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0 2020 ICT Notes Feb 15
0 2020 ICT Notes Feb 15
❖ Chapter 5 E-GOVERNANCE
❖ Chapter 7 E-COMMERCE
MPPSCADDA
1. BASIC COMPUTER AND IT TERMS
INTRODUCTION
There are three different types of computers and computer applications that we encounter in daily
life.
• One, those machines which are dedicated to a limited set of tasks. Familiar domestic appliances
like washing machines or microwave oven are operated by an electronic device embedded inside
these gadgets.
• Two, those that are used for specific and limited number of activities, like playing games and
other forms of entertainment.
• Third category includes versatile machines capable of doing a multitude of tasks, including surfing
the Internet.
• In our day-to-day life, we use various electrical and electronic devices such as computers, digital
watches, audio systems, CD and DVD players, washing machines and so on.
• Outside home we use lifts, metro trains, coin collection systems in public telephone booths,
coffee and tea vending machines and so on. These are mostly computer controlled devices. We
do not see the ‘computers’; they are embedded inside these devices.
• Computers have brought in changes in art and music, photography and animation, editing and
publishing.
• Digital home theatre systems, DVD players, digital music devices of which the computer forms an
integral part, makes entertainment low cost and of high quality.
• The Internet has emerged as a convenient means of global communication, information sharing
and services. The commonest mode of the Internet use includes e-mail, chat, surfing information,
banking, reservations and many more. A huge network of millions of computer networks
constitutes the Internet. These networks are connected by telephones, underwater cables and
satellites.
Information Technology
• Information Technology (IT) is a generic term that covers the acquisition, processing, storage and
dissemination of information.
• It involves the application of computers and communication technology in the task of information
handling, information and information flow from the generation to the utilization levels.
• It is restricted to systems dependent on microelectronics-based combination of computers and
telecommunication technologies.
• The IT is the boon for mankind. It gives accessibility to information at fingertips.
BASIC Computer and Information Technology Terms
Adware
• It is a software package that automatically renders advertisements to generate revenue for its
author.
Android
• It is a Linux based operating system designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as
smartphones and tablets computers.
Algorithm
• It is a step by step method of solving a problem. It is commonly used for data processing,
calculation, and other related computer and mathematical operations.
Antivirus Software
• It consists of computer programs that attempt to identify threatsand eliminate computer viruses
and other malicious software (Malware).
Augmented Reality
• The word augment means to add or enhance something. In the case of Augmented Reality (also
called AR), graphics, sounds, and touch feedback are added into our natural world to create an
enhanced user experience.
• An enhanced version of reality where live direct or indirect views of physical real-world
environments are augmented with superimposed computer-generated images over a user’s view
of the realworld, thus enhancing one’s current perception of reality.
API
• API is the acronym for Application Programming Interface, which are software intermediary that
allows two applications to talk to each other
Big Data
• It is a phrase used to mean a massive volume of both structured and unstructured data that is so
large that it is difficult to process using traditional database and software techniques. In most
enterprise scenarios the volume of data is too big or it moves too fast or it exceeds current
processing capacity.
Bandwidth
• The maximum amount of data that can travel in a communication path in a given time, measured
in bits per second (bps).
Bar Code
• It is a machine-readable representation of information in a visual format on a surface. The first
bar code system was developed by Norman Joseph Woodland and Bernard Silver in 1952.
Blog
• It is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web.
Bluetooth
• A protocol that permits a wireless exchange of information between computers, cell phones, and
other electronic devices within a radius of about 30 feet.
Cloud Computing
• Cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of
your computer’s hard drive. The cloud is just a metaphor for the Internet.
• Cloud computing is not about is your hard drive. When you store data on or run programs from
the hard drive, that’s called local storage and computing. Everything you need is physically close
to you, which means accessing your data is fast and easy, for that one computer, or others on the
local network.
• Working off your hard drive is how the computer industry functioned for decades. It is still
superior to cloud computing
Cookie
• A packet of information that travels between a browser and the webserver.
Cryptograph
• The pre-fix “crypt” means “hidden” or “vault” and the suffix “graphy” stands for “writing”.
Cryptography is a method of protecting information and communications through the use of
codes so that only those for whom the information is intended can read and process it.
• It includes techniques such as microdots, merging words with images, and other ways to hide
information in storage or transit.
Data mining
• It is defined as a process used to extract (mining) usable data from a larger set of any raw data. It
implies analysing data patterns in large batches of data using one or more software. Data mining
has applications in multiple fields, like science and research, business.
Digital locker
• It is an online media storage service. Files stored include music, videos, movies, games, and other
media. Most digital locker services require a user to register to avail of the service.
DigiLocker
• DigiLocker is a “digital locker” service by the Government to enable citizens to store documents
on a cloud. Itreduces need to carry physical documents.
• It part of the government’s Digital India initiative
• 1 GB of storage space is offered to users to store identifi cation card issued by government
agencies, education certifi cates, PAN cards, driving license, vehicle ownership documents and
some other documents.
Digital Signature
• A digital signature is a mathematical technique used to validate the authenticity and integrity of
a message, software or digital document.
• The digital equivalent of a handwritten signature or stamped seal, a digital signature offers far
more inherent security, and it is intended to solve the problem of tampering and impersonation
in digital communications.
Digital Divide
• It refers to the difference between people who have easy access to the Internet and those who
do not. A lack of access is believed to be a disadvantage to those on the disadvantaged side of
the digital divide because of the huge knowledge base that can only be found online.
Digital divide can exist between those living in rural areas and those in urban areas, between
educated & uneducated, between economic classes, and on a global scale between more and
less industrially developed nations
Debugging
• It is a methodical process of finding and reducing the number of bugs, or defects, in a computer
program or a piece of electronic hardware, thus making it behave as expected.
Encryption
• In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding messages (or information) in such a way
that hackers cannot read it, but authorised users can access it.
E governance
• E governance:application of Information and Communications Technology to the processes of
Government functioning in order to bring about ‘Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and
Transparent’ governance
JPEG
• It is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital photography. The term ‘JPEG’ is an
acronym for the Joint Photographic Experts Groups.
Internet
• The Internet (also known simply as the net is the worldwide, publicly accessible system ofi
nterconnected computer networks that transmit data by nacket switching using the standard
Metadata
• It is data that describes other data. Meta is a prefix that is used in information technology
implying “an underlying definition or description.”
• Metadata summarizes basic information about data, which can make finding and work with
particular instances of data easier
Net Neutrality
• It is a principle affirming that all ISP must treat all data on the internet equally.
• They must not discriminate against certain services, users, content, applications, or methods of
communication.
• Under Net Neutrality regulations, an ISP is neither allowed to intentionally block, or slow down
specific content or websites nor is an ISP is allowed to charge additional fees for access to certain
internet services.
Source code
• “Source code” is the code computer programmers can manipulate to change how a piece of
software—a “program” or “application”—works. Programmers who have access to a computer
program’s source code can improve that program by adding features to it or fi xing parts that
don’t always work correctly.
• Some software has source code that only the person, team, or organization who created it—and
maintains exclusive control over it—can modify.
• People call this kind of software “proprietary” or “closed source” software.Only the original
authors of proprietary software can legally copy, inspect, and alter that software.
• And in order to use proprietary software, computer users must agree (usually by signing a license
displayed the fi rst time they run this software) that they will not do anything with the software
that the software’s authors have not expressly permitted.
• Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop are examples of proprietary
software.
m-Sakshi
Is is an award-winning mobile phone app to help health workers (ASHA workers)in providing
high-quality health care to the families in even the remotest villages in different parts of the
country.
It is an open source Android application developed specifi cally for the health workers in India
Piracy
• The illegal copying of software or other creative works.
Phishing
• It is a fraudulent attempt whereby cybercriminals try to get sensitive information from you, like
credit card numbers and passwords.
• Some specific techniques include spear-phishing (targets specific people or departments), whale
phishing (targets important people like CEOs), and Smishing (phishing via text messages) and
vishing (voice phishing that takes place over the phone, usually through impersonation.
Ransomware
• It is a subset of malware in which the data on a victim’s computer is locked, typically by
encryption, and payment is demanded before the ransomed data is decrypted and access
returned to the victim.
• 3 types of Ransomware are RYUK , PURGA and STOP
• The motive for ransomware attacks is nearly always monetary, and unlike other types of attacks,
the victim is usually notified that an exploit has occurred and is given instructions for how to
recover from the attack.
• Payment is often demanded in a virtual currency, such as bitcoin so that the cybercriminal’s
identity isn’t known.
WannaCry, Petya are some ransomware that India was badly affected in 2018
Router
• A network device that enables the network to reroute messages it receives that are intendedfor
other networks.
• The network with the router receives the message and sends it on its way exactly as received. In
normal operations.
• They do not store any of the messages that they pass through.
Social media
Social media is a catch-all term for a variety of internet applications that allow users to create content
and interact with each other.
• This interaction can take many forms, but some common types include:
• Sharing links to interesting content produced by third parties
• Public updates to a profi le, including information on current activities and even location data
• Sharing photos,
• videos and posts
• Commenting on the photos, posts, updates, videos and links shared by others
Sextortion
• Blackmail schemes that threaten to distribute your sensitive or embarrassing private material
unless you pay a ransom or provide them with sexual images or favors
Spoofing
• When cybercriminals try to get into your computer by masquerading as a trusted source.
• Examples include email spoofing (using email header that appears to be from someone you trust),
IP spoofing (using a fake IP address to impersonate a trusted machine), and address bar spoofing
(using malware to force you to view a specific web page).
