Re: [AI] Audacity
I also use audacity. remember it is not a professional recording software, it is a low-end audio recording tool. once you start audacity, press r to record. p to pause s to stop and spacebar to play. Jaws does not support these commands. But with little concentration, you can manage all these things. rest of the commands and stuffs are self-explanatory. 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
Re: [AI] How can we do aerobic exercise ?
A BLIND PERSON CAN LEARN ANY Asan in Yoga. But be careful about alignment which is very important in Yoga. Some poses need proper alignment of different organs/limbs of our body--like stretching your legs/hands etc. parallel to each other. 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
Re: [AI] Courses for creative writing
there is a course on creative writing offered by www.hadley.edu which is free of cost. Explore that too. 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
Re: [AI] I am in need of devotional songs
Thank you very much friend. I am downloading now. 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
Re: [AI] Reders Digest and CSR are available.
which edition of reader's digest you are talking about; because I have restricted access to UK edition of readers' digest. There is also one USA edition as well as one Indian edition too. 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
[AI] I am in need of devotional songs
Friends, One of my friends is in need of Hanuman Chalisa sung by Mahendra Kapur. If those songs can be sent as attachment, please do send it to me. Otherwise send a downloadable link. Thanks 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
Re: [AI] Computers to be as intelligent as humans by 2030
machines can be made intelligent, but there is no way to make them as creative as we human beings are. - Original Message - From: vishnu ramchandani [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Monday, February 18, 2008 2:16 PM Subject: [AI] Computers to be as intelligent as humans by 2030 Computers to be as intelligent as humans by 2030 ANI Computer guru and futurologist Ray Kurzweil A leading scientific futurologist envisions that the pace at which scientific advancements are taking place may lead to computers matching human intellect by the 2020s. American computer guru Ray Kurzweil reckons that there will be 32 times more technical progress during the next half century than there was in the entire 20th century. While addressing the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Boston, he said that machines would rapidly overtake humans in their intellectual abilities, and would soon be able to solve some of the most intractable problems of the 21st century. He revealed that his prediction was based on the calculations that computer chips had been doubling in power every two years for the past half-century. The rate is now doubling every decade, so the next half century will see 32 times more technical progress than the last half century. Computation, communication, biological technologies - for example, DNA sequencing - knowledge of the human brain, and human knowledge in general are all accelerating at an ever-faster pace, generally doubling price-performance, capacity and bandwidth every year, he said. Kurzweil pointed out that computers had been based on two-dimensional chips made from silicon to date, but scientists had developed techniques to create three-dimensional chips with vastly improved performances. He said that 3-D chips could also be constructed from biological molecules, which may enable them to be miniaturised even more than metal-based computer chips. Three-dimensional, molecular computing will provide the hardware for human-level 'strong artificial intelligence' by the 2020s. The more important software insights will be gained in part from the reverse engineering of the human brain, a process well under way. Already, two dozen regions of the human brain have been modelled and simulated, he said. Kurzweil further said that computers were on their way to creating a post-human world where a second, intelligent entity would exist alongside people. Once machine intelligence matches the range and subtlety of human intelligence, it will necessarily soar past it because of the continuing acceleration of information-based technologies, as well as the ability of machines to instantly share their knowledge, he said. We are understanding disease and ageing processes as information processes, and are gaining the tools to reprogramme them. Within two decades, we will be in a position to stop and reverse the progression of disease and ageing resulting in dramatic gains in health and longevity, he added. Save all your chat conversations. Find them online at http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/webmessengerpromo.php 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 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
Re: [AI] Need details of podcatching.
I am using one called Juice. Prior to this I used Itunes (Apple's known product) but it was too bulky and made my PC slow. - Original Message - From: Balaram [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:02 AM Subject: [AI] Need details of podcatching. Dear members, It will be of some help if you can give details of podcatching, podcatching software, which site to go to and download the software. Thanks in advance. P. Balaraman. 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 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
Re: [AI] Who wanted Omni Page?
Hi, which version it is? I am using Version 12. If it is higher than ver. 12 then let me know. - Original Message - From: Abdul Razique [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 11:40 AM Subject: [AI] Who wanted Omni Page? Hello list members, A few days back someone from the list wanted Omni Page, an OCR software as he was not satisfied with K1000. I'm not talking about Mamta mam. I dont remember u, my friend. So, you can download the software from http://www.sendspace.com/file/jpri2y Remember, the file will be available for a week only. Regards Abdul 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 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
Re: [AI] Hi every one
explore www.gutenberg.org There you get many English literature stuff in accessible format. - Original Message - From: Subramani L [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 11:35 AM Subject: Re: [AI] Hi every one Hai: Since I've also done English lit about 13 years ago, I can understand the problems you face. Though looking for audio materials is good, you must remember that they could be extremely costly. Therefore first thing you must do is to catch hold of volunteers who can read the lessons and get it recorded. If you get someone who has done literature, it's even better, because you can ask them to mark the important pages/paragraphs/chapters of a drama or a novel (it's impossible to record an entire novel cover-to-cover) and get it recorded. You may perhaps ask your own classmates to read short texts like poems and short stories (as they may not have patience to read longer texts and may regard reading short texts as a means of learning the text for themselves). Please visit the audio section of the British Council in your city and see if you can pick up a few texts available there. I remember listening to plays like Murder in the Cathedral in BC Chennai. Make full use of volunteers and friends and use your Braille and listening skills. Subramani -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of govind reddy Sent: Friday, February 08, 2008 5:16 AM To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Subject: [AI] Hi every one Hello every one, Since I'm pursuing my masters degree program in English literature, I'm suffering so much due to lack of books in accessible format for visually impaired I prefer the audio format. These areas: Indian, post colonial, American and very recent british. Please let me know where I can get them for a better reading and research. I've learned French, at CIEFL a year ago, but I forgot it due to lack of accessible meterial for visually impaired can any one please help me? I want to become a voice and accent trainer in a good company, can you please guide me? many thanks Best Regards Govind. Cell 9959392651. 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.i n 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 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
[AI] Is it worth going to the mind gym?;
Brain-training programs are all the rage, but to what extent will they boost your cognitive powers in the real world? Graham Lawton I'M CONCENTRATING hard, staring at a small white square in the middle of my computer screen. Any second now a letter is going to flash up inside the box. At the same time a bird will pop up elsewhere on the screen. My task is to hit the bird with my mouse, then type the letter in the box. I'm playing a game called Birdwatching, and if my boss catches me at it I'll have some explaining to do. But I've got an excuse: I'm training my brain. The more I practise, the better I'll get and the more powerful my brain will become - or at least that's what I'm told. Birdwatching is the brainchild of San Francisco-based Lumos Labs, just one of the dozens of companies that have sprung up in recent months to cash in on the brain-training craze. Like most of its competitors, the theory behind its sales pitch is straightforward. Your brain is like a muscle: the more you use it, the stronger it will get. For those who believe that claim, there are dozens if not hundreds of brain-boosting games now on the market, not to mention a plethora of books and magazines on the same subject. The best-known product is a video game called Dr Kawashima's Brain Age, developed by neuroscientist Ryuta Kawashima from Tohoku University in Japan; it is marketed in the UK and Australia as Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain? and endorsed by actress Nicole Kidman. While each brain trainer makes slightly different claims, broadly speaking they offer one of two benefits. Either they will enhance normal brain functioning - things like attention, memory and processing speed - or they will slow down the inevitable decline that comes with age. Practically all of the companies say that their programs are based on the latest scientific evidence. So is it worth investing in brain training, and do you risk being outsmarted if you don't? Unfortunately for the wannabe genius, there are no simple answers. While there is no shortage of studies suggesting that some cognitive functions can be trained, the link between most of these programs and a better-performing brain is still unproven. Does brain training work? It depends, says Torkel Klingberg, a brain-training expert at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. That's like asking, 'Do drugs work?'