Category Archives: Virtual World

What is Web 2.0?

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While Web 2.0 isn’t exactly a direct upgrade of Web 1.0, it’s a whole new world consisting of interactivity with a capital ‘I’

When the Internet came, it connected everyone in the world. With emails you could keep in touch and finally search engines helped you wade through the billions of web pages. However, most of its initial applications were ‘static’ with very little scope for genuine interactivity.

In fact, when Tim-Berners Lee laid the foundation of the World Wide Web, he had seen something much more democratic and personal. And we have come closer to that vision in the last couple of years.

Web 2.0 is a concept popularized in 2004 and it describes in one stroke concepts like podcasts, blogs, wikis, tags, etc as against ‘static’ web pages, retroactively named Web 1.0.

An important ingredient of Web 2.0 is Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML). Ajax helps in making a web page more user friendly, increases the speed with which you can bring about changes and more importantly, increases the interactivity.

DHTML or Dynamic HTML is also a great way of making dynamic websites. And thanks to API (Application Programming Interface), there is a great deal of data exchange between sites and users. Some of the sites that use API are Wikipedia, eBay, Flickr and Skype.

What’s the new Web all about?

Some of the other terms that have described Web 2.0 have included ‘collaborative Internet’ and ‘architecture of participation.’ While the exact definition of Web 2.0 is elusive, there are some websites and trends that give you a pretty good idea.

Wikipedia: In the past encyclopedias got updated once a year and there was none that could cater to every country and every genre of knowledge. That was before Wikipedia, the world’s first very own encyclopedia ‘of the people, for the people and by the people.’ With 1 million articles and still counting, who knows what shape this will take in a few years from now. While there has been a lot of talk about factual errors, this still remains a great place to get a general idea of almost everything under the sun. (http://en.wikipedia.org)

Blogs: Every person in the world can be a reporter. Everyone can be a columnist. And everyone can be an analyst. While such a concept would have been laughable just a few years back, it’s a reality today. Just about anyone can become a blogger and become famous for his or her views. The Sony DRM fiasco began with a blogger. The Apple Nano scratch muddle began with a blogger. Who knows how much more powerful a blogger might become tomorrow. (www.blogger.com, http:// googleblog.blogspot.com)

Podcasts: While the iPod and iTunes became legends in their own right, podcasts became big time too. Now you can make your own video and audio shows and distribute them in cyberspace. If 2004 was the Year of the Blog, then in 2005, the New Oxford American Dictionary declared ‘Podcasting’ the word of the year. Key in Podcast in Google and you’ll know why. A word that didn’t exist a few years ago now gets you more than 100 million searches. (www.i podder.org, www. podcast.net)

RSS feeds: Rich Site Summary. Really Simple Syndication. Call it what you will. RSS really has changed the way we get news. While a lot of people had predicted the demise of newspapers after news sites came out, that didn’t exactly happen. The much touted newsletters also didn’t take off. However, here’s something that promises to go a long way. Customize newsfeeds the way you want them delivered at your desktop.

Google AdSense: In the early days of the Net, popups were the biggest irritants and when they went intrusive, banner ads weren’t liked that much either. Then came about Google AdSense that gave ‘unintrusive’ and ‘relevant’ ads to a website. Google uses its advance search methodology, checks the user’s location and other factors and checks the site’s content before zeroing down on relevant ads. Call them interactive ads if you will.

Flickr: This is a cool site which uses tags to form a worldwide photo sharing platform. Thanks to these tags, it’s easy to save, share and search for the photos from a huge database. Flickr has more than 2 million users and so far more than 100 million photos have been posted. Bloggers can also simultaneously post pictures on Flickr and their own blogs. Yahoo saw what a big thing Flickr was and bought it out. (www.flickr.com)

del.icio.us: Who would have thought a bookmarking site would have such a future. But that’s exactly the story of del.icio.us, which lets you store links of your favorite sites, articles and blogs on the web which you can then access from any computer and share with your friends. There’s even a mobilicio.us for the mobile. Recently, Washingtonpost.com also entered into a tie-up with del.icio.us. (http://del.icio.us, http://mobilicio.us)

