The Oxford dictionary, which has been in print for over a century, may now be available only online.

The publisher of the dictionary, Oxford University Press, said that the ever increasing demand for the online version of the may see the print version getting extinct.

The publishers are skeptical about the availability of the market for the printed form by the time the dictionary is revised and updated to its latest edition.Statistics show that the online version of the dictionary gets about 2 million hits from subscribers in a month.

Sadly the printed form, published in 1989, has sold about 30,000 sets in total. The printed matter comes in a 20 volume set costing 750 pound ($1,165).

Nigel Portwood, Chief Executive of Oxford University Press said on the printing of the latest edition, “The print dictionary market is just disappearing. It is falling away by tens of percent a year.”

Although Portwood’s comment referred more on the full-length version of the dictionary, he added that the shorter versions were also facing a tough time due to the convenience that the electronic format provided.

In addition to that, the online version, launched in 2000, makes it easier for its publisher to catch up with rapid semantic changes and the large numbers of new words. Updates are put every three months. In fact, the latest entrant, Vuvuzela, was announced only a couple of weeks back.

While more and more people are shifting to the digital dictionaries, it is still early to say if they will gulp the printed format.

It is a common tendency amongst employees to relax and sit back when their bosses aren’t around. It is the perfect working situation one could ask for. No one to question you for coming in late or reprimand for taking so many coffee/cigarette breaks. You can do work at your own pace.

However, we seldom remain that responsible when we are not watched over. That after all is basic human psychology. But being responsible when you are not watched over is what counts the most and can save you from many unwanted situations.

You can fall trap into the office grapevine and backbiting leading others to form wrong impressions about you. It’s also very easy for this impression to circulate back to your boss at some point; and by then, it’s too late to correct it.

So here are some tips to handle yourself when your boss is not around:

• Be disciplined and make sure you don’t fall into a comfort zone.
• Put everything on mail, so your ‘sent items folder’ can be your instant back up for each of your actions.
• Provide solutions instead of just citing your problems. You will be appreciated more when you take charge of actions rather than just surfacing with problems.
• Talk to your boss as often as possible. It is necessary for him/her to be updated and intimated of your views.
• Summarize your day so that your boss is aware of the work you did in the day.
• Build good rapport with others and try to win them over.
• Finally if all else fails, have a backup plan ready! Being prepared for the worst hurts nobody.

Many companies trip at the innovation hurdle when they become enamored with ideas. Ideas are far more glamorous compared to the actual execution. They are safe and don’t create conflict. That’s why so many great ideas remain just that – a great idea. Until something is just a germ of an idea, it holds potential and promise to unleash change in the world – and your business. And the trouble begins when you start acting upon that idea, says Vijay Govindarajan, Professor of International Business at the Tuck School of Business and founding director of Tuck’s Center for Global Leadership.

Why ideas – specifically innovative initiatives – fail has been at the heart of Govindarajan’s research for almost a decade now. Companies are so enamored in their quest to find that one big breakthrough idea that they ignore the far more crucial part the execution. The boring, mundane, repetitive, everyday work that’s critical for ideas to work.

The core of a business is focused on efficiency, innovation by definition is an experiment, so there are bound to be clashes. But some firms have made successful transitions too. “A lot of companies mistakenly assume that execution will not be a problem with them because they run their core businesses successfully,” he says. That’s hurdle number one because excelling at the core business doesn’t necessarily translate into success at a new venture. And internal conflicts arising out of trying to do something dramatically different add to the impediments that make sure ideas remain just ideas.

Having spent the past decade researching innovation within established organizations along with Professor Chris Trimble, a colleague at Tuck School, the duo put out their first set of findings in 2005 in Ten Rules for Strategic Innovators – from Idea to Execution. “Ten Rules was aimed at people who were undertaking ‘high risk-high reward’ innovations like the Tata Nano,” Govindrajan says.
But after reading the thought provoking book, the feedback that the duo received from the readers was that the framework discussed in the book wasn’t practical for the kind of innovations they were undertaking.

