From this year onwards, World Hepatitis Day will be observed on July 28. The day was chosen to honour birthday of professor Bloomberg who discovered hepatitis B virus in 1960s. Doctors say only viruses are not responsible for all hepatitis infections. These can occur due to alcohol, medicines (drug induced), fat deposition in liver and also autoimmune hepatitis - when immune cells mistake liver's normal cells as harmful invaders and attack them.
No national registry with statewise data on hepatitis exists in the country. It is estimated that 20 million people are hepatitis B carriers and about 8-10 million may be suffering from hepatitis C virus infection.
Hepatitis viruses A, B, C, D and E can cause acute and chronic infection and inflammation of liver leading to cirrhosis and liver cancer. These viruses constitute a major global health risk with around 350 million people being chronically infected with hepatitis B and around 170 million with hepatitis C. Hepatitis B and C cause cirrhosis besides alcohol being another major reason for chronic liver disease.
People who undergo frequent dialysis, thalassemic patients who receive multiple transfusion, intravenous drug abusers, persons who receive injections by usage of unsterilized needles and those going through unsafe sexual practices are at increased risk. Hepatitis B and C can be prevented if proper precautions are made. Vaccination for hepatitis B is available but not for hepatitis C at present.
Hepatitis A and E are seen more in people who do not eat home food, hostel students and kids in day care centres.
Many epidemics of jaundice also have been reported in the past. Both hepatitis A and E can be prevented by practising consumption of safe food and water.
"Cost of drugs and treatment of chronic hepatitis such as B and C values between Rs 2-5 lakh. Alcohol causes hep C, mostly in Punjab. Drug abuse is too a concern," said Dr Yogesh Chawla, head of hepatology department, PGI.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Ice Age disrupted domestication of dogs, wolves
The domestication of dogs began 33,000 years ago or earlier, but their offsprings could not survive the Ice Age, according to a new study. The theory, based on analysis of a 33,000-year-old animal that may have been a partly domesticated dog, explains why the remains of possible
prehistoric dogs date to such early periods, and yet all modern dogs appear to be descended from ancestors that lived at the end of the Ice Age 17,000-14,000 years ago.
“Even after the Ice Age, domestication of wolves could have got started at several different times and places, and still failed because the conditions were not continuous enough for the changes to become permanent,” co-author Susan Crockford told Discovery News.
Without the conditions that fuel domestication, the dog or dog-like animals gradually died off, the researchers suspect. Dogs reemerged after the Ice Age, reproducing and becoming the ancestors to today''s modern dogs.
The study has been published in the journal PLoS ONE.
prehistoric dogs date to such early periods, and yet all modern dogs appear to be descended from ancestors that lived at the end of the Ice Age 17,000-14,000 years ago.
“Even after the Ice Age, domestication of wolves could have got started at several different times and places, and still failed because the conditions were not continuous enough for the changes to become permanent,” co-author Susan Crockford told Discovery News.
Without the conditions that fuel domestication, the dog or dog-like animals gradually died off, the researchers suspect. Dogs reemerged after the Ice Age, reproducing and becoming the ancestors to today''s modern dogs.
The study has been published in the journal PLoS ONE.
One minute electron can restore sunburn, claims research
Most people might be aware of only the superficial symptoms of sunburn, but the real truth looks bitter. The latter is most likely to cause cancers and other skin infections too. Ohio State University researchers have finally been able to comprehend the procedure by which an enzyme resurrects sun-impaired DNA. They found that the process is paradoxical to basic stances of the technique biological mechanisms exploit to restore sunburn. This awareness may pave way to development of medicines and lotions to effectively treat sunburn.
The researchers were aware of the natural enzyme photolyase that is present in the cells of plants and humans. The enzyme apparently corrects DNA by entering the harmed portion in two regions and reorganizing it to its normal and suitable structure. However, it does not tear open both the injured places at once. It is supposedly a two-step procedure where it transfers an electron though the molecule in an oblique pathway from one affected position to another.
The team gained its understanding by using laser with a type of strobe influence to take quick measurements of the active enzyme. They were surprised at the speed with which the 2 chemical bond sites broke one after the other. The first one seemingly cracked in almost a few trillionths of a second while the second one broke following a 90-trillionths-of-a-second delay.
They were confused with the reason of such an occurrence. The individual electrons released from the enzyme supposedly consumed time and effort to transit from one bond spot to another. It glided along the outer boundary of the ring-shaped deteriorated portion. The researchers explained that this route opted by the electron is the most promising way for it to implement its job.
“The enzyme needs to inject an electron into damaged DNA — but how? There are two pathways. One is direct jump from the enzyme across the ring from one side to the other, which is a short distance. But instead the electron takes the scenic route. We found that along the way, there is another molecule that acts as a bridge to speed the electron flow, and in this way, the long route actually takes less time,” explained Dongping Zhong, the Robert Smith Professor of Physics and professor in the departments of chemistry and biochemistry at Ohio State.
Ultraviolet (UV) light damages DNA leading to a molecular injury called dimer. These dimers cause genetic mutations that result in conditions such as cancer. The latter is known as cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer, and it appears like a ring-shaped structure that projects from the side of the DNA. In organisms that possess the photolyase in their cells, the enzyme takes in energy from blue light to throw an electron into the cyclobutane ring to ensure its breakage. The effect of this process shows in the form of an accurately repaired DNA strand. This is precisely the reason why most insects that carry photolyase are shielded from cancer causing UV rays of the sun. Contrarily, humans and mammals are devoid of this enzyme and are therefore gullible to UV rays. A man-made replica of photolyase could manage the less availability of this enzyme.
The research is reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
First Trojan asteroid circling sun in Earth's orbit discovered
NASA’s Wide—field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission has discovered a long—hidden companion of the Earth — the first Trojan asteroid circling the sun in the Earth’s orbit.
Trojans are asteroids that share an orbit with a planet, locked in stable orbits by a gravitational balancing act between a planet and the Sun. Neptune, Mars and Jupiter are known to have Trojans.
Two of Saturn’s moons share orbits with Trojans. Scientists had predicted Earth should also have Trojans, but they have been difficult to find because they are relatively small and appear near the sun from Earth’s point of view.
"These asteroids dwell mostly in the daylight, making them very hard to see,” said lead author Martin Connors of Athabasca University in Canada. "But we finally found one, because the object has an unusual orbit that takes it farther away from the sun than what is typical for Trojans. WISE was a game—changer, giving us a point of view difficult to have at Earth’s surface,” he added.
Connors and his team began their search for an Earth Trojan using data from NEOWISE, an addition to the WISE mission that focused in part on near—Earth objects, or NEOs, such as asteroids and comets. The NEOWISE project observed more than 155,000 asteroids in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, and more than 500 NEOs, discovering 132 that were previously unknown.
The team identified a small asteroid named ‘2010 TK7’ as an Earth Trojan after follow—up observations with the Canada—France—Hawaii Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawaii.
The asteroid is roughly 1,000 feet (300 meters) in diameter. It has an unusual orbit that traces a complex motion near a stable point in the plane of Earth’s orbit, although the asteroid also moves above and below the plane. The object is about 50 million miles (80 million kilometers) from Earth.
The asteroid’s orbit is well—defined and for at least the next 100 years, it will not come closer to Earth than 15 million miles (24 million kilometers).
"It’s as though Earth is playing follow the leader. Earth always is chasing this asteroid around,” said Amy Mainzer, the principal investigator of NEOWISE at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.
The discovery is published in the July 28 issue of the journal Nature.
Google aims to speed up Web
Google has unveiled Page Speed, a service that will allow it to load web pages faster for end users. According to Ram Ramani, the lead engineer on the Google's Bangalore team that worked on the project, websites using Page Speed will see a speed improvement of 25% to 60%.
"To use the service, you (webmasters) need to sign up and point the site's DNS entry to Google," Ramani wrote in a post on Google's official blog. "Page Speed fetches content from your servers, rewrites your pages by applying web performance best practices, and serves them to end users via Google's servers across the globe. Your users will continue to access your site just as they did before, only with faster load times."
Though Google is offering the service free of charge to a select number of webmasters initially, it will charge a fee once it launches the service. According to Ramani, the Web giant is working to speed up site load times for the last two years and the latest project is another step towards enabling faster browsing. Google claims that the optimization will happen in the real time.
With the importance of the web growing, many companies are aiming to deliver better Web browsing experience. In recent years, all browser makers have put in a lot of efforts to speed up page rendering. Opera Mini, a browser for portable devices, uses its own servers to compress data before serving it on smartphones and tablets. Opera claims this optimization helps it offer a superior and faster Web browsing to experience to mobile users.
Companies like Amazon and Akamai, meanwhile, offer services like content delivery network (CDN) that can speed up data distribution. Many websites rely on these services. According to reports, Page Speed will make of both website optimization as well as a CDN.
"To use the service, you (webmasters) need to sign up and point the site's DNS entry to Google," Ramani wrote in a post on Google's official blog. "Page Speed fetches content from your servers, rewrites your pages by applying web performance best practices, and serves them to end users via Google's servers across the globe. Your users will continue to access your site just as they did before, only with faster load times."
Though Google is offering the service free of charge to a select number of webmasters initially, it will charge a fee once it launches the service. According to Ramani, the Web giant is working to speed up site load times for the last two years and the latest project is another step towards enabling faster browsing. Google claims that the optimization will happen in the real time.
With the importance of the web growing, many companies are aiming to deliver better Web browsing experience. In recent years, all browser makers have put in a lot of efforts to speed up page rendering. Opera Mini, a browser for portable devices, uses its own servers to compress data before serving it on smartphones and tablets. Opera claims this optimization helps it offer a superior and faster Web browsing to experience to mobile users.
Companies like Amazon and Akamai, meanwhile, offer services like content delivery network (CDN) that can speed up data distribution. Many websites rely on these services. According to reports, Page Speed will make of both website optimization as well as a CDN.
The focus now is on making the systems as driver friendly as possible and which would need the least amount of driver attention. Mercedes engineers are now working on voice commands with natural language dictations to get over the shortcomings of the past systems. Users will now have to just dictate what ever they want the system to do, be it emails, text messaging or browsing the internet. One of the newest developments has been gesture controls and Mercedes-Benz is is looking into handwriting recognition and gesture controls for interior lighting. The new COMAND will also incorporate apps like Facebook and Twitter along with Stitcher radio and Pandora. Google’s StreetView technology and Panoramio will also be available in the COMAND of the future. The new system will be installed on the C-Class, E-Class and the B-Class cars in Europe to name a few and we could see the new revamped COMAND in Mercedes’ in India as well.
Apple, followed closely by Samsung Electronics, overtook Nokia in global smartphone market share during the second quarter.
Apple controlled nearly a fifth of the smartphone market, or a share of 18.5 percent, as it shipped more than 20 million iPhones, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics. Samsung Electronics wasn't far behind, with 17.5 percent of the market share and 19.2 million smartphones shipped. Nokia fell to third, with its market share plunging by more than half to 15.2 percent from 38.1 percent a year ago.
The ever-shifting top of the smartphone food chain is illustrative of the ultra-competitive nature of the business. Over the past year, Nokia has seen its market share drop as consumers opted for more sophisticated operating systems made by Apple and Google. The declines have forced Nokia to partner with Microsoft and switch to its Windows Phone operating system.
Apple's success continues to hinge on the smash hit iPhone. The company's momentum is expected to only keep building, with the next version expected to come out in September.
Related stories:
• iPhone 5 rumor roundup
• iPhone doubles world market share, outpaces rivals
• Samsung profit slides, but smartphones strong
Another ingredient for its success: healthy expansion into international markets, with Strategy Analytics pointing to China and the rest of Asia as particular sources of strength.
Samsung, meanwhile, has enjoyed broad adoption of its Galaxy S smartphone franchise. Rather than position it as a "hero phone" at a single carrier, the company has opted to sell the device to as many carriers as possible, making its rapid ascension possible.
Samsung earlier reported a decline in its second-quarter profit, but said smartphone sales continued to grow. Yesterday, the company said it had sold 5 million units of the Galaxy S II in the first 85 days it was on store shelves. Samsung's rapid improvement have some wondering when it may overtake Apple for the smartphone business.
Overall, the global smartphone market grew by 76 percent to 110 million units shipped.
Separately, IDC reported that Apple more than doubled its market share for all mobile phones to 5.6 percent in the second quarter, signaling the largest jump for any of the handset vendors. Based on total handsets, Apple remained in fourth place. Nokia remained the top handset maker despite its market share falling to 24.2 percent from 33.8 percent a year ago, as its strength in low-end handsets in emerging markets has kept its pole position secure.
Samsung, which also has a large business selling basic handsets to markets around the world, had the second-largest market share. Its share slipped slightly as more people moved away from those basic handsets.
Apple controlled nearly a fifth of the smartphone market, or a share of 18.5 percent, as it shipped more than 20 million iPhones, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics. Samsung Electronics wasn't far behind, with 17.5 percent of the market share and 19.2 million smartphones shipped. Nokia fell to third, with its market share plunging by more than half to 15.2 percent from 38.1 percent a year ago.
The ever-shifting top of the smartphone food chain is illustrative of the ultra-competitive nature of the business. Over the past year, Nokia has seen its market share drop as consumers opted for more sophisticated operating systems made by Apple and Google. The declines have forced Nokia to partner with Microsoft and switch to its Windows Phone operating system.
Apple's success continues to hinge on the smash hit iPhone. The company's momentum is expected to only keep building, with the next version expected to come out in September.
