Delhi emerged as the best e-governed state in 2007, followed by Goa and Chhattisgarh, even as Karnataka and Gujarat plummeted in e-governance initiatives, a Dataquest-IDC e-Gov survey says.
"Delhi was voted the best e-governed state by its denizens for meeting nine out of 14 parameters set for the survey," Dataquest's chief editor Prasanto K. Roy said in a statement here Friday evening.
"The nation's capital state rose to the top from third position in 2006, while Chhattisgarh jumped to third position from 14, with an impressive record of e-governance performance," said Roy.
Other three best e-governed states are Goa, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab follow them.
"Karnataka, which was the second best e-governed state in 2006, plunged to ninth position last year, indicating that political stability is crucial to the success of e-governance projects in a state," Roy said.
The findings were based on a citizen survey conducted across 20 states by CyberMedia group's leading publication Dataquest in association with technology research firm IDC India.
Similarly, the survey found Gujarat slipping to 19th position from fourth in 2006 and Jharkhand as the worst e-governed state, followed by Haryana and West Bengal. Last year's topper Goa slipped to the second spot. Among the southern state, Andhra Pradesh slipped to eighth position from fifth in 2006, while Tamil Nadu rose to fourth from eighth and Kerala to fifth from 11th rank.
Citizens gave maximum marks to e-initiatives in education, income tax and transport services, while they expressed dissatisfaction with those in employment exchange, police and security and judiciary.
The maximum score achieved on any parameter was Chhattisgarh for its education department. Delhi topped the list in police and security category, while Gujarat's low scores on both police and judiciary indicate the negative legacy of the 2002 riots, the survey noted.
"We are seeing the impact of political and law and order issues on citizen's satisfaction-whether it is Gujarat's massive fall, or Karnataka's or West Bengal's muted slides," Roy asserted.
In north, Himachal Pradesh jumped to seven from 16 and Punjab to 10 from 16, with impressive gains in ranking, as interaction with governments becoming easier, while Haryana declined to 18 from 10. In e-governance services for businesses, Tamil Nadu topped the list with Chhattisgarh close behind followed by Delhi, Maharashtra and Kerala. Interestingly, Tamil Nadu was at 10 in 2006, while businesses ranked Chhattisgarh at 16.
"The survey found businesses in most of the respondent states more satisfied than citizens with e-governance projects, as the former benefitted from e-applications for supplies and provisions, government tenders and contracts and power utility," Roy affirmed.
The overall e-governance scores of Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Haryana also fell as compared to 2006, as citizens and businesses reported low satisfaction levels with government services.
In business-government interface, Karnataka, which was topper in 2006, fell to 11 and Gujarat slipped to 16 from three in the previous year. The survey found Goa was the most e-ready state followed by Delhi and Uttarakhand. E-readiness measures the success of new e-governance projects in each of the 20 participating states.
"The findings show constant and diligent effort is required to keep individuals and businesses satisfied with the progress of e-governance initiatives. High-performing states in previous years have not stayed at the top, which shows continuous retention of service quality and ease of interaction is key to e-governance," Roy added.
With assembly elections due in some states followed by general elections in 2009 across the country, a high chance of disruption of e-governance services in several states cannot be ruled out.
Source: www.ciol.com
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Apple’s MacBook Air is the thinnest laptop in the world as Sony VAIO G11 is the lightest
The Sony VAIO G11 is one model that proves to be the challenger with better battery life and storage than the MacBook Air.
MacBook Air is Apple’s pride as VAIO G11 is nothing lesser to Sony. The MacBook Pro’s aluminium shell shrouds the MacBook Air remarkably rendering it a silver shine while it’s curved edges, to a good extent, vindicates it from the industrial looks. Its multi-touch track pad allows the controlling of on-screen actions by conceiving user’s gestures on the track pad. It offers an 80GB hard drive and comes pre-installed with Apple’s MAC OS X version 10.5 (Leopard) though the user has the option of dual รข€“installing Windows OS too.
The model also boasts of an exceptional WiFi support. The VAIO G11 dons an impressive darker finish that tends to withstand a couple of years' rough handling as against the silver touch up of the MacBook Air. This model is arguably the lightest laptop in the world weighing just 1.13kg. The VAIO G11 excels with a 100GB hard drive and an integrated DVD writer. The worthy model from Sony has a battery backup that lasts for almost nine hours compared to Air’s five hours. However, Air outclasses G11 in the processor speed, ergonomics and value for money segments.
A compact portable system has been revealed by Swan Security that converts a PC or laptop into an enhanced surveillance system agile enough to monitor office, home or retail space. The developer of the system who is the global leader in plug and play security has named its latest innovation as USB 2.0 DVR Guardian.
Source: www.free-press-release.com
MacBook Air is Apple’s pride as VAIO G11 is nothing lesser to Sony. The MacBook Pro’s aluminium shell shrouds the MacBook Air remarkably rendering it a silver shine while it’s curved edges, to a good extent, vindicates it from the industrial looks. Its multi-touch track pad allows the controlling of on-screen actions by conceiving user’s gestures on the track pad. It offers an 80GB hard drive and comes pre-installed with Apple’s MAC OS X version 10.5 (Leopard) though the user has the option of dual รข€“installing Windows OS too.