Most people aren’t going to do a high-risk innovation everyday. But they are doing other smaller innovations nonetheless. The Other Side of innovation tries to provide a set of generalized principles that could apply to absolutely any kind of innovation. Using Infosys as an example of how to successfully carry out such a transition, Govindarajan rewinds to 2000 when the software major decided that its core business of providing software solutions to global firms was doing well and it was time to look elsewhere. The move into the consulting business was a fundamental innovation, moving from solving technical problems to business problems, from interfacing with the CIO to the CEO.

PC penetration in urban India has doubled in the last three years from 19 percent to 38 percent across SEC A, B and C. This study also reveals that PC desirability is on the upswing across the SECs with the desirability having increased by over 100 percent in SEC C.

The study was conducted across 82 cities sampling over 19000 households. Urban households have doubled in the last three years from 19 percent to 38 percent which means that nearly 28 million households in Urban India now have a PC. What’s even more significant is that the penetration of PCs in SEC B and SEC C though on a smaller base has increased over 100 percent. This is also further amplified by the fact that there has been a dramatic increase in PC desirability from 35 percent to 57 percent amongst SEC A-C households in Urban India with the desirability of SEC C having shown a dramatic increase of over 100 percent from 26 percent to 54 percent. Clearly this signals that owning a personal computer is no more restricted to the upwardly mobile urban users.

Commenting on this effort, R.Sivakumar, Managing Director, Sales & Marketing, Intel South Asia said “This is an exciting time for the Indian PC market and the recently concluded study by Intel and IMRB has revealed that reiterates the same. We have always believed that the personal computer is a multi-functional device that consumers can use to work, learn and play, most importantly it helps people to take full advantage of today’s technological advances and prepare for tomorrow’s challenges.”

The study reveals that the personal computing market is not seeing a classical evolution pattern of consumers using a desktop first and then moving to notebooks. Today more and more first time buyers are buying notebooks as their first computer. In 2006, 41 percent of the PC non-owners opted to put desktops in their wish list while only a mere 17 percent opted for notebooks. However in 2009 the percentage of non owners opting for Notebooks in their wish list doubled to a whopping 31percent while those opting for a desktop PC stayed relatively flat at 44 percent. Clearly a significant percentage increase in willingness to adopt Notebooks is reflective of the ‘on the go’ convenient lifestyle of the population.

The overall PC market has grown significantly over the last three years and one of the greatest contributors of this growth is the youth of India who clearly are the torch bearers for PC adoption in India. The study reveals that though pester power begins early, it is only the older youth who have a significant influence on the final purchase of the PC. Youth in the age group of 18-25 are able to play a significant role as facilitators during the actual purchase of the PC.Some of the other key findings of the survey indicate that all socio – economic class buyers do not buy low, they sensibly seek value in the PC & how it can impact their daily life in a positive manner. However, perceptions of complexity in using a PC still exist where PCs are not viewed as intuitive.

The Raksha Bandhan Thali

Raksha Bandhan – the celebration of togetherness, fraternity and sublime sentiments – is one of the the most awaited Indian festivals. It dots the celebration of sensitivity and love of the sibling relationship .

Raksha Bandhan which means a ‘bond of protection’ is an occasion to flourish love, care, affection and sacred feeling of brotherhood and to celebrate the sacred relation between brothers and sisters. Primarily, this festival belongs to north and western region of India but now the world too has started celebrating this festival with the same verse and spirit.

On the day of Rakhi, sisters prepare the pooja thali with Diya, Kumkum, rice, Rakhi thread and sweets. The ritual begins with a prayer in front of God, and then the sister ties Rakhi to her brother and wishes for his happiness and well-being. In turn, the brother acknowledges the love with a promise to stand by his sister through all the good and bad times. He also gives her a return gift. The gift symbolizes the physical acceptance of her love, reminder of their togetherness and his pledge.

Even our Sadhus are Mobile!

Global consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers on Wednesday said the mobile subscriber base in India would cross the 100-crore mark by 2014, while there will be over 10 crore 3G broadband subscribers by 2015.

In its latest report titled ‘Mobile Broadband Outlook 2015′, PwC said the boom in the telecom sector is expected to continue for the next three to five years, driven by high subscriber additions mostly in non-urban areas. “The Indian telecom market has been growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of approximately 30 per cent since 1995 and going strong. With additions of more than 1.4 crore subscribers per month in the year 2009, the wireless subscriber base has grown to 63.55 crore in June 2010, second only to China,” it said.