Related stories:
• iPhone 5 rumor roundup
• iPhone doubles world market share, outpaces rivals
• Samsung profit slides, but smartphones strong
Another ingredient for its success: healthy expansion into international markets, with Strategy Analytics pointing to China and the rest of Asia as particular sources of strength.
Samsung, meanwhile, has enjoyed broad adoption of its Galaxy S smartphone franchise. Rather than position it as a "hero phone" at a single carrier, the company has opted to sell the device to as many carriers as possible, making its rapid ascension possible.
Samsung earlier reported a decline in its second-quarter profit, but said smartphone sales continued to grow. Yesterday, the company said it had sold 5 million units of the Galaxy S II in the first 85 days it was on store shelves. Samsung's rapid improvement have some wondering when it may overtake Apple for the smartphone business.
Overall, the global smartphone market grew by 76 percent to 110 million units shipped.
Separately, IDC reported that Apple more than doubled its market share for all mobile phones to 5.6 percent in the second quarter, signaling the largest jump for any of the handset vendors. Based on total handsets, Apple remained in fourth place. Nokia remained the top handset maker despite its market share falling to 24.2 percent from 33.8 percent a year ago, as its strength in low-end handsets in emerging markets has kept its pole position secure.
Samsung, which also has a large business selling basic handsets to markets around the world, had the second-largest market share. Its share slipped slightly as more people moved away from those basic handsets.
MERCEDES-BENZ COMAND INFOTAINMENT SYSTEM TO GET GESTURE CONTROL!
In-car infotainment systems have come a long way since the decade when voice controls on in-car systems never actually worked. An early generation Mercedes-Benz S-Class came with a similar system that was rubbish. Over the years automakers have copied, redesigned, improved and then copied some more to make their systems as slick as possible. It was not until the second half of this decade, that operating COMAND, i-Drive or MMI became humanly possible. Technology has grown by leaps and bounds over the years and with this the struggle to make the in-car infotainment systems user-friendly continues.
Mercedes-Benz might have cracked into the next generation of infotainment systems in cars with their latest COMAND. The revamped system will incorporate different apps, search as well as advanced navigation tools. 3D technology could also make its way into the small screen in your car in a few years time. Mercedes-Benz is involved in research of new 3D displays that could pave a way for future systems. The old voice controls never worked properly as the system had to operated via a specific set of voice commands apart from which the system brain could not understand any other words.
The focus now is on making the systems as driver friendly as possible and which would need the least amount of driver attention. Mercedes engineers are now working on voice commands with natural language dictations to get over the shortcomings of the past systems. Users will now have to just dictate what ever they want the system to do, be it emails, text messaging or browsing the internet. One of the newest developments has been gesture controls and Mercedes-Benz is is looking into handwriting recognition and gesture controls for interior lighting.
The new COMAND will also incorporate apps like Facebook and Twitter along with Stitcher radio and Pandora. Google’s StreetView technology and Panoramio will also be available in the COMAND of the future. The new system will be installed on the C-Class, E-Class and the B-Class cars in Europe to name a few and we could see the new revamped COMAND in Mercedes’ in India as well.
20% increase in tiger population
India registered a 20 per cent increase in tiger population last year, says a report, ‘Status of tigers, co-predators and prey in India-2010,' released here on Thursday by Jagdish Kishwan, Additional Director-General (Wildlife), Ministry of Environment and Forests.
“The estimated population of 1, 706 individual tigers represents a 20 per cent increase from the last survey in 2006, which estimated a number of 1,411 tigers. The increase is based on the survey of additional areas as well as an increase in the number of tigers within high-density populations,'' the report said.
The assessment of tigers, co-predators and prey included 17 States with tiger population and involved 4, 77, 000 work-days by forest staff and 37, 000 work-days by professional biologists, making it the largest exercise of its kind in the world. It is done once every four years and is a collaborative initiative between the National Tiger Conservation Authority, the Wildlife Institute of India, tiger States and outside expertise.
“The increase in the numbers is due to the fact that tiger populations in Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Karnataka have shown an increase in their density.
The inclusion of Sunderbans, some portions of the North-East and parts of Maharashtra have also contributed to the increase and the methodology consisted of a double sampling approach,” noted Mr. Kishwan.
But despite the good news, the report warns that tigers are still in danger due to an overall 12.6 per cent loss of habitat, which means that more tigers are being squeezed into smaller areas, which could lead to a lack of dispersal and consequent loss of genetic exchange between populations, and an increase in human-tiger conflict.
“Human wildlife conflict has been one of the major issues that we need to work around to ensure that not just tigers but other endangered species have a chance of flourishing.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests is also looking at amending and bringing in harsher penalties for those caught under the Wildlife Act. We will also bring in the eco tourism guidelines very soon.”
Lead author of the report, Dr. Y. V. Jhala, said: “The loss of corridors does not bode well for the tiger. Poaching can wipe out individual tiger populations, but these can be re-established by reintroductions as has been done in the Sariska and Panna reserves.
However, once habitats are lost, it is almost impossible to claim them back for restoration. We found that tigers require good forests and prey, along with undisturbed breeding areas, for long-term term survival.”
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Man arrested over computer hacking claims
An 18-year-old man has been arrested in the Shetland Islands as part of an investigation into hacking groups, Anonymous and LulzSec.
The man is suspected of using the online nickname Topiary and presenting himself as a spokesman for the groups.
Both high-profile hacker groups are known for stealing and releasing private information from websites.
Police are also searching a house in Lincolnshire and interviewing a 17-year-old boy under caution.
Officers from the police's Central e-Crime Unit arrested the teenager in what they describe as a "pre-planned intelligence-led operation".
Earlier arrests
A statement from the Metropolitan Police says they believe he is linked to an ongoing international investigation into a number of cyber-attacks on international businesses and intelligence agencies.
The man was arrested on Wednesday and is being taken to London while his home is searched.
LulzSec has previously claimed responsibility for attempted hacks made on the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), the US Senate, the CIA and the Sun newspaper.
On Monday, Anonymous released secret documents stolen from an Italian cybercrime unit.
Last month, LulzSec announced it was disbanding.
Ryan Cleary, 19, of Wickford, Essex, was charged last month with five offences under the Criminal Law and Computer Misuse Acts, including an alleged hacking attack against Soca's website.
A 16-year-old boy from south London was arrested and bailed last week, while the international investigation has already led to sixteen arrests in the United States and four in the Netherlands.
The man is suspected of using the online nickname Topiary and presenting himself as a spokesman for the groups.
Both high-profile hacker groups are known for stealing and releasing private information from websites.
Police are also searching a house in Lincolnshire and interviewing a 17-year-old boy under caution.
Officers from the police's Central e-Crime Unit arrested the teenager in what they describe as a "pre-planned intelligence-led operation".
Earlier arrests
A statement from the Metropolitan Police says they believe he is linked to an ongoing international investigation into a number of cyber-attacks on international businesses and intelligence agencies.
The man was arrested on Wednesday and is being taken to London while his home is searched.
LulzSec has previously claimed responsibility for attempted hacks made on the UK's Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), the US Senate, the CIA and the Sun newspaper.
On Monday, Anonymous released secret documents stolen from an Italian cybercrime unit.
Last month, LulzSec announced it was disbanding.
Ryan Cleary, 19, of Wickford, Essex, was charged last month with five offences under the Criminal Law and Computer Misuse Acts, including an alleged hacking attack against Soca's website.
A 16-year-old boy from south London was arrested and bailed last week, while the international investigation has already led to sixteen arrests in the United States and four in the Netherlands.
How fast the Universe is expanding
A PhD student at the University of Western Australia has produced one of the most accurate measurements ever made of how fast the Universe is expanding.
Florian Beutler, a PhD candidate with the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) at the University in Perth, made the calculation by measuring the Hubble constant.
“The Hubble constant is a key number in astronomy because it’s used to calculate the size and age of the Universe,” Beutler said.
As the Universe swells, it carries other galaxies away from ours. The Hubble constant links how fast galaxies are moving with how far they are from us.
Beutler’s work draws on data from a survey of more than 125,000 galaxies carried out with the UK Schmidt Telescope in eastern Australia.
Called the 6dF Galaxy Survey, this is the biggest survey to date of relatively nearby galaxies, covering almost half the sky.
Using a measurement of the clustering of the galaxies surveyed, plus other information derived from observations of the early Universe, Beutler has measured the Hubble constant with an uncertainly of less than 5 percent.
“The new measurement agrees well with previous ones, and provides a strong check on previous work,” stated Professor Matthew Colless, Director of the Australian Astronomical Observatory and one of the study’s co-authors.
The study was published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Flying car to soar in UK skies in just 5 years time!
The flying car concept has been around for decades, but has never really seemed to get off the ground. But soon, it may become a reality.
Aviation experts have now said that a flying car could be in regular use in the UK within five years after the US authorities formally approved a model.
The 250,000 dollars (L155,000) Terrafugia Transition is a two-seater aircraft which has a top speed of 115mph, a range of 500 miles on a tank of fuel and requires just 20 hours training to fly.
At the touch of a button it takes just 15 seconds for the wings to fold up automatically and the power to be re-routed from the propeller to the rear wheels.
It can then be driven at up to 65mph and will comfortably fit in a standard size garage.
“It’s like a little Transformer,” the Daily Mail quoted Terrafugia founder Carl Dietrich, referring to the children’s toys that were turned into a blockbuster movie franchise, as saying.
Greater Noida Authority to open talks with villagers
A day after the Allahabad High Court sent a bunch of petitions on the Noida Extension row to a larger bench, the Greater Noida Authority announced it was ready to open talks with residents of Patwari village, where state acquisition of farm land had earlier been quashed by the High Court.
Greater Noida Authority CEO Rama Raman said on Wednesday that a notice has been sent to the pradhan of Patwari, asking him to convene a panchayat and select a committee from the villagers.
The Authority has not fixed a date for the meeting. Pradeep Yadav, a Patwari farmer, said the notice had reached the village, and a panchayat would be held soon.
Raman said three issues will be addressed broadly during the talks. They comprise ‘abadi,’ or populated lands; six per cent of the developed property with which farmers would be compensated; and the increased compensation for the acquired land. CEO Raman listed the three issues in that order, and when pointed out that the third pointer on his list is the farmer’s primary demand, he said, “We are ready to talk to them on all issues. It is too premature to discuss the amount of compensation now.
Greater Noida Authority CEO Rama Raman said on Wednesday that a notice has been sent to the pradhan of Patwari, asking him to convene a panchayat and select a committee from the villagers.
The Authority has not fixed a date for the meeting. Pradeep Yadav, a Patwari farmer, said the notice had reached the village, and a panchayat would be held soon.
Raman said three issues will be addressed broadly during the talks. They comprise ‘abadi,’ or populated lands; six per cent of the developed property with which farmers would be compensated; and the increased compensation for the acquired land. CEO Raman listed the three issues in that order, and when pointed out that the third pointer on his list is the farmer’s primary demand, he said, “We are ready to talk to them on all issues. It is too premature to discuss the amount of compensation now.
Leaked: HTC Android tablet Puccini
After HTC Flyer, it seems Taiwan-based hardware maker is all set to further expand its tablet line-up to take on Apple's iPad and other Android OS powered tablets.
According to a report in BGR, HTC is readying an Android Honeycomb-based 10-inch tablet codenamed HTC Puccini. The tablet will reportedly feature an 8-megapixel camera with a dual-LED flash, stereo speakers and a microphone.
Just like HTC Flyer, Puccini will also support stylus input. Previous reports for the tablet suggested a dual-core processor, and custom tablet version of HTC Sense UI.
New Sony Walkman A series leaked
Details of Japanese electronic giant Sony's A and S series Walkman have leaked online. The site Play.com has revealed full specs and images of the new device.
Sony NWZ-A860 walkman comes with a 3.4-inch OLED touchscreen, a redesigned set of button controls and a body partially cast in aluminum. Reports suggest that it will also have "wireless music streaming", most likely over Bluetooth or FM and not Wi-Fi.
Reports also suggest that the player may come in four models in the series with each differing from the other in storage capacity. The starting model is said to have a storage capacity of 8GB going up to 64GB. According to Play.com, the walkmans will launch on July 31.
Fujitsu Toshiba announce world's first Mango phone
Microsoft Japan and a Toshiba-Fujitsu have reportedly unveiled Microsoft's first Windows Phone Mango handset. One of the first official "Mango" phones IS12T has a a 13.2MP camera with autofocus and 32GB of internal memory.
Toshiba-Fujitsu IS12T is quite thin at 0.42" (10.6mm) and light at just 113gm.
The waterproof smartphone's other specs include Qualcomm MSM8655 processor, and a 3.7" display with 480x800 pixels.
The handset comes in yellow, pink and black colours. Connectivity options include Bluetooth (2.1 + EDR) and WiFi (802.11b/g/n).
HCL Technologies to hire 3,000
Software exporter HCL Technologies (HCLT) today said it will hire about 3,000 people in the July-September quarter.
"We have already hired 3,000 people in the June quarter. In this quarter, we will hire an additional 3,000 freshers," HCLT Chief Executive Vineet Nayar told reporters here.
The Indian IT industry is ramping up its headcount as it gears up to meet renewed demand for IT services following a slump during the economic meltdown.
The companies are also building up bench strengths to handle the bigger size and variety of projects they expect to grab in the coming months.