The model also boasts of an exceptional WiFi support. The VAIO G11 dons an impressive darker finish that tends to withstand a couple of years' rough handling as against the silver touch up of the MacBook Air. This model is arguably the lightest laptop in the world weighing just 1.13kg. The VAIO G11 excels with a 100GB hard drive and an integrated DVD writer. The worthy model from Sony has a battery backup that lasts for almost nine hours compared to Air’s five hours. However, Air outclasses G11 in the processor speed, ergonomics and value for money segments.
A compact portable system has been revealed by Swan Security that converts a PC or laptop into an enhanced surveillance system agile enough to monitor office, home or retail space. The developer of the system who is the global leader in plug and play security has named its latest innovation as USB 2.0 DVR Guardian.
Source: www.free-press-release.com
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Effect of IT industry on Carbon Emission
Information and communications technologies will become a major source of greenhouse gas emissions but can abate far more of them.
Greenhouse gas emissions associated with making and powering the world’s computers and telecom networks are growing fast. Despite efforts by technology manufacturers and users to make these tools more energy efficient, rapid growth in demand for computing and Communications—particularly in developing nations—is creating a big carbon footprint.
The good news is that information and communications technologies can reduce far more emissions than they generate.
In the manufacturing sector, smart controls can make motor systems in factories more efficient. The use of information and communications technologies to optimize the energy efficiency of motors in China’s plants, for example, could cut emissions by 200 metric megatons a year, as much as the Netherlands produces today. The annual energy savings would amount to €8 billion, to say nothing of an additional €4 billion in the value of the emissions (at a carbon rate of €20 per metric ton). The value at stake globally in using these technologies to optimize the energy efficiency of such motors would be about €68 billion (€53.7 billion in energy savings and €14 billion in carbon savings). By 2020, seizing this opportunity could reduce emissions by 0.68 metric gigatons annually.
In buildings, more sophisticated technology can monitor lighting, heating, and
Ventilation systems. For the United States alone, that could cut the
Commercial-building sector’s energy bill by nearly 30 percent a year. Globally, smart buildings could cut emissions by 1.68 metric gigatons a year.
Also there is possibility of reducing emissions by “dematerializing” physical goods and processes through telecommuting, video conferencing, Internet shopping, and downloading content rather than using paper, CDs, DVDs, and so on to covey it. These kinds of substitutions cut emissions significantly—by 0.5 metric gigatons a year—but far less than the 7.3 metric gigatons in annual emission reductions from improved energy efficiency in factories, buildings, electricity grids, and truck fleets.
Users and vendors of information and communications technologies alike will need to innovate. If governments introduce a price on carbon emissions or if energy prices rise further (or both), the increased costs of production could be passed on to buyers. This would challenge IT managers and companies that purchase IT and telecom equipment in large quantities to rethink the way they manage the demand for and supply of IT services, as well as their use of IT applications. At the same time, companies that make everything from control devices to computer components, software to networking gear, will have a big incentive to invest in energy-saving products and services and thus help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Increasing demand for information and communications technologies that promote abatement will create attractive growth opportunities for those companies
Source: mckinseyquarterly.com
Greenhouse gas emissions associated with making and powering the world’s computers and telecom networks are growing fast. Despite efforts by technology manufacturers and users to make these tools more energy efficient, rapid growth in demand for computing and Communications—particularly in developing nations—is creating a big carbon footprint.
The good news is that information and communications technologies can reduce far more emissions than they generate.
In the manufacturing sector, smart controls can make motor systems in factories more efficient. The use of information and communications technologies to optimize the energy efficiency of motors in China’s plants, for example, could cut emissions by 200 metric megatons a year, as much as the Netherlands produces today. The annual energy savings would amount to €8 billion, to say nothing of an additional €4 billion in the value of the emissions (at a carbon rate of €20 per metric ton). The value at stake globally in using these technologies to optimize the energy efficiency of such motors would be about €68 billion (€53.7 billion in energy savings and €14 billion in carbon savings). By 2020, seizing this opportunity could reduce emissions by 0.68 metric gigatons annually.
In buildings, more sophisticated technology can monitor lighting, heating, and
Ventilation systems. For the United States alone, that could cut the
Commercial-building sector’s energy bill by nearly 30 percent a year. Globally, smart buildings could cut emissions by 1.68 metric gigatons a year.
Also there is possibility of reducing emissions by “dematerializing” physical goods and processes through telecommuting, video conferencing, Internet shopping, and downloading content rather than using paper, CDs, DVDs, and so on to covey it. These kinds of substitutions cut emissions significantly—by 0.5 metric gigatons a year—but far less than the 7.3 metric gigatons in annual emission reductions from improved energy efficiency in factories, buildings, electricity grids, and truck fleets.
Users and vendors of information and communications technologies alike will need to innovate. If governments introduce a price on carbon emissions or if energy prices rise further (or both), the increased costs of production could be passed on to buyers. This would challenge IT managers and companies that purchase IT and telecom equipment in large quantities to rethink the way they manage the demand for and supply of IT services, as well as their use of IT applications. At the same time, companies that make everything from control devices to computer components, software to networking gear, will have a big incentive to invest in energy-saving products and services and thus help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Increasing demand for information and communications technologies that promote abatement will create attractive growth opportunities for those companies
Source: mckinseyquarterly.com
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