Spyware
• Malware that gathers information about you, usually to track your internet use and deliver pop-
up ads.
Spam
• Irrelevant or unsolicited messages sent over the Internet, typically to large numbers of users, for
advertising. Phishing spreading malware, etc
Virtual Reality
• An artificial environment created with computer hardware and software and presented to the
user in such a way that it appears and feels like a real environment.
• To create this effect, the user needs Hardware devices like goggles, gloves, and earphones etc
inbuilt with sensors. It enables people to deal with information more easily.
Virus
• A piece of computer code designed as a prank or malicious act to spread from one computer
toanother by attaching itself to other programs
Web 2.0
• Web 2.0 is the name used to the describe the second generation of the world wide web, where
it moved static HTML pages to a more interactive and dynamic web experience.
• Web 2.0 is focused on the ability for people to collaborate and share information online via social
media, blogging and Web-based communities.
Worm
• Malware that self-replicates and sends itself to other computers in your network.
Zombie
• Malware used to take control of a system remotely at a later time.
MPPSCADDA
COMPUTERS
History
• The earliest known tool for computation was the Abacus. It was developed in China.
• Blaise Pascal invented the second real mechanical calculator called Pascaline.
• Father of Computer: Charles Babbage is considered as the 'Father of Computer' because he
invented Difference Engine in 1822 and then analytical engine, which can store the information
on punch cards in 1833.
• Father of “Modern Computing”: Alan Turing is regarded as father of 'Modern Computing’ or
“Modern Computer Science”.
Characteristics
Characteristics of computer are as follows:
• Speed The computer uses the electronic pulse, the speed of those pulse is virtually instantaneous
and process the inputs in micro, nano or picoseconds.
• Storage It is also called as 'memory'. It consists of computer components and recording media
used to retain digital data.
• Accuracy Computers are error free and most of the errors are due to human negligence.
• Versatility Computers are multi-tasking in nature.
• Automation It is a field where the computer self executes all tasks automatically when inputs are
provided to it.
Limitations of Computer
• No Self Intelligence Though computer is programmed to work efficiently, fast and accurately but
it is programmed by human beings to do so.
• Decision Making The concept of artificial intelligence shows that the computer is the decision
maker. But it is still dependent on instructions provided by human being.
• Self Care Computer cannot take care of itself like a human. It is dependent on human beings for
this purpose.
• Retrieval of Memory Computer can retrieve data very fast, but this technique is linear. Human
mind does not follow this rule.
• Sensation Computer cannot feel like a human.
Generations of Computer
First Generation (Vacuum Tubes) 1940-56
• Technology Use of vacuum tubes in electronic circuit
• Internal Operating Speed (IOS) Milliseconds
• Operating Systems (OS) Batch processing
• Languages Machine code and electric boards
• Examples UNIVAC-I, IBM-701s
1. Input Device
In computing an input device is any peripheral (piece of computer hardware equipment) used to
provide data and control signals to a computer.
Keyboard
• A keyboard is a human interface device which is represented as a layout-of buttons.
Mouse
• It is the most used input pointing device.
Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)
• It is used to read the characters which are written in the magnetised ink.
Optical Mark Recognition (OMR)
• It is used to read the special pre-printed forms designed with boxes marked by a dark pencil or
pen.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
• It is an optical scanner used to read an image, convert it into a set of Os and is and store that in
computer's memory.
Bar Code Reader
• In this method, the optical reader recognises the small bars of varying thickness and spacing
printed on packages, badges, tag-and converted into electrical pulses.
Speech Input Unit
• It is an input unit to take in the input in the form of spoken words and convert them to a form
which can be understood by a computer.
Touch Screen
• The touch screen makes selection by just touching the screen.
Trackball
• Instead of moving the whole mouse around, the user rolls the trackball Only, which is on the top
or side. It is mainly used in laptops.
Joystick
• It gives a more natural feeling of control for motion in games, especially when we are flying a
plane or spaceship.
2. Output Device
In computing, an output device is any piece of computer hardware equipment used to communicate
the results of data processing carried out by a computer to the outside world.
Visual Display Unit (VDU)
• It is also called monitor. It displays what computer is doing.
Printers
• It is a peripheral which produces a text or graphics of documents or pictures stored in electronic
form, usually on physical print media such as paper or transparencies.
Plotters
• It is a kind of printer that interprets commands from a computer to make line drawings on paper.
Plotters are used in engineering applications e.g. drawing maps and .technical drawings.
Graphic Display Device
• It is the video terminal capable of displaying graphs and pictorial data..
Speech Output Unit
• It is the one which reads the strings of characters stored in the computer's memory and converts
them into spoken sentences.
3. MEMORY
It stores all the data and the programmes. It receives, holds and delivers data according to the
instruction from the control unit. It is of two types:
Primary Memory
It is the computer's memory which is accessible directly by processing unit. It is basically of two types
which are as follows:
Read Only Memory (ROM)
Secondary Memory
Secondary Memory is not directly accessible by the CPU. Secondary memory is non-volatile, and it
does not lose the data when the power is switched off.
Types of Secondary Memory
Magnetic Storage
• It refers to any type of data storage using a magnetised medium. Two types of magnetic polarities
are used to read the binary information representing either zero or one. Types of magnetic
storage are as follows
Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
• It is a data storage device used for storing and retrieving digital information using rapidly rotating
discs (plotters) coated with magnetic material. Generally, the capacity of HDD is 512 GB to many
TB.
Micro SD (Storage Disk) Card
• It is a non-volatile card format for use in portable devices such as mobile phones, digital camera,
GPS navigation devices and tablet computers.
Floppy Disk (FD)
• It is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium,
sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles.
Optical Storage
• It stores the information in deformities on the surface of a circular disc and reads this information
by illuminating the surface with a laser diode and observing the reflection.
• Four types of optical storage media which are as follows:
a. Compact Disc (CD) is an optical disc used to store digital data.
b. Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) is an optical disc storage format. DVDs offer higher storage
capacity than compact disks while having the same dimensions.
c. Blue-ray Disc (BD) is optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The
term Blue-Ray is used to refer the blue laser, which is used to read the disc.
d. Holographic Versatile Disc is an optical disc technology that can store 1 TB of data on an
optical disc of 10 cm in diameter.
Other types of storage media are as follows:
Computer Software is a set of instructions that directs the computer to process information. It can
be classified into four types :
1. System software
2. Utility software
3. Application software
4. General purpose software
1. System Software
It is computer software designed to operate and control the computer hardware and to provide a
platform for running application software. System software can be divided into two parts:
1. Operating system
2. Language translator
• Disk Operating System (DOS) It is a single user, single tasking operating system with basic Kernel's
functions and only one program at a time can run on it.
• UNIX It is a multi-tasking, multi-user computer operating system, that is widely used in work
stations and servers.
• LINUX It is a UNIX like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open
source software development and distribution.
• Mac OS It is a line of open core graphical operating systems developed marketed and sold by
Apple Incorporation. Mac OS is a UNIX based operating system.
• MICROSOFT WINDOWS It is a graphical interface operating systems developed, marketed and
sold by Microsoft.
• WINDOWS 10 It Released in July 2015, Windows 10 is a computer operating system, having
universal application architecture can be run across PCs, tablets, small phones, Xbox One, etc
• ANDROID It is an operating system based on Linux kernel and designed primarily for touch
screen mobile devices such as smart phones and tablet computers. Initially, it was developed by
Android Inc. which Google bought in 2005.
Language Translator
Assembler
• An assembler translates the symbolic codes of programs of assembly language into machine
language.
Compiler
• A program that translates whole source program written in some high-level language into
machine code at a time.
Interpreter
• A program that executes the instructions written in a high-level language into machine code as
line by line instructions.
MANTRA
MANTRA Rajbhasha is a Machine Assisted Translation Tool, which translates documents
pertaining to Personnel Administration, Finance, Small Scale Industries, Agriculture, Information
Technology, Health Care, Education and Banking domains-from English to Hindi
2. Utility Software
• Utility software helps to manage, maintain and control computer resources. Examples of utility
software are as follows:
o Antivirus software
o Disk tools
o Backup software
3. Application Software
• It is user defined specific of computer software that employs the capabilities of a computer
directly to a task that the user wishes to perform.
Ethernet Networking
• It provides the local area networking technology that has spread the Internet throughout our
offices and cities.
COMPUTER AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY - CURRENT TRENDS
1. SUPERCOMPUTERS
• Supercomputers are the fastest computing machines. Recent supercomputers are capable of
performing quadrillions of calculations per second or petaflops.
• A petaflop is the ability of a computer to do one quadrillion floating-point operations per second
(FLOPS). Additionally, a petaflop can be measured as one thousand teraflops.
• CDC 6600 is considered the worlds first supercomputer.
5. It is used for bulk data processing like It is used for nuclear weapon
consumer statistics, ERP and financial development, weather forecasting,
transaction processing. host processes for a local computer.
Applications of Supercomputers
Supercomputers are essential in all the fields, where a large amount of data is required to be
processed. Some examples are given below:
1. Academic research: Supercomputers are used for observing and simulating any phenomena
which are too large and complex. For example, astrophysicists use supercomputers as ‘time
machines’ to explore the past and the future of our universe.
2. Weather and climate modelling: Supercomputers provide accurate weather forecasts by
analysing multiple factors and their interrelationships that affect weather conditions.
Supercomputers are also used to predict long-term impacts of climate change.
3. Space projects: Supercomputers are used to handle large data generated under space projects
such as by telescope or probe.
4. Defence: Supercomputers are used to design defence equipment, monitor its production, etc.
They process the large data generated from testing of various weapons.