Larger rival Tata Consultancy Services ( TCS)) plans to hire about 60,000 people this fiscal, while peers Wipro and Infosys are also hiring aggressively.
The move to hire more people, coupled with wage hikes, will have an impact of about 300 basis points on the first quarter numbers of HCLT.
"We expect the September quarter margins to drop 300 basis points. Of this, about 250 bps would be on account of wage hikes and the remaining 50 bps on new hires," Nayar said.
The company, which follows a July-June fiscal, has given a 12-14 per cent wage hike for its India staff, while onsite salaries have been increased by 2-3 per cent. The wage hikes are effective July 1.
HCLT is, however, confident of making up for the drop in margins. "Though we are expecting a 300 bps drop in margins in Q1, we will recover in the next three quarters," he said.
The company also plans a capital expenditure of USD 230 million in FY'12.
"Last year, our capex was at USD 170 million. This year, we are stepping up our capex to USD 230 million. Most of this will go toward expansion of campuses," HCLT Chief Financial Officer Anil Chanana.
"We have already hired 3,000 people in the June quarter. In this quarter, we will hire an additional 3,000 freshers," HCLT Chief Executive Vineet Nayar told reporters here.
The Indian IT industry is ramping up its headcount as it gears up to meet renewed demand for IT services following a slump during the economic meltdown.
The companies are also building up bench strengths to handle the bigger size and variety of projects they expect to grab in the coming months.
Larger rival Tata Consultancy Services ( TCS)) plans to hire about 60,000 people this fiscal, while peers Wipro and Infosys are also hiring aggressively.
The move to hire more people, coupled with wage hikes, will have an impact of about 300 basis points on the first quarter numbers of HCLT.
"We expect the September quarter margins to drop 300 basis points. Of this, about 250 bps would be on account of wage hikes and the remaining 50 bps on new hires," Nayar said.
The company, which follows a July-June fiscal, has given a 12-14 per cent wage hike for its India staff, while onsite salaries have been increased by 2-3 per cent. The wage hikes are effective July 1.
HCLT is, however, confident of making up for the drop in margins. "Though we are expecting a 300 bps drop in margins in Q1, we will recover in the next three quarters," he said.
The company also plans a capital expenditure of USD 230 million in FY'12.
"Last year, our capex was at USD 170 million. This year, we are stepping up our capex to USD 230 million. Most of this will go toward expansion of campuses," HCLT Chief Financial Officer Anil Chanana.
India expresses concern about Hina Rabbani meet with Hurriyat
Hina Rabbani Khar said after her meeting with India's Foreign Minister today, "I am more confident today than I was when I arrived in Delhi yesterday...which is a good sign."
The 34-year-old Pakistani Foreign Minister spent the morning with SM Krishna, who is 45 years older than her. Ms Khar is her country's youngest Foreign Minister. Her trip to India is being measured carefully on both sides of the border. At a joint press conference this afternoon with Mr Krishna, she underscored the fact that she represents a younger Pakistan. This generation sees things differently, she said. (Pics: Hina Rabbani's date with India)
Ms Khar's decision to meet with Kashmiri separatists yesterday - before her formal interaction with the government began - has irked India as a poor diplomatic move. "Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said that she has conveyed India's concerns about the meeting "in a frank and candid manner." Her counterpart, Salman Bashir, responded, "In a democracy, it's our intention to reach out and we should not read more into it. This meeting cannot be construed in any manner, including intentionally, to cast any sort of shadow on today's talks."
(Read: India's complete statement on Hina Rabbani's Hurriyat meet)
That blip aside, both the Foreign Ministers spoke warmly about each other at their joint press conference this afternoon. "I am satisfied at the progress achieved in this round of the resumed dialogue. Outcomes have been as per our expectations," said Mr Krishna. He said a joint statement would be issued today and that it sees both countries agreeing that terrorism poses "a continuing threat to peace and security in the region." Mr Krishna said that India and Pakistan "reiterated the undiluted commitment of the two countries to fight and eliminate this scourge in all its forms and manifestations." Mr Krishna said that the Foreign Ministers will meet again in Islamabad in the early part of 2012. He said he could "comfortably say that relations (between the two countries) are on the right track.... (But) we have distances to travel". (Read: Full text of India-Pakistan Joint Statement)
Ms Khar said she believes "this is a new era of bilateral cooperation" and that she wants the Indo-Pak dialogue to become an "uninterrupted and uninterruptable process." The Pakistani minister said, "I am emboldened by the comment he made that in the Commonwealth Games, after the Indian team, the Pakistani team got the most cheers...that is very encouraging for us."
Ms Khar underlined her country's commitment for "friendly, cooperative and good" neighbourly relations with India as she met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi and handed over an invitation to him from Yousuf Raza Gilani.
Friday, July 22, 2011
China's 'Bee Man' contest in photos
Audacious beekeepers battle it out in a regional bee-bearding competition in the Hunan Province, China. Bee bearding is the art of wearing several hundred thousands of bees on the face and body at one time.
Beekeeper Lv Kongjiang, 20, stands with bees covering his body on a weighing scale during a "bee-attracting" competition against fellow beekeeper Wang Dalin in Shaoyang, Hunan province July 16, 2011. Wang and Lv competed by standing on a scale wearing only a pair of shorts and using queen bees they reared to attract other bees onto their bodies. Wang won the competition after attracting 26 kg (57 lbs) of bees on his body in 60 minutes, while Lv had 22.9 kg (50 lbs), local media reported. Picture taken July 16, 2011. REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA - Tags: ODDLY ANIMALS) CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA.
Beekeeper Lv Kongjiang, 20, stands with bees covering his body on a weighing scale during a "bee-attracting" competition against fellow beekeeper Wang Dalin in Shaoyang, Hunan province July 16, 2011. Wang and Lv competed by standing on a scale wearing only a pair of shorts and using queen bees they reared to attract other bees onto their bodies. Wang won the competition after attracting 26 kg (57 lbs) of bees on his body in 60 minutes, while Lv had 22.9 kg (50 lbs), local media reported. Picture taken July 16, 2011. REUTERS/China Daily (CHINA - Tags: ODDLY ANIMALS) CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA.
Beware, smartphones hurt your eyes
We are living in a world where everyone is glued to their smartphones and other electronic gadgets. So it is no surprise that mobile devices and other stereo 3D devices are really hurting our vision.
According to a new study, prolonged viewing of mobiles and 3D devices often leads to visual discomfort, fatigue and even headaches because our eyes have to focus on the small screen and simultaneously adjust to the distance of the content.
This phenomenon is called the vergence-accommodation conflict.
"When watching stereo 3D displays, the eyes must focus -- that is, accommodate -- to the distance of the screen because that's where the light comes from. At the same time, the eyes must converge to the distance of the stereo content, which may be in front of or behind the screen," said author Martin S. Banks, professor of optometry and vision science, University of California, Berkeley.
The researchers conducted a series of experiments on 24 adults and observed the interaction between the viewing distance and the direction of the conflict, examining whether placing the content in front of or behind the screen affects viewer discomfort.
The results demonstrated that with devices like mobile phones and desktop displays that are viewed at a short distance, stereo content placed in front of the screen -- appearing closer to the viewer and into the space of viewer's room -- was less comfortable than content placed behind the screen.
Conversely, when viewing at a longer distance such as a movie theater screen, stereo content placed behind the screen --appearing as though the viewer is looking through a window scene behind the screen -- was less comfortable.
"Discomfort associated with viewing Stereo 3D is a major problem that may limit the use of technology. We hope that our findings will inspire more research in this area," said Banks.
The study appears in the Journal of Vision.
According to a new study, prolonged viewing of mobiles and 3D devices often leads to visual discomfort, fatigue and even headaches because our eyes have to focus on the small screen and simultaneously adjust to the distance of the content.
This phenomenon is called the vergence-accommodation conflict.
"When watching stereo 3D displays, the eyes must focus -- that is, accommodate -- to the distance of the screen because that's where the light comes from. At the same time, the eyes must converge to the distance of the stereo content, which may be in front of or behind the screen," said author Martin S. Banks, professor of optometry and vision science, University of California, Berkeley.
The researchers conducted a series of experiments on 24 adults and observed the interaction between the viewing distance and the direction of the conflict, examining whether placing the content in front of or behind the screen affects viewer discomfort.
The results demonstrated that with devices like mobile phones and desktop displays that are viewed at a short distance, stereo content placed in front of the screen -- appearing closer to the viewer and into the space of viewer's room -- was less comfortable than content placed behind the screen.
Conversely, when viewing at a longer distance such as a movie theater screen, stereo content placed behind the screen --appearing as though the viewer is looking through a window scene behind the screen -- was less comfortable.
"Discomfort associated with viewing Stereo 3D is a major problem that may limit the use of technology. We hope that our findings will inspire more research in this area," said Banks.
The study appears in the Journal of Vision.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
5 gadgets you need to own now
A list of must-have gizmos you need to stay in touch, tune and time
You can get a gadget for practically everything out there. From an HD POV camera and an arcade game table, to a camera that's tough enough to withstand 220 pounds of pressure. But do you really need any of those? Not for day-to-day life, for sure. But here are five must-haves.
The Desktop
Many would advocate that laptops are the way to go. But for a real man? We think not. Size does matter. Why confine Photoshop to a 13-inch screen, when you can edit your photos on the glorious 27-inch screen of the iMac, along with Apple's Magic Trackpad, which is 80 percent larger than the one found on a MacBook. Or you could opt for the quad-core HP Touchsmart 610, where your entire screen is one big 23-inch, high-def trackpad.
GQ Picks: The 27" iMac
The Tablet
Whichever one you choose, you should know that a good tablet can keep you entertained no matter where you are. Perhaps it's too early for them to replace newspapers in the john, but the tablet (iPad 2, Xoom, PlayBook, take your pick) is waiting to revolutionise the way you read, watch and even work.
GQ Picks: The iPad 2 (for now)
The Smartphone
It might seem strange to you, dear Wi-Fi enabled reader, but some men don't own smartphones. It's hardly a new phenomenon, but the battle lines are getting clearer, and those not in possession have been found lacking in combat. These days, being caught without a Wi-Fi and 3G enabled, dual-core packing, multitasking capable device is like being a fisherman without a boat; you can do your job, but the possibilities are kinda limited.
GQ Picks: Motorola Atrix (One of its accessories turns it into a netbook!)
The Console
Every man needs a place where he can even the score. Enter: the PS3. We'll take our revenge on the boss in the comfort of our homes, while blowing away enemy forces in the exclusive to PS3 title: Killzone 3. Or don Superman's cape and kick some superhero ass in the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, for n00bs) DC Universe Online.
Cognizant set to be No. 3 IT co
IT major Cognizant is all set to replace Wipro to become the country's third largest IT services provider when it announces its results on August 2.
Wipro on Wednesday reported IT services revenues at $1.408 billion for the April-June quarter. This is about $40 million less than Cognizant's April-June quarter revenue guidance of $1.45 billion.
JP Morgan analyst Tien-tsin Huang, in a report on Cognizant dated July 15, drew a revenue estimate of $1.46 billion for the company in the April-June quarter. Huang expects an upside in revenues because of Cognizant's track record of reporting premium growth in the June quarter and its more favorable regional mix (larger proportion of North America). Cognizant's $1.45 billion April-June guidance is also greater than the lower end of Wipro's July-September revenue guidance of between $1.436-1.464 billion.
The underlying business fundamentals for the IT sector are healthy as the recently announced strong quarterly earnings of TCS, IBM and Accenture suggest. Therefore, Cognizant is expected to meet if not beat its guidance. The weakness that Infosys's and Wipro's results exhibit is more a reflection of company-specific issues as against market fundamentals.
Ankur Rudra, IT analyst at Ambit Capital, said that historically Cognizant has given a conservative guidance and has a good record of beating it. "There is a good momentum to their business with some good client wins. They are likely to surpass Wipro's revenues in the April-June quarter," he said.
Srishti Anand, IT sector analyst at Angel Broking, said that they forecast Wipro to grow at 13.5% for the 2011-12 fiscal. Cognizant, which reports on a calendar year basis, is expected to grow at around 29% to $5.92 billion in 2011. "This means that Wipro will not be able to catch up with Cognizant in the foreseeable future," she said.
Given the expectations of a April-June quarter upside, JP Morgan analyst Huang estimates that Cognizant could increase its calendar year 2011 revenue growth guidance to over 31%. "We see very little downside to current guidance of 29% + even if the macro environment deteriorates to the extent it did in late 2008/ early 2009," the report added.
In the April-June quarter of 2008, Cognizant trailed Wipro by $383 million in revenues. Analysts say that Cognizant's focus on faster growth rates and market share gain with lower margins has helped it close the gap with Wipro. It invests significantly higher than its peers in sales and marketing and employs a larger proportion of highly qualified MBAs.
In 2010-11, Wipro revenues grew at 18.9% to $5.2 bn, while in calendar year 2010, Cognizant grew 40% to $4.59 billion.
Over the past few quarters Wipro has been struggling to grow on a par with its top-tier peers. The company has blamed it partly on its complex organizational structure, which has recently been revamped. The company has done away with the joint-CEO system, simplified its organizational structure and narrowed its vertical focus.
Wipro CEO T K Kurien on Wednesday said that because of the organizational restructuring, the company could take another two-three quarters to stabilize and return to industry level growth rates.
The company's portfolio of offerings is also less skewed towards growth areas as compared to Cognizant. Wipro has a relatively lower exposure to high-growth segments like consulting and systems integration and strong verticals like banking financial services and insurance.
