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In the past 17 years that I've been hammering away, first at a typewriter, then a computer keyboard, the @ key has suddenly come to life. Used to be that only the accounts department or a purchase officer needed the key. Today, with the Internet and e-mail part of everyone's lives, the "@" key has made a comeback of sorts. To celebrate this, an Italian pasta company, The Best Raffaello, has introduced macaroni in the shape of the @ symbol. The cyberpasta is called La Chiocciola and the company is giving away free samples of it (at least until recently, they were up for grabs). You can check it out at their cyberstore at www.thebestraffaello.com/homeeng.htm and, if you have an international credit card (isn't everyone getting themselves one of those, leading to a new plastic explosion?), perhaps even order some of the stuff.

As someone who likes Italian food, I have always wondered which macaroni holds the sauce best and I've finally found the answer: @ macaroni. With its intricate design, La Chiocciola may hold up to 50 per cent more sauce than other varieties. The Best Raffaello site is interesting, and it claims to have produced the first pasta dedicated to the Internet -- and it has already been awarded a prize by the National Pasta Museum in Rome.

At the heart of this is the fact that the Internet is starting to influence practically every aspect of life. The more you keep at it, the more innovative your ideas can get. Who would have imagined a pasta company doing all this and getting into e-commerce in a major way? The Best Raffaello is a site worth visiting for everyone who wants to begin to sell pickles, papads and parathas on the Net -- and discover that e-commerce is not so much about technology as it is about innovation.

FREE LUNCH?
It had to happen -- sooner or later, someone had to pay you for the pleasure of surfing. All it required was a good look at www.alladvantage.com or www.gotoworld.com where the concept is ready and rolling. If you live in India, try www.rupees4surfing.com which has an elaborate way of rewarding you for consuming web advertising. Basically, the site expects you to download an advertising bar which sits at the bottom of your screen (just above the task bar), exposing a stream of ads to you while you surf. The goal, according to the site, is to get 2 lakh Indians (you get paid in Indian rupees and the offer is open in India only) to subscribe to the service. That's the critical mass required to get the free lunch going. Until two lakh Indians walk into the web, there's a hitch: you get paid only for referrals and not for surfing. Chances are that for the next few months you could be increasing your online time (and spending cash to be online longer) to get rewarded. It's a scheme that has many "ifs" and "buts" -- but you never know what works in this country.

BEYOND THE FREE LUNCH
In the next few weeks, sites that send relief to the cyclone-hit in Orissa are going to mushroom. First off the block has been Cause An Affect at www.causeanaffect.org which uses sponsored donations to send food to the needy in Orissa. 20,000 donations of 50 paise each were made on the day the site was launched. The numbers are growing. All you need to do is click once on the site and one of the sponsors (SBI, Hyundai, HerbalLife, in-Biz.net and Hyderabad Urban Development Authority; additional sponsors wanted) makes the donation on your behalf. Again, this is not an original idea (see www.thehungersite.com), but one that needed to be Indianised. Cause An Affect makes The Hunger Site idea work for India. You can view some of the nightmarish images of the disaster, catch up with relief work and while you are at it, someone, somewhere, in Orissa will benefit.

DISCOUNTS THAT WORK
Perhaps you get little booklets delivered to your doorstep with discount offers on pizzas and colas ordered from a nearby store -- just tear the coupon from the booklet and get a discount on your purchase. A Silicon Valley start-up, www.ccrewards.com does that online. You can get discounts on automobiles, clothes, books, pets, toys, flowers, food and several other products. Of course ,the offer is open to shoppers in the US only. The idea of online discount coupons is not a new one. CcRewards may be in a market that required differentiation. But for us the difference is the fact that the CEO of the venture is Dr Sanjai Tiwari, a student of IIT and a PhD from Stanford -- and knowing Indians, they will find a way to innovate and change the discounts business.

GROWING TRIBE
Ever walked into the Tribes Store on Delhi's Mahadev Road? It's the kind of store that will take you deep into the heart of India, encouraging you to pick up a wind flute and play it, sniff at organic tea, and feel the rough but seductive lives of dhokra. An initiative of the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India, the store displays unique tribal artifacts, handicrafts, textiles and other products. If you live outside Delhi, you may like to visit their site at www.trifed.net. On this site is a lesson for every company aspiring to leverage the Net.

Arun Katiyar is Chief Operating Officer of India Today Group Online. His e-mail address is akatiyar@india-today.com