. It depends on the molecule. Commercial brain training has been around for at least a decade, but has only really caught on in the past couple of years. According to figures published in The New York Times in November 2007, the US brain-training market was worth just $2 million in 2005 but was expected to be worth $80 million in 2007. The catalyst for this exponential increase was probably the release of Brain Age in 2005. The game runs on the Nintendo DS console and has sold more than 14 million copies worldwide. For an investment of around $20 (plus the price of the console) and a few minutes' concentration a day, it promises to help you get the most out of your prefrontal cortex. Like its competitors, Brain Age is a collection of puzzles and video games that use cognitive skills such as memory, attention and rapid processing. As with all video games, the more you play, the better you get. What makes brain-training games special, so the story goes, is that your improvements are not just within the context of the game but manifest themselves in the real world as well. On the face of it, this makes a lot of sense. It's well known that older people who stay mentally active are more resistant to cognitive decline and dementia, and many scientific studies have backed up this use it or lose it hypothesis . So if it works for older people, shouldn't it work for everybody? Perhaps it does. Over the past 15 years or so, neuroscientists have gathered abundant evidence that important cognitive functions such as memory, attention and processing speed can be improved by training, not just in older people but in young, healthy adults too. There are also numerous studies showing that challenging a specific part of the brain encourages that region to grow and develop, as in the well-publicised example of the London taxi drivers, who develop a larger hippocampus - the part of the brain responsible for spatial memory - as they learn their way around the city (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , vol 97, p 4398). Most companies offering brain training stop short of specifying how their product will physically change your brain. For evidence that brain-training programs work, they tend to point to the sheer weight of accumulated data, but dig below the surface and things start to look far from clear cut. There's 12 to 15 years of good laboratory science that we can direct brains in a corrective direction, says Mike Merzenich, a neuroscientist at the University of California, San Francisco, who also runs a company called Posit Science, which
[AI] career of a blind technical writer
(Editor's Note: Some of you may remember Gynger Ingram, a scholarship winner in 1986. In 1995, she legally changed her name to facilitate her writing career.) In 1986, the American Council of the Blind generously awarded me the $1,500 Floyd Qualls Memorial Scholarship. Subsequently, the Louisiana Council of the Blind provided an additional $300 to sponsor my trip to the ACB national convention in Knoxville, Tenn. to accept the scholarship in person. That was 21 years ago, yet I remain most thankful for the award and the experiences it brought me. I used the funds for tuition, textbooks and a large-print thermal typewriter, an indispensable tool for a visually impaired student in the days before laptop computers. As a measure of gratitude, I would like to let ACB members know what they got for their investment in my future. I went on to graduate summa cum laude from Northwestern State University of Louisiana in May 1989, earning a bachelor of arts in English. I then proceeded to graduate school at Texas AM University at College Station, earning a master of arts in English in August 1991. During my master's program, I developed an interest in scientific and technical writing that augmented my original goal of being an author and university administrator. In the second year of my graduate program, I earned a split assistantship, continuing to teach one class of freshman composition while also working as a technical writer in the university's Supercomputer Center. This role defined the future course of my career. Better Communicators In today's global work force, one cannot underestimate the value of clear, precise communication. In the fall of 1991, I took a teaching position at the College Station, Texas branch of Blinn College, the oldest community college in Texas, which regularly prepares students for advancement to Texas AM and other four-year institutions throughout the state. I taught courses in freshman composition, introductory literature and technical writing. My department head quickly discovered that I possessed an unusual gift for working with international students, who often began their course work at the community college level to improve their language skills before moving on to their advanced degree programs. Between 1989 and 1995, I taught over 1,000 American and international students to be better writers. Over the years, I have heard from many of my former students who have taken what they learned and successfully applied it to their own careers. Interestingly, throughout six years of teaching, I had only one student who blatantly took advantage of my low vision. His own peers called his treachery to my attention and made him apologize to me. Ironically, the culprit was a physical therapy major studying to work with disabled people. I took him privately into the hallway and encouraged him to evaluate more closely his career choice. The rest of the semester passed uneventfully. A Safer World In the summer of 1994, the head of Texas AM's Department of Nuclear Engineering spotted me teaching a technical writing class and remembered me from the Supercomputer Center. He was considering adding a technical writer to his staff pending an upcoming large-scale research project. I took the position in December 1994, although I continued to teach in the evenings for another year. That research project turned out to be the Amarillo National Resource Center for Plutonium (ANRCP), a program established by the U.S. Department of Energy to look into options for disposing of excess weapons- grade plutonium from the Cold War era. For the next three and a half years, I worked with scientists from around the world as they investigated the best options for dealing with the excess plutonium. My role involved everything from sending e-mail reminders about technical meetings to preparing abstracts and progress reports to serving as the technical editor of a full- length book containing the proceedings of a NATO conference on nuclear waste management. I also assisted professors in the department with their technical publications by typesetting their equations, correcting their English and checking galley proofs of their articles prior to final publication. I felt particularly honored when one of the department's lead professors invited me to serve with him on the university's Council of Principal Investigators. In fact, he had made it clear that he would not accept the CPI's nomination of him as secretary unless he had my help. In this capacity, I worked with researchers throughout the Texas AM University system by helping coordinate the meetings, taking the extensive minutes, and streamlining the dissemination of electronic information throughout the membership. The most rewarding aspect of my position, though, involved helping nuclear engineering graduate students prepare their theses and dissertations. Again, I strove to impart principles of good
[AI] tech news for blind
NEW ZOOMTEXT RELEASED Ai Squared recently released ZoomText USB, a portable program on a USB memory drive that fits in your pocket or around your neck on the included lanyard. The drive enables users to install and run ZoomText wherever and whenever needed without having to purchase additional licensing or worry about activating each installation. Just plug in the USB drive and, if ZoomText has already been installed on the system, immediately use the software. If ZoomText hasn't been installed, a low-vision--friendly setup program launches for a quick installation. The user settings are saved back to the USB drive and load automatically each time the drive is used. For more information, visit www.aisquared.com or call 1-800-859-0270. NEWS FROM MICROSOFT Microsoft and the Digital Accessible Information System (DAISY) Consortium recently announced a joint development project that will make it possible for computer users who are blind or print-disabled to gain access to more written content by using assistive technology. This project will be a reference model for other Open XML solution models. It will be available on SourceForge.net, and will yield a free, downloadable plug-in for Microsoft Word that will enable users to translate Open XML-based documents into DAISY XML, the standard for reading and publishing navigable multimedia content. When it becomes available in early 2008, the Save as DAISY feature will mean that people with print disabilities will have better access to the information in billions of documents. AOL BECOMES ACCESSIBLE AOL has recently launched a new web interface, Websuite Lite, which makes the dynamic Web 2.0 interface accessible for users who are blind. The team that designed the interface was led by Tom Wlodkowski, a blind man who experienced the challenges Web 2.0 applications presented firsthand. To further enhance web accessibility, AOL also released a new Javascript library that makes it easier for web developers to implement accessible features with modern Web 2.0 sites. VICTOR NOW PLAYS AUDIBLE Victor Reader Stream, the pocket-sized portable MP3 player designed for blind and low-vision people, now has the capability to play the popular Audible.com books. The Audible format provides a huge additional choice of content to users as Audible is the leading provider of spoken audio on the Internet, providing over 140,000 hours of digital audio editions of books, newspapers and magazines. For Audible books, the user will be able to navigate from one Audible heading to the next, move by increments of one-, five-, or ten-minute time jumps, and move with an accelerated fast-forward feature that announces the amount of time lapsed. Current Victor Reader Stream users will need to upgrade their player to software version 1.1 in order to play Audible books. For more information, visit www.humanware.com. 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
Re: [AI] MS WORD PROBLEM
It is in print view - Original Message - From: Vedprakash Sharma [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 1:09 PM Subject: Re: [AI] MS WORD PROBLEM it hapens when view is web lay out. select view from menu and enter on normal even if it is checked item. - Original Message - From: Sanjay Prasad [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 10:15 PM Subject: [AI] MS WORD PROBLEM -- sanjay Prasad, Home Phone 02228122688 Sanjay Friends, I'm using Office xp in office with Jaws 6.0 The problem is JAWS is not reading the line number. It is necessary for me as I have to take print out of letters etc. Whenever I press insert delete jaws says line -1 and the column number. Please let me know how to rectify this problem. thanks 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 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 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
Re: [AI] Regarding Gold wave.
