A Few Moments

WikiLeaks runs on just the funding they receive from their donors, they have been very secretive on exactly how they operate (because if we people knew how it worked, then obviously, it’d be hacked) 

The whole site runs on a very simple end goal, anyone who access to any sort of controversial documents can post it on their website or send them a mail. This site does not depend on traditional Wiki’s which let you edit the text that has been posted by an individual at any point in time. After this the information is approved and only the approved information will be posted on their website, which means the information is checked more than once before being publicised. WikiLeaks provides the people who want to post something complete protection and also prefers if you use a Cyber Cafe or something like that to post your information to give you that extra protection. 

The site has servers on multiple continents, and its sensitive information passes through countries such as Sweden, Iceland and Belgium that have offered WikiLeaks a degree of legal protection, the site employs some technical tricks that aim to keep it from crashing or being hacked.

After hearing about the Tor Project, I decided to go back and read more about it as the whole idea of how we could browse the web privately without having anyone to track our day to day activities astonished me. 

Living in the 21st Century I think almost everything we do everyday is being tracked by someone or the other. One of the simplest examples to prove this would be how Google Now tells us we are 15 minutes “late” to go home on a particular day. Google already knows where we live and how we talk to different individuals on different messaging services (Google was just an example, there are much more than we could think of at the moment) Technology is making lives easier by the day but at the same time when we look at how much we actually rely on these devices is creepy. 

According to me Tor is an amazing idea that anyone could think of in terms of protecting each others privacy in almost every way but at the same time it Tor could be used in a negative manner too. (Imagine a group of terrorists who use a service like Tor to communicate between each other)

The Times of India is a preferred newspaper to most people in Bangalore. The way news is segregated is neat and makes it easy to read for most people who want to read a particular set of articles first. The Times of India being one of the most famous newspapers also have a lot of interesting concepts that also help in retaining their customers. The Volkswagen advertisements, the April fools day pranks or any other example for that reason. The newspaper doesn’t really concentrate on just the daily news but is also known for its up to date fashion tips and Gizmo updates. The newspaper’s got it all. But for some reason I (in particular) do not find the newspaper that interesting at all. I found more advertisements than articles. I didn’t find the newspaper as user friendly as I find the Deccan Herald. I think the main issue that needs to be addressed right now is the way news is being published, their news isn’t really how its supposed to be. Most of their articles are very informal and I also heard from my uncle that the quality of the news has slowly gone from not so good to bad to worse.   I read the newspaper in the past week and some of the articles I found interesting were 

Man is a social animal and needs to know all that is happening in the world, the newspaper is the best way for this communication to happen and for everyone to know what is happening in other parts of the nation as well as in other countries. The main newspapers in Bangalore are the Hindu, The Times of India and the Deccan Herald. 

These three newspapers are always in competition. The Hindu according to me is very news based and one needs to be used to the style and layout of the newspapers to understand the news. it has a lot of written matter in which they cover every aspect. On the other hand The Times of India is more of a younger generation newspaper, it has a lot of comics and caricatures in the papers that give the reader a good break but the news value is not as good as the Hindu. According to me the Deccan Herald is the perfect blend of both well written news, comics and advertisements that give the reader a break from the eyes. 

The Deccan Herald is more of a state oriented paper and covers a lot of state based news, it also covers the other areas but tells the readers a lot that is happening in their state which is really important. The reporters are easily able to recognise the importance of the news and the way and angle it should be covered in, the language is simple big words that people will not be able to understand is not found in the article. The articles are short, simple and to the point. The features that the Deccan Herald comes up with are more unique and are able to grab the attention of the readers easily. Though they are mostly related to college and college going students they are still a human interest to most others. 

The sports section of the Deccan Herald is completely different and not only emphasises on one sport like cricket but manages to cover most sports, the features that are written are not only about one player but a coach or good players that haven't achieved all that they should have in their given sport. These features are light and don't just attract the sport lovers but also the others who don't into this section. 

They have many fresh and new coloums in the metro life section that covers a wide variety of articles, from food to clothes to how to maintain your figure and looks. These columns are interesting but the most interesting feature column or section according to me is the section related to civic issues where the reporters take up a civic issues and talk to the needed people and how to make solution and spread awareness on these issues, mostly covering the garbage to the water problems, the most recent one was about how the number of languages that the announcements are made in the metro have reduced. They also cover topics that help the civic sector like the new benches that are added on the road or the increase of garbage cans and the good that they do, this section is not related only to one particular age group but to all the sections as it is one thing that will help the society get better.

The reporters are good and have a good vision as most of the news that comes out is not censored and put across the way that it has been said. This is why my family prefers the Deccan Herald to the to other national newspapers. i think as we get older and understand the importance of reading everyday news the way that one reads the paper has changed a lot. When we were kids we read newspapers just to read the comics and the jokes and trying to solve the puzzles, as we got a little older it has became the headlines and the section of the paper that most interests me. But now I have started reading the headlines and other smaller sections in detail, as one wants to have knowledge in all aspects I find this to be the one of best ways to gain knowledge. 

I read the Deccan Herald and decided to compare a few of its articles with the Newspaper article itself. I would still prefer reading the news from a newspaper than from an e-paper unless I want to share something I read with a particular group of friends. The newspapers provide us with more than just enough information but they tend to make a lot of things look much more different than it actually is. 

Everyone keeps saying that this generation is the way we are because of the amount of technology that we have and the way that most of the things are given to us on a silver platter, but that is not true, though research and entertainment has become easier the amount of work has also grown in a different way.

We used to go out and play or read books after school but now all this generation does is sit in front of the television for hours. “My mom keeps telling me how the television spoilt this generation. I still remember the first time the television came to my house it was a 29 inch AKAI television, it was big and had a lot of wires that had to be connected to all different places and the sound and picture clarity wasn’t that great. It was something that was fascination of all the kids as we would wonder how a box would make different images and play music, it was a device that surely fascinated the children.

The first few channels I can remember watching was Doordashan, a channel that came only twice a week, on Saturday would be the regional language and on Sunday would be the national language (Hindi). When this first came out everyone would be glued to the television on every Sunday morning at ten to watch the telecast of the Mahabharata. This would entertain the elders and give knowledge to the children too in a way that interested them.

As time progressed they came about the coloured television, this was the first one that I had at home and it made me as curious as to where all these colours were coming from. Watching a cat chase a mouse all around a house where the owner of the house would only scream “Tom” fascinated me and I could watch that show for hours together. The yellow bird that was so scared of the Black Cat that just wanted to eat him up was another favourite of mine, to stop the young children from watching too much television they would cut the kids programmes at 6 o’ clock everyday but on weekends us kids would get a treat and could watch till 8 o’clock.

The television also found a way to educate the young kids and Telitubies became a really famous cartoon, it taught the children how to count and say basic words that would help communicate. Elmo was another that educated the kids about letters, numbers and words. It would use objects and music that would entertain us as well as teach us something useful. Blue’s Clues or the show that made us feel like detectives grabbed all our attention, a blue colour dog along with his owner Steve would look for clues that would help them find missing items, the characters were innovative and grasped the attention of all the kids. 

Growing a little older the craze for cars and gadgets came out and shows like Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z became famous, most of us guys wanted to be like them and vanquish evil or fight battles with the help of animals that came out of white and red coloured balls. Though the television has advanced so much, there are much sleeker models and the big fat box with so many different things attached has vanished, the shows and the memory of that first television set will always be there. The fast box and those shows will be missed as the items that the television portrays today are not all good and kids always end up watching something they shouldn’t.