Okay, so the unique identification number that Mr Nandan Nilekani’s organization UIDAI will provide is voluntary, at least to begin with. Later on, as different government and private agencies pick up the cues on what amazing services it can facilitate it might become something you cannot do without.

“Sooner or later, you either hibernate or get a number.”

But how does one remember this randomly assigned unique number (which apparently will have no intelligence embedded in them unlike in many existing systems), asked Sujatha Ramdorai, a mathematician from TIFR when Nilekani was delivering a public lecture today at the Indian Academy of Sciences on its platinum jubilee.

“If people can remember 10-digit cell phone numbers, this would be easy to remember too. If not, you can store it in your cell phone…err, even tattoo it somewhere”, Nilekani said almost non-chalantly. Fielding all kinds of inane and intelligent questions from a hall packed with scientists and soon-to-be-scientists, Nilekani at least disclosed one thing: “only the laptop and powerpoint presentation” that he claims to have on this project today belie the calculated work he’s been undertaking to keep his promise of delivering the first identification numbers within 12-18 months from August 12, 2009.

You can read in detail about most of it in this recent WSJ interview. But what isn’t here is the fact that as far as technology is concerned he is looking at an open-access platform that could be embedded in any business software/application — that’s a long shot at building business cases for the agencies and institutions he intends to work with such as banks, insurance companies, oil ministry, state governments, etc.

The system would work on any wire or wireless line and all one would need is a cell phone and a fingerprint reader. “All of which can be assembled from off-the-shelf components for Rs 5000—it’s going to be an open architecture”, he adds casually in response to a question on what kind of platforms and software he is looking at.

Hmm … IT folks get ready to build applications for if Nilekani is right, then the use of this ID number is limited only by our imagination.

And what are the identification parameters? While it’s still being worked out, it could likely be biometric data comprising 10 fingerprints, iris scan and photograph.

Quizzing him at the end, a scientist said he was having problem with fingerprint identification in his building since he was old and his fingerprints were getting blurred; his younger colleagues didn’t have any such problem. How would UIDAI solve this?

By having 10 fingerprints, said the chairman of UIDAI. “If one or two fingers don’t match there are others, don’t worry.”

But it seems people just can’t stop worrying. Someone asked: “What happens if a person dies?”

“He takes the ‘Number’ with him, wherever he goes.”

Well, Nilekani will indeed have to launch a massive public awareness campaign once he is closer to issuing those “unique numbers”. Good news is, he seriously means to do that.

 At least Discovery thinks so. Owner of the iconic TV channel, Discovery Communications said yesterday that it has launched a new website that would cover science and technology news, the kind of stuff mainstream media have been pulling plugs on.

 That’s good news no doubt but if the mainstream media, print media in particular, is in trouble, in many parts of the world, it serves them right.

 Well, because the worst casualties have been science and technology sections. First the sci-tech sections folded up (not only in the US but even in India, though here for different reasons)

 Then sci-tech reporters/editors were laid off and most publications today, in whatever truncated form they exist, hardly have anyone experienced and knowledgeable to write about, say swine flu, climate change, biotechnology, archaeological discoveries, and what have you. Even if these topics get covered, the coverage is at best staccato, a parody of science writing as the story constantly looks for the new and the sensational, never mind if the context or the caveat is missing.

 Discovery on the other hand says with this news site they want to make “people smarter about the world around them”.

 The online space is buzzing with science though. By most conservative estimates at least 1000 blogs thrive on science and the US National Science Foundation estimates that the web as become the second most popular place to go for science news. But is that accurate science news? How can the web surfing reader, if at all s/he finds it, distinguish between authentic science news and scientific misinformation, or press releases from partisan reporting?

 But that’s the future we are headed towards!

 Read this interesting, though alarming, piece by some US academics on how scientific illiteracy threatens our future!

 A bit of both it seems, looking at this year’s iGEM—International Genetically Engineered Machines  competition, held at MIT, Mass., on November 2.

 A team from Bangalore Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology were judged to have made the “Best Presentation”. Commendable that an art-school team managed this in a formidable tech bastion that MIT is, where they never fail to remind you that the ‘T’ in MIT stands for ‘technology’!

 The team’s project was a unique experiment in art-science collaboration: to construct bacteria which would synthesize geosmin, the substance responsible for the emotive smell of freshly ploughed earth, or of the fragrance that first monsoon rains elicit from the parched earth. The team’s project documented their journey of discovery, as they learned the language and techniques of the life sciences and explored its cultural, ethical, and aesthetic implications.

 Over 100 teams from 25 countries participated in iGEM 2009. The Cambridge team was awarded the Grand Prize, as well as a prize for the “Best Environmental Project”, while the Stanford team won in the “Health or Medicine” category.

 India was represented by four teams: Srishti, with their “smell of rain” project; IIT Bombay, who engineered bacterial feedback controllers; IIT Madras, who designed a living lock-and-key device; and IBB Pune, who designed cells based on game theory.

 Mukund Thattai of NCBS, whose work I first wrote about two years ago in Mint, and blogged about the following year, has been leading Indian teams at iGEM since 2006 and is ostensibly thrilled at the outcome.

  “This is the third year in a row that India has picked up an iGEM prize. But what I am most excited about is, for the first time there are multiple teams representing India at iGEM. We must build on this momentum,” he says.

 Given the zeal with which engineers and biologists alike have taken to this synthetic biology journey, maybe we could see a regional iGEM in this part of the world!

So what is Entrepreneurship 2.0?

 Moving away from the typical VC-defined ‘proven team’, ‘proven business model’ and ‘proven go-to-market strategy’ of a startup, the next-generation of entrepreneurship seems to be pretty whacky, according to veteran entrepreneur-turned-venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki, who now runs Garage Technology Ventures in California.

 Kicking off Nasscom’s Product Summit today, while Guy had the 1000+ audience fully entertained, nobody could deny that his seemingly outrageous 10-point-key to building a product company was well-grounded in the tech transformation that is currently on. After all, the guy has been there, done that, and is now helping his portfolio companies do that all over again. Read more…

Ok, ok, let me expand: breaking news in emails, such as Michael Jackson’s death, Obama’s Nobel Peace prize or explosion in your (localized news) city, some such popular news of the day.

This could well be a malware, aka virus, waiting to infect your system. In an interesting and first-of-its kind-workshop (at least for the media) McAfee Labs today bundled some journos in a room and gave them a hands-on experience of creating malware.

Read more…