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Doctor at your fingertips

Medical apps are proving to be a win-win for both doctors and patients. They provide immediate help and appointments as well as recommendations

In May, Shwetha Narayanan, 33, had a severe throat infection and urgently needed to see an ENT specialist. “I didn’t have any recommendations from friends and when you can’t speak, you don’t really want to wait,” says Bengaluru-based Narayanan.

She opened Practo, a doctor-appointment app, on her phone, read reviews of doctors close to her home, and booked an appointment with an ENT specialist within minutes. Since then, she has used the app multiple times to find specialists, such as a paediatrician for her daughter. “I’ve just taken another appointment with a doctor who has close to 100 reviews on the site,” says Narayanan. “I’ve not had a bad experience till now. If I do, then I might think twice on booking through an app.”

Continue reading “Doctor at your fingertips”

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Allergen-proof your home

From keeping your surroundings clean, to turning off the air conditioners—some ways to rid your home of pesky allergens.

If you’re suffering from an allergy, the cause could well be hidden within the four walls of your home or office.

Homes that are closer to traffic-heavy areas or near an industrial belt in a humid environment, don’t have good ventilation, or use extensive air conditioning, can be allergen-prone, says Salil Bendre, head of department, pulmonary medicine at Mumbai’s Nanavati Super Speciality Hospital. “We tend to think of air pollution as something outside when, in truth, the air inside homes, offices, and other buildings can be more polluted than the air outside,” says Tarun Sahni, senior consultant, internal medicine, Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, New Delhi.

It’s the everyday things that cause allergies—lead, a component of everyday dust, mites that feed on discarded human skin, volatile chemicals from fragrances, even a wet bathroom. House dust, says Dr Bendre, is an airborne mixture that has fine particles of soil, plant material, particles of human and animal skin and hair, fabric fibres, mould spores, dust mites, the fragments and waste of dead insects, food particles and debris, all potential allergens. Even plants and flowers can cause rashes. All these can lead to common allergy symptoms, like coughing, sneezing, red and itchy eyes, and a runny nose.

“If you’ve been sneezing continuously, the best way to find out if it’s your home causing the allergy is to see if you get your symptoms at night. Every time you come across the suspected substance, you will get allergic symptoms,” says New Delhi-based A.B. Singh, associate editor of the Indian Journal Of Allergy, Asthma And Immunology. “If you’re sure something at home is triggering it, the next step in diagnosis is to take the tests available at allergy centres which use in-vivo or in-vitro methods,” he adds.

Allergy skin tests can confirm the triggers for specific allergic symptoms. “These tests can confirm sensitivities to dust mites, animal dander, mould, or volatile organic compounds such as fragrances, which are frequently found in homes,” says Stanley Fineman, who is on the board of directors of the US-based World Allergy Organization.

Once you know what’s causing the problem, you need to ensure that you limit your exposure to allergens. In most cases, this is enough. “In extreme cases, timely immune-modulator treatment (to regulate the immune system) will help, but don’t go to doctors or alternative medicine practitioners who claim to cure it as there are no complete cures to allergic reactions,” warns Singh.

If you want to try and clear your home of possible allergens, this is what experts suggest.

Clean the linen

For almost 70% of asthmatics, dust mites are the cause of indoor allergies, says Dr Bendre. Dust mites are little, microscopic arthropods, about 0.4mm in length, that thrive on flakes of human skin, and live and lay eggs in our beds, pillows, cushion covers and fabric sofas.

 “Air conditioning in northern India and humidity in the coastal cities contributes to their growth,” says Singh. The allergens lead to frequent sneezing, cough, throat irritation, watery eyes, headaches and, in some cases, even difficulty in breathing.

To discourage these pests, air the house, especially the bedroom, frequently. “Encase pillows and mattresses and box springs with dust-mite-proof covers, wash sheets, pillowcases and blankets at least once a week in water heated to at least 54 degrees Celsius,” says Dr Bendre. He suggests replacing wool or feathered bedding with washable materials made of cotton or synthetic fabrics to discourage dust mites.