Examples of super computers are as follows:
(i) SAGA-220 It stands for supercomputer for aerospace with GPU Architecture-220
Teraflops. It is a supercomputer built by Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO)
in 2011 wish speed upto 2020 TeraFLOPS (Floating-Point Operations Per Seconds.)
(ii) PARAM It is a low-cost super computing solution based on C-DAC's unique open frame
architecture. (CDAC is Centre for Development of Advanced Computing in Pune)
(iii) Titan It is the first supercomputer, which is based on GPU (Graphic Processing Unit)
system and the working power of this supercomputer is upto seventeen peta FLOPS.
(iv) Tianhe-2 China's Tianhe-2 supercomputer, capable of operating at 33.86 peta flop/second
is world's fastest supercomputer.
(v) Blue Gene Computer It is a supercomputer project at IBM for a series of high-performance
System-On-a -Chip (SOC) architectures with minimal power demands. It runs on Linux and
employs thousands of processors, each of which demands minimal electric power.
• It is one of the most authoritative and prestigious ranking list of the worlds supercomputers
published biannually.
• The list is compiled on the basis of the performance of supercomputers by experts from the
United States and Germany.
INDIA'S SUPERCOMPUTERS
Aaditya
• The Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune has a supercomputer called Aaditya,
which has a computational speed of 790.7 teraflops. It is used for climate research and
operational forecasting.
PARAM Yuva II
• Pratyush and Mihir are the supercomputers established at Indian Institute of Tropical
Meteorology (IITM), Pune and National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecast
(NCMRWF), Noida respectively.
• Till recent, Pratyush and Mihir were the fastest supercomputer in India with a maximum
speed of 6.8 PetaFlops at a total cost of INR 438.9 Crore.
• Pratyush consists of several computers that can deliver a peak performance of 6.8 Petaflops.
It is the first multi-petaflop supercomputer ever built in India. One petaflop stands for million
billion floating point operations per second. The word ‘Pratyush’ literally means Sun.
• The two supercomputers are used to help the quality of not just weather forecasts like
monsoon but also of cyclones, earthquakes and other extreme events.
• They can also help forecast air quality, flood, drought among other things.
PARAM Siddhi Ai
• India’s newest and fastest supercomputer, PARAM-Siddhi AI, has been ranked 63rd in the Top500 list of
most powerful supercomputers in the world (2020) .
• The supercomputer was established earlier this year, under the National Supercomputer Mission (NSM)
and is going to be installed in the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing’s (C-DAC) unit.
• National Supercomputing Mission is to connect national academic and R&D institutions with a
grid of over 70 high-performance computing facilities at an estimated cost of Rs 4,500 crore.
• These supercomputers will also be networked on the National Supercomputing grid over the
National Knowledge Network (NKN).
• The Mission also includes development of highly professional High-Performance Computing
(HPC) aware human resource for meeting challenges of development of these applications
2. Quantum Computing
• A quantum computer employs the principles of quantum mechanics to store and process
information in ‘qubits’.
• Regular computers store and process information in ‘bits’ of 1 and 0. Qubits work faster. They
can do large information processing much more efficiently than the fastest comparable
computers.
• For instance, in order to sort billion numbers, a quantum computer would take only 31,623 steps
to arrive at solution, 3.5 million less steps than a traditional computer.
3. Cloud Computing
• The cloud is just a metaphor for the Internet
• In simple terms, cloud computing refers to the practice of using computing services of others
(usually over the internet) instead of using our own to run a software, store a data or perform
some other task.
• Simple example of cloud computing is Dropbox, Google Calendar, Google sheet and so on. At a
more complex level, it might include anything ranging from supplying data to supplying testing
environments.
• Businesses have access to many more computing services than they would otherwise, and for
much lower cost.
• It allows computing resources to be minimised or shared. Instead of 100 organisations running
one server each, these 100 organisations could instead use cloud computing services offered by
a cloud computing provider, who would run just one server to serve each of the 100
organisations.
6. Automation
• Another current trend in the IT industry is automated processes.
• Automated processes can collect information from vendors, customers, and other
documentation.
• Automated processes that check invoices and other accounts-payable aspects expedite customer
interactions. Machine processes can automate repetitive manual tasks, rather than assigning
them to employees.
• This increases organization-wide productivity, allowing employees to use their valuable time
wisely, rather than wasting it on tedious work.
• Automation can even produce more job opportunities for IT professionals trained in supporting,
programming, and developing automated processes.
• Machine learning can enhance these automated processes for a continually developing system.
• Automated processes for the future will extend to groceries and other automatic payment
methods to streamline the consumer experience.
2. Broadband
• Broadband is a descriptive term for evolving digital technologies that provide consumers a signal
• switched facility off ering integrated access to voice, high-speed data service, video-demand
• services, and interactive delivery services.
3. Wi-Fi
• Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity. Wi-Fi works with no physical wired connection.
• It is a form of wireless communication system in which internet signals are transmitted in the
form of radio waves in a range of about 100 m.
• A device such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player,
when enabled with WiFi, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point.
• It uses radio frequency (RF) technology, RF being a frequency within the electromagnetic
spectrum associated with radio wave propagation.
• Wi-Fi is supported by many applications and devices including video game consoles, home
networks, PDAs, mobile phones, major operating systems, and other types of consumer
electronics.
• Wi-Fi allows cheaper deployment of local Area Networks (LANs). Unlike mobile phones, any
standard Wi-Fi device will work anywhere in the world
4. Bluetooth
• Bluetooth is the name for a short-range radio frequency (RF) technology that operates at 2-4 GHz
and is capable of transmitting voice and data.
• The effective range of Bluetooth devices is 32 feet (10m).
• Bluetooth transfers data at the rate of 1 Mbps.
• The heart of the Bluetooth brand identity is the name, which refers to the Danish Icing Harald
“Bluetooth” Blaatand who unified Denmark and Norway.
• In the beginning of the Bluetooth wireless technology era, Bluetooth was aimed at unifying the
telecom and computing industries.
• Bluetooth can be used to wirelessly synchronize and transfer data among devices.
• Bluetooth can be thought of as a cable replacement technology. Bluetooth can also be used to
access a network or the Internet with a notebook computer by connecting wirelessly to a cellular
phone.
5. Wi MAX
• It stands for worldwide interoperability for microwave access. WiMAX system sends signals at
high- frequency range of about 2 GHz to 11 GHz. It is a wireless communication designed for
creating Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs). It is considered to be similar to the Wi-Fi standard,
but its range of coverage is far more.
• A Wi-Fi signal can cover a radius of several hundred feet only, whereas a fixed WiMAX station can
cover a range of up to 50 Ion. Mobile WiMAX stations have strength to broadcast up to 16 km.
• Setting up of Wi-Fi is a good option, but it is an impractical idea for larger areas, because to cover
a large area, multiple Wi-Fi repeaters need to be set up at consistent intervals. Also, it requires a
lot of maintenance. On the other hand, WiMAX can cover several miles using a single station. This
makes it much easier to maintain and to offer more reliable coverage.
6. Li-Fi
• A German physicist, Herald Hass has evolved a method to transfer data through illumination,
which is called D-light (or Li-Fi).
• Li-Fi is a very advanced version of Wi-Fi.
• It uses visible light to transfer data instead of radio wave communication as used in Wi-Fi.
• As speed of light is much faster than radio waves, Li-Fi will have the speed of around 250 times
more than any high speed broadband.
Working of Li-Fi
• A new era of large, bright light-emitting diode (LED) forms the core part of Li-Fi technology. If the
LED light is on, a digital 1 is transmitted. If the LED light is off, a digital 0 is transmitted. These
large, bright LED lights can be switched on and off very quickly which gives us a very good chance
for transmitting data through light.
• There is a light emitter on one corner, for example, an LED, and a photo detector (light sensor)
on the other corner. The photo detector registers a binary 1 when the LED is on and a binary 0 if
the LED is off, just like a microprocessor. To generate any message, the LED is flashed numerous
times or array of LEDs are used to obtain data rates in the range of hundreds of megabits per
second.
Advantages of Li-Fi Technology
1. Capacity: Light itself has 10,000 times wider bandwidth than the radio waves. Thus, large amount
of data can be transmitted at multiple frequencies.
2. Efficiency: LED lights consume less energy and are very efficient. As Li-Fi system is based on LED
lights, it is cheaper.
3. Availability: As light is present everywhere, Li-Fi can be made available almost everywhere.
4. Security: Light waves cannot penetrate through walls. Thus, data transmitted through light waves
is difficult to be hacked.
5. Low cost: Li-Fi requires very few components. Thus, the cost of Li-Fi is comparatively low as
compared to the existing internet systems.
Limitation of Li-Fi
1. Li-Fi works in direct line of light. So, il the receiver is blocked by any physical obstruction, then the
signal will immediately stop.
2. External light from sources such as sunlight, normal bulbs and opaque materials can interfere
with Li-Fi network.
Applications of Li-Fi
Li-Fi has application in all the fields which use internet. Some of the important applications of Li-Fi
are as follows:
1. Medical applications: Unlike Wi-Fi, Li-Fi does not cause electromagnetic interference and
thus, does not interfere with medical instruments such as MRI scanners. Wi-Fi cannot be used
in such facilities.
2. Internet in aircrafts: In aircrafts, Wi-Fi cannot be used, as it can interfere with the navigational
systems of the pilots. But, Li-Fi can be used in aircrafts.
3. Underwater applications: Light can pass through water. Thus, Li-Fi can work underwater,
whereas Wi-Fi fails completely. Thus, Li-Fi provides endless opportunities for ocean
exploration with the help of internet-enabled robots.
