Date:20/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/20/stories/2008072055801200.htm
Front Page >From India... a trio of canny Web tools Anand Parthasarathy - Photo: Anand Parthasarathy HARNESSING THE WEB: New Indian online resources reach out to a global Net community. Bangalore: Indian innovation is increasingly centred around what is known as Web 2.0, the Internet's Second Coming, where the user is in more effective control of content, and the way it is deployed. The week gone by, saw at least three innovative new extensions to the Web experience, which The Hindu has put to the test before sharing details with readers of this page. Based in Gurgaon, iXiGO is a travel search engine created just one year ago by a small group of IIT and management graduates. On Friday, they unveiled what they claim, is India's biggest hotel search service, encompassing over 6,000 establishments, across 400 Indian towns; trawling 40 of the best hotel and hostel price comparison sites. Among the bigger Web resources covered are the Travelguru hotel network; Inasra, a Chennai-based aggregator and HostelWorld, a specialist who concentrates on budget accommodation favoured by international 'back packers' and students. We tried out IXiGO's hotel search facility. It usefully turns up some facilities not covered by most hotel search engines in India - like home stay addresses and service apartments. For reservation, it links to Travelguru. Another useful feature is the ability to check if any customers have given feedback at review sites like HolidayIQ and OKTataByeBye. What we missed is a filter in the opening search menu that would allow us to specify the type of accommodation we are looking for and a price band. ( www.ixigo.com) * * * Those who prepare PowerPoint-type presentations, either as lecture material or to support a job application, know the hassles of sending them by e-mail: such files can be very bulky . and most email clients rarely permit attachments larger than 10 MB. A Chandigarh-based computer science and mass communications graduate, Umesh Sharma, has helped create a web resource called AuthorStream ( www.authorstream.com ) which is essentially a platform for sharing presentations on the Internet. Once registered, a user can use the free resource to upload as many presentations (currently in PowerPoint format), as often as one likes - and this is the nice part - each of them can be up to one GB in size! The site will also help you format it as a slide show, YouTube video or an iPod file using the iTunes format. Once uploaded, the owner gets to decide with whom to share it - everyone or selectively among friends who can be authorised. It is also a great way to post one's resume as a presentation or a video - and in effect tell a prospective employer: "I'm Web 2.0-ready. Are You?" * * * The final Web tool this week is possibly the most elaborate - a full-fledged virtual classroom where both teachers and students can benefit from a range of tools: paint brushes to create art work; an electronic 'white board', audio and video sharing; PowerPoint presentations... All sessions are recorded for future reuse; live chat allows teachers and students to interact. The basic structure is entirely free - but there is nominal annual charge for premium services where teachers have fuller control. It is called WiziQ ( www.wiziq.com ) and works with all standard PC systems, Windows, Mac and Linux. Founded by Harman Singh, this truly innovative educational resource, like AuthorStream, is Chandigarh-based and has seen investment from the Educomp group. All three Web services are crafted in India - but it is obvious even from a superficial look, that in this borderless, virtual world, users are everywhere - and these are indeed tools for the world, only incidentally , 'made in India'. Join Access India convention: For updates on it visit: http://accessindia.org.in/harish/convention.htm Registration is now open! To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
