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Pune Institute of Computer Technology

P ICT . I EEE . N ewsletter . G roup

Volume 4 Issue: 01 http://www.pictieee.info Feb 2010

From the Editor’s Desk…

P.I.C.T IEEE branch has a lot to boast about. Yet as always, we are humble in our endeavors and don’t proclaim our achievements to better drive home the point that there is yet a lot to be achieved. As high as we may soar, there are heights yet to be achieved. We can think of ourselves as akin to the phoenix. The phoenix starts its flight aiming to reach the sun as for it the sun is the epitome of what its goal in life is to reach. It is said

that as it approaches the sun, so high has the phoenix reached that its sinews are set on fire and it is burnt to ashes. As its ashes fall on the ground, the phoenix is reborn and

again the cycle of birth, flight death and rebirth is repeated. The phoenix symbolizes in more ways than one the power to be resilient in order to reach ones ultimate goal. That’s

what we at PICT should inculcate in our mindset, the power to be resilient in our endeavors and to have the courage to aim high. As is rightly said “To hit an eagles eye,

one must aim at the stars”. We all need to find our stars.

We at this student branch believe in innovation. In an ever changing world of technology and communication it is essential to have an open mind and be able compile a method to

solve virtually any problem we face. Congratulations are in order for our student team.

In this issue…

About IEEE Ipad or Isuck? Overview of azure The Prosthetic Arm

Paper Battery Computer Quiz G@dget-onomics

I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code

2 10 Special FEB K Issue

CREDENZ ’09 COMMITTEE MEMBERS

Event Co-ordinator:

Pawaki Singh

Rohan Malpani

Finance:

Saurabh Jain

Marketing Heads:

Rahul Muthoo

Rujuta Deshpande

Publicity Heads:

Akshay Baheti

Alex James

VNL Head:

Nitin Karda

EVENT HEADS

Paper presentation: Aasha Kabra

Rahul MuthooB-plan:

Kopal Agarwal

Mansi Jain

Nitin KardaRobotics:

Alex James

Nilay PanchalQuiz:

Yash Sinha

Gaurav JainCoding:

Gaurav Jain

Akshay Dixit

Online Publicity:

Aamir Mushtaq

If computers get too powerful, we can organize them into committees. That'll do them in.

IEEE Membership month- Why we joined? Why we stayed?

- Aamir MushtaqTE Editor

IEEE stands for the institute of electrical and electronic engineers. It is an international organization committed to provide an international platform for all professionals in the field of Engineering to network amongst themselves and to gain an advantage over other professionals to whom the enormous resources of IEEE are not available. Come to think of it, one may ask what IEEE has achieved through its so called “International platform”, and network spanning more than 160 countries (almost all the countries in the world). IEEE, an association dedicated to the fostering of technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity, is the world’s largest technical professional society. It is designed to serve professionals involved in all aspects of the electrical, electronic and computing fields and related areas of science and technology that underlie modern civilization. IEEE’s roots, however, go back to 1884 when electricity was just beginning to become a major force in society. There was one major established electrical industry, the telegraph, which—beginning in the 1840s—had come to connect the world with a communications system faster than the speed of transportation. A second major area had only barely gotten underway—electric power and light, originating in Thomas Edison’s inventions and his pioneering Pearl Street Station in New York.

In the spring of 1884, a small group of individuals in the electrical professions met in New York. They formed a new organization to support professionals in their nascent field and to aid them in their efforts to apply innovation for the betterment of humanity—the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, or AIEE for short. That October the AIEE held its first technical meeting in Philadelphia. Many early leaders, such as founding President Norvin Green of Western Union, came from telegraphy. Others, such as Thomas Edison, came from power, while Alexander Graham Bell represented the newer telephone industry. As electric power spread rapidly across the land—enhanced by innovations such as Nikola Tesla’s AC Induction Motor, long distance AC transmission and large-scale power plants, and commercialized by industries such as Westinghouse and General Electric—the AIEE became increasingly focused on electrical power and its ability to change people’s lives through the unprecedented products and services it could deliver. There was a secondary focus on wired communication, both the telegraph and the telephone. Through technical meetings, publications, and promotion of standards, the AIEE led the growth of the electrical engineering profession, while through local sections and student branches; it brought its benefits to engineers in widespread places.

