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Actually,
make it the first Indian podcast, podmasti.com. In July 2005,
Ruchita Gupta and her husband Mahadev Gupta were surfing the net
when they came across some podcasts. Ruchita had worked for business
process outsourcing firm Msource for a few years, blogged a bit,
and authored a couple of articles. So, it didn't take too much
for her husband, who runs a software solutions company in Bangalore,
to persuade her to start a podcast. Thus was born Podmasti.com,
a podcast that looks at the latest in India in terms of Bollywood,
sports, festivals, celebs, and just about anything else Indian
Ruchita wants to talk about. In the beginning, Ruchita did focus
on the week's news, but feedback (from eXTReme and FeedBurner)
indicated that Bollywood was the hottest. "A piece on Abhishek
Bachchan and a recipe for korma were the most popular podcasts,"
she laughs. Then, that doesn't mean the lady ignores news. Based
on a request from a listener for an insight into how an Indian
call centre works, she interviewed a former colleague not too
long ago. Today, almost 44 per cent of Podmasti's traffic comes
from India and almost a third from the US. Ruchita earns about
$2 a week through the Google Adsense programme and Podmasti is
available for download on iTunes.
-Amanpreet Singh
Podcast? What's
That?
Apart from being cool, that is. The podcast
directory puts it as the automatic distribution of MP3S via RSS/XML
files. The key here is Really Simple Syndication (RSS) that allows
internet users to subscribe to podcasts, blogs or any site that
change or add content regularly. Here is a guide for beginners
wishing to podcast:
- Search for Audacity (a free software)
on Google and download
- Plug in your headphones (preferably with
an attached mike) to the PC
- Start recording on any topic (it helps
if you research topics and keep a script handy to read from)
- Edit your recording (the function is available
on Audacity)
- Upload your podcast, which has been recorded
on an MP3 format on to a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server.
Booking space should cost anywhere between $4-6 per month
 Check
These Out
Indianmusic.libsyn.com:
A weekly podcast with reviews of Bollywood music directors, latest
releases and interviews with upcoming talent
Talknewsindia.libsyn.com:
Covers South Asia politics, India business, technology, travel,
books, lifestyle and South Asians in North America
Indicast.blogsome.com:
A multi-person podcast where discussions range from Sania
to Sonia.
Funnyindian.com:
Hosted by a professional comic in Cincinnati
Planetsonal.libsyn.com:
Called Mehfil-e-Sonal, this is a podcast about Ghazals, Nazms,
poetry, and the like
TREADMILL
Doing The Donkey Raise
The
very first time I saw a couple of guys doing the "donkey
calf raise" in the gym some years back, I was taken aback.
What was this now? Why was a grown man climbing on the back of
another guy who was bending over? Visualise the configuration
(or check the illustration) and you'll know why it appears a bit
odd, ridiculous even. But donkey calf raises are one of the most
effective ways to build your gastrocnemius or the muscles of your
calves, parts of the body that many of us take for granted and
often neglect in our workouts. Indeed, there are many people who
exercise regularly but concentrate on their upper bodies while
neglecting the muscles in their legs altogether.
True, there are many other ways of doing
calf raises, the commonest being the standing leg raises that
you can do by standing at the edge of a step. Place your toes
and balls of feet on a step or a block of wood or any raised plane;
your arches and heels should be off the step; now, while supporting
your arms (on a squat rack or barbell set across a bench press
rack), raise your heels by fully extending your ankles; your knees
should be straight and you should feel the stretch in your calves;
hold for a second and get back to the resting position; repeat.
There's another variation to this, the single leg calf raise,
where one foot is hooked around the other foot's ankle while doing
the step raise. With one leg bearing the body's weight, this is
more difficult and, hence, more effective.
The donkey raise is just a weighted alternative
to the simple calf raise and one that's worth trying, if only
for some comic relief (imagine the sight of another man climbing
on your back in the middle of a gym). But believe me, it is an
effective exercise. What's more, you need no special equipment
to do donkey calf raises, just a co-operative partner and skin
thick enough to ignore the sniggers, smirks and bemused looks
that you'll likely provoke at your gym. Some points to note: try
to keep your knees straight throughout the movement or just slightly
bent. There's an additional advantage if you keep your knees slightly
bent as this involves the quadriceps (or thigh muscles) in the
movement. To make the exercise more difficult, have your training
partner (the guy astride your back!) hold a couple of dumb-bells.
You can do three sets of 12-15 repetitions twice a week or incorporate
them into your leg workout routine. Of course, if you have a problem
lower back or any other complications that can be aggravated by
bending like you have to for this workout, avoid it. Opt instead
for normal standing leg raises.
Muscles
Mani
write to musclesmani@intoday.com
Caveat: The physical exercises described
in Treadmill are not recommendations. Readers should exercise
caution and consult a physician before attempting to follow any
of these.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Ever wondered how all those invisible microbes
hiding in your favourite buko salad, tuna fish sandwiches or cassava
cake could spoil your day? Food poisoning, for workaholics and
others, may mean much more than a working day lost-it could damage
kidneys.