BitTorrent: If Napster started the biggest lending library in the world, BitTorrent took it much further. It was perhaps the first really democratic P2P network. BitTorrent breaks down a file into fragments across a network and when you download a file, you get the fragments from various peers. (www.bittorrent .com)

Orb: This is a great way of accessing selected files from your computer via streaming anywhere in the world. You can also share these files, videos and songs with all your friends.  All you have to do is email them a link and they gain access to the Orb-shared part of your computer. The best part is that you can also use your PDA apart from your PC and laptop. (www.orb.com)

Rollyo: If you want to roll your own search engine, then head straight to Rollyo. That’s a search engine you customize by choosing the sites you want to be shown in a search. (www.rollyo.com)

In a science fiction novel written many years ago, the author predicted that every person will have an interconnected computer, which, among many other things, would also be a personal voting machine. Global issues would be debated and a decision would take place within hours thanks to the whole world being able to vote easily and effortlessly. That’s the kind of practical applications that Web 2.0 promises in the long run.

(This article appeared in the April 2006 edition of Living Digital magazine)

Will you buy pizza from your TV?

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While business on the Internet hasn’t taken off as much as predicted, the key could well be your mobile and the TV

When the Internet came, everyone talked of it replacing brick and mortar business altogether. But the dotcom crash happened. The second dotcom boom (for the key Internet companies anyway) looks like it’s here to stay. Also, business related to financial services, travel services and the casino are booming on the Internet.

So how close are we to having the Internet become the preferred choice for business? The truth is that a lot of companies still don’t use the Internet because they still don’t understand it. The Internet can do things for a business which no other medium can. For example, the Internet is so targeted, that it will not let you waste your time. Since it’s focused, Internet marketing is steadily gaining in popularity. And the future could well belong to contextual marketing. A case in point is Google AdSense. The revenue generated is on a per-click basis and advertisers feel that they get value-for-money.

Beam me up Scotty!

Says Fintan Orourke, CEO of Natural Search, “The Internet itself is going to change. In five years, we will be communicating with the Internet through the TV screen. The business of e-commerce will be through voice interaction. Imagine asking for a pizza directly from the TV screen.”

He also talks highly of handheld devices, saying, “It will be something like Star Trek. The way Captain Kirk said “Beam me up Scotty,” we’ll talk to our mobile and say “Find me a flight to Goa” or some such thing. Over time, TV and mobiles will be the most popular access devices for the Internet. The iPod and all will converge into the mobile phone.”

The mobile and the TV are among the most familiar and comfortable devices the world over. People trust the mobile and TV and they may be more open to doing business on the Internet through these two.

Where the world is headed to

Internet TV or peer-to-peer (P2P) TV could be the next big thing. In the long run, it will bring down operational costs and also help in accessing all kinds of content from the TV. The BBC and CCTV of China are already experimenting with P2P TV. BBC is working on Dirac, which is an algorithm encoding and decoding video and sound.

Another person who is backing Internet TV is Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. During the keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show this year, he said, “The set-top boxes that have been connected up to cable can take a new generation of hardware and software and be far better. There’s a generation that can go even further as we get more video on-demand capability and literally anybody can watch any show at any time, even the ads can be targeted to you.”

Gates also added that Internet TV was where the world was going and that video, data and voice would finally come together.

Going mobile and how

While P2P TV looks like a revolution waiting to happen, the mobile convergence one is already happening. Mobiles are getting more and more sophisticated, screens are getting bigger and clearer. And when the 3G era finally arrives, then surfing on your mobile will not be such a painful process. Mobile ecommerce could be the next big thing. Wherever the size of the screen is not a limiting factor, the mobile will be the preferred device for accessing the Net. With mobiles getting cheaper, access is on the rise and sales are expected to top $1 billion by 2009.