Wipro on Wednesday reported IT services revenues at $1.408 billion for the April-June quarter. This is about $40 million less than Cognizant's April-June quarter revenue guidance of $1.45 billion.
JP Morgan analyst Tien-tsin Huang, in a report on Cognizant dated July 15, drew a revenue estimate of $1.46 billion for the company in the April-June quarter. Huang expects an upside in revenues because of Cognizant's track record of reporting premium growth in the June quarter and its more favorable regional mix (larger proportion of North America). Cognizant's $1.45 billion April-June guidance is also greater than the lower end of Wipro's July-September revenue guidance of between $1.436-1.464 billion.
The underlying business fundamentals for the IT sector are healthy as the recently announced strong quarterly earnings of TCS, IBM and Accenture suggest. Therefore, Cognizant is expected to meet if not beat its guidance. The weakness that Infosys's and Wipro's results exhibit is more a reflection of company-specific issues as against market fundamentals.
Ankur Rudra, IT analyst at Ambit Capital, said that historically Cognizant has given a conservative guidance and has a good record of beating it. "There is a good momentum to their business with some good client wins. They are likely to surpass Wipro's revenues in the April-June quarter," he said.
Srishti Anand, IT sector analyst at Angel Broking, said that they forecast Wipro to grow at 13.5% for the 2011-12 fiscal. Cognizant, which reports on a calendar year basis, is expected to grow at around 29% to $5.92 billion in 2011. "This means that Wipro will not be able to catch up with Cognizant in the foreseeable future," she said.
Given the expectations of a April-June quarter upside, JP Morgan analyst Huang estimates that Cognizant could increase its calendar year 2011 revenue growth guidance to over 31%. "We see very little downside to current guidance of 29% + even if the macro environment deteriorates to the extent it did in late 2008/ early 2009," the report added.
In the April-June quarter of 2008, Cognizant trailed Wipro by $383 million in revenues. Analysts say that Cognizant's focus on faster growth rates and market share gain with lower margins has helped it close the gap with Wipro. It invests significantly higher than its peers in sales and marketing and employs a larger proportion of highly qualified MBAs.
In 2010-11, Wipro revenues grew at 18.9% to $5.2 bn, while in calendar year 2010, Cognizant grew 40% to $4.59 billion.
Over the past few quarters Wipro has been struggling to grow on a par with its top-tier peers. The company has blamed it partly on its complex organizational structure, which has recently been revamped. The company has done away with the joint-CEO system, simplified its organizational structure and narrowed its vertical focus.
Wipro CEO T K Kurien on Wednesday said that because of the organizational restructuring, the company could take another two-three quarters to stabilize and return to industry level growth rates.
The company's portfolio of offerings is also less skewed towards growth areas as compared to Cognizant. Wipro has a relatively lower exposure to high-growth segments like consulting and systems integration and strong verticals like banking financial services and insurance.
IT cos give new recruits English, etiquette lessons
Urban-bred, English-speaking tech talent is limited. So, vast numbers of those joining the IT workforce now are from tier II and III towns, and though they are technically good, many of them lack knowledge of English, and they lack what's called soft skills—etiquette , proper conduct in different settings.
For an international business like IT, this is a huge challenge, and it is placing new requirements on their training infrastructure. If the employability was about 60% among urban applicants, it is a mere 10% among those who come from smaller towns around the country.
"These candidates have good academic records and possess sound technical knowledge. But they are lost in transition. They try to translate their vernacular thoughts into English. As a result, the entire meaning gets distorted," says Nirupama V G, MD, AdAstra, a hiring and training firm.
Geetha Kannan, an independent HR practitioner, says when she joined Infosys in 1990 most of her colleagues were from the IITs. "Today, the industry is rapidly expanding its employment base, and we have no option but to look at the available talent pool, where employability is the biggest issue," she says.
The inability to express in English shows up sometimes as an attitude problem. For instance, when a candidate was asked to speak about himself, he said, "All there in my CV, please read it."
A senior job seeker who was asked what was his salary expectation was had this to say, "You say you give job, then I say compensation."
Even if they are cleared by hiring firms, they are rejected at the final interview at the employer end. Companies see clarity in communication as being critical at the workplace for individuals and teams to function seamlessly.
Sangeeta Lala, co-founder of manpower firm TeamLease Services, says, "Candidates may be academically and technically sound, but certain level of aptitude, articulation and attitude is required to bring out their functional skills to the fore. Many candidates look great on paper, and that's it."
To deal with the issue, external hirers have stepped up or freshly set up communication training activities. IT companies too have increased the time spent on training on soft skills and communication from 10% to 30%. The scenario has also spawned an ancillary industry for employment-training.
Says Romi Malhotra, CEO, Linkage India, a leadership development firm, "In the US, children need to speak and make presentations right from Class 3. But an Indian student's English speaking ability is tested only if s/he is doing a PhD. Our culture is about being silent, about listening. No one is allowed to challenge the status quo. Tolerance is a virtue. All these controls are taught at a tender age and children's speaking ability gets choked."
For an international business like IT, this is a huge challenge, and it is placing new requirements on their training infrastructure. If the employability was about 60% among urban applicants, it is a mere 10% among those who come from smaller towns around the country.
"These candidates have good academic records and possess sound technical knowledge. But they are lost in transition. They try to translate their vernacular thoughts into English. As a result, the entire meaning gets distorted," says Nirupama V G, MD, AdAstra, a hiring and training firm.
Geetha Kannan, an independent HR practitioner, says when she joined Infosys in 1990 most of her colleagues were from the IITs. "Today, the industry is rapidly expanding its employment base, and we have no option but to look at the available talent pool, where employability is the biggest issue," she says.
The inability to express in English shows up sometimes as an attitude problem. For instance, when a candidate was asked to speak about himself, he said, "All there in my CV, please read it."
A senior job seeker who was asked what was his salary expectation was had this to say, "You say you give job, then I say compensation."
Even if they are cleared by hiring firms, they are rejected at the final interview at the employer end. Companies see clarity in communication as being critical at the workplace for individuals and teams to function seamlessly.
Sangeeta Lala, co-founder of manpower firm TeamLease Services, says, "Candidates may be academically and technically sound, but certain level of aptitude, articulation and attitude is required to bring out their functional skills to the fore. Many candidates look great on paper, and that's it."
To deal with the issue, external hirers have stepped up or freshly set up communication training activities. IT companies too have increased the time spent on training on soft skills and communication from 10% to 30%. The scenario has also spawned an ancillary industry for employment-training.
Says Romi Malhotra, CEO, Linkage India, a leadership development firm, "In the US, children need to speak and make presentations right from Class 3. But an Indian student's English speaking ability is tested only if s/he is doing a PhD. Our culture is about being silent, about listening. No one is allowed to challenge the status quo. Tolerance is a virtue. All these controls are taught at a tender age and children's speaking ability gets choked."
Toshiba to set up production unit
Toshiba Corporation on Thursday said it planned to set up a manufacturing facility in India by this year-end to cut costs in the highly competitive Indian market, while its Gurgaon-based research and development (R&D) centre would become operational soon that would develop products specifically for the domestic market.
The consumer electronic major of Japan also introduced new innovative products, including the world's first glasses-free 3D laptop and 3D TV besides 19-inch LED TV.
“We will start local manufacturing of our products starting with television by the end of this year. Our aim is to make our products more affordable to help us tap the growing Indian market. We will gradually extend local manufacturing to home appliances depending on the demand of the products…we will also focus on localising its products,” Toshiba Corporation Vice-President (digital products and services) Masayuki Ito told journalists here.
Toshiba now imports all its products, mainly from Indonesia and Japan.
“India is an important market for us and we want to offer our customers here leading-edge products offering more functions. We are focused on extending our reach and finding growth with products specially designed for India. We hope to increase the number of television sold in India by 10-fold to 3-lakh units by the end of this year. We are targeting a 10 per cent LCD TV share in current fiscal and 15 per cent share in 2012-13,” he added. Referring to the new products, Toshiba India Director (digital products, home appliances and services division) Wu Tengguo said: “We are determined to provide a broad array of high-value products that reflect the changing lifestyles in India, and to address market requirements. We are strengthening our product line up by introducing range of products across its all the categories including LCD, laptop and washing machines.”
Toshiba India is also integrating the business operations of consumer products, including television and home appliances, with its personal computer divisions in the domestic market. “Unifying both the businesses will save our logistics cost and help in building the brand image in the country. It will also leverage the distribution channels of both the businesses and enhance its position,” Mr. Tengguo added.
Welcome to the Apple store that isn't
They have smiles on their faces and apples on their hearts.
They have iPods, iPads, and MacBook Pros on their tables and pristine white paint on their walls.
But these are mere prestidigitators who want to press you into believing you are in a temple of the digital world. For, as beautifully relayed by the American blogger BirdAbroad, this Apple store in Kunming, China, is less apple pie and more, well, takeaway.
The owners appear to have taken away everything they believe Apple devotees worship in retail. The blogger, a 27-year-old who lives in Kunming with her husband, was herself at first fooled. But then the scales fell from her eyes and the wails began to develop a little lower down.
"The stairs were poorly made. The walls hadn't been painted properly," she noted.
When she thought about it a little further she realized that Apple stores aren't called Apple stores. At least not at the store. There is only the Apple logo on the storefront. Yet here were the words "Apple Store," bold as you like.
As the blogger (who seems to be called Jessica) sniffed around further, she examined the MacBooks and other products--which she can't be sure are really MacBooks or, indeed, anything to do with Apple. She then talked to the staff, who truly seemed to believe that they work for Apple.
Crucially, Apple doesn't appear to think so--there is no mention of an Apple store in Kunming on Apple's Web site.
A PC World commenter called MarkWine7 said the store had been open for a while and that it was "100% fake."
Another PC World commenter, Edelbrp, suggested that this might be one of 13 Apple resellers in Kunming--which is in southwestern China and is renowned, among other things, for being the place where Chinese athletes undergo high-altitude training.
BirdAbroad said on her blog, however, that this was not some elevated Apple reseller. She wrote in reply to one commenter on her blog: "If I bring my computer to the fake "Genius Bar," is anyone there actually going to be able to do anything about it? I seriously doubt it."
To support her position, a commenter on her blog called Todd, who said he worked for Apple, was very clear: "As an Apple employee, this is not an Apple Premium Reseller. It doesn't even look like a proper reseller; more like a ghetto version of the Apple Store."
Indeed, the pictured and loftily entitled Apple Store may not even be the only slightly dubious one in the area. BirdAbroad said she espied two more--one of which was helpfully called "Apple Stoer."
They have iPods, iPads, and MacBook Pros on their tables and pristine white paint on their walls.
But these are mere prestidigitators who want to press you into believing you are in a temple of the digital world. For, as beautifully relayed by the American blogger BirdAbroad, this Apple store in Kunming, China, is less apple pie and more, well, takeaway.
The owners appear to have taken away everything they believe Apple devotees worship in retail. The blogger, a 27-year-old who lives in Kunming with her husband, was herself at first fooled. But then the scales fell from her eyes and the wails began to develop a little lower down.
"The stairs were poorly made. The walls hadn't been painted properly," she noted.
When she thought about it a little further she realized that Apple stores aren't called Apple stores. At least not at the store. There is only the Apple logo on the storefront. Yet here were the words "Apple Store," bold as you like.
As the blogger (who seems to be called Jessica) sniffed around further, she examined the MacBooks and other products--which she can't be sure are really MacBooks or, indeed, anything to do with Apple. She then talked to the staff, who truly seemed to believe that they work for Apple.
Crucially, Apple doesn't appear to think so--there is no mention of an Apple store in Kunming on Apple's Web site.
A PC World commenter called MarkWine7 said the store had been open for a while and that it was "100% fake."
Another PC World commenter, Edelbrp, suggested that this might be one of 13 Apple resellers in Kunming--which is in southwestern China and is renowned, among other things, for being the place where Chinese athletes undergo high-altitude training.
BirdAbroad said on her blog, however, that this was not some elevated Apple reseller. She wrote in reply to one commenter on her blog: "If I bring my computer to the fake "Genius Bar," is anyone there actually going to be able to do anything about it? I seriously doubt it."
To support her position, a commenter on her blog called Todd, who said he worked for Apple, was very clear: "As an Apple employee, this is not an Apple Premium Reseller. It doesn't even look like a proper reseller; more like a ghetto version of the Apple Store."
Indeed, the pictured and loftily entitled Apple Store may not even be the only slightly dubious one in the area. BirdAbroad said she espied two more--one of which was helpfully called "Apple Stoer."
Google Labs to be shut down
Google Inc will shut down a website that offered public access to experimental products, the latest step by the company to refocus resources under Chief Executive Larry Page.
Google said it will "wind down" Google Labs, ending many of the projects offered on the site, in a move to "prioritize its product efforts," the company said on its corporate blog.
Google said that many of the products and technology from Google Labs would be incorporated into some of the company's other products, which range from the world's No. 1 search engine to its popular Android smartphone operating system.
Google Labs functions as a central hub for the various projects created by Google employees, who are allowed to spend up to 20 percent of their time working on side-projects. Google Labs products were available as prototypes that users could try out and provide feedback on, while Google made ongoing changes and adjustments.
Among the products listed as "alumni" of Google Labs on the Labs website are Google Maps, Google Alerts and Google Transit.
A Google spokesman said the closure of Google Labs was unrelated to the company's 20 percent time policy .
