76 126 

 

h) 

[AI] Sreedhareeyam & Retinitis Pigmentosa

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Folks,

 

More feedback on Sreedhareeyam and their cure for RP - this time from a
medical doctor who  has taken treatment at this institution herself for
macular degeneration.  

 

She is a member of AI, but, unable to send messages to the group.  Can
dear Moderator take a look into this prob too ?

 

Rgds

 

RS

 



From: Jalaja [mailto:jalajakumar...@gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 11:30 AM
To: Sudhir R (NeSTIT)
Subject: Re: Letter from Obama to his Daughters

 

I am writing this for A I please forward this

sub a ray of hope for R P patients

I am a M B B S doctor now working in Kerala state ,suffering from
macular degeneration since 11 yrs. As many of you are knowing that as
far as human nervous system is concerned once it get damaged cannot be
returned, the retinal cells come in this grp. Majority of retinal
diseases are gradually progressive in nature  one exception is retinal
detachment and in this condition in early stage if the retina is freezed
the sight will remain.

  The progress of degenarative conditions vary from individual to
individual. I know some cases in which even upto the age of 65 the
vision is not affected and detected only in routine checkups

  About sreedhareeyam to say honestly I'd taken treatment 5 times but I
cannot find any improvement  now a days even without trt. my vision is
remaining stationary Of course taking treatment will boost the
confidence in some persons and the positive outcome mentioned by them
are merely due to this, in other words many hesitate to say the the
actual picture after treatment

I am not aganst treatment and in my personal opinion this place is good
for a holiday trip if you have enough money without any expense . One
plus point is also there we can establish good friendships from there in
the course of treatment

   All these are only my personal views if anybody is against please
forgive me

with regards

   Dr. Jalaja  kumari M B B S 

Assisstant surgeon

Kerala state health services

  mobile;  9 4 9 6 2 4 9 1 9 1



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[AI] What a letdown, my dear countrymen !!

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

 

Govt's much-awaited $10 laptop turns out be a joke

5 Feb 2009, 0054 hrs IST, Neelima Rao, TNN 

 

 

 

TIRUPATI: The hype surrounding the $10 laptop ``prototype'' with two GB
RAM turned out to be a joke when the department of Human Resources
Development announced - during its inauguration in the temple town of
Tirupati - that it wasn't a laptop at all but a computing device. 

 

While the world eagerly waited for the launch of the $10 laptop -
designed by students of Vellore Institute of Technology, scientists in
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, IIT-Madras, UGC and MHRD - it
wasn't a patch on the $100 laptop made by MIT. 

 

The MHRD officials said the price was working out to be $20 but with
mass production it was bound to come down to $10 (Rs 500) and thus
become affordable for every student in India. 

 

But netizens were disappointed when the ``laptop'' turned out to be
nothing more than a computing device along with a hard disk with
e-books, e-journals and relevant educative material through the
state-art-of-the-art ``Sakshat'' portal. 

 

As the device appeared smaller than the normal laptop with 10-inch
length and five-inch width, buzz got around that it was a ``Nano-top''
and not a laptop. But MHRD official brought the curtains down on all the
hungama, saying it was just a computing device with 2GB memory. 

 

Joint Secretary, MHRD, N K Sinha said that the device still needs to be
fine tuned. But he had no answer to the million dollar question: where
was the $10 laptop? 

 

The talk of the ``invention'' had raised expectations of bridging the
technological divide between rural and urban India. Talking to TOI, a
Professor from Sri Venkateswara University said (on the condition of
anonymity), ``How can just a computing device bridge the digital divide
and make access to computer literacy affordable to the masses? Where
will poor students get computers to jack this gizmo with? Will MHRD
provide computers and internet connectivity in rural and remote areas?
There is no clarity among the officials themselves,'' he said. 

 

A research scholar from Mahila University said, ``How many students in
Tirupati have access to computers? Then, MHRD hasn't given details of
the size of the screen, storage, processor, etc. MHRD should first think
about the feasibility of such projects before they are launched. The
entire world was watching. This act of MHRD has shamed the nation,'' she
said.

 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-4078115,prtpage-1.cm
s

 



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[AI] The story behind the $10 'laptop'

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

 

Rediff.com

 

 

The story behind the $10 'laptop'

Leslie D'Monte | BS | February 09, 2009 | 13:09 IST

It was a claim that anyone with a reasonable amount of computing
knowledge would have debunked under normal circumstances - a laptop for
$10 or under Rs 500. You don't even get a decent memory stick for that
price, or even the cheapest of mobiles!

But then, the announcement was made by no less a person than Rameshwar
Pal Agrawal, secretary, Department of Higher Education of the Ministry
of Human Resource Development.

Also, the government has been talking of low-cost computing devices for
quite some time now - the prices of which would be much lower than
former Media Lab's director Nicholas Negroponte's $188 XO laptops which
are part of the One Laptop Per Child global project.

So, despite the disbelief and the 'Oh Yeah(s)?' on the Net, observers
both in India and abroad keenly awaited the launch of the prototype in
Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. After all, nobody would want to risk pooh
poohing a low-cost computing device which could effectively and
eventually bridge the 'digital divide'. However, when the contraption
was finally launched, it fell extremely short on expectations - some
called it nothing short of a joke, even 'hoax'.

Was the criticism justified? Probably not, if one understands the
context. A lot of work was put in by students of the Vellore Institute
of Technology, scientists in Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore,
the IIT-Madras and the involvement of PSUs like Semiconductor Complex
Ltd.

The end product came with 2GB storage memory, Wi-Fi connectivity,
ethernet port(s) and USB connectivity. But it did not have a screen. So
if you wanted to display the data stored on it, you would need to attach
a compatible output device using the USB ports. And the computing device
called 'Sakshat' turned out to be 10 inches long and five inches wide
and cost around $30. So it was still less than Rs 1,500.

Besides, the idea was noble. The Department of Higher Education of the
Ministry of Human Resource Development has earmarked around Rs 4,600
crore (Rs 46 billion) to promote the use of Information and
Communication Technology in teaching and learning processes.

Approximately 20,000 institutions of higher learning are expected to
benefit from this. To achieve this objective, the government said it
would support the development of low-cost and low-power consuming
devices through field trials - one of these was 'Sakshat'.

But, then, why call it a laptop? This is probably the main reason for so
much confusion. IDC India Lead Analyst (P C Research) Sumanta Mukherjee,
says: "Should it be possible to provide a notebook at a customer price
of Rs 500, the final impact on the PC market will depend on the
functionality. While affordability is a key driver to enhancing PC
penetration, it certainly is not the only one - relevance of the
product, cheap and reliable broadband in deep interiors will also make a
difference."

The success of a computing model, according to Diptarup Chakraborti,
principal research analyst, Gartner India, revolves around a friendly
operating system and application-ready device. "If these requirements
are not fulfilled, users graduate to higher models very fast," he
explains. Perhaps, he suggests, the nomenclature for such devices
(referring to the Rs 500 laptop) should be changed.

There's much merit in this line of thinking. When one pictures a
'laptop', it creates expectations of a minimum configuration and form
factor. History is a good teacher (anyone remembers the Simputer which
did not take-off in India?). Muddled thinking should not result in
diluting a noble cause.

The idea of an affordable laptop has existed in some form or the other
since the 1960s, and Prof Seymour Papert of MIT's Media Lab developed
the idea in 1985, in "The School of the Future". Perhaps, the first real
answer to the challenge of low-cost computing for kids was the XO (which
runs open-source Linux) from Negroponte, founder of the OLPC project.

The original target cost was $100, but this escalated (including
shipping costs) due to design upgrades (more memory and a faster
microprocessor) and also because the initial production volumes would
not enjoy economies of scale.

The OLPC project was supported by companies that are arch rivals - Intel
(which later pulled out) and AMD, besides Microsoft, Linux and Google;
so perhaps the project was bound to run into rough weather.

Negroponte, it is alleged, asked the chipmaker to stop selling its
Classmate PC while it was part of the OLPC. Intel reasoned it ought to
support multiple platforms (not the XO alone). Also, there were
differences over how the education market should be approached.

The Intel approach is to use school teachers and sell to schools rather
than the government. Negroponte, on the other hand, is said to be
favouring bypassing teachers, which is not a favoured approach in
emerging economies. This is one of the reasons why the OLPC pr

Re: [AI] Bank intrest for the disabled people

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !

Time and again, we often tend to think of only a "one size  should fit
all" kind of solutions to all problems concerning the disabled in India.


The thinking elite among the Indian disabled, represented by Access
India, are torn between  our demand for "equality" on the one hand and
the very real need for special benefits on the other.  

This often leads to very funny situations, where we have  no problem
discussing discrimination shown by airlines against traveling blind
passengers, but, when someone broaches the topic of the bus conductor
not intervening to get the seat reserved for the disabled in city buses
occupied by the able-bodied vacated, we somehow feel it is asking for a
special benefit and hence goes against the grain of inclusivity.

Then there was even a case when  someone advocated the disabled in India
does not even require reservations in employment, just because a few of
us have found  exciting jobs in the sunrise sectors of private industry.

Level playing field does not mean a perfectly  horizontal surface.
Compensations need to be built into the scheme of things to factor for
disadvantages, whether in the form of additional time to write exams,
exemptions from certain type of duties (like election duty for disabled
govt staff), concessions in ticket fare for travel in buses or trains,
etc etc.  

Granted that a lot of disabled who enjoy these benefits may have no need
for such special treatment and granted that a lot of them may not even
be availing of such benefits. (For example, considering that only a very
small proportion of the Indian disabled go in for higher education or
employment, can someone argue that these benefits are elitist and hence
not warranted ?)

If senior citizens who have made millions working abroad or doing
business can be given higher interest rates by banks, why not the
disabled ?  Savings need not be from income from employment alone, you
know.  

We are living in an insensitive society that is not going to be truly
inclusive in the near future.  If developed nations can subsidise their
disabled with allowances and grants, why not ask for a measly higher
interest for the Indian disabled ?

The Indian society is not about to give us a standing ovation for
turning down special benefits.  Let us not ourselves oppose such efforts
just because we think it is not fashionable.

Rgds

RS
098 472 76 126 

-Original Message-
From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
[mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of Subramani L
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 12:07 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] Bank intrest for the disabled people

Whenever we think of more 'incentives', the question we confront is: if
we can demand equality and special treatment of some sort at the same
time? 

Though some of us work and pursue careers of our choice, the same can't
be said about others, so in the first place where is the question of
having large savings for those who don't have high income or don't work
in sunrise industries? Secondly, on the contrary, those who  pursue
careers that fetch them good income: how can we ask for special
interests if we work on equal terms with others? These are questions I
often get when I think of the subject, but I am not successful in find
answers. 

Subramani 

-Original Message-
From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
[mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of mukeshbhai
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009 10:35 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] Bank intrest for the disabled people

Yes,
This is really new and good topic to be discussed.
I agree with you Prafulbhai.
Handicapped must have such benefits

Thanks and Regards,

Dr. Mukesh Patel
Principal
Physiotherapy College for The Blind,
Ahmedabad.
E Mail: ptmuk...@gmail.com
- Original Message - 
From: "Praful Vyas" 
To: "accessindia" 
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 6:27 PM
Subject: [AI] Bank intrest for the disabled people


> Dear Friends,
>
> Herewith, I put a new topic for discussion before my learned
Accessindian 
> friends.
> All banks are given half percent more interest on all type of fixed 
> deposits to the senior citizens than other. I believe that this
benefit 
> should also be given to the persons with disabilities. Please give
your 
> views.
>
> Yours Sincerely,
> Praful Vyas,
> Hon. Secretary,
> Andhjan Kalyan Trust,
> Behind Jain Derasar, Station Plot,
> Dhoraji-360410.
> Dist. Rajkot, Gujarat, India.
> E-mail:
> aktr...@sancharnet.in
> prafulnv...@gmail.com
> Website: http://www.aktrust.org
> Phone: 91-2824-223502,
> Fax: 91-2824-223502,
> Mobile: +919428261878.
> Please visit the Give India site to see our Profile and support us-
> http://www.giveindia.org/m-116-andhjan-kalyan-trust.aspx
> And also visit at
> www.carencureindia.org/aktrust.asp
> All Donation Enjoy 50% Exemption Under Section 80 G 5 of the Income
Tax 
> Act
> 1961
>
>
> To unsubscribe send a message 

Re: [AI] Bank intrest for the disabled people

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

1. When we talk about the disabled, let us also think of those who are
not visually challenged and those who cannot use assistive technologies
to work productively.  

2. Even those who have access to assistive technologies seldom get an
opportunity to work or earn a living.

3. Lots of people become disabled in the middle age, due to accidents or
disease, and are not able to get proper rehab inputs and usually retire
early.  Let us not forget that not every person has a pensionable job.

4.  And, there are the cases where disabled persons live off
inheritances or endowments made in their names.

In a country which can afford to spend thousands of crores on
poorly-targetted welfare schemes (Remember Rajiv Gandhi admitting that
just 15 paisa of every welfare Rupee reaches the targeted needy.  His
son has revised the figure to 5 paisa after e-governance  has been
introduced. (smile)), I don't think we need to feel too guilty about
asking for a 0.5% additional interest for bank deposits of the disabled.
After all, it will be a well-targetted scheme, benefiting only those who
are disabled and their families.  And, it is going to cost just a
fraction of the Rs 60,000 crores written off in farms loans waiver
recently. 

