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Exclusive Interview with George Kourounis Page 5
THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE www.scholarsavenue.org
F EBRUARY 13 2010
"I wonder if this is something they're advised to do?”
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few days ago I came across a Canadian professor's blog. The latest post was an excerpt of a mail from an Indian student inquiring into the possibility of working in his laboratory as a summer intern. It was an innocent query from a student who found his research interests in perfect harmony with
those of the academician. Such a correlation was further established with references to publications and papers of the researcher that supported the student's claim. It had all the making of a genuine interest and sincere anxiety. All perfectly fine and acceptable.
are a professor reading this, you might probably be wondering why these students have latched onto the idea of Foreign Training or might be reflecting on the atrocities of spamming, unheard of in your college days. To these professors I say this: Sir, the times have changed. It’s a more competitive world today. A summer internship is mandatory for some of us and even with the strenuous efforts of the TnP Cell, it is not possible that all students are picked by visiting companies. The alternative of lack-lustre training at one of the lesser known industries is much less appealing on our Curricula Vitae. This urges us, or rather piles on us the peer pressure that forces us to explore other avenues – those more lucrative and relevant to our future endeavours. Being students from India’s top university, we are handicapped in our options in the country and hence, our broadminded viewpoint. For sophomores, the motivation is, though premature, value addition to their profile.
The catch: The professor in question has never worked in the field so definitively highlighted as The skewed-up student-teacher his area of expertise by this student who claimed to be so enamoured by ratio is no help either. Gone are the days when a professor was familiar his work. with the aptitude and attitude of Needless to say, what followed e a c h o f h i s s t u d e n t s a n d were citations from other professors consequentially, are days bygone to similar incidents in the when a student could confidently comments section. The post was approach a certain professor and probably intended in good humour inquire if he could recommend him and to a certain extent, it lived to its to an internship in a collaborative expectations – gratefully. However, research laboratory. Instead, the amidst hilarious takes on this average undergrad has to succumb 'isolated' case was one particular to relying on his independent efforts remark that caught my eye and on this front. inspired this editorial - "I wonder if Our undergraduate curriculum this is something they're advised to do?" The "this" here referring to was never structured to cultivate research interest in the student until what we know as "FT mailing". his final year. With the first year If a fresher, you are curious being fundamentally an extension about it; if a sophomore, you are of Class XII, our academic enchanted by it; if a junior, you are knowledge by the fifth semester is desperate for it and if a senior, you confined only to the introductory are experienced at it. In any case, courses of our sophomore year. The you are all in the know of it. If you l a c k o f a p p e a l i n g r e s e a r c h
opportunities on campus doesn’t help student interests either, leaving our average Kumar with an open field of engineering to choose from. In the language of FT mailing this translates into students mailing professors with every remotely connected research interest under the sun. What starts as a selective list of professors working on very interesting projects snowballs into a random database of academicians remotely associated with engineering! The absence of completed projects in your Curriculum Vitae does not support o n e ' s c a u s e e i t h e r. Wi t h approaching deadlines and discouraging responses (most times, none at all), thoroughly researching a professor’s profile before mailing him seems a worthless effort. With the relentless approach of the summer and not much success, you yield to a template in the hopes that more mails imply more responses. The result: spam. As much as this writer believes in FT mails, he does not justify blind spamming. The minimum a student can do is visit the professor’s profile page and glance through, and more importantly understand the subject of a few of his papers online. "Misinterpreting" research interests is as inexcusable as inexplicable. Period. All said and done, it is our Institute’s reputation at stake and it is our collective responsibility to preserve it, if not uphold it. With every professor infuriated by a spam mail, the number of universities black-listing students of our Institute is bolstered. So the only question is -- should we proceed down this self-destructive path and subject ourselves to inevitable institute regulation or should we band together and make a concerted self-organised effort to safe-guard our standing in the international research community?