"We don't have any changes to announce regarding 20 percent time. We'll continue to devote a subset of our time to newer and experimental projects. In fact, we'll be focusing this same creative energy on bigger bets, with bigger potential long-term payoffs," the Google spokesman said in an emailed statement.
The closure of Google Labs comes a few months after Google co-founder Page took the CEO reins in April.
Last month Google said it was pulling the plug on a pair of products that let consumers monitor their home energy consumption and keep track of their personal health records.
On Google's second-quarter earnings conference call last week, Page said the company was moving to put "more wood behind fewer arrows."
The Google spokesperson said the company did not have any specific timing for the end of Google Labs, but said it would provide updates on the Google Labs website.
Mid-air scare for 134 passengers onboard Jet Airways flight
A Jet Airways flight with 134 passengers onboard, had a mid-air scare over Lucknow today, triggering panic aboard, passengers said.
Sources say the Boeing 737 Jet aircraft - flight number 9W 2280 - from New Delhi to Guwahati was taking a right turn when at the same time there was a Boeing 747 exactly above it. There was, however, adequate separation between them, claim sources.
While the pilot of the Jet aircraft was executing a right turn, it was hit by what pilots call 'wake turbulence' - rough air generated by a jumbo plane.
After being hit by wake turbulence, the Jet plane began to plummet for about five seconds. The place was on auto-pilot and it corrected itself, the sources added.
"First the flight abruptly turned right and then began to plummet. We thought it would crash. There was chaos and people were screaming inside," Caushik Bezboruah, chief executive officer of News Live, a satellite TV channel from Guwahati said.
"I heard people crying, some praying on top of their voices. It was a chaotic situation for close to a minute before the pilot took control," added Bhaskar Sharma, director of News Live.
Sources say no warnings of breach of separation were generated in the cockpit. Even the Air Traffic Control (ATC) did not warn the pilot of an aircraft overhead.
"The pilot said the flight's computer system automatically navigated the plane and moved away from the path of the approaching flight to avoid a mid-air collision," Bezboruah said.
The incident took place around 11.35 a.m. The Jet Airways flight landed safely in Guwahati around 1 p.m.
Jet Airways issued a statement confirming the Jet flight, a Boeing 737 encountered rough air generated by another plane, a Boeing 747.
"Jet Airways flight 9W 2280 from Delhi to Guwahati-Agartala encountered rough air generated by a large Boeing 747 taking off at around 1122 hrs this morning at Indira Gandhi International Airport. The flight was uneventful, continued on its normal course and the aircraft landed safely at its destination in Gawahati at 1300 hrs," the statement said.
Sources have told NDTV the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was alerted about incident by ATC. An inquiry has been ordered into the incident along with the airline and the relevant airport.
Jet Airways will be asked to do a detailed analysis of the incident and submit a detailed report, sources. Some sources within the DGCA believe the two planes coming together was a matter of concern.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Viewsonic dual SIM Android smartphone launch next week
The phones to be launched are Viewsonic V350, which will be based on Android 2.2 with a new 3D interface; and Viewpad 4, which will come with a 4.1 inch screen, 1 GHz Qualcomm processor and a new Viewsonic user interface.
Just a couple of days ago 'The Mobile Indian' reported that Viewsonic will launch two tablets in the Indian market. However, that's not all from the company; it will also launch two new smartphones in the country.
The phones to be launched are Viewsonic V350, which will be based on Android 2.2 with a new 3D interface; and the Viewpad 4 that will come with a 4.1 inch screen, 1 GHz Qualcomm processor and a new Viewsonic user interface.
The Viewsonic V350 smartphone with 3.5 inch display will be the second dual SIM Android phone in the country, the first being the Spice Mi270. While Mi270 is a basic phone; Viewsonic V350 will be fully loaded.
While talking to 'The Mobile Indian', Ajay Sharma, country manager of Viewsonic in India, said, "We will launch these two smartphones along with our tablets. Both the phones are high on technology and will offer superior functionality. We will also introduce our dual SIM technology and 3D interface with these phones."
V350 is an active dual SIM device (with both SIM cards active all the time) running Android 2.2 Froyo operating system, enabling the use of two network services at the same time. The phone will come with an HVGA (320 x 480 pixel) capacitive touchscreen, 5 megapixel auto focus camera, microSD expansion up to 32 GB, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 and Assisted GPS navigation. The phone is likely to be priced close to Rs 17,000.
On the other hand, Flash 10.1 enabled ViewPad 4 will feature a 4.1 inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen with Android Gingerbread OS, which will offer both phone and tablet functionality.
The smartphone will be based on a Qualcomm MSM 8255 1 GHz platform. It will support HD 720p video recording, playback, upload, and a mini HDMI 720p display output. A 5 megapixel auto focus camera, Bluetooth 2.1 and WiFi 802.11 b/g/n wireless enables video calling via an additional front facing camera on the phone.
Viewsonic enhanced ViewPad 4 uses the latest ViewScene UI that integrates GPS with apps. The expected price of the phone is Rs 20,000.
Both the phones will offer up to eight customisable home screens and a new 3D interface. They will also be available from Reliance Digital outlets.
Just a couple of days ago 'The Mobile Indian' reported that Viewsonic will launch two tablets in the Indian market. However, that's not all from the company; it will also launch two new smartphones in the country.
The phones to be launched are Viewsonic V350, which will be based on Android 2.2 with a new 3D interface; and the Viewpad 4 that will come with a 4.1 inch screen, 1 GHz Qualcomm processor and a new Viewsonic user interface.
The Viewsonic V350 smartphone with 3.5 inch display will be the second dual SIM Android phone in the country, the first being the Spice Mi270. While Mi270 is a basic phone; Viewsonic V350 will be fully loaded.
While talking to 'The Mobile Indian', Ajay Sharma, country manager of Viewsonic in India, said, "We will launch these two smartphones along with our tablets. Both the phones are high on technology and will offer superior functionality. We will also introduce our dual SIM technology and 3D interface with these phones."
V350 is an active dual SIM device (with both SIM cards active all the time) running Android 2.2 Froyo operating system, enabling the use of two network services at the same time. The phone will come with an HVGA (320 x 480 pixel) capacitive touchscreen, 5 megapixel auto focus camera, microSD expansion up to 32 GB, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 and Assisted GPS navigation. The phone is likely to be priced close to Rs 17,000.
On the other hand, Flash 10.1 enabled ViewPad 4 will feature a 4.1 inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen with Android Gingerbread OS, which will offer both phone and tablet functionality.
The smartphone will be based on a Qualcomm MSM 8255 1 GHz platform. It will support HD 720p video recording, playback, upload, and a mini HDMI 720p display output. A 5 megapixel auto focus camera, Bluetooth 2.1 and WiFi 802.11 b/g/n wireless enables video calling via an additional front facing camera on the phone.
Viewsonic enhanced ViewPad 4 uses the latest ViewScene UI that integrates GPS with apps. The expected price of the phone is Rs 20,000.
Both the phones will offer up to eight customisable home screens and a new 3D interface. They will also be available from Reliance Digital outlets.
Android 3.2 official, coming to a tablet near you
The latest version of Google's Android operating system for tablets is official, which means the update will likely be arriving on a range of tablets in the near future.
Motorola has already begun to roll out the update on its Xoom tablet, the company confirmed with CNET on Wednesday. Other tablet candidates for a 3.2 rollout include Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1, Acer's Iconia Tab 500, and Toshiba's Thrive.
Huawei last month announced what it claims is the "world's first" 7-inch Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet to pack a dual-core processor.
Android 3.2 is "an incremental release that adds several new capabilities for users and developers. The new platform includes API (application programming interface) changes and the API level is 13," according to a July 15 announcement posted on Google's Android Developers Blog.
Optimizations for a wider range of screen sizes: allows developers to better target a range of screen sizes--not just 10.1-inch.
New fill-screen mode: a new zoom-to-fill screen compatibility mode, which "renders the application in a smaller screen area and then scales the pixels to fill the current screen."
Media files can be loaded directly from the SD card: users can now "load media files directly from the SD card to apps that use them," and there is a "system facility [that] makes the files accessible to apps from the system media store."
Extended screen support API: provides developers with more "precise control over [the user interface] across the range of Android-powered devices." It's also meant to "allow [the] targeting [of] screens by their dimensions."
8.58 million GSM users added in June
The Indian telecom sector may be heading for tough times with Indian GSM telecom operators adding less than 10 million subscribers for the second month in a row, bringing in just 8.58 million new subscribers in June.
According to cellular operators' association COAI just 8.58 million new GSM subscribers were added in June, taking the all-India GSM cellular subscriber base to 598.77 million.
In May, GSM operators had added 9.53 million new GSM users, the first time since October 2009, when 10.76 million subscribers were added to the GSM network.
The GSM subscriber base stood at 590.19 million at the end of May, as per data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).
This seems like a dismal performance if one looks at the additions in November last year, when the GSM operators had added a whopping 17.16 million new users.
Bharti Airtel, the largest GSM player, added 2.12 million users in June, taking its total subscriber base to 169.18 million. It had a 28.26 per cent market share by the end of the month under review.
Rival Vodafone Essar, with a 23.63 per cent market share, notched up 2.09 million new subscribers during the month. Its subscriber base stood at 141.51 million at the end of June.
Aditya Birla group firm Idea Cellular added 1.35 million users during the month to take its total user base to 95.10 million, while Aircel added 0.91 million customers taking its subscriber base to 57.98 million.
State-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL added 0.84 million and 1,597 new users, respectively, raising their subscriber base to 88.46 million and 5.23 million, respectively.
The COAI data excluded Reliance Communications for the reporting month. GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is the most popular standard for mobile telephony systems in the world.
The other technology platform on which Indian telcos offer services is CDMA, where players such as Tata Teleservices (TTSL), Reliance Communications and MTS are the main operators. TTSL and Reliance Communications offer both GSM and CDMA services.
According to cellular operators' association COAI just 8.58 million new GSM subscribers were added in June, taking the all-India GSM cellular subscriber base to 598.77 million.
In May, GSM operators had added 9.53 million new GSM users, the first time since October 2009, when 10.76 million subscribers were added to the GSM network.
The GSM subscriber base stood at 590.19 million at the end of May, as per data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).
This seems like a dismal performance if one looks at the additions in November last year, when the GSM operators had added a whopping 17.16 million new users.
Bharti Airtel, the largest GSM player, added 2.12 million users in June, taking its total subscriber base to 169.18 million. It had a 28.26 per cent market share by the end of the month under review.
Rival Vodafone Essar, with a 23.63 per cent market share, notched up 2.09 million new subscribers during the month. Its subscriber base stood at 141.51 million at the end of June.
Aditya Birla group firm Idea Cellular added 1.35 million users during the month to take its total user base to 95.10 million, while Aircel added 0.91 million customers taking its subscriber base to 57.98 million.
State-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL added 0.84 million and 1,597 new users, respectively, raising their subscriber base to 88.46 million and 5.23 million, respectively.
The COAI data excluded Reliance Communications for the reporting month. GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is the most popular standard for mobile telephony systems in the world.
The other technology platform on which Indian telcos offer services is CDMA, where players such as Tata Teleservices (TTSL), Reliance Communications and MTS are the main operators. TTSL and Reliance Communications offer both GSM and CDMA services.
iPhone 5 to be thinner, pack 8MP camera
It's only a few months until the newest generation of iPhone hits stores and details about its features are slowly leaking out.
According to the usually well-informed Wall Street Journal, the fifth iteration of the best-selling smartphone will be thinner than its predecessor and have an eight-pixel - not five - camera. The paper quoted Apple's suppliers, since the company does not manufacture the iPhone itself.
Two weeks ago, the Bloomberg news agency had reported about the improved camera, as well as about a faster processor. Apple has remained, as usual, mum about its new product, refusing to comment. But the Wall Street Journal says the new phone will be released in this quarter. Bloomberg, citing informed sources, reported September.
Speculation has been ongoing for months about when the successor to the hugely successful iPhone 4 might hit stores.
Until now, new models have been released around midyear, meaning the iPhone 5 is behind schedule. But Bloomberg reported that Apple wanted to wait until its new iOS5 operating system was ready to go. That's been promised for the autumn.
However, the Wall Street Journal reports that the iPhone 5 is especially complicated to build, because it's so thin. That could also lead to delays. The iPhone 4 was already thinner than the 3GS. The new iPhone will also reportedly include a new wireless chip from Qualcomm. Until now, those chips have been produced by Infineon. Officially, Apple has made no comments about its supplier. Infineon has sold its wireless chip business to Intel, which is getting into smartphones. If the company has indeed lost its contract, that would be a big blow.
There were 18.7 million iPhones sold in the first quarter of 2011 and sales expectations are very high for the new phone, reported the Wall Street Journal, citing an informed source. Projections are for sales of 25 million units by the end of 2011.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Tatas to build world's cheapest home for Euro 500
After driving in the world's cheapest set of four wheels -- Nano, sporting a price tag of $2500, and the cheapest water filter at $21 with Swach, the Tata group has now set its sights on building the world's cheapest house by the end of the year priced at just Euro 500!
What's more, nicknamed the `Euro 500 home', a 20 square metre house works out to less than Rs 32,000 and can be built from scratch in just a week flat.
All one needs is a small piece of land and a kit of parts like doors, windows, roofs made out of different materials.