As I said, it may be fashionable to  claim we are equal to the
able-bodied in all respects and have to be treated equally, but, let us
admit that both assumptions are far from reality.

Rgds

RS 



-Original Message-
From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
[mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of niranjanraj
urs
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 2:48 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] Bank intrest for the disabled people

Congradulations Subramanian for being brave to say what you think as
right. There is no end if one section of society goes on asking for
concessions for itself. One has also to care for the paying capacity
of the system at large. The concession under the Income tax law for PH
is based on the premise that the handicap limits the earning capacity
of the individual. as such, one cannot draw anology between IT
concession and concession in the form of higher interest to PH
persons. If  I am correct, banks do give concessions in interest on
loans advanced under self employment schemes, for which there
certainly exist a rationale.
I therefore urge my friends on the list to please think of ways and
means for reaching out assistive technologies to not so well to do
friends among us, of  making software developers to come up with
screen reading tools in vernacular languages and reaching out these
softwares at affordable prices etc.
Niranjan

On 2/10/09, Subramani L  wrote:
> Whenever we think of more 'incentives', the question we confront is:
if
> we can demand equality and special treatment of some sort at the same
> time?
>
> Though some of us work and pursue careers of our choice, the same
can't
> be said about others, so in the first place where is the question of
> having large savings for those who don't have high income or don't
work
> in sunrise industries? Secondly, on the contrary, those who  pursue
> careers that fetch them good income: how can we ask for special
> interests if we work on equal terms with others? These are questions I
> often get when I think of the subject, but I am not successful in find
> answers.
>
> Subramani
>
> -Original Message-
> From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
> [mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of
mukeshbhai
> Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009 10:35 PM
> To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
> Subject: Re: [AI] Bank intrest for the disabled people
>
> Yes,
> This is really new and good topic to be discussed.
> I agree with you Prafulbhai.
> Handicapped must have such benefits
>
> Thanks and Regards,
>
> Dr. Mukesh Patel
> Principal
> Physiotherapy College for The Blind,
> Ahmedabad.
> E Mail: ptmuk...@gmail.com
> - Original Message -
> From: "Praful Vyas" 
> To: "accessindia" 
> Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 6:27 PM
> Subject: [AI] Bank intrest for the disabled people
>
>
>> Dear Friends,
>>
>> Herewith, I put a new topic for discussion before my learned
> Accessindian
>> friends.
>> All banks are given half percent more interest on all type of fixed
>> deposits to the senior citizens than other. I believe that this
> benefit
>> should also be given to the persons with disabilities. Please give
> your
>> views.
>>
>> Yours Sincerely,
>> Praful Vyas,
>> Hon. Secretary,
>> Andhjan Kalyan Trust,
>> Behind Jain Derasar, Station Plot,
>> Dhoraji-360410.
>> Dist. Rajkot, Gujarat, India.
>> E-mail:
>> aktr...@sancharnet.in
>> prafulnv...@gmail.com
>> Website: http://www.aktrust.org
>> Phone: 91-2824-223502,
>> Fax: 91-2824-223502,
>> Mobile: +919428261878.
>> Please visit the Give India site to see our Profile and support us-
>> http://www.giveindia.org/m-116-andhjan-kalyan-trust.aspx
>> And also visit at
>> www.carencureindia.org/aktrust.asp
>> All Dona

Re: [AI] Bank interest for the disabled people

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

res for the
disabled even though it isn't actually doing anything. Sorry for being
so cynical; one of the diseases of being a journalist is that you
observe things and end up becoming a cynic despite your hardest attempts
not to be one.

Subramani


-Original Message-
From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
[mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of Sudhir R
(NeSTIT)
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 4:12 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] Bank intrest for the disabled people

1. When we talk about the disabled, let us also think of those who are
not visually challenged and those who cannot use assistive technologies
to work productively.

2. Even those who have access to assistive technologies seldom get an
opportunity to work or earn a living.

3. Lots of people become disabled in the middle age, due to accidents or
disease, and are not able to get proper rehab inputs and usually retire
early.  Let us not forget that not every person has a pensionable job.

4.  And, there are the cases where disabled persons live off
inheritances or endowments made in their names.

In a country which can afford to spend thousands of crores on
poorly-targetted welfare schemes (Remember Rajiv Gandhi admitting that
just 15 paisa of every welfare Rupee reaches the targeted needy.  His
son has revised the figure to 5 paisa after e-governance  has been
introduced. (smile)), I don't think we need to feel too guilty about
asking for a 0.5% additional interest for bank deposits of the disabled.
After all, it will be a well-targetted scheme, benefiting only those who
are disabled and their families.  And, it is going to cost just a
fraction of the Rs 60,000 crores written off in farms loans waiver
recently.

As I said, it may be fashionable to  claim we are equal to the
able-bodied in all respects and have to be treated equally, but, let us
admit that both assumptions are far from reality.

Rgds

RS



-Original Message-
From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
[mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of niranjanraj
urs
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 2:48 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] Bank intrest for the disabled people

Congradulations Subramanian for being brave to say what you think as
right. There is no end if one section of society goes on asking for
concessions for itself. One has also to care for the paying capacity
of the system at large. The concession under the Income tax law for PH
is based on the premise that the handicap limits the earning capacity
of the individual. as such, one cannot draw anology between IT
concession and concession in the form of higher interest to PH
persons. If  I am correct, banks do give concessions in interest on
loans advanced under self employment schemes, for which there
certainly exist a rationale.
I therefore urge my friends on the list to please think of ways and
means for reaching out assistive technologies to not so well to do
friends among us, of  making software developers to come up with
screen reading tools in vernacular languages and reaching out these
softwares at affordable prices etc.
Niranjan

On 2/10/09, Subramani L  wrote:
> Whenever we think of more 'incentives', the question we confront is:
if
> we can demand equality and special treatment of some sort at the same
> time?
>
> Though some of us work and pursue careers of our choice, the same
can't
> be said about others, so in the first place where is the question of
> having large savings for those who don't have high income or don't
work
> in sunrise industries? Secondly, on the contrary, those who  pursue
> careers that fetch them good income: how can we ask for special
> interests if we work on equal terms with others? These are questions I
> often get when I think of the subject, but I am not successful in find
> answers.
>
> Subramani
>
> -Original Message-
> From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
> [mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of
mukeshbhai
> Sent: Monday, February 09, 2009 10:35 PM
> To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
> Subject: Re: [AI] Bank intrest for the disabled people
>
> Yes,
> This is really new and good topic to be discussed.
> I agree with you Prafulbhai.
> Handicapped must have such benefits
>
> Thanks and Regards,
>
> Dr. Mukesh Patel
> Principal
> Physiotherapy College for The Blind,
> Ahmedabad.
> E Mail: ptmuk...@gmail.com
> - Original Message -
> From: "Praful Vyas" 
> To: "accessindia" 
> Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2009 6:27 PM
> Subject: [AI] Bank intrest for the disabled people
>
>
>> Dear Friends,
>>
>> Herewith, I put a new topic for discussion before my learned
> Accessindian
>> friends.
>> All banks are given half percen

[AI] Receive emails on your phone through GooseBerry

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

 

 

Cell phones  

 

Receive emails on your phone through GooseBerry 

Helps you receive your emails on the SMS Inbox on your cell phone with
out Internet or GPRS connection in real time 

 

Usha Prasad 

Wednesday, February 18, 2009 

 

 Email This   Print This   Comments   RSS

 

BANGALORE, INDIA: In this technology-driven era, we depend heavily on
emails and cell phones to stay connected. For many, who are in regular
touch with friends, colleagues and business contacts through emails, it
may not be possible to be on the computer at all times. And, not all of
them can afford to have smart phones with GPRS services or a Blackberry.


 

Now, you can get your emails even when you are away from the computer.
Gurgaon-based Khushii IT Solutions has recently launched a service
called GooseBerry (http://www.gooseberry.in/), an email notification
system, that helps you receive your emails on the SMS Inbox of your cell
phone in real time (Compression algorithm applied optimize content
delivery over SMS ). The service works across both GSM and CDMA
networks.

 

"GooseBerry has made it possible to be connected with your emails 24X7,
without Internet or GPRS connection. You can receive and reply to your
emails using the SMS and can limit the number of SMS alerts you receive
by using Allowed list and Blocked list," says Sachin Gupta, principal
consultant at Khushii IT Solutions. GooseBerry will allow only those
emails that contain the specified keywords with in the email ID, subject
tag or body tag of an email specified by the user in the Allowed list. 

 

Giving more details on how GooseBerry works, Gupta says, "Presently, we
are able to compress the mail size by 30 percent to ensure that you get
only a snapshot of the email on your phone in one SMS. Each SMS received
will have up to 160 characters in length.  However, to receive the full
email, you can send SMS requests to us by typing 'next' and receive the
complete mail in parts. While there is no upper limit on the number of
SMS sent to the receiver from our end, the reply from the user's side is
limited to only one SMS."

 

"In order to stay in touch with their emails, people spend heavily on
costly devices and data plans for GPRS connectivity. When we surveyed
quite a number of BlackBerry and GPRS users, a majority of them were not
satisfied with the respective services as it was expensive and also
found difficulty in getting the mails due to slow bandwidth. This is
when we thought of offering a similar solution on SMS," explains Gupta. 

 

GPRS is a PULL-based solution, which means you will always need to check
yourself if there is a new email, while GooseBerry will push the email
to you. GooseBerry will work anywhere your phone works in India while
GPRS-based phones will work only where you have GPRS network available,
he adds. 

 

"GooseBerry service is offered through a compression technique, where we
remove spaces in the mail, use abbreviations and SMS lingos. We also use
scientific methods of finding which are the important parts of an email
to be sent," he added.

 

All that one needs to do to get this service is register with Gooseberry
by giving the phone number and email credentials. "Other than the
subscription fee, GooseBerry does not charge for sending SMS alerts to
your phone. However, you will be charged your service provider for
sending the reply to your email on your phone ," says Gupta. 

 

With GooseBerry, one can achieve the same service with as low as Rs. 95
per month. You can also go in for multiple packs depending on the usage
and email traffic expected. Gooseberry supports 37 email servers as of
Jan 2009, including corporate emails, gmail, Yahoo, ibibo etc. Every day
support for more email servers is being added as users from various
companies are requesting for the same. 

 

Why is the service named GooseBerry? "We wanted a name that is very
Indian, and also be identified with the existing technology. Hence, we
decided on GooseBerry," says Gupta.

 

Advantages of GooseBerry

 

 

*The service runs on any mobile on the planet without needing to install
anything 

*You don't need to have a special hardware ie., Blackberry or mobile
with GPRS/3G capability 

*The cost of this service is a fraction of the rental cost of Blackberry
or data plan (GPRS) which you would have 

*You can create filters so that you don't get unwanted emails on your
device 

*There are no extra charges on roaming as well (saves quite a bit of
money) 

. With every one going into cost saving mode, this might be the solution
companies are looking for.

 



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[AI] Internet speeds on wireless datacards...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Rediff.com

 

March 19, 2009 09:26 IST

 

Your wireless internet connection has just got faster, with CDMA
operators launching services that offer speeds of up to 3.1 mbps.

 

On a comparative basis, this is faster by over 20 times than the
existing wireless broadband connections, and 10 times faster than
average broadband connections

in the country.

 

At present, broadband is defined as always-on connectivity with 256 kbps
speed on Ethernet connections (wired), while the maximum speed available
over wireless

is around 144 kbps.

 

However, the upload and download speeds do not match the advertised
speeds, which can be misleading for users. Users in India, for instance,
only get around

30-40 kbps connectivity on a 256 mbps connection and a meagre 9-10 kbps
on a 144 kbps connection during peak times, according to Internet
Service Providers

Association of India President Rajesh Chharia.

 

Tata Teleservices [

Get Quote]

 has launched Photon+, a plug and play device that offers data speeds of
up to 3.1 mbps. It claims that this is 20 times faster than existing
wireless mobile

technologies. It has also unveiled another product -- Power Launcher --
an Ethernet-based broadband product that offers speeds up to 100 mbps.

 

"There is an explosion of internet usage in the country, with an
increase in usage of bandwidth... the number of individual internet
users far exceeded

that of corporate users and the launch of these services will enable
faster and trouble-free internet access," Tata Teleservices
(Maharashtra) Ltd Managing

Director Mukund Govind Rajan said.

 

According to the recent Telecom Regulatory Authority of India data, the
total number of internet connections in the country stand at around 13
million,

of which broadband connections are 5.65 million.

 

Another CDMA player, Reliance Communications [

Get Quote]

 has also rolled out a high-speed broadband service, Reliance Netconnect
Broadband Plus. This has a downlink speed of up to 3.1 mbps and a
separate uplink

speed of up to 1.8 mbps, which the company claims is much higher than
any other offering in the country.

 

"This is the inflection point for the Indian internet industry and would
enable broadband access to millions of online Indians," RCom President
Mahesh Prasad

said, attributing the poor penetration to the limitations of wireline
internet like last mile connectivity and time taken for network
deployment.

 

But are these tall claims? According to Chharia, "Their claims are right
as 3.1 Mbps connections can be offered. However, will these companies
provide both

access and international bandwidth at these speeds? If both access and
bandwidth are provided at these speeds, it's a great leap for the
industry."