Mop the floor

House dust can lead to sneezing, difficulty in breathing, cough, throat irritation and headache. Mopping the house with a damp cloth or using the vacuum cleaner regularly discourages this. “Dust can be clogged under the carpets, or on the curtains, pillows or in the mattresses. Anyone who is allergic to dust must see to it that everything is cleaned from time to time,” says Shikha Sharma, founder of health management centre Nutri-Health Systems Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi.

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Nine ways to stay safe and dry this monsoon

The sky is grey, rumbling; the streets are full of puddles of stagnant water, a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. “Malaria, dengue, chikungunya cases rise during the monsoon,” says Amitabh Parti, senior consultant, internal medicine at the Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI) in Gurgaon, adjacent to New Delhi. The change in weather rings in viral and flu, and drinking water contamination brings with it diseases like gastroenteritis, cholera and jaundice. That’s not all. The humidity is a fertile ground for skin diseases as well as stomach upsets. “You name it and we see it—allergies, diseases or fungal infections,” says Dr Parti.

The monsoon is hard on the stomach and throat too.

The attack is multifold. Which is why, this season, we asked experts for checklist. These tips could help you ward off illness.

Boost your immunity

Load up on vitamins, especially vitamin C, keep the body hydrated to protect yourself from nose and throat infections, and fortify your immunity. “Home-made fresh juices, warm drinks like honey lemon tea, green tea up immunity,” says Dr Sanjay Sachdeva. Drink lots of fluid to stay hydrated and wash your hands regularly to protect yourself from a sore throat. “Immediately head to an ENT specialist if a scratchy throat or blocked nose problem is persistent,” says Dr Sachdeva.

Don’t push in the wax

stay safe during monsoon

During the monsoon, earwax tends to expand inside the ear. This can cause pain and lead to hearing problems. Avoid poking your ear with a cotton bud, says Sanjay Sachdeva, senior consultant, ENT, Max Super Speciality Hospital, New Delhi. “Deep digging can cause permanent damage,” he says. Consult an ENT specialist if the problem persists.

Cover the toes and stay dry

stay safe during monsoon

Contrary to what many believe, open toes are more prone to infection, says Vivek Raj, senior consultant, gastroenterology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, New Delhi. “Leptospirosis (a bacterial disease of rodents, dogs and other mammals) is a rare disease but can be serious. It is caused by stepping in puddles or muddy patches during rain,” he says. Wear shoes rather than slippers or sandals.

Your skin is in constant contact with dampness in this season, so you could be prone to fungal infections like Athlete’s foot, ringworm infection, even boils. “The best way to avoid fungal infection is to keep the body dry,” says Sunil Sanghi, senior consultant, dermatology, FMRI, Gurgaon. “Use antibacterial soap, absorbent talc, especially in the groin and feet area, and calamine lotion to keep dampness out.” Also, change your undergarments frequently, especially if you tend to sweat excessively. “Avoid wearing damp clothing in an enclosed air-conditioned office to prevent chest infections and colds,” says ‘Mint’ columnist Madhuri Ruia, who runs the fitness centre Integym in Mumbai.

Put kerosene in stagnant water

Puddles are a haven for mosquitoes, the kind that spread malaria, dengue and chikungunya. It’s essential that you prevent any breeding grounds for mosquitoes in and around your house. “Empty the water-cooler tank and dry pools of water around you,” says Dr Parti. Cover every source of water, be it wells or storage tanks, and use insect repellents. “Put a few drops of kerosene oil in every puddle or pool of stagnant water around your house as it kills mosquito larvae.”

Up your water intake

“The high temperatures during the monsoon, combined with extremely humid conditions, can easily cause dehydration and imbalance in the body’s electrolyte levels,” says New Delhi-based fitness and wellness expert Vesna Pericevic Jacob. This can lead to cramps, headaches, lack of energy, even blood pressure fluctuations. “All this can be avoided through proper hydration,” she says. Drink plenty of water and include salted ‘nimbu pani’ and coconut water to maintain the body’s electrolyte balance.

