The Death of the Netbook

Once the most exciting category of tech products, netbooks have been out-glammed by tablets and outclassed by cheap portable laptops. We take a firsthand look at the state of the mobile computing world.

Is there still space in the world for netbooks? Four years ago, the entire world fell in love with the idea of

cheap, lightweight computers that could do almost anything. Netbooks shot to the top of the popularity charts so fast that every single PC maker jumped aboard and a whole new device category was born. Today, though, there might not be much reason for that category to exist anymore. Netbooks are good at being cheap, portable, and simple to use, but they aren’t good at satisfying the needs of users as they grow beyond basic tasks. They might be convenient, but it’s hard justifying the cost today when a much more capable laptop can be had for just a few thousand rupees more. The hardware is underpowered, the preloaded Windows Starter Edition just looks anemic, and no single model has yet managed to work a comfortable keyboard and trackpad into package only large enough for a 10-inch screen. In fact, netbooks never did take off in way they were intended to. For all the reasons above, they never gained much foothold as entry-level PCs for low-income buyers. It’s only because they caught the public fancy as inexpensive secondary gadgets that they ever sold in large quantities. The iPad and its various competitors, however, are much more suitable as portable entertainment gadgets, so even that appeal is lost. Today, it all boils down to what you want to use your tablet or netbook for. Netbooks are cheaper than tablets, and are often more versatile, although many people get quickly accustomed to the ways in which tablets are limited and therefore don’t mind this so much. There’s no sense in comparing the two types of devices spec-for-spec, since they’re designed to be used in vastly different ways. For all the convenience of iOS or Android, a tablet cannot provide the kind of experience that a Windows or Linux based netbook can. I decided to spend equal amounts of time with an iPad 2 and an Asus Seashell, giving them equal opportunities, and seeing which turned out to be more suitable in each situation.

By 2015, the US PC market will break down as such
 (based on percentage of units sold in 2015):

The experiences

The first situation in which I had to choose a netbook or tablet was while traveling. If I had to choose only one device to put into my backpack, it would have to be a tablet. The netbook weighs 1.25 kg, while the iPad 2 weighs half as much, at 600 grams. The difference is noticeable, but if you’re willing to put up with a netbook, also keep in mind that today’s ultraportable laptops start at around 1.4 kgs. I took both for a spin during Computex in Taipei earlier this year. Unsurprisingly, the iPad proved to be an excellent choice for entertainment and web surfing, but in situations where I needed to dash to a computer, it was frustratingly limited. The iPad was undoubtedly easier and more handy to use while waiting in airport lounges and sitting in cramped economy class seats. I watched videos, read ebooks, and twiddled around on the web whenever Wi-Fi was available. However when it came to things like previewing and uploading photos, replying to email and putting together articles, I found myself stashing the iPad back in my bag and heading for the public terminals provided for the press. The netbook also came in handy when checking out press materials handed out on pen drives, and in several situations, the only available Internet access was via cellphone tethering—I would have had to go hunting for a microSIM for the iPad and spend extra money on it, but could simply hook up the netbook via a USB cable. Lesson learnt: when travelling for work, you can’t beat the versatility of a full computer, even if it’s a small, weak one. If you’re used to the way things are done on a desktop or laptop computer, you’ll find that multitasking, mouse-and keyboard input, and even the variety of software available will influence your decision. There’s no substitute for having a real filesystem, being able to organize things across drives, connect to networks and projectors, back up digital photos and videos, and of course multitask with the flick of a wrist. Of course these things are PC-specific, not netbook-specific. The tablet loses out on flexibility, but a laptop is still better than a netbook in every work-related situation. Back at home, I found the netbook pretty much never came out of its bag. For every possible use situation, the iPad proved more comfortable and fun. There are tons of brilliant free ebooks available online, and I found myself reading more in a month than I had all of last year. With a home media server and Wi-Fi everywhere, there is literally an app for everything. There were of course times when I needed to multitask more, with browsers and chat windows running, but in those situations I always walked over to my PC rather than taking out the netbook. There was no advantage left for the netbook—the tiny  screen and keyboard make it worthwhile only when a desktop or laptop isn't available. If I ever have to choose only one cheap device at home, it would have to be a netbook, but if I wanted a secondary gadget for my own entertainment, I know now that the iPad wins hands down. Which brings us to the budget question. If you already have a PC or laptop and are looking for a companion device or gadget, a tablet will give you more choice and flexibility. If you’re buying a netbook or tablet because it’s the only thing you can afford, you’d be better served by the netbook, but you should still seriously consider saving some more and buying a cheap laptop. So tablets are great if you can afford an indulgent lifestyle, but netbooks still have a place in the world. Laptops far outclass netbooks in terms of power, and tablets trump them when it comes to weight. The purpose of the exercise was to figure out whether netbooks still have a place in the world, and with this kind of competition on both sides, it’s clear that they now appeal to only a narrow section of the buying public. The only advantage they have left is their low cost. That might be enough reason for some, but it’s a shrinking target group.