IIT K HARAGPUR
Fee Hike The IITs have presented a proposal to the Government for an eight-fold increase in fees from Rs. 50,000 to Rs 4 lakh per annum (for B.Tech students), to facilitate the IITs in becoming self-financing institutions. The proposed fee hike, if accepted by the government would take place over a period of ten years, with an annual increase of Rs. 35,000. However, the Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal, suggested that the proposal would be considered after the Ministry sets up an Education Finance Corporation (EFC). This effectively, puts the fee hike on hold till 2012, by when the EFC is expected to be in place.
Malayesh Banerjee Scholarship In memory of fellow IITian Malayesh Banerjee (Architecture, Nehru Hall, 2005 batch) who succumbed to bullet injuries during the 26/11 Mumbai attack in 2008, his friends and batch mates have come together with the Institute administration and have decided to institute a scholarship in his name that would ensure his name echoes forever in the corridors of IIT-KGP. Initiated by his fiancé Khushboo Jha, who aims to collect a corpus of Rs 10,00,000 for the scholarship, the Malayesh Banerjee Scholarship worth Rs 80,000 would be awarded to a 3rd year Undergraduate student who, like Malayesh, demonstrates allround excellence. The judging criteria would be the same as the BC Roy Gold Medal and would be assessed by the same committee. Prof. B K Sengupta, HOD, Department of Architecture remembers Malayesh as a very bright boy. "He was a good student, always ready to help others. We hope the scholarship will inspire many more to be like Malayesh," he said.
Food Management Committee
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ick of the messy conditions prevailing at the campus eateries? (Pun intended) You won’t have to worry anymore. This January, in a CELC (Commercial Establishment Licensing Committee) meeting, a proposal to form a subcommittee that would monitor the working of the food joints in the campus was passed and adopted. The ‘Food Management Committee’, as it is now called is composed of 5 members including 3 student representatives. Along with the Prof. Incharge of CELC and the
secretary of CELC, the other members are the VP-Gymkhana, the UG representative and a VP’s nominee. The reason behind instituting such a committee was to enforce a level of hygiene and to keep a check on the spiraling cost of food among other things. A survey of all eateries on campus was carried out on January 20th and several attention deserving areas were identified. “Some suggestions were put forth by us, in order to improve customer experience. Dreamland and Sahara were advised to improve
their existing seating arrangement and lighting, use clean utensils and paper napkins and prevent encroachment by stray animals. They brought to our notice, the blocked sewer in their premises that was creating a problem in the disposal of garbage. We have notified the sanitary section and that issue will be dealt by them. Dreamland has also agreed to provide uniforms to all its waiters.” said Shubham Matah, VPGymkhana. “Likewise, Tikka was asked to maintain better standards
of hygiene in their kitchen and place dustbins to ensure cleanliness. Another round of visits is planned after the mid semester exams to check how far the suggestions were paid heed to. If the eateries ignore some of our critical suggestions, they may lose their license to operate.” he added. A suggestion/complaint box would also be placed at every eatery and the contacts of the members of this committee will be prominently displayed at the eateries in the coming months.
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DOCTORATE’S INFORMATION SYSTEM
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ndia's vast pool of PhD scholars will now be listed in the Doctorate's Information System (DIS) as per a decision taken by the IIT Council, enabling them to track doctorates right from their enrolment, registration, award of degree, employment and even thereafter. Students simply have to create an academic profile and can keep updating it even after their PhD degree is awarded. DIS will assist them in deciding their future funding programmes. This would come in handy for research labs across the world searching for talent. The system is now available at http://144.16.206.211/dis/ and can be accessed globally. All PhD students of IIT Kharagpur can start using this service from 1st February.