 

The Cellular Operators' Association of India is not amused. The body of
GSM operators has sought the department of telecommunications's
intervention to

stop these services, which it claims are 3G EVDO services. It is
'legally untenable' to permit select players to get a preferential
headstart to offer

3G services, it wrote in a letter to the DoT.

Powered by



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Re: [AI] Income Tax on Transport Allowance.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Dear  Prof Vaswani,

Your feedback is interesting and timely.

Can you please  educate me on how to claim this higher exemption from
the employer ? Do you have any circulars pertaining to this ? And, more
importantly, is this exemption only for PWDs working in the Government
sector ?

Appreciate if you could throw some light on this quickly as my Payroll
team has just announced the last date for submitting all IT-related
documents.

Thanks and rgds

RS
+ 98 472 76 126 

-Original Message-
From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
[mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of manohar
vaswani
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 4:02 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] Income Tax on Transport Allowance.

dear mr. biswas
the income tax exemption on TRA. is not restricted to orthopedic
handicapped persons.
I am totally blind and receive 1600 tr A and the full amount is exempted

thanks and regards
manohar vaswani, assistant professor
department of english, shivaji university, kolhapur

On 1/12/11, Amiyo Biswas  wrote:
> Hello,
>
> My colleague showed me Swamy's handbook where it is specified that
Transport
> Allowance up to Rs.800 per month will be exempted from income tax for
all
> employees whereas it will be double, i.e. Rs.1,600 for orthopaedically
> handicapped employees. Since it's a huge book, I could not make a
xerox
> copy. I could neither find the same order on the internet. I believe,
the
> order should not restrict the facility to orthopaedically handicapped
> persons only. Any idea?
>
> Best regards,
> Amiyo Biswas
> Cell: 91-9433464329
>

Re: [AI] Income Tax on Transport Allowance.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Thanks, Prof.

Folks, your expert comments, please.  I am getting a Travelling
Allowance larger than Rs 1.6 k and wish to know if higher exemption is
available to all of us under the IT Act.  If yes, can somebody give me
the relevant clause number or artefact itself ?

Thanks in advance...

RS
+ 98 472 76 126 

-Original Message-
From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
[mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of manohar
vaswani
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 4:20 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] Income Tax on Transport Allowance.

dear mr. sudhir
TR A is not a part of income so it is exempted from tax. I am a state
govt employee so have no circular in english or in hindi
it may be available in marathi.
I think the exemption is admisible for all employees irrespective of
employer.
you may find the circular on website of income tax department.

thanks and regards
manohar vaswani

On 1/13/11, Sudhir R (NeSTIT)  wrote:
> Dear  Prof Vaswani,
>
> Your feedback is interesting and timely.
>
> Can you please  educate me on how to claim this higher exemption from
> the employer ? Do you have any circulars pertaining to this ? And,
more
> importantly, is this exemption only for PWDs working in the Government
> sector ?
>
> Appreciate if you could throw some light on this quickly as my Payroll
> team has just announced the last date for submitting all IT-related
> documents.
>
> Thanks and rgds
>
> RS
> + 98 472 76 126
>
> -Original Message-
> From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
> [mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of manohar
> vaswani
> Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2011 4:02 PM
> To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
> Subject: Re: [AI] Income Tax on Transport Allowance.
>
> dear mr. biswas
> the income tax exemption on TRA. is not restricted to orthopedic
> handicapped persons.
> I am totally blind and receive 1600 tr A and the full amount is
exempted
>
> thanks and regards
> manohar vaswani, assistant professor
> department of english, shivaji university, kolhapur
>
> On 1/12/11, Amiyo Biswas  wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> My colleague showed me Swamy's handbook where it is specified that
> Transport
>> Allowance up to Rs.800 per month will be exempted from income tax for
> all
>> employees whereas it will be double, i.e. Rs.1,600 for
orthopaedically
>> handicapped employees. Since it's a huge book, I could not make a
> xerox
>> copy. I could neither find the same order on the internet. I believe,
> the
>> order should not restrict the facility to orthopaedically handicapped
>> persons only. Any idea?
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Amiyo Biswas
>> Cell: 91-9433464329
>>
>
>
>

[AI] Any accessible Reference management software ?

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Good morning, folks.

 

A visually challenged friend doing post-doctoral research  in
biotechnology urgently needs our assistance in identifying  software for
publishing and managing bibliographies that is accessible to Jaws.

 

She used to rely on a software called EnndNote (a product from Reuters'
stable) before losing her sight and finds this software unresponsive to
Jaws now.  Please note that she herself is just learning to use Jaws and
hence is seriously handicapped while trying to perform the tasks
expected of her at her new job  in Calicut University.

 

Appreciate if research veterans from  amongst you, who may have used
similar software or even developed scripts for EndNote could share your
experience and expertise.

 

She has also expressed a desire to network with  research students in
related fields to compare notes and share resources. Her  contact info
can be shared  with those who are interested. 

 

Thanks and regards

 

RS

+ 91 98 472 76 126   

[AI] The Inspiring Story of a blind media graduate.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

 

Rediff.com, Jan 31, 2011

--

Abhishek Mande



Meet Garima Goyal, who had to give up her dreams because of an
irreversible and degenerating eye condition, went on to become one of
India's first visually challenged media graduates. 

The day before her first history test in the tenth grade, Garima Goyal's
mother walked into her room and said: "You have the same problem as
bhaiyya."

For a regular 15-year-old, this might have sounded like bickering about
the mess in the room, her grades or some such mundane problem.

Garima's brother, Ashish, however was no regular teenager. After that
morning, she wouldn't remain one either.

It had been a few years since her brother was diagnosed with Retinitis
Pigmentosa, an irreversible and degenerating eye condition.

Ashish Goyal was going blind. And now, so was Garima.

Meet Ashish Goyal, world's first blind trader
 

A little over 10 years since the day, the two siblings have lost most of
their vision.

Ashish has gone on to become the first blind person to graduate from
Wharton and is the first blind trader at J P Morgan's London operations.

Garima is one of the first visually challenged media graduates from the
Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education. She's completed her
course in social communications media from Sophia College -- a major
portion of this course involves a strong visual element.

She has around 20 per cent of her sight remaining. This means even when
I am sitting at arm's length and waving my hands at her, she doesn't
know a thing. All she can see is a vague outline of my head and senses
some movement of people behind me.

Garima doesn't wear dark glasses. Instead, she sports a pair of
spectacles with a very thick lens that helps with whatever little is
left of her vision.

Most of what Garima can see is largely dependent on lighting. Mostly
though, the 25-year-old has to make do with a cane.

It isn't a regular red-and-white cane -- it's black and metallic,
stylish, with a wheel at the bottom and much longer than the regular
walking sticks most of us are used to seeing.

She uses the wheel to draw semi-circles as she walks to gauge the ground
ahead.

Often, the stick itself has raised curiosity amongst strangers around
her. They want to know what it is and when she tells them, they want to
know if she is blind.

"You don't look blind," is something Garima hears very often.

To be honest, at first, she didn't seem like a visually challenged
person to me either. Part of it, perhaps, has to do with the fact that
Garima is so comfortable with her impediment, she's learnt to overcome
it superbly.

A larger part, I suspect, has to do with a different kind of blindness
-- ours. We're simply conditioned to believe that all blind people must
carry a red-and-white cane and wear a pair of thick, ugly dark glasses.

Garima, though doesn't care or at least won't give the impression she
does.


Image: Garima Goyal

 

 

--

 

 

 

The first thought that crossed Garima Goyal's mind the morning she was
told she was losing her vision, was, 'I won't be able to paint anymore!'

Garima was hoping to become a portrait painter. "It was all I wanted to
do," she says, more matter-of-factly than with regret.

She'd started drawing when she was four and had taken to watercolours
when kids her age were struggling with crayons. All through her school
life, she'd painted away. But, just before she was to make the crucial
career choice, came the news.

Ashish's condition was discovered a number of years ago. Visits to the
family ophthalmologist were frequent during their childhood, since both
the kids had glasses from a very young age.

After one such visit, the doctor asked them to wait outside as he spoke
with their parents.

On their way back home, they insisted on knowing what the doctor had to
say.

Their mother avoided the topic for a few days, then finally broke the
news to Garima and her other siblings.

It seemed surreal, and with a sense of deja vu, the Goyals braced to
accept a second tragedy in the family.

Garima doesn't speak much about this phase. She says her dad too never
spoke about it.

In fact, memories of that day seem to haunt her -- even though she
shared what happened, she didn't want any mention of it in the article.

Dad Ashok Goyal, who is in his late fifties, is a property developer and
has been responsible for constructing Goyal Shopping Centre -- one of
the foremost shopping centres in Mumbai's suburbs.

Their mother, Jyoti, was a college lecturer who quit her job to take
charge of the household.


Image: Jyoti Goyal, the mother who stood as a rock behind her children

 

--

 

 

 

Garima's brother Ashish's journey
 

[AI] Buying a laptop

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Hi folks !

A student doing her second year degree course in Kerala is planning to purchase 
a laptop immediately.  The laptop should be able to serve her requirements at 
least till she completes her PG which implies, if I guess correctly, it would 
need to be compatible to Vista and Vista-based applications, even though she 
may be running it on Win XP for the time being.  Kindly advise the features one 
needs to incorporate from this forward compatibility angle.

Specifically, will it need a 64 bit processor ?  

Since most of the Vista's much-touted graphics will be lost on us, is there any 
need for 1 GB RAM  or Direct X.10 compatible Graphics card right now ?  And, 
can we settle for a smaller screen size (12.1 inch) as it makes little 
difference for us ?

Would appreciate if you could share your experiences with various brands and 
configurations, specifically with performance, ease of operation and after 
sales support points in mind.

Thanks in advance and regards

RS
M: 98 472 76 126
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[AI] FW: Buying a laptop

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Hi friends !

Waiting for your responses to my question on buying a laptop, forwarded below.  
Will appreciate feedback from members who have purchased recently so that my 
friend can learn from their experiences and avoid costly mistakes, if any.  The 
budget can be upto Rs 40 - 45 k and let us help this brilliant student  buy the 
best brand and configuration  to aid her studies in the next 4 years.

Thanks and regards

RS
M: 098 472 76 126

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Sudhir R
(NeSTIT)
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 12:01 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: [AI] Buying a laptop


Hi folks !

A student doing her second year degree course in Kerala is planning to purchase 
a laptop immediately.  The laptop should be able to serve her requirements at 
least till she completes her PG which implies, if I guess correctly, it would 
need to be compatible to Vista and Vista-based applications, even though she 
may be running it on Win XP for the time being.  Kindly advise the features one 
needs to incorporate from this forward compatibility angle.

Specifically, will it need a 64 bit processor ?  

Since most of the Vista's much-touted graphics will be lost on us, is there any 
need for 1 GB RAM  or Direct X.10 compatible Graphics card right now ?  And, 
can we settle for a smaller screen size (12.1 inch) as it makes little 
difference for us ?

Would appreciate if you could share your experiences with various brands and 
configurations, specifically with performance, ease of operation and after 
sales support points in mind.

Thanks in advance and regards

RS
M: 98 472 76 126
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[AI] Seminar at Kochi on May 18,19 & 20, 2007

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Dear Access India friends,

The Society for the Rehabilitation of the Visually Challenged (SRVC - 
http://www.visuallychallenged.com) is conducting its annual Seminar, named Eye 
T Seminar on Assistive Technologies & Empowerment for the visually challenged, 
at Kochi, Kerala on May 18,19 and 20, 2007.

The Seminar starts with a Curtain Raiser event at 4 pm on Friday, May 18.  The 
formal inauguration is at 9 am  the next day, which is followed by six Business 
Sessions on issues such as Employment, Disability  Law, Assistive Technologies, 
Professional Education, Integration & Inclusion, and Rehabilitation Case 
Studies, spread over Saturday and Sunday.  The Seminar concludes with a 
Valedictory function at 5 pm on Sunday, followed by a scintillating orchestra 
and dance programme performed by visually challenged artists.  The orchestra is 
by SRVC's own troupe while the dance performance is by a troupe from Bangalore.

As in earlier years, the main speakers at the various Business Sessions are 
drawn from the Access India firmament and include Ms Kanchan Pamnani, Advocate, 
Mumbai, Mr Prashant Ranjan Verma, Project Manager, NAB, New Delhi, Mr Mohammad 
Asif Iqbal, Consultant, Price Waterhouse Coopers, Kolkatta, Ms Shanti Raghavan, 
Enable India, Bangalore, Ms Sundari, Mitra Jyothi, Bangalore and Ms Shashikala, 
HR Executive, Bangalore.  Besides, the Keralite members of this august forum 
like Renuka, Dr Reshmi, Balaram, Naushad and Reem will also be sharing their 
valuable experiences.

The organisers have asked me to extend a warm invitation  to all members of 
Access India to this Seminar and share the ambience of sharing, comradeship and 
bonding that are  characteristic of such events.  So, why not pack your bags 
for a weekend holiday in God's Own Country, where rains have already doused the 
summer heat to a considerable extent ?

In case you need more info on the Seminar, pl do get in touch with me  at my 
contact info given below.  For registrations and / or arranging logistics, pl 
call Mr Roy Markose at 094 475 52 387.