Avoid oily, deep-fried food

stay safe during monsoon

For a clear skin, avoid deep-fried foods, says Shikha Sharma, a preventive health and nutrition expert based in the Capital. “The monsoon season isn’t good for the skin, and oily foods in particular increase heat in the body and cause rashes and skin problems.” She suggests including finger millets and oats in the diet, for these remove extra oils from the food that’s being digested. She also recommends green tea, which is loaded with antioxidants, to guard against pimples, and yellow vegetables like pumpkin, which are a good source of vitamin B-complex and give a natural glow to the skin.

To read the complete article, please head to livemint.com

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Cyber bullying: Nip it in the bud

Don’t over-share, don’t get into an altercation, collect evidence—a few ways to stop online bullies from browbeating you
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On 8 May, when Salman Khan was granted bail by the Bombay high court in a 2002 hit-and-run case, New Delhi-based author Sreemoyee Piu Kundu wrote an angry post on her Facebook timeline, coming down heavily on the actor and the judiciary. The outburst went viral, was shared, liked, commented upon and carried by a website as an open letter and then published as a post on various websites. All without her permission. By the next morning, Kundu had over 6,000 abusive messages in her “Others” folder on Facebook, threatening her with rape, and abusing her parents and family. “I was taken aback. After a while, I stopped blocking and stopped reading the messages,” says Kundu on phone. On 11 May, Facebook blocked her account. “A thousand of these mob reported to Facebook that my post was violating community standards or that my account was fake,” says Kundu. She didn’t want to complain to the Cyber Crime Cell of the police as “most of these accounts were fake and would be deleted”. Ignoring the messages, she approached Facebook, proved that her account is not fake and got it reopened. The faceless mob of bullies continues to send her messages.
Not many people talk about it, but most have faced online bullying or seen it happen. “Cyber bullying is a serious issue with 50% of the Indian youth having experienced it in one form or another,” says Venkat Krishnapur, vice-president of engineering—consumer and mobile at computer security company McAfee, part of Intel Security. According to a 2014 study by McAfee, which examined the online behaviour and social networking habits of 1,422 Indians in the 8-17 age group, 66% of youngsters had either been cyber-bullied or had witnessed others being bullied online. The report defines cyber bullying as any act of teasing, insulting, harassing, stalking, intimidating or abusing someone over the Internet with the help of technology (personal devices) or digital platforms such as social media.
“Fake profiles, impersonation, misuse of compromising photographs and information are the most common ways a bully can harass you,” says Rakshit Tandon, security consultant at not-for-profit Internet and Mobile Association of India. “Other ways include identity hacking, writing obscene content on anonymous public or confession pages about you, or writing defamatory statements for individuals.” If someone is sharing your personal information, or spreading lies about you on community pages, or morphing your photographs, etc., to hit out at you, you’re being bullied.
Repeated online bullying can result in psychiatric or psychological problems like depression and suicidal tendencies. “Cyber bullying can cause mood swings, self-esteem issues, appetite and sleep loss, stress, affect family life, even disrupt relationships,” says Manju Mehta, professor, clinical psychology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
A 2012 survey of 25 countries, released by technology company Microsoft, placed India at No.3 in instances of cyber bullying. “We don’t take cyber bullying seriously enough as a nation,” says Debarati Halder, managing director of Centre for Cyber Victim Counselling, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. Halder, who sees about 90 cases related to cyber bullying in a month, says the number of complaints are so low that we think it’s not happening. “But it’s happening everywhere and to everyone.”
One of the reasons might be that it’s hard to convict anyone under our current laws, says Vakul Sharma, a New Delhi-based advocate in Supreme Court who specializes in cyber laws. He says there is no exact definition of cyber bullying under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) or the Information Technology (IT) Act. Earlier, these cases were booked under Section 66A of the IT Act but that was revoked in March. Sharma says there should be a provision related to cyber bullying in the IT Act.
If you want to avoid being bullied online, here are some things you can do.