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² S A T U R D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 13 T H 2010
COUNSELLING CENTER FOLLOW-UP
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ince its inception last September, The Counselling Centre has done considerable work for the distressed souls of IIT-KGP. It is currently running the Student Coordinator Training Programme as a measure to prevent student suicides. The problems students in campus appear to be facing range from low self-esteem to lack of motivation. The general feedback from students about the counselling has been quite positive. The centre's future programmes include the Gatekeepers Training, which aims at students being able to identify symptoms in their peers and refer them to the counselling centre in
time. However, the centre is currently facing an acute staff shortage with just one counsellor and a coordinator. Plans to recruit more clinical psychologists and even interested faculty members as counsellors are on. According to Dr. Rajlakshmi Guha, the head c o u n s e l l o r, “ S t u d e n t s h a v e misconceptions about attending counselling. We want more students to break out of their shell and the best way to get students is through other students. The students who have taken our assistance are spread throughout all courses and disciplines including PhDs and M.Techs.”
INSTITUTE SUGGESTION COMMITTEE
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n response to a flurry of opinions calling for the establishment of a
forum to air the opinions of residents of the campus, the Institute Authorities have finally come up with the Institute Suggestion Scheme. A brainchild of Prof. Damodar Acharya, the Suggestion Management Scheme will serve as a platform for voicing suggestions related to the holistic improvement of quality of life in the campus. The realm of the suggestions entertained is broad and academics falls within its purview. The seven member Committee headed by Prof BK Mathur will
deliberate on the suggestions and decide on their implementation. “If the suggestion is found feasible, the proposer of the idea will be invited to a meeting with the Suggestion Management Committee and will be given a chance to present his solution to the committee.” said Prof. Mathur. A total of 39 suggestions have been received so far and 3 meetings have been held since the inception of the service. A meeting to brainstorm over the implementation of the received ideas is on the cards.
O NLINE N EWS To read these articles online and to give your feedback on them, please visit our website at www.scholarsavenue.org. The website provides the latest campus news through our coverage of events as they happen.
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T EAM S CHOLSAVE Executive Editors : Anup Bishnoi, Deepak Cherian,Mithun Madhusudan Editors: AVN Murthy, Bharath Bhat, Dheeraj Golla, Mayank Kedia, Pallavi Jayannavar, Siddharth Prabhu, Siddharth Singh Asst. Editors: Abhirajika A, Amiya Adwitiya, Arvind Sowmyan, Ratan J S, Tiyasa Mitra, Vijay, Sumeet Mohanty Reporters: Achyut Bihani, Chirag Tibrewal, Deepesh Kumar, Hridya Ravimohan, Indra Saha, Mahtab Soin, Parth Govil, Rishab Poddar Junior Reporters: Abhijeet T, Ajay Viswanathan, Koulick Ghosh, Pranav Rao, Pravin Sharma
Praveen Kumar Sharma - Electronics and Communication Engineering - IIT Campus “Great Teacher”, “very comprehensive Course Covering all basics”, “I learnt quite a lot and feel confidence about the GRE now” Debajit Bhattacharya - Electrical Engineering - MS Hall - Excellent Classes, “there cannot be anything better” Koushik Das - Electronics Engineering - MS Hall - My Overall Experience at Roads was “Very Good”, The Class room “Interaction” was the thing I Admired the most Aamod Shanker - Electronics and Communication Engineering - MS Hall - “Excellent”, “A Great Experience” E Mallikarjun - Instrumentation - JCB Hall - “GRE words are derived into groups which are easy way to remember” Sumit Dhoble - CS Department - MS Hall - “The class was very interesting, never turned soporific even for a second” Ashish Sur - Electrical Engineering - RK Hall - “Good Content, Hope application process is similarly very good” Samrat Dey - Electrical Engineering - Azad Hall - “Faculty really provides the necessary knowledge”, “I really liked the amount of practice done in the class, really interactive and fascinating” Kollol Aguan - Electonics and Communication Engineering - RK Hall
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² S A T U R D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 13 T H 2010
GC Standings
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Biometric Security System
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Biometric Security System which will assist in keeping a track of the whereabouts of students is going to be introduced soon by the institute. This step has been taken keeping in mind various security concerns and emergency situations, where often the location of a student in question is ambiguous. A smart card, which will double as the library card will be used for this purpose. Sensors will be placed at key points in the institute and these cards will even be used for recording attendance. It
has been decided that not only students, but all staff and members of their families too, will have these multipurpose cards. In a campus as large as ours, locating a person can be quite tedious, especially, as it is often not known whether he is in the campus at that particular time. We have been assured that the data will be strictly confidential and used only for students’ security. Since the number of cards to be generated will be quite high, and there will be a constant need for a card generation system, there are plans for setting up one in the campus itself. Initially, it was planned to implement this as a test project in SN and LLR Halls at the beginning of this semester. But the new Biometric Security System will come into place possibly from the next semester.
