Australian startup Fluc is an innovative new mobile advertising network [where] Users provide Fluc with a profile of their tastes and interests when they sign up for the service, and Fluc uses that information as well as geopositioning data to deliver extremely well targeted ads. I.e., if the GAP knows you're near a mall where they have an anchor store, and they know from your Fluc account that you fit their consumer profile, then they might pay to send you an ad even if your motives for receiving it may be hazy. Instead of going through this complex and extremely expensive 'geopositioning' rechnology - Indian Malls are providing the same service through Bluetooth . Pros - cheap, definitely targeted and users 'opt-in' by enabling their bluetooth connection Cons - Every Mall must set this up independently, If the user  does not make his bluetooth  visible to the mall, the promotion cannot be done (but this service is an opt-in anyway) I suppose I will give full

The first results of the Human Genome project (HGP) have started coming in. Hindustan Times reported in a front page article today that Humans have evolved fastest in the past 5000 years since we separated from our 'parent' chimpanzees - and the rate of evolution is seeding up, also thanks to " the surge in global population ..... since more mutations occur now". The research in specific is not of so much consequence, as is the fact that the genome project has started its data analysis stage and some results have started emerging. Why this is exciting is because the HGP holds the key to several breakthroughs in the field of biomedicine - and probably a permanent cure for several unconquerable diseases like cancer and AIDS. Scientists also predict that when the study of the Human Genome is close to completion - it will lead to development of 'customized medicine" - wherein each person can be given medicines depending upon what would best suit his/ her ana

I was at 73 when Shubham noted in an email to me that "The no. of posts u have made have been increasing each year... I hope that u will hit the 100 posts in a year mark this year ;-)" It was a worthy target to chase, as it was still September then - and I have made it today. I have been posting increasing number of posts every year. I started in mid-2004 and made 58 posts in the first year; the second year the number went to 85; last year, with no one to warn that I was nearing a century, I finished just short at 98. This year goes beyond hundred and its been great fun! However, another thing that has happened is that the average length of my post has reduced and most posts nowadays are more reactionary than proactive as they were in NITIE days. The lack of 'proactive' posts is also evident from the fact that I have hardly posted about my experiences as I used to earlier. For example this year I went to Kerala, made quite a few trips to Baroda (and nearby places),

http://noserub.com NoseRub is a protocol . Applications with the NoseRub protocol keep information about profile data for each of the contacts. These profiles get synchronised between the applications/social networks ... and can be used by any other NoseRub service . NoseRub uses already available standards like OpenID , RSS and FOAF to provide the goal of having a truely decentralised social network. How do I own my data? Decentralised means, that people may be able to store their social network on their own server and those servers to interact and synchronize automatically. One company doesn't own your data and social network anymore, you own and control it . We understand NoseRub not only as an application, like what is running on Identoo.com and which everyone can download and install on their own servers. We want even more freedom for the people who want to use NoseRub. More: http://noserub.com/q

[Q]... do you have a sense of how you would place it all historically? [Tim Berners Lee]I'll answer that one in a thousand years' time, if that's okay. [LAUGHTER] I think trying to write the history, at the time I think it's very difficult. we didn't know whether we were going to be looking at history or not, because when you look at a curve like that, an exponential curve going up can often just tilt over and crash back down again. And there were a lot of other projects we've all had which have done that. How very true - Tim Berners Lee put it quite aptly that an exponential curve could as well crash and end up looking like a 'blip' on the scale of centuries in history. Many of us Millenials remember the craze that VCR's were in the 90's - some of today's most hyped innovations like the i-Pod or iPhone could as well end up similarly. It is too early to place any new technology or trend as a game changer - which is a mistake that many a te

I chanced upon this article on CBSNews website about the generation "born between 1980 and 1995", who are "rapidly taking over from the baby boomers who are now pushing 60". While the article has been written from a US society perspective, I somehow felt it applies partially to Millennials in India as well - people of my generation (though talking mostly of middle class fellas here .. not the unprivileged)! Some quotes from the article: The workplace has become a psychological battlefield and the millennials have the upper hand, because they are tech savvy, with every gadget imaginable almost becoming an extension of their bodies. They multitask, talk, walk, listen and type, and text. And their priorities are simple: they come first. They were raised by doting parents who told them they are special, played in little leagues with no winners or losers, or all winners. They are laden with trophies just for participating and they think your business-as-usual ethic is

I am not a fan of the surreality( sic ) shows that dot the Indian TV programme guide. So when my friend Arijit offered that he had passes to the Voice of India - Grand Finale - I wasn't much enthused. But when he told me that Madhuri Dixit and Lata Mangeshkar will also grace the occasion - well .. that was interesting. And it was an experience - not only to see the Empresses of Bollywood and Music, but also to witness how a Television Show is produced. The camera's hovering over my head and the bright lights that made it impossible to gaze skywards. Andheri Sports complex looked magnificent on the live feed installed near the stage, it wasn't bad in reality also, but much quieter on the ground. For us, there was a man two rows before us who had a reflex to stand up at every cue - he was a real pain. As a compensation, some TV stars were sitting in the row before us - and some of them were quite pretty ;-) The show had most of the quirks and histrionics of surreality - Ma

Josh Catone wrote on RWW a few days ago in favour of Facebook having groupware tools built in ... The reason I gave in Monday's piece was convenience. Right now, I have Basecamp projects open with four different groups, meaning I have to remember passwords to four different Basecamps. That is in addition to the hundreds of sites I already have to remember passwords for for other things I do online. The more you can get the things you do under a single umbrella, the less work you have to do get to work. I think he is asking for apples from an orange tree ;-). Isn't he asking for a single sign on to all his online tools, rather than ask for making the social network (facebook / orkut etc) as his virtual operating system for the web? Well Josh - there are things like the OpenID or Windows Live ID to embrace rather than ask for everything to be embedded into facebook or orkut. Just because teenagers use social networks whole day, we shouldn't misplace our faith in them!!

From: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/5_essential_mobile_web_apps.php This app is a Java-based version of Gmail for mobile, which features IMAP sync, attachment viewing. Phrases that were associated with Gmail for mobile by our readers included: "just works", "simplicity", "functional", "useful", "a joy to use". Commenter "mr white" said of the Gmail java app: "This *is* clearly the path of the future. All your e-mails, all the time, everywhere. No more tedious synching with this outlook / that outlook and the webmailer. Now bring on calendar and contacts." Nathan commented: "A very nice frontend onto a very nice service, and it does a rather nice job of reformatting files for the tiny screen. That's the sort of feature you don't actually appreciate until you're out in the countryside with nary a hardline in sight and need an address that was wrapped up in a .doc in your inbox that you

Start with the story of Karz, mix Do Anjaane's revenge plot into it and create a collage of Bollywood spoofs starting from a fake filmfare ceremony to a star-studded birthday party - that's what is Om Shanti Om for you. OSO is not a movie for the serious critics out there - it is as frivolous as the fake 'star party' and the array of nominations in the filmfare awards function. While so many people were upset at the portrayal of Abhishek Bacchan and Akshay Kumar as loosers, we must acknowledge, SRK made fun of himself and Karan Johar in Om Kapoor's nominations ('Rahul - नाम तो सुना होगा' - repeated twice for two different movies). The opening scene of the movie where SRK and Farah are in the audience of the song 'Om Shanti Om' is innovative, so is the linkage of the scenes involving Sooraj Barjatya and Govinda (when SRK and Shreyas Talpade advise him to drop the 'Ahuja' from his name), and of course the songs where Deepika dances around Su