“Despite strong growth, the industry faces certain challenges such as low rural penetration, stagnant data usage over the years and limited broadband services,” said the report commissioned by GSMA (Global Security Management Agency), the organisation representing the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry.

The report also said the recent 3G spectrum and BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) auction saw intense competition between bidders, resulting in a revenue inflow of Rs.1.06-lakh crore for the government, surpassing most estimates.

The 3G broadband subscriber base will cross 10.7 crore by 2015, with total revenues expected to reach Rs. 26,400 crore. Since the roll-out is expected to be more focused in urban areas in the initial stages, the uptake of 3G services, therefore, will be concentrated among urban subscribers. But gradually, with increasing coverage, the uptake among rural subscribers will also pick up, the report said.By 2015, rural subscribers are likely to comprise up to 24 per cent of the overall 3G subscriber base. Overall, 3G service penetration in India is expected to rise from 0.1 per cent in 2011 to 8 per cent in 2015, the report added.

A revolution is in the offing for deaf and hearing-impaired people with scientists testing a new mobile device which they claim will transmit American Sign Language over cellular networks.

Developed by engineers at the University of Washington (UW), MobileASL uses motion detection technology to identify American Sign Language (ASL) and transmit video images over cell networks in the U.S. The tool, which can be integrated to any high-end mobile phone with a video camera, is undergoing field tests involving 11 participants and the researchers plan to launch a larger field study this winter.

“This is the first study of how deaf people in the U.S. use mobile video phones,” said project leader Eve Riskin, a UW professor of electrical engineering.

According to the university, the engineers are now working to optimise compressed video signals for sign language, increasing the quality of the images around the face and hands to reduce the data rate to 30 kilobytes per second.To minimize the amount of battery power, the MobileASL phones employ motion sensors to determine whether sign language is being used, it said.

Transmitting sign language as efficiently as possible increases affordability, improves reliability on slower networks and extends battery life, even on devices that might have the capacity to deliver higher quality video.And the field test is allowing the team to see how people use the tool in their daily lives and what obstacles they encounter. “We know these phones work in a lab setting, but conditions are different in people’s everyday lives,” Riskin said. “The field study is an important step toward putting this technology into practice.”Texting or email is currently the preferred method for distance communication of deaf and hearing-impaired people. But the participants’ experiences with the MobileASL phone are, in general, positive.

Texting sometimes is very slow, because you send the message and you’re not sure that the person is going to get it right away. If you’re using this kind of phone then you’re either able to get in touch with the person or not right away, and you can save a lot of time.

According to the researchers, newly released high-end phones, such as the iPhone 4 and the HTC Evo, offer video conferencing. But broadband companies are now blocking the heavy-bandwidth conferencing from their networks and introducing tiered pricing plans to account for heavy data usage.But Riskin said they “want to deliver affordable, reliable ASL on as many devices as possible. It’s a question of equal access to mobile communication technology.”

U.S. President Barack Obama said that America will not settle for the second place in the international community when other countries like India, China, Germany and South Korea are competing and fighting for the jobs of the future.

“Other countries that are out there, they are competing; they are fighting for the jobs of the future. India China, Germany, South Korea. Let me tell you, the United States of America does not play for second place. We play for first place,” Mr. Obama said while addressing an election campaign in Milwaukee.He said that the U.S. was going to rebuild its economy and rebuild it better and stronger than it was before.

“At the heart of that strategy will be three powerful words: ‘Made in America.’ We are going to make things right here in the United States of America and sell them all around the world,” he said.The President asked the people to choose between the policies that encourage job creation in the U.S. and policies that encourage job creation someplace else in this election.

“So instead of giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, we want to cut taxes for small-business owners who create jobs right here in the United States of America,” Mr. Obama said.The U.S. President said his administration wants to jump-start a homegrown clean-energy industry.

“I don’t want to see new solar panels and wind turbines and electric cars manufactured someplace else. I want to see them stamped with ‘Made in America,’ by American workers,” he said amidst a round an applause.

Mr. Obama said the U.S. is investing in a 21st-century infrastructure, not just new roads and bridges, but faster Internet access and high-speed railroads, projects that can lead to hundreds of thousands of new private-sector jobs.