Should you really care about memory in graphics cards?

Getting the most bang for the buck is what everyone looks out for, and this holds true especially when you’re spending a lot of money for something that you’ll use for a few years. You want the latest and the greatest gadgets and hardware that won’t get outdated too soon. But the decisionmaking process that goes behind what to look out for is the trickiest bit. It’s all the more challenging when there’s a swarm of brands and model variants in the market. 

Radeon HD 6670

                       
              Going by the questions that I come across from my friends and CIS’s readers, choosing the best graphics card given a certain budget is one of the most challenging decisions. It’s easier to choose a mid-range or a premium graphics card because there are very few variants. The memory sizes and types don’t differ much. The only things to consider are the design and quality of the cooler in the case of custom design cards. However, things are completely different in the case of the mainstream segment (under Rs 10,000), which has the largest user base. For example, consider the Radeon HD 6670, which is available in DDR3 and GDDR5 variants. Further, you have 1 GB and 2 GB memory size variants. I’ve come across people who are unaware of memory types and feel that the higher the amount of video memory the better. So they overlook cards with 1 GB of GDDR5 memory and settle for a card with 2 GB of DDR3 memory for the same price and think they got a good deal. What one should ideally give first priority to is the type of memory and completely ignore the amount of memory. 
                      
                           This month, I came across two very interesting graphics cards, which gave me an idea for this month’s topic – the HIS Radeon HD 6670, 1 GB GDDR5 and the Powercolor Radeon HD 6670, 2 GB DDR3. I tested both the cards on our test rig powered by Intel Core i5-2500K CPU and 4 GB Corsair XMS3 -1600 memory. The Powercolor HD 6670 logged an overall score of 1199 points in 3DMark 11. At 1920x1080 (very high), Just Cause 2 and Mafia II were stuttering at 15 fps and 10 fps respectively. Unigine Heaven 2.1 benchmark reported a measly 7.1 fps at 1920x1080 with tessellation disabled. The HIS HD 6670 was way better with a 3DMark 11 score of 1871 points. With settings kept the same, Just Cause 2 and Mafia II ran at 26 fps and 20 fps respectively. Unigine Heaven 2.1 benchmark reported 17 fps. 
                      
                         The Radeon HD 6670 by both HIS and Powercolor are priced at Rs 5,500, and the former is obviously better bang for the buck even though it has half the amount of memory. Now that you have an idea about the performance with DDR3 and GDDR5 memory types, make the smart choice. A small note about the Radeon HD 6670: While being perfectly suited for home theater PCs, the HD 6670 also addresses the entry-level segment, where users need a discrete graphics card for casual gaming, accelerating video playback and transcoding. It’s extremely power-friendly and doesn’t need a PCIE power connector to draw extra power.



“The type of memory is important and not the amount”

If Looks Could Control

After touchscreens and gesture recognition, eye tracking is the next step for completely intuitive control of PC and gadgets

Communication help: Thanks to
special software, a computer can
be controlled just with the eyes

Listening to those who can‘t speak: The tracker recognizes
where the baby is looking and what interests him.