The Internet is still evolving on handheld devices. Norway-based FastSearch and Transfer (FAST) has launched mSearch, which helps mobile users search for content on the Net. Starting with just ringtones, games and images, FAST believes that mobile search will be a big business in the long run. Yahoo has also tied up with Nokia and now the search giant’s data communications and entertainment services will be available with Nokia’s Series 60 mobiles. Google isn’t far behind and is also doing research on mobile search too.

(This article appeared in Living Digital magazine in October 2005)

Revolution in cyberspace

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Cyberactivism is a cheap and effective way of spreading a cause

When a small town in Japan was considering whether to have a nuclear facility or not, just 75 protest emails led the mayor to decide the issue through a public referendum. That’s an example of the power of cyberactivism. More and more people are realizing the benefits of using the Internet for activism. The benefits are many. It’s cheap. It’s immediate. It’s global. And it’s a way by which a small group of people can reach out to large numbers all across the globe. Called “digital organizing”, cyberactivism uses websites and emails to drive home a cause.

How it all began

The ELZN, or more popularly the Zapatista movement, was probably one of the first practitioners of cyberactivism. In 1994, ELZN declared that it was at war with the Mexican government over its dictatorial policies. After capturing some municipalities in a city with the use of violence, the movement switched to a battle in the virtual world. A mass of emails were sent out with details of the capture and the government found no way of suppressing information regarding the uprising thereafter. The Zapatista movement quit the use of violence and used the Internet medium to spread their cause. The hostilities lasted only for a few months. After that the ELZN created the Electronic Disturbance Theater, which remained very active on the Web.

Greenpeace: Taking it to the next level

However, it was Greenpeace which took this form of activism to higher and higher levels and they have many successful campaigns under their belt. That includes one out of India too. While the Bhopal gas disaster happened in 1984, the after-effects in the form the closed Union Carbide factory decaying and contaminating the groundwater stay on even today. In 1999, Greenpeace helped set up a cybercafe right in front of the factory and thousands of Bhopal citizens came and sent protest emails to both the erring company and various governments. Previously most of them had no way of addressing their grievances. Dow Chemicals (which is Union Carbide today) decided to skirt the issue and started screening out such emails. However, the issue subsequently got great media attention and soon everyone came to know about the whole issue. Later cyberactivism campaigns were much more successful and in one of them, the World Bank decided to stop funding polluting factories in Gujarat. Greenpeace has tasted much greater success in Europe and have successfully fought many campaigns on the Web.

Post 9/11 concerns

However, cyberactivism is a form of civil disobedience and is totally frowned upon by most authorities. Especially after 9/11 when security in cyberspace came under the scanner and any form of hacking or online activism was not considered the right thing. For some, the line between cyberactivism and cyber-terrorism blurred a bit. However most cyberactivists point out that there is no violence done by this movement and most of the activities fall in the ambit of cyber laws.

While right now computer penetration, especially in places like India, is limited, the future could see cyberactivism as the preferred choice for most groups across the world.

Cyber Activities

Cyberterrorism: Terrorism spread through computer networks and the Internet.
Hactivism: Hacking for a political cause.
Crypto-anarchism: Belief that all computer and Internet users should be anonymous. Will be achieved through the use of strong public key cryptography that will give a high degree of privacy to everyone.
Internet Activism: Associated with citizen movements while cyberactivism is used with civil disobedience.

(This article appeared in Living Digital magazine in August 2005)

Google me again

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Do you know the difference between Googling and autoGoogling? Internet search has led to a brand new terminology

Ever since Internet search engines have come into our lives, they have changed the way we think, talk and research. When you want to know something you just “Google” it. It has become a library, teacher, directory and reference guide all rolled into one. It has also introduced a few new terms into the English language. Googling, egosurfing and counter-googling are some samples.

Beware, you’re being Googled!

In the movie Maid in Manhattan, when the heroine’s son asks her a question, she asks him to “Google it”. Google has already entered the English language as a verb that means to perform an Internet search. It’s also sometimes used synonymously with “research”. Googling has also appeared in cartoon strips and TV serials including the highly popular Friends. A search for “googling” on Google gets more than 700,000 results. That shows how widespread the usage has already become.