Looking forward to meeting all of you at this event and with my warm regards

R Sudhir
E: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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[AI] IT Companies come forward to employ the visually challenged.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

>From rediff.com

June 12, 2007 10:16 IST
Last Updated: June 12, 2007 10:36 IST
As part of their special responsibilities, information technology industry in 
India is slowly opening its eyes towards the visually challenged by offering
them jobs, training and even taking up infrastructural modifications to 
accommodate them.

IBM, Mphasis, Infosys-BPO, SAP India and Adithi Technologies are some of the 
companies which have started inducting the visually-impaired.

According to Shanthi Raghavan, founder of Bangalore-based EnAble India, an 
organisation working for the differently-abled, "the industry is opening up for
the visually-impaired, though the pace is slow".

IBM, in association with EnAble India, had recently conducted a three-week 
training programme in Bangalore for teachers of the visually impaired on the
right computer teaching techniques to address the IT skills of their students.

"It was for the first time that an IT company in India has come up with such an 
initiative for the visually impaired," said Raghavan.

As many as 15 teachers from different institutions across the country underwent 
the training and this in turn is expected to help some 500-1000 students,
said Raghavan. Further, it should enhance the employability of at least 450 
people this year.

According to Anitha Guha, India Diversity Leader, IBM, the organisation had 
been undertaking several initiatives to increase visibility and access of the
differently-abled at workplace. But a serious bottleneck in this pursuit was 
finding qualified hands.

"The training programme is expected to bridge the gap between the companies and 
these talents with the help of the teachers who could groom them as per
the requirements of the industry," said Guha.

The course provided training on JAWS (PC with screen reader), general teaching 
techniques and specific teaching techniques for the blind, industry orientation
and usage of right resource aids. The trainers were equipped with a curriculum 
that they can follow at their respective institutions, said Raghavan

Teachers were also given resource aids and material, including essential 
tactile diagrams, audio compact discs with training instructions, practical 
exercises,
voice-enabled software.

As part of the programme, the teachers visited the IBM office in Bangalore and 
interacted with the differently-abled employees as well as the recruiting
officials to have a first hand knowledge about the needs of the industry.

The companies, under their social-inclusiveness initiatives, also have brought 
about physical modifications at the workplace such as ramps, braille signs
in elevators and doors, besides technology tools like voice recognition 
software and HomePage reader to enable the visually impaired perform  all their
works easily.

"In India, all our new locations are equipped with the standard requirements 
for people with disabilities and we are upgrading our older facilities to 
conform
to the same tandards", said Guha.

Infosys-BPO, which has over hundred disabed persons, including visually 
impaired, in its pay roll, also has changed their lay-out into a 
disabled-friendly
one.

According to sources in the company, the disabled are provided transportation 
facilities and special training in computer applications.

According to Guha, each visually impaired person is entrusted with a colleague 
who will help him out in an emergency situation like a fire alarm.

The company also holds round-table conferences to "understand and address their 
unique concerns".

"People with disabilities are employed in a variety of roles in our 
organisation, including Project Management, Programming, Consulting, Operations 
Quality
Assurance and Human Resources. There is a conscious attempt not to classify 
certain jobs as fit for people with disabilities", Guha said.

"Our differently-abled employees have proved that they can contribute in a 
range of 'mainstream' roles in the same way as any other employee", added Guha.

The organisations working for the disabled also have played a key role in 
sensitising the companies to the needs of the disabled. Moreover, they act as
intermediaries between both the parties.

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[AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Dear friends,

We have all been enthused in recent months by the continuous stream of 
'heart-warming' news reports from the booming IT and ITES sectors of India 
opening their doors to the visually challenged.  But, closer observation of the 
facts on the ground reveal certain trends that are disquieting and 
disillusioning and though not politically correct, I thought I must bring these 
to the kind attention of Access Indians.

a) It seems many of those who have been recruited have been taken in as 
contract employees and remain so for years together.  The professed excuse 
bandied by the companies is that they want to keep the actual employee count 
low.  This excuse would have held water had not the companies gladly confirmed 
the non-disabled staff members who were recruited along with or much later than 
their disabled counterparts.  I can understand a company extending an 
employee's probation if he does not measure up, but, extending contracts 
umpteen number of times seem to take on sinister tones.

b) Simultaneously, I think these unfortunate disabled candidates also suffer  
discriminatory treatment vis-a-vis their non-disabled peers in terms of 
compensation and benefit, seniority etc due to the long years they spend as 
contract employees.

c)  It may be fashionable to  explain this phenomenon as a modern trend  in 
employment thanks to globalisation, but, when it applies only to one segment of 
(disadvantaged) employees, I prefer to call it high-handed discrimination.  
India does not have a social security mechanism in place and the best bet for 
any disabled resource is still the security of a regular job.  Unfortunately, 
the current practice seems to be denying this precise safety net to the 
disabled.

I am not sure how many of Access Indians working in the IT / ITES sector are 
currently suffering this discrimination silently, hoping to be confirmed in the 
years to come.  But, anecdotal evidence has shown me that many of the so-called 
'equal opportunity employers' who hog media limelight with their 'diversity 
enrichment' programmes are major culprits of this shameful practice.  May be, a 
few of the silent sufferers should speak out for the sake of other starry-eyed 
youngsters who have been building castles in thin air after reading all these 
media reports.

Simultaneously, can legal eagles like Kanchan and Rajesh educate us about the 
current Indian laws applicable to the rights of contract employees ?  I am sure 
it is mandatory for a company to confirm an employee after a particular period 
of being a contract employee.  How does one go about enforcing such laws and 
how risky would such a procedure be ?

And, Subramony, can you smell a journalistic scoop in this issue ?
 

I have been an avid votary of the IT and ITES sector as  possible sources of 
fullfilling and well-paying careers for the visually challenged and have even 
been discouraging the local youngsters from looking at the unglamourous 
Government sector, but, I should admit this revelation has forced me to revise 
my recommendations.  In fact, I have started wondering whether this phenomenon 
is restricted merely to the IT / ITES sector or a characteristic of the entire 
private sector.  I know of at least one case in Kerala where a manufacturing 
company has been employing a visually challenged youngster for almost 9 years 
as a contract employee at half the salary he would have been entitled for in 
regular service.

Please share your individual views, suggestions and experiences in this matter. 
 Skeletons have remained in the corporate cupboards for too long, methinks...

Regards

R Sudhir
M: 098 472 76 126 
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Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Dear Subramony,

I can understand hard core professionals opting for contract-based employment 
that allows them to be loose-coupled to the employer.  But, this  is a 
voluntary decision and most often than not, the terms of the contract are 
thrashed out after mutual discussions.

The cases I referred to in my original mail pertains to trainees, not 
professionals.  I am quite sure they would prefer regular jobs, if given a 
choice, since their professional skill-sets are not well-developed.  And, what 
are thrust upon these hapless youngsters are unilateral contracts, not ones 
discussed thread-bare.

And, of course, the matter of discrimination comes up when just the disabled 
candidates have to put up with such 'modern' practices.  Those able-bodied who 
join along with them or after them are taken on rolls.  Now, do you smell 
something fishy ?

Rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Subramani L
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 9:36 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...


Dear Sudhir:

I am not too conversant with the legalese of contract employment, but it
is certainly becoming the trend. Why IT, even the media industry is fast
adapting these practices. And, several journalists (both in print and
broadcast), who are able bodied, prefer contract not only because they
are paid higher, but also because it is much easier to leave when they
no longer inclined to work. 

As far as my knowledge goes, contract employment isn't exclusively
offered to the blind or disabled. On the contrary, even the so-called
able-bodied persons have to accede to demands of employers that they
will be taken as contract employees. Also, contracts in the traditional
sense is different from what we are referring here as contracts. Why
contracts, I know IT employees (who are able-bodied) who are asked to
sign a bond that stops them from leaving the company for two or three
years. In my opinion, that is more discriminatory than contracts. 

Let's not forget that we live in a knowledge economy, where
opportunities are increasing with corresponding risks. So, in this
environment, how far we can expect traditional employment terms to be
applied remains a doubt. Perhaps, Rajesh or Kanchan can answer this from
a legal perspective.

Subramani 



-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sudhir R
(NeSTIT)
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 9:13 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...

***
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Your mail has been scanned by InterScan.
***-***


Dear friends,

We have all been enthused in recent months by the continuous stream of
'heart-warming' news reports from the booming IT and ITES sectors of
India opening their doors to the visually challenged.  But, closer
observation of the facts on the ground reveal certain trends that are
disquieting and disillusioning and though not politically correct, I
thought I must bring these to the kind attention of Access Indians.

a) It seems many of those who have been recruited have been taken in as
contract employees and remain so for years together.  The professed
excuse bandied by the companies is that they want to keep the actual
employee count low.  This excuse would have held water had not the
companies gladly confirmed the non-disabled staff members who were
recruited along with or much later than their disabled counterparts.  I
can understand a company extending an employee's probation if he does
not measure up, but, extending contracts umpteen number of times seem to
take on sinister tones.

b) Simultaneously, I think these unfortunate disabled candidates also
suffer  discriminatory treatment vis-a-vis their non-disabled peers in
terms of compensation and benefit, seniority etc due to the long years
they spend as contract employees.

c)  It may be fashionable to  explain this phenomenon as a modern trend
in employment thanks to globalisation, but, when it applies only to one
segment of (disadvantaged) employees, I prefer to call it high-handed
discrimination.  India does not have a social security mechanism in
place and the best bet for any disabled resource is still the security
of a regular job.  Unfortunately, the current practice seems to be
denying this precise safety net to the disabled.

I am not sure how many of Access Indians working in the IT / ITES sector
are currently suffering this discrimination silently, hoping to be
confirmed in the years to come.  But, anecdotal evidence has shown me
that many of the so-called 'equal opportunity employers' who hog media
limelight with their 'diversity enrichment' programmes are major
culprits of this shameful practice.  May be, a few of the silent
sufferers should speak out for

Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Dear Harish bhai,

I fully agree with you that contract employment could act as the thin edge of 
the wedge to induce companies to consider employing the differently abled 
employees.  And, uncertainties do bring out the best from us too.

But, the fact remains that the best trapeze artists and movie stuntmen perform 
with a safety net to catch them should anything go wrong. (smile)  I am afraid 
I can't effectively articulate the gnawing fears and trepidations of a disabled 
resource working in a IT company who gets his contract renewed often only on 
the last day and perhaps only for a further period of six months.  I was hoping 
some of these silent sufferers to speak out, but, obviously they might be 
feeling embarrassed or insecure and I fully empathise with their unenviable 
situation.   

Being a banking professional, you will agree with me that life requires one to 
plan ahead for security of our own selves and that of our family, like buying a 
home, making investments for retirement etc.  In the absence of a working 
social security mechanism in India, the best bet for a disabled person is still 
a steady job which guarantees a steady stream of predictable revenues.  From 
this point of view, contract employment, highly favoured by the hard core 
professionals who can dictate their terms, is not the best of news for our 
young friends.

This is what I wanted to highlight through my mail, since I know (and I myself 
have been recommending) many bright youngsters have been looking away from the 
staid government sector job markets to these glamourous sunrise sectors.  All 
that glitters, as is often in real life, is not obviously gold. (smile)

Rgds

RS
M: 098 472 76 126  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Harish
Kotian
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 7:02 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...


Hi Sudhir

You have raised a very interesting topic for introspection.

In my personal view, contract work is a sort of blessing in disguise.

1 The employers are apprehensive about the capabilities of the blind. This 
gives us a window to make an entry and gives us an opportunity to prove 
ourselves.

2 Due to the uncertainties involved it forces one to get the best out of us.

However, uncertainty is not desirable in a long run to maintain healthy 
relationship.

This can be nicely put to the folks in the HR dept who have specialists out 
there to understand it better.

Intervention of NGO's or help from HR consultuncy firms can also help in 
getting the message across.

Once having gained experience and having sharpened skill sets one is in a 
better position to find jobs elsewhere. Now, one is in a better position to 
clinch a deal to ones terms.

I personally feel it is better to grow in an organisation than keep changing 
jobs frequently.

It helps mutually.
Harish.

- Original Message - 
From: "Sudhir R (NeSTIT)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 9:40 AM
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...


> Dear Subramony,
>
> I can understand hard core professionals opting for contract-based 
> employment that allows them to be loose-coupled to the employer.  But, 
> this  is a voluntary decision and most often than not, the terms of the 
> contract are thrashed out after mutual discussions.
>
> The cases I referred to in my original mail pertains to trainees, not 
> professionals.  I am quite sure they would prefer regular jobs, if given a 
> choice, since their professional skill-sets are not well-developed.  And, 
> what are thrust upon these hapless youngsters are unilateral contracts, 
> not ones discussed thread-bare.
>
> And, of course, the matter of discrimination comes up when just the 
> disabled candidates have to put up with such 'modern' practices.  Those 
> able-bodied who join along with them or after them are taken on rolls. 
> Now, do you smell something fishy ?
>
> Rgds
>
> RS
> M: 98 472 76 126
>
> -Original Message-
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Subramani L
> Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 9:36 AM
> To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
> Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...
>
>
> Dear Sudhir:
>
> I am not too conversant with the legalese of contract employment, but it
> is certainly becoming the trend. Why IT, even the media industry is fast
> adapting these practices. And, several journalists (both in print and
> broadcast), who are able bodied, prefer contract not only because they
> are paid higher, but also because it is much easier to leave when they
> no longer inclined to work.
>
> As far as my knowledge goes, contract employment isn't exclusively
> offered to the blind or disabled. On the contra

Re: [AI] Broadband.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi Vikas !