yes audacity can do this. But the compression is not good. You can visit www.audacity.com for more information. I converted many .wav files to mp3 by Audacity later I compressed (made it still smaller) through other software. - Original Message - From: Subramani L [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 11:03 AM Subject: Re: [AI] Regarding Gold wave. But... are there programmes to convert Wav files into MP3? I think this has been told so many times, but will appreciate if you or anyone in the list give me the link from where I can download such a programme, especially if it's free. Subramani -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Vetrivel Adhimoolam Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 10:42 AM To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Subject: Re: [AI] Regarding Gold wave. wav files are always much bigger than MP3. There are options within the program to make it a bit smaller than what you may presently have, but you will end-up compremising the sound quality. Vetri. - Original Message - From: Samuel Rodrigues To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 12:04 AM Subject: [AI] Regarding Gold wave. Friends, I have a file song.mp3 of 500KB. I was trying to change to wav file. But the size becomes 5MB. But I would like to compress to the same as mp3, Is it possible? If so how. Samuel. 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.i n 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.i n 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 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
Re: [AI] Regarding time
Indian Std. time is GMT + 5 and a half. - Original Message - From: Samuel Rodrigues [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 9:40 PM Subject: [AI] Regarding time Could any one of you what is the time. I would like to know whether it is gmt+2 or Gmt+3 I dont know what it is all about. I am trying to set my time on skype. Thank you. Samuel. 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 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
[AI] MS WORD PROBLEM
-- sanjay Prasad, Home Phone 02228122688 Sanjay Friends, I'm using Office xp in office with Jaws 6.0 The problem is JAWS is not reading the line number. It is necessary for me as I have to take print out of letters etc. Whenever I press insert delete jaws says line -1 and the column number. Please let me know how to rectify this problem. thanks 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
[AI] Graphite - not graphene - could replace silicon transistors;
Graphite - not graphene - could replace silicon transistors; Single-atom-thick layers of carbon have been touted as an alternative to the silicon transistor, but now it looks as if their multi-layered cousin might be a better bet Jason Palmer A REPLACEMENT for the silicon transistor - the heart of the modern computer - may be closer than expected, thanks to a material discovered in the 16th century. For the last 20 years, the number of transistors that can be fitted onto a computer chip has doubled about every two years. This trend can't continue indefinitely, however, as shrinking silicon transistors down eventually makes them less efficient. Recently a substance called graphene - hexagonal arrays of carbon atoms in sheets one atom thick - has been touted as . One hundred times thinner than the smallest silicon transistor possible, graphene conducts electricity much more efficiently. It also has exotic electronic properties which could be useful in quantum computing. But there's a problem: graphene sheets tend to curl up and react with substances around them, making them difficult to build into devices. Now Yakov Kopelevich and Pablo Esquinazi of the State University of Campinas in Brazil claim that graphite, the substance used in pencil leads, might be a more useful alternative to silicon (Advanced Materials , DOI: 10.1002/adma.200702051). All the properties of graphene are present in grahite, says Kopelevich. He and Esquinazi point out that graphite, which is made of multiple stacks of graphene sheets, is easier and cheaper to produce and doesn't curl up, thanks to the stabilising effect of the adjacent layers. In the last few years the pair have shown that, as with graphene, graphite's conductivity can be altered using a magnetic field and that current can flow through it as though carried by massless particles called Dirac fermions. Both properties will be important in future quantum computers. It's good that we don't have to think only one layer [of carbon atoms] will do everything, says Jorge Sofo, a graphene researcher at Pennsylvania State University. But according to Millie Dresselhaus, a nano-electronics expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, how much of the magic of graphene is found in graphite remains to be seen. It is not clear if graphite's electronic properties can be tuned to suit a specific application, for example, something done easily in graphene. -- sanjay Home Phone 02228122688 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
[AI] Cellphone signals could kill TV pictures;
. The trouble is that guard bands might not be popular with governments, wireless gadget companies, or even consumers, as they waste sections of the spectrum that could otherwise be used for new applications. The industry objects to them because reserving them means there is far less spectrum for them to buy, says William Webb, head of RD at Ofcom, the UK's telecoms regulator. Another option, says Webb, is to split the guard band in two and sell each half to the two companies using the frequency either side. That way the users themselves may be able to geographically coordinate things among themselves so that, for instance, they might be able to use that bandwidth in low-power, non-interfering ways. In the US, the FCC says it will not specify what the bands must be used for. The uses of the bands are flexible and we are not tying any particular technology or service to each band, says Chelsea Fallon, spokesperson for the FCC in Washington DC. She says that the FCC hopes that will foster innovation. In fact, US broadcasters are more worried about a slightly different proposal. So that TV signals in an area covered by one antenna do not interfere with signals from an antenna in a neighbouring region that broadcasts different programmes, those antennas are not allowed to use the same frequencies. So if one antenna uses 650 MHz, its neighbours cannot - effectively, 650 MHz is a white space chopped out of the neighbours' spectrum. But now, members of the Wireless Innovation Alliance, a US lobby group that includes Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Microsoft, Google and Philips, say that white space frequency in one region could be used for short-range communication within that region, perhaps allowing multiple devices to form ad-hoc mesh networks for gaming, say. As a result, the FCC is evaluating plans to allow gadget makers to use the white spaces. Microsoft and Philips, among others, are working on cognitive radio technology that would make this possible. The technology senses an unused UHF frequency and uses it only if it is free. The two companies have developed a prototype device but it failed tests at the FCC's labs. The FCC is re-evaluating the technology as Microsoft claims the tests were poorly conducted. Google also claims to have shown cognitive radio can sense and avoid critical TV frequencies. The FCC is expected to make a decision on the use of the white spaces this year but an apopleptic NAB is rallying congressional support to oppose it. In tests of its own, the NAB found that cognitive radio devices at thresholds proposed by the Wireless Innovation Alliance would mistake some digital TV bands for white spaces. Lynn Claudy, senior vice-president of science and technology at the NAB, says both man-made and natural obstacles will further confuse cognitive radio. It is unfortunate that Microsoft and Google continue to try to muscle their way through Washington in support of a technology that simply does not work, says his colleague Dennis Wharton. Despite these challenges Google, fast becoming the poster child for an upcoming era of wireless internet abundance, is confident that new wireless devices and digital TV can happily coexist. On Google's official blog, Chris Sacca writes : Who's going to win the spectrum auction? Consumers. But that will only happen if wireless newbies don't wreck digital TV in the process. -- sanjay Prasad, Home Phone 02228122688 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
[AI] Can we stop the internet destroying our planet?
of its capacity. The obvious answer is to run several applications on a single server, as with mainframes. In 2001, VMware introduced the first virtualisation software written specifically for the type of servers widely used in data centres. It makes the difference between buying 10 servers or buying one, says Bogomil Balkansky at VMware. Customers are able to save 70 to 80 per cent on energy use. It's the best way to immediately and dramatically reduce power consumption in the data centre. In August, as a result, IBM was able to replace 3900 of its Intel servers with 33 larger ones with more efficient (New Scientist , 10 March, p 26). That is an 80 per cent reduction in energy consumption and an 85 per cent reduction in space, Scott says. Virtualisation and multicore chips aren't the only ways to green data centres. Other Green Grid members believe that an important contribution is improving the efficiency of applications themselves. Arjan van de Ven, a software engineer at chip maker Intel, is leading an initiative called Lesswatts.org to make the popular Linux open-source operating system more efficient. Many companies, including Google, run their data centres on Linux. By tweaking existing Linux code, Van de Ven and his team were able to detect which programs were behaving badly. This revealed that Linux was performing a lot of small, senseless tasks. One example was ondemand, a program designed to save power by checking the computer's central processing unit (CPU) for activity and reducing power consumption when activity was low. The researchers discovered that it was contacting the CPU several hundred times a second, which was enough to make the CPU more active than it would have been without ondemand running at all. Here we have a piece of software designed to save you power that is actually wasting power, Van de Ven says. Because Linux is open-source they were able to rewrite the program so that it checks CPU activity less often. The team also found energy-wasters in a version of Linux that runs on personal computers. These included a program that checks the email inbox 100 times per second even though the inbox only asks the server if there is new email every 5 minutes; a clock that updates every second even though it displays the time in minutes; and a program that asks the hardware 10 times a second if the volume of a speaker has changed even though another program is already set up to tell the hardware when speaker volume changes. These sound like little things, but if you have 40 programs that do this, they add up, says Van de Ven. The team has made its upgrades available via various open-source software mailing lists over the last year, and two versions of Linux for laptops have incorporated them. Along with Google and the conservation group WWF, Intel is also a member of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative , a collaboration Intel helped to found in June 2007. Rather than focusing on the data centre as a whole, the CSCI is looking at how to improve the efficiency of individual servers. One strategy that Google has already implemented on some computers is eliminating voltage conversions within individual computers. In the future, CSCI directors imagine having personal computers that can adjust their energy consumption in proportion to their workload. Today's computers tend to use the same amount of energy, no matter what they are doing. Bill Weihl of Google, who is also co-chair of the CSCI, is optimistic that its efforts and that of the Green Grid will reduce the amount of energy data centres and personal computers use. Whether it is enough to offset the predicted growth in computer use over the next 20 years is hard to predict, he says. -- sanjay Prasad, Home Phone 02228122688 Sanjay 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
Re: [AI] Regarding memory size
This will not work in most cases. - Original Message - From: pushkar raj [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2008 3:14 PM Subject: Re: [AI] Regarding memory size - Original Message - From: Ravi Paul [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Tuesday, January 08, 2008 6:05 PM Subject: Re: [AI] Regarding memory size Hai folks, one of the suggestions was to zip and send the file. I find a problem with it as well. Then what is the problem? the problem with it is that gmail seems to pick up the fact that the file has been zipped and warns you saying that there is a potentially harmful file that is of the file extention .exe. the best sollution I can think of is to both zip and change the file extention while sending a .exe file type as an attachment. hoping that this sollution will help, thanks regards Ravi Paul On 1/8/08, Samuel Rodrigues [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi, Ithink that according to my oppinion it is better to compress the file to zip or rar format rather than converting to other format and it reduces the weight of the file. Just instal winzip or winrar and of course it is used very much on the websites. - Original Message - From: FARHAN [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 7:44 AM Subject: Re: [AI] Regarding memory size But i don't like to use g mail for the atachments,because g mail doesn't send .exe files,and etc. you can use yahoo,or either hotmail for the e mails. otherwise,you can send your files from the service provider which they do not have their e mail service,but you can uplode your file on their site,and they will give you a link which will work to accessing your file. and you can download your uploded file from there. - Original Message - From: Syed Imran [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 6:38 AM Subject: Re: [AI] Regarding memory size G mail recipients can send the attachments upto 20.0 MB - Original Message - From: Samuel Rodrigues [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Thursday, January 03, 2008 9:42 PM Subject: [AI] Regarding memory size Dear list, Do you know how much MB can we send as attachments, can we send a video file about 400 MB or How much is the limit, could you please tell me. With wishes for new year. Samuel. 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 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 __ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com 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 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 -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.17.13/1210 - Release Date: 1/5/2008 11:46 AM 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 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 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 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