Intuitive and direct control of computers is the new frontier for technology. The keyboard and mouse require a lot of movement and dexterity from users, which is not always possible and leaves a lot of room for improvement. Apple achieved a milestone step in the evolution of intuitive interfaces by developing the multitouch surface for its iPhone and iPad. Microsoft’s Kinect, has sold millions of units, and presented another approach that frees users from physical contact with a device. The next level is going to be introduced in the market soon: thanks to eye tracking, you might not need to control the computer with deliberate actions at all. Instead, it will recognize where you are looking, understand what you want to do and react accordingly.
                  A computer controlled by the eye will scroll down when you reach the end of a page while reading. It will offer definitions of words or translations if your eye lingers on a particular word for some time. You will get real eye contact with characters in 3D video games. Such levels of control are possible because of the way the eye functions. Humans see well enough only in a part of their vision range to be able to read and perform similar activities. Moreover, the eye has to focus on an object for at least 50 milliseconds to recognize what it is. This phenomenon is called fixation, and it can be detected by a machine.

Support: People with disabilities can
use eye trackers for communication

How the devices work

In order to grasp fixations, a webcam which is built into a notebook or a specialized camera accessory like the Microsoft Kinect, has to emit an invisible infrared pattern that is reflected by the eyes. The eye tracker captures these reflections and analyses them. There are two lighting methods that give good results depending on the color of the user’s eyes and ambient light: either the light source is set close to the lens of the tracker so that the pupil seems lighter than the iris (like a red-eye photo), or the light source is placed far away from the lens, whereby the pupil appears darker than the iris. The method that will best suit each user can be determined automatically by a simple calibration process. The eye tracking device also needs to know about the dimensions of the display screen and the position of the eyes relative to certain points on the monitor. During operation, the device records the area directly in front of the monitor. Currently available devices that help physically disabled people to control their computers can capture an area of around 30x40 cm at a distance of 50 to 80 cm in front of the screen. Using a sampling frequency of 120 Hertz, the camera generates an image every 8.3 ms, through which the device recognizes the reflection pattern of the eyes. Thus it knows where they are placed. 
                    The eye tracker device then determines the direction of eyes from the vector between the differently refracted reflections of the pupil and the iris (see diagram). Together with a time stamp, the device reports the eye position and direction to the eye-tracking software that runs on the computer. The program filters out irrelevant eye movements and winks in order to determine the fixations—the actual points on the monitor that you are focusing on. At a distance of 70 cm, the device can recognize visual focus points of around 6 mm in diameter. In combination with the current content of the screen, the software deduces which word or picture you are looking at. The computer then uses a visual pattern database to determine whether an action like scrolling is necessary.



Eye control: New possibilities

Eye control is not going to completely replace current input devices like mouse and keyboard, but add to them. For example, a user could control the mouse pointer with his eyes, while his hand rests on a button and just clicks. That works very fast and reduces micro-movements of the arm muscles that often lead to shoulder and back problems. Eye tracking technology is ready for use even today, but the components are bulky and expensive, which means they can be used only in specialized areas. Eye tracking makes it possible for physically disabled people to interact with a computer. 

                    The introduction of an eye-controlled computer in the mass market is not very far away. “Our eye tracking technology is already so mature that it can be used in PCs. In a few years it will small and cheap enough to be fitted into average computers”, says Nicolas Pezzarossa, German CEO for Tobii Technology, a provider of eye tracking software and hardware. Tobii showed a new notebook prototype at CeBIT; one of the test programs was the game Asteroids, in which visitors at the fair could shoot down asteroids. In the near future, Doctors will be able to call up specific information with their eyes, such as X-ray images, without having to interrupt their work—or they can examine the cognitive abilities of children who are yet to start
talking but can tell what they want by focusing their eyes. Researchers are even analyzing how and what we read, using this technology, leading to enhanced consumer behaviour studies. Beyond that, eye tracking will add new life and realism to our business, entertainment and educational software.

Speed Thrills!

Want to give your PC a steroidal speed boost?  Use a high speed SSD as the primary drive and enjoy blistering performance.