New Water Treatment Plant The administration does have some ambitious plans laid out for the improvement of various facilities of the campus. Recently, it was the turn of the Institute’s Water Works Department as it unveiled a brand new Water Treatment Plant which was inaugurated on the 12th of February by the Director himself. Also in the pipeline (no pun intended) as a part of this initiative is a one-crore rupee pipeline that has been built to meet the demands of the halls. Check out our next issue for a more detailed report.
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² S A T U R D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 13 T H 2010
Going Back in Time With Sir Anthony Leggett
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ir Anthony James Leggett is a world renowned authority in the field of low temperature physics and super-fluids, for which he was duly recognized with the Physics Nobel in 2003. Born in London, UK, this theoretical physicist has laid new paths in Condensed Matter Physics and the foundations of Quantum Mechanics. He has an adventurous side to him as well with rock climbing and countryside cycling being his major passions. TSA: Let’s go back to the time you were a student. Unlike most scientists, you started off by studying Philosophy and the Classics. While most scientists debunk all philosophy, you seem to have a contrary perception. AL: You see, philosophers, by the very nature of their discipline, question what a lot of people take for granted. And this leads to ideas and discussions – for example, my talk today about whether time can move backwards. Maybe, philosophy gave me the ability to think in a different way and see where I end up. TSA: What was the guiding factor which led you to a career in Theoretical Physics? AL: Firstly, I wasn't resourceful enough to look outside a university career [Laughs]. I was looking for a subject where I had some kind of external criteria, that provided by nature rather than fellow practitioners to decide about good or bad work. And I thought physics might be a good idea. TSA: After graduating from Oxford,
you had to make a choice for a university to pursue your PostDoctoral Studies. Other than academic factors, you criterion was an atmosphere very different from that of Oxford. Similarly, students here have to make choice for their graduate studies. What would your advice to them be? AL: Someone told me about this study carried out by the German Business and Finance Confederation a few years ago. They set out to see what factors would predict success for a university student. They looked at a lot of things undergraduate scores, background, ethnicity, major subjects etc. and they found zero correlation [Laughs]. But one thing that did show up was that students who went abroad for their studies did better. TSA: You once went on a fellowship to Japan for a year. AL: Yes, and I certainly learnt a lot from the experience. I learnt the Japanese language and gained from learning about their culture. [Incidentally, in his autobiography,
Sir Leggett mentions that this led some people to believe that he could be a CIA agent planted in Japan!] TSA: Scientists, particularly theorists, are often asked to justify their research with little significance to mankind when there are problems like climate change which need bright minds. Your thoughts, Sir? AL: Yes, I can give you my public defense of my research [Laughs]. One of the ways a lot of energy is wasted is because of losses in transmission. We are working on minimizing these losses. We could make transmission lines out of the existing Cuprate superconductors. Or maybe find new materials which can work at room temperatures. We have the Energy Resources Centre at our institute, where we are conducting research on these lines. TSA: Well, theorists have been known to say that they do research because they find it aesthetic, like musicians or painters. Now, the layman can appreciate art and music, but not so much Physics or Maths.
