The recent case of improper disposal of radioactive waste in New Delhi has highlighted the need to be careful in handling such materials, says Roopinder Singh

We are all afraid of radioactivity, yet it plays a vital role in our lives. It is terrible when things go wrong, like they did on April 27, 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, which is considered the worst nuclear power plant accident in history. The plant was located in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the former Soviet Union. Reactor number four at the Chernobyl plant, had a meltdown, which resulted in a fire that caused radioactive fallout into the atmosphere.

Not only was the nearest town, Pripyat, effected, so were large parts of the western Soviet Union, eastern Europe, western Europe, and northern Europe. There have been other disasters, yet nuclear energy is sought as a major resource for the energy-deficient world.

How does a nuclear reactor work? Nuclear power stations use uranium in fission reactions as a fuel to produce energy. They use the heat released during the fission process to generate steam, which turns a turbine to produce electric energy. Of course, the whole process is complex, and operators have to be constantly on the guard to ensure that safety standards are strictly adhered to.

Even though it should always be treated with respect, there are many practical applications of radioactivity or radiation. Radioactive materials are involved in the study living organisms, diagnosing and treating diseases, in testing all kinds of industrial objects, including aircraft and ships, and in sterilising medical instruments and food, etc.

Radioactive Iodine-131 is used to study the function of the thyroid gland by doctors. It is a tracer, i.e. a radioactive element whose pathway through which a chemical reaction can be followed. Similarly, there are other applications for medical usage.

Some universities are also allowed to use radioactive materials, and it was one of these that was the cause of all the trouble in Delhi. A gamma irradiation machine was imported from Canada in the 1970s for use in experiments by chemistry students. It was built by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. in 1968, had been in disuse since 1985. The machine was auctioned away to scrap dealers on February 26 this year.

The scrap went to the Mayapuri, where workers, unaware of its lethal contents, set about dismantling it by removing the protective lead cover, and thus exposing themselves to the radioactive Cobalt-60 isotopes inside it. Although decaying, the radioactive substance was of high intensity and thus the people directly involved in handling the pieces were exposed to high doses of radiation. Severe radiation poisoning was seen in seven persons, one of whom died recently. The other six are also in various hospitals.

Initial media speculation centred around a foreign source of the material, a highly likely scenario since 4,000 tonnes of junk metal is imported as scrap in India every day. Later, the police found that the machine had come from the chemistry department of Delhi University.

The company that supplied the machine apparently responded to the query with great efficiency and supplied the details of the transaction within a few hours. Officials of the AERB and the National Disaster Management Authority surveyed the largest junk market in India and located the radioactive sources and secured them. Thus ended the latest crisis, which had resulted the in the first the first radiation death in the country.

We need to learn our lessons. There is no doubt that a casual attitude towards the disposal of radioactive waste from sources other than nuclear plants has seriously exposed Indians to hazards.

The fact is that thousands of tonnes of scrap metals and waste materials are imported into Indian every day and there is a possibility of radioactive material slipping through the ports. Scanners and other safeguards are absolutely necessary to ensure that such hazardous materials are not allowed to slip into our shores.

Caution has to be the byword while dealing with materials that can be of immense use on the one hand, and harbingers of death, in case, they are misused.

This article was published in the Science and Technology section of The Tribune.

Not revolutionary, but definitely a game changer

by Roopinder Singh

SO much more intimate than a laptop, and so much more capable than a smart phone – Steve Jobs’ description of the latest offering by Apple defines it quite well. Now that the hype over the much-anticipated iPad has decreased, we can have a look at the device and what it will mean to computer users.

The physical description of iPad is simple enough: It measures 9.56 inches, is 7.47 inches wide and just half an inch in height. At 680 grams for the Wi-Fi model (seven grams more for 3G), it is light and sleek. A 1GHz Apple A4 custom-designed, high-performance, low-power system-on-a-chip makes it powerful, and the 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit glossy widescreen multi-touch display provides a rich visual experience. I have not used one, but the description as a “bigger iPhone” is enough. The iPhone has really changed the way smart phones are perceived, used and sold. The elegance of Apple’s operating system is beguiling – there is nothing like it in any other computing universe.

It is interesting that the iPad’s screen is slightly larger than that of the Macintosh, the first Apple that I owned in 1985. It was the first commercially successful personal computer (PC) to use images, rather than text, to interface with the user, and was way more elegant and user-friendly than comparable PCs, like the IBM PC AT that operated on the Microsoft’s archaic MS-DOS 3.0.

It was simply a walkover. The Mac was fun, and the MS-DOS didn’t even know the word! The screen was black and white, you could not customise anything, but everything you needed, the hardware as well as the software was available out of the box.

