Liberty, web activity, security…

Surfing the net at work has a downside – the Wi-Fi waves leave behind a lot of muck, claims a young techie.

BC: Hi, I had sent you an urgent mail regarding my travel plans. Did you see it?

AD: Sorry, new rules at work. No personal mails allowed…

BC: Surely, you could have checked it on your mobile…

AD: No, I’m not permitted to - it’s for official use only…

BC: Perhaps they’ve got a point. If you keep checking your personal mail or your Facebook account during working hours, it would definitely affect office productivity…

AD: Don’t get me started. We’ve been given Blackberries so that we can be connected to work, 24 x 7. So, if we are expected to work from home, why can’t we spend a few minutes at work on personal activities?

BC: That’s funny! A couple of years ago, you were shouting from the rooftops that your company had given you a smartphone and a laptop – you thought you had arrived in life…

AD: You’re exaggerating – the truth is, you have to take it when they give it. The least you can do is feel good about it.

BC: But how does checking mail on a phone compromise office security?

AD: If your phone gets infected and if you try to connect it to a network or transfer a file, you’ve provided an opening for an attack…

BC: See, I’ve always cautioned you about technology, but…

AD: Why blame technology for faulty workplace policies?

BC: Because in our times, chat sessions were typically around the water cooler – and they couldn’t stop us from drinking water.

AD: Well, things have changed for the better…

BC: Really? What about this sudden change at your workplace?

AD: It began with an employee opening a forward – the attachment let loose some kind of virus into the network.

BC: And…?

AD: The server crashed, a lot of files were lost and…

BC: …your company lost a lot of money.

AD: And a major client too.

BC: But I thought you guys had…

AD: Yes, firewalls, internet security, antivirus – we have the works…

BC: But are they enough to solve this problem?

AD: Why do you ask that?

BC: A nephew of mine was working in a multimedia firm where most sites were blocked. The young kids there took it as a challenge to unearth newer mail services and social networking sites on a regular basis…

AD: That’s not right. Imagine if this were to happen in a bank. An unsolicited mail that is opened or an infected USB that is plugged into a system can create unimaginable havoc…

BC: So what’s the solution?

AD: Security measures can work only when employees are careful about what they do online.

BC: But this kind of carelessness is normally displayed by junior employees – and in most cases, they have little or no access to classified information…

AD: Well, each organization uses the latest technology to turn its network into a fortress. But the minute someone like my friend at the workplace lets in a virus or worm, the walls of the ‘fortress’ end up being easily penetrated. So it really doesn’t matter who opens the door, the horse is sure to bolt…

BC: Or the Trojan horse is sure to come in...

AD: Right!

BC: The horse could well bolt, but it looks like office security is finding itself stuck between two walls…

AD: I don’t understand…

BC: A firewall on one side and Facebook’s wall on the other – I’m not surprised that office security is nowhere to be seen. 

Clicks like a mouse, sticks like a gecko…

Who would have thought that a lizard would trigger a revolution in the tech world?

AD: Hi, back from your walk?

BC: Yes! The cool breeze, the sunrise, the sight of the frothy waves - it’s probably why poets are so much in love with nature…

AD: Well, even the tech world has constantly sought inspiration from nature.

BC: How? By making computers hibernate?

AD: Very funny! You must have noticed the Catseye road reflectors during your early morning walks… They were inspired by the way the cat’s eyes reflect light in absolute darkness...

BC: I bet the mouse was one such inspiration too. Once you get one into your room, there’s no getting rid of it…

AD: You’re the only person in the world who can look at an airplane flying overhead and think of bird dropping.

BC: C’mon, I was just referring to the current generation’s obsession with technology…

AD: I don’t think that’s a new fad – it has existed from the time man stuck a pair of wings on himself and tried to fly… Besides, look at your shoes. The Velcro…

BC: I’ve read about how George de Mestral was intrigued by the way seeds with burrs latched on to his trousers. He then designed a texture that would replicate it.

AD: It’s not just plants – even the gecko has impressed scientists...

BC: Apparently geckos don’t blink – could that result in flicker-free monitors?