This is a point I needed clarification on.  ISPs often talk about speeds of 256 
kbps,   1 Mbps etc.  Often when we are surfing the web, we encounter much 
slower speeds, even 10% of the claimed speeds.  Is it another case of the 
consumer being taken for a ride or there are technically different speeds like 
the connecting speed, the downloading speed or the browser speed ?  

Would appreciate some clarifications in this regard .  Thanks in advance...

Rgds

RS

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Vikas Kapoor
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 9:18 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] Broadband.


That is your connecting speed not the download or browser speed.
Vikas Kapoor,
MSN+Yahoo+Skype ID: dl_vikas,
Mobile: (+91) 9891098137.
- Original Message - 
From: "Atul R Sahay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 3:55 AM
Subject: Re: [AI] Broadband.


As I mentioned in an earlier mail, it's 460.8 kbps.

- Original Message - 
From: "Syed Imran" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 5:51 PM
Subject: Re: [AI] Broadband.


> What is the speed at which you are able to surf
>
> - Original Message - 
> From: "Atul R Sahay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "Geetha Shamanna" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
> 
> Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 6:08 AM
> Subject: Re: [AI] Broadband.
>
>
>>I have been using Airtel's internet connection through my GPRS enabled
>> handset. It costs just Rs. 249 per month and gives unlimited access.
>> Further
>> it keeps me connected wherever I am. Some of you may like to try this
>> option. Earlier this service was available for Rs. 99 per month but then
>> it
>> used to be very slow. Today it works just fine.
>>
>> Regards.
>> - Original Message - 
>> From: "Geetha Shamanna" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> To: 
>> Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 9:30 PM
>> Subject: Re: [AI] Broadband.
>>
>>
>>> One solution is to opt for an unlimited connection.
>>> This way, your broadband charges will remain fixed, regardless of usage.
>>>
>>> Geetha
>>> - Original Message - 
>>> From: "Shadab Husain" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>> To: 
>>> Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 6:46 AM
>>> Subject: Re: [AI] Broadband.
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi!
>>>
>>> I too am in the same boat. These data one people charge a lot. Last
>>> time my bill was in thousands. I think that there is something fishy
>>> in their business. Friends, please tell what to do!
>>>
>>> Regds
>>>
>>>
>>> On 6/25/07, Pranav Lal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
 Hi,

 What do you mean by a data1 account? Do you have wireless access to
 that
 Internet connection? Also, is your computer free from malware?

 Pranav

 -Original Message-
 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of P.
 Subramani
 Sent: Saturday, June 23, 2007 7:03 PM
 To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
 Subject: [AI] Broadband.

 I have  data one account. Is it possible for someone else to use my
 account
 provided they get access to my account's user name and password. I need
 this
 info because I  am billed for much more than what I really use.
 To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
 with
 the subject unsubscribe.

 To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes,
 please
 visit the list home page at

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 To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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 the subject unsubscribe.

 To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes,
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>>>
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>>> with
>>> the subject unsubscribe.
>>>
>>> To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes,
>>> please
>>> visit the list home page at
>>>
>>> http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
>>>
>>>
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>>> with the subject unsubscribe.
>>>
>>> To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes,
>>> please visit the list home page at
>>>
>>> http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
>>
>>
>> To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> with the subject unsubscribe.
>>
>> To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes,
>> please visit the list home page at
>>
>> http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
>
>
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> with the subject unsubscribe.
>
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> please visit the list home page at
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Re: [AI] Broadband.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Dear Vikas,

Your reply has cleared a doubt that has been bugging me for a long time, boss.  

I am aware of the difference between the small b and the big b (not good, ol' 
Amitabh, of course), but, since my screen reader does not distinguish between 
the two unless I navigate letter by letter, I was not aware of the fact that 
the download speed  carries the big b.  Naturally, there would be a factor of 8 
between the rated speed and the  download speed.

As for the second part of your answer, yes, I am aware that the connection  
speed can be misleading as it refers to the max speed of the Lan card or other 
interfacing device.

Thanks for pointing out the small, but significant case confusion that has been 
stumping me ever since I started surfing the Net. (smile)

Rgds

RS

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Vikas Kapoor
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 3:27 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] Broadband.


What you are talking is very much different Sudhir.
Please understand some basic concepts before you start calculating your 
internet speed.
1. When we measure our internet speed in KbPS, it means kilo bits per 
second, whereas, when you download or upload something, your browser shows 
you the speed again in KBPS which would means Kilo Bytes per second. Now 
since one byte is =to 8 bits, your download speed would always be 8 times 
less than your actual internet speed. So for example, if your internet speed 
is 256 KbPS, your download speed would be at least 32 KBPS. and if for 
example your internet speed is 2 MbPS, your download speed should be at 
least 250 KBPS. You might have certainly noticed, that when KBPS is written 
in terms of internet speed, then the letter B is written in small while all 
other letters are written in capital letters, while when your browser shows 
your the download or upload speed all letters are written in capital letters 
including the letter B. so small b refers to bits while capital B would 
refer to Byte.
2. Now what I meant in my previous mail does not relate to any of the 
concepts discussed above. A connecting speed is generally refers to the 
speed, which your device can have at the maximum rate. That is why when you 
connect your net through some LAN card, you would often hear jaws announcing 
"speed: 100MbPS, because your LAN can support maximum up to hundred MbPS, 
but your actual speed is not hundred MbPS. So in order to calculate the 
actual internet speed, just start downloading something and whatever speed 
it shows, just multiply with 8. Or, just go to any internet calculating 
speed sites and there in you can measure your actual internet speed, but 
again that would largely depend upon the distance of your measuring server. 
remember, the closer the server, the better and more accurate results would 
be.
Regards,
Vikas Kapoor,
MSN+Yahoo+Skype ID: dl_vikas,
Mobile: (+91) 9891098137.
- Original Message - 
From: "Sudhir R (NeSTIT)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 9:22 AM
Subject: Re: [AI] Broadband.


Hi Vikas !

This is a point I needed clarification on.  ISPs often talk about speeds of 
256 kbps,   1 Mbps etc.  Often when we are surfing the web, we encounter 
much slower speeds, even 10% of the claimed speeds.  Is it another case of 
the consumer being taken for a ride or there are technically different 
speeds like the connecting speed, the downloading speed or the browser speed 
?

Would appreciate some clarifications in this regard .  Thanks in advance...

Rgds

RS

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Vikas Kapoor
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 9:18 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] Broadband.


That is your connecting speed not the download or browser speed.
Vikas Kapoor,
MSN+Yahoo+Skype ID: dl_vikas,
Mobile: (+91) 9891098137.
- Original Message - 
From: "Atul R Sahay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 3:55 AM
Subject: Re: [AI] Broadband.


As I mentioned in an earlier mail, it's 460.8 kbps.

- Original Message - 
From: "Syed Imran" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 5:51 PM
Subject: Re: [AI] Broadband.


> What is the speed at which you are able to surf
>
> - Original Message - 
> From: "Atul R Sahay" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: "Geetha Shamanna" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>;
> 
> Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 6:08 AM
> Subject: Re: [AI] Broadband.
>
>
>>I have been using Airtel's internet connection through my GPRS enabled
>> handset. It costs just Rs. 249 per month and gives unlimited access.
>> Further
>> it keeps me connected wherever I am. Some of you may like to try this
>> option. Earlier this service was available for Rs. 99 per month but then
>>

Re: [AI] Is IT Or Any Private Sector Employment An Undesirable Option?

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Dear Venkat,

I wish things were as simple as you made them out to be. (smile)

Of course, we should keep an open mind about private sector employment.  Of 
course, we have the ultimate freedom to quit companies who do not value our 
services or discriminate against us.  Of course, we can start our own ventures 
and stand on our own feet.

But, believe me, dear, at least for persons who have become visually challenged 
in mid-life,  the trauma of vision loss is itself something that takes a bit of 
time getting used to.  If, while getting adjusted to this physical impairment, 
one also has to contend with economic insecurity by quitting one's job or by 
struggling to start one's own venture, the experience can be unnerving indeed.  
I have gone through this, having to quit my public sector job just 3 years 
after losing my sight and believe me, finding a job even with good 
qualifications, experience and connections was very difficult.

Gung-ho attitudes are good, but, when one has dependents to look after, one 
prefers to minimise, not avoid, risks. (smile)

Rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of venkat
ramana
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 5:59 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: [AI] Is IT Or Any Private Sector Employment An Undesirable
Option?


 
   
   
  Honorable Members,
   
   
  I am delighted to present my opinion on the point, is IT sector, 
or for that matter, any private sector establishment an undesirable career 
option for the disabled?
   
  Here we should not go to the extremes. Some feel that the private 
sector is untouchable for the government people and vice versa. That is not 
true. If we prove our potential, we can pressurize even the private companies 
to regularize the jobs. Still they resist, I don't see any reason in working 
for those companies any longer. Then it will be the time to quit and look for 
work elsewhere. If that too fails, a fine idea is to start a venture of our own.
   
   
  Thanks
  Venkat


-
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Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Dear Harish,

I am not disputing the contract employment system, the retrenchment possibility 
even while in regular employment, the attraction of the IT sector or the hard 
bargain a good professional can drive with a prospective employer.

I am merely bothered by the singular way IT majors seem to apply this practice 
to their disabled employees.  Parimala's is not an isolated case, believe me.  
Other sufferers are also there on our group and I  am sure, lots of persons 
with other disabilities are also discriminated against similarly.

In fact, I know of one instance where a high profile CEO of a IT company waxed 
eloquent about opening the doors of his company to the visually challenged a 
few years back, hired a few trainees while he was holding an important position 
in Nasscom and quietly packed them off after he faded from the limelight.  I 
have no complaints against him if the contract termination was due to the 
non-performance of the resources.  But, knowing the corporate penchant for 
hogging media, it is very possible that the entire episode was an orchestrated 
one, the poor visually challenged resources being the sacrificial goats in the 
process.

What amazes me is how the very companies that practise this discrimination 
towards the disabled, still hog the limelight in the media as equal opportunity 
employers of PWDs.  Their advertising budget ensures that the mainstream media 
toes their line without any trace of the investigative journalism or sting 
operations that seem to be reserved only for politicians and bureaucrats.  Wish 
I had got this information on the day rediff.com carried the article on IT 
companies opening their doors to the visually challenged which I had naively 
and enthusiastically posted in AI a few weeks back.  I could have at least 
written a few nasty comments on the  true state of affairs and the readers 
might have got a more balanced view of the issue. (smile)

Rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Harish
Kotian
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 9:48 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...


Hi Sudhir

Even in public sectors, they are going for contract jobs. Even if one gets a 
regular employent, anyone can  be easily retrenched.

All said and done, for a fresher private sector is a great learning place.

Good hands are in much demand in the IT space and one can leveridge it in a 
period of time to ones advantage.

Harish.

- Original Message - 
From: "Sudhir R (NeSTIT)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 9:10 AM
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...


> Dear Harish bhai,
>
> I fully agree with you that contract employment could act as the thin edge 
> of the wedge to induce companies to consider employing the differently 
> abled employees.  And, uncertainties do bring out the best from us too.
>
> But, the fact remains that the best trapeze artists and movie stuntmen 
> perform with a safety net to catch them should anything go wrong. (smile) 
> I am afraid I can't effectively articulate the gnawing fears and 
> trepidations of a disabled resource working in a IT company who gets his 
> contract renewed often only on the last day and perhaps only for a further 
> period of six months.  I was hoping some of these silent sufferers to 
> speak out, but, obviously they might be feeling embarrassed or insecure 
> and I fully empathise with their unenviable situation.
>
> Being a banking professional, you will agree with me that life requires 
> one to plan ahead for security of our own selves and that of our family, 
> like buying a home, making investments for retirement etc.  In the absence 
> of a working social security mechanism in India, the best bet for a 
> disabled person is still a steady job which guarantees a steady stream of 
> predictable revenues.  From this point of view, contract employment, 
> highly favoured by the hard core professionals who can dictate their 
> terms, is not the best of news for our young friends.
>
> This is what I wanted to highlight through my mail, since I know (and I 
> myself have been recommending) many bright youngsters have been looking 
> away from the staid government sector job markets to these glamourous 
> sunrise sectors.  All that glitters, as is often in real life, is not 
> obviously gold. (smile)
>
> Rgds
>
> RS
> M: 098 472 76 126
>
> -Original Message-
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Harish
> Kotian
> Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 7:02 AM
> To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
> Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...
>
>
> Hi Sudhir
>
> You have raised a very interesting topic for introspection

Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Dear Subramony,

Yes, the attempt should be to find a solution and methinks highlighting this 
invisible problem is itself part of the solution.  The youngsters who have read 
these exchanges are at least now aware that the corporate sector adopts two 
employment models, contractual and regular and often discriminates against the 
disabled, even while proclaiming from roof-tops about their noble missions.  
This awareness itself should equip them to scrutinise the job offers that are 
handed to them, read between the lines and possibly not to close their minds 
against the government sector jobs altogether.

Legally, there may be little that we can do, without jeopardising the future of 
our own folks.  May be, we can do more discreet investigations to determine the 
extent of rot and perhaps start a blog to counter the politically correct 
reports coming forth in the mainstream media.