Computers and the mouse had existed before Apple took Xerox’s GUI, tweaked it and made computing far more approachable to the normal user. It was not innovation, but implementation that set Apple apart. In fact, Apple normally uses various things that are already available, and puts them together in such a way that not only do they work well together – they also provide an experience that makes users pay a premium.

iPad is getting rave reviews already from the few who have used it. It is a tablet computer, which simply means that it is a slate shaped computer device that has a touch screen and is mobile. The multi-touch screen, which we have seen on iPhone and iPod Touch too, responds not only to touch, but also to gestures. It has access to literally over lakh applications, some free.

All this sets it apart from an ordinary tablet PC or e-reader. The iPad will let you use content – see it, hear it and read it – and also input content through the virtual keyboard on the screen will allow you to do so, say in case you want to answer your e-mails or write something. For many, the announcement that iPad has a keyboard dock is significant, as virtual typing has its limitations, especially when one is typing long documents.

Your digital photos will be displayed and organised in various ways, and you can see movies, or play games. The organiser has a great look and feel, and there are also good word processing, spreadsheet and presentation programmes.

The New York Times was the first paper to come on board the iPad. With a motion sensor, you get the landscape mode, and thus you can read your paper, magazines, etc., on the go. They will come with advertisements, a point which scores over Kindle and enhances the Apple appeal for publishers. Macmillan, HarperCollins, Penguin, Simon & Schuster and Hachette have already come aboard the iPad — you can buy their latest books online.

As of now, Apple store sells books at a higher price than Amazon’s Kindle. There is much speculation that iPad’s media-rich platform will soon have books that just won’t just be words…they will have sound and video, too. Apple has also inked a deal with ScrollMotion, a content technology company based in New York, to handle textbooks for iPad. Will this be the end of the heavy school bag? Not yet, and certainly not here, since iBooks is initially only for the US, but a beginning is being made.

Incidentally, both Kindle and its competitor Nook, brought out by the Barnes and Noble bookstore, use a technology called iInk, which is better for reading long texts, since the screen is not back-lit and thus does not cause eyes to strain.

Browsing on the Web, indeed downloading newspapers and magazines will be significantly impaired by the fact that like there is no support for Adobe Flash, which has become a standard in displaying interactive graphics, animations, etc., while browsing.

The lack of multitasking support is as inexplicable as that of a camera, or for that matter a USB port to enable easier exchange of data. Some of these are things that will probably get sorted out soon, some may never be, and if so, will impact the user experience. Gaming on iPad will probably find many users, but the real aficionados will want (even) more power, and many games run on Flash and Java, both of which are not supported by iPad.

The iTunes store has sold millions of songs and redefined the way people access music online. Over a lakh of applications have been developed for the iPhone, and can be used on the iPad, many are being optimised for this task right now..

iPhone may not be an e-book reader to beat Kindle or Nook, both of which are easier on the eyes in the long run and have a longer battery life; it may not be like the regular Net-books, which have real keyboards and can fold into the pocket; it may not even be a communication device that can replace your smart phone. The iPad is a product of its own kind and how it evolves will depend on what use its owners put it for. Apple has a history of making devices that sell well and shape the future, because they already have a foot in it.

This article was published on the OpEd page of The Tribune on February 6, 2010

by Roopinder Singh

LIFE, the iconic American magazine, gained a new life after over 1,860 issues, covering the years 1936 to 1972, were digitised and put online. Computers and the Internet together have created an atmosphere where we expect knowledge and entertainment at our fingertips, not by turning pages, but by tapping at the keyboard. Increasingly, we see that this trend is impacting something that we have taken for granted for centuries – books, the traditional repositories of wisdom, and more.

Books … we love the content, the feel of the paper they are printed on, what they convey to us and how they enrich us. Yet, books in classical form have limitations imposed by the very factors that make them so alluring – they can get damaged, cost money to print and distribute and have to be physically taken from one person to another, etc.

A page grab of the Google Books home page

E-books, or electronic books, promise to transform the content into bits and bytes that can be freely transmitted to all the corners of the connected earth, and beyond, for that matter. You can read what you want, when you want to, and where, provided you have an e-book reader, computer or even a mobile phone handy. A universal e-book library seems within reach.

The Internet giant Google has been in news recently because it is engaged in litigation defending its right to digitise books, following an agreement it penned in 2004 with a number of top university libraries to scan their collections. Over one crore books have been scanned by Google Books and this has made it the owner of the largest collection of titles in an electronic format.

This very ownership has raised the hackles of communities that are defending the rights of authors and copyright holders, as a result of which Google has given full access only to those books whose copyright has expired, or those whose copyright it has bought.

Many books are out of print, but have valid copyrights, which are sometimes difficult to establish. Such books are called “orphans”. Google has made an agreement through which Book Search users can read, download and print out-of-copyright books, freely.

Those books that aren’t actively being published or sold, but are within the copyright period, would, under the latest agreement, be digitised and become available online for preview and purchase.

