Korea’s KomTech has unveiled Rogun, a one meter tall humanoid robot that walks around on two feet. It is actually a babysitter and security guard, with the ability to recognize familiar faces. The diminutive robot will wander around, playing with the kids, broadcasting children’s video wirelessly to the net, so you can see what your children are up to while you are at work. The robot also acts as a wireless Internet or video phone terminal, and keeps watch when nobody’s at home, calling your mobile phone, if there is a stranger in the house.
The cost is Approx $5000

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The Nintendo Wii is the newest game console and is about the size of 3DVD cases stood beside each other. It comes with a front loading disc assembly that is able to take not only regular size CD’s, but Wii discs and the smaller Game Gube discs as well.
It is driven by a PowerPC Processor from IBM and it really nothing more than a powerful version of the Game Cube that it is replacing. It also comes with a newly developed onboard graphics engine (made by ATI) and 512mb flash memory for storing games. It also allows you to connect an external memory card to it for more storage. Also the Wii has built in Bluetooth enabling which allows up to 4 cordless Wii controllers to be used at any one time so the whole family can play together (a family that plays together, stays together). In addition it has 4 Game Cube controller jacks along the top so that if you want it can be used for corded play. Plus it has 2 USB ports for additional peripherals as well as 2 Game Cube memory card ports so you are able to load and possibly save Game Cube games to and from the Wii.

Another additional benefit of the Wii is that it has Internet access and there is USB. You can get an Ethernet adapter which in turn will give the Wii network capability should you want access to online features.

However, the Wii, although it can take a standard CD, is not designed for playing back DVD’s (unless Nintendo make some changes), and this is a disadvantage for this system as all the others have a DVD playback feature.

Maybe this is a marketing ploy on Nintendo’s part, as they would prefer it to be home gaming center rather than a home entertainment center.

The biggest benefit for most people, where the Wii is concerned, and those people who already own some Nintendo console such as the Game Cube, Nintendo DS etc, is that it has backwards capabilities. Can you imagine the money a family will save because they know that the kids Game Cube and Nintendo DS can also be used with the Wii and the whole family can play the games together?

A major advantage of the Wii is its parental control feature that comes with an update and prohibits the younger users from playing games that are considered unsuitable for their age level. Should your child attempt to play a game, th Wii reads the content rating encoded in the games data, and if the rating is greater then the age limit set on the Wii system, then the game will not load until the appropriate password is correctly entered. But unfortunately, this feature does not affect those games specifically designed for the Game Cube.

So overall the Wii looks like a very good investment for a family. It is a very valuable game system as Nintendo are committed to producing games that are targeted to adults as well as for children to enjoy. Plus with its parental control option it means you can have a say on what games you kids play.

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Social Networking sites are, by definition, places on the Internet where people converge around shared interest or causes. The phenomenon has many players such as Hi5, Friendster, MySpace, FaceBook and Orkut. The age group of 18-25 accounts for the majority of the traffic at these sites and will certainly testify that interaction here has long since overtaken plain old conversions. But can social networking sites work beyond dating and friendship to emerge as platforms for careers and educational resources?
Orkut has a separate text field titled ‘professional’ in the profile that users are made to fill. One can specify one’s education, university, occupation, industry, company, title, career skills and career interests. It thus becomes a mini resume itself. Users often get friend requests from people in the same industry, which helps them to exchange notes. A search for ‘jobs’ under communities yields a mind-boggling number of results. One such community, ‘Walk-in for jobs’ has 31,030 members.
There are also a large number of communities dedicated to education. These cover a variety of issues such as online tutorial, institute listings, academic resources etc. One can also find information on requirements for specific industries and the jobs available. For those wishing to go abroad, there are forums related to visa and application issues for universities. Arundhuti, a member of one such communities, believes that they clear away any confusion one might have on issues concerning a particular field or the latest developments.
Coaching institutes too have an online presence. Mahesh Tutorials offers coaching for class 10 and 12 board exams and has communities for each of its branches. Students discuss professors and lectures, clear difficulties and arrange meets. PT Education, which coaches students for entrance examinations, also has a community. One of the threads there discusses people who got selected in a particular year at various centers.
NGOs are also walking up to the potential of social networking sites. ‘Asha for Education’ is one such community. Asha, a non-profit initiative dedicated to educating underprivileged children in India aims to discuss fund-raising, new initiatives and current events through these communities.
Another community worth mentioning is ‘Landmark Education World Wide’. Members discuss enrollments, personal experiences and take the programme offered at Landmark further by applying it in their daily life. Says Mark, a member of the community posts, “I joined the forum in March last year and have competed three seminars. My favorite is ‘creating the miraculous good times!”
However, the authenticity of the jobs posted and the accuracy of answers to quarries is open to debate. As with all resources online, social networking sites too face the problem of quacks and incorrect information.
Spamming and obscenity are common phenomena as well.

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