Re: [AI] sound screen saver (or whatever it is called)
yes of course, I used one screen saver which was sounding like flowing water. - Original Message - From: Syed Imran [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 2:15 PM Subject: [AI] sound screen saver (or whatever it is called) Hi Are there any screen savers that make some funny sounds in the bagground? (something like balloon getting blown or birds flapping their wings, or it could also be cockroges swimming in water, or whatever funny sound possible... 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 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
[AI] IE problem
Friends, Whenever I tried to open a website, ad-ons were creating problems. Therefore, I disabled all add-ons. does it affect my computer adversely? 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
Re: [AI] 2 questions
but this is supposed to be a text fileI have some novels in this format. - Original Message - From: Chaodhari, Sanjeev IN BOM SISL [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Thursday, January 10, 2008 9:15 AM Subject: Re: [AI] 2 questions Hi sanjay This is the answer to your first question. A program database (PDB) file holds debugging and project state information that allows incremental linking of a Debug configuration of your program. A PDB file is created when you compile a C/C++ program with /ZI or /Zi or a Visual Basic/C#/JScript .NET program with /debug. -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Sanjay Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 8:58 PM To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Subject: [AI] 2 questions Hi Friends, 1. I have some .pdb files, please let me know with which application I can open those files? 2. How to send BCC from Outlook express? thanks in advance, 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.i n Important notice:This e-mail and any attachment thereto contains corporate proprietary information. If you have received it by mistake, please notify us immediately by reply e-mail and delete this e-mail and its attachments from your system. Thank You. 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 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
[AI] Diary of a lab rat; What's it like to spend five days
Diary of a lab rat; What's it like to spend five days blindfold in the name of science? One brave journalist found out Alison Motluk FOR more than a decade, I have been reporting on the big advances in neuroscience. I have talked to the top names, attended their conferences, read their papers and visited their labs, but I have never been on the receiving end of their work - until now. Earlier this year, I volunteered to become effectively blind for a week, as part of a study to test what happens to a brain when it is suddenly deprived of light. This is my diary:Thursday Induction. I report to the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, as instructed. To be honest, I am having second thoughts. I'm not sure I want to be blindfolded. What if I can't hack it? I'm worried I'll wake up in the middle of the night and not know where I am, that I won't be able to find the bathroom, that they'll discover a brain tumour - or worse, a very small, unimpressive brain. Why did I agree to do this? I realise there is no turning back as I meet the research team. Naomi Pitskell is the study coordinator, Lotfi Merabet will be running the show, and Marina Bedny plans to conduct some pilot tests on me. Over the next few hours they evaluate my hearing, vision and general neurological function. Miraculously, despite last night's insomnia, all is normal. Others have done this before me, but that isn't much consolation: most were undergraduate students about half my age. I confide to Lotfi my big fear that I will be the subject who definitively pinpoints the age when the human brain can no longer adapt - that I'll lose my sight for good. That's not going to happen! he hoots. Yet later, as I re-read the 17-page consent form, I notice that the hospital and staff cannot be held responsible if anything goes wrong. In the afternoon the team introduce me to some of my tasks. One involves listening to pairs of tones and deciding whether they go up or down. Another requires me to produce verbs to accompany nouns: I hear dog and respond fetch. Then there is the category game. Listing countries is easy, but I am totally stumped on cars and football teams.Friday Day Zero. Today the researchers are locating my visual cortex. Unfortunately that involves staring at flashing lights - a guaranteed migraine trigger for me. At least obsessing over the impending headache helps me ignore the discomfort of getting into an MRI scanner, which entails lying down on a long plastic tray, having your head locked into a little plastic cage, and being slid into a narrow cylindrical hole. You feel a bit like a CD being popped into a stereo, or a stiff going into storage in the morgue. I lie there motionless for two hours. By the time I formally check into the hospital, a big snowstorm is blowing in, and the city is coming to a standstill. I am lodged in a special wing reserved for people crazy enough to sign up for research projects and clinical trials. The nurses are friendly. They have seen this all before, and tell me people cope surprisingly well with the blindfold, although one woman did have to be sent home when she was caught peeking at the TV. Tonight I will be alone, but I learn that down the corridor some hapless soul will soon be staying awake for 88 hours straight for a sleep deprivation study. It puts the blindfolding into context. I spend the evening playing with my talking clock and practising writing with my eyes closed using my writing guide. A note is posted on my door: This is study N-107. When entering this room please announce yourself so our blindfolded subject is not startled. Yikes! What am I getting into?Saturday Day One. I wake early, very anxious. After breakfast I perform the ceremonial last washing of the hair and take a good, hard look around my room to try to imprint it on my memory. At 8.20 Lotfi enters and the blindfolding begins. I slip on the eyemask, with its shiny black plastic front, thick foam backing and Velcro strap. It has cavities carved out of the foam, so I can open my eyes if I want. Then Lotfi wraps an elastic bandage around my head to hold the mask and make sure it is light-proof. He shines a flashlight at potential weakpoints. I can't see a thing. Now the testing begins in earnest. I do more verbs and lists and tones. There is also a new task, where I have to figure out if there are spaces between rows of raised dots. It's weird, but I don't mind not being able to see them. I don't even miss seeing people. The crucial next step is a baseline fMRI scan. By comparing this with a similar scan done on day five, the team will be able to see how my brain has adapted to life without visual input. Shortly before noon, Lotfi brings news that the scanner is broken. We have no option but to stop the experiment. They remove my blindfold. We will have to wait and see whether we can start again tomorrow.Sunday Day One - Again. Woo-hoo! The scanner is working. By late morning, with
[AI] Massive science experiments pose data storage problems;
Massive science experiments pose data storage problems; With ever more data being produced, it is critical to save it and preserve the software and hardware to access it Paul Marks WHAT hath God wrought? These are the words Samuel Morse sent in 1844 in the first telegram. We know this because the telegram itself sits in the US Library of Congress. The same cannot be said for the first email. Sent in 1971 by computer programmer Ray Tomlinson, he thinks it probably contained the first line of letters on a computer keyboard - qwertyuiop. It was not saved, so we'll never know for sure. The loss of a nonsensical email may seem trivial, but it highlights a looming issue: how will we preserve the huge amount of data produced by science experiments today in a way that guarantees it will be accessible in the future? Losing scientific data is nothing new. Many space projects from the 1970s, both at NASA and the European Space Agency, are either lost or cannot be read with current computers and software, says Peter Tindemans, an adviser on archiving technology to the Netherlands government. Science's funding bodies have not paid for long-term storage repositories. Now, with ever more data being produced, saving it is critical. Scientific data sets are becoming enormous, says Alexis-Michel Mugabushaka, a policy adviser with the European Science Foundation in Paris, France. Saving them has to be a priority for publicly funded research. The results of collisions inside particle accelerators, for example, questionnaires filled in by people taking part in clinical trials, and environmental readings taken by distributed sensor networks are not merely historical curiosities like Tomlinson's email. Scientists need to be able to get at them in order to perform new analyses. They may also want to scour the data for clues that the original researchers missed. Stored data could even be used to rerun experiments to check for signs of error or fraud. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland, illustrates just how daunting the problem can be. In May, it is due to begin smashing high-energy protons together in a bid, among other things, to discover the elusive Higgs boson, a particle thought to be responsible for endowing matter with mass. Sensors in the 27-kilometre circumference machine are expected to generate 450 million gigabytes of data over its 15-year lifetime, enough to fill 640 million CDs. The raw data will be stored on discs and tapes and converted into a more accessible format which can be made available to researchers via a grid of 100,000 computers around the world. Despite the magnitude of the project, CERN has no idea if it will have the cash or technical resources to preserve these data sets after the particle smasher has fired its last proton beam in 2023. Even if the raw data survives, it is useless without the background information that gives it meaning. The data needs to be stored in a digestible, understandable form and be available forever, says Jos Engelen, CERN's deputy director general. But we just don't have a long-term archival strategy for accessing the LHC data. A $90 million slice of the LHC's $6.5 billion budget has been allocated to processing and storing it, but that only covers the years of the LHC's operation. With luck, help will soon be on the way. Scientists and engineers from around the world met at a conference in Brussels, Belgium, on 15 November to thrash out which technologies and policies - and even which human behaviours - will best preserve critical data generated by Europe's scientists. In the US, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is planning to spend $100 million setting up and running up to five trial repositories for publicly funded research data, and in Australia a government-backed body wants to see a similar project established. As well as providing money for storage, the NSF project, known as DataNet, is on the lookout for new techniques for storing data. We do not believe any organisation is already providing the kind of data preservation capability that we have in mind, says Lucy Nowell, director of cyber-infrastructure projects at the NSF in Arlington, Virginia. Unlike existing repositories such as web search engines, which continually update their indexes of web pages, an archive for an experiment like the LHC must store data over a long time and therefore hold copies of not just the data but also examples of the software and hardware used to capture and access it. Google has massive data centres, but its emphasis is on current use and analysis of the data, not on its preservation for decades to come, Nowell says. Most data storage media have a limited shelf life and eventually degrade, so DataNet researchers will also study how to move massive data sets from one storage medium, such as tape, to another, such as hard disc . Although technologies exist for migrating small amounts of data, large repositories require
[AI] 2 questions
Hi Friends, 1. I have some .pdb files, please let me know with which application I can open those files? 2. How to send BCC from Outlook express? thanks in advance, 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
Re: [AI] Regarding pention
Pension for unemployed blind persons is given by some states. The amount varies from state to state. I don't Think Central Govt. has launched any such schemes for blind people. - Original Message - From: Samuel Rodrigues [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Wednesday, January 09, 2008 9:35 PM Subject: [AI] Regarding pention Friends, Do you know about pention for the blind? I have heard that blind can receive rs400 is it correct? If so what are the steps to take for the pention? 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 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
Re: [AI] Can any one through light on victor reader?