AD: Why don’t you try adjusting your screen refresh rate to minimise flicker? On the subject of geckos, I was referring to their incredible climbing abilities…

BC: Imagine how eerie it would be to watch a laptop climb on to the table by itself…

AD: Don’t be ridiculous, I was talking about robots that can climb any surface. Another big development has been a special kind of tape that works without any adhesive, and yet sticks…

BC: So it wouldn’t leave any marks on paper or on walls…

AD: That’s right, and scientists have even demonstrated its adhesive strength by suspending humans and objects from it.

BC: No humans please, the last thing the world needs is a Geckoman franchise, courtesy Hollywood.

AD: Too late – Spiderman has an archenemy known as Lizard who has gecko-like climbing skills too.

BC: Pardon the pun, but why can’t we just stick to Sellotape or Scotch Tape?

AD: This new product can make a huge difference across different fields… It can replace sutures in surgeries to bind the area operated upon. It could also be used as a medicine patch – just stick it on the body to dispatch medicine to a specific part.

BC: If it can replace vaccine injections, the man who makes it happen would be a hero to every kid because he would have achieved what even Superman couldn’t – take the pain out of childhood.

AD: Absolutely! The industrial segment is equally excited because now, anti-skid will take on a new meaning. Suddenly, driving on roads caked with ice will no longer be a challenge…

BC: What about industrial adhesives? It could spell relief for workers – they wouldn’t have to spend desperate evenings trying to get industrial glue off their hands…

AD: It could also be used to improve safety devices for workers who work in high altitudes…

BC: Perhaps we should request the International Olympics Committee to use it on their medals…

AD: What for?

BC: After each Olympic event, we hear about how a medal went out of our grasp - maybe gecko tape could fix that…

What’s your address?

Forget hardware and software upgrades, it’s time for the internet to be upgraded, claims a technophile.

AD: If the internet could run out of addresses, do you think it could happen to our neighbourhood as well?

BC: What do you mean?

AD: I’m talking about IP addresses – Internet Protocol addresses. You must have seen numbers arranged in four sets, like 192.168.1.1, for instance. Each number can vary between 0 and 255.

BC: So that’s how you get so many combinations…

AD: Absolutely. 2^32, to be precise, which leaves you with 4.3 billion addresses.

BC: That’s a lot! And we managed to use up all that?

AD: Well, the current protocol that we are following - IPv4 or Internet Protocol version 4 - was created in the ‘70s. At that time, 4.3 billion did seem like a staggering number…

BC: So what are we doing about it now?

AD: The shift is on, from IPv4 to IPv6, or Internet Protocol version 6.

BC: How’s IPv6 different?

AD: It has four digit hexadecimal numbers, arranged in sets of eight…

BC: I guess that means more options…

AD: Right! It works out to 2^128 – or 340 undecillion – addresses.

BC: 340 undecided what?

AD: Undecillion - that's 340 followed by 36 zeroes.

BC: That's huge! We'll take forever to exhaust that.

AD: Consider this – of the 4.3 billion addresses, we’ve used up the last billion in just six years, between 2006 and now. It just goes on to show the proliferation of internet devices and the number of users…

BC: I thought IP addresses referred to websites only.

AD: No, each computer and internet-enabled device are also assigned an IP address. And with millions of smartphones, tablets and other gadgets that have come into use in recent times…

BC: So does that signify the end of IPv4?

AD: No, just when everyone thought it was the end of the world, a new policy has been set in place which allows transfers of IPv4 addresses from regions where they are still available…

BC: …to regions where they’ve already been exhausted.

AD: Right, the beneficiaries mostly being from the Asia Pacific region, because they were the first to run out of IPv4 addresses…

BC: And who’s the donor? You said that the world was running out of IPv4 addresses…

AD: IPv4 addresses are distributed in blocks to regions, from where they are further distributed to service providers. So, while the blocks of addresses have been exhausted, some regions still have unused addresses. The African region for instance, has IP addresses to last them almost till the end of this decade.

BC: So while some are migrating to IPv6, the rest are buying up IPv4 addresses from wherever they are available...