The AIEE and the IRE merged to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or IEEE. At its formation, the IEEE had 150,000 members, 140,000 of whom were in the United States. Over the decades that followed, with IEEE’s continued leadership, the societal roles of the technologies under its aegis continued to spread across the world, and reach into more and more areas of people’s lives. The

The problem with troubleshooting is that trouble shoots back.

professional groups and technical boards of the predecessor institutions evolved into IEEE Societies. By the early 21st Century, IEEE served its members and their interests with 38 societies; 130 journals, transactions and magazines; more 300 conferences annually; and 900 active standards. Since that time, computers evolved from massive mainframes to desktop appliances to portable devices, all part of a global network connected by satellites and then by fiber optics. IEEE’s fields of interest expanded well beyond electrical/electronic engineering and computing into areas such as micro- and nanotechnology, ultrasonic, bioengineering, robotics, electronic materials, and many others. Electronics became ubiquitous—from jet cockpits to industrial robots to medical imaging. As technologies and the industries that developed them increasingly transcended national boundaries, IEEE kept pace, becoming a truly global institution which used the innovations of the practitioners it represented in order to enhance its own excellence in delivering products and services to members, industries, and the public at large. Publications and educational programs were delivered online, as were member services such as renewal and elections. By 2008, IEEE had 375,000 members in 160 countries, with 43 percent outside of the country where it was founded a century and a quarter before. Through its worldwide network of geographical units, publications, web services, and conferences, IEEE remains the world's leading professional association for the advancement of technology.

Coming back to a more local scenario, though I love to take things Glocal (global with a local perspective), IEEE in the college i.e. PICT IEEE branch is the largest branch of IEEE in the world and has been for 3 consecutive times. Another fun aspect is that our IEEE branch is the most active branch in India. We are organizing many events such as CREDENZ. In addition to organizing a national level event, we also have the special interest groups that fellow IEEE members can form and the members will get full support from IEEE. This newsletter group is a ripe example of the Special interest group being implemented in action. Some other SIG’s that are formed are SUG (Symantec user group), the LUG (Linux user group) just to name a few.

IEEE is not just an opportunity to network among your peers and get info on technologies. It also is an opportunity to learn hands on the dynamics of mass work. Dynamics of having to work in a group. It provided me with an opportunity to organize an event to learn from various experiences as to what it takes to work in a team, what it takes to lead. It was a really fulfilling and exciting experience on a whole.

Some of the benefits of joining IEEE also include getting a year’s subscription to the magazine “spectrum” which is a technology updater which informs us about the latest developments in technology. Also IEEE members can organize events such as CREDENZ and also they can hold seminars and attend others. Also there are special rates for participation in tech events which are heavily subsidized. What more can one ask for… wait there is more, as a member, you can search for various papers published by the researchers all over the world. So come and be a part of our family. And


remember to take an active part in all the undertakings to maximize your visibility and hone your professional skills

**************************************************************

PAPER BATTERY

- By Shubhi Asthana

Have you ever wondered that paper could be used as a source to supply power in one day? According to researchers, they have now successfully managed to transform a normal paper (which is coated with unique ink with carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires) into paper battery that can be used to power up electronic devices as a potential replacement of existing Lithium-ion batteries.The nano tubes act as electrodes allowing the storage devices to conduct electricity. The battery, which functions as both a

lithium-ion battery and a supercapacitor, can provide a long, steady power output comparable to a conventional battery, as well as a supercapacitor’s quick burst of high energy. The use of carbon

nanotubes gives the paper battery extreme flexibility; the sheets can be rolled, twisted, folded, or cut into numerous shapes with no loss of integrity or


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrodes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercapacitor

efficiency to boost total output. Because of their light weight and low cost, paper battery can be used for portable electronics, aircraft, automobiles, and toys while their ability to use electrolytes in blood make them potentially useful for medical devices such as pacemakers. The paper supercapacitor has the distinction of high surface-to-volume ratio, so it can be applied to the hybrid car. The Hybrid cars require quick electricity transfers, so it perfect for

battery systems in hybrid cars. Also the researchers say that the use of batteries of this paper can be extended to a larger scale as electrical energy storage for home or residential. We can combine the use of solar energy, wind energy and all energy alternatives to generate electricity and store it in a paper battery that is more efficient and cheaper. So we can use the electricity stored at night, when electrical energy is less.