HUMANWARE'S NEW VICTOR READER TALKING BOOK PLAYER FOR NISO AND DAISY BOOKS by Gerry Chevalier (Editor's Note: Gerry Chevalier is HumanWare's Victor Reader Product Manager.) At the ACB convention in July 2007 HumanWare, the world's leading supplier of the Victor Reader line of CD-based digital talking book players, unveiled its first flash-based portable talking book player, the Victor Reader Stream. The Stream is the result of extensive research in terms of design, usability, and user testing. The Stream is designed to play NISO Z39.86 books, DAISY books and MP3 books and music. NISO Z39.86 is the format that will be used for the new NLS digital talking books. NLS is the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped which is transitioning its four-track cassette talking book service to a new digital service. At the July ACB convention NLS announced that, beginning August 2007, it will expand its trial of download digital talking books to include all NLS patrons who are registered for NLS service by their local library, who have a computer and high-speed Internet connection to download the books, and who also have an NLS-authorized digital book player capable of playing the NISO books downloaded from the NLS server. Only residents of the United States or American citizens living abroad who are unable to read or use standard print materials as a result of a temporary or permanent visual or physical limitation may receive NLS audio book services. Each individual must be certified first before accessing the NLS audio book services. The new Victor Reader Stream will be able to play downloaded NLS NISO books as soon as NLS authorizes the player to do so. NLS NISO books are encrypted and any digital player must be authorized by NLS with a decryption code to play the NLS books. HumanWare has discussed the player authorization process with NLS. The development of the web form and NLS operational procedures are currently under way. As soon as NLS concludes this process, Victor Reader Stream users will be able to register for NLS download book service through a simple web form on the NLS web site. Once the patron is registered for NLS download book service, HumanWare will be able to supply him/her with the required software decryption code to install on the Stream. The decryption code will be sent from HumanWare through a simple e-mail attachment. NLS also announced that it will further expand its digital service in 2008 to begin sending digital recorded books on special cartridges mailed to its members. Included in the Stream package is a short USB cable to allow the future book cartridges to be connected to the Stream and copied to the Stream's SD memory card. For users who prefer to play the cartridge directly on the player, HumanWare will sell an optional book cartridge holder that will clip to the back of the Stream. As with download books, the cartridge books may only be played on an authorized Stream player equipped with the decryption code. As the newest member of the family of Victor Reader digital talking book players, the Stream offers the same powerful and simple to use user interface made popular by the Victor Reader Classic+ and Wave players used by thousands worldwide. Stream users will find the well known four-arrow navigation keys of the Classic+ and Wave allowing book navigation by chapter and section without the need to memorize complex key combinations. As well, the Stream's telephone-style keypad provides advanced book navigation functions such as entering bookmarks, or jumping directly to a specified page or heading. The Stream also has the popular Key Describer feature of other Victor Readers, allowing you to press a key anytime to announce its function. The Stream is an ideal companion to the future NLS player because it does everything the NLS player will do, but in a pocket-size package. Once the player is authorized, not only will you be able to play and navigate the NLS books on cartridges but you will also have access to the NLS download books. The Stream has a USB port to connect to your computer so you can transfer downloaded books from your PC to the Stream's SD flash memory card. In addition to the ability to read NLS books, Stream will also play recorded DAISY 2.02 books from other DAISY producers, including RFBD. However, every day more and more books and content are becoming available in non-recorded electronic text formats. Stream also has built-in computer text-to-speech to listen to the text portion of full text/full audio books or the text-only books such as those from Bookshare. The built-in speech also provides access to text files transferred from your computer. Indeed, the Stream combines the best features of the NLS player together with the award-winning Victor Reader CD and software players to make Stream the most powerful NISO and DAISY player in the HumanWare family. As an advanced player for
[AI] a glimpse of Google
A VISIT to the Google headquarters in Mountain View, near the southern end of California's San Francisco Bay, must prompt a feeling of nostalgia among web industry veterans. The Googleplex, as the sprawling campus is known, is the place where the dotcom bubble never burst. When I arrive on a sunny summer morning, a group of employees is playing volleyball outside the entrance foyer. I notice food stations - filled with free sweets and fruit - decorating the corridors of the light, low-rise buildings. (So does my taxi driver: he heads for the fridge full of smoothies and pockets a couple before looking for me.) This impression of easy-going freedom is, of course, partly an illusion. No firm can lead its sector by encouraging slacking, let alone one that generated over $4 billion in revenues in the last three months. Yet according to current and former employees, Google manages something remarkable when it comes to workplace culture. The firm that famously grew from a garage operation to multinational business has, in the process, managed to hold on to the creative spirit that imbued its early days. In that sense, the Googleplex bubble never did burst. Peter Norvig, Google's director of research, is proof of that. Google poached him from a plum academic position - division chief at NASA's nearby Ames Research Center - back in 2001. Prior employers included Sun Microsystems, before which he earned a PhD at the University of California, Berkeley. His online CV makes it clear that he has not regretted the move away from academia. A note to recruiters reads: Please don't offer me a job. I already have the best job in the world at the best company in the world. It's true, says Norvig, when I ask him about the statement. He is wearing one of his trademark loud shirts as he ambles in, slightly late because of the difficulty of finding the interview room in a campus that has expanded rapidly in recent years. Google has so many opportunities that you don't feel limited here, he says. It is a feeling that has been maintained to an amazing degree, he adds. There are 10,000 people here, but in some ways it feels the same as when I joined and there were 200. So how has Google managed to grow so spectacularly yet still retain a freewheeling ethos? Norvig believes that an absence of hierarchy is key. His staff are organised into groups that focus on specific projects, and often don't even know which vice-president heads the division they work in. The emphasis is on teams to innovate from the bottom up, rather than follow what Norvig calls Soviet-style diktats from senior staff.Bending the rules Google has proved extraordinarily successful at commercialising search results - its key product - mainly by selling targeted adverts alongside them. But Norvig says that staff are also encouraged to pursue projects simply because they tie in with Google's overarching mission - which it says is to organise and promote access to the world's information - even if there is no immediate pay-off. In the week of my visit, for example, the company has just expanded its Google Earth programme to allow users to navigate through images of hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies. Nobody said we should do that to be profitable, says Norvig. It's just a really cool thing to do. The firm's willingness to pursue new ideas also means that many staff are working on original projects rather than fixing bugs in old ones. The astronomy project is just one of many: Google also launched a new facial-recognition system this summer, and recently purchased the Finnish firm Jaiku, which specialises in social networking for mobile phones - a sort of Facebook for cellphones. Longer-term, says Norvig, his staff are thinking about language translation software as a step towards making every website accessible to all, irrespective of your native tongue. The firm also has a new directory enquiries system that relies completely on speech recognition software. When it comes to maintaining a creative spirit in the office, having projects like these is a crucial advantage, says Norvig. We've benefited from the fact that we are growing so fast and are continually having to reinvent ourselves. If that sounds too good to be true, bear in mind that Google is sitting on billions of reserves following its flotation in 2004. Shares in the company, originally offered at $85, are now worth over $700 apiece. That creates the kind of warm glow from investors that allows senior executives to experiment - a success buffer, as Norvig puts it. If the company started performing badly you'd see some changes, he says. Google's unique workplace culture stems in part from the company's novel hiring strategies. Norvig says that Google sometimes posts job adverts that only appear when someone searches for an obscure topic that the firm thinks is interesting. Translation lookaside buffer - a component of computer memory - is one such phrase that alerted the searcher to a
Re: [AI] Betsi error page
Betsie stands for BBC Education Text to Speech Internet Enhancer, and is a simple Perl script which is intended to alleviate some of the problems experienced by people using text to speech systems for web browsing. 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
Re: [AI] mailing braille books overseas
ask them to refer to P T guide, Section 129/130 - Original Message - From: Payal [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 1:38 PM Subject: [AI] mailing braille books overseas Hi, I need some advise on what action can be taken against post offices that refuse to accept Braille books that need to be sent to the nlb library in the u k. I have been told that these books can be sent only from a g p o and not any other post office in the area I live in. this is not true I know, as all post offices are obliged to accept these books. Am I right about this information? I have had major issues in being able to send audio cassettes to the caliber library in the u k in the past even from the g p o who refused to accept it as it was in a open case only tied with a string to holdit in place. I stopped getting books on tape from them because the books did not reach them. I look forward to your inputs about this. thanks Warm Regards, Payal Kapoor The Residence S M Modi Complex Karbala Maidan, Rani Gunj, (Secunderabad) Hyderabad 53 Phone: +91-40-66336644 Fax: +91-40-66336650 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web : http://www.residences.co.in/ www.residences.co.in blocked::http://picasaweb.google.com/TheResidenceNewDelhi http://picasaweb.google.com/TheResidenceNewDelhi For Reservations at our Bangalore hotels please call Lake View Residences Tel # + 91 80 4113, Fax # + 91 80 41518584, E mail : mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] and for The Residence, Bangalore Tel # + 91 80 41134488, Fax # + 91 80 41135558, Email : mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] . For Reservations at our Delhi Hotel, please call The Residence, Tel # + 91 11 40502121 Fax # + 91 11 40502121, Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] 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 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
Re: [AI] about Income Tax.