Currently being pilot-tested in West Bengal, the world's cheapest home is the brainchild of a team of nearly 15 innovators from Tata Steel's Indian and European operations and will be cheaper than the Tata group's own `Nano homes' project promising homes for $7,800 to urban poor that was rolled out a couple of years ago.
"These houses are typically targeted at beneficiaries of the Indira Awaas Yojana, that has an outlay of around Rs 40,000 per house. The challenge is to make it cheaper and more acceptable to rural users because many pre-fab manufacturers have built demo homes across the country but have failed to gain popularity," said Sumitesh Das, who heads Tata Steel's global research programme, on Friday.
"We have already prepared 2-3 different designs based on discussions with users and are gathering more feedback. Hopefully, in the next 6-8 months we should be able to roll it out in the market nationally," explained Das, who was in town to participate in a conference on intellectual property organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
Apart from the basic version, the company is also working on higher end versions like a 30 square metre home for Euro 700 or higher for homes boasting of facilities like a solar panel on the roof or a veranda.
What's more, nicknamed the `Euro 500 home', a 20 square metre house works out to less than Rs 32,000 and can be built from scratch in just a week flat.
All one needs is a small piece of land and a kit of parts like doors, windows, roofs made out of different materials.
Currently being pilot-tested in West Bengal, the world's cheapest home is the brainchild of a team of nearly 15 innovators from Tata Steel's Indian and European operations and will be cheaper than the Tata group's own `Nano homes' project promising homes for $7,800 to urban poor that was rolled out a couple of years ago.
"These houses are typically targeted at beneficiaries of the Indira Awaas Yojana, that has an outlay of around Rs 40,000 per house. The challenge is to make it cheaper and more acceptable to rural users because many pre-fab manufacturers have built demo homes across the country but have failed to gain popularity," said Sumitesh Das, who heads Tata Steel's global research programme, on Friday.
"We have already prepared 2-3 different designs based on discussions with users and are gathering more feedback. Hopefully, in the next 6-8 months we should be able to roll it out in the market nationally," explained Das, who was in town to participate in a conference on intellectual property organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.
Apart from the basic version, the company is also working on higher end versions like a 30 square metre home for Euro 700 or higher for homes boasting of facilities like a solar panel on the roof or a veranda.
British school to give iPads to 1,400 students
A school in Britain is spending 800,000 pounds (around $1.2 million) to give iPads to all its 1,400 pupils in a bid to 'revolutionise learning'.
The Longfield Academy in Dartford, Kent will hand out the gadgets in September, The Sun reported.
Officials from iPad makers Apple have also visited the school to speak to the students about the devices.
However, the school would ask parents to fork out 576 pounds for their child's iPad.
They can also pay 16 pounds per month for the next three years.
'Young people enjoy learning through technology, enhancing motivation. This helps them achieve better results,' the school said in a statement.
Apple dumps Samsung, goes for TSMC chips
Taiwan's TSMC has started trial manufacturing of next generation A6 chips for Apple Inc, a source familiar with the matter said, in a sign that the iPad maker is shifting from its traditional chip supplier, Samsung Electronics.
Whether TSMC would get actual orders for the chips would depend on its yield rate, or the amount of chips per batch that come out with no defects, the source said.
Samsung is the sole supplier of the A5 chips used in the iPad 2, but Apple has hinted it is keen to diversify its supply chain from the Korean company. Samsung has emerged as Apple's toughest competitor in the smartphone and tablet market and is involved in an acrimonious legal battle with Apple over patents.
"TSMC has got all the authorisation and details ready. Whether Apple puts in a formal order will depend on the yield rate," said the source, who was not authorised to speak to the media. The source did not provide further details of the orders.
TSMC spokeswoman Elizabeth Sun said she could not comment on this issue or on market rumours. Apple was not immediately available for comment and a Samsung spokesman declined to comment.
Analysts and other sources had previously said TSMC, the world's largest contract chip maker, was set to become a supplier of some processor chips to Apple, likely starting next year. However the chip may not be called A6, the sources said.
Shares of TSMC have slipped 1.5 per cent so far this year, outperforming the broader market's 4.5 per cent decline. Some analysts expect Samsung to dominate A5 orders and said any switch by Apple could be tricky.
"It won't be easy for Apple to dramatically change its chip provider from Samsung," said Seo Won-seok, an analyst at NH Investment and Securities in Seoul.
"It has to redesign the chipset, which Samsung has been deeply involved from the beginning and has some intellectual property. Apple could try various suppliers but they (Samsung and Apple) need each other and the relationship will continue."
TSMC is an obvious candidate to win processor business from Apple in the near term as it budgets $7.8 billion for capital expenditures this year to update technology and add capacity. It also has experience with ARM architecture, widely used by Apple to make power-efficient mobile chips.
The A5 chip is designed by the California company and analysts say it is based on British chip designer ARM Holdings Plc's technology. Bevan Yeh, a senior fund manager of Prudential Financial Securities Investment Trust, estimated that TSMC's earnings per share would be lifted by T$2 a year if it manages to win all orders for the A6 chip. The T$2 would mean a one-third boost to TSMC's EPS based on the company's 2010 earnings.
"Samsung will try everything it can and offer a very low price to save the orders," said Yeh, adding that Samsung, which had just built a new lab for Intel, might offer a price low enough just to cover the variable costs, or offer a bundled package that includes different components.
Computer assisted lnee surgery a success
A team of senior orthopaedic surgeons led by Christoph Saager from Switzerland successfully performed a total knee-replacement prosthesis through computer navigated total knee replacement technique (CNTKR) at the AJ Hospital here on Thursday.
Total knee-replacement prosthesis was performed on Vasanthi Shetty (62), a housewife, who was suffering from osteoarthritis from the past five years.
AJ Hospital and Research Centre Arthroscopic and joint- replacement specialty department head Dr Sudarshan Bhandary said osteoarthritis is the commonest form of arthritis, which severely affects the knee joint most often and needs joint replacements as a permanent solution. Knee replacement is a procedure in which the surgeon removes the damaged or diseased parts of the patient's knee joint and replaces them with an implant. In order to allow surgeons to operate with smaller incisions and greater precision, CNTKR technique is now a preferred mode of performing the joint replacement surgeries, he said.
Dr Christoph Saager, an expert in CNTKR in Switzerland, said, the technique has given excellent results and also enhances the life span of the implant. The computer navigation system aligns the patient's bones and joint implants with a degree of accuracy not possible with the naked eye, he highlighted.
Total knee-replacement prosthesis was performed on Vasanthi Shetty (62), a housewife, who was suffering from osteoarthritis from the past five years.
AJ Hospital and Research Centre Arthroscopic and joint- replacement specialty department head Dr Sudarshan Bhandary said osteoarthritis is the commonest form of arthritis, which severely affects the knee joint most often and needs joint replacements as a permanent solution. Knee replacement is a procedure in which the surgeon removes the damaged or diseased parts of the patient's knee joint and replaces them with an implant. In order to allow surgeons to operate with smaller incisions and greater precision, CNTKR technique is now a preferred mode of performing the joint replacement surgeries, he said.
Dr Christoph Saager, an expert in CNTKR in Switzerland, said, the technique has given excellent results and also enhances the life span of the implant. The computer navigation system aligns the patient's bones and joint implants with a degree of accuracy not possible with the naked eye, he highlighted.
Apple iOS 4.3.4 Update Fixes PDF Flaw, Closes Jailbreaking Hole
Apple released a new iOS update that patches the PDF flaw uncovered over a week ago by developers at the JailbreakMe Website.
The iOS 4.3.4 update fixes the vulnerability in the CoreGraphics frameworks which resulting in problems in the way PDF files were being handled, Apple said in its update advisory on July 15. With this flaw, malicious hackers could have remotely controlled iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch after tricking the user to open a malicious PDF file. The update is available for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 running iOS 3.0 and higher, third-generation iPods with iOS 3.1 and higher, and iPads with iOS 3.2 and higher.
The flaw was uncovered by "Comex," a member of the hacking group iPhone Dev Team, who exploited it to create a way for users to jailbreak iOS devices in order to run non-Apple authorized software. Usually, the process requires the user to download a specific tool while connected to a computer. This flaw allowed the team to develop a tool that could be executed just by visiting the JailbreakMe Website from the mobile device.
The update "fixes [a] security vulnerability associated with viewing malicious PDF files," Apple said.
The German Federal Office for Information Security issued a warning about the possibility of attackers exploiting the same flaw using PDF files. The agency said clicking on an infected PDF via email or on the Web would infect an iOS device with malicious software and give the attacker administrative privileges on the device.
Comex released a patch to close the hole for users who ran the jailbreaking tool. Ironically, until Apple released this update, the only users who were protected were the ones who had jailbroken their devices.
The update addresses a buffer overflow in how FreeType handles TrueType fonts, an issue in how FreeType handles Type 1 fonts and an invalid type conversion issue in IOMobileFrameBuffer. The issues, in combination, could have allowed an attacker to take control using a maliciously crafted PDF file.
Apple has moved fairly quickly to address the issue. The update means the JailbreakMe tool will no longer work on updated devices, but at least users are now protected from potential attacks. “Apple released this fix less than 10 days from the time it went public on July 6, just like they did last time there was a serious jailbreak vulnerability," Andrew Storms, director security operations for nCircle said.
This flaw could have been used "to distribute a wide variety of malware" if left unpatched, Storms said. It was important that users install the latest patches as soon as possible, he said.
Apple's last update, 4.3.3, released in May, fixed a controversial bug in Apple's location-based services. Unlike many major technology companies, Apple does not follow a regular release cycle for its updates but releases them on an erratic schedule.
“Apple has no scheduled patch release cycle. Once a critical bug is discovered, Apple rarely communicates at all about when a patch will come out. When the patch is available they just ship it," Storms said.
The iOS 4.3.4 update fixes the vulnerability in the CoreGraphics frameworks which resulting in problems in the way PDF files were being handled, Apple said in its update advisory on July 15. With this flaw, malicious hackers could have remotely controlled iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch after tricking the user to open a malicious PDF file. The update is available for iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4 running iOS 3.0 and higher, third-generation iPods with iOS 3.1 and higher, and iPads with iOS 3.2 and higher.
The flaw was uncovered by "Comex," a member of the hacking group iPhone Dev Team, who exploited it to create a way for users to jailbreak iOS devices in order to run non-Apple authorized software. Usually, the process requires the user to download a specific tool while connected to a computer. This flaw allowed the team to develop a tool that could be executed just by visiting the JailbreakMe Website from the mobile device.
The update "fixes [a] security vulnerability associated with viewing malicious PDF files," Apple said.
The German Federal Office for Information Security issued a warning about the possibility of attackers exploiting the same flaw using PDF files. The agency said clicking on an infected PDF via email or on the Web would infect an iOS device with malicious software and give the attacker administrative privileges on the device.
Comex released a patch to close the hole for users who ran the jailbreaking tool. Ironically, until Apple released this update, the only users who were protected were the ones who had jailbroken their devices.
The update addresses a buffer overflow in how FreeType handles TrueType fonts, an issue in how FreeType handles Type 1 fonts and an invalid type conversion issue in IOMobileFrameBuffer. The issues, in combination, could have allowed an attacker to take control using a maliciously crafted PDF file.
Apple has moved fairly quickly to address the issue. The update means the JailbreakMe tool will no longer work on updated devices, but at least users are now protected from potential attacks. “Apple released this fix less than 10 days from the time it went public on July 6, just like they did last time there was a serious jailbreak vulnerability," Andrew Storms, director security operations for nCircle said.
This flaw could have been used "to distribute a wide variety of malware" if left unpatched, Storms said. It was important that users install the latest patches as soon as possible, he said.
Apple's last update, 4.3.3, released in May, fixed a controversial bug in Apple's location-based services. Unlike many major technology companies, Apple does not follow a regular release cycle for its updates but releases them on an erratic schedule.
“Apple has no scheduled patch release cycle. Once a critical bug is discovered, Apple rarely communicates at all about when a patch will come out. When the patch is available they just ship it," Storms said.
Zuckerberg back atop Google+ (openly)
The future of Google+ as the only, open, pure, revolutionary social network was placed in jeopardy when it appeared, just a couple of days ago, that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had shut himself away on the site.
He wasn't the only famous technological face that had disappeared. So had Larry Page and several other Google luminaries.
It seems, though, that Google has had to perform a technological about-face, as its SVP of Engineering, Vic Gundotra (one of those who had allegedly shut himself away) admitted that the sudden walling off of famous faces was a mere oversight.
Gundotra told the Inquirer: "This was a glitch that affected a small number of people--those with very high followers and few people in their circles."
Hmm, so the problem was that the technology couldn't deal with people who attracted vast amounts of love and gave little in return. The rest of the world has that problem too.
Some might be unconvinced by Google's explanation. They might imagine that somewhere there was a change of mind--perhaps spurred by manipulative PR advisers. They might question why, at the time of Zuckerberg's disappearance, Facebook didn't say: "Oh, no, he didn't shut himself off. Mark wouldn't do that. Except maybe on Facebook."
The official Facebook statement when I asked was: "We're in the early days of making the Web more social, and there are opportunities for innovation everywhere."
I prefer to believe that this temporary Google+ vanishing act was, indeed, a mere glitch. I prefer to bathe in the fact that, according to Social Statistics--a site that has become one of the high churches of Google+ stats--Zuckerberg has more than 184,000 followers, putting him far ahead in the Google+ chart.
In second place is Google CEO Larry Page with almost 95,000. In third, Sergey Brin with almost 72,000. Mathematicians will conclude that the Facebook CEO has more Google+ followers than both the Google founders combined.