4. Disaster management: Li-Fi can be powerful means of communication in times of
earthquakes or hurricanes when normal electricity grid is disrupted. Li-Fi bulbs could provide
cheap high speed web access to every street corner.
5. Applications in sensitive areas: Radio frequencies used under Wi-Fi can cause accidents in
power plants, petroleum pumps or chemical plants. But, Li-Fi can be used safely even at such
places.
8. IPTV
• Internet Protocol television (IPTV) is the process of transmitting and broadcasting television
programs through the Internet using Internet Protocol (IP).
• IPTV gives dynamic features to the user to improve the user experience compared to a
traditional television transmission such as radio frequency broadcast, satellite broadcast
and/or cable
• television.
• A broadband connection is used as the medium of transmission for IPTV, which is very effi
cient compared to earlier transmission mode
• IPTV enables two-way interactivity, in contrast to traditional one way cable or satellite
broadcast network. The two-way IPTV network means viewers have more options to
personalize interact and control their viewing experience.
• Because IPTV is based on internet protocol, it is sensitive to packet loss and delays if the IPTV
connection is not fast enough
2. CDMA
• Code-Division Multiple Accessis a digital cellular technology that uses spread spectrum
techniques.
• It transmits over the entire frequency range available.
• Meaning ,it does not assign a specific frequency (like GSM )to each user on the communications
network. This method, called multiplexing, is what made the transmissions diffi cult to jam during
World War II.
• Because CDMA does not limit each user’s frequency range, there is more bandwidth available.
• This allows more users to communicate on the same network at one time than if each user was
allotted a specific frequency range.
• Because CDMA is a digital technology, analog audio signals must be digitized before being
transmitted on the network.
• CDMA is used by 2G and 3G wireless communications and typically operates in the frequency
range of 800 MHz to 1.9 GHz.
• The technology is used in ultra-high-frequency (UHF) cellular telephone systems in the 800-MHz
and 1.9-GHz bands.
3. Enhanced Data Rates for Global/GPRS Evolution (EDGE)
• The GSM EDGE cellular technology is an upgrade to the existing GSM/GPRS networks.
• GSM EDGE evolution can provide data rates of up to 384 kbps, and this means that it offers a
significantly higher data rate than GPRS.
• The GSM EDGE evolution systems may also be known as EGPRS or Enhanced General Packet Radio
Service systems. Strictly speaking a ‘2.75G’ system that uses the GSM EDGE cellular technology is
capable of providing data rates which are much more than those that could be supported by
GPRS.
• The EDGE evolution is projected to construct on the improvements provided by the addition of
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), where packet switching is applied to a network.
• This means that the speed at which the data can be transferred increases three-fold by adopting
a new form of modulation.
• GSM uses a form of modulation known as Gaussian Minimum Shift Keying (GMSK), but EDGE
evolution changes the modulation to 8 Phase Shift Keying (PSK) and thereby enabling a significant
increase in data rate to be achieved.
• This makes it a particularly attractive option proving virtually 3G data rates for a small upgrade
to an existing GPRS network.
5. GPRS
• General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) is a packet-based wireless communication service that
promises data rates from 56 up to 114 Kbps and continuous connection to the Internet for mobile
phone and computer users.
• GPRS facilitates instant connections whereby information can be sent or received immediately as
the need arises, subject to radio coverage. No dial-up modem connection is necessary. This is why
GPRS users are sometimes referred to be as being “always connected”.
• Packet switching means that GPRS radio resources are used only when users are actually sending
or receiving data. Rather than dedicating a radio channel to a mobile data user for a fi xed period
of time, the available radio resource can be concurrently shared between several users.
Mobile
S.No. Launch Year Services Speed
Technologies
8. FASTag Vehicles
What Are Fast Tags?
The fast tag is a RFID. The card is pasted on the front side of the vehicle usually at the windscreen.
The system operates just like a prepaid phone card. One can charge the RFID card to make payments
at toll.
DTH in India
• India is one of the biggest DTH service providers in the world. The requirement is very high
because of the high population and the increased number of viewers. The low cost of DTH when
compared to other local cable providers is also one main reason for this substantial growth.
• The idea of DTH was fi rst provided to India in 1996. But it was not approved then as there were
concerns about national security.
Advantages of LED
• Unlike ordinary incandescent bulbs, the LED do not have a filament that burns out, and thus, they
do not get especially hot. As a result, LED are energy-efficient, because electricity is not wasted
into heat energy.
• The LEDs are illuminated solely by the movement of electrons and holes present in the
semiconductor material, and thus, they last just as long as a standard transistor. The lifespan of
an LED surpasses the short life of an incandescent bulb by thousands of hours.
Applications of LED
LED have applications in numerous devices as follows:
1. LEDs form numbers on digital clocks.
2. LEDs transmit information from remote controls.
3. LEDs are used to light up watches, traffic signals and even TV screens.
Tiny LEDs have replaced the tubes that light up LCD TVs to make dramatically thinner televisions with
far better display of colours.
4. Video Displays
Video Displays are two-dimensional displays that cover a full area, basically as rectangle.
The diff erent types of video displays are
CRT display
A Cathode-Ray Tube(CRT) is a display device used in television sets and computer monitors.
It is a kind of vacuum tube which contains one or more electron guns, electrostatic defl ection plates
and a phosphor target which is located at the back of the glass screen. A cathode for which the CRT
got its name is a positive terminal at which electrons may enter.
LED Display
• It is a type of display that uses light emitting diodes(LEDs).
• This flat panel display is used in many applications like to display traffi c signs, displays of railway
stations, television display etc.
AMOLED
• AMOLED is a display device technology used in smart-watches, mobile devices, laptops, and
televisions.
Electroluminescent Display
• Electroluminescent display is a flat panel display that works on the principle
ofelectroluminescence.
• Electroluminescence is a phenomenon where materials can emit light in response to the
electric current.
• To make use of this phenomenon, electroluminescent display uses gallium arsenide (GaAs) as
an electroluminescent material. The basic structure of electroluminescent display consists of
electrode layers at the top and bottom
5. Electronic Paper
• Electronic paper (e-paper) is a technology that mimics the appearance of ordinary ink on paper.
The paper’ is similar to the Kindle tablet.
• It is not lit up like a standard display, but rather reflects the external light which illuminates it.
Therefore, it works very well where there is bright light, such as out in the sun, in contrast to
standard LED displays that work best in darkness.
• At the same time, it needs only a tenth of the energy that a Kindle tablet uses, which itself uses
much less energy than a tablet LED display.
• The e-paper is less than a micrometer thin, bendable and gives all the colours that a regular LED
display does.
6. Electronic Cigarette
An electronic cigarette or e-cigarette is a handheld electronic device that vaporises a flavoured liquid
which may have a nicotine base. The user inhales the vapour. The fluid in the e-cigarette is called e-
liquid.
The health risks of e-cigarettes are uncertain. While they are likely to be safer than tobacco cigarettes,
the long-term health effects are not known. These health effects also depend upon the e-liquid used
in them.
MPPSCADDA
4. ROBOTICS, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
AND CYBER SECURITY
ROBOTICS
Robotics
It is the field of science and technology which deals with the design, manufacture and use of robots
in various fields.
Robot
• It is a system that contains sensors, control systems, manipulators, power supplies and software
all working together to perform a task.
• Its an an automatically operating machine which replaces human effort.
Humanoid Robot
Among other robots, humanoid robot has been a special area of interest. A humanoid robot has the
overall appearance of the human body. It has the following features:
• The humanoid robot can maintain itself, i.e., it recharges its own battery by connecting to a power
plug or a battery.
• It has a learning ability to develop new capabilities and adjust itself to the surrounding
environment.
• It avoids harmful situations and engages in safe interaction with human beings and other
components in its environment.
Femi Sapien
• It is a female humanoid robot. It can respond to sight, sound and touch and can be
programmed with a sequence of movements.
HRP-2M Choromet
• It runs on Linux. It recognises objects, performs human Motions and follows commands using
sensors.
Swarm Robotics
• It is the coordination of multi-robot systems which consist of large numbers of mostly simple
physical robots.
Bionic Man
• Scientists have developed the world's first human robot made entirely of prosthetic parts and
it can walk, talk and even has a beating heart.
Curiosity (rover)
• It is a car-sized robotic-rover exploring Gale Crater on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science
Laboratory Mssion.
Kirobo
• It is Japan's first robot astronaut, to accompany Koiche Wakata, the first Japanese commander
of the International Space Station.
Telerobotics
• It is the area of robotics concerned with the control of robots from a distance, chiefly using
wireless connections (like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, the Deep Space Network and similar), 'tethered'
or the. Internet.
Robotics in India
• The Robotics Society of India (RSI) is an academic society aimed at promoting Indian Robotics and
automation activities by serving as bridge between research centres and industries
APPLICATIONS OF ROBOTS
Robots have applications in almost all the fields. Robots can carry out tasks with precision, at faster
speed and at lower cost than humans themselves can carry.
1. Automobile industry: Robots are used in the manufacturing of automobiles such as welding,
painting and assembling of various parts.
2. Electronics: Robots are used in mass-production of circuit boards and can keep tiny
components on circuit boards with great accuracy.
3. Military: Robots such as unmanned aerial vehicle can be used to perform dangerous tasks at
enemy locations. They are used to diffuse bombs and remove already laid land mines.
4. Medicine: Robots are used to conduct surgery in human beings with minimal cuts.
5. Environment: Robots are used to clean oil spills, dispose off nuclear waste and other
hazardous waste.