sighted women are availling one concession. How blind women can avail two concessions? Is it permisseable in law? - Original Message - From: Rajesh Asudani [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 10:22 AM Subject: Re: [AI] about Income Tax. why not! For sighted women, exemption limit is somewhat more than that for sighted men, I think 135000 or so. So, exemption of 75000 would be in addition to that, isn't it? Rajesh -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of sweety bhalla Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 10:04 AM To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Subject: Re: [AI] about Income Tax. No additional exemptions for the vi women. - Original Message - From: Vetrivel Adhimoolam [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Zujar Kanchwala [EMAIL PROTECTED]; accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: 18/12/2007 5:00 PM Subject: Re: [AI] about Income Tax. In addition, I have also been told that there are more exemption for visually challenged women. Could someone clarify on that? Vetri. - Original Message - From: Zujar Kanchwala To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2007 12:05 AM Subject: Re: [AI] about Income Tax. Hi Mahesh, The information is correct. An exemption of Rs. 75000/- is available to people with 100% impairment and it is Rs. 5/- in case of people with less than 100% impairment. You can avail the exemption certificate from NAB every year. To add to this, we can also avail of exemption on Profession Tax, for which the exemption certificate can be availed from NAB. You need to submit Profession Tax exemption certificate only once and not every year. On Mon, 17 Dec 2007 Mahesh Panicker wrote : Hi list. I am told that the visually challenged are exempted from income tax. is this information correct? is it complete exemption, or are their any income limit? is there a government order regarding it? if yeas, where can I get it? pplease get me the details. thanks in advance!. with best regards. -- Mahesh S. Panicker room no. 121; Kaveri-hostel; Jawaharlal Nehru university new delhi 110067 india. 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 Best Regards... Zujar Shabbir Kanchwala SE, MPHASIS, Hello on 9224429816. 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 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 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 Notice: The information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it may contain confidential or privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, any dissemination, use, review, distribution, printing or copying of the information contained in this e-mail message and/or attachments to it are strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us by reply e-mail or telephone and immediately and permanently delete the message and any attachments. Thank you 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 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
[AI] Did you hear the one about the computer with a sense of humour?
The article below is pasted from New Scientist Nov. 24. Did you hear the one about the computer with a sense of humour?; A physicist has proposed a model explaining how information processing in the brain leads to humour - and it could herald computers able to tell jokes Mark Buchanan DID you hear the one about the computer with a sense of humour? Didn't think so. Computers can do many things, but stand-up comedy is not one of them. Yet the idea that computers can be witty might not be all that far-fetched. Perhaps machines need not be conscious to understand humour, and even to invent and tell jokes. Physicist Igor Suslov of the Kapitza Institute for Physical Problems in Moscow, Russia, has designed a computer model which he says explains the evolution of humour. Our ability to experience humour, he suggests, ultimately depends on quirks in how the brain handles information. As a student, Suslov performed in the university theatre. We didn't have much time to write our plays, he recalls. I began to wonder if it might be possible to create jokes more or less automatically. He didn't work out how back then, but he never forgot the problem. Now he thinks he sees at least the broad outline of how humour works and why it evolved in the first place. Verbal jokes, Suslov suggests, work by drawing the mind into error. It first settles on one meaning, and then has to correct itself and see another. Take this joke, for example: Father (reprovingly): Do you know what happens to liars when they die? Johnny: Yes sir, they lie still. The wit of the line comes from the way the brain pirouettes to interpret lie in two different ways. This kind of error, Suslov argues, is at the root of most humour, and stems from a fundamental difficulty the brain faces when trying to interpret incoming data. Whether it's words, sounds or visual images, the brain has to link incoming information to patterns it knows from experience. Much of this process takes place unconsciously. Only when the brain settles on an interpretation for a chunk of data does it send that interpretation into consciousness, where it might prompt action. As Suslov points out, however, to make rapid decisions, the brain often has to settle quickly on an interpretation without enough information to be sure it is the correct one. Yet it must also remain ready to take advantage of further data streaming in, which may lead to a better interpretation. Consequently, he says, there's just no way a well-functioning brain can entirely avoid making these errors of interpretation. The nature of the processing algorithm makes mistakes inevitable. And that, he claims, also makes humour inevitable. He argues that humour is the brain's way of dealing with such errors: a rapid emotional response makes us aware of a mistake, and brings new information into consciousness especially swiftly. Its biological function, says Suslov, is to make brain operations more efficient. We laugh as the brain squirms its way out of a contradictory state. Suslov hasn't yet made a computer that laughs, but he has proposed a specific computational model, based on a neural network, that would mimic the information processing he describes, and necessarily be prone to the same recognition errors (www.arxiv.org/abs/0711.2058 ). Ultimately, he suggests, there may be no reason why we won't be able to program computers to tell and understand jokes . The idea is consistent with what we know about the brain, says neuroscientist Peter Latham of University College London, but it is not clear from Suslov's work why it should be humour that is linked to the processing difficulty he describes. There are lots of positive emotions that might play the required role, he says. And why, he wonders, if humour evolved to solve an internal processing problem, does it involve an outward physical display, such as laughter, that others can see? That characteristic of the humour response, according to biologist David Sloan Wilson of Binghamton University in New York, suggests it probably evolved in connection with social interactions. Human laughter, he points out, appears to be closely linked to similar behaviour that has important social roles for our primate relatives. During social play, such as tickling and chasing, many primate species display a particular facial expression, a play face, and often produce a panting vocalisation that many biologists see as akin to laughter. There's also evidence that something very similar to humour and laughter exists in non-primate species. Over the past decade, for example, Jaak Panksepp of Washington State University in Pullman and colleagues have shown that rats make frequent ultrasonic noises similar to laughter during positive social interactions. Researchers can even make rats laugh by tickling them on the nape of the neck, an area to which rats themselves direct their playful activities. Panksepp suggests that the rat's behaviour is
Re: [AI] Today's Website
thanks Vishnu when I first came across this phrase, I tried to find its meaning but I didn't get it. 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
[AI] Robot car race
Prepare for the invasion of the road-bots; Driverless cars are now clever enough to cruise intraffic and could slash the incidence of road accidents. But until legal and psychological issues are sorted out, the military might be the only ones to benefit Michael Reilly, Victorville, California DIESEL engine idling, Alice peers left, right, then straight at me. With her headlights on in the hazy morning, the imposing grey Ford van emits a loud beep, warning the world she is about to set off with no one at the wheel. We're at the starting line of this year's DARPA Urban Challenge (UC), a 6-hour, 100-kilometre race along the roads of a simulated city organised by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Alice's laser eye swings cautiously around. A robot can't be nervous, but its human creators, a team of researchers from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, certainly are. They hope to prove that cars like Alice are a glimpse of the future. It's 26 October, the first day of the race's qualifying round, a week-long test of robot road skills. Those that pass will take part in the race, in which they must navigate roads autonomously, obey the laws of traffic and, hardest of all, avoid each other. The winning team gets $2 million and a spot in robotics history. The US government hopes to turn the winners into military supply vehicles for war zones, while some companies hope to make robotic cars a feature of our cities, and maybe reduce road deaths into the bargain. As it turns out, Alice won't be the one to take us into this brave new world. A later test reveals that beneath her cautious exterior lies an affinity for accelerating into oncoming traffic. She does not advance to the finals. Nonetheless, her brethren do the robot world proud. Of the 11 teams that race in the final on 3 November, six cross the finish line. It's a gruelling race through unpredictable moving traffic, parking lots, construction sites and even an excursion down a dirt road into southern California's high desert. Despite a couple of fender benders, the results are encouraging. Driverless cars on our highways might be closer than you think. The UC isn't the Pentagon's first foray into robot racing. In the Grand Challenge (GC) of 2004 and 2005, robot cars had to navigate a dirt course across the Mojave desert (New Scientist , 19 November 2005, p 48). That race, in which robots had to avoid stationary obstacles and follow a list of GPS coordinates known as waypoints, was simple by comparison, though. According to veteran robot racer William Whittaker, whose Carnegie Mellon University team built the UC's winning car, Boss, it consisted of nothing more than barbaric, flat-out charges with big rooster tails of dust. The UC, on the other hand, introduces much more sophisticated challenges. As the vehicles race together around the track, they must detect and avoid moving objects. If another vehicle stops, the robot cars must work out why and then decide whether to change route, drive around it or simply wait for it to move again. They must also obey the rules of the road, such as who has right of way at a four-way stop sign, and demonstrate skills such as parallel parking. Although Boss - a burly Chevrolet Tahoe - was the winner, most of the UC finalists have the same basic make-up. An array of lasers, radar emitters, sensors and stereo cameras function as the robot's eyes. This visual data is fed into software which sews it together to create a 3D model of the car's surroundings that is constantly updated. On the starting line, the cars are loaded with a map of the area and a list of waypoints they have to pass to ensure they cover challenging parts of the course. To decide on the best route, the vehicles start by combining the starting position, the waypoints and the map, and then modify this plan in response to the surroundings. For example, if a car encounters a large object in the road, it assumes it is a stopped vehicle. The car stops and checks how close this vehicle is to a traffic light, stop sign or intersection, which might indicate a reason for the delay. If the car doesn't move for a while or is not near an intersection, the robot determines that it has broken down or is parked, and overtakes. To do this, it simulates several possible routes, checks to see if any require breaking the rules of the road - such as jumping a curb - and then picks the shortest allowable route. The real test of the robots' mettle came in zones on the course that were blanked out on the map. When cars enter these, not only must they navigate using sensors alone, they are usually instructed to carry out a mission like park safely in a spot. Parking is one thing that robots find easier than we do. One of the zones resembled a shopping mall-style parking lot. Most people would have driven straight into a spot and then backed in and out to straighten up, but Boss