AL: [Laughs heartily at this one]. Well, certainly. I guess it's a matter of perception. I think my appreciation for modern music is much worse than my appreciation for, say, General Relativity. TSA: A lot of people emphasize on doing things correctly and children learn to err on the side of inaction rather than mistakes. You like the idea of "Being wrong without being stupid". AL: That’s true and it’s helped me [Laughs]. I think we need to realise that risk-taking is essential. It certainly helps you to get to something new. TSA: Sir, This is your 9th visit to India... AL: That might just be right. I am not as sure as you are [Laughs] but I have come a lot of times, yes. TSA: How do you find the Indian culture and the people here? AL: Well, I can’t talk about the whole country. It’s so huge and diverse. One thing I do like is that students are very open in questioning and discussing. They are ready to reveal their ignorance of a particular aspect much more readily than Western students. This is something that I really appreciate. For the complete interview visit www.scholarsavenue.org
Bittersweet R
outine has already made its dreary presence felt. SpringFest and Kshitij and the energy and pandemonium they brought already seem far off. All we are left with is the aftertaste. SpringFest 2010 didn’t begin with a bang. A thud, rather. Skidrow had backed out last minute and Jal had cancelled a minute after the last. The crux of SpringFest seemed to have vanished. With zero hour nearly upon them, panic reigned. Frenzied, the team instantly went into damage-control mode, desperately struggling to salvage the fest. Finding replacement acts, worthy of one of the largest cultural fests in the country, wasn’t going to be easy. Yet miraculously, within what seemed like no time, they managed to conjure up two very well received concerts – those of Kailasa, and Pritam and his band. And then the tides turned. True, most of the events were
delayed. True, every show was preceded by a stampede of overenthusiastic dolts. True, Skidrowtshirt-clad heavy-metal junkies were unfortunate enough to be treated to Kailash Kher instead. True, there were a lot of things that had massive room for improvement. Yet, you can’t help but take your hats off to the team that brought a fest, at the brink of being a colossal fiasco, to being one of the best editions of SpringFest so far. This year saw not only the largest, but also the best quality in participation ever – be it in Rangmanch or Wildfire. The Pronites met and exceeded expectations and true to their slogan, SF '10 did manage to encapsulate the spirit of the youth . Kshitij 2010, on the other hand, appeared well organised and seemed blessed enough to avert any last-minute disaster. There was some good and some bad. Starting with the latter – the 3D Holograph Show. Thanks to the needless
lighting on stage, the 3D fell flat. 2Dstyle. Segmenting the show, was Nitin a.k.a. Rivaldo’s somewhat distasteful act which did little to help things. From humour (or lack of ) to hogwash. Tsk-tsk. Another mystery was the point of such a large deluge of people. The campus was teeming with students, who just seemed to idle around at eateries or strut about with the aim of just occupying space. When asked what they planned to do at the fest – they merely shrugged, oblivious to the fact that they, as ‘participants’, are obliged to ‘participate’ in the fest. The notice on DC++ requesting Kgpians to house outsiders in their rooms was evidence enough of lack of accommodation. Many were denied the opportunity to attend workshops, citing lack of space. The logistics need serious scrutiny. It would have been a lot less unpleasant if, the capacity and influx were on comparable scales.
Anyhow, other than a few hiccups, the rest of the fest was conducted with professionalism and reached new levels of excellence with the quality of the Megashows, workshops and guestlectures. Nigel Mead and George Kourounis were a mammoth success, with the latter giving a repeat lecture that was spontaneously organised on popular demand. All the events saw great involvement, especially the Robotix events that had tougher problem statements, thus inviting probably fewer, but definitely better participants. With this edition, KTJ has undoubtedly taken a step closer to brilliance. Slip-ups and smooth-outs, harmony and cacophony, excitement and confusion, exhilaration and disappointment all came together giving us the flavour of the two fests, of two memorable weekends. Not too sweet. Not too bitter.
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Ten Thousand Thundering Typhoons!
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eorge Kourounis, Canadian adventurer, storm chaser and TV presenter, is the first person ever to have filmed from the inside of three of world’s most fearsome forces – a tornado, the eye of a hurricane, and an active volcano. From the searing craters of the most active volcanoes to the numbing cold of the Antarctic – this man has seen it all; and what’s more, documented it for the world to see. The Scholars’ Avenue caught up with the ‘Stormchaser’ during Kshitij, where he delivered a guest lecture.