6. Disaster management: Robots are designed to explore abandoned mines. Abandoned mines
are at the risk of explosion due to the presence of methane gas. Robots are also used in fire-
fighting operations.
.
COMPUTER CONTROLLED DEVICES
• These devices are termed as computer controlled devices that have become part of our daily
living in many ways; some of them are simple while on the other hand some are very complex in
their functions.
• “A computer controlled device is a device that accepts physical inputs from external source and
pairs this information with computer controlled instructions to perform specific functions.”
• These devices are not necessarily desktop computers that we are familiar with, but are embedded
in other systems, controlling and coordinating their functioning.
SENSORS
• Some popular forms of computer controlled devices that we readily encounter are sensors of
a wide variety.
• A sensor is defined as “a device that receives signal or stimulus (as heat, pressure, light etc.)
and responds to it in a distinctive manner”.
• These sensors are used at railway stations in escalators, in weighing machines, and also in
robots that have specific functions.
• It is to be noted that the way robots function is not the same as the way sensor operated
devices function. However sensors are also used extensively as embedded component in
robots that have to perform complex functions like surgery or detection of explosive in public
places.
• An example of computer controlled devices that we come across in our day to day lives.
• We all have been familiar with robots, which are able to perform a host of tasks; this is one of the
most common example of such a device.
• It is programmed to move, manipulate objects, and accomplish work while interacting with its
environment.
• Robots mostly work on a pre-installed instruction program that has a control through a computer
assembly whereas sensors function on the inputs that they receive in physical form from the
external environment and then they convert this input into electronic signals and that finally leads
to a desired action or response.
Barcodes
• The commonly used barcode is perhaps the most common example of how a sensor collects data
and makes it computer readable.
• Barcodes are familiar black and white stripes on packaged goods, containing information on the
type of an item, identity of its manufacturer, its price,etc.
• A barcode is read by shining light at it.
• A barcode scanner, which is an optical device, reads the
barcode. It requires a line-of-sight condition; there
should not be any obstruction between the barcode and
the beam of light.
• Parts of the code reflect the light and parts do not.
• The barcode communicates its fixed information by
spatially modulating the incident light. The
communication is read by a computer and displayed in a language understood by all.
Motion Detection
• Motion of an object is detected electronically using infrared light or laser technology and acoustic
devices.
• Motion detectors have sensors that detect movement and send a signal to a sound device that
produces a sound alarm.
• There are motion detectors that employ cameras to capture images and send them to a
computer. Such sensors are used in banks, shopping malls etc.
• Parking sensors are a technology that allows the driver of an automobile, truck, or commercial
vehicle to be alerted to nearby objects in their path.
• Parking sensors are also known as backup sensors, parking sonar or just sonar depending on the
automaker.
• These sensors send ultrasonic waves 40,000 times per second that detect obstacles behind the
vehicle.
• A controller installed inside the vehicle then receives the signal from the sensors and transmits it
to a speaker that emits a tone, or to a combination of speaker and display unit.
• A smart sensor collects data and converts it into result in a unit appropriate for the particular
physical attribute that is being measured.
• A smart sensor can monitor voltage, radiation, temperature, humidity, etc. and process the
information by itself and adjust the system.
• So far we had seen various types of robots and sensor devices. Now we would also try to
understand another very common example of computer-controlled device that we keep using
frequently in our daily lives, the ATM.
• From the ATM teller we get access to a host of services like bank account related information,
cash deposit, cash withdrawal etc. try to understand how this computer-controlled device
functions in a slightly greater detail.
• An ATM is a computer controlled machine designed to dispense cash, and other bank information
without going to the bank.
• The ATM can also take deposits, transfer money between bank accounts along with basic banking
services.
• This electronic machine is connected to the bank database through a computer controlled system
that has capability to perform functions based upon the information that is provided by the
customer through its banking card, it can be a debit card or credit card.
• The magnetic tape on the card is read by the ATM machine that checks the credentials of the
user, once it is verified, a list of services is visible on the screen of the ATM.
• The customer as per his requirement can choose one option at a time, further this request of
customer is taken by the machine and it then processes it and delivers the service requested by
the customer.
Here interestingly we can see how effectively computer controlled devices can be synchronised
between the service provider (that is the bank in this case) and the customer and make the entire
banking service very much convenient and can be utilised by the customer round the clock suiting
his/her convenience.
• The following figures display an ATM, the block diagram and a systems overview of an ATM which
is computer controlled and organsation of different units and their workings through a computer
instucted program mechanism.
ARITIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
• Artificial intelligence (AI) is an area of computer science that emphasizes the creation of
intelligent machines which can work and react like humans.
• In other words, the term ‘artificial intelligence; is used when a machine performs ‘cognitive’
functions such as ‘learning’ and ‘problem solving’ that we associate with human minds.
• The concept of AI is based on the idea of building machines capable of thinking, acting, and
learning like humans.
• Artificial Intelligence is an interdisciplinary concept that studies the possibility of creating
machines capable of interacting with their environment and acting upon the received data in the
a manner considered intelligent. AI intelligence harnesses algorithms and machine learning to
predict useful patterns humans normally identify.
• AI based Smart machines take human decision-making out of the equation so intelligent machines
can instigate changes and bring forward solutions to basic problems
Current situation
• Companies are rallying around artificial intelligence in the workplace because it allows employees
to use their abilities for the most worthwhile tasks, along with the management of these smart
machines for a more successful system.
• AI face recognition is beginning to help with missing people reports, and it even helps identify
individuals for criminal investigations when cameras have captured their images.
• Medical AI is another trend that reflects surprising success. Given patient information and risk
factors, AI systems can anticipate the outcome of treatment and even estimate the length of a
hospital visit.
• Deep learning is one-way AI technology gets applied to health records to find the likelihood of a
patient’s recovery and even mortality. Experts evaluate data to discover patterns in the patient’s
age, condition, records, and more.
• Home AI systems are also increasingly popular to expedite daily tasks like listening to tunes,
asking for restaurant hours, getting directions, and even sending messages.
• Many problem-solving AI tools also help in the workplace, and the helpfulness of this technology
will continue to progress in 2019.
• AI careers are increasing in demand, but the nature of AI skills is shifting.
• AI projects have caught on throughout many businesses
• Project Maven of Google is will use AI to make it easier to classify images of people and objects
shot by drones.
Augmented Reality
• The word augment means to add or enhance something. In the case of Augmented Reality (also
called AR), graphics, sounds, and touch feedback are added into our natural world to create an
enhanced user experience.
• An enhanced version of reality where live direct or indirect views of physical real-world
environments are augmented with superimposed computer-generated images over a user’s view
of the realworld, thus enhancing one’s current perception of reality
• Augmented reality is a more versatile and practical version of virtual reality, as it does not fully
immerse individuals in an experience.
• Augmented reality features interactive scenarios that enhance the real world with images and
sounds that create an altered experience.
• The most common current applications of this overlay of digital images on the surrounding
environment include the recent Pokémon Go fad.
1. Hacking
Hacking refers to gain unauthorised access to data in a system or computer. Such data may pertain
to commercially important information, data with wide ranging security implications, legally sensitive
information, etc.
2. Spamming:
It is an unwanted e-mail sent with commercial or some other objective. Spamming does not cause
direct loss to the target, but it uses network resources such as storage space of the user and so on.
3.E-mail spoofing:
It refers to an e-mail which originates from one source, but appears to have originated from another
source. For instance, an e-mail from a third party may attempt to create an impression that it is from
the bank of a person. E-mail spoofing is often used to carry out phishing attacks.
4.Phishing:
It is a cybercrime in which spoofed e-mail directs the user to a fraudulent website, with similar
appearance as the original website, in order to obtain sensitive information from the user such as
bank account password. Let us continue with the above example. The spoofed e-mail in the above
example may create an impression that it is from the bank. The person will be directed to a website
which will appear like the bank’s website. The user will be asked to log into the bank account. As the
user submits the details, his details will be taken. Thereafter, the details are used to withdraw money
from the user’s bank account.
5. Cyberstalking:
Cyberstalking is a crime in which the attacker harasses a victim using electronic communication, such
as e-mail or Instant Messaging (IM), or messages posted to a social networking website or a
discussion group. A cyberstalker relies upon the anonymity afforded by the internet to allow them to
stalk their victim without being detected.
Cyberstalking messages differ from an ordinary spam. A cyberstalker targets a specific victim with
often threatening messages, while the spammer targets a multitude of recipients with simply
annoying messages.
6. Cybersquatting:
It refers to obtaining domain names related to established businesses in order to seek large payments
from these businesses for exchange of domain names. The intention behind cybersquatting is to sell
the domain names later at premium prices.
7.Typosquatting:
It refers to obtaining domain name which is similar to existing popular domain name. The typo
squatted domain name has minor difference with the existing popular domain name such as
differences in spelling with the same pronunciation.
8.Denial-of-service attacks:
A denial-of-service (DoS) attack occurs when multiple systems flood the bandwidth or resources of a
targeted system, usually one or more web servers. A DoS attack blocks the server space and thus
reduces its capacity to serve genuine users.
9.Malwares:
It is a malicious software introduced into the computer system or network with mala-fide intention.
Types of MALWARES
1. Virus: It is a computer program or software which infects other computer programs or data by
modifying them in unwanted ways. A virus can be attached with software, e-mail or file stored in
the computer and thus, a single virus can infect millions of software, files and other computer
system resources.
2. Worm: It is a self-propagating malware which over the time grows bigger in size and infects other
programs of the computer in unwanted ways. Worm does not attach itself with other programs
or files. However, it grows in size and thus reduces the processing power of a computer system.