The income would be shared between various parties. Right now, Google has almost come out of a long and complicated legal battle. Its doggedness is about to pay it rich dividends, since no one can compare with Google Books in the sheer number of titles that they have online, whether in limited view or otherwise.

However, Google is not the first mover in this field, nor is it the only player. Long before Google came up with the idea, other digitisation endeavours were underway, including the Library of Congress’s American Memory project, Project Gutenberg, the Million Book Project and the Universal Library.

Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitise and archive cultural works and to “encourage the creation and distribution of e-books.” It was started by Michael S. Hart in 1971 and is considered the oldest digital library. Effort is made to provide these texts in standard, long-lasting, open formats that can be used on almost any device – computer, Kindle, Sony Reader, or iPhone. Although pioneering, the project has just over 30,000 free e-books to read.

Microsoft has been an also-ran in this endeavour. It started Live Search Books, a project similar to Google Books, in late 2006, but abandoned it in May 2008. All was not lost, since the scanned books are now available on Internet Archive, a non-profit organisation.

The Europeans digitised over 30 lakh objects, including video, photos, paintings, audio, maps, manuscripts, printed books, and newspapers from the past 2,000 years of European history from over 1,000 archives in the European Union. The French National Library’s Gallica links to about eight lakh digitised books, newspapers, manuscripts, maps and drawings, etc.

Lakhs of books to read, and how many readers? Well, lakhs, even crores. Just a day before this article was written, Project Guttenberg showed that 1,01,122 books were downloaded. And the most popular authors? No surprise there: In the last month, the top five downloads were Charles Dickens (48,591), Mark Twain (40,703), Jane Austen (30,929), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, (29,907) and William Shakespeare (28,163). Google, after digitising the Life magazine, has added many others to it its repertoire, and it is a pleasure to browse through them.

Amazon’s Kindle2 has triggered new interest in e-books and it has competitors like Sony nipping at its heels. What exactly is Kindle? Well, this e-book reader is lighter than an average paperback, while being as thin as a magazine. A wireless network connects it in over 100 countries. It can store over a thousand books and the new text-to-speech features reads out to you. As of now, 2,30,000 books and many newspapers and magazines are available. Incidentally, Kindle is also a software program that allows you to download book on to your computers or mobile phones.

Sony has its own readers which compete with Kindle. Sony has a good library also. Its readers have some special features that make them attractive. Other competitors include the iLiad, the Cybook Gen3, the Barnes & Noble nook and the Readius device from Polymer Vision.

Many people use personal digital assistants like Palm TX for downloading and reading e-books, but the main distinction that e-books have is the e-ink screen, a kind of electronic paper based on research started at the MIT Media Lab. The ultra-low power consumption screen is black and white and you can read without glare, even in bright sunlight. The image is stable, unlike computer or phone screens, it does not need to be refreshed constantly. It reflects ambient light rather than emitting its own light. Thus, it is much superior to other displays.

As we see a profusion of e-books and readers, the manufacturers will have to move towards universalisation of standards in technology and in ensuring that copyright violations do not take place. The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown’s latest book, can be downloaded free and publishers are up in arms against the distribution of pirated books through the Net.

This, however, is an old battle, albeit in a new form. Pirated editions of the book are available in Mumbai, Delhi and Chandigarh off the roadside stalls, in the conventional form. Technology is a tool, which can be used positively, or negatively.

As we move towards making books more accessible through digitisation, the idea of a universal library does not seem so utopian. The sheer reach of the electronic medium is staggering, and the written word continues to carry weight, whether it is printed on paper or read on screen.

This article was printed in The Tribune on November 27, 2009

Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World

By Don Tapscott.

Tata McGraw-Hill. Pages 368. Rs 595.

Review by Roopinder Singh

Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World

JUST replace ‘our’ in the headline with ‘my’ and you will have every parent agreeing to your statement, even as they despair about the fragmented attention spans, horrible music that they listen to and the inordinate time that they spend on digital devices—net books, cell phones, play stations and computers—that seem to become extra digits on their fingers.

Elders complain that teenagers and children are easily distracted, self-obsessed and have no work ethics and discipline. Don Tapscott, a Canadian who wrote Growing Up Digital in 1996, is a chronicler of the world of digitisation with many previously well-received works. This book is written by someone passionate about both the digital world and its users.

A sympathetic elder who seeks to understand the world evolving around him, Tapscott was given insights by his children, Alex and Niki, much as parents find their children teaching them how to use the latest gadget. Now, it so happens that this overturns the instruction model that was thought to be eternal—of elders passing on knowledge to the younger generations.

The Wellington Girls School in New Zealand acquired computers, but the teachers did not know how to use them—a familiar scenario. In 1990s, Margaret McLeod became principal and formed a team of Tech Angles, students who taught the teachers computer basics. It became a ‘revolutionary’ approach to education because it acknowledged that the kids were authorities in this particular field. For some time the role reversal worked, but teachers resented the erosion of their authority, and soon the system went back to normal, ‘broadcast’ model of teaching.

