Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is a technology that uses communication via radio waves to exchange data between a reader and an electronic tag attached to an object or a human being, for the purpose of identification and tracking. Some tags can be read from several meters away and beyond the line of sight of the reader. The application of bulk reading …

Psiphon is a censorship circumvention solution that allows users to access blocked sites in countries where the internet is censored. Psiphon turns a regular home computer into a personal, encrypted server capable of retrieving and displaying web pages anywhere. Psiphon is a human rights software project developed by the Citizen Lab.

Pop culture, with television and radio as entertainment, has evolved into peep culture, with reality TV and internet. Entertainment is all about going through people’s private lives on blogs and social networking sites. These are tell all, show-all times. Peep culture is a vent for social isolation, ironically, a result of an increasingly virtual world.

PayPal is a safe and easy way to pay and get paid online. The service allows anyone to pay in any way they prefer, including through credit cards, bank accounts, buyer credit or account balances, without sharing financial information. Available in 190 markets and 24 currencies around the world, PayPal enables local e-commerce by making payments possible across different locations, …

Ho Chin Minh Biography Born: 19 May, 1890 in Hoang Tru in rural Vietnam 1911: Sails to France to study and work 1941: Forms the Vietnam Independence League, or Viet Minh 1954: Defeats the French at Dien Bien Phu; Vietnam is divided, and Ho becomes the first president of North Vietnam 1959: Begins armed revolt against South Vietnam 1967: Tells L.B.J., “We will never negotiate”. Died: 2 …

Bluetooth is an open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances (using short length radio waves) from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks (PANs) with high levels of security. Invented by telecoms vendor Ericsson in 1994, it was originally conceived as a wireless alternative to RS-232 data cables. It can connect several devices, overcoming problems of …

MySQL (pronounced ‘my-ess-cueel’) is an open source, true multiuser, multi-threaded relational database management system (RDBMS), that uses Structured Query Language (SQL). MySQL was developed by two Swedes and a Finn — David Axmark, Allan Larsson and Michael Widenius. It was written in C, C++, and was first released in 1995. Currently, MySQL has over 11 million installations. It’s fast and …

Multimedia Messaging Service, or MMS, is a standard way to send messages that include multimedia content to and from mobile phones. It extends the core SMS (Short Message Service) capability that allowed exchange of text messages only up to 160 characters in length. The most popular use is to send photographs from camera-equipped handsets, although it is also popular as …

A wiki is a web application that allows users to create and edit web page content using a web browser. The term wiki also refers to the collaborative software used to create such a website. Mediawiki is a wiki software package licensed under the GNU General Public License, making it free and open source software. This Mediawiki software is used …

Intexticated is a term given to those people, especially teenagers, who are addicted to texting and reading messages, especially when they drive. It is a take-off from the word intoxicated because of the similar connotation of driving and also being busy on the phone at the same time. A British study has found that intexticated drivers are worse than intoxicated …