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LED-BacklitIPS Display +

MULTI-TOUCH +

WIRELESS +

UP TO 10 HOURS

BATTERY LIFE + A

BIG BUT,Whenever a new Apple product is launched, it is followed by a frantic advertisement campaign. With Apple iPad, it isn’t any different so now all sorts of media gimmicks are used to try and convince you into buying it. But before you give in, why not have a look at why you should NOT buy Apple iPad.

1. Does NOT Support Flash: Unfortunately, that is true; it does not support flash at all. The device is meant to give the customers a better browsing experience with an ultimate graphic quality. How does it expect to do that without


iSUCK

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacemakers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft

supporting video streaming? But then again, it is a PAD!

2. What About Multitasking? This is where PAD shows signs of identity confusion because iPad has a tendency to act all iPod when it comes to multitasking. Just like iPod, iPad does not support multitasking.

3. A Little Something Called Webcam: iPad does not seem to be a huge fan of webcams either. How can I tell? Err, because it has no webcam, duh! Yes, that means no video calls, no video chats. It is a PAD, remember?

4. Puny Memory: Since the iPad does not have any ports, it means… well, it means a lot of things like you cannot plug in an external webcam, or digital camera for that matter, or a card reader or even a USB! It goes not allow you to expand its Apple iPod memory at all!

5. What About HD Video Out? A big no to that one as well. Surprise, surprise!

6. Handwriting Recognition: Well, what do you think? Bull’s eye! Apple iPad, despite being a product primarily meant for students and artists, does not have handwriting recognition.

7. E-books Without E-Ink: E-Ink is kind to eyes and is not brutal to the battery, but of course iPad does not have that! If you have to have an e-book reader, then Amazon Kindle is a better option than Apple iPad.

8. Expensive, Too Expensive: Who would pay $500 for an iPad without webcam, or external memory, or e-ink or for a device that does not support SMS, or calls, or multitasking? I

know I won’t.

*********************************

-by Aditya Gadre

Using computers in the cloud can


AN OVERVIEW OF THE AZURE SERVICES PLATFORM

make lots of sense. Rather than buying and maintaining your own machines, why not exploit the acres of Internet-accessible servers on offer today? For some applications, their code and data might both live in the cloud, where somebody else manages and maintains the systems they use. Alternatively, applications that run inside an organization—on-premises applications—might store data in the cloud or rely on other cloud infrastructure services. Applications that run on desktops and mobile devices can use services in the cloud to synchronize information across many systems or in other ways. However it’s done, exploiting the cloud’s capabilities can improve our world.But whether an application runs in the cloud, uses services provided by the cloud, or both, some kind of application platform is required. Viewed broadly, an application platform can be thought of as anything that provides developer-accessible services for creating applications. In the local, on-premises Windows world, for example, this includes technologies such as the .NET Framework, SQL Server, and more. To let applications exploit the cloud, cloud application platforms must also exist. And because there are a variety of ways for

applications to use cloud services, different kinds of cloud platforms are useful in different situations.

Microsoft’s Azure Services Platform is a group of cloud technologies, each providing a specific set of services to application developers. As The components of the Azure Services Platform can be used by local applications running on a variety of systems, including various flavors of Windows, mobile devices, and others. Those components include:

Windows Azure: Provides a Windows-based environment for running applications and storing data on servers in Microsoft data centers.

Microsoft .NET Services: Offers distributed infrastructure services to cloud-based and local applications.

Microsoft SQL Services: Provides


data services in the cloud based on SQL Server.

Live Services: Through the Live Framework, provides access to data from Microsoft’s Live applications and others. The Live Framework also allows synchronizing this data across desktops and devices, finding and downloading applications, and more.

Each component of the Azure Services Platform has its own role to play. This overview describes all four, first at a high level, then in a bit more detail. While none of them are yet final—details and more might change before their initial release—it’s not too early to start understanding this new set of platform technologies.