3. Trojan horse: It is a malicious program contained within the apparently desired program or data.
When a user downloads the desired program or data, the malicious program is also downloaded
along with it. Trojan horse can be used to affect files or programs, spy sensitive information or
even undertake remote control of a computer.
4. Spyware: These are used to keep track of the user and his activities on a computer network.
Spyware may be used to fetch confidential commercial information such as passwords.
5. Keyloggers: These are forms of spyware which track keystrokes made by the user. Keyloggers are
used to gain access to passwords or other sensitive information.
6. Adware: These are programs which recurrently appear on the screen of the user to promote a
particular product or service.
7. Ransomware: It is a malicious software that blocks access to computers and data until a particular
sum of money is paid.
8. Botnets
9. Nagware/Begware/Annoyware/ Nagscrum
10. Web Crawler/Spidler
11. Grayware
12. Flame/Flamer/Skywiper/Skywlper
13. Root kits
Ransomware Attack
Wannacry/Not Petya/Petya
• Eternal Blue is a vulnerability that exists in Windows 10, 8, 7 and even XP.
• Eternal Blue was developed by the US National Security Agency (NSA) along with other hacking
tools. But it was leaked online.
• Eternal Blue was used to carry out recent ransomware attacks.
Computer Virus
• A computer virus is a malware program that, when executed, replicates by inserting copies of
itself into other computer programs, data files or the boot sector of the hard drive. When this
replication succeeds, the affected areas are then said to be infected.
Firewall
• The primary objective of a firewall is to control the incoming and outgoing network traffic by
analyzing the data packets and determining whether it should be allowed through or not based on a
pre-determined rule set.
CYBER SECURITY
Security Management
• Facial Recognition A facial recognition system is a computer application for automatically
identifying or verifying a person from a digital image or a video frame from a video source.
• Biometric Passport A biometric passport, also known as an e-passport or a digital passport is a
combined paper and electronic passport that contains biometric information that can be used to
authenticate the identity of travellers.
• Iris Recognition It is an automated method of biometric identification that uses mathematical
pattern-recognition techniques on video images of the I, is of an individual's eyes, whose complex
random patterns are unique and can be seen from distance.
• Smart Card A smart card, chip card, on Integrated Circuit Card (ICC) is any pocket sized card with
embedded' integrated circuits. Smart cards are made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride.
BIOMETRICS
The word ‘biometrics’ is made up of two words: ‘bio’ referring to ‘biological’ and ‘metric’ referring to
‘measurement’. Thus, biometrics refers to biological measurements.
Facial Authenication
How Does Facial Authentication Actually Work?
Facial authentication is a technology to recognize face based on the spatial geometry of distinguishing
features. It is preferred over other biometric means because it is widely believed to be the least
intrusive and fastest biometric technology.
There are different versions of facial authentication. For instance, Apple uses Face lD on iPhone X
smartphones that have the TrueDepth camera. This camera captures face data by projecting and
analysing over 30,000 invisible dots to create a depth map of the face plus an infrared image.
One Plus has Face Unlock, which uses over “100 identifiers” such as distance between the eyes or
the nose and upper lip.
Blockchain Data
• Blockchain data, like the new cryptocurrency Bitcoin, is a secure method that will continue to
grow in popularity and use in coming future.
• This system allows us to input additional data without changing, replacing, or deleting anything.
• In the influx of shared data systems like cloud storage and resources, protecting original data
without losing important information is crucial.
• For transaction purposes, blockchain data offers a safe and straightforward way to do business
with suppliers and customers.
• Private data is particularly secure with blockchain systems, and the medical and information
technology industries can benefit from added protection.
Digital Signature
Digital signature is used to authenticate both the sender of the message. The authentication is done
in such a manner that it is provable to the third party. Let us understand the following terms to
understand digital signature.
Thus, digital signature authenticates both the sender of the document and the content of the
message.
Cryptology
It is required for the safe transfer of data. It involves encoding of data by the sender and decoding of
the encoded data by the receiver to convert data into original form. Encoding or encryption involves
conversion of plain text to cipher text (encoded text). Decoding or decryption is done by the receiver
of the message to convert cipher text into the original text.
Types of Cryptology
There are two types of cryptology.
1. Symmetric cryptography: It is a system in which both the sender and the receiver of the
message use a common secret key for both encryption as well as decryption of message. For
instance, you and your bank has the common password to access your bank account.
2. Asymmetric cryptography: It involves a pair of keys i.e., a public key and a private key. A
private key is a secret key used by the signer of the document to create digital signature,
whereas the public key, which is corresponding to a particular private key, is open to public
and is used by the other party (receiver of the document) to verify the user of private key.
Hash function is used to authenticate the contents of the document. Hash function involves an
algorithm which reveals the same result every time it is used in the documents.
E-GOVERNACE
The ‘e’ in e-governance stands for ‘electronic’. It refers to the use of information technology to deliver
services to citizens in time bound manner, increase accessibility of services to citizens and make
administration more accountable.
1. Interactions in_e-Governance
There are four types of interactions in e-Governance namely, government to citizens (G2C),
government to business (G2B), government to government (G2G), that is, inter-agency interactions
and government to employees (G2E).
1. G2C: An online interface is created between the government and citizens. Though almost all
the government services are available online, some of the example are:
o Tax and bill payments.
o Registration of vehicles and lands.
o Request for driving license and passports.
o Information about employment, business opportunities and government schemes.
2. G2B: It is used to aid the business community (providers of goods and services) to seamlessly
interact with the government. The objective is to cut red tapism, save time, reduce operational costs
and create a more transparent business environment when dealing with the government.
3. G2G: In this case, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is used not only to
restructure the government processes involved in the functioning of government entities, but also to
increase the flow of information and services within and between different government entities.
4. G2E: The government is by far the biggest employer and like any other organisation, it has to
interact with its employees on a regular basis.
Benefits of e-Governance
The benefits (or advantages or goals) of e-Governance are as follows:
Challenges to e-Governance
1. The biggest challenge before e-governance is digital divide. Large section of Indian population
does not have access to internet. E-governance does not cater to this section and this is the section
which requires maximum access to government services.
2. Implementation of e-governance projects are costly and often require re-training of
government employees and awareness among common public.
2. Digital Divide
Digital divide refers to the gap between those who have ready access to computers and the internet
and those who do not have access.
5. Tesla Roadster
Tesla Roadster is an electric supercar manufactured by Tesla Company found by Elon Musk. Tesla
Company produces electric cars. The car will be available for purchase after 2020 with a base price
of $200,000.
The car can accelerate from zero to 60mph in 1.9 seconds. This acceleration rate is far higher than
the existing cars. The Roadster will have a top speed of over 250mph. According to Tesla Company,
the Roadster would be able to cover 630 miles with a single recharge of 200kWh battery.
Web Pages
The electronic pages seen on the Internet are known as web pages. A web page can be defined as
the document that we see on the Internet.
Website
Many web pages linked with each other combine to form a website.
HTML
• A web page can be written in the language known as HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). HTML
is a very simple language having a number of options to represent text.
• Many other scripting languages have now been developed which can be embedded into HTML,
giving it the power to interact with the users.
• These dynamic web pages can take inputs from users and give information accordingly – taking
in the location of the user before displaying the weather forecast.
• For example, a protocol called Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is used to transmit and receive
the web pages.
Web Browsers
• The web is a collection of a huge amount of information. Every single web page consists of some
information and also a number of links, which connects us to other related web pages.
• To visit the linked web pages, just click over the linked text and the next web page opens.
• Just like a word processing application is needed to open a word processor document, an
application is needed to view an HTML document.
• To view a web page we need special software called web browser.
• Mosaic was the first web browser developed by National Centre for Supercomputing
Application (NCSA).
• This browser didn’t have any special features like present day web browsers. It was not possible
to view pictures or use any present day font formatting features in the web pages. Initially, the
browsers were designed to show plain text, without any formatting.
• With the increasing use, the need to incorporate additional features like text formatting, viewing
images, playing sound, etc. was felt. Most modern day browsers incorporate all these features.
Server type://Hostname/directory/sub-directory/.../filename
ftp File Transfer Protocol is used to transfer binary and text files over the Internet
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol Internet Protocol. TCP/IP consists of a set of two
protocols i.e. Transfer Control Protocol and Internet Protocol. Transfer Control
Protocol controls the flow of data and is a reliable service protocol. Every
computer in a network has a unique IP address associated with it. IP identifies
and reach the target computer on the network.
UDP User Datagram Packet is used to transfer data between two computers. It is an
unreliable protocol, offering no guarantee for data delivery.
• There are other protocols also like SLIP (Serial Line Internet Protocol), SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol) ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) PPP (Point to Point Protocol), etc.
Bandwidth
• When we connect to the Internet, we must know its speed parameters. The speed of the Internet
is measured in the number of bits transferred per unit time.
• Generally, the speed of the Internet is measured in kbps (kilo bits per second), but these days
some organisations are providing high speed connections in Mbps (Mega bits per second).
Bandwidth : In context of the Internet, the number of bits transferred by a channel per unit
time is the bandwidth.
Modem
• In order to have a connection we need a device called the modem.
• This device converts the digital signal from the computer into an analogue signal that can travel
through the telephone line.
• On the other end, this analogue signal is again converted back to digital form by the modem at
the destination end.
• Some computer systems have internal modems (built-in within the motherboard) while in some
systems there might be a need to have an external modem to have an Internet connection.
Router
• Another device called a router can be attached to the computer to access the Internet. The router
is a device used for connecting two different networks.