What Is It: Food poisoning cases are the
result of contamination of food by bacteria, viruses or parasites.
Very occasionally, chemical poisoning may be the cause.
Symptoms: Usually the illness may not last
long, but sometimes it can be life threatening. Common symptoms
are vomiting and diarrhoea. Fever, abdominal pain or blood in
the stools may occur. Full recovery may take between a few hours
to several weeks depending upon the fitness of the patient and
the type of infection. Dr Anil Arora, Senior Consultant, Batra
Hospital says: "The disease is common in India. People are
highly exposed to bacterial infections." His word of caution:
unhygienic food and water consumed at parties may dampen your
spirits.
Prevention: Prevention is better than cure.
So, ensure food stored in the refrigerator is covered and adequately
chilled (ideally around 5° centigrade). Take care that chilled
or frozen foods are not allowed to warm up in the hot boot of
a car on a busy shopping day. Adds Dr Arora: "Wash your hands
after handling raw meat as it may be contaminated. Be sure that
eggs and meat are fully cooked. Wash salads. Do not drink any
type of unpasteurised milk."
Treatment: Drink a lot of water (avoid milk
or caffeinated beverages) to replace loss of fluids. Treat diarrhoea
and vomiting with oral rehydration solutions available over the
counter at chemists. You can even make your own preparation, using
a pinch of salt (1.5 gram) and a teaspoon of sugar stirred in
fruit juice or water (250ml). Don't eat solid foods until diarrhoea
has passed, and avoid dairy items. Avoid antibiotics.
-Manu Kaushik
PRINTED CIRCUIT
Pink And More
Creative Zen Micro
 Ipod
true-blues would have you believe that Steve Job's mind-control
device is the only mp3 player out there. But that, of course,
is not true. There are several others of them like the Creative
Zen Micro, which competes head-on with the iPod Nano. Its appeal:
It not only offers more memory (8gb) against the Nano's 4 or 6gb,
but also a replaceable battery much like a mobile phone's and
a far brighter screen than the Nano's. However, it does have its
downsides. Unlike the Nano, it can't display album art and users
can't browse photographs while listening to music. However, with
the Nano available in only two colours, the biggest plus for the
Zen Micro is the fact that it is available in 10 colours. It costs
the same as a 6gb iPod Nano at $249 (Rs 11,205). But then, it
is not an iPod.
 Twin-Lens
Trick
Kodak EasyShare V570
Kodak-yep,
the same company that makes film rolls-is not just around but
innovating. Take their new camera, for example, which has been
getting good reviews. Not only is the v570 a five-megapixel camera,
but it features two inbuilt lenses, one normal 35mm five-time
optical zoom and the second a 23mm wide-angle lens. And the better
part is that the lenses automatically swap between each other,
depending on the amount of zoom you require. But the best part
is the price: $399 (Rs 17,955). Given that you can buy five megapixel
cameras today for under Rs 10,000 from some manufacturers, the
wide-angle aspect along with Kodak's 'Easy Print' Wireless printing
does give this device an edge over its competition.
A Sweet Tablet
N7 Tablet PC
 Have
you ever wanted to show a presentation to someone on your laptop
and found yourself unable to do so without advanced gymnastics
or playing a game of 'passing the laptop'? Well, that's why there
is the 'Tablet pc'; just twist, fold and, voila, you have a portable
presentation display screen. Tablets have been around for some
time, yet have been hideously expensive to purchase, costing double
a regular laptop. But Sahara Computers has launched the nb-7630-n7
Tablet pc in India, priced at only Rs 66,999 (plus taxes). The
spec sheet boasts of an Intel Pentium M processor at 1.7Ghz, 512mb
ram, and an 80gb hard drive. The screen is a tad small and the
battery life not long enough (3.5 hours). But if you've been thinking
of owning a tablet pc, this may not be a bad choice.
 Redmond's
New Baby
Microsoft Office 12
It
has been a decade-and-a-half since Microsoft launched the software
that changed every office forever, MS Office. By mid-to-late 2006,
it will unveil the 12th generation of MS Office. And this promises
to be the most radical change in the way the software looks, feels
and works since Office 97 (remember 'Clippy'?). The most radical
change-the disappearance of the drop-down menu, replaced instead
by ribbons atop each window and the software will also try to
anticipate your next move. Like the expected new Windows Vista,
the apps also get a new graphics engine and each application will
have visual thumbnail galleries of ready-made layouts, and users
can customise these to their own needs. But in addition, Microsoft
has also made the entire package XML-based (thus files will end
in DOCX, XLSX or PPTX), which will make documents up to 70 per
cent lighter. Finally, the era of gigantic PowerPoint presentations
clogging up company email servers might be over.
-Compiled by Kushan Mitra
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