AD: I guess everyone will eventually move to IPv6, but the transfer of IPv4 addresses is to help companies during the transition period.

BC: So what’s the progress made?

AD: June 8, 2011 saw the World IPv6 Day, a day when several leading companies like Cisco, Facebook, Google, Juniper Networks, Microsoft and Yahoo participated in a test run of their IPv6 websites for 24 hours.

BC: How did it go?

AD: It had a lot of support from the big names. And June 6, 2012 was the World IPv6 Launch, when IPv6 was permanently enabled globally.

BC: How about India? Are we inclined towards this new development?

AD: Not really. Reports indicate that India is still playing catch up...

BC: Well, we’ve always valued cricket more than technology...

AD: What’s the connection?

BC: After five seasons of IPL, looks like our support is more for IPL 6 than IPv6. 

Staying in focus

The old-fashioned ‘film roll’ camera? Or the new-age digital one? The argument continues...

AD: Hi, whose photo album is that? Looks pretty old…

BC: My Dad’s college photos – they were shot over 70 years ago…. Look at the texture, the clarity...

AD: Yes, but who shoots on film these days? It’s a digital world today…

BC: Perhaps, but try getting this quality, especially in black & white...

AD: I know what you’re arriving at, but a digital camera…

BC: …is suffering from an identity crisis ever since it got hitched to one end of a mobile phone.

AD: Digital cameras are so convenient – there’s no fear of running out of film in the middle of a vacation…

BC: You could still run out of batteries and memory space, with your digital camera…

AD: With rechargeable batteries and infinite storage space? Never! A digital camera is so handy, especially when you want to click a candid moment, like your kid doing something really zany. Back in your days, you would have to dig out your camera, check if it is loaded, adjust the focus manually, switch on flash if necessary, wait for the go-ahead green signal... You’re ready, but the moment has passed.  

BC: We’ve raised kids without digital cameras – and our memories are still as fresh…

AD: What about the costs? When you’re visiting new places, it’s such a relief to get trigger-happy because you can click as many snaps as you want with a digital camera… You don’t have to be weighed down by factors like cost of film and the number of shots left. Wouldn’t it be tragic to be in two minds whether or not to click another snap because you wish to save the roll for the rest of the trip?

BC: What’s the point in shooting a thousand snaps? You upload some of them online - and that’s probably the last time you see them yourself.

AD: It would be nice to look back one day...

BC: You fill a 500 GB hard disk with snaps and hope to go back to them someday? That’s like filing away all the newspapers during your working years so that you can read them in leisure once you retire…

AD: Well, you can store thousands of digital images in an area that’s the size of your thumb nail.  Imagine storing even a fraction of that as prints…

BC: But how will you find a particular snap when you have millions?

AD: It’s a lot easier to sort and index digital images - software like Picasa can do the organizing for you. Prints, on the other hand, will require some sort of a catalog or album.

BC: I’ll stick to my old Nikon, thank you. It’s a mechanical camera and doesn’t even need batteries…

AD: What about ease of use? Digital cameras are a lot simpler – anyone can handle one. Manual cameras require some level of orientation…

BC: I’ve always maintained that technology’s dumbing down everything around us…

AD: Think of the positives - having a digital camera can be pretty useful. There have been so many wrongdoings and incidents that have been reported by the media in recent times because a passerby could shoot the incident with his mobile phone camera…

BC: It’s also sad to note that technology is coming in the way of being humane.

AD: What do you mean?

BC: There was a time when, in the case of an accident or molestation, our first instinct was to rush and help. Today, people seem to be more particular about clicking pictures and posting them online... 

Banking on technology

What’s common to the words branch, phone, internet and mobile? The suffix ‘banking’, claims a tech buff.

AD: Hi, I can’t believe that you’re sitting with a mobile and a laptop... Is there a tech revolution approaching?  

BC: My auditor wanted an old bank statement of mine, so I was trying phone banking.

AD: And?

BC: The automated menu asked me to enter my ATM or debit card number, but I had neither - I had opened this account a long time ago… I went around in circles for a few minutes until they hung up on me.