DOMAIN NAMES
• All the websites on the Internet have unique names associated with them.
• To launch a website, we must have a unique domain name. In order to avoid any conflict within
the names of the websites the concept of domain names was developed.
• There are certain websites which have .ac which indicates academic organisations, .in suffixed to
their name indicating that they belong to India
• For example: www.ignou.ac.in, www.ncert.nic.in, and many more. websites having .au as a
suffix indicate Australia, .jp indicates Japan and so on. However, there is no such suffix for USA.
A domain can be generic or according to the names of the country. Some common domain
names are:
1. in – stands for India (country name)
2. gov – indicates government agencies
3. net – network organisations
4. org – non-profit organisations
5. edu – educational organisations 6. com – commercial organisations
6. mil – military or defence
USES OF THE INTERNET
SEARCH FOR INFORMATION
A number of programs called search engines are available to search for the information on any topic.
Some famous search engines are provided by: www.google.com, wikipedia.com, webopedia.com,
MSN.com, Yahoo.com, etc.
Search Engines
A search engine is a complex program that searches documents containing a specified set of
keywords.
A search engine basically works in three phases:
1. The search engine sends a program (called the spider) that searches the web pages in the
Internet for the keyword.
2. After the spider fetches the result, another software called the indexer reads these results.
The indexer then creates an index based on the words contained in each of the documents
returned by the spider.
3. After indexing, the search engine presents only the documents matching the search criteria
to the user.
The relevance of the result returned by the search engine depends on how you frame the query. To
search any information, connect to any of the searchengine websites like: www.msn.com,
www.google.com, www.webopedia.com, www.yahoo.com.
CHATTING Chatting
Involves textual exchange of message in real time.
Chat servers provide facility to create virtual chat rooms and only the members associated with these
rooms are allowed to share messages.
Chat works best if the time is scheduled by both the parties who are willing to chat – as both the
parties must be connected to the Internet while chatting. Some common chat engines are : Yahoo
Messenger, Google Talk, Rediff Bol, etc.
NEWSGROUP
• Newsgroup is an e-service hosted by many newsgroup organisations. One can become a member
of a newsgroup and read and share current affairs and messages.
• Newsgroups cover a broad domain of interests including education, science and technology,
medicine, arts, sports, etc. USENET is one such example.
TELECONFERENCING
• People can have a conference or meeting sitting at different locations with a microphone
attached to their computers.
VIDEO-CONFERENCING
• In teleconferencing we are able to talk to each other sitting at different places but in video-
conferencing we can also see what is happening at the other side.
• We have observed that the anchor, panelists and experts sitting at different locations across the
globe communicate and share their views in many news channels.
• For this, we need a web-camera and a microphone connected to the computer system, high
bandwidth connection, and video-conferencing software.
E-COMMERCE
• E-commerce or Electronic-Commerce means online transactions of business. In this, the vendor
and customer conduct a transaction sitting at different geographical locations, connected
through the Internet.
• The customer need not strain himself by visiting a number of shops outside in scorching heat or
heavy rains. He can do shopping by sitting at home, visiting the desired e-commerce site and
placing an order online.
• E.g. http://shopping.indiatimes.com, http://ebay.com, http:/ /shopping.rediff.com, etc.
M-COMMERCE
• It is an acronym for mobile commerce. It is an upcoming technology after e-commerce.
• It involves buying and selling of goods and services electronically through wireless handheld
devices at any place.
• We can do transactions through our mobile phones also.
E-BANKING
• Almost all the nationalised banks have started providing their services online. This means you can
have a bank transaction through Internet.
• E-banking is a facility that allows you to conduct your banking transactions online with a laptop
or computer with an Internet connection. Every user is allotted a unique user id and password by
the bank for this purpose.
• The account holder can view account balances and transaction statements, transfer money
between accounts in the bank, pay utility bills at any time of the day and from any place, can take
printouts of financial-statements, and many more.
E-LEARNING
• E-learning deals with educating people online with the help of the Internet.
• Development in this field has led to the formation of virtual classes and online sessions.
• A teacher can teach many students at the same time sitting at different geographical locations.
Such classes may be open to all, or may require prior student registration.
• Video Lecture : The teacher or instructor can take a class while students can see and listen to
him/her. For such a classroom a web camera is required at every terminal.
• Textual Lecture : The teacher can take a class by passing his lectures as text and students
providing textual response. Students can post their queries online and can get the response
instantly.
At the time of class both teacher and student need not be online at the same time. The teacher can
send the lecture using tools like explain these and blogs online to the students. The students can read
their lessons online. If they have any queries then they can mail their queries to the teacher’s account
E-MAIL ACCOUNT
E-MAIL ADDRESS
• An e-mail addess (account) consists of two main parts, the username and the domain-server
name with the symbol @ in between.
Advantages of VPN
• Helps in establishing long-distance secured network connections.
• Cost saving as it reduces the long-distance telephone charges.
• Cost of maintenance is low.
Disadvantages of VPN
• Requires detailed understanding of network security issues and careful installation.
• Reliability and performance of an internet-based VPN is not under direct control of an
organisation.
Firewalls
This is a system of hardware and software that blocks unauthorised user from outside the network
to enter into an organisations network. It also prevents the transfer of sensitive information from
private network to other networks. Usually, firewall is located at the network gateway.
Common uses of firewall include:
• Prevents unauthorised person from accessing the network.
• Blocks access to undesirable websites.
• Filters incoming e-mail, etc.
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol (IP) refers to a set of rules governing the format of data sent over the internet
or other network. Traditionally, data such as written information, video and audio were shared over
the internet.
In recent times, the IP is used to transfer live voice signals and broadcast television signals. These
applications are called Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV),
respectively.
VoIP
The VoIP refers to telephony through the IP. The VoIP requires conversion of voice signals into digital
signals at the senders end and re-conversion of digital signals into voice signals at the receivers end.
The VoIP has certain advantages over the traditional telephony. Voice calling through VoIP is far
cheaper than calling from a telephone. VoIP is possible even in those regions, where telephone lines
are not laid. Video calling is also possible through VoIP.
IPTV
IPTV is a TV based IP. The IPTV converts television signals into digital signals and re-converts these
digital signals into television signals.
The IPTV also has advantages over the traditional television transmission. The IPTV enables access to
larger number of channels. As IPTV runs through internet, it is available even in regions, where cable
television network is not present.
6. Net Neutrality
Net neutrality refers that internet service providers should facilitate equal access to all content and
websites regardless of its source. Internet service providers should not favour any source or websites
at the cost of others. Net neutrality is also called network neutrality, internet neutrality or net
equality.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has favoured net neutrality. It has warned against
any practice such as blocking, slowing down or granting preferential speeds to any content.
TRAI had also barred telecom providers from charging differential rates for data services in its
Prohibition of Discriminatory Tariffs for Data Services Regulations, 2016.
In partnership with NASSCOM, DeitY and ERNET in Bangalore, Centre of Excellence will enable rapid
adoption of IoT technology and encourage a new growth strategy.
IoT will help the citizens in services like transport system, parking, electricity, waste management,
water management and women’s safety to create smart cities, smart health services, smart
manufacturing and smart agriculture, etc
Digital Convergence
Digital Convergence is the tendency for different technologies, media, content, services and
applications to become more similar with time. In other words, digital convergence refers to the
convergence of four industries into one conglomerate, that is, information technologies,
telecommunication, consumer electronics and entertainment. It is a long-term trend that has several
elements:
Technology
With the span of time, technologies which are viewed to be very different, develop features which
are similar and hence the differences are blurred. In 1995, a television and a mobile phone were
completely different devices. In recent years, they may have similar features such as the ability to
connect to Wi-Fi, play rich internet-based media and run apps. People may use either their television
or phone to play a game or communicate with relatives, using the same software.
Media & Content
Television and internet services were once viewed as separate services, but have begun to come
together. It is likely that music, movies, video games and informational content will eventually
converge to the point that they are no longer distinct formats. For example, future music may always
come with an interactive music video that resembles a game. Likewise, movies are likely to become
interactive with time to the point that they also resemble games.
Services & Applications
In the late 1990s, there was a large difference between business and consumer software and services.
With time, this difference has blurred. Technology tends to move from a large number of highly
specific tools towards a small set of flexible tools with broad applications.
Robots & Machines
It is increasingly common for machines such as vehicles or appliances to have semi-autonomous
features that technically make them robots.
Virtual reality
Virtual reality can be viewed as the convergence of real life with digital entities such as games and
information environments. DIGITAL CONVERGENCE
Digital Convergence is the tendency for different technologies, media, content, services and
applications to become more similar with time. In other words, digital convergence refers to the
convergence of four industries into one conglomerate, that is, information technologies,
telecommunication, consumer electronics and entertainment. It is a long-term trend that has several
elements:
Technology
With the span of time, technologies which are viewed to be very different, develop features which
are similar and hence the differences are blurred. In 1995, a television and a mobile phone were
completely different devices. In recent years, they may have similar features such as the ability to
connect to Wi-Fi, play rich internet-based media and run apps. People may use either their television
or phone to play a game or communicate with relatives, using the same software.
Media & Content
Television and internet services were once viewed as separate services, but have begun to come
together. It is likely that music, movies, video games and informational content will eventually
converge to the point that they are no longer distinct formats. For example, future music may always
come with an interactive music video that resembles a game. Likewise, movies are likely to become
interactive with time to the point that they also resemble games.
Services & Applications
In the late 1990s, there was a large difference between business and consumer software and services.
With time, this difference has blurred. Technology tends to move from a large number of highly
specific tools towards a small set of flexible tools with broad applications.