More suggestions are welcome from  the mature and experienced members.  
Remember, this is a classic case of discrimination as was the raw treatment 
meted out to some of our members by certain private airlines, banking 
institutions etc, but, the sound and fury of the debates at such instances seem 
to be missing this time because the sufferers are silent about it.

Rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Subramani L
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 11:24 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...


In effect, what you are trying to say is while we can say ok to
contracts, we can't say yes to deferred promotions and lack of
recognition of performance and so on. But how do we confront this? As
Rajesh had said we can't legally prove discrimination of this sort, as
we have sighned up to the contract (which means we are agreeing to the
terms). Also, how do we distinguish those employers who are creating the
impression that they have an inclusive policy, while actually
discriminating in rewarding performances, from those who are genuinely
inclusive? The purpose of this should be tyo find solutions, rather than
just exchanging ideas.

Subramani




-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sudhir R
(NeSTIT)
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 9:23 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...

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Dear Harish,

I am not disputing the contract employment system, the retrenchment
possibility even while in regular employment, the attraction of the IT
sector or the hard bargain a good professional can drive with a
prospective employer.

I am merely bothered by the singular way IT majors seem to apply this
practice to their disabled employees.  Parimala's is not an isolated
case, believe me.  Other sufferers are also there on our group and I  am
sure, lots of persons with other disabilities are also discriminated
against similarly.

In fact, I know of one instance where a high profile CEO of a IT company
waxed eloquent about opening the doors of his company to the visually
challenged a few years back, hired a few trainees while he was holding
an important position in Nasscom and quietly packed them off after he
faded from the limelight.  I have no complaints against him if the
contract termination was due to the non-performance of the resources.
But, knowing the corporate penchant for hogging media, it is very
possible that the entire episode was an orchestrated one, the poor
visually challenged resources being the sacrificial goats in the
process.

What amazes me is how the very companies that practise this
discrimination towards the disabled, still hog the limelight in the
media as equal opportunity employers of PWDs.  Their advertising budget
ensures that the mainstream media toes their line without any trace of
the investigative journalism or sting operations that seem to be
reserved only for politicians and bureaucrats.  Wish I had got this
information on the day rediff.com carried the article on IT companies
opening their doors to the visually challenged which I had naively and
enthusiastically posted in AI a few weeks back.  I could have at least
written a few nasty comments on the  true state of affairs and the
readers might have got a more balanced view of the issue. (smile)

Rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Harish
Kotian
Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 9:48 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...


Hi Sudhir

Even in public sectors, they are going for contract jobs. Even if one
gets a 
regular employent, anyone can  be easily retrenched.

All said and done, for a fresher private sector is a great learning
place.

Go

Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Dear Subramony,

I fully agree with you that the extent of reserved jobs in the government 
sector is very limited and the actual employment  still less.  But, the 
difference between the government and corporate sector is the availability of 
judicial means of solving a problem that has been identified.  True, Indian 
courts are not reputed for speedy dispensation of justice, but, we still can 
enforce a judgement to protect  our rights.

Now, can we say the same of the corporate sector that thrusts unilateral, 
loaded contracts down the throats of hapless, legally illiterate disabled 
resources ?  

As for the media, I remember very distinctly how a reputed pink paper of India 
shielded a leading private bank of that period when the Harshad Mehta scam 
broke in 1992.  SBI, being a public sector giant with a low ad budget (in those 
pre-liberalisation days) was the soft target they chose to attack and did not 
divulge the name of this private bank till much later.  So, the corporate 
sector can easily get away with heart-warming stories in the media about their 
diversity initiatives even when discriminating against the PWDs.

Rgds

RS   

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Subramani L
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 12:12 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...


Dear Sudhir:

Your second suggestion (i.e.) the blog to counter politically correct
reports, is a good one. However, to what extent the disabled can look up
to government for employment is unknown. 

For a start, one account in Karnataka says around 380 jobs in Karnataka
alone (reserved for the disabled) are not filled from 1971. I have also
learnt recently that the disability welfare department in the state has
no idea as to how many vacancies are there in all the state government
department for persons with disability. Above all, the special
employment agencies are simply sleeping over the registrations and don't
inform the PWD's registered with them about the vacancies. So, how do
you think we can move these immovable and even dead elephants?

Subramani

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sudhir R
(NeSTIT)
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 11:49 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...

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Dear Subramony,

Yes, the attempt should be to find a solution and methinks highlighting
this invisible problem is itself part of the solution.  The youngsters
who have read these exchanges are at least now aware that the corporate
sector adopts two employment models, contractual and regular and often
discriminates against the disabled, even while proclaiming from
roof-tops about their noble missions.  This awareness itself should
equip them to scrutinise the job offers that are handed to them, read
between the lines and possibly not to close their minds against the
government sector jobs altogether.

Legally, there may be little that we can do, without jeopardising the
future of our own folks.  May be, we can do more discreet investigations
to determine the extent of rot and perhaps start a blog to counter the
politically correct reports coming forth in the mainstream media.

More suggestions are welcome from  the mature and experienced members.
Remember, this is a classic case of discrimination as was the raw
treatment meted out to some of our members by certain private airlines,
banking institutions etc, but, the sound and fury of the debates at such
instances seem to be missing this time because the sufferers are silent
about it.

Rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Subramani L
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 11:24 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...


In effect, what you are trying to say is while we can say ok to
contracts, we can't say yes to deferred promotions and lack of
recognition of performance and so on. But how do we confront this? As
Rajesh had said we can't legally prove discrimination of this sort, as
we have sighned up to the contract (which means we are agreeing to the
terms). Also, how do we distinguish those employers who are creating the
impression that they have an inclusive policy, while actually
discriminating in rewarding performances, from those who are genuinely
inclusive? The purpose of this should be tyo find solutions, rather than
just exchanging ideas.

Subramani




-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sudhir R
(NeSTIT)
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 9:23 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] IT sector employment - stark realities...

Re: [AI] My experience in private sector

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Dear Atul,

Glad indeed to learn about the big promotion in the offing for you and may you 
continue to be the highly respected ambassador of the visually challenged in 
the Tata group.

As Harish wisely put it, guinea pigs often have to suffer the most to make 
things better for those that follow.  I am sure we all appreciate the good work 
NGOs are putting in to educate the IT companies to look at disabled resources 
as a potential talent pool.  And, we are all aware that militant action can 
only be counter-productive.

All that one wished to bring to the notice of the group members, especially the 
youngsters, are that things are not as hunky dory as the media and the IT 
companies make them out to be.  It is not a level playing field and lots of our 
brethren are going to be either injured or eliminated in the treacherous 
terrain.

As someone who has been advising the best and brightest visually challenged 
youngsters of Kerala to look away from the steady teaching jobs that are the 
traditional forte and to exciting new and well-paying careers in the IT sector, 
I felt I should highlight the not-so-palatable aspect of the latter's hiring 
practices of the disabled.  In most cases, such bright youngsters, often from  
the lower middle class, would prefer steady jobs that pay less to the 
glamourous ones that pay handsomely, but, just blow up six months down the 
line.  I just wanted to warn that like equity investments, these jobs are not 
for the risk-averse.  Again, like equity investments, the rewards of taking the 
extra risk can be  stratospheric. (smile)

I would also like to add here that my own experience in the private IT sector, 
after 16 years of public sector service during which I eventually lost my 
sight, has been most rewarding in terms of the great learning opportunities it 
has provided and in terms of the love, respect and acceptance my team members 
have extended to me.  So,believe me, I am no basher of the private sector or 
the IT sector. (smile)  

Rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Atul R Sahay
Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 8:03 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: [AI] My experience in private sector


Friends,

Having worked in one of India's leading private sector companies for about 15 
years and having gone through the debate on AI, I feel I should share following 
thoughts and experience.

1. Most of us should realize that we are not traveling on a regular path. 
Rather  we have been making our own path to navigate through.

2. Talking of IT sector employment, not too long ago, prior to interventions by 
hard working visionaries like Shanti Raghvan, employment of persons with visual 
impairment was few and far between.

3. The world at large is not aware of our potential as much as we are and it's 
natural too. We, by being militant in early stages, may actually harm the   
process of society beginning to accept us in more critical roles than ever 
before.

4. With dearth of knowledge workers in IT industry or even elsewhere, there is 
no reason why Companies will like to lose competent people, be they blind or 
otherwise. In April this Year, I gave up the position of Head Business 
Excellence in JUSCO Ltd., a subsidiary of Tata Steel. I had joined this Company 
in 2005 after having worked for 12.5 years in Tata Steel. When Tata Steel came 
to know about my decision, it didn't allow me to leave by assuring me of a good 
position back in Tata Steel. I will disclose the position after getting the 
letter formally within a day or two.  

5. I have great faith in market forces. Let's keep building on our competencies 
and work as our own ambassadors. Nothing will stop us from achieving what we 
are deserving of.

6. Of course, we will have to market ourselves better and harder than others to 
get that "first break". Higher we go up the ladder, better is the 
acceptability. When I joined job initially, people doubted about my ability to 
execute paper work etc. Today when I go to assess Companies such as Tata 
Chemicals, mjunction, Tata Tinplate, Tata Johnson's, TAYO and the likes, people 
don't doubt or question. On the completion  of the assignment, if at all 
anything, these Companies are left with a changed perception of visual 
impairment for ever.

With regards and appreciation,

Atul.
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Re: [AI] Is IT Or Any Private Sector Employment AnUndesirableOption?

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

 all over again.

Rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Shadab
Husain
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 9:38 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] Is IT Or Any Private Sector Employment
AnUndesirableOption?


Why personal id? Please write it to openly personal id
accessindia@accessindia.org.in

after all we never had your introduction!

On 6/28/07, Prof. S. R. Mittal <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Dear sir.
> Can you please write in a bit details as to why you had to quit your public
> sector job? Were you forced to do so? Please write to me to my personal
> e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sincerely Mittal.
> - Original Message -
> From: "Sudhir R (NeSTIT)" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: 
> Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 8:52 AM
> Subject: Re: [AI] Is IT Or Any Private Sector Employment An
> UndesirableOption?
>
>
> > Dear Venkat,
> >
> > I wish things were as simple as you made them out to be. (smile)
> >
> > Of course, we should keep an open mind about private sector employment.
> > Of course, we have the ultimate freedom to quit companies who do not value
> > our services or discriminate against us.  Of course, we can start our own
> > ventures and stand on our own feet.
> >
> > But, believe me, dear, at least for persons who have become visually
> > challenged in mid-life,  the trauma of vision loss is itself something
> > that takes a bit of time getting used to.  If, while getting adjusted to
> > this physical impairment, one also has to contend with economic insecurity
> > by quitting one's job or by struggling to start one's own venture, the
> > experience can be unnerving indeed.  I have gone through this, having to
> > quit my public sector job just 3 years after losing my sight and believe
> > me, finding a job even with good qualifications, experience and
> > connections was very difficult.
> >
> > Gung-ho attitudes are good, but, when one has dependents to look after,
> > one prefers to minimise, not avoid, risks. (smile)
> >
> > Rgds
> >
> > RS
> > M: 98 472 76 126
> >
> > -Original Message-
> > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of venkat
> > ramana
> > Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 5:59 PM
> > To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
> > Subject: [AI] Is IT Or Any Private Sector Employment An Undesirable
> > Option?
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >  Honorable Members,
> >
> >
> >  I am delighted to present my opinion on the point, is IT
> > sector, or for that matter, any private sector establishment an
> > undesirable career option for the disabled?
> >
> >  Here we should not go to the extremes. Some feel that the
> > private sector is untouchable for the government people and vice versa.
> > That is not true. If we prove our potential, we can pressurize even the
> > private companies to regularize the jobs. Still they resist, I don't see
> > any reason in working for those companies any longer. Then it will be the
> > time to quit and look for work elsewhere. If that too fails, a fine idea
> > is to start a venture of our own.
> >
> >
> >  Thanks
> >  Venkat
> >
> >
> > -
> > Here's a new way to find what you're looking for - Yahoo! Answers
> > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > with the subject unsubscribe.
> >
> > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes,
> > please visit the list home page at
> >  http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
> >
> > To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > with the subject unsubscribe.
> >
> > To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes,
> > please visit the list home page at
> >  http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
>
>
> To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with
> the subject unsubscribe.
>
> To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please
> visit the list home page at
>   http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
>

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[AI] Discrimination in the IT industry - what next ?

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Hi folks !

Thanks to Subramani, the Deccan Herald of Saturday, July 7, 2007, has carried 
an article exposing the discriminatory practices followed by some IT companies 
against the disabled.  

Now that the issue is in the open, here are a few courses of action that we may 
contemplate :

a)  Write letters to the Editor voicing our protests.  That will 
incentivise them to carry the issue further.  The mail id is [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
.

b)  Bring the issue to the notice of industry bodies like CII, 
Nasscom etc.  May be, someone like Asif can play the role of our advocate in 
this.

c)  Bring the report to the notice of the PR managers of the 
companies concerned.  Companies are usually sensitive to adverse reports 
appearing in the mainstream media.

d)  Take up the issue with authorities like CCPD.  This may have to 
be done by an NGO preferably.

We should bear in mind that our actions should not harm the interests of our 
friends who are on contract and also not result in IT companies 
cold-shouldering the disabled in the future.  So, kindly reflect on these 
courses of action and give your suggestions.  We will take action on all 
options (excepting the first) only after mutual discussions and coming to a 
consensus.

Pl give your considered opinions.