“These ideas shouldn’t be Democratic or Republican ideas; they are commonsense ideas. Yet, most of the Republicans in Congress voted no on just about every one of these policies. You remember when I was running, we had a little slogan, “Yes, We Can”? These guys’ slogan is, ‘No, We Can’t.’ No, on closing loopholes for companies that ship jobs overseas. No, on the tax cuts for small businesses. No, on the clean-energy jobs. No, on the railroad and highway projects,” he said.

Mr. Obama said the America he believe in, that always moves forward, rewards hard work instead of greed, rewards responsibility instead of recklessness.

With its rich heritage and culture India can show the world the path to freedom, peace and enlightenment. Though that path is long and arduous the journey must begin. Nations rise and prosper because of the clear direction they choose. With the unmistakable impact of globalisation, India must not be merely a taker from other countries but also a giver. If it can give the path to freedom by its own example, the world will be a freer and happier place. When a nation is free it can be influenced only by culture. If only Indian culture can carve out the path to freedom, the entire world will follow it spontaneously.

Widening horizons

Indian culture, as it embraces modernity, has to be a liberating force. It should not get stuck in the material mindset placing its focus on economic development and narrow identity. Technology will take care of development with its own accelerating logic.

Identity has proved to be so divisive in history that we have to see India as a place of reason to avoid its destructive consequences. To be Indian, therefore, is to be a seeker of truth and bliss. This state of mind requires a high level of cultivation and that is where Indian culture has to play its critical role which absorbs the entire world in its embrace. To be an Indian is to be citizen of the world. When that spirit of Indianness pervades we will never have Gujarats and Babri Masjids in the future.

The era of political power play is over. Nations are saddled with their own human problems in the fields of education, health and environment and resources. No country has successfully solved those problems. Therefore the national mind has to be trained to tackle those problems. That is why politics has to give place to culture which alone can focus the national mind on those pressing issues. Today the race among nations is not who produces the maximum number of cars but who is the greenest, most peaceful, talented and healthy in the world. Standing armies no longer earn admiration but Nobel Prizes and Olympic Gold Medals.

If only we can make India completely literate, we will have taken a major step towards making it a cultural super power.

Literacy is not to be viewed in the minimal sense. To be literate is to be wise, productive and creative and perfect. When we talk about mass literacy we should talk about mass perfection. The Chinese call it ‘yu’ or ‘how to flow.’ To create mass culture is not easy. Masses get accustomed to what they get by minimum effort. Everyone is a hero in mass culture. The Indian hero has to place the emphasis on culture, not on wealth.

The West is wealth oriented. Why should India tread the trodden path? Culture based on originality is a path not chosen by others. Because it is difficult and heroic. But once achieved the results will be beneficial on a wide variety of fronts. Mass Indian culture will be democratic, green, peaceful and socially innovative. Material comforts will be there but not in a stifling way.

It is now clear that the industrial revolution of the West has been easy to copy by other countries. India is no exception. The Indian economy has been doing well for the past decade. But to deal with the side effects of industrialisation like global warming is much more difficult. It requires unity of approach, which only a strong cultural base can give. Thus development means a parallel ability to keep the show going on all fronts. The Industrial revolution can give us prosperity but we have to decide by our intellectual vitality what kind of prosperity that will be. The environment and resources have to be conserved if  development is to be meaningful. Creative aspects of development have to be answered by culture. To exchange the boredom of poverty for the boredom of affluence is not wise. It requires a greater intellectual effort than that required for material progress.

Our world is prosperous but not orderly. This disorder comes from fragmentation. In the atom particles are in their place. If they fly in different directions, the atom cannot exist as a whole. In the atom, nature has provided for spontaneous unifying forces to keep the order that is implicate. Man has not found that wholeness and freedom. The Industrial age demands a new faith which only culture can provide. To go beyond the fragment and see a unity that binds all human beings is the work of culture that liberates. To be rich and frustrated is a waste of human potential. A new prosperity should include the spirit too. Indian culture must put together different strands of its intellectual strength to arrive at the spirit of freedom and anchor itself there permanently and gracefully.

Many aspects of Indian culture are now universally accepted. Yoga, ayurveda and vegetarian food , music and dance have found increasing number of adherents around the world. They like them because they are beneficial. There is a big element of voluntary acceptance. For example, yoga has reached mainstream American population with 17 millions practicing it. This is a case of free flow of ideas and cultural practices. Cultural relations among nations flourish only when they are voluntary and spontaneous.