A very popular thing to do is google people before you meet them. Businessmen do it before they meet clients. Neighbors and old schoolmates are googled and in America, boys and girls google the person they’re about to date.

The exact search is simply got by putting one’s name in quotes. Then there’s the misplaced notion that the more searches a person has on Google, the more important he or she is. But a thing to remember is that not all the information on the Net is authentic. That’s because it’s very easy to put up information in cyberspace without any checks and crosschecks. You’ve to be cautious because many people take it at face value.

Take that ego trip right now

Instead of googling others what if you googled yourself? That would be called autogoogling, or more popularly egosurfing. Some people get a kick out of seeing how many times their name comes up in cyberspace. Popular among top businessmen, famous personalities, writers and journalists. And what do some people do when they are down? Just egosearch to boost their morale!

But what if you’ve zero name searches to your name? Well, that’s quite easy to rectify. Start writing a regular blog and mail the URL to everyone in your mailing list in a bid to popularize it. Leave your comments on every article you read on Websites and participate in all the discussion forums you can. You can even upload your resume on certain career sites that have an Internet search option. That means if anyone searches your name, they can read your resume. Remember, getting published in cyberspace is much easier than getting published in real life. Sometimes you might also get a kick out of knowing how many people share your name and what your namesakes are up to.

Point and counterpoint

The Bel Air hotel in Los Angeles googles first time customers to know about their preferences and give them more personalized services. Both names and addresses are put to the search. Trendwatching.com called this “counter-googling”. (If googling refers to customers checking out a company, then counter-googling refers to the act of companies checking out their customers). With the amount of blogs on the rise, it’s very easy to get hold of a million-strong database of potential customers.

So looks like the Google Global village where everyone in the world can know about everyone else is just around the corner.

(This article appeared in Living Digital magazine in August 2005)

Play safe in cyberspace

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There are many prowlers out there on the Internet who want to steal your personal information and cheat you or simply irritate you. Here’s how to take guard against them

Phishing: Don’t bite the bait

While the term “phishing” was coined in the Nineties when hackers tried to steal AOL accounts, it has gained infamy of late. Today a hacker will spoof a URL of say a banking site and send you a harmless-looking e-mail, directing you to that spurious site. When you go there, all the information which you key in like user name and password will be captured by the spoof site. So it’s always better to go directly to a bank or company’s official site. Also be wary if a URL has the “@” symbol.

In 2003, in the famous e-bay phishing scam, users received a mail telling them that if they didn’t click a particular link, then their accounts would be suspended. Always call or check with the official Website if you get such a message.

SPAM: Stupid Pointless Annoying Messages

Spam is the biggest problem that all of us face in cyberspace every day. What started of as an unsolicited commercial e-mail, has become one of the biggest nuisance values today. So how does one stop being at the receiving end? The first is to put a spam filter, available with most e-mail clients. You can even download free software for the same from the Web.

Secondly, beware of putting out your email in discussion forums and comments columns. Many spammers simply harvest e-mail off the Internet. Never make the biggest mistake of replying to spam. If you do that, then you’re really opening the floodgates to spamming. For then, the spammer will know that yours is a valid e-mail ID. Finally always report all spam messages through your email client in an effort to get the spammer blocked out for good.

And also, this is where multiple email IDs help. You can keep one for just your friends and a different one for official stuff. Also, when you are sending forwards or bulk mails it’s better to bcc to all, rather than cc. If you respect the privacy of other people’s email IDs, then they will respect yours.

Salami Slicing: A bit at a time

Salami slicing is when somebody steals a very small amount from your bank account. Usually, the last two digits (cents in the case of America) are rounded off. Mainly done by employees of a financial corporation and people have been known to accumulate those tiny amounts into sometimes millions of dollars. The salami-slicing program will round off the amount from the transaction and transfer the amount to a hidden bank account. This is very hard to detect and the most you can do is check your bank statements more carefully. Salami slicing first appeared in the Hollywood film Superman 3, in 1983.