Rgds

RS
M: 098 472 76 126  
---

Panorama
» Detailed Story

Darkness at end of the tunnel

By R Sudhir

Indian mindset has been historically biased against the people with special 
needs, and, despite all technological and managerial advancement this bias still
persists in the Indian IT sector.

Habib, 22, is a disillusioned youngster. The visually challenged from 
Kozhikode, Kerala, who is doing his Masters in English Literature at the local 
University,
had experienced the awakening of a new hope just a couple of months back. All 
that this hardworking lad had ever wanted to achieve in life was to get himself
a steady, teaching job in one of the numerous colleges; a job that would have 
ensured him a comfortable living, dignity in the society and the security
of assured employment.

However, a seminar that he had attended in May at Kochi had changed all that.  
Resource persons from across the country, most of them visually challenged,
described how companies in the IT and ITES sectors were opening their doors to 
persons with disability. The IT majors, facing a severe shortage of qualified
human resources to meet the scorching pace of the business, were ready to 
recruit disabled youngsters if they had a graduation, were computer literate
and had good communication skills in English.

Habib intended to finish his course, move to Bangalore, get properly trained in 
facing interviews and make it to one of the numerous national and transnational
companies that were holding regular walk-in interviews for Persons With 
Disabilities.

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But, the dreams of Habib and several others have been shattered in a matter of 
months.  Stories of discriminatory practices followed by these leading votaries
of 'equal opportunity employment practices' started surfacing in the virtual 
communities of the disabled on the Web.  Initially the rumours were speculative,
but soon, the silent ones at the receiving end of such shameful practices 
started speaking about their experiences in these "progressive" corporate 
entities.

The charges levelled against these companies are more or less uniform.  First, 
and the most serious, is about the actual nature of employment.  Companies
are known to keep their disabled resources as contract employees for years 
together, often renewing their half-yearly contracts only on the last day. 
While contract employment per se is nothing new to the IT industry, what makes 
this discriminatory is how these companies regularise the services of the
non-disabled resources.

Says Kala, 26, a University gold medallist in MA (History), who has been 
working on a contract mode with a software company in Bangalore," The company 
seems
to have no intention of regularising our services.  It is so frustrating to see 
one's peers and juniors being taken on rolls merely because they are not
disabled."

Interestingly, Kala's manager is quite pleased with her performance, but, cites 
unwritten directives from the top echelons as reason for not confirming
her services.

According to Suman, another visually challenged executive who has put in almost 
two years with a global IT giant that claims HR diversity as one of its
many guiding philosophies, she has been told not to compare her contract terms 
with those of her sighted peers and juni

[AI] FW: Discrimination in the IT industry - what next ?

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Folks,

Sorry to keep bothering you with  the issue of discriminatory practices in the 
IT industry.  But, discrimination is discrimination whether by banks, insurance 
companies, airlines, civil services or educational institutions and I feel we 
need to take both reactive and pro-active action.

Can I assume that the silence of the group to my earlier mail suggesting a few 
courses of action to be a sign of consensus and move ahead with  them ?  I 
would appeal to all of you to share your views, concerns, suggestions etc in 
how to proceed with this matter which affects more people than we may expect.

At the same time, IT sector is too valuable a source of employment for the 
disabled and we need to proceed cautiously in the matter.  However, we cannot 
leave the issue to individual resources to sort out with their employers as 
they often lack the legal literacy, negotiating power and stamina to fight 
alone.  , Just as the group has reacted together to discriminations in other 
fields, we need to do something in this matter also.

If you feel the matter is too sensitive to be discussed on the list, please let 
me have your take in the matter privately at [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Thanks and rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Sudhir R
(NeSTIT)
Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 3:01 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: [AI] Discrimination in the IT industry - what next ?


Hi folks !

Thanks to Subramani, the Deccan Herald of Saturday, July 7, 2007, has carried 
an article exposing the discriminatory practices followed by some IT companies 
against the disabled.  

Now that the issue is in the open, here are a few courses of action that we may 
contemplate :

a)  Write letters to the Editor voicing our protests.  That will 
incentivise them to carry the issue further.  The mail id is [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>.

b)  Bring the issue to the notice of industry bodies like CII, 
Nasscom etc.  May be, someone like Asif can play the role of our advocate in 
this.

c)  Bring the report to the notice of the PR managers of the 
companies concerned.  Companies are usually sensitive to adverse reports 
appearing in the mainstream media.

d)  Take up the issue with authorities like CCPD.  This may have to 
be done by an NGO preferably.

We should bear in mind that our actions should not harm the interests of our 
friends who are on contract and also not result in IT companies 
cold-shouldering the disabled in the future.  So, kindly reflect on these 
courses of action and give your suggestions.  We will take action on all 
options (excepting the first) only after mutual discussions and coming to a 
consensus.

Pl give your considered opinions.

Rgds

RS
M: 098 472 76 126  
---

Panorama
» Detailed Story

Darkness at end of the tunnel

By R Sudhir

Indian mindset has been historically biased against the people with special 
needs, and, despite all technological and managerial advancement this bias still
persists in the Indian IT sector.

Habib, 22, is a disillusioned youngster. The visually challenged from 
Kozhikode, Kerala, who is doing his Masters in English Literature at the local 
University,
had experienced the awakening of a new hope just a couple of months back. All 
that this hardworking lad had ever wanted to achieve in life was to get himself
a steady, teaching job in one of the numerous colleges; a job that would have 
ensured him a comfortable living, dignity in the society and the security
of assured employment.

However, a seminar that he had attended in May at Kochi had changed all that.  
Resource persons from across the country, most of them visually challenged,
described how companies in the IT and ITES sectors were opening their doors to 
persons with disability. The IT majors, facing a severe shortage of qualified
human resources to meet the scorching pace of the business, were ready to 
recruit disabled youngsters if they had a graduation, were computer literate
and had good communication skills in English.

Habib intended to finish his course, move to Bangalore, get properly trained in 
facing interviews and make it to one of the numerous national and transnational
companies that were holding regular walk-in interviews for Persons With 
Disabilities.

mooter_ads frame

GoAir Flight Tickets

Discount Offers Starting at Rs.0. From GoAir. Book Now for details!

http://www.goair.in

KLM-NW Flight Tickets

Guaranteed prices to choice destinations in Europe, US and more.

http://www.klm.com/travel/in_en/
Ads By Yahoo!
mooter_ads frame end

untitled 1 frame
india/1x1
untitled 1 frame end

Ads/vasco_180x150

But, the dreams of Habib and several others have been shattered in a matter of 
months.  Stories of discriminatory practices followed by these leading votaries
of 'equal opportunity employment practices' started surfacing in the virtual

[AI] Book on software engineering.

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Hi folks,

Can somebody help me out with  the e text of Roger S Pressman's superb book on 
software engineering ?  I think the title of the book is 'Software Engineering 
: A Practitioner's Handbook'.

Any other book on the subject is also most welcome.  Pl mail to my id [EMAIL 
PROTECTED]

Thanks and rgds

RS
M: 098 472 76 126 
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[AI] Happy news during the Onam season...

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Dear  friends,

As Malayalis the world over are gearing up to celebrate Onam over the next few 
days, Kochi, the commercial capital of Kerala is taking a step towards becoming 
a more inclusive society.

EMS Library, which boasts of a large collection of books and over 5000 members, 
is installing assistive technologies like screen readers, OCR software with 
scanners etc in its Computer Centre to make its resources accessible to the 
visually challenged.  The Library also plans to make audio recordings and 
Braille editions of books available in the coming months.  This 
first-of-its-kind project in Kerala is getting inaugurated on August 30, 2007.

This project is the successful fruition of one of the many ideas that 
germinated during the Eye T 2007 (a Seminar on assistive technologies & 
empowerment of the visually challenged) conducted in Kochi during May.  Mr 
Sohan, a former Mayor and sitting Corporation Councillor, took inspiration from 
the interactions with the resource persons (all Access India members including 
Kanchan, Asif, Prashant, Shashikala, Shanti, Sundari, Balaram, Roy Markose  and 
Reshmi) and persuaded the progressive Management Board of the Library to set up 
this noble venture in such a short time.

The Society for the Rehabilitation of the Visually Challenged,  
), the architects of the Seminar, is pleased 
to see one of its pet dreams coming true and thanks all for their sincere help 
and co-operation.  Hopefully, a second major project - a full-fledged training 
center to impart mobility, computer and other employability-enhancing  skills 
-, will also take off in the next few months.

Here's wishing a very happy and inclusive Onam to all of you... Why not join us 
in God's Own Country when Mother Nature is at her best this season ?
Love and Regards

R Sudhir
M: 098 472 76 126  

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[AI] Post-graduation in history.

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Hi folks !

Vineeth, a brilliant youngster from Kerala who won the first rank in B A 
(History) in his University, is currently doing post-graduation in the subject 
and wishes to do a M Phil next.  He is just now becoming computer literate and 
hence lacks resources in terms of scanned books, web references etc.

Will appreciate if students doing post-graduation or above in this stream in 
reputed institutions like JNU or DU could come forward to share resources and 
give him guidance, please.  He is yet to become a member of AI and hence kindly 
let me know your interest.

Thanks and regards

R Sudhir 
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[AI] School admissions for the visually challenged.

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Good morning, folks !

Our lil' state of Kerala which boasts of 100% literacy seems to be throwing up 
the maximum number of stumble-blocks when it comes to delivering the most 
elementary of rehab inputs to visually challenged youngsters, education.

We have a sad case on our hands where a smart, 4 year old girl suffering from 
low vision has been refused admission to the LKG class by most of the good 
schools at Kochi.  The only course open to her now seems to be getting admitted 
to one of the schools for the blind where the teaching standards are not so 
good.

In this context, I would like to know how the situation is in other states of 
India, especially in the metros.  Do elite schools run by private managements 
open their doors to our brethren ?  Or, do we have recourse only to 
Government-run schools or schools for the blind ?

I would also like to know the applicability of the reservation benefit under 
the PWD Act to private educational institutions that are run with government 
aid.  In Kerala, we have lots of these so-called aided schools that survive on 
tax payers' money and hence can't theoretically refuse admission to the 
physically challenged.  Pl comment.

Thanks and rgds

RS
M: 098 472 76 126  
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Re: [AI] JAWS not working in limewire. reason please?

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Will installing Java Access Bridge enhance the accessibility of webpages 
created using Javascript, AJAX etc ?

Rgds

RS 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Syed Imran
Sent: Friday, September 28, 2007 5:43 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] JAWS not working in limewire. reason please?


Hey !

I tried Limewire after installing access bridge and it is working more or 
less fine.
Java Accessibility Bridge is a program that creates accessible java objects 
which Jaws makes use of, to support Java compliant applications.
It is being written by Sun Microsystems.
I use Access bridge Version 2 0 1 with Java run time version.
- Original Message - 
From: "Arushi-India" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 
Sent: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 7:02 PM
Subject: Re: [AI] JAWS not working in limewire. reason please?


> What is access bridge?
> - Original Message - 
> From: "ashish" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: 
> Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 9:14 PM
> Subject: Re: [AI] JAWS not working in limewire. reason please?
>
>
>> do you have access bridge installed? if not please install it, you can
>> find
>> it on my website, I tried this program and with accessbridge jaws worked
>> with it, I need the help first time after installing program to choose 
>> the
>> language, take care, regards, ashish
>> - Original Message - 
>> From: "Ravi Paul" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>> To: 
>> Sent: Monday, September 24, 2007 6:23 PM
>> Subject: [AI] JAWS not working in limewire. reason please?
>>
>>
>>> hello there, I have got a problem with limewire using JAWS. JAWS dos
>>> not read anything in this program.
>>>
>>> if you think that this problem could be solved with JAWS scripts, or
>>> you have any other solution, please do tell me what ever it is.
>>>
>>> hoping that you will give me some kind of solution, thankyou in advance.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> Ravi Paul
>>> Student of ST Josephs
>>>
>>> To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>> with the subject unsubscribe.
>>>
>>> To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes,
>>> please visit the list home page at
>>>
>>> http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
>>
>>
>> To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> with the subject unsubscribe.
>>
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>> please visit the list home page at
>> 
>> http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
>>
>
>
> To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> with the subject unsubscribe.
>
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Re: [AI] ABILITY is the only true qualification

[Sudhir R \(NeSTIT\)]

Wonder if the 'equal opportunity employer' gloated over in this article has 
confirmed the PWDs it was continuing to keep on roll-over contracts ?  
Unfortunate that the media presents only the glossy picture without caring to 
do some research to see whether the tall claims are justified.

Rgds

RS 

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of vishnu
ramchandani
Sent: Monday, October 01, 2007 9:17 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: [AI] ABILITY is the only true qualification


What counts is the ability to do a job well, say
disabled people.

Heeru Chandnani and Nevy George

ABILITY is the only true qualification.

Wishful thinking, this, you might say, but it's
happening.

eWorld chatted up people employed with IBM whose
talents are more evident than physical disabilities.
Here's what they say about coping with workplace
challenges.

But first, Martin Appel, Vice-President, Human
Resources, IBM India, puts his company's policy in
perspective. He says, "The IBM leadership understands
that winning in the global marketplace requires us to
advance talented people with disabilities throughout
our company. Being a leader in diversity underscores
our commitment to an inclusive work environment where
ideas and contributions are welcome, regardless of
where you're from, how you look, limitations in your
physical capabilities or what personal beliefs you
hold."