Robots & Machines
It is increasingly common for machines such as vehicles or appliances to have semi-autonomous
features that technically make them robots.
Virtual reality
Virtual reality can be viewed as the convergence of real life with digital entities such as games and
information environments.
P-Commerce
• Place commerce is specialized form of mobile commerce that uses mobile internet access, Global
Positioning System (G IS) information and Bluetooth to assist and enhance the retail shopping
experience of customer based on their location and individual shopping behavior.
Important Terms
File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
• It is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP
based network, such as the internet.
Telnet
• It is a network protocol that allows one to connect to remote computers over a TCP/IP network
(such as the Internet).
Usenet
• It is a world-wide distributed discussion system. It consists a set of newsgroups with names that
are classified hierarchically by subject..
Archie
• The very first tool used for searching on the internet was Archie.
Social Networking Sites
• A social networking service is an online service, platform or site that focuses on facilitating the
building of social networks or social relations among people who, share. interests, activities,
backgrounds or real-life-connections.
2. Twitter
• Twitter a microblogging site that just included text posts of up to 140 characters.
• launch in 2006, it has raised that character limit and now lets a user share other media like photos
and videos.
• With about 330 million monthly active users
3. LinkedIn
• LinkedIn is the most popular social media site for professional networking.
• The platform has over 700 million registered users, with about 300 million active each month.
Launched in 2003
• LinkedIn allows a user to add their resumes, connect with others in their industry, and even post
and respond to job listings.
• In a marketing sense, LinkedIn is often especially useful for B2B businesses.
• It even offers paid ads and content publishing options.
4. YouTube
• YouTube isn’t just the most popular video-sharing website in the world.
• It’s also the second most popular search engine behind Google.
• The company was founded in 2005
• Eventually bought by Google.
• YouTube has over 2 billion logged-in visitors per month.
• The site also provides analytics, facilitates interaction between users, and lets you embed videos
in other websites.
5. Pinterest
• Pinterest is one part social media site, one part search engine. It consists of digital bulletin boards
where a user can save products, project ideas, and inspirational images.
• Pinterest launched in 2010 and has since amassed more than 400 million monthly active users.
6. Instagram
• Instagram is another social media channel with a heavy emphasis on visuals.
• The site launched in 2010 and was later purchased by Facebook.
• It has more than 1 billion monthly active users and is mainly a mobile platform.
• Like Facebook, Instagram offers targeted advertising options to help business users reach a
specific user.
• Instagram also offers various posting options, including photos, videos, slideshows, stories, and
live streams.
7. Tumblr
• Tumblr is a blogging platform that allows several different post formats.
• You can include quotes, chats, videos, photos, and even audio content.
• Launched in 2007 and is now owned by Automattic.
8. Flickr
• Flickr is a popular platform for sharing photos and videos.
• Launched in 2004, the site was purchased by Yahoo in 2005 and is now owned by SmugMug.
• It’s especially popular for photographers or businesses that want to see their images shared
around the web.
• You can also use it to find royalty-free images for use in content.
9. Reddit
• Reddit is a social news and entertainment website with tons of sub-communities dedicated to
specific interests.
• A registered user can submit content and comment on threads to interact with other users.
• Launched in 2005
10. Snapchat
• Snapchat is a mobile messaging social media platform. A user can share one-time content with
friends or post stories that go out to all that users followers.
• Released in 2011
• The app quickly became popular, especially with young consumers.
11. WhatsApp
• WhatsApp is a popular mobile messaging app. You can use it to send images, texts, documents,
audio, and video content to another user individually or in groups.
• Launched in 2010, the company is now owned by Facebook along with Instagram.
• WhatsApp now has more than 2 billion monthly active users. Small businesses can use the app to
easily communicate with customers and prospects on a personal level.
12. Quora
• Quora allows users to ask questions and share answers on a variety of topics.
• Originally launched in 2009, it now has more than 300 million monthly users.
13. TikTok
• TikTok app lets a user create short, creative videos.
14. Vimeo
• Vimeo is a professional video platform. Though not as widely used as YouTube, it offers quality
features perfect for videographers and those who want to share cinematic content.
15. Medium
• Medium is a platform for creating and sharing long-form content.
• Twitter co-founder Evan Williams founded Medium in 2012.
16. WeChat
• WeChat is a multi-purpose mobile messaging app. People can send text messages, voice calls,
video content, and even make payments.
• There are group and individual chat options. And there are about 1 billion monthly active users
around the world.
• WeChat offers official business accounts. As a result, brands can use the service to easily facilitate
communication with customers and send out messages as part of a social media campaign.
MPPSCADDA
7. E-COMMERCE
E-Commerce
• E-Commerce or Electronic Commerce is defined as the buying and selling of goods and services
including digital products over digital and electronic networks.
• E-commerce employs computers in different areas of commerce such as marketing, customer
visit, product browsing, shopping basket checkout, tax and shopping, receipt and process order
E Business
• E-business offers services pertaining to processing transactions, documentation, presentations,
financial analysis, home based services, inventory management and gathering product
information using CCT.
• All leading banks, including the State Bank of India provide Internet banking facility. With this
facility one can check account balance and perform bank transactions from anywhere.
• We can see account details, pay a bill and print account statement online.
• Also, the bank provides SMS alert service, so that, whenever bank transaction takes place, an
SMS is sent by the bank to our mobile phones.
Business to Consumer
• This is the generally used online portals where the e-commerce company sells directly to the
consumer
Consumer to Business
• When a person designs or creates something new, they can sell it to the e-commerce company
for further sales. This is called the Consumer to Business model
What are the benefits of E-Commerce?
E-Commerce has benefitted both the consumer and the seller/manufacturer equally.
• Less Start-up cost for the seller
• 24×7 online access to shop and order
• Goods can be delivered Nationally and Internationally
• One does not need to be physically present at the store to shop
• Easy Access to e-commerce websites and application
• The E-commerce companies create websites and applications where all the available products
and goods are uploaded.
• A consumer can scroll through the products, choose the ones
E-Commerce in India
• As in 2019, India has an internet user base of about 40% of the total Indian population, especially
with regard to e-commerce.
• E-commerce in India has been budding since 2009 and many major e-commerce companies have
grown their businesses in India.
1. Multi-product E-Commerce – The portals which sell multiple products on the same website or
application are Multi-product E-Commerce companies. This includes Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal,
where garments, furniture, books, stationery, etc. are all available at a single platform
2. Single Product E-Commerce – Under this, the companies which sell only a single type of product
online are called Single-Product E-commerce companies. This includes portals like Makemytrip
which enables all kinds of tourism-related services, similarly specific e-commerce companies for
eyewear, furniture, gadgets, automobiles, etc.
2. Flipkart
• Flipkart is the national leader of e-commerce in India.
• Founded in 2007, Flipkart was initially selling books, before it expanded to other popular
categories including mobile phones, electronics, fashion, and lifestyle products.
• In 2018, Walmart, one of the largest American companies and leading platforms of e-
commerce in the US, acquired 77% of Flipkart for 16 Billion US $.
3. IndiaMart
• Founded in 1999, IndiaMart is an online B2B marketplace for Indian companies.
• A competitor of Alibaba, IndiaMart allows manufacturers, suppliers, and exporters to propose
their products directly through the platform to get contacted by its visitors.
• Since 2014, IndiaMart has launched its e-commerce retail platform, Tolexo.
4. Myntra
• Myntra is a specialized online fashion, home and lifestyle retailer in India.
• Launched in 2007, Myntra has developed a strong online presence, especially through its
mobile applications.
• Acquired by the Indian e-commerce company Flipkart in 2014, Myntra has consolidated its
presence in fashion e-commerce through the acquisition of its competitor Jabong.com.
5. Snapdeal
• Snapdeal is a diversified online shopping platform, offering products ranging from electronics
and fashion to home and appliances.
• Founded in 2010, Snapdeal has received several rounds of funding from famous investors,
including Alibaba Group, Foxconn, and SoftBank, to fuel its growth and compete for the top
spots in India’s e-commerce landscape.
6. Firstcry
• A specialized e-commerce platform for baby care products, kids’ clothes, and toys, Firscry is
a pioneer of e-commerce in India offering products from thousands of brands.
• Having expanded into franchised stores, Firstcry now also offers its products through tens of
stores across numerous Indian cities.
7. 1mg
• 1mg is an online pharmacy and healthcare information website.
• Founded in 2015, 1mg provides online consultations, lab tests and a mine of medical
information in order to better serve the Indian market and population’s need, and be able to
direct its visitors to the right medicine or product from its shop.
8. BookMyShow
• BookMyShow is the leading show ticketing portal and retailer in India.
• Since its launch in 2007, BookMyShow has expanded to sell millions of tickets every month
for movies, sports events, plays, and more.
• With the company’s success, BookMyShow has also expanded to other, opening subsidiaries
in Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Sri Lanka, and West Indies.
9. Nykaa
• Nykaa is a beauty retailer selling cosmetics, clothes and wellness products to Indian
customers.
• Founded in 2012, Nykaa is originally a specialized store for beauty e-commerce selling
products from multiple brands. Since then Nykaa has developed its own line of cosmetics and
opened multiple brick-and-mortar stores across India.
10. 2GUD
• 2GUD is originally an e-commerce shop dedicated to refurbished goods, offering a wide range
of mobile phones and electronics that have already been used and restored to original
condition.
• Launched in 2018 by Flipkart which was later acquired the American retail giant Walmart,
2GUD has now extended to more categories including lifestyle, fashion, and home decoration
to compete against other online platforms.