Report and block

Immediately report an offensive post to the administrator of the website, social networking site or video-sharing site and get the photograph, video or post blocked. Once you’ve done that, block the person immediately too. “Don’t counter argue, abuse or get into a shouting match,” says Halder. “Just shut off the person from your social networks.”

Don’t share everything

The 2014 McAfee report found that 92% of Indian youngsters indulged in risky online behaviour, including over-sharing or posting details like email, phone or home address.
Learn to control the information you post on social media, says Ponnurangam Kumaraguru, assistant professor and founding head of Cybersecurity Education and Research Centre at the Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology in New Delhi. “Avoid posting any personal information or compromising photographs on public forums.”
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First published in Mint. Read the complete article here.
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How to fortify your lungs against air pollution

There may be no escape from air pollution in most metros but you could at least try to boost your immunity levels. 

The link between air quality and health is direct and immediate. Last year, the World Health Organization declared Delhi to be the world’s most polluted city.

A study published in the Atmospheric Pollution Research journal in February 2014, which looked at the number of cases of cardiovascular mortality, respiratory mortality and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease cases in Delhi hospitals, found that from 1991-2010, the mortality rate attributed to air pollution had increased by 100% in the Capital. “Fifteen per cent of total deaths in the NCR (National Capital Region) are air pollution-related mortalities,” says Ajay Singh Nagpure of the University of Minnesota, US, the main author of this study, on email. “You need to check pollution levels in the area before doing any outdoor activity, including exercise.” Continue reading “How to fortify your lungs against air pollution”

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The story of us

There’s nothing more romantic than remembering the things you did together as a couple, be it something as simple as holding hands or jumping off a plane to skydive. This Valentine’s Day, we suggest you put together your memories in a beautiful personal story for your partner. Here are the apps that can help you in the process.

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Glossi

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Announce your love through an online glossy. Create a magazine of your relationship with Glossi, a free digital platform which lets you drag and drop images, videos, PDFs, audio and animations into layouts inspired by fashion magazines, catalogues and even travelogues. Then add in links, headlines and write a poem or two and you are ready to gift a personal magazine to your partner. This online format can be shared on all major social networks, embedded on blogs and websites and viewed on tablets and mobiles.

Glossi.com, free.

Timehop

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How about a time capsule of your relationship? Especially apt for relationships which have seen a few years, you can walk down the memory lane together by seeing the photos and updates from last year’s or last to last year’s Valentine’s Day that you spent together. The app takes your content from Facebook, Instagram, Foursquare, Dropbox, Flickr and iPhoto. Then it syncs your images together on a Mac. Once you’ve got everything set up, Timehop will show you all social activity on a particular day. It also automatically shows you good times from your past—the app will pick up a post or a photograph which was popular with your friends and feed it into your phone’s app.

Timehop.com, free on iTunes.

Heyday

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Forgot to make an extra effort before Valentine’s Day? Plan the day with your partner and then using Heyday automatically record all your moments together. Launched in December, Heyday will stitch your moments with each other by keeping track of the places you go to and the things you see. It also automatically picks up the photos you took with your phone in all these places and creates collages with them putting it all together in a timeline. You can customize the collage with layouts and filters and then surprise your partner by mailing it to her/him.

Hey.co, free on iTunes.

Memloom

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Tell your partner how special she is by creating a personal story for her using Memloom. Launched in January, Memloom is a storytelling tool where you can upload the various moments in your relationship, including pictures, audios and videos. Now using one of the layouts offered, stitch them together in a magazine-like format. Add audio narration to give it a personal touch.

Memloom.com, $2.95-9.95 (around Rs.190-620) a month—free for up to five stories— available on the iPad and Web.

 

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Digital star wars

Celebrities are fast realizing the power of social networks and are working hard to engage their fans. Here are some lessons you can learn from them…

Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan has over 8,117,186 fans on Facebook and 7,550,474 on Twitter; at any given point when he logs in to a social networking site, at least 7,550,474 individuals will listen to his opinions and thoughts. And they respond to him, all the time.