The Most powerful SSD available in the market, that have terrific performance

High-end hardware calls for blazing fast storage devices to output results at blistering speeds. Using a conventional hard drive as primary storage without bottleneck performance in scenarios where speedy read and write operations are critical-for example, audio and video capturing/ editing, 3D modeling, image editing, and so on. In such cases, using a high-end SSD works wonders. Older generation SSDs with SATA 3 Gb/s interface are more than twice fast as regular hard drives. The new SATA 6 Gb/s interface and with high-speed controllers have changed the ballgame yet again.

             Plug a SATA 6 Gb/s SSD to a 3 Gb/s pot on the motherboard and then connect it to a 6 Gb/s port–you’ll see a vast difference in transfer speed. We tried it and noted a difference of 45 percent in speed within the same drive with the same drive. The average read and write speeds of a 6Gb/s port around 510 mb/s and 490 mb/s respectively. When connected to a SATA 3Gb/s port which has half the bandwidth the average read and write speeds dropped to 270 mb/s and 260 mb/s respectively.

            SSDs are available in capacities ranging from 64 GB to 256 GB. The ideal capacity for your PC depends on the amount of storage space required by the operating systems and applications you use. For example, a 64 GB SSD is ideal for a basic home PC, whereas, as a 128 GB is good for a gaming PC in which a lot of storage space is required to install games. Nowadays, with even entry-level motherboards featuring SATA 3GB/s interface, opting for a SATA 6 Gb/s SSD is a smart choice.

           If you want plenty of storage without compromising performance and blowing up too much money, you can use an SSD as a primary drive and a high-capacity hard drive has the secondary storage. Such a setup would be ideal if you want to store your entire collection of music and movies in your PC where you just need to store documents and files related to work, the even a 64 GB SSD should suffice.

           Upgrading your laptops storage by replacing the hard drive with an SSD is a very smart upgrade. You’ll find an improvement is the boot time and the speed at which applications load. Also, Battery life also improves because SSD consumes less power than hard drives due to the absence of moving parts.

In this comparison we compared high-performance SSDs with SATA 6 Gb/s interface. We tried our best to roundup all the brands in the market, and we go our hands on 10 speed demons.

UEFI: The Super BIOS

The end of the old BIOS is imminent; UEFI is faster, safer and more efficient. We explain why.

The bluish, confusing menu of the BIOS (Basic Input / Output System) has been a feature of every PC for the past 30 years. It’s function is to detect installed hardware and provide the necessary interface for the boot process of Windows and Linux. The BIOS was developed for PCs in the early eighties, and has remained virtually unchanged in recent years. Since 2000, Intel is working on a new firmware interface, the EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface). 

                             Since 2005, the United EFI Forum is responsible for developing, managing and promoting UEFI specifi cations. Big companies such as Intel, AMD, Apple, Dell and Microsoft develop product in accordance to UEFI standards. UEFI has a faster, more stable, easier-to-use and secure interface. Nevertheless, there are hardly any systems that use UEFI as of now. We show you how your computer will boot up in the future using UEFI. 

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" By 2015, more than

90percent of IA*-Systems

will boot with UEFI " -  Vincent Zimmer
                                                                            Principal Engineer
                                                                        Software and Services group, Intel



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Faster: UEFI integrates the drives

 You can observe the boot process carried out by the BIOS once the PC is switched on. For a few seconds, until the Windows boot screen appears, the BIOS executes the so-called POST (Power-On Self-Test). It’s a diagnostic testing sequence which checks the functionality of the CPU, memory and various input/output devices. The BIOS works at an abstraction level so that the operating system doesn't have direct access to the hardware. However, the correct drivers are loaded as the operating system is loading. Finally, the BIOS scans the master boot record or partition table, which resides in the fi rst sector of a partitioned drive. If the boot loader is present on the active partition, the operating system takes control of the system from the BIOS and starts up. The BIOS has two fundamental weaknesses. Firstly, it is based on 16-bit assembly code and cannot directly address the latest 64-bit hardware, and secondly, there are no set standards for specifications, so manufacturers come up with their own versions. The participants of the UEFI Forum wanted to set this straight. From the outset, each process has been precisely defined. Thus, the boot process or platform initialization (PI) is clearly described in phases. Immediately after powering up the PC, the Pre-EFI Initialization (PEI) is executed, which initializes the CPU, memory and chipset. This is then followed by the Driver Execution Environment (DXE). At this point, the rest of the hardware is initialized. This process saves the time required for booting because UEFI can integrate various drivers that need not be reloaded during booting. Thanks to these drivers, the user already has access to network card, including features such as network booting and remote assistance at the early stage of the boot process. With the graphics processor enabled, a fancy user interface is also presented. 

