Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was a Russian physiologist, psychologist, and physician. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904 for research pertaining to the digestive system. Pavlov is widely known for first describing the phenomenon of classical conditioning. Pavlov contributed to many areas of physiology and neurology. Most of his work involved research in temperament, conditioning and …

A cybrarian is a person who makes a living doing online research and by retrieving information. A term similar to that of ‘librarian’, a cybrarian does the same work but integrates the use of internet into the library. In Greek, cyber means to steer or govern and -arian stands for one who belongs to, follows or believes in.

The internet as we know it has been around for over 10 years. It has been used for searching, browsing and reading information. Now we are in the Web 2.0 era, where the internet is more about interactivity. The concept began with a brainstorming session between O’Reilly and MediaLive International in 2004. Web 2.0 is a set of technologies that …

Although people are particular about safeguarding their privacy, many have no qualms in divulging critical information about themselves on public forums like social networking sites. Researchers have dubbed this the privacy paradox. It refers to how people’s opinions about protecting their private information tend to be contradictory.

‘Orkut’ is believed to be of Turkish origin and is a common name among men. The person who created the famous online community site www.orkut.com was a Google employee, Orkut Buyukkokten. He reportedly lost his girlfriend in a train accident but believed that she was not dead and that he could find her. Orkut hired developers from across the globe …

This refers to the tendency to google information on someone we meet for the first time. This generally happens when one consumes alcohol, and under its influence, he looks up the person on the internet. For example, I met Geeta at ABC bar for the first time and she tells me that she works for XYZ Inc. On returning home, …

History sniffing is a term used to describe how websites snoop into visitor’s website history to trace the sites where they have been. A study released by researchers with the University of California, San Diego, showed that many websites were ‘sniffing’ the browsing history of visitors. Browsers display color codes indicating sites one has visited and those that have not …

Hermann Hesse (July 2, 1877 – August 9, 1962) was a German Swiss Poet, Novelist, & Painter. In 1946, he received the Nobel Prize in Literature. His best-known works include Steppenwolf, Siddhartha, and The Glass Bead Game (also known as Magister Ludi), each of which explores an individual’s search for authenticity, self-knowledge and spirituality. Hermann Hesse was born on 2 …

Grid computing is a parallel processing architecture in which CPU resources are shared across a network, and all machines function as one large supercomputer. A well known example of grid computing in the public domain is the ongoing Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) in which thousands of people share the unused processor cycles of their PCs in the vast search …

Email apnea is the stress caused by the inability to process emails and connect even as mails flood the inbox. It is marked by a suspension of breathing, shallow breathing or hyperventilating while checking mail. Researcher Linda Stone coined this term after realizing that many people go through this process every morning, the mind whirling from mail to mail, filing, …