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Social networks make it easier than ever for everyone to be heard, but real-world celebrities still tend to get the lion’s share of attention. This fan following can make a new release a hit or drive attention to their favourite causes, if they can hold your attention more than other celebrities, of course.

“The superstars can share their personal experiences and get creative in terms of how they want to present themselves to their fans off-screen, which was never possible before,” says Puneet Johar, co-founder and managing director of To The New, a digital services company which has just released a report that compares the activities of Bollywood stars on Twitter. Bachchan has the most followers, and the number has grown most quickly too, at 87% over 2012. Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Akshay Kumar and Sonam Kapoor are among the other fastest growing Twitter users. What can the rest of us learn from this?

Ashish Joshi, vice-president, digital, and business head, Fluence, a digital media company that handles the online lives of Bachchan, Salman Khan and Karisma Kapoor, believes that celebrities really want to increase their digital reach. “One aspect of it is to give something precious to the fans but another important thing that’s there in the back of their head is brands. Advertisers today evaluate a celebrity’s penetration on social media platforms while figuring out a fee for them,” he says.

Keeping it real

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Having a social media team doesn’t mean someone else is tweeting for you. “We do not actively control a celebrity’s Twitter page,” says Joshi. “They have to do their own communication. But what our creative team does is build a story around his or her personality, an online story which our sales team can sell to brands as a concept.”

Once they have figured out a story, they guide the celebrity and package the content well. Joshi gives the example of Tuesday Memoirs, a series of Facebook posts where his team uploads pictures of Bachchan from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s on the sets, or during tours, and writes stories around them. “These stories are precious to his fans, it increases his reach on Facebook, and the artiste loves the engagement it provides,” says Joshi. All posting, blogging, writing is done in consultation with the celebrity, though there’s a team from Fluence which acts on his behalf.

“Web presence has to be personal,” agrees Bunty Sajdeh, chief executive officer, Cornerstone Sport and Entertainment, which handles the accounts and online lives of sportspersons like Yuvraj Singh, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Sania Mirza, and actor Sonakshi Sinha. “That is what the fans want.”

Updating Twitter, Facebook and other accounts every day, multiple times a day, is a full-time job though, and not something most celebrities can actually manage. “Virat Kohli tries to keep it personal but we have to help him out a little since he can’t give the fans enough due to his busy schedule,” says Sajdeh. His team keeps more than two million Twitter, and nearly 4.2 million Facebook, fans happy by ensuring all his activities are posted online, but Sajdeh says the actual interaction with fans remains strictly with the cricketer.

Ashwin Sanghi, author of The Krishna Key, who has over 100,000 followers on Twitter and nearly 600,000 on Facebook, says he uses automated tools to keep on top of social networks. He uses an app called Buffer to send updates he has saved in one block every half an hour. “I check Twitter only once in three days to check replies,” Sanghi says.

He adds that it’s important to distinguish between the networks. Facebook is for books and events, YouTube is for uploading lectures, Flickr has photos and Google+ has the articles he writes.

Faking it

The desperate desire for a fan following could lead a celebrity to buy followers and likes. A big following can make a difference, allowing a celebrity to get the next big project, movie, or sign a new deal. It can even make you a celebrity, as it did in the case of starlet Poonam Pandey(@ipoonampandey), who has over 450,000 followers on Twitter. “Paying for likes is foolish,” says Sanghi. “An inflated following might satisfy your ego but will give you no sales. It’s only valid for those who want to show to the world that they are being followed by a large number of people.” Fake likes and followers are so prevalent though that Facebook, Google and Twitter are trying to filter them out.

“For a celebrity, the number of likes and followers is extremely important as most brands check out their online engagement,” says Joshi, “but fake likes just doesn’t make sense. The engagement and reach is pretty low and platforms like Facebook now show how many likes you have and what’s the number of people who are talking about you.” He believes that it’s parameters like reach and engagement, rather than just numbers, that most advertisers are now looking at before signing a celebrity. After all, for a fan, the whole idea is to get closer to the star.

