It doesn't take much to awaken a nation out of a deep slumber - a realisation from within, and nerves to stand up against the wrong, no matter what. This is what brings about a revolution that moves towards bringing about a change. Say hello to technology, for it is largely being used as a reminder and a circulator. SMSes urging Indian citizens to for the cause of internal security to commemorate the anniversary of 26/11, reminding people to vote for the right leadership, telling them to donate blood regularly, asking students to make the right career moves….Change begins here.

"Let's be honest about the fact that nobody has the leisure time these days. But a small reminder in the form of an SMS sent over and over again can at least make you sit up and notice it," offers Nikita Sahai, a nail art expert from the city, who went to Mumbai to take part in Jessica Lal's peace rally after reading a message on the same. "These SMSes keeps us in touch with the mass wave, whether it is about saying no to terrorism or joining a peace march in favour of some tragedy or donating clothes for a relief camp." Dilpreet Sekhon, a homemaker from Panchkula, would often delete messages on blood donation or standing up for the rights of the girl child, now makes it a point to send them to 10 other people.

"I didn't understand the need for companies to send socially-relevant messages. I thought I knew everything about the rights of a girl child, or donating blood. Then I realised, there was a deeper meaning behind this. They are meant to bring about a change. Someone needs to be in constantly working towards a cause. Also, it is important to sustain the chain of change," says Nikita.

Idea Cellular's 'Talk for India Hour' is one such campaign that would help to raise funds to aid the internal security forces of India, and would be donated to the government. Ashutosh Sharma, who works as a freelance creative writer with an SMS outsourcing company truly believes in the mass appeal messages and their affect on people. "Facebook, Twitter, SMSes are really helpful in forwarding various causes. I know for a fact that they helped to usher the needful cause. We design messages depending on topical issues, issues that are a concern f or people and the nation at large. You cannot be glued to the television set 24X7. Messages are the best way of sending across what you want to say."

jasmine@tribunemail.com

How often do you forward the socially relevant messages to others?

Barack Obama in the US presidential elections, the launch of Wikipedia and emergence of the iPhone have been listed among the 10 most influential moments on the Internet in the past decade, the annual Webby awards said. Other events singled out by the New York-based International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which has presented the annual Webby awards since 1996, were the Iranian election in 2009 when protests demonstrated the power of Twitter and other social network in reshaping democracy.

"The Internet is the story of the decade because it was the catalyst for change in not just every aspect of our everyday lives, but in everything from commerce and communication to politics and pop culture," said David-Michel Davies, the executive director of The Webby Awards.

It said, "The recurring theme among all of the milestones on our list is the Internet's capacity to circumvent old systems and put more power into the hands of ordinary people." Some of the most influential Internet moments of the decade on Webby's list are -- US presidential campaign in 2008, Iranian election protests in 2009 when Twitter proved vital in organising demonstrations and as a protest too, Wikipedia, the free open-source encyclopedia, Facebook opens to non-college students and Twitter takes off in 2006 and the iPhone debuts in 2007. —PTI

Yahoo is jumping on the Twitter bandwagon in its latest attempt to improve its Internet search engine and lure back some of its dwindling audience.

Beginning today, Yahoo will mine the short messages posted on Twitter to find fresher information about hot topics. It follows a similar move by Microsoft Corp.

The addition comes at a pivotal time for Yahoo. The company, based in Sunnyvale, California, is bogged down in a three-year financial slump partly because it has losing ground in the lucrative Internet search market to Google and Microsoft.

Google also plans to include Twitter's chatter in its search results, but has yet to say when that change will occur. Both Microsoft and Google announced their Twitter deals last month. — AP

People may not be lugging around laptops as much as they carry around their ever-present mobile phones. But, for those who carry it around, it is more important than mobile phones. We are all aware of the amount of data a laptop can hold, and know about the chat and webcam facilities that a laptop provides for its user.

It is important that a person's laptop does not malfunction or lose data, because an out of order laptop can leave its user in a pretty defenseless and vulnerable position. Maintaining a laptop well will minimise the possibility of its breaking down, and will reduce laptop repair needs as well. Though good laptop service is available round the clock, users should ideally maintain their machines well.

The user himself at routine intervals, to increase the efficiency of the laptop, can do some simple things that a laptop service technician might to do to clean up a laptop. One of these is hard drive defragmentation of the computer at regular intervals. Every operating system has got a built-in defragmentation tool and all one has to do is activate the tool. Defragmenting will rearrange the jumbled data and free a lot of disk space, thereby speeding up the hard drive and improving the performance of the laptop.