AD: What about net banking?

BC: I tried that too. Apparently, I needed a user name and password…

AD: You could generate one…

BC: I tried doing that with my credit card, but apparently accountholders had to use their ATM or debit card…  After several attempts, I was directed back to phone banking to generate my password. So much for technology…

AD: Back in your days, you would have had to wait for the bank to open, to access old records...

BC: That seemed simpler. Now, I need a credit card or debit card, a mobile phone, a laptop, an internet connection, my personal identification number or electronic banking identity number – or maybe both, I’m not sure... And all this just to access my bank account. The only ID proofs missing are my ration card, passport and driving license – and of course, my horoscope and the counterfoil of the tickets to last night’s Batman movie.

AD: Stop being sarcastic…

BC: I remember the days when the bank meant your friendly neighbourhood branch. Every transaction was a big event, passbooks were the size of passports and bank employees were your neighbourhood friends…

AD: You forgot to mention irate tellers, long queues, longer lunch hours, metal tokens…

BC: But today you have t-pins, m-pins, i-pins, passwords, user ids and so much more. How does one remember all that?

AD: You can continue to crib, but analysts refer to mobile banking as the most path-breaking banking innovation of the century…

BC: So what you’re implying is that short of spewing money through the mouthpiece, the mobile phone can take care of all your banking needs.

AD: Actually, it almost does that too… Just as credit cards eliminated the need to carry money, mobile banking is edging out credit cards and debit cards from our wallet - with features like Hal-Cash and Airtel money.

BC: So what’s next? Banking through Facebook?

AD: That's already here. Banks like First National Bank in South Africa and ICICI back home have made this possible. Customers have to link their mobile banking app to their Facebook account and can transact from the social networking site.

BC: The bank’s open six hours a day, but your Facebook account’s open 24 hours a day, right?

AD: Absolutely – and since the Citi never sleeps either, Citibank also has launched a Facebook app for reward points in its loyalty programme.

BC: So after phone banking, net banking and mobile banking, we now have social banking?

AD: Right!

BC: Well, as long as they don’t write my loan outstandings on my wall…

AD: Seriously speaking, hasn’t technology made banking more convenient?

BC: On the contrary, it has only added to my worries…

AD: How is that?

BC: So far, my only concern was that I didn’t have enough money in my account. Now, with all the phishing and security breaches in banks, I also have to worry about someone else taking away what little there is…

Kindle your curiosity, the eBook way

“Thanks to technology, you may run out of time, but you’ll never run out of books,” claims a geek.

BC: Hi, heard that you’ve bought a book on Steve Jobs - can I borrow it?

AD: I don’t know. You’ll need a reader...

BC: Don’t be silly, I can read it myself.

AD: No, it’s an eBook, so you’ll need an eBook reader.

BC: So we will now have a PC at home, a laptop for official use, a tablet for portable convenience – and to play Angry Birds, a smartphone to stay in touch and an eBook reader to read…

AD: Well, you can also read on your smartphone, tablet or laptop...

BC: How can you read a whole book on a mobile? I find it difficult even to read messages...

AD: There are apps like the Nokia eBook reader app, available on Nokia Lumia devices, to make your life easy.

BC: But reading at nights...

AD: The Nokia Lumia offers you a night mode that makes it convenient to read after dark. Barnes & Noble has also launched Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight, an eBook reader with an option for night reading.

BC: I still don’t get it - how can you prefer an eBook over a good, old-fashioned book?

AD: There are quite a few advantages. You can download and save thousands of books, so your eBook reader is like your own portable mini-library. Some eBook readers have a text-to-speech software option, so you can have the book read out to you. Some of them also play music…

BC: What do you say about a generation that picks up a book to listen to music? But if eBooks are available online, won’t people just download them for free instead of paying for them?

AD: Though the hardware manufacturers and publishers are trying to implement DRM – Digital Rights Management - the problem is that in the digital era, the more you try to restrict or protect usage of something, the more it gets pirated.