Show me the money

In October, Fluence, along with Twitter and ZipDial, a mobile marketing service, ran a campaign around Bachchan’s birthday. A fan who wasn’t on the Internet could give a missed call to follow the handle @SrBachchan and receive tweets on SMS. “It was a win-win situation, for us, the platform and the fans,” says Joshi….

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Piecing it back after mental trauma

It is Mental Illness Awareness Week (4-10 October) and a key learning during this period is to know and realize that asking for help to cope with trauma is not a bad thing…

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You’ve faced something terrible recently—maybe an accident, sexual assault, or witnessed a bloody fight. Your heart palpitates, the vision just does not go out of your head, you get nightmares and feel detached. In other words, you might be going through post-traumatic stress. “Trauma is an act of violence or natural disaster, something which is not in our control,” says Samir Parikh, director, mental health and behavioural sciences, Fortis Healthcare, Delhi. “After the incident, there’s an urgent need to talk about what happened and how you feel about it and not bottle it up. If you ignore how the incident has affected you emotionally, which is what most Indians do, the stress leads to hyperarousal symptoms like palpitations, sleeplessness and nightmares.” According to a study published in the February issue of Journal of Traumatic Stress, about 80% of people experience a traumatic event during their life, of whom 10% develop post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.
The health guide on the website of the National Institute of Mental Health, US, mentions that stress symptoms can even be triggered by emotionally traumatic incidents like the loss of a loved one, retirement, divorce, becoming a parent, having gone through a chronic or acute illness, job loss or facing financial hardship, but according to Dr Parikh, rarely does it develop into PTSD. Surbhee Soni, clinical psychologist and founder of Horizon Expressive Therapy Centre in Delhi, agrees: “In most cases, PTSD develops only in severe conditions like sexual assault, accident or death of a loved one. The symptoms are so physically obvious that a person becomes immobile or loses the ability to talk. It’s also something that is more commonly seen in women than men.” A pilot study published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress in August looked into the issue and found that women are at a higher risk of developing PTSD than men, especially following certain types of trauma such as accident and assault.
Though the first human reaction to any incident is shock and denial, it is normal to experience sleepless nights, anxiety, feel the need to cry, be irritated and develop eating disorders. “In most cases,” says Dr Parikh, “it can be solved by going back to your normal routine at the earliest and talking about it with your family, friends and people who might have experienced the accident with you. A support system is very important.” But if the symptoms do not disappear within a month or two and you are just not able to resume your normal routine, that’s when you need to consult a mental health doctor. Here are some more tips to help you get back on track after you have been through something terrible.
DON’T SLEEP IMMEDIATELY AFTER

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Lack of sleep a few hours after exposure to a stressful incident can actually help you deal with it better, according to researchers at Tel Aviv University, Israel. When you sleep immediately afterwards, the memory of the event is consolidated in the head, which means you can recall it in all its reality, even years later. Published in July 2012 in the journal ‘Neuropsychopharmacology’, the study did a series of experiments to deduce that if you don’t sleep for 6 hours immediately after exposure to a traumatic event, your chances of developing trauma-like behavioural responses reduce.

Start now: Be it someone’s death, a traumatic accident or news of something bad, upon hearing about it, don’t sleep for about 6 hours. Talk to your loved ones and try to keep calm.
Read the complete story on Livemint website here
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Tech up your loo


Filled every room in the house with the latest tech? Don’t forget the bathroom

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Our bathrooms haven’t really changed much over the years despite all the advancements in technology. Hot and cold water, possibly a fancy showerhead, and you’re done. But that seems set to change, because there are a number of new gadgets available that can revitalize your bathroom in unexpected ways. From automated toilet seats to smart mirrors that automatically light up when you’re facing them, to devices that will help you prevent water waste, the options are endless.The only downside? You might never leave the loo! Read on to find out about the coolest new devices we came across:

Waview Mirror Waterproof TV

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Now, take the telly with you to the loo. The Waview Waterproof LED TV vanishing television comes with a crystal mirror finish and is easily mountable on the wall. The television has a full HD LED screen, a resolution of 1,920x 1,080 pixels, and is protected against any damage by waterproof coating. There’s a USB port so you can watch anything really. Built-in speakers and a waterproof remote control complete the deal. When it’s off, it becomes an innocuous mirror that tells no tales. You can choose from models with built-in speakers or ceiling-mounted ones.