The slowing down of the machine often necessitate laptop repair. Removing unwanted files and programs is one way of speeding it up. As far as you have the patience to sit and search, there are bound to be many files and even some programs that are unnecessary or have outlived its utility and any future use. If the removal of these does not speed up the computer, or if you prefer to retain all existing files and programs, you can take the help of a laptop service agency to upgrade the machine the two things, which will help you improve the performance are RAM and a Faster Hard drive.

Protecting your laptop with the installation of the right type of anti-virus software will also reduce the need for frequent laptop repair or other data recovery related needs. When you buy a new laptop, the manufacturers generally provide the latest anti-virus software. For upgrading the software or buying more effective ones, you can seek the advice of laptop service providers.

Keeping open the automatic update facility of the laptop is also a way of strengthening its performance ability. Security provisions of the operating system and things like anti-virus software will get steadily updated by this provision, providing added security and better functionality to the laptop. As far as the user takes care of all these, laptop repair requirements will be a minimum.

However, most of these are preventive mechanisms that can reduce the chances of laptop failure and delay the need for many a service like up gradation. As new operating systems and new software arrive on the scene, most laptops need to be upgraded. Service agencies are able to provide these services at short notice and at reasonable costs. There can also be some laptop repair needs that cannot be managed easily by users unless they are computer experts. Laptop service providers will take care of all these in a very professional and efficient manner.

Much has been said and researched about aroma therapy and the soothing effects of fragrances. Though we depend upon artificial sources and many-a-times I get queries about fragrant plants. Gardeners want to plant these in their gardens. And why not, there is no substitute to nature. Try these plants in your gardens.

I got another interesting query about fragrant plants, especially about Raat-Ki-Rani, as to why unlike other plants it gives fragrance in night. The fragrance in plants is associated with the time of bloom. As the bloom opens, it gives fragrance. The blooming time in Raat-Ki-Rani is at night. It is, therefore, at that time that we get fragrance. The fragrance, however, is very strong. In case you want to include this plant in your garden, keep it as far away as possible. In case if there is some vacant space near your house you can even put it there. You will get the fragrance even from a distance. Similar to this is another plant that gives fragrance in the daytime and this is called Din-Ka-Raja. The flowers in this plant open in the morning time.

Call it a coincidence or what most of the fragrant flowers are white. A very common fragrant plant plumeria bears bold white flowers in bunches. There are other species too that bear cream, yellow, pink or red flowers. But most common and fragrant is the white one. It is a very suitable tree for planting near the gate. It is a deciduous tree that sheds leaves in winter, except in case of Plumeria alba, which retains them even in winter provided it gets watering. The blooms are crystal white and leaves are comparatively smaller and deeper in green colour. They are very shining. It can be multiplied by cuttings. The beauty of this plant is that even two feet long cutting will start. This plant is suitable for big pots for placing on terrace and can stand exposures.

Another white flowering fragrant tree is Magnolia. The bloom is nearly four to six inches wide. The flowers remain on the tree for a few days and keep disseminating the sweet fragrance. The leaves are also shining. When we talk about sweet smelling flowering shrubs, the first name that comes to mind is gardenia. It also bears white flowers, which are very prominent. The leaves and flowers resemble chandni that bears multi-layered (called double) flowers. Motia is another very common fragrant flowering plant that is found growing in most of the gardens. The advantage with this plant is that it can be grown in small pots and kept in very small space. Even two to three flowers can freshen the place where it grows. Francisia is another sweet smelling shrub that bears white blooms turning to yellow and then mauve. It is due to this character that one can see three colours on the same plant simultaneously. It is because of this character that the plant is also called Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. It can be propagated by way of air layering. White flowering Mehndi or Murraya exotica are other fragrant shrubs that can be planted in the garden, at periphery.

satishnarula@yahoo.co.in

Hollywood actor Kate Hudson has revealed her six-year-old son Ryder has a crush on Spanish beauty Penelope Cruz. The actor admits Ryder—her son with ex-husband Chris Robinson, took a liking to Cruz when she and Hudson were filming new movie Nine together, reports askmen.com.

“Ryder would say to me, ‘I saw Penelope in the lobby today’. You could see that he recognised what a beautiful woman she is. He’s so cute,” she said. Hudson also said that Ryder always knew exactly what he wanted.

“My mother (Goldie Hawn) said, ‘He’ll be a director of something because everything is specific’. You know, we went to this birthday party where everybody was getting their faces painted and the kids were going, ‘I want to be Spider-Man or Batman.’ But Ryder was like, ‘I want a red face and I want white around the eyes, I want a white mouth, I want spikes and yellow dots on each one’,” she said.