[AI] some products and their contact details
Zoom-Ex portable scanner, which, according to its manufacturer ABISee Inc., is three tools in a single one-pound USB device: 1. an instant book-to-speech tool; 2. a fast, 20-page-per-minute scanner plus OCR (optical character recognition); and 3. a magnifier with no need for an X-Y table. ABISee's Web site says, The durable but lightweight design of the Zoom-Ex Portable Scanner consists of a 2-1/2-inch digital camera on a specially designed stand, which also serves as a guide for lining up the book or document to be scanned. Because of the unique camera and stand design, the camera is always at the exact distance needed to create a clear image, and a blind user will always know exactly where to place the material to be scanned. The Zoom-Ex costs $2,395. Call 800-681-5909 or 978-460-0480, or visit www.abisee.com. LevelStar A company which produces a pocket-sized PDA with a 30GB hard drive for music and digital book storage. The unit, which has Wi-fi and Bluetooth capability, also contains a Web browser, word processor, voice recorder and an e-mail client. The keypad is like that of a traditional telephone, which can be used alpha- numerically or with braille code. External keyboards are also available. Levelstar.com is the Web address, and they also can be reached via telephone at 800-315-2305. The price of this device is $1,395. Handytech, which specializes in braille displays, was also among the vendors who packed the hall. The company's latest product is a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver equipped with Way Finder Access software for use with cell phones running the Symbian operating system. At this point, ATT and T- Mobile are the two providers with phones running that system, and your monthly plan must include the data package. Handytech will sell you a phone with speech software and a GPS receiver for $1,295. The map covers the entire United States. Call 651-636-5184, or visit www.handytech.us. Accent Signage Systems Inc. creates custom ADA-compliant interior signage for companies throughout the world. Contact 800-215-9437, 612-377-9156, or www.accentsignage.com Ackley Appliance Service repairs braillers. Contact 4301 Park Ave. #540, Des Moines, IA 50321; 515-288-3931 or www.braillerman.com. Ai Squared sells the BigShot and ZoomText Magnifier/Reader software in addition to the ZoomText Large-Print Keyboard. Contact 800- 859-0270, 802-362-3612, or www.aisquared.com. American Printing House for the Blind (APH) creates educational, workplace and independent-living products and services for people who are visually impaired. APH has several catalogs, including Products; Daily Living; Family Life; Bookstore; and Assessment. This nonprofit offers free subscriptions to Reader's Digest in braille and on four-track tape, and Newsweek in braille. Also, APH sells the innovative new MaximEyes desktop video magnification system. Contact APH Inc., 1839 Frankfort Ave., Louisville, KY 40206; 800-223-1839, 502-895-2405, or www.aph.org. At First Sight creates braille jewelry. Call 800-630-6650, or send e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] All Star Brailler Repair guarantees its work for a year. Contact 947 Delaware Ave., Mendota Heights, MN 55118; 651-343-2505, www.braillerrepair.com or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Audio Bibles for the Blind, a division of Aurora Ministries, provides free cassette Bibles in a number of languages and in English on both tape and CD/MP3. Contact P.O. Box 621, Bradenton, Florida 34206; 941-748-3031, [EMAIL PROTECTED] or www.auroraministries.org. Bartimaeus Library for the Blind is a lending library of contemporary Christian literature on cassette. This free service is available on regular-format cassettes; the borrowing time is one month. Catalogs are available in large print and on tape. Call 763-561-6955, or write to 3607 Woodbine Lane N., Brooklyn Center, MN 55429; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Blind Signs developed Detectable Directional Guidance Systems to make public or private pedestrian areas safer and more accessible. The system's brightly colored markers, which have an adhesive backing, can be applied to crosswalks, ramps, public entryways, transportation gates and even stairways. Contact 800-873-0594, 541-538-0202, or www.blindsigns.com. Bumpy Pages makes affordable braille and large-print products, including greeting cards, menus, business cards, clear adhesive labels, adjustable bookmarks and dedication CD's. Contact 972-414-5678, or www.bumpypages.com. Capital Accessibility's Owasys 22C is a talking screenless cell phone that costs $249.95 with a two-year service plan from T- Mobile. Contact 877-292-2747, 202-595-, or www.screenlessphone.com. CaptionMax provides closed-captioning, encoding, subtitling, Webcast captioning and audio description for corporations. Contact www.captionmax.com,
Re: [AI] Popular science books
Hi, Whom to contact to purchase these titles? Do they send through Free matter for the blind? - Original Message - From: harish kotian [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Monday, September 03, 2007 2:52 PM Subject: [AI] Popular science books Hello Friends I rescently attended a seminar at Banglore organised by National book trust. They have some of the books in Braille as well. I however, don't have that list. I have collected the ink-print titles and I am pasting for your information. Regards Harish. NBT Popular Science Books About Time Bal Phondke 215 pp Rs 70.00 ISBN 81-237-4103-0 Time assumes a mystic, surreal character when one realises that it has no beginning or end. It is eternal. It flows only in one direction, from the past to the future. This book tries to understand Time in its entirety, in a Vikram-Betal story format. Chaos, Fractals and Self-organisation Arvind Kumar 186 pp Rs 50.00 ISBN 81-237-1596-X The leaking tap in our bathroom exhibits chaos, the bronchial network of our lungs has a fractal structure and all of us are marvellous self-organising systems of Nature. In a lucid and non-technical account, the book explains some of these pioneering ideas that are destined to culminate in a new non-linear science of the next century. Also in: Asamiya, Hindi, Marathi Oriya. Energy A K Bakhshi 100 pp Rs 40.00 ISBN 81-237-1458-0 The importance of energy in our daily life can never be overemphasised particularly in today's world when fossil fuels are in danger of being depleted. There is practically no activity which does not involve the transfer or transformation of energy. This book discusses its various aspects including the consequences of production and utilisation of energy on our environment. Also in: Asamiya, Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Oriya Tamil. Fibre Optics G K Bhide 94 pp Rs 40.00 ISBN 81-237-2937-5 Based on the principle of total internal reflection and transparency of glass, the study of fibre optics is an exciting new field. This book describes how fibrescopes are used in surgery, and as cables by communication experts to carry telephone calls and by engineers for examining machines. Also in: Hindi. Joy of Making Indian Toys Sudarshan Khanna 126 pp Rs 40.00 ISBN 81-237-2244-3 This simple activity book teaches two things, namely, how to make 101 handmade toys which are playthings even today in remote corners of our country and how toys, simple in design and based on science and technology, can be made at home with discarded materials. Also in: Gujarati, Hindi, Malayalam Oriya. Nano: The Next Revolution Mohan Sundara Rajan 179 pp Rs 75.00 ISBN 81-237-4305-X This book explains the basics of nanotechnology-the next revolution in our daily lives-its historical development, and the ongoing advances, including the pioneering work done in India. Also in: Asamiya Oriya. Quantum Mystery Rajat Chanda 113 pp Rs 36.00 ISBN 81-237-2180-3 The book discusses the laws of quantum mechanics, several amazing quantum phenomena and the progress in understanding the connection between the quantum and classical worlds. How the paradoxes arise and how to solve them has been explained in detail, besides highlighting the significance of Bell's theorem. Also in: Hindi. Radiation and Man H C Jain 98 pp Rs 40.00 ISBN 81-237-1143-3 A study of the natural and man-made radiation environment, dramatic discoveries in the field, problems and risks involved in the use of nuclear energy including the possibilities of malfunctioning of nuclear reactors and disposal of radioactive wastes versus its benefits when compared to other sources. Robots and Robotics M R Chidambara 94 pp Rs 30.00 ISBN 81-237-0914-5 This small volume describes the robots and also how the New Age will open many new possibilities for their use in home and industry to the benefit of mankind. Also in: Asamiya Hindi. The Illusive World of Virtual Reality Tapan Bhattacharya 158 pp Rs 45.00 ISBN 81-237-1949-3 Man's innate desire for fantasising has been sustained considerably by the advent of computers. By mimicking reality, virtual reality creates fascinating illusions and stimulates various human senses. The Telecom Story and the Internet Mohan Sundara Rajan 209 pp Rs 60.00 ISBN 81-237-1754-7 An account of the latest technical developments in telecommunications and the impact of the exploding internet traffic is given in non-technical language. Also in: Hindi The Wonder Chip K D Pavate 116 pp Rs 40.00 ISBN 81-237-1493-9 This book attempts to explain the principles of silicon devices, some interesting aspects of their fabrication technology and the spectrum of their applications. It shows how the principles of electronic circuits in communication, computers,
[AI] On the Internet, everyone may find you're a dog