There is no coercion or resentment. In a world made unstable by terrorism and violence a space for peaceful and happy exchange must be diligently promoted. Yoga and ayurveda are authentically Indian and Indians have a big reason to be proud of them. What promotes freedom will promote happiness also. And peace certainly. Indian culture thus will thus contribute to a holistic life-style that is universally relevant and functional. That is what an ideal cultural leadership should be.

Cultural base

A new world order is trying to emerge. In this order no one is a super power, or even a power. All countries are equal. This equality of relations is something new in history. This new order is based on universal laws. It is culture that prepares people to act by rule and law. The mind needs to be cultured to accept voluntarily a world that must be run by consensus. Consensus emerges out of good relations based on mutual benefits. A free world is possible only when people come together for common good.

Culture is the embodiment of commonalty. In this environment human effort becomes creative as its goal moves away from desire fulfillment to spiritual bliss. A car satisfies a want. Great music elevates the spirit. Both are products of human effort. One is constructive, the other is creative.

A world government may be a political utopia. But in culture a unity of spirit is already there. Shakespeare and Kalidasa may belong to different countries but in their creative works they give a satisfaction that is universal. Steven Spielberg and Satyajit Ray occupy the high world of art whose audience is global simply because they have transcended all barriers. Culture is the tool with which human beings belong to the world voluntarily. A space for freedom is created spontaneously by intellectual brilliance. We must push in that direction by promoting culture in all possible ways. In an atmosphere of song and dance men will drop their arms and forget their fights. Thus culture and peace are inextricably linked to create a world of harmony and freedom.

Freedom that comes from understanding at the very source of a thing is a long and arduous process. This is the inexorable logic of history. If only India can follow this logic and act accordingly progress will be spontaneous and smooth. Without a strong foundation no edifice can last. Indian freedom, if it is to endure must be deep and strong, based on reason and justice. Only then power will pass ultimately to the citizen, making India a genuine democracy.

“Ma, I’m hungry,” says Ramu, entering the kitchen. His mother was chopping greens… read the first few lines of a chapter in the class III State Board textbook for environmental science.

While the lesson goes on to talk about greens, parts of a plant and so on, in the illustration showing the mother chopping vegetables and the child asking her for food, there is another message that is not so loud — that it is the mother who has got to be in the kitchen, preparing food for the family. It is interesting to see how gender biases creep into textbooks, as if to reinforce existing stereotypes.

Can textbooks or teachers enable students to question or challenge such notions?

There needs to be a conscious attempt, say teachers.

Recalling one of her classes, S. Chithra, who handles class VI at the Panchayat Union Middle School in Hasthinapuram, near Guduvanchery, says: “We were discussing great scientists and suddenly one child asks me, ‘weren’t there female scientists? How come you don’t tell us about them’?” It immediately struck the teacher how children were very closely following the content discussed in the class.

“Another day, we had a debate on who should cook at home. It was very refreshing to hear some boys say they would love to. Teachers should create a space for such voices, too,” Ms. Chithra adds.

“Neither educational planners nor teachers may be expected to be free of biases,” says V. Geetha of Tara Publishing. As someone who has also been working in the area of textbook analysis and gender, she says the biases in textbooks have to do with the actual absence of feminists in educational planning and teacher training.

“Textbooks are closed systems of knowledge — unless teachers bring them alive and open them up for discussion. Biases in textbooks may reflect social biases or those of writers or a mixture of the two,” she says. Speaking of gender biases, Ms. Geetha says: “The addressee in textbooks is always male, middle class, urban, upper caste. When teachers use books and give examples, they are more likely than not to use the pronoun ‘he’ than ‘she’.” “Importantly, these biases are never simply those of girls being left out. It is important to ask what sorts of boys are featured in our books: not working class, lower caste or Dalit boys…So it is not just that we don’t have girls, we also don’t have the variety,” she notes.

Ms. Geetha feels that while addressing the issue in a larger sense, it is important to revamp teacher training. “When we talk of gender, we often think of female teachers, but we need to think of how we are going to educate all teachers, including men.”