TSA - How has IIT Kharagpur been? GK - The experience here was fantastic. I've never been so warmly welcomed in a school, and I've been to a lot of schools. The students here are great, enthusiastic and bright. I totally loved it. TSA - You have been to India before, how do you like it here? GK – India is one of my favourite countries. I call India a sort of sensory overload, because the tastes are so strong here and there are so many extremes. There's always a lot going on, there's chaos on the streets and you have to really pay attention. India forces you to pay attention to it, and I like that. When I was here last two years ago, we went around all over India. It was a great experience. Our timing was perfect and coincided with the rainy season, which came just when we expected it to. In Mumbai, we had tremendous flooding one day and it was amazing to see how a city of so many million people reacted. Rickshaws and cars just went on, ploughing through the water as if it was part of their daily life. It's really interesting to see.
TSA - Adventure is not easy to come by in everyone's life, how does one get started? GK - Start small, learn to get uncomfortable, physically and psychologically. Start taking risks. Small steps are very important here. If you try and bite off too much, you'll get intimidated and fall back. So develop a steady pace.
opposed to freezing my butt off. TSA – Your life is almost like living on the edge... GK - No, I don’t live on the edge. It's more like I visit the edge frequently. The more time you spend on the edge, the more likely you are not to return, and I want to keep doing this for a long time. TSA - How does your family react to
your profession?
GK – My family is very supportive and proud. My mother, however, prefers to not always know exactly what it is that I'm doing on a particular trip. She prefers to hear it out after it is done. My wife TSA – What You can make a career out of allows me has been o y o u r anything... Don’t let other t disappear favourite a people tell you that it can't be a t adventure? moment's done. notice. GK - I am S h e contractuall knows y obligated I'm crazy to say it was but I'm not stupid. I take all when I got married on the volcano precautions and make sure I (laughs). I can't say I have any one research and prepare favourite, it's kind of like asking comprehensively. which one of your children is favourite, because each one is so different. I do, however, prefer some of the warmer adventures as TSA - Are there moments when fear takes over?
GK - Well, fear is TSA – How always there. I did you am not fearless;if India is one of my cm aa rk ee e ar I were, I would make mistakes. favourite countries. I call o u t o f There's a adventure? d i f f e r e n c e India a sort of sensory b e t w e e n overload... GK - It confidence and w as an fearlessness. Fear overnight keeps you alive, success that little voice that took in your head 10 years. Here's the thing, you can which tells you to draw the line. It's make a career out of anything, you just have to be really good at it and have an overwhelming passion about it. Don’t let other people tell you that it can't be done, because it can. It's been such a thrill and joy to turn something that I enjoy so much into a career, and part of that career is sharing my experiences with the world, which is the best part.
probably a good thing I started out later in life, because when you're 18 o r 1 9 y o u t h i n k y o u ’r e indestructible. And I'd probably not be alive now if I had started out then. Who knows? TSA - Witnessing human suffering in disaster zones must be really tough… GK - Yes that's hard, really hard. But usually the scale of devastation is so huge that I alone can't help everybody. The best thing that I can do is try to document everything for the world to see. That way awareness is generated; people can get help or be better prepared for future disasters. If a cyclone lands in an uninhabited area, it is a force of nature. But if the same cyclone strikes an inhabited area, it is dubbed a natural disaster. I prefer to document forces of nature but sometimes I end up documenting natural disasters. It's a challenge.
TSA – What is your advice to people who want to pursue unconventional careers? GK - You have to first know what you want. If you don't know where you're going, then the steps that you're taking might not be in the right direction. Know exactly what you want, and put a time on it. Make goals, not wishes, imposing deadlines. I had thought I'd visit all 7 continents before I turned 40 and I ended up doing it twice by the time I was 38. That's one example of the way I set goals. Take steps every single day towards your goal. Massive action is good, but you must take at least a small step towards your goal, every single day. See yourself make progress slowly, and pretty soon you're snowballing. Also, whether it's a job or adventure, there are people out there who can help you. No man is an island. Ask a lot of questions. Like you're doing now, it's a great step! (Grins.)