Still, despite all the followers, Zuckerberg doesn't seem to have shared very much at all on his rival's social network--merely one smiley picture and the claim: "I make things."
He wasn't the only famous technological face that had disappeared. So had Larry Page and several other Google luminaries.
It seems, though, that Google has had to perform a technological about-face, as its SVP of Engineering, Vic Gundotra (one of those who had allegedly shut himself away) admitted that the sudden walling off of famous faces was a mere oversight.
Gundotra told the Inquirer: "This was a glitch that affected a small number of people--those with very high followers and few people in their circles."
Hmm, so the problem was that the technology couldn't deal with people who attracted vast amounts of love and gave little in return. The rest of the world has that problem too.
Some might be unconvinced by Google's explanation. They might imagine that somewhere there was a change of mind--perhaps spurred by manipulative PR advisers. They might question why, at the time of Zuckerberg's disappearance, Facebook didn't say: "Oh, no, he didn't shut himself off. Mark wouldn't do that. Except maybe on Facebook."
The official Facebook statement when I asked was: "We're in the early days of making the Web more social, and there are opportunities for innovation everywhere."
I prefer to believe that this temporary Google+ vanishing act was, indeed, a mere glitch. I prefer to bathe in the fact that, according to Social Statistics--a site that has become one of the high churches of Google+ stats--Zuckerberg has more than 184,000 followers, putting him far ahead in the Google+ chart.
In second place is Google CEO Larry Page with almost 95,000. In third, Sergey Brin with almost 72,000. Mathematicians will conclude that the Facebook CEO has more Google+ followers than both the Google founders combined.
Still, despite all the followers, Zuckerberg doesn't seem to have shared very much at all on his rival's social network--merely one smiley picture and the claim: "I make things."
Google: Oracle demand harassment
Google Inc is fighting what it calls Oracle Corp's "harassing demand" for a deposition of Chief Executive Officer Larry Page as part of Oracle's multibillion-dollar lawsuit alleging the Android operating system infringes its Java patents, according to a court filing.
Page "participated in negotiations that took place" between Sun Microsystems and Google regarding a Java license for Android and his testimony is relevant to "the value of the infringement to Google," Oracle said in a letter jointly filed by the companies with US Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu in San Francisco.
Google's opposition to Page's deposition is "manifestly inconsistent" with its own notice to depose Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Oracle said in the letter.
Taking a sworn statement from Page would be 'superfluous" and "duplicative" given testimony already available from other witnesses, Google said in the joint letter to the judge.
Google has offered to withdraw its notice to depose Ellison if Oracle doesn't intend to call him as a witness at trial, and Oracle rejected that proposal, the search engine company said in the filing. A similar agreement was reached as to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, according to the letter.
Oracle is seeking as much as $6.1 billion in damages in a patent-and copyright-infringement lawsuit against Google that claims the search-engine company's Android software uses technology related to the Java programming language, according to court papers.
Oracle, based in Redwood City, California, got Java when it bought Sun Microsystems in January 2010. The company sued Google the following August, seeking a court ruling that would ban further use of its intellectual property and force the destruction of all products that violate Java-related copyrights on the code, documentation and specifications.
Google, based in Mountain View, California, said in court filings that the patents are invalid and not infringed and that users of the Android platform have a license to any patents in the case. It said Oracle made general copyright-infringement claims with nothing to back them up.
Deborah Hellinger, an Oracle spokeswoman, didn't immediately return a voice-mail message after regular business hours. An e-mail to Google's press office after regular business hours wasn't immediately returned.
Page "participated in negotiations that took place" between Sun Microsystems and Google regarding a Java license for Android and his testimony is relevant to "the value of the infringement to Google," Oracle said in a letter jointly filed by the companies with US Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu in San Francisco.
Google's opposition to Page's deposition is "manifestly inconsistent" with its own notice to depose Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Oracle said in the letter.
Taking a sworn statement from Page would be 'superfluous" and "duplicative" given testimony already available from other witnesses, Google said in the joint letter to the judge.
Google has offered to withdraw its notice to depose Ellison if Oracle doesn't intend to call him as a witness at trial, and Oracle rejected that proposal, the search engine company said in the filing. A similar agreement was reached as to Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, according to the letter.
Oracle is seeking as much as $6.1 billion in damages in a patent-and copyright-infringement lawsuit against Google that claims the search-engine company's Android software uses technology related to the Java programming language, according to court papers.
Oracle, based in Redwood City, California, got Java when it bought Sun Microsystems in January 2010. The company sued Google the following August, seeking a court ruling that would ban further use of its intellectual property and force the destruction of all products that violate Java-related copyrights on the code, documentation and specifications.
Google, based in Mountain View, California, said in court filings that the patents are invalid and not infringed and that users of the Android platform have a license to any patents in the case. It said Oracle made general copyright-infringement claims with nothing to back them up.
Deborah Hellinger, an Oracle spokeswoman, didn't immediately return a voice-mail message after regular business hours. An e-mail to Google's press office after regular business hours wasn't immediately returned.
Delta planes collide on taxiway at Boston airport
The wing of a Delta jet clipped the tail of an aircraft that provides regional air service for the carrier while both planes were on the taxiway and preparing to fly out of Boston on Thursday evening, forcing officials to remove them from service for inspections.
Local TV footage show the crash sheared off the tip of the Delta Boeing 767 and crumpled part of the smaller plane's tail.
Boston Logan International Airport spokesman Phil Orlandella said one person is complaining of neck pain after the crash.
There were no other injuries.
The incident involved Delta Flight 266 from Boston to Amsterdam which hit the vertical stabilizer of Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 4904, also on departure from Boston to Raleigh-Durham, Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter said.
Investigators were talking to crew and passengers of both aircraft, trying to figure out the circumstances surrounding the crash, Orlandella said.
The Delta jet returned to the gate and ASA passengers were transported by bus to the terminal.
Atlanta-based Delta says both aircraft have been removed from service for inspections. Passengers are being put on other planes.
Local TV footage show the crash sheared off the tip of the Delta Boeing 767 and crumpled part of the smaller plane's tail.
Boston Logan International Airport spokesman Phil Orlandella said one person is complaining of neck pain after the crash.
There were no other injuries.
The incident involved Delta Flight 266 from Boston to Amsterdam which hit the vertical stabilizer of Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 4904, also on departure from Boston to Raleigh-Durham, Delta spokesman Trebor Banstetter said.
Investigators were talking to crew and passengers of both aircraft, trying to figure out the circumstances surrounding the crash, Orlandella said.
The Delta jet returned to the gate and ASA passengers were transported by bus to the terminal.
Atlanta-based Delta says both aircraft have been removed from service for inspections. Passengers are being put on other planes.
PSLV rocket launches communications satellite
Scientists at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Sriharikota have launched a new communications satellite using the smaller of their rockets, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
PSLV-C17, using the most powerful configuration of ISRO's workhorse launch vehicle, blasted off at 4.48 pm before hurling GSAT-12 into space about 20 minutes later.
"I am extremely happy to state that the PSVL-C17/GSAT12 mission is successful. The launch vehicle injected the satellite very precisely into the intended orbit," a jubilant ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan announced amid applause by the scientists at the mission control centre.
The transponders on the satellite, G-SAT12, will be used for education, telephone and telemedicine services. It weighs 1410 kgs and costs 80 crores.
"GSAT-12 would cater to tele-medicine and tele-education services and 'more importantly' provide support for disaster management," Mr Radhakrishnan said.
India is short of transponders, and today's mission, if successful, could add 12 C-band transponders. With today's GSAT-12, India will have 175 transponders - way behind the target of 500 by 2012 set by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to meet the booming demand in telecom, direct-to-home and V-SAT operations.
The PSLV, worth 90 crores, has established itself as a workhorse rocket - this is its 19th mission. It's considered complex and unique because it entails five special orbital manoeuvres. The PSLV has to ensure that the satellite is injected into the correct geo-synchronous orbit - that will take a few days.
Neither the satellite nor the rocket are insured.
Two more launches of the PSLV are expected later this year.
The PSLV is being used because the GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) is out of commission due to recent failures, including one in December which included a domestic communications satellite. Before that, the GSLV had failed in April 2010.
PSLV-C17, using the most powerful configuration of ISRO's workhorse launch vehicle, blasted off at 4.48 pm before hurling GSAT-12 into space about 20 minutes later.
"I am extremely happy to state that the PSVL-C17/GSAT12 mission is successful. The launch vehicle injected the satellite very precisely into the intended orbit," a jubilant ISRO Chairman K Radhakrishnan announced amid applause by the scientists at the mission control centre.
The transponders on the satellite, G-SAT12, will be used for education, telephone and telemedicine services. It weighs 1410 kgs and costs 80 crores.
"GSAT-12 would cater to tele-medicine and tele-education services and 'more importantly' provide support for disaster management," Mr Radhakrishnan said.
India is short of transponders, and today's mission, if successful, could add 12 C-band transponders. With today's GSAT-12, India will have 175 transponders - way behind the target of 500 by 2012 set by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to meet the booming demand in telecom, direct-to-home and V-SAT operations.
The PSLV, worth 90 crores, has established itself as a workhorse rocket - this is its 19th mission. It's considered complex and unique because it entails five special orbital manoeuvres. The PSLV has to ensure that the satellite is injected into the correct geo-synchronous orbit - that will take a few days.
Neither the satellite nor the rocket are insured.
Two more launches of the PSLV are expected later this year.
The PSLV is being used because the GSLV (Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle) is out of commission due to recent failures, including one in December which included a domestic communications satellite. Before that, the GSLV had failed in April 2010.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Raw inflation figure rises to 9.44% in June
Headline inflation rose to 9.44 per cent in June on the back of rising prices of fuel and manufactured products, which may prompt the Reserve Bank to raise key rates again in its quarterly policy review later this month.
Inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 9.06 per cent in May. It was 10.25 per cent in June, 2010.
Meanwhile, as per data released by the government on Thursday, the overall inflation figure for April this year has been revised upward to 9.74 per cent from the provisional estimate of 8.66 per cent.
The rise in inflation can partly be attributed to the hike in prices of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene announced by the government on May 24.
The higher prices of petroleum goods, according to experts, is adding to supply side constraints.
The index for the fuel and power segment, which has a weight of almost 15 per cent in the WPI basket, stood at 12.85 per cent year-on-year in June. This was up from 12.32 per cent in the previous month.
LPG became 12.17 per cent more expensive on an annual basis, while high speed diesel was up 6.58 per cent. Petrol, whose prices were hiked in April, also became dearer by 30.61 per cent.
Prices of manufactured products, which have a weight of around 65 per cent in the WPI basket, went up by 7.43 per cent year-on-year in June.
Inflation in manufactured products has been steadily rising since February this year, when it crossed the 6 per cent mark. It was 7.27 per cent in May.
Inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), stood at 9.06 per cent in May. It was 10.25 per cent in June, 2010.
Meanwhile, as per data released by the government on Thursday, the overall inflation figure for April this year has been revised upward to 9.74 per cent from the provisional estimate of 8.66 per cent.
The rise in inflation can partly be attributed to the hike in prices of diesel, cooking gas and kerosene announced by the government on May 24.
The higher prices of petroleum goods, according to experts, is adding to supply side constraints.
The index for the fuel and power segment, which has a weight of almost 15 per cent in the WPI basket, stood at 12.85 per cent year-on-year in June. This was up from 12.32 per cent in the previous month.
LPG became 12.17 per cent more expensive on an annual basis, while high speed diesel was up 6.58 per cent. Petrol, whose prices were hiked in April, also became dearer by 30.61 per cent.
Prices of manufactured products, which have a weight of around 65 per cent in the WPI basket, went up by 7.43 per cent year-on-year in June.
Inflation in manufactured products has been steadily rising since February this year, when it crossed the 6 per cent mark. It was 7.27 per cent in May.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Google Docs vs Microsoft Office 365
Microsoft’s decision to launch Office 365 a few days ago represented the company’s effort to get a slice of the enterprise cloud computing pie. But for executives and travelling business folk, it meant something simpler - the option to use the popular MS Office suite (MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint) from any computer, using what the software giant calls its Office Web Apps.
Here, however, it faces some very stiff competition from Google Docs, which has pretty much been the go-to application for anybody wanting to work on a productivity suite online.
We took both Google Docs and the office suite portion of Office 365 for a short swing online and here is what we found out
To start using
All you need to do to get into Google Docs is have a Google account, signing up for which is easy. With Office 365 -- being a more professional affair - the whole process takes a bit longer. So, if you are the type who gets intimidated by being referred to as The Admin, well, just keep that upper lip stiff.
You will be able to get to your online MS office suite after a few clicks and drawn-out registration process (nope, your Windows Live sign-in will not work). Once that is done, things are a lot simpler, but we really wish there was a way by which one could simply sign up for the office suite part of Office 365.
Indeed, Google Docs takes this one by a mile.
Looks and ease of use
We have been huge fans of Google Docs ever since it was launched, but we must confess that Office 365 makes it look plain mousy in comparison.
The famous ribbon interface is there, the icons are more colourful and sharp. Yes, this is as close as it gets to the real McCoy on the desktop.
Perhaps it is the familiarity with Microsoft’s icons, toolbars and menus, but the very stark fact is that we were able to get up, up and away with Office 365’s suite in far lesser time than we ever did with Google Docs. Microsoft scores.
