Hindustan Times - August 1, 2003

UK policemen to use camera as tiny as coins

London - August 11, 2003 - British police officers may soon wear digital cameras of the size of a coin on their shirts or jackets to collect evidence. The cameras would operate on a continuous 20-minute loop. The Assistant Chief Constable of Lothian and Borders, told The Times: "Anything that can be recorded at the time is very good evidence, much better than a recollection of the police officer nine months after the event. It is foolproof. You can demonstrate in the court that what you are seeing on the screen is actually what happened at that time and date."

The Asian Age - August 12, 2003.

'Smart cards' to help track vehicles

Jaipur - August 13, 2003 - A Jaipur-based firm has evolved a unique system for tracking of commercial vehicles to facilitate monitoring of goods in transit, establish communication between the transporters and drivers and render timely assistance in case of breakdown or accident. The service is based on the interactive voice response system (IVRS) with the additional facility of voice mail communication. Kinaya Network Limited, which has established a country-wide network to provide the tracking service, has introduced 'smart cards' which can be used by drivers at more than 20,000 tracking locations. Vehicle owners and drivers can send or receive voice messages and instructions, all for the cost of a local phone call. These messages can be heard in English and other languages, including Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Tamil and Marathi.

The Hindu - August 14, 2003

China to launch super identity cards

Beijing - August 20, 2003 - From the next year, an electronic ID card will be issued to all 960 million eligible citizens of China. It will store vital information on chips that authorities can access. Officials hope that it will help stamp out fraud and counterfeiting which afflict the current cards, protecting millions of people and saving billions of dollars. The project is expected to be completed in five or six years. Hong Kong began issuing its own electronic ID cards in June. "If you want to live in the fast lane, you have to deal with technology, but you cannot have total freedom," said Frank Xu, executive director of Smart Card Forum of China.

The Asian Age - August 21, 2003.

Car microchip spies on drivers breaking rules on UK roads

London - August 24, 2003 - The UK government officials are drawing up plans for a new hi-tech road vigilance system by fitting all cars in Britain with a personalized microchip so that rule-breaking motorists can be prosecuted by computer. The chip will automatically report a wide range of offences including speeding, road tax evasion and illegal parking. The first anyone would know about it is when a summons or a fine lands at home. The plan will see all private cars monitored by roadside sensors wherever they travelled. The Department for Transport has hired management consultants to coordinate the development of the system, which it is thought could become operational by 2007.

The Asian Age - August 25, 2003.

Now, visas and passports with hi-tech identity technologies

Washington - August 24, 2003 - Technologies that can scan faces and fingerprints will become a standard part of travel for foreign visitors next year, and for all travellers in the near future. The technology is known as biometrics. In a little over a year (deadline - by October 26, 2004) the state department and immigration bureau must begin issuing visas and other documents with the body-identifying technologies to foreign visitors. The 27 countries whose citizens can travel to the United States without visas must begin issuing passports with computer chips containing facial recognition data or lose their special status. People from those countries with passports issued before the deadline may still travel to the United States without visas as long as their governments have begun biometric identification programmes. "The idea is that it is contingent on reciprocal treatment for United States citizens," said Kelly Shannon, a spokeswoman for United States citizens. Biometric technologies have been available for years, but their widespread adoption has been held back by concerns about privacy and reliability, along with a lack of uniformity. Biometric systems take digital measurements of a person's fingerprints, face, retinas or other characteristics and store the information on a computer chip.

The Asian Age - August 25, 2003.

'Electronic nose needed for police'

Mumbai - Instrumentation experts in the city have stressed the need for supplementing police sniffer dog squads with the 'electronic nose' - an electronic hand gadget that can sniff out the faintest trace of explosives in the air. This chemical technology is 10 years old and is used in the West. Its main advantage is that its memory can be programmed to recognize thousands of combinations of chemicals, as against sniffer dogs who can only be trained to sniff a much smaller number of combinations. Moreover, electronic sniffer dogs can work longer; harder and cost less in the long run. Training a dog is a tedious process. Besides, the police can work more invisibly with this gadget.

The Times of India - August 27, 2003.

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Food for Thoughts


"The distance between success and failure can only be measured by one's desire. "

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"He who tries can fail. But he, who doesn't try, already has."

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INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE:

"Happiness is not found at the end of the road, it is experienced along the way. So take not for granted each moment of your life and you will find a reason to be happy each day. Don't worry so much about tomorrow that you forget to live today".


"Your present circumstances don't determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start."

Nido Qubein