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Mobile Wars: Return of the Tablet
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t was probably Captain Kirk with his wireless clipboard who first brought the notion of tablet computing into the mainstream. Or Kubrick with those tablets in his magnum opus, 2001. But somehow the idea of a slate as a self-sufficient computer never quite appeared feasible or marketable – up till now, that is. Perhaps it was a natural step up after last year’s e-Reader/Smartphone craze; or perhaps it took a certain Cupertino-based company throwing its hat into the ring – but either way, 2010 is all set to become the year that the Tablet PC evolves from a niche novelty to a mainstream portable. This was where the technology has been leaning towards for some time now. For the last two years Intel and NVIDIA have been engaged in a showdown for the mobile market with competing chips (Intel’s Atom versus NVIDIA’s ARM-based Tegra) providing netbooks and mobiles with dollops of power. Capacitive touch technology has grown more sophisticated, and multitouch is fast becoming a norm. SSDs have also come a long way towards being more affordable. And while the
software hasn’t yet caught up with the processing power made available to them, the mobile OS market has certainly transformed into a lively playground of innovation in its own right, with varying philosophies to match (such as Android’s and iPhone OS’s “There’s an app for that” approach, Blackberry/Windows Mobile’s emphasis on the “corporate” market, Maemo’s FOSS philosopy, or ChromeOS’s “Let’s outsource to the cloud” paradigm. With this kind of development atmosphere, making a quality tablet PC has never been easier. It only remains to be seen whether the market’s interested in biting – are people really going to switch over to tablets as their home computing device of choice, intent on using them in the leisure of their beds or couches, or would they figure that a slightly cheaper netbook could work just as well for their purposes? Or would they rather their portable computer fits in their pocket? The question is moot; whether the world was ready or not, this January was awash with countless announcements from several electronics firms, each coming up with something thin, touchable and twitter-friendly (there were atleast 10 new tablets at CES-2010 alone). And leading from the front is Apple’s massive PR machine as it sets out to convince the whole world that it needs a larger iPod. Here’s a quick look at some of the different kinds of devices that have been cropping up.
Here’s one from the Home Team! Founded by KGPians Rohan Shravan and Rohit Rathi, and packed with a roster of IITians (including two other KGP alumni, Devanshu Agrawal and Mohit Gupta), Notion Ink aspires to tackle the Consumer Electronics giants head-on, and may well come out on top. The company debuted the Android-based Adam Smartpad at CES-2010 this January and received surprisingly positive feedback from Engadget, Slashgear and numerous other gizmo-blogs. This tablet PC is one of the early adopters of NVIDIA’s bleeding-edge Tegra 2 architecture. Also, as an innovative addition, it features a 10.1” multitouch display with collaborative additions from Pixel Qi, the firm behind the resilient displays powering the OLPC Project – the screen can switch between regular backlit mode and e-Reader style E-Ink mode (a high contrast monochromatic mode that allows viewing under direct sunlight with drastically reduced battery consumption). As a result, the Adam offers hitherto unheard of battery life for a tablet PC, potentially functioning for days on end (compare that with the iPad’s 10 hour supply). And the kicker – the price. While the final rate isn’t out yet, depending on the degree of carrier subsidies for their 3G connection, the Adam could cost as little as Rs. 15000 (about $320) around its release date in June 2010.
Apple iPad Price: Starts at Rs. 25,000. Availability: March 2010. Although Apple had always maintained that it felt Netbooks were too cheap to be profitable, or that e-Readers were a waste of time, it still went ahead with the unfortunately named iPad. Priced similar to the Kindle-DX, sporting multi-touch and backed by a burgeoning iTunes collection of apps, music and (now) books, the iPad will all but killed off the e-Reader market. Once Apple sorts out issues like Adobe Flash support and multitasking, it may likely crush all of its future competition, even the likes of the mysterious Microsoft-backed HP tablet.