Features
Scratch the boring surface and you will see that Google Docs lets you do a lot more on the Web than Office 365 does. Yes, you cannot do stuff like tracking edit changes in the Word web app, or add animations and transitions in the Web avatar of PowerPoint.
However, Microsoft has more bells and whistles - you get better templates for each of the applications on Microsoft's versions. You can also move smoothly from the document on Office 365 to MS Office on your computer for more intense editing, but honestly, that kind of defeats the purpose of the cloud.
Here, both services even out.
Compatibility with MS Office formats
In spite of the efforts of all other office productivity suites, the fact is that almost everyone uses MS Office formats when it comes to saving documents, spreadsheets and files. Indeed, Google Docs does tend to miss out some of the formatting in MS Office documents uploaded to it, especially with .docx format files.
In our case, we found the colours missing from some of our columns and our more colourful bullets replaced by dull, vanilla ones.
Needless to say, the Office 365 Web apps reproduced all MS Office files very faithfully, down to the last shaded font.
Collaboration
Google Docs comes into its own in the field of collaboration. Sharing documents and working on the same document in real time is so much easier in this suite. The same can be done in Office 365 too, but you would need to create a Team Site, which is accessible to people you choose.
Yes, it is more powerful and looks more corporate than Google’s relatively plain affair, but if you are a small group that wants nothing more than simple collaboration, Google Docs is so much better.
Performance
That ribbon interface and those lovely icons come at the price of bandwidth. We consistently found Google Docs loading and saving files much faster than the Web versions of MS Office. And this was over a 2Mbps connection. Those with a slower connection or using data cards are going to struggle with Office 365’s Web apps.
We also encountered a few problems while logging into the Office 365 service - something that almost never happens with Google Docs - and there was more than the odd “encountered an unexpected error” messages on Microsoft’s cloud office suite, which tended to crash the app.
Price
This is where Google Docs really delivers a blow to Office 365. While Microsoft supporters will argue (with good reason) that their offering be compared with that of Google’s commercial one, for us, there is no getting around the fact that Google Docs can be used for free.
Office 365 comes with a price tag starting from $6 per month, per user (although it also has a free 30-day trial period).
(Note: Unlike the ‘free’ Google Docs that can be accessed by anyone with a Google account, Office365 is targeted at enterprise customers. The Microsoft package-besides the Office Web Apps that we have mentioned here-includes other products such as Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online.)
Here, however, it faces some very stiff competition from Google Docs, which has pretty much been the go-to application for anybody wanting to work on a productivity suite online.
We took both Google Docs and the office suite portion of Office 365 for a short swing online and here is what we found out
To start using
All you need to do to get into Google Docs is have a Google account, signing up for which is easy. With Office 365 -- being a more professional affair - the whole process takes a bit longer. So, if you are the type who gets intimidated by being referred to as The Admin, well, just keep that upper lip stiff.
You will be able to get to your online MS office suite after a few clicks and drawn-out registration process (nope, your Windows Live sign-in will not work). Once that is done, things are a lot simpler, but we really wish there was a way by which one could simply sign up for the office suite part of Office 365.
Indeed, Google Docs takes this one by a mile.
Looks and ease of use
We have been huge fans of Google Docs ever since it was launched, but we must confess that Office 365 makes it look plain mousy in comparison.
The famous ribbon interface is there, the icons are more colourful and sharp. Yes, this is as close as it gets to the real McCoy on the desktop.
Perhaps it is the familiarity with Microsoft’s icons, toolbars and menus, but the very stark fact is that we were able to get up, up and away with Office 365’s suite in far lesser time than we ever did with Google Docs. Microsoft scores.
Features
Scratch the boring surface and you will see that Google Docs lets you do a lot more on the Web than Office 365 does. Yes, you cannot do stuff like tracking edit changes in the Word web app, or add animations and transitions in the Web avatar of PowerPoint.
However, Microsoft has more bells and whistles - you get better templates for each of the applications on Microsoft's versions. You can also move smoothly from the document on Office 365 to MS Office on your computer for more intense editing, but honestly, that kind of defeats the purpose of the cloud.
Here, both services even out.
Compatibility with MS Office formats
In spite of the efforts of all other office productivity suites, the fact is that almost everyone uses MS Office formats when it comes to saving documents, spreadsheets and files. Indeed, Google Docs does tend to miss out some of the formatting in MS Office documents uploaded to it, especially with .docx format files.
In our case, we found the colours missing from some of our columns and our more colourful bullets replaced by dull, vanilla ones.
Needless to say, the Office 365 Web apps reproduced all MS Office files very faithfully, down to the last shaded font.
Collaboration
Google Docs comes into its own in the field of collaboration. Sharing documents and working on the same document in real time is so much easier in this suite. The same can be done in Office 365 too, but you would need to create a Team Site, which is accessible to people you choose.
Yes, it is more powerful and looks more corporate than Google’s relatively plain affair, but if you are a small group that wants nothing more than simple collaboration, Google Docs is so much better.
Performance
That ribbon interface and those lovely icons come at the price of bandwidth. We consistently found Google Docs loading and saving files much faster than the Web versions of MS Office. And this was over a 2Mbps connection. Those with a slower connection or using data cards are going to struggle with Office 365’s Web apps.
We also encountered a few problems while logging into the Office 365 service - something that almost never happens with Google Docs - and there was more than the odd “encountered an unexpected error” messages on Microsoft’s cloud office suite, which tended to crash the app.
Price
This is where Google Docs really delivers a blow to Office 365. While Microsoft supporters will argue (with good reason) that their offering be compared with that of Google’s commercial one, for us, there is no getting around the fact that Google Docs can be used for free.
Office 365 comes with a price tag starting from $6 per month, per user (although it also has a free 30-day trial period).
(Note: Unlike the ‘free’ Google Docs that can be accessed by anyone with a Google account, Office365 is targeted at enterprise customers. The Microsoft package-besides the Office Web Apps that we have mentioned here-includes other products such as Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online.)
HIV drugs boost prevention hopes
PARIS — Heterosexuals who take daily AIDS drugs reduce the risk of being infected by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by nearly two-thirds, ground-breaking studies said on Wednesday.
Campaigners hailed what they described as a powerful new weapon in the three-decade war against AIDS.
"This is a major scientific breakthrough which reconfirms the essential role that antiretroviral medicine has to play in the AIDS response," Michel Sidibe, executive director of the UN agency UNAIDS said.
"These studies could help us to reach the tipping point in the HIV epidemic."
A trial called Partners PrEP, conducted by the University of Washington, followed 4,758 "sero-discordant" heterosexual couples -- in which one person had HIV and the other was uninfected -- in Kenya and Uganda.
The uninfected partner received either a dummy pill or a tablet containing either the HIV drug tenofovir or a combination of tenofovir and emtricitabine.
In the group receiving tenofovir, there were 62 percent fewer infections compared with the placebo group.
In the tenofovir/emtricitabine group, there were 73 percent fewer infections over counterparts taking the placebo.
The results were so remarkable that safety monitors recommended the probe be stopped early, for to continue it would have been unethical.
The second trial, conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), followed 1,219 uninfected men and women in Botswana who received either placebo or the tenofovir/emtricitabine combination.
Those who received the antiretroviral pill reduced the risk of HIV infection by 63 percent compared with the placebo group.
They are the first trials to show that so-called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, can work among heterosexuals.
Last November a study, conducted among sero-discordant homosexual men, found a reduction of 44 percent in risk among uninfected partners who took HIV drugs.
In contrast, a smaller-scale trial, whose preliminary results were published earlier this year, found that PrEP did not protect heterosexual women.
In May, a big study conducted among sero-discordant heterosexual couples in Africa showed early use of drugs by the infected partner slashed the risk of transmitting HIV to the other partner by 96 percent.
Put together, these trials add massively to the argument that the world's AIDS pandemic can be slowed by wider distribution of antiretrovirals, said activists.
"These results are tremendously exciting and confirm that we are at pivotal period," said Mitchell Warren, executive director of US advocacy group AVAC.
"Now is the time to include ARV-based prevention in national plans, applications to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and donor priorities.
"(...) We need ambitious pilot and demonstration projects to guide programmatic design, along with national and international guidance on how best to use ARVs (antiretrovirals) as lifesaving prevention tools," he said.
The International AIDS Society, which is hosting a major conference in Rome from Sunday, said data from the two trials was "compelling" and "adds to the cascade of evidence."
But it also highlighted the looming debate about using drugs designed for treatment in the role of prevention.
Antiretrovirals are the famous "cocktail" of drugs, first introduced in 1996, that helped turn the tide against AIDS.
They suppress HIV in the body but do not eradicate it completely.
As a result, they reduce the risk of infection through contact with body fluids, although they are not a cure and taking them can carry inflict toxic side effects.
In addition, there is a potentially hefty financial cost if the pills are taken daily for prevention, although the price has fallen to as little as 25 US cents per tablet.
The "treatment as prevention" strategy has risen alongside male circumcision as new options in the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, which has claimed around 30 million lives over the past three decades.
More than 33 million people are living with the AIDS virus, according to estimates for 2009 released last year by UNAIDS.
Campaigners hailed what they described as a powerful new weapon in the three-decade war against AIDS.
"This is a major scientific breakthrough which reconfirms the essential role that antiretroviral medicine has to play in the AIDS response," Michel Sidibe, executive director of the UN agency UNAIDS said.
"These studies could help us to reach the tipping point in the HIV epidemic."
A trial called Partners PrEP, conducted by the University of Washington, followed 4,758 "sero-discordant" heterosexual couples -- in which one person had HIV and the other was uninfected -- in Kenya and Uganda.
The uninfected partner received either a dummy pill or a tablet containing either the HIV drug tenofovir or a combination of tenofovir and emtricitabine.
In the group receiving tenofovir, there were 62 percent fewer infections compared with the placebo group.
In the tenofovir/emtricitabine group, there were 73 percent fewer infections over counterparts taking the placebo.
The results were so remarkable that safety monitors recommended the probe be stopped early, for to continue it would have been unethical.
The second trial, conducted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), followed 1,219 uninfected men and women in Botswana who received either placebo or the tenofovir/emtricitabine combination.
Those who received the antiretroviral pill reduced the risk of HIV infection by 63 percent compared with the placebo group.
They are the first trials to show that so-called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, can work among heterosexuals.
Last November a study, conducted among sero-discordant homosexual men, found a reduction of 44 percent in risk among uninfected partners who took HIV drugs.
In contrast, a smaller-scale trial, whose preliminary results were published earlier this year, found that PrEP did not protect heterosexual women.
In May, a big study conducted among sero-discordant heterosexual couples in Africa showed early use of drugs by the infected partner slashed the risk of transmitting HIV to the other partner by 96 percent.
Put together, these trials add massively to the argument that the world's AIDS pandemic can be slowed by wider distribution of antiretrovirals, said activists.
"These results are tremendously exciting and confirm that we are at pivotal period," said Mitchell Warren, executive director of US advocacy group AVAC.
"Now is the time to include ARV-based prevention in national plans, applications to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and donor priorities.
"(...) We need ambitious pilot and demonstration projects to guide programmatic design, along with national and international guidance on how best to use ARVs (antiretrovirals) as lifesaving prevention tools," he said.
The International AIDS Society, which is hosting a major conference in Rome from Sunday, said data from the two trials was "compelling" and "adds to the cascade of evidence."
But it also highlighted the looming debate about using drugs designed for treatment in the role of prevention.
Antiretrovirals are the famous "cocktail" of drugs, first introduced in 1996, that helped turn the tide against AIDS.
They suppress HIV in the body but do not eradicate it completely.
As a result, they reduce the risk of infection through contact with body fluids, although they are not a cure and taking them can carry inflict toxic side effects.
In addition, there is a potentially hefty financial cost if the pills are taken daily for prevention, although the price has fallen to as little as 25 US cents per tablet.
The "treatment as prevention" strategy has risen alongside male circumcision as new options in the global HIV/AIDS pandemic, which has claimed around 30 million lives over the past three decades.
More than 33 million people are living with the AIDS virus, according to estimates for 2009 released last year by UNAIDS.
India to launch communication satellite on July 15
The 53-hour countdown for the July 15 launch of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C17) carrying India's communication satellite GSAT-12, from Sriharikota began today.
The mission was cleared by the Launch Authorisation Boardin its meeting at Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota's space spot in Andhra Pradesh yesterday. The countdown for the PSLV launch at 4.48 pm commenced at 11:48 am today, an ISRO release said.
During the countdown, propellant-filling operations of the liquid propellant second stage (PS2) and fourth stage (PS4) of the launch vehicle will be carried out.
Mandatory checks on the launch vehicle and spacecraft, including charging of batteries and pressurisation of propellant tanks will be performed.
Readiness of various ground systems such as tracking radar systems and communication networks will also be checked.
PSLV-C17 will launch GSAT-12 satellite into a sub-Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit of 284 km perigee (closest point to earth) and 21,000 km apogee (farthest point to earth).
GSAT-12 communication satellite, weighing 1410 kg with 12 Ext-C Band transponders, will augment communication services in the country, the release said.
The mission was cleared by the Launch Authorisation Boardin its meeting at Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota's space spot in Andhra Pradesh yesterday. The countdown for the PSLV launch at 4.48 pm commenced at 11:48 am today, an ISRO release said.
During the countdown, propellant-filling operations of the liquid propellant second stage (PS2) and fourth stage (PS4) of the launch vehicle will be carried out.
Mandatory checks on the launch vehicle and spacecraft, including charging of