I am pasting below an article from Christian Science Monitor Anonymity on the Web may seem attractive, but how you use it raises interesting ethical dilemmas. By Tom Regan | Columnist On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog, as a famous New Yorker cartoon once said. Nobody knows when you're the CEO of a big company, either, or a popular doctor, or a columnist posting comments on his or her own writings - if you're writing under an assumed name. And while anonymity can be an attractive feature of the Internet, how and when you use it raises some interesting ethical questions. In particular, is it OK for a prominent public figure to anonymously criticize his critics, or anonymously promote his or her company? Three recent cases illustrate this point. Last week, John Mackey, the CEO of Whole Foods, the natural foods supermarket, was exposed as rahodeb, a frequent poster in the Yahoo! finance message boards for years. When he wasn't anonymously touting his own company in the postings, he was often attacking his main competition, Wild Oats. And now that Whole Foods is trying to buy Wild Oats, his anonymous postings have come back to haunt him. Late Friday, the Securities and Exchange Commission announced an informal investigation into rahodeb's postings to see if any laws had been broken. But even if no laws were broken, many business experts have raised questions about the ethics of Mr. Mackey's actions, and more than a few say it has damaged both him and his company. In another example of anonymous posting gone bad, a well-known Boston pediatrician's penchant for anonymous blogging produced what The Boston Globe referred to in May as a Perry Mason moment. Under cross examination in a malpractice trial in which he was the defendant, Dr. Robert P. Lindeman admitted that he was the blogger known as flea. Most jurors had no idea why such information was important and probably ignored it. Yet the very next day, Dr. Lindeman settled the case against him. Why? As Dr. Flea, he had made several derogatory postings about the jury hearing his case on his medical blog. Flea had ridiculed the plaintiff's case and the plaintiff's lawyer, wrote the Globe. He had revealed the defense strategy. He had accused members of the jury of dozing. Journalists had a field day with this material, so you'd figure that they would know better about posting anonymously. But that wasn't the case for Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Michael Hiltzik, who writes the Golden State column for the Los Angeles Times. In April 2006, Mr. Hiltzik admitted he'd posted remarks on both his L.A. Times blog and on other websites under names other than his own, apparently in an effort to reply to conservative bloggers who had attacked his writings. The columnist used more than one pseudonym, sometimes having his alter egos argue with one another. Hiltzik was suspended for a time and had his blog taken away. Anonymous posting is part of the Internet culture. Visit any popular blog or forum, and you'll see that most comments are made under pseudonyms. In most cases, postings are made by folks who want to express their opinions on politics or entertainment figures or some popular fad. Nothing can stop a well-known public figure from posting anonymously. In fact, the temptation must be even greater for them, since in their public lives, they have to carefully watch everything they say. Josh Ehrlich, a New York-based executive coach with a doctorate in psychology, says that the Mackey case may not be so unusual. Executives like to know how they are viewed and how their companies are viewed, he says in a phone interview. But there is this illusion on anonymity that they think protects them. I think we'll find out that there are a lot more executives doing this. I know we're just talking about the Mackey case, but I think we'll find out that it's just the tip of the iceberg. It may be common, but it's not smart. Common sense says that public figures need to be as careful with anonymous posts as they are with their daily utterances, because those posts may eventually be used against them. All three of the anonymous posters above were outed by those trying to gain an advantage in a lawsuit or trying to make them look bad. There is also that nasty ethical issue: Just because you can write under a pseudonym doesn't mean you should, especially if it compromises your integrity or threatens your company. Avoiding the use of pseudonyms online is not just good advice for public figures, it works for everyone. The freedom of the Internet doesn't mean you can do whatever you want without consequence. Many ways exist to trace anonymous posts. The Los Angeles Times, for example, used Internet addresses to trace Hiltzik's postings back to his work computer. When speaking about the Internet at conferences or seminars, I give this advice about e-mail, posting comments in a forum, or sending instant messages: Don't write
Re: [AI] an article fron mumbai mirror aboute medical transcription.
Most ngos serving for blind people, either make false propaganda or create a fuss on outdated issues 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
[AI] Deleting files
Friends, After uninstalling a malfunctioning software, I deleted some of its files from Windows Registry editor, but the registry is not allowing to delete two files due to which, the problem is persisting after installing the software. Is there any way to delete these two files from registry editor? thanks, Sanjay Prasad, 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
[AI] indenting in MS WORD
Friends, I have few questions about indenting. First of all, what is the difference between hanging indent and indent, Control T and Control M are the short keys respectively. secondly, assume I am typing some lengthy points--(a) (b) (c)... in this case, I would like to highlight first line of these points and remaining lines should be indented. How it can be done? I also would like to know how to come out of indentation after typing the indenting portion. Please explain with key strokes. Frequently, I have to type such letters so I need to know these print styles and formats. Thanks in advance, Sanjay Prasad, 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
Re: [AI] About streaming audio/video
Hi, Half an hour of streaming audio will consume approximately 8 mb of bandwidth. If you stream video certainly it will take more mb for the same duration. So, if you are concerned about your bill, frequently check your usage through your service provider's website. 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
Re: [AI] talking scientific calculator
You are right. I am in need of a portable talking scientific calculator. - Original Message - From: Amritpal Singh [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Ashwani Jassal [EMAIL PROTECTED]; accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Monday, June 25, 2007 11:11 AM Subject: Re: [AI] talking scientific calculator I think, he is not asking for a simple calculator as are available with Saksham, he needs a more complex calculator which could solve mathematical as well as scientific problems. - Original Message - From: Ashwani Jassal [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Friday, June 22, 2007 12:14 PM Subject: Re: [AI] talking scientific calculator you can buy it from saksham. Its cost is around 270. - Original Message - From: sanjay [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: accessindia@accessindia.org.in Sent: Friday, June 22, 2007 11:54 HAPPS Subject: [AI] talking scientific calculator Hi Friends, I am badly in need of a talking scientific calculator. Please let me know the cost, and from where I can purchase it. thanks sanjay 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 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 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 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
[AI] talking scientific calculator
Hi Friends, I am badly in need of a talking scientific calculator. Please let me know the cost, and from where I can purchase it. thanks sanjay 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
[AI] MS outlook and sending mails
Hi Friends, I am receiving mails in ms outlook. but whenever I send/forward/reply mails, I get the following errors. Please help me in this regard. Tasks Errors Task 'pop.mail.yahoo.co.in - Sending and Receiving' reported error (0x800CCC0D) : 'Unable to find the e-mail server. Please verify the server information in your account Please note: I have verified and found nothing wrong. 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
Re: [AI] A quick question
Hi approximately plus or minus 15 MB. 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
Re: [AI] Needed braille diagram printing drawings.
If you can get sighted assistance, then there is a lowtech solution for your problem. Purchase a wooden tactile board from any blind agency/institute and get the needed diagram/drawing drawn on a thick paper. then, you can feel and understand it. don't forget to ask your sighted peer to draw a big diagram for you preferably from a sketch pen or pencil. I have one which I purchased from NAB. It works like our Braille writing device--ie. you have to feel it from the other end. This method helped me in understanding print letters and some basic geometrical shapes. -- sanjay Prasad, Home Phone 02228122688 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
Re: [AI] Need your guidance/suggestions
Hello I am also a MTNL broadband user from Mumbai. You can enquire/get assistance by dialing 1504. or by visiting www.register.mtnl.net.in If you are a Delhi MTNL user, I am not sure about the above mentioned link. Check the history page where you can trace the sites you have logged in. This is also available in MTNL site for individual subscribers. Since it is not 100% secure, someone may be misusing your broadband line. 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
[AI] Difficulty in sending mail
Hi Friends, I recently created a yahoo account. Whenever I compose and send a mail, It is displaying a compose varification code which I cannot see. How to get rid of it? 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
Re: [AI] NEED YOUR KIND GUIDANCE
Hello, I am a BCA student of IGNOU i.e. an open university. They offer courses to international students also. But I am not sure whether they have included BCA for international students or not. for more information visit: www.ignou.ac.in 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
Re: [AI] Writer
Hello I can partially agree with your points numbered 16, 17 and 18 provided you are not going to insist these points to be implemented in graduate/post graduate levels. my views are: if a blind person is pursuing career in a nontraditional field--computers, engineering and other branches of sciences, then that individual is responsible to manage graphs, figures etc. on his/her own behalf through accessible tactile devices. insofaras writing answer sheets in Braille is concerned, it is not possible in graduate and post graduate levels as we do not have standard Braille symbols for scientific and technical languages. Of course one minus point of writing examination papers in Braille may be difficulty in re-evaluation of the papers--may be in rare cases--as we have very few experts to decide a person's ability in any given subject. It is also difficult to prove the sighted world I mean, the Education Department which ultimately certifies a blind person in 10th and 12th Exams. I think this option of writing public exams in Braille can be eliminated. Let me tell you that I am an avid reader of Braille books and magazines. I have mentioned only some technical difficulties and their consequences which have to be overcome. thanks, 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
Re: [AI] What's wrong with Hindu?
I did face the same problem few days ago. We do not get links to daily news items. I think you have to subscribe for online edition separately. 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
[AI] want to buy a MP3 PLAYER
Hello access india One of my friends would like to purchase a mp3 player for recording purpose. Which one is better from a blind person's point of view. can we access all the features of an mp3 player; or is there any low cost digital recorder availlable in the market. Thanks in advance 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
[AI] Question on writing mathematical symbols
Hello Access India I am doing some math assignments in MS Word How to write the following mathematics symbols: Baseline indicator, Spatial division (divided into sign with separation line above) i.e. a sign which separates divisor, dividend and quotient. and, Multiplication sign--I am not talking about x or cross; the sign which is indicated by a dot in Print. Thanks Sanjay prasad 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
Re: [AI] mute, instead of dumb?
Neither Dumb nor mute are the appropriate terms for deaf people. The proper term is hearing impaired. They cannot speak because they cannot hear. 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