ARCHOS 9 Specs: Intel Atom Z510 (1.2 Ghz), 1GB RAM, 60GB HDD, 8.9” LED Resistive Touch-screen, Windows 7 Starter Edition. Price: Rs. 27,000. Availability: Since December 2009. Running Windows 7 and support for full HD video playback, this tablet can trump the iPad spec to spec. But with the constrained resources of the Atom processor, the user interface is a bit on the sluggish side for this day and age. Having entertainment as its focus, this device caters to a niche category.
Dell Mini 5 Specs: 1 Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon ARM Processor, 5'' multi-touch capacitive OLED screen, Android 1.6, 3G support, 5 MP Camera. Price: Rs. 50,000(!) Availability: 2nd Quarter of 2010. Sporting only a 5'' screen, Dell's challenger (unofficially called the “Streak”) seems to be completely different from its rivals. With a 5 MP camera enhanced for video-conferencing and 3G support, what you are looking at is essentially a king size smart phone. While the current cost looks monstrous, the tablet would come bundled with mobile-carriers and hopefully a heavily subsidised price.
Lenovo IdeaPad U1 Hybrid Specs: 11.6 inch display, Windows 7, Core 2 Duo CULV Processor, 128GB SSD / Linux, 1 Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon ARM Processor, 16 GB Flash Memory. Price: Less than Rs. 50,000. Availability: June 1, 2010. The Lenovo IdeaPad is a touchscreen laptop running Windows 7, but once you pull off its display it turns into a Linux powered Tablet PC. Once detached the base turns into a 3G wireless hub for the tablet. Despite the different operating systems, one would have a seamless experience with web browsing between transitions.
Asus EEE PC T91 Specs: 1.4 Ghz Intel Atom Z520, 1GB RAM, 16GB Solid state hard drive, 8.9” TFT Resistive Touch-screen, Windows XP. Price: Rs. 22,000. Availability: Since July 2009. Long before Apple had even considered chasing after the ubiquitous netbook, Asustek had attempted with its own touch-enabled version of the same. This runs the trusty, frugal Windows XP. Touch is enabled with an ASUS developed software called the Touch Gate. With a price tag of $450, it didn’t quite catch the fancy of netbook buyers, but considering the specs and going rates of today’s tablets and hybrids, the question begs asking: can this still have a shot?
THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE
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BHAAT AVENUE
Know Your Coffee You can’t tell if it’s coffee or tea. Or anything else in particular... typically not a good sign. The traditional Bong Coffee. Loaded with twice the daily recommended dosage of sugar. Will keep you on a sugar rush for hours on end.
This elusive beverage may be found hiding in HJB, Sup Dup or the Staff Canteen. Any South Indian you know will never waste a moment not reminding you that it’s never the same as the stuff they get back home.
A lot can happen over an empty cup of coffee while you’re sitting around waiting for over an hour for the bill. The Original Capitalist Sin around these parts. 10 parts water, one part flavouring. Part of a sinister conspiracy by Nestle to drain KGP of all its short change.
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AD AVENUE
THE SCHOLARS’ AVENUE
² S A T U R D A Y , F E B R U A R Y 13 T H 2010
Playdom, Inc. is a leading social gaming company based in Mountain View, California. We are committed to delivering the best possible player experience to more than 26 million monthly active users of our games on Facebook, MySpace and iPhone.
Fueled by explosive growth of our games on Facebook and an expanding pipeline of new games and features, we may be the fastest growing social gaming company on the planet. How do we do it? We're obsessed with one thing: our players.
Playdom has now started operations in Bangalore, India. The Bangalore office is an independent game studio where we hope to attract some of the smartest people in the country who believe in the future of social gaming.
We don’t try to fit people into positions. Instead, we recruit the smartest people and then build positions around them.
If you think you fit the bill, please email us at campus@playdom.in with your latest resume.