Identity Theft: Is that you?

When multiple and false identities are common, can identity theft be far behind? Identity theft in the real world was when someone assumed one’s identity to steal their money or frame them for a crime. Identity theft in cyberspace is much much easier to do. So always make sure you are on your guard. During transactions, check if you’re on the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). You can do this by seeing if the http has changed to https in the URL. There should also be a small lock icon in the status bar at the bottom of the browser window. You can also check for digital certificates like VeriSign. And after you’ve done the transactions, check your e-mail for confirmations.

Also don’t put out too much personal information on the Net. It could be collected, put together-result, you could be impersonated.

Spim: Yes, it’s spim

Spim is spam during instant messaging. Some instant messaging systems maintain a directory of users, which spammers get hold of and then bombard IM users with spim. This is much more annoying than spam, because a pop-up window opens in your screen and it currently has a bigger growth rate than spam. However, experts say this will never become that big a problem. For one, unlike e-mail, IMs have a restricted buddy list, and you can easily block other users. Second, it’s difficult for a spammer to physically sit and type that fast to send out stuff as fast as an e-mail spammer can do.

Many of us are careless in cyberspace because it’s a virtual world, but the problems can spill into the real world, so be on guard all the time.

(This article appeared in Living Digital magazine in July 2005)

Let’s meet… in cyberspace

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Are you lonely? Do you want to build a social network just sitting in front of your computer? Do you want to use the Net to build up a business network in a short time? Or do you just want to get together in the virtual world and have fun? Whatever it is, online groups are mushrooming and connecting people all across the world like never before.

Consider the figures. A Pew Internet Survey showed that 20 million people take part in an online group in America alone. An AC Nielsen survey found that nearly 40 per cent of Americans participate in online communities for hobbies, shared personal interests and health-related issues. Today there are hundreds of social networking sites with Friendster claiming that 13 million people have joined them alone.

Virtual camaraderie

But what exactly is a virtual community? One definition could be a social group connected in any way by the Net. The origin of such groups were the Bulletin Board System, where a software allowed users to download and upload data, read news and exchange messages with other users. This was followed by the popularity of the e-mail and as bandwidth increased, it became more and more easy to connect online. Today many sites serve as online meeting ground where millions can discuss matters of importance or even triviality.

So what do they want?

Take the case of Renith Valsaraj, who’s a software professional based in Bangalore. An amateur photographer looking to make it big, he sought out amateur photographers around the world to form an online group. “You don’t want to do things alone. You need company and this is the best way to do that. It’s a serious group and it’s more knowledge transfer than anything else,” he says. He formed the Bangalore Photographers Group and has notched up a membership of more than 300 photographers. Many of them meet regularly and hold exhibitions.

How Bangalore Quiz Group happened

For Prakash Subbarao, who’s taken online quizzing to new heights, it was loneliness that led him to form an online group. He’s formed the Bangalore Quiz Group, which crossed the 500-membership mark within four months of being formed. The group has daily online quizzes and even meets offline from time to time to conduct quizzes “just for fun”.

“I have made tremendous business contacts in a very short period of time. I probably would not have been able to achieve this in such a short time span offline”, admits Prakash.

In his own words: “It happened on one cold wintry night in Bangalore. It was fairly late and I was sitting in front of my PC wondering, “What next?” On an impulse, I decided to start an online quiz group. I went over to Yahoo! and created a group called “The Bangalore Quiz Group”. It took about five minutes to set up. What next? I needed members. So I went over to Ryze.com and posted messages to the two groups where I am a member-the Bangalore Balaga and the Bangalore Business Network. The results were gratifying. Within minutes members started straggling in and in another 48 hours, the membership crossed 100. It was the 1st of September, 2004. We crossed the 500-member mark in January 2005.”

So, what’s your online group?

(This article appeared in Living Digital magazine in March 2005)