But broadcasting is so yesteryear. Anyone who used the Net realises that linear progression is antediluvian in the hyperlinked world of today. Interactivity is the key and the Net Generation is an expert at using it far beyond what the originators of the Internet envisaged, so much so that the Net itself has now evolved to Net 2.

As the author says: “Sure, you’re as cyber-sophisticated as the next person … . But young people have a natural affinity for technology that seems uncanny. They instinctively turn first to the Net to communicate, understand, learn, find and do many things.”

A $4-million study that Tapscott led and uses often in the book found surprising similarities among the 7,685 Net Geners in the 12 countries they studied. When we were introduced to the Net, we found it a remarkable medium to send across information across the world. Today, the study has found that the Net Geners are truly trans-national, they seek linkages, they work in partnerships.

As employees, the Net Geners are quick adapters, think out of the box but are easily bored. They expect work to be ‘fun’— can you imagine! So taping them requires a totally different approach—they want instant appraisals of their work, not yearly ones, they want everything customised and they value transparency.

Net Geners are essentially collaborators, and their games and skill sets tell them that there are many solutions to a problem and they get results faster if you work with others. They are making corporations to rethink their management models and even work cultures, and those that do so benefit handsomely

Tapscott examines how family dynamics have changed now, and again, the old orderly world of authority flowing from the top has been turned upside down. Not that Net Geners want to be totally free, they actually want love, affection and even limits, but also to have their say in family affairs.

The picture that Tapscott paints is not all rosy. He takes a sharp look at how the Net Geners reveal too much of their lives online, oblivious of the impact such indiscretions will have at a later stage. There have been many cases of employers rejecting potential employees after checking out their profile on social networks like Facebook, Orkut, MySpace, etc. He is also concerned about the inadequacy of the education system worldwide to use the Net and thus enrich student’s lives.

Net Geners’ voices figure prominently and give an interactive subtext. As expected in this fast evolving world, Tapscott’s latest book needs an update, since it talks of Candidate Barack Obama and so on. Well, he has a website dedicated to it. There is also a blog—the writer practices what he preaches, and those who read his book will find many echoes of their experiences and perceptions in what he and thousands who corroborated (most electronically through Facebook, online questionnaires etc.) in the writing of the book.

The book review was published in The Tribune on Sunday, October 11, 2009

As friends are aware, the cyber world continues to be an enduring passion. US President Barak Obama’s election was the coming of age of the Internet in the American electoral process and he is certainly the most tech-savvy head of state the US has ever had. I wrote  Obama enters cyber world, which was published in The Tribune on January 29, 2009. Please click here to read the article. Coincidently, exactly a month before that, I has written about serious security concerns for the Government of India and privacy issues for Net users. This article, Cyber security should safeguard privacy, was published in The Tribune on December 29, 2008. Please click here to read the article.

A new MMS scandal has erupted in Noida, and a girl’s intimate moments have become public, thanks to an estranged lover, who posted them on the Net. The Internet is a tool, and it is also being increasingly used for criminal activities. While on the one hand, the nation should be justifiably be proud of having an IT law and upgrading it, unfortunately the Bill was not even discussed when it was presented to Parliament, as has been the fate of most of the bills in the 14^th Lok Sabha, which just finished its term. Please click here to read my article on strengthening the IT law.

The most common complaint of Internet users in India is that their broadband connection is not delivering what was promised to them. Finally there is some hope for all of us, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has given guidelines to ensure that ISPs and telecom operators will provide the minimum required broadband speed to their customers. Please click here to read my article.

We all know that what we post on the Internet is not private. We post it to share information with others. We all had no idea about who Ms Ashley Alexandra Dupre was, but now the lady who brought down the New York Governor, Mr Eliot Spitzer, is well-known because of the information that she posted on the social networking sites MySpace and Facebook. Please click here to read what happens when the media gets access to your profiles.

IT is more about innovation, rather than mergers and acquisitions. I felt so strongly about this shibboleth that an article came out of Microsoft’s recent aggressive bid for Yahoo!

Microsoft and Yahoo! both reigned supreme because they were built around innovative ideas. Google has seized the initiative now and who knows what the future will bring. My article was printed in The Tribune on the OpEd page today. Please click here to read Trying to deal with future.

An unfortunate fallout of globalisation and the life in the fast lane has been the strain that family life has come under in the recent past. Children are the most vulnerable members of our society and become the victims of a lifestyle that sacrifices the time parents spend with them.

My article, published on the OpEd page of The Tribune today, was prompted by the death of Adnan Patrawala, a teenaged boy who lived in Mumbai…please click here to read the article.