                            However, biggest time-saving feature of UEFI is the fact that not all the installed hard drives will be scanned for the boot loader, since the boot drive is set during the installation of the operating system in the UEFI. The default boot loader is run without consuming much time searching the drives. 

                            The faster boot time is not the only advantage of UEFI; applications can be stored on virtually any non-volatile storage device installed on the PC. For example, programs and diagnostic tools such as antivirus or system management tools can be run from an EFI partition on the hard drive. This feature will be very useful to original equipment manufacturers (OEM), who can distribute systems with extra functions in addition to the standard EFI firmware stored on the motherboard’s ROM. 

UEFI fully supports 3 TB hard drives

 Due to delayed transition to UEFI over and over again, new hardware could be addressed by the BIOS by means of extensions. The classic BIOS can access only up to 232 sectors of 512 bytes in size, which translates to a total of 2 TB. So the upcoming 3 TB variants of Western Digital Caviar Green and Seagate Barracuda XT won’t be fully compatible with the current BIOS. Seagate uses larger sectors to make the full capacity usable on Windows, butthe BIOS cannot boot from  this drive. UEFI, on the other hand, works with GUID partition table (GPT) with 64-bit long addresses and can handle up to 264 sectors that address up to 9 Zettabyte (1 zettabyte equals 1 billion terabytes). Since Windows Vista can handle GPT disks, booting works with only a few UEFI motherboards in the market, such as the Intel DQ57TM. However, in 2011, Intel will sell more motherboards with UEFI than standard BIOS, followed by all the other manufacturers

3D Monitors For Your Gaming Rig

3d games and movies are becoming increasingly common these days and to really enjoy this 3d content, you’ll need a number of things, Firstly and a 3D capable PC, since 3d processing does take a little more power than your everyday gaming PC. Once you have that figured, you have the games, and, of course, you’ll need a good 3d display. To be Honest, there aren’t too many great 3d displays available, but we’ve scoured the market to find five that we think you might want to consider. 

BENQ XL2420T

Benq is one of the newest entrants into the display market, but they've been around for a years now, launching mainstream displays as well as displays for professionals and gamers. Their new XL2420T is a stylish, 24-inch full HD 3D display.The XL2420T is a high-performance gaming monitor suited for FPS game play. Co-designed with Counter-Strike legends, the 120Hz, 24”W, 3D-ready LED monitor gives gamers a competitive edge with features like the Black eQualizer, S Switch, FPS Mode,Display Mode, Smart Scaling, 2ms GTG, and 12M:1 DCR

website

LG D2342P

LG has been one of the pioneers in the field of 3D displays. Last year, they launched their cinema 3d FPR technology , which used passive 3D glasses instead of active ones. the advantage was that they were lighter , more compact and most importantly, they did not give the user a headache after brief usage. There's no need to even charge the batteries or sync the glasses with the display. Viewing angles are also are better and LG bundles two glasses - one that is conventional and the other of the clip-on variety, meant for those who use spectacles. The same technology has come to the 23-inch D2342P LED-backlight LCD monitor. In terms of connectivity, there's a DVI, D-Sub and HDMI port. There's also the 3.5mm analog out put. With an attractive price tag, the D2342 makes for a very good purchase, indeed.