`No curse but challenge'

Jyotindra Mehta

Congenital blindness due to Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP)
took away Jyotindra Mehta's power of sight at a very
young age. Emigration to the US on scholarship,
coupled with a readiness to take up any challenge,
resulted in Jyotindra's quick success there.

Today he is India's only visually-disabled software
programmer. Far from feeling disabled, Joe, as he is
better known, prefers to say, `enabled', to use the IT
terminology to advantage. He believes, "Disability is
not a curse, but a challenge and no challenge is
insurmountable."

Contrary to accepted beliefs, he says, "Even though
the West is technologically advanced, the attitude of
the people towards the disabled is not any better than
in India."

He has conducted training classes on mainframes,
participated in engagements and has managed the S/390
mainframe ever since it was received in Bangalore.

"I find the S/390 Systems Administrator role to be
very interesting and challenging," says Joe. "It was
my career goal when I was based in the US. I also
enjoy my role as senior IT specialist and teaching
S/390 training courses, such as DB2 Database
Administration, and participation in customer
engagements."

He worked as a technical advisor for India's National
Association for the Blind, Karnataka Branch (NAB KB)
and with the National Institute of Information
Technology (NIIT) where he helped to launch one of
India's first computer training programmes for the
visually-impaired.

Joe uses a voice synthesiser adaptive aid, which is
designed to work on a Win95/98 workstation. It takes a
normal keyboard input and produces speech output
through a combination of voice synthesiser. It enables
him to hear the text displayed on the computer screen.
He was awarded the Helen Keller Award in 2004.

Joe says, "I refer to online documentation using the
screen reader as needed to research the problem and
its resolution. All of the IBM product documentation
is now available online which is immensely helpful to
me. I also have developed my memory to an extent that
I do know a good bit of stuff on commonly occurring
problems by heart."

Facing workplace challenges

Heeru Chandnani, born visually-disabled, grew up
hearing her parents both of whom sing beautifully.
Today, at 25, Heeru works with the BTO (Business
Technology Optimisation) HR, which handles
employee-related queries within the organisation.

Nevy George was born with cerebral paralysis, which
affected his leg. Armed with an MBA from the School of
Communication & Management Studies, Kochi, he has been
with IBM since April 2004.

Both have tips for the disabled facing their first
interview and dealing with different organisational
issues. Heeru says, "People with a disability about to
face their first interview should ensure that they are
prepared for it, have their knowledge and facts
straight. They must not go in with the attitude that
since they are specially challenged they will, or
should be, treated differently. Also, it is up to them
to convince interviewers that they have the
capabilities and can do the job that they have come
for. People are still ignorant about the capabilities
of the disabled and it is up to us to convince them."

Nevy says, "I work as an HR co-ordinator. Most work
today is intellect-driven, so physical challenges
should not stop any person from achieving personal and
institutional goals. I face various challenges in
reaching office but once I am in office I am no
different than any other. Positions in Finance, HR,
and Software development are i

[AI] Contact info of Mahesh Panikkar

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Good morning, folks.

Can somebody help me out with the contact info of Mahesh Panikkar of JNU ?  Pl 
send it to my id [EMAIL PROTECTED]

Thanks and rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126
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[AI] Happy development on the World Whitecane Day...

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !

Greetings on the occasion of the World Whitecane Day...

Wish to share a lil' happy news which seems to indicate that God's Own Country 
may be becoming a bit more inclusive...

Hannah, an active 4-year old with visual disability, has been offered admission 
into the LKG by two, leading (and unaided private)  CBSE schools in Kochi.  
Mind you, while this may not be great news for rehab activists from other parts 
of the country and the metros, this is indeed a milestone for us in Kerala 
where  visually challenged kids have traditionally been ghettoed into either 
special institutions for the blind or Government or aided schools that teach 
state syllabus.  Let us hope and pray that Hannah grows into a successful, 
confident and independent person who is not handicapped by her disability with 
the help and support from her school, parents, NGOs etc.

And, of course, kudos to Dr Reshmi Pramod, member of Access India  and an 
Ayurvedic doctor  by profession, who accompanied Hannah's parents to the 
schools and convinced the sceptical school authorities into accepting this new 
challenge.

Let us hope Kerala witnesses more such success stories in the fields of 
education, employment and empowerment of the visually challenged.

Thanks and rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126  
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[AI] Talking BP gauge.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Folks !

Can somebody help me out with contact info of the manufacturer / dealers of 
talking Blood Pressure  gauge in India ?  Personal experiences and Web 
references, if any, are also most welcome.

Thanks and rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126 
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[AI] Books required by a PG History student.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Folks,
 
Vineeth, who ranked first in B A (History) in Calicut University this year and 
is currently doing PG, needs a few books in e text.  Kindly help him out with 
either books or web references if you can.  His mail is forwarded below.
 
Thanks and rgds
 
RS
M: 98 472 76 126
-Original Message-
From: vineeth ramachandran [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2007 7:02 PM
To: Sudhir R (NeSTIT)
Subject: Re: Hello.






 For my 1st semester MA history i need electronics books on following topics
 Anciant world
 Aryan debate[india]
 Indian feudalism debate
 Pottancialities of medevial india
 De-industrialisation
 Changes in indian national movements and 
 Social theories
 
 can anybody in our group send some books on these subjects

 by vineeth
 
 

  _  

5, 50, 500, 5000 - Store N number of mails in your inbox. Click  
<http://in.rd.yahoo.com/tagline_mail_4/*http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html/>
 here.
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Re: [AI] Low cost software for and by visually impaired

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

I guess this news is about the Ubuntu Linux OS that comes bundled with ORCA 
screen reader.  Did this involve any development in India as is claimed by the 
newspaper ?  And, does Orca support Indian languages on its own or do we need 
to have other TTS engines loaded for this purpose ?

Would appreciate if someone could clarify these points.

Thanks and rgds

RS
M: 98 472 76 126  

-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of renuka
warriar
Sent: Tuesday, October 23, 2007 6:30 PM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: [AI] Low cost software for and by visually impaired


The Hindu News Update Service


News Update Service
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 : 1710 Hrs
Sci. & Tech.
Low cost software for and by visually impaired

Chennai (PTI): A city-based visually impaired software professional has come 
out with an 'open source voice-enabled software' based on LINUX system, for
the benefit of visually handicapped.

Krishnakant told reporters here that the `ORCA software' which allowed 
development of a free (open source) software, reduced the costs as no licence 
was
required.

IT companies were at present reluctant to recruit visually impaired as they had 
to install proprietory software, the licence of which costs a minimum of
Rs 70,000 for each computer, he said.

C Umashankar, Managing Director, Electronic Corporation of Tamil Nadu, which 
was promoting the software, said Rs five lakh investment was needed to install
a proprietory software, to be shared by five visually impaired people. But, 
using the new software, 22 computers could be installed.

Krishnakant hoped that with the introduction of the new software, there would 
be a dramatic improvement in the recruitment of visually impaired by IT 
companies.

The new product had all the facilities similar to any Windows-based software, 
he said. All business functions and calculations apart from browsing and e-mail
facilities were available. It would read not only what appeared on the screen, 
but also each function carried out by the user.

The software could be modified as per the needs of the user and could be 
re-distributed, he said. The English accent could be modified, language could be
changed and any regional language could be introduced 
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[AI] Legal clarification required.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !

 

The question I am raising is hypothetical, but, of serious implications
for the visually challenged in our land of chaotic traffic and scant
regard for pedestrians.

 

If a visually challenged person meets with an accident with a motor
vehicle while on a road and gets injured, can his claim for compensation
in the Motor Vehicles Claims Tribunal be challenged on the grounds that
he was not carrying a white cane at the time of the accident (even if
that indeed was the case)  ?  I know a lot of my friends, who may not be
totally blind, who do not use the white cane or rely on a sighted guide
while traversing on the narrow and congested roads of Kerala and am
curious to know the legal implications of such acts of bravado.

 

As per my understanding, the white cane is a universally recognized and
accepted symbol of visual disability and the Indian Motor Vehicles Act
even accords it the status of a traffic signal, with the onus on drivers
of motor vehicles to give right of way to a person brandishing it.  But,
can it be argued that not possessing it at the time of an accident
absolves the erring driver of any responsibility for the accident and
hence any claim for compensation from the blind person is not tenable ?

Looking forward to legal clarifications and personal experiences of such
situations...

 

Thanks and rgds

 

R

Kochi, KeralaS

+98 472 76 126 



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[AI] Dealing with diagrams and images.

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi folks !

 

Greetings on the auspicious occasion of Yugadi...

 

My job involves dealing with technical documents containing lots of
diagrams (visio), images (screenshots) etc.  When I scroll down the page
containing these items, sometimes Jaws reads "P Brush field", "picture
field" or nothing at all.

 

I have 2 questions in this regard :

 

a)   Can I recognize the item, ie whether it is a visio drawing or a
screenshot, in some way without requesting for sighted help as I do now
?

b)   Can I cut / copy these items and paste them / resize them in
some way without taking sighted help ?

 

Guidance, please.

 

Thanks and rgds

 

RS

+98 472 76 126  



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Re: [AI] Regarding the career opportunities

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi Deepak !

Good if you could provide additional info like your age, subject of
specialization, work experience, if any, location etc.

I too am an engineer by training, and though I could not work in core
areas of technology like design, operations & maintenance, construction
etc due to a deteriorating vision, I have been able to survive in
marketing for more than 20 years now.  Another AI member, Prasanna
Kumar, who has a M Tech in Electronics Engineering and worked in design
before going blind, still designs intricate circuitry with his sharp
brain and runs a small scale industry in Kochi.  He also gives project
guidance to students of engineering colleges, polytechnics etc.

Looking forward to your inputs...

Rgds

RS
098 472 76 126 

-Original Message-
From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
[mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of Deepak
Singla
Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 9:43 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: [AI] Regarding the career opportunities

Dear Friends

I am Deepak Kumar Singla, a BTech and MBA qualified but a visually
impaired person. I need your suggestions in finding a good job. What
should I do in this regard?

Looking forward to hear from you soon.

regards
Deepak



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Re: [AI] Regarding the career opportunities

[Sudhir R (NeSTIT)]

Hi Deepak !

Marketing is indeed a good career opportunity for an Engineer-MBA like
you, though, I would suggest that you switch to technology products,
services and solutions rather than financial products like Insurance.
Of course, it all depends on your aptitude also.  I understand Hari
Raghavan, who is also a visually challenged management graduate is on
the business development side at IBM.

Content development is also a good option, if you have the flair for
writing and communication.  Alternatively, you could get into software
coding, testing or system administration functions too.  Quite a few of
Access Indians are doing well in these careers.

Have you considered the employability enhancement training programmes
recently announced by NAB, Enable India, Mitra Jyothi etc ?  These
institutes have a good track-record of placing eligible candidates with
reputed IT & ITES companies.  You could also contact Anubhuti Mittal, a
HR consultant based at New Delhi who has helped many PWDs launch their
careers.

Finally, in this recessionary situation when private players are cutting
staff strengths, one should also seriously look at PSUs and banks.  Lots
of them are on a recruitment spree, thanks to the elections.  Here, we
are eligible for reservations too.   

Hope this helps.  Wish you all the best and do write if you need more
inputs.

Rgds

RS
98 472 76 126
sudhi...@nestgroup.net
-Original Message-
From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
[mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of Deepak
Singla
Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 11:28 AM
To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
Subject: Re: [AI] Regarding the career opportunities

Dear Sudhir

Thanks for your reply.

I did my BTech (production engg.) in 2001 and MBA (major-marketing,
minor-finance) in the year 2004. I also have work experience, with Max
New York Life Insurance, of six months. After leaving the company I
started working as a freelance content writer from my home. I
continued with the writing work for around four years and then joined
NIVH as a computer trainee. At present, I am in /NIVH Dehradun. I am
basically from the North Indian state of Punjab.

Thanks once again and looking forward to recieve your reply.

Deepak

On 3/30/09, Sudhir R (NeSTIT)  wrote:
> Hi Deepak !
>
> Good if you could provide additional info like your age, subject of
> specialization, work experience, if any, location etc.
>
> I too am an engineer by training, and though I could not work in core
> areas of technology like design, operations & maintenance,
construction
> etc due to a deteriorating vision, I have been able to survive in
> marketing for more than 20 years now.  Another AI member, Prasanna
> Kumar, who has a M Tech in Electronics Engineering and worked in
design
> before going blind, still designs intricate circuitry with his sharp
> brain and runs a small scale industry in Kochi.  He also gives project
> guidance to students of engineering colleges, polytechnics etc.
>
> Looking forward to your inputs...
>
> Rgds
>
> RS
> 098 472 76 126
>
> -Original Message-
> From: accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in
> [mailto:accessindia-boun...@accessindia.org.in] On Behalf Of Deepak
> Singla
> Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 9:43 AM
> To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in
> Subject: [AI] Regarding the career opportunities
>
> Dear Friends
>
> I am Deepak Kumar Singla, a BTech and MBA qualified but a visually
> impaired person. I need your suggestions in finding a good job. What
> should I do in this regard?
>
> Looking forward to hear from you soon.
>
> regards
> Deepak
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe send a message to
accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in
> with the subject unsubscribe.
>
> To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes,
> please visit the list home page at
>
>
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> n
>
>
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n
>



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