“But the face painter didn’t do it exactly like that, and in the car later, Ryder was on the phone with his dad Chris and I said, ‘Tell daddy about your face.’ And he goes, ‘She did it totally wrong.’ I was like, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘They’re not mountain peaks, they’re hills. They’re not peaks, they’re not sharp.’ I told him, ‘Honey, but they look great.’ Then he replied, ‘No, mom. They’re hills.’ Oh yeah, he knows what he wants,” she added. — IANS

Hollywood actor Eva Mendes has blasted religious critics for tagging her Calvin Klein lingerie ad as raunchy. She insists the semi-naked poster is "tasteful and beautiful" and not otherwise.Imdb.com reports that the actress' latest ad for the fashion firm raised eyebrows, particularly a poster in downtown New York City that shows the half-naked star sprawled across an entire city block.

Critics protested and wanted the poster pulled down, but Mendes insists they're wrong in their approach."It's a religious group that has a problem with the image. That's what I love about this country. We can voice our opinions and beliefs like that. But they're wrong. I don't think I'm traumatising any children. I think it's a really tasteful and beautiful ad," she said. — IANS

After playing dad to his nephews, nieces and godchildren for long, Hollywood actor Hugh Grant has now expressed a wish to be a father and raise his own kids.

The 49-year-old bachelor, whose relationships with actor Elizabeth Hurley and socialite Jemima Khan reportedly broke down because he didn’t want to settle down now feels he is qualified to be a dad, Parade magazine reported.

“Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have thought about having children at all. But now I have so many nephews and nieces and cousins and godchildren, I like the thought,” Grant said.

However, the Notting Hill star admits that he would have to take refuge in a team of nannies to help him out in raising children.

“But that’s on the basis that I can leave after ten minutes. I don’t know what it would be like 24 hours a day. I think I’d have a lot of nannies,” he said. The British actor who is presently enjoying a single status is still a believer when it comes to raising a family of his own.

“Yes, yes, yes. I have not given up hope! I find I’m not as bad with children as I used to be,” Grant said.

“If you have a smothering parent, the effect it can apparently have on a child is to give them, in equal doses, a sense of too much self-esteem, because they are mummy’s little princess or prince, and low self-esteem. It affects future relationships,” he added. — PTI

Hollywood star Hugh Jackman has healed a long-running rift with his mother, who had apparently walked out of their home when he was a child.

The star’s father Chris, was left to look after Jackman and his four siblings after his mother Grace moved out of the family home when he was eight years old, reports contactmusic.com.

Jackman has now put the past behind him as he was photographed with her in New York. His mother’s also been helping him look after his two adopted children while his wife, Deborra-Lee Furness, is in Australia. “Grace has been helping Hugh with the kids while Deborra-Lee is in Australia for Adoption Awareness week,” a source close to him was quoted as saying. — IANS

It is not a fad diet or a special trainer that is the secret to Hollywood superstar Julia Roberts trim physique, instead she relies on some old fashioned jogging.

The Pretty Woman star has been photographed taking morning runs near her Malibu mansion, reported Daily Mail online.

The 42-year-old actor who was recently in India to shoot for her film Eat Pray Love worked up a sweat during her brisk jog, wearing a pair of black shorts and sports jacket.

The mother-of-three kept herself motivated by listening to music during her exercise burst.

The actor has recently returned from Indonesia where she was shooting Eat, Pray, Love.

Producers of the film had run into trouble with locals in the country with some residents of the mountain town of Ubud claiming they had been paid less for the use of their land than others.

The film crew had to contend with dozens of angry villagers who blocked roads and demanded 15,000 pounds before filming could commence.

That problem was resolved, but Columbia Pictures, the producers had since beefed up security

The film, which also stars Javier Bardem, Richard Jenkins and James Franco is based on the best-selling memoirs of Elizabeth Gilbert. — PTI

After showering Hollywood actor Matt Damon with praises in her latest song, singer Shakira is now planning to apologise to his wife. The 32-year-old popstar famed for her hip-swinging dance numbers pines for the movie star in the lyrics of Men In This Town is hope that his wife is not upset with her, Entertainment Weekly reported.

“I know Matt and his wife. We have friends in common. I hope she’s not mad at this. He’s one of those good men. He’s really something,” Shakira said. The Colombian beauty who has been often voted among the sexiest women in the world is now planning to pen an apology to the actor’s wife. — PTI