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VIEWSONIC V3D245

Viewsonic has been around a while, and when it comes to displays, they're known for some really great quality panels. ViewSonic’s 24" (23.6" viewable) V3D245 3D LED display features a fast 120Hz frame rate and Full HD 1080p resolution. It supports HDMI 1.4 and stereo 3D technology so users can enjoy stunning stereoscopic visuals using active shutter glasses. With exclusive ClearMotiv™ II imaging technology images are crisp without blur. Smart Dynamic Contrast Ratio technology automatically detects screen content and adjusts the backlight brightness, creating deeper black levels and effectively minimizing external light interference. In addition, integrated speakers powered by SRS Premium Sound® produces incredible audio effects, making the V3D245 more than just an LED display, but the ultimate audiovisual entertainment system.

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ASUS VG236HE

The Asus VG236H is a 23-inch, full HD 3D display, which is branded as an Nvidia 3D vision supported model. The monitor's features are similar are similar to the rest of the models we've been talking about, i.e. it has  DVI and HDMI ports, but also component connectors, which means you can connect set top boxes and consoles if you'd like. There's also some flexibility as far as the display's stand goes. Users can raise the stand up to the desired height and the displays can also be swiveled accordingly.Asus give users  an immersive 3-dimensional Full HD 1080p world of games and movies throught the VG236HE. Through the use of market-leading 3D technology and active shutter glasses, it instantly takes you into another dimension—transforming your gaming experience to 3D.

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AOC E2352PHZ

Aoc has crept into the LCD display with some real good pricing on its products, It's been the underdog, so to speak, over the past few years. The E2352PHZ may not much to look at, but it's an affordable option for those who looking for a 3D capable monitor. There are speakers buit into the display which means you don't have to absolutely depend on headphones or external speakers.There's is also a 2D-to-3D content that convert  suddenly lets you much more content in 3D.AOC brings 3D to your PC, e2352Phz features Flicker Free 3D technology, passive polarized glasses continuously show a different image pattern to each eye, without the on-off switching typical of many 3D displays, so you enjoy pleasant, vivid 3D images with a wide viewing angle. Ultra-high dynamic contrast of 20,000,000:1 reveals more depth and detail in darker scenes. Built-in speaker for improved desktop sound. e2352Phz connects to any PC, and its HDMI 1.4a input is ready to play 3D video and sound from the latest consumer electronics devices, including 3D Blu-ray and game consoles. The LED backlight panel saves the environment, containing no toxic mercury and using only half the power of traditional CCFL screens. To enhance your total viewing pleasure, the monitor design is slim and streamlined, with discreetly concealed control buttons. 

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E-Learning: Benefit from Virtual Universities

No more worrying about missing lectures because of work or not being able to complete a course! Thanks to e-learning, you can now log in to your lectures from virtually anywhere in the world.

There is no denying the fact that having an additional degree can improve your career prospects. But once you start working, pursuing a professional course along with work can prove to be challenging. This is true even if you opt for distance learning or part-time courses. Distance learning involves mostly self-study, at times coupled with a few lectures before the exam. If you are a working professional, self-study mostly goes out of the window. Most of us end up not studying if there are no lectures that we need to attend. And even if you do, more often than not, you end up mugging up things without really understanding the subject. When it comes to part-time courses, you may not find time to attend classes. If you have faced a similar dilemma, then take heart, as you now have the option of opting for e-learning. While learning foreign languages online has been popular for few years, you can also opt for more traditional classroom courses like MBA, BBA, MCA, BCA, etc. through e-learning. Many Indian universities have collaborated with online platforms to develop content and offer e-learning courses.

Why E-Learning?

E-learning has opened up avenues not only for working professionals, but even for those who are deprived of good universities in their home towns. You can choose amongst the finest of universities and opt for e-learning no matter which part of the country or world you reside in. All you need is a decent Internet access.

