 | IT Happens : August 2001
Monthly News Notice of IT Happenings |  | | Issue - 2 |
DoP Launches ePost Service:
The Department of Posts in partnership with Nettlinx has launched ePost services, its new internet initiative as a pilot project for six months. Nettlinx an Andhra Pradesh based internet service provider will provide maintenance support and Internet connectivity for the service. The highlight of the service is that an e-mail can be sent to people not having a computer or internet connection. The service will initially be provided in 203 post offices in the 5 states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa. It is expected to be launched in the rest of the country in next four to six months. The target users group includes people in the far flung areas, army personnel and the NRIs. The e-mail ID will be a generic one based on the PIN code of the delivery post office. The e-mail sent to this ID will reach the nearest ePost center, be downloaded, printed, enveloped and delivered. (Source: H.T. New Delhi) Indias fastest supercomputer developed:
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has developed an 84-node Anupam-Pentium supercomputer that is about 25 times faster than the previous fastest supercomputer in the country. The new supercomputer runs at a speed of 15,000 Mega flops (floating point instructions per second) and cost about Rs.8 millions to develop. It is about 500 times faster than the first supercomputer developed by BARC in 1991, which had a speed of 30 Mflops. (Source: P.C. Quest August 2001) VSNL offers technology that personalizes fonts:
Videsh Sanchar Nigam would soon be offering its subscribers the technology which would enable them to personalize fonts in e-mail to resemble their handwriting. (Source: I.S.P. - August 2001) Uptecnet.com site finds a permanent home:  After running on an Ad. supported server since long, the UPTEC Computer Consultancy Ltd. official site http://www.uptecnet.com/ is now hosted on a US based server of Network Solutions premier partner. The site has also been upgraded with new fast and accurate search service. The site also gets the best review amongst Indian educational institutes (including IIT's, IIM's) at Indiatimes.com portal.
The discovery of a CD-eating fungus:
Geologist Victor Cardenes has discovered a fungus that eats CDs. The discovery came after friends in Belize (a country of Central America) complained that one of their CDs had developed an odd discoloration that left parts of it virtually transparent. Using an electron microscope, Cardenes and colleagues at the Madrid-based Superior Council for Scientific Research later observed that fungi had burrowed into the CD from the outer edge. It had then devoured the thin aluminium reflecting layer and same of the data-storing polycarbonate resin. Cardenes said; If you look at the CD from the shiny side in the places where the fungus has been you can see all the way through to the painted surface on the other side. It completely destroys the aluminium. It leaves nothing behind! Biologists at the council concluded that the fungus belonged to a common genus called Geotrichum. They add that the fungus only survives in the sultry weather conditions that prevail in Belize. (Source: Developer 2.0 August 2001)
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