THE PROSTHETIC

ARMMoheet

Bhute, TE-1

A new type of robotic arm signals that a human arm would, giving its wearer better dexterity.

Credit: Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago

Scientists at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago have surgically transplanted the nerves from the shoulder to the upper-chest muscle. These re-routed nerves then grew into the muscle, which amplified the messages once sent to


muscles in the arm and hand; those signals are read by sensors on the prosthetic limb and translated into movement.

How is it different from the other artificial arms??

Most artificial arms are controlled by muscles near the amputated limb which makes the device very slow and frustrating.

The scientists transplanted to the upper chest both motor and sensory nerves that, prior to the amputation, would have traveled from the shoulder to muscles in the arm and hand. In the months after the surgery, the transplanted nerves grew into the chest muscle, eventually triggering twitches in the shoulder muscle when the patient thought about moving her hand or elbow. Scientists then mapped the precise pattern of muscle activity that occurred when the patient mentally executed specific movements,

such as grasping or moving the elbow. Liberating Technologies, a prosthetic-device company, then made a specialized prosthetic limb, which was programmed to sense muscle activity generated by the transplanted nerves and use it to control movement of a motorized elbow, wrist, and hand. Must: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6R5bm6qx2E


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6R5bm6qx2E



G@dget-onomics

-Aamir Mushtaq

The year 2009 is still a not-so-distant memory, but we're already looking for the next big thing in 2010. Last year people bought iPhones and Flip camcorders by the millions, but what will it be this year? The Apple Tablet—freshly released at this writing--would become a hit or not?, and a new, more powerful iPhone would be greeted with open arms and open wallets. But we've found other strong contenders, such as the Xbox "Project Natal" gaming controller, the Sezmi TV broadcast and streaming system, and the sharp-looking new IdeaPad U1 laptop from Lenovo. Read on forward to check out the glamour shots and the details for each soon-to-be-hot gadget.

Project Natal:

Nintendo had better watch its back, because Microsoft has announced a new controller for the Xbox 360--a controller

that allows you to play without a controller. Dubbed "Project Natal," the new Xbox 360 controller looks similar to the Nintendo Wii's sensor bar: a small bar that sits above or below your television and tracks your movements. But Microsoft has one-upped the Wii by adding 3D motion tracking, voice recognition, and facial recognition to Project Natal. We don't know how accurate and effective Project Natal will be--that's for the thousands of gamers who buy it next Thanksgiving to find out. What seems sure is that even though the product will hit the shelves far into 2010, it already has enough hype among gamers to ensure big sales numbers. But Project Natal won't be the only must-have gaming controller next Christmas. This fall in the PlayStation 3 world, Sony will release its wand-based "Arc" motion controller, which has a solid chance of cranking up just as much buzz. And it will certainly stoke up the forum firefights between the PS3 and Xbox fanboys.

Sezmi:

Ditching cable TV and moving to online TV is a great idea,


but no matter how you do it, you miss out on lots of broadcast TV (live news, sports, local programming). Sezmi may be the first service to fix that. Sezmi is a service based on a set-top box that not only streams video from the Web and from your PC, but also catches over-the-air local broadcast TV via a supplied in-home antenna. On the remote control, each family member has their own button, which will take them to their personal Sezmi channel--complete with on-demand shows tailored to their personal tastes. There's no need to worry about overloading the Sezmi, either, as each box is packed with a whopping 1TB for recorded shows. The service is in trials in the Los Angeles market now, but is expected to go worldwide later this year.

Motorola Backflip:

AT&T says that 30 percent of its handset sales last year were messaging phones. Motorola's latest Android-powered phone, the Backflip, may be AT&T's "it" messaging phone this year. Not that there's a big market it for it or anything--just the legions of kids who text-message and Facebook pretty much all day long. As such, the Backflip features a full QWERTY keyboard that can be flipped out so that both the keyboard

and the touchscreen face the user. The phone also has a "backtrack," or mousepadlike touchpad on the back of the touchscreen to control the cursor on the screen. The phone packs only a midsize processor, but the messaging crowd doesn't really need lots of power. We expect the Backflip to reach a $100 (subsidized) price point by the end of 2010. How will Moms and Dads say no to a phone

costing just under 5k INR?