                                      Speaking about the draw of e-learning, Raunak Singh Ahluwalia, Director, University18, which is an online education platform for universities like Don Bosco University and Karnataka State Open University, amongst others, says, “While cultures, business, technology and lives are becoming increasingly global, traditional distance education has stagnated to a large extent. Most distance learning or continuing education programs are limited to a geography – that of a ‘study center’. In the two years of our existence, we’ve seen over three thousand individuals enroll at a 100% year-on-year growth rate. We’ve also been surprised with the kind of interest corporations and companies have shown in these programs, with several coming forward to sponsor their employees.” So what is it that gives e-learning an edge over distance learning? There are several factors that have fueled its growth; convenience and flexibility being the foremost amongst them. Right from selecting the university of your choice to determining the study pattern, to flexible examination pattern and easy installments for fees payment, these online education portals score over traditional distance education options. Furthermore, Raunak points out the other important factors that work in favor of e-learning. “Online programs at U18 attract students from every corner of the world. You may just end up attending class with a global peer group, with the other students logging in from the United States, Africa, the Middle East or Australia. This adds to the diversity, hence contributes to the peer learning process and classroom discussion. Besides this, we can and do draw our faculty from just about anywhere. A typical Program has a professor from about eight different B Schools in six-eight different cities.” e-Learning Process While there are different forms of imparting online education, do not get swayed by courses that claim to offer e-learning, but only offer study material online. An e-learning program is a blend of online virtual classrooms, reading material, both online as well as offline, online support and online examinations. In a typical e-learning program, the courses are conducted via virtual classrooms, with students and teachers logging in to a session at a pre-determined time. The students and teachers can then interact over chat as the class is in progress. So the basic teaching principles are simply replicated in the virtual world and one can quickly adapt to it. Additional there are notes, presentations, etc. that you can refer to side by side, and you also have the option to download a particular lecture in case you have missed it. You can get the entire recording of the day’s session, which you can then watch as per your convenience. For instance, if in middle of traditional part-time or distance education program, you are required to travel for work to another state or country, then you would not only miss out on the sessions for those many days, but worse still, you may have to abandon the course halfway. In case of e-learning that wouldn’t pose a problem, as you can still log-in to your sessions from virtually anywhere and you also have the option to download them for later viewing. Apart from this, there are also additional tests that you can take from time to time to determine your own progress as well as forums to clear your doubts. When it comes to the content, special emphasis is given to make it relevant to a larger audience and to make sure that it is up to date. Raunak explains, “While designing online courses in continuing education, it becomes important to ensure that the content and material is designed in a manner that is suitable for a wider variety of students. A classroom course at a University program can predict with fair accuracy the average age (18-20), IQ (100?), and experience (none) its candidates have. In online programs, age and the number of years of experience, and hence, experiential
knowledge are key factors, given the fact that these are mostly part of ‘continuing education’ for candidates. We, for instance, see students in the age group of 30 40-50 in a larger number than those in 18-20. Hence, the content is designed carefully, so that it is both relevant and  understandable to such a wide audience.” Most of these courses are aimed at working professionals and therefore focus on the knowledge and skills that are currently in demand. In keeping with the current trends, Raunak says that they plan to introduce new courses in 2012, “The key focus areas are entrepreneurship, business and technology in the new economy. The year 2012 will see the launch of a large number of Diplomas and Certificate programs, specifically targeted towards certified employability. For instance, the Don Bosco University Diploma Program in Web Design, a 12-month program covering fundamentals of software engineering, UI design, as well as programming and development on PHP/LAMP, is targeted at the nation’s skilled programming workforce, who may not have graduated, but sure can code. These programs will give their coding skills a structured design and develop skills that give them an edge.” 


Who should opt for e-learning?
              E-learning is a boon for working professionals, those who cannot travel due to some handicap, or those in towns that do not have good educational institutes. However, there are certain things one should keep in mind before opting for online e-learning programs. Raunak says, “Online education is the way of the future, and in my opinion, a very important trend in the development of the way we study and learn. While online programs are a smart choice for continuing education, students should understand that these programs require discipline, a fair amount of Web skills, and access to a good Internet connection. Unlike in a 'study center' or college, though it would be common to see peer groups forming online), and would need to ensure he/she is disciplined enough to follow through with the program. If you're looking at enrolling in an online course because you assume that it'll be easier to pass, or is cheaper than the distance learning programs on offer from that Institute, or is of a shorter duration, then you should reconsider your motives.”