£599 (Rs.54,660) onwards at www.waview.co.uk. Shipping extra.

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Glow in the Dark Loo Roll

Instead of groping your way to the loo at night, get some assistance from the Glow in the Dark Loo Roll which, as the name suggests, glows in the dark.

The toilet tissue emits a funky green glow that doubles up as a night light.

£4.99 on Firebox.com. Shipping extra.

Sensor Mirror

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Just like the mirror with Snow White’s envious stepmother, this mirror reflects your true self. In this case, instead of magic, it uses technology. As soon as you approach the mirror, it lights up automatically with miniature LEDs which simulate natural sunlight in a ring all around it. So you see your face as it would be in natural light. The mirror is cordless and recharges with a USB cord and adaptor.

Each charge lasts up to five weeks with moderate use. It also gives you 5× magnification so that each unwanted hair can be plucked out.

$200 (Rs.11,880) at www.simplehuman.com. Shipping extra.

Toto Neorest LE

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This little robotic washlet by Toto comes with sensors to automatically open and close the lid, three cleansing modes and a hands-free automatic flush system. If that’s not enough, it has a Tornado Flushing system which doesn’t need refilling. Once you have completed the job, you can wipe off with warm water both from the front and back.

The toilet will flush, dry and deodorize itself as soon as you get up and leave. And if you want it to do something, it comes with a nifty remote control.

Rs.8,64,850 at Toto dealers across the country. Locate a dealer onAsia.toto.com.

Kohler’s Moxie Showerhead

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Are you a bathroom singer who likes some backup? If you’ve been carrying your phone into the bathroom to get some tunes while you shower, then you’re really risking drops and moisture that can damage your phone. Instead, you could try Kohler’s Moxie Showerhead. This musical shower comes embedded with wireless speakers to pair up with your smartphone or tablet from up to 32ft away. To install it, all you have to do is take out your old shower and screw in the new one.

The speaker is made of the same white silicon body as the spray face. And the best part? It’s detachable. So after your shower is done, you can simply pop it out and keep listening to music outside the loo. Pairing it with a Bluetooth-enabled device is a single-touch job, the audio is good and loud and the music free of distortion, and the speakers are recharged through a USB cable. The speakers can pump up to 7 hours of non-stop music and the shower gives you 60 angled nozzles for full-spray coverage.

Rs.9,995 at all Kohler retail outlets.

Water Pebble

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Plonk this nifty little pebble near your shower and it will measure how much water you use in a single shower.

 

Read the complete story on Mint website.

 

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How to be invisible online

In an age when we’re slowly losing our privacy, here’s what you can do to hide your tracks

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The days of privacy online are fast coming to an end. In April, the Union government quietly began rolling out the Central Monitoring System (CMS), a one-stop surveillance service that will monitor not only your cellphones (voice calls, SMS, MMS) but also your online activity (social networking sites, browsing content, and possibly more).

Much like the PRISM surveillance programme run by the US government (which collects the personal online information of its citizens without informing them), the CMS can bypass mobile companies and dig directly into phone calls, texts, emails and social media activity. PRISM was largely unknown to the public until a whistleblower disclosed the details recently after fleeing to Hong Kong.

“If the government wants to track certain people for the security of this country, that’s not the problem,” says Delhi-based Anja Kovacs, project director of the Internet Democracy Project, which researches on and advocates online freedom. “The problem is that there’s no clarity from the government on who can see what all of this private information about you. Who can access your information? Under what circumstances and why?”

By law, all cyber cafés in the country are already supposed to keep a log on who you are and which sites you visited while at the café. Even activity on private Internet connections is tracked by your Internet service provider (ISP), which is legally bound to share it with government agencies if requested.