Google Nexus One:

While the new Nexus One is no more a "Google phone" than the HTC G1, it is


probably the best Android phone on the market today. And Google has done such a good job of associating itself with the Nexus One in the minds of most consumers and much of the media that this "Google phone" is bound to sell like hotcakes in 2010. And make no mistake: It is a very

nice phone. Is it an iPhone killer? Well, It's slimmer than the iPhone, has a slightly bigger and more hi-res OLED screen, as well as a noticeably faster, 1GHz Snapdragon processor, among other things (like Google Voice support). At the very least, the Nexus One represents a truly viable alternative for iPhone users, especially after the Verizon Wireless network begins supporting the "Google phone" later this year.

Lenovo IdeaPad U1:

Forget tablets; Lenovo has introduced a new hybrid notebook: the Lenovo IdeaPad U1. The IdeaPad U1 is a 3.8-pound laptop that runs Windows 7 and has a 128GB solid-state drive--but wait: If you pull off the 11.6-inch

screen, you get a Linux-running multitouch tablet PC with 16GB of flash memory. That's right--not only is it a laptop and a tablet, but it runs

both Windows and Linux. The 1.6-pound tablet powers up within 3 seconds of being removed from the base, which can then act as a 3G wireless hub for the tablet. Many consumers will be trying to decide between a laptop or a tablet this year, but the hybrid Lenovo IdeaPad U1 might well settle the argument by providing both. The U1 is priced at just under $1000.

iPhone 4G:

It hasn't even been a year since the iPhone 3GS, and


people are already looking toward the next iPhone, which some speculate may be called the iPhone 4G. The iPhone 3GS offered only incremental changes to the iPhone 3G's hardware--and it looked exactly the same. Rumors suggest that the iPhone 4G will be available as early as May or June 2010, and may have a new design, a faster processor, a 5-megapixel camera, and an OLED screen--features that would rival those on Google's Nexus One. Other rumors hint at a removable battery, video chat support, and a redone app store. The rumors aren't totally out of left field--an army of Androids are marching into the smartphone market. We believe this will force Apple to upgrade its iPhone more drastically, and sooner, in order to stay competitive in a quickly-changing market.

So, that’s about it from the Gadgetzone in this edition of PING. Hope you liked it and I am sure , y’all have updated your wish lists after having a peek at the latest in technology today. Until the next Edition, its ciao from me.

Keep on “Buzz”ing.

Google BUZZ…ZZZZ

-NET

Google shot an artillery strike at Facebook on Tuesday by adding Google Buzz, a new social networking capability to its popular Gmail Web e-mail service. Though Google Buzz is somewhat integrated with Twitter, along with a few other services – Flickr and Picasa, most notably – there's no integration with the social network of record, Facebook. And that's a void that Google will have to fill.

For now, Google is rolling the Buzz service out to all its users over the next few days, so sit tight if you don't have it yet. Check buzz.google.com to see if your account is activated. Once Google activates Buzz on your account, your Gmail will have a new Buzz icon right below the Inbox on the left panel. The icon is labeled as you might expect – "Buzz" – and sports the new social network's colorful Chrome-like logo. Alternatively, you may get a full welcome page when you log in, touting the new feature. You can either try it out or ignore it and go to your regular Gmail inbox.

Social networking with Google Buzz

The first time you enter your Buzz-enhanced Gmail inbox, you'll see the contacts Google has found for you. Most users will likely see more proposed contacts.


Next, we get a chance to follow other users. Who better to follow than Google's Sergey Brin, and the product's manager, Todd Jackson. Like Twitter, and unlike Facebook, Google Buzz lets you follow anyone you want and view their public posts. This is one aspect I really like about Buzz, and one that takes something good from both Facebook and Twitter: its ability to create a public, Twitter-like feed, and a private one like Facebook for folks you really know.

Once I have my account and my contacts, it's time for posting. The options aren't as fleshed out as those in Facebook, but they are richer than a Twitter post, which isn't surprising. I pasted a couple thousand characters into the posting area (a text box), so there didn't seem to be any limit on the length of a text post. My absurdly long status update showed as a single line with an "expand" link. There's also a collapse link.