BC: That’s probably why DRM should stand for Don’t Restrict Mindlessly…

AD: That’ll be the day…

BC: Since the eBook reader and a tablet look so similar, why can’t there be a device that can perform both roles?

AD: That’s what Amazon has attempted with its Kindle Fire…

BC: Now I know why I worry about kids messing around with tablets… They’re playing with fire.

AD: Look, kids seem to prefer gizmos to books – they are completely into online games on mobile phones or on computers… So, if this is the only way to get them to read, why not?

BC: So it’s all about using technology to beat technology…

AD: Technology is also winning the race against the conventional print medium. According to a recent study, eBook production in the UK has left conventional hardback books behind in 2011.

BC: I think they should stop worrying so much about their Queen and instead pray that God save the hardback…

AD: Incidentally, one of UK’s most famous bookstores - The Travel Bookshop - made popular by the movie Notting Hill, has shut shop because of poor business.

BC: That’s sad…

AD: For book lovers?

BC: No, for the producers who are contemplating a sequel. They obviously can’t have Hugh Grant selling eBook readers in a store…

AD: And what if they did?

BC: Julia Roberts would hardly frequent the place to browse through eBook readers. She’d rather order one online, wouldn’t she?

The power of PowerPoint

‘If you have nothing to say, use PowerPoint’ is the current presentation mantra, claims an old-timer.

BC: Hi, heard that your technology partner had come over to make a presentation…

AD: It was terrible. The machine hung, and then the presentation developed an error. After a few slides, the audio went kaput and finally, the embedded video in the slides didn’t play.

BC: Ah, the art of using technology to make your presentation more effective…

AD: But why blame all of technology for a faulty laptop and a system error?

BC: Because things went wrong even during my times when we used carousels and slideshows… Why are you smiling?

AD: Today is the age of hardware, software and Tupperware. Back then, I guess it was the era of carousels and casseroles.

BC: I remember an instance when a presentation was being made to a client. All of a sudden the carousel acquired a life of its own and began to spin and jump rather violently… Soon slides began popping out of the carousel with rapid clicking noises – it was like a popcorn machine. The Vice President set his team to stand at strategic points around the projector to catch the slides as they flew out.

AD: Now I know how positions like silly point, slip and extra cover originated in cricket...

BC: The point is, technology has always been unreliable.

AD: These days, technology has evolved to remote presentations – webinars…

BC: I don’t think that’s a bad idea - at least the audience can walk away without you noticing it.

AD: Not if you’re Steve Jobs. You can not only learn presentation skills from him, but also pick up pointers on how to handle technology glitches…

BC: Wow, HE had to contend with bad apples as well?

AD: Well, anyone can have a bad day with technology. When Bill Gates launched Windows XP, it crashed for the whole world to see.

BC: Glad to know that Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and your technology partner have something in common.

AD: Once, Steve Jobs’ remote failed and he couldn’t move to the next slide.

BC: He must have been rather iRate…

AD: The story is that he simply stopped the presentation and told the audience an anecdote that involved him and his friend Steve Wozniak, from his college days…

BC: Only Steve Jobs can get away with it.

AD: Maybe you could try using Keynote, the Apple presentation software that he used….

BC: I’ll stick to my slide shows, thanks. But podcasts, webcasts, webinars – suddenly presentations sound so complicated…

AD: There’s new technology like Prezi, a cloud-based tool that makes online presentations a breeze…

BC: But how does one demystify these new-age presentations?

AD: Simple, with apps like Pro Presenter that offers assistance when you present from your iPad. Tools like Animoto help you create great presentation videos, bringing together images, video, text and animation. And you can share them online using sites like Slide Boom and Slide Share.

BC: All these options must be making the older lot go nuts.

AD: That reminds me of a phrase coined in the memory of those who went nuts sitting through hours of mindless slides overflowing with data - death by PowerPoint.

BC: Now you know why those little dark circles in each slide are called bullets…

AD: In fact, the hatred for PowerPoint is so intense that in Switzerland, there is a political party called the Anti PowerPoint Party that discourages the use of any presentation software…

BC: Perhaps it’s their way of getting the corporate world to see merit in loudspeakers, banners and slogans…