“Ideally all of us should have a choice to be anonymous. What if I have some embarrassing sexually-transmitted disease on which I am talking to a doctor online? I am not doing anything illegal but it’s embarrassing for me if someone finds out about it,” says Kovacs. There are times when you don’t want anyone, be it your ISP, the government, the media, your neighbour, your spouse, or Trojan Horses to peep into what you are doing. For those times, here’s how you can become “almost” invisible online.

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Create a private network

Who doesn’t like the word free? It’s quite tempting to use free Wi-Fi on your smartphone while waiting for that flight or having a cup of coffee, but it’s far from safe. Data sent across a public Wi-Fi is usually completely unencrypted, so to spy on you, people only need to be on the same Wi-Fi network as you.

To avoid this and still use the free Wi-Fi, install Hamachi, which creates a Virtual Private Network (VPN) between two computers via the Internet. Once installed, you can connect to your always-on home computer through the public Wi-Fi and then visit any websites securely.

Hamachi is free and works for Windows, OS X and Linux.

Stash the cookies

Cookies are those tiny little logs that websites dump on your computer every time you visit them. With these on your computer, the websites can then track your activity on their pages and sometimes (as in the case of the Facebook “Like” button or the Twitter “Follow” button), even track your activity on other websites. These cookies can be blocked with a simple plug-in DoNotTrackMe.

DoNotTrackMe is free and can be used for Internet Explorer, Chrome, Safari and Firefox.

Clean it all

Begin with a clean chit by deleting all the temporary files, history and cookies indices your usual Internet browser might have stored about you. All in the name of better service or quicker loading. CCleaner is the ultimate broomstick that will wipe away all the flotsam from Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari and log files from both Windows and Mac PCs.

CCleaner is available for Rs.1,593.63.

Tidy up the torrents

Every time you’re using torrents to share files, the ISP can track your name, and also track where you’re downloading the files from. If you’re downloading anything personal in nature, then it’s best to add protection by using the BTGuard, which is a proxy server and encryption service.

The BTGuard uses a virtual fake address to funnel your Internet traffic through another server, so that it cannot be traced back to you.

BTGuard costs $6.95 (around Rs.415) a month or $59.95 for 12 months.

Keep the firewall up

You might be protected and anonymous to your Internet service provider (ISP) and hide your computer’s identity, but simple Trojan Horses can grab those documents from right under your nose and send them off to someone else. The solution is a Firewall, a necessary evil for today’s connected times. Either Avast or Clamav will protect your computer from trojans, viruses, malware and malicious threats.

Avast Antivirus works for Windows and Mac and Clamav works for Windows. Both are free.

Encrypt emails

When you send an email to someone, its plain text passes through servers across countries, making copies. Which means that anyone who can access any of those servers can read the message. Companies monitor the emails sent by employees and governments monitor the emails sent by citizens. The most problematic are phishing networks which might be able to abuse private message content sent in an email.

All this can be checked if the message is an encrypted one, not plain text. The easiest email client for this is Mozilla Thunderbird—an email client like Microsoft Outlook, but with better security. With an Enigmail extension, it lets you encrypt the email by clicking a little key icon on the lower right of the Compose windows.

Mozilla Thunderbird is free and works for Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.

Use a Web-based proxy

Just like your home, your computer has a unique address called its Internet Protocol or IP address. When you log in online or open a Web page, this address goes through your Internet service provider (ISP) to the website you are trying to log in to. Both the website and the ISP use that IP to track your activity. A Web-based proxy creates a virtual address for your computer so that your real IP address remains hidden when you are online. Proxify (Proxify.com) is a paid, one-click install system for Windows or Mac or Firefox browsers which encrypts all communication and hides your IP address. If you don’t mind advertisements, there are many online Web-proxies you can use to get a virtual IP address.

For a list of free online services head to Free Proxy (www.freeproxy.ca). But do remember that any proxy website you use may be able to see and store your user names, passwords, credit information, etc. Or, in some cases, even read your email. Because of this, a paid service is generally a safer option.

Proxify is available for Rs.2,400 for three months.

 

First published on Jun 25, 2013 Mint. Read the complete article here.