Posting with Google Buzz

Choosing whether to post to your private social network instead of the public at large is a simple matter of clicking the big, obvious "Private/Public" dropdown right next to the "Post" button. Facebook has just added an option to post to "Everyone on the Internet"; most people expect that only

mutually approved Friends will see their updates. Twitter is what people associate with public announcements anyone on the Internet can see. In fact, it gets annoying when tweeters you've followed to learn from their expertise engage in personal back-and-forths; in Facebook it's expected. Buzz is trying to offer a two-in-one service – private and public.

The only post options aside from text at this point are "Link," and "Photo". I was disappointed to find that inserting a YouTube link didn't add the video to the post, but rather just an image of the video. On another try, I did get a video entry with a play button, but a notice said embedding was disabled. But the third try was the charm; I saw the embedded video.

After you post, you have a few choices from a right-hand menu: you can edit your post, delete it, or email it. You can also create a link to it, which actually creates a standalone Web page for the post—neat! Another choice is Mute, which shows up whether you or someone else is the creator of the post. Hitting this makes the post slowly disappear from view. Other choices for posts not from yourself are "view all buzz from [User name]", "follow," and "report abuse"


Others can comment on your post and, just as in Facebook, "Like" it. The comment interface is pleasing, and somewhat reminiscent of Google Wave (as is the "mute" option) without all the confusion. The service hides some comments, showing a link such as "2 more comments" so that the post doesn't take up too much space.

Anyone who views a post can also e-mail it using a full Web e-mail editor rather than the simple no-editing option we're used to seeing on web sites' "e-mail this" options. This editor includes fonts, attachments, and all the rest. It's like Gmail within Buzz, within Gmail.

Connecting your Buzz stream to other Internet services is limited to just a choice of five at this point: Picasa Web Albums, Google Reader for RSS feeds, Google Chat status, Flickr, and Twitter. And the Twitter integration is one-way: You can only funnel your tweets into buzz, not the other way around. Rivals, such as Yahoo, have already pointed out the weaknesses of Google Buzz.

Can Buzz beat Facebook or Twitter?

One of the key advantages Google claims with Google

Buzz will take more time for a full appraisal: its ability to filter out the noise. I'll only be able to guage that after months of use and quite a few more follows. At this point, I'm afraid I don't see that the Buzz page is any less cluttered than Facebook, which also lets you hide posts that don't interest you.

It's certainly a good implementation, with a few advantages over Facebook. But that may not matter. Facebook has the audience, to the tune of a half billion users; no matter how nice a Facebook clone you make, people will likely stay on Facebook. Sure, lots of people use Gmail, but not for social networking. Microsoft and Yahoo have both incorporated social status updates to their very popular webmail services, but that hasn't pulled people off Facebook and onto their social systems. Buzz has a long way to go to catch up with Facebook, not only in user numbers, but in hot applications (Google says there will be an open API), and things like groups and fan sites.

Still, this time Google has unveiled a much stronger social offering than its previous attempts. After that, the masses may follow. At


least now they'll have a choice between Web powerhouses.

PICE IEEE OFFICE BEARERS 2009

Counselor: Prof. R.B.Ingle Chairperson: Shraiya Srivastava

Vice Chairperson: Pawaki Singh

Treasurer: Anuja Khemka

Secretary Of Finance: Vaibhav Jain

Secretary: Ritesh R Ganatra

Yash Sinha

Vice-Treasurer: Saurabh Jain

Public Relation Officer: Nitin Karda

Joint Secretary: Rahul Muthoo

Rohan Malpani


Rujuta Deshpande

Members of Senior Council: Anjali Aggarwal

Sarang Chaudhari

Kapil Neurgaonkar

Members of Junior Council: Aamir Mushtaq

Aasha Kabra

Akshay Baheti

Alex James

Akshay Dixit

Gaurav Jain

Kopal Agrawal

Mansi Jain


From : Room No 106,Pune Institute Of Computer TechnologyDhankawadi Pune.Email: [email protected] In Your Articles to :

[email protected]


"If you want to go somewhere, goto is the best way to get there."

Editorial Board

Editors

Aamir Mushtaq

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Documents

ieee ipad

world of technology

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