Entries Tagged 'Science and technology' ↓

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

on10.net brings you this two-part video edition of their visit with researchers at Microsoft Research. Take a peek into advanced ideas and technologies developing in the Microsoft’s Research Labs.
A visit with Microsoft Research: A look at tomorrow’s health solutions today

Popularity: 8% [?]

Technology channel on MSN India brings you Tips of the day section where everyday you will learn some trick with MS office suite - MS Word, MS Excel, PowerPoint. And also with mail and internet - Windows XP, Windows Vista, Internet Explorer & Outlook.

For tip of the day visit MSN India Tech Channel and to see the list of archived tips visit Useful Tips section.

Here are some quick links directly taking you to various sections:

Tips on MS Word - Quick tips to improve the looks of the documents.

Short tips on MS Word - Don’t know how to check thesaurus or move paragraphs Up and Down in Word? Click here.

More on EXCEL - Learn how to work with multiple Excel worksheets and a lot more on daily tips.

Windows XP tips - Instantly activate your screen saver, change the look of folder icons, put your Monitor to sleep and many more tips on XP.

Extended tips on PowerPoint - Did you know you can print a presentation without opening PowerPoint? Here are some more tips on Powerpoint.

Other tips: Windows Vista, Internet Explorer and Outlook

Tips for installing Vista on your PC

Popularity: 33% [?]

If you think plastic money has only impacted the way we shop, then you are totally wrong. The plastic money or the credit card has impacted how we buy, how we shop, how we do business, how we sell stuff, how we manage our finances and all the other important stuff which you can’t even measure or analyse - stuff like culture, society and humanity. In a same way our screen consumption has led to many things we had never thought (at least I had never thought). I am sure many people must have discussed this is the past, researched it , researching it or thinking about the future - but I was not able to find out the word for this phenomenon and that’s why for my own comfort, I coined a new one - screensumer.

What is a Screen ?

There is no definition for a screen, the very first screen known to humanity is his own shadow or the reflection in the waters. The first man made screen must be definitely the mirror. Mirror according to me is the most high-fidelity non-electronic display system that man has invented so far. But Mirror has a problem you cannot store image on the Mirror in any way. And transmitting images through Mirror is still a pain. Fibre optics is of course a system of transmitting information through mirror but requires lot of electronics - to capture, transmit and project the image.

As we progressed we experimented with different Screen system -

Symbolic and textual images can be created using series of bulbs or LEDs.

Magically Movie Screen, the biggest screen in the history was invented before the small one - television . But you had to go to Movies, it was available to you but not on a daily basis. Movies almost had the same impact which Television created later. Television is the evolution of a movie screen in all the possible permutation and combinations - technology, production, delivery, entertainment, culture, society, news and many many other things.

The biggest invention in retail space (in your home) so far has been Television which was backed by the entire system of recording, storing and transmitting, projecting and display. Television itself has evolved as a device from CRT to LCD to Plasma and to Touch based going forward. The standards, electronics and capacity of this medium is evolving day by day. The biggest invention is actually the web, but again the computer monitor that we use is just a modified Television to support near distance viewing.

What is Screen Consumption and who is Screensumer ?

Definition of a screensumer is simple - "a person who consumes screen". Am I stupid or what ? Screen consumption ? Screen is a delivery medium not an information, entertainment, product or service which you can consume. But do we really know in our life what we consume ? Remember that song by Bruce Springsteen 57 channels and nothing on. I think it was the first artistic mention of Screensumerism.  Have you ever experienced this ?

" You are in your office, suddenly all the Air-conditioners have been shut, lights are still on and there is no problem with the electricity. Suddenly you experience such a deep and spooky silence, you really realize now that Air conditioners are actually so noisy but you never realized the sound when it was working for you, you realized it when the sound was missing. In short, you were till now consuming noise. And hence that is why I say that we don’t even know most of the times what we are consuming."

When we are browsing channels on TV and end up spending 2-3 hours in front of it without actually watching any program, liking any stuff or remembering any of the stuff post consumption - at such times we are consuming screen, the television and not the channels. The same goes for Mobile, Web and any other Screen based medium.

The screensumerism is getting hard coded into your lifestyle - you are in front of a screen throughout the day 8,10,12,14 and much more crazy hours. You are so stuck to this screen that even besides your work, if you get any time you end up spending it on the screen. You eyes are already burning and they are exhausted, but still when you come back home, the first thing that you do is - switch on the TV. Some people like me, have gone beyond this and have taken their laptops to their beds and late night reading has transformed to late night browsing. You don’t even know or realize that, at this odd hours you don’t have any mails to catch up with, there is no mission critical stuff, but still you end up with a screen. And last but not the least set your alarm on a mobile (your last screen of the day) and waking up to it in the morning (your first screen of the day)

Popularity: 68% [?]

I have started spending more than 12-14 hours in a day in front of a screen, be it mobile, be it computer or be it television. Today morning when I got up I was tired, eyes were still straining and I felt as if I had a screen hangover. As I have a very noisy brain, I couldn’t stop thinking about the impact of the screen of our lives and society. I started having train of thoughts in so many directions that finally I came up with a gimmicky word ‘screensumer‘ = ’screen + consumer’ that is, people who consume screens.

And I thought to myself I would really figure out how screensumerism has impacted our perception, thoughts, knowledge, interactions, personality, society, culture, evolution - yes evolution. I will write series of blog post on each of these points in more depth. This blog will be now a commentary of my thoughts on screensumer, screensuming and screensumerism.

An hour back, this question was posted on LinkedIn and already received 3 answers, I have also posted this question on slashdot, not sure if it will be accepted. I searched on various search and news searchengines - couldn’t locate this word anywhere, I guess I am the first screensumer :). Please do let me know if you know of someone who has already talked about this phenomenon or topic.

Linked In Question:

How much screen do you consume ?

We all have become screensumers consuming different mediums on screen - mobile, handhelds, TV, computer monitors and all. This is the first generation of human beings which is spending more than 10-12 hours in a day, in front of their screens. How it impacts the person consuming the screen and the society as a whole. Will so much of screen consumption mutate our eyes, physical vision, perception of reality, online life Vs real life, face to face interactions. What has been your observation and experience on this, is there any study on this ?

Popularity: 44% [?]

Evan McIntosh jots down some asian mobile stats some nice data on China and the mobile divide in the region. I think the trend is somewhat similar in India. Manu has some detailed stats on India

Popularity: 20% [?]

Environmental Leader carries a guest post "Top 10 reasons to green IT" from Kevin Klustner President and CEO, Verdiem  I have seen articles talking about the direct benefits, but in this article the author talks about the overall social benefits as well:

6. Inspire employees: Employees feel a deep sense of pride working in organizations that do their part for the environment. When your employees know their computers are using less than half the power they used to, with no impact on productivity, they’ll know they personally are helping to reduce the company’s carbon footprint.

7. Improved reputation and brand value: According to the BBMG Conscious Consumer Report, the vast majority of Americans not only expect business leaders and marketers to provide environmentally-friendly products, but they’re adamant that those “green friendly” claims are backed up with legitimate practices. Investing in a strong sustainability program (which can be led with Green IT) and communicating the value to your customers and stakeholders can do wonders for your reputation and brand.

Popularity: 20% [?]

Doctor Rose writes about branding and apple fanboy documentary MacHeads . As mentioned in the post, products are becoming our passionate possessions and our life now revolves around experiencing the use of that product. The music players, the mobile phones, the cameras are not just products - they are the gateways to our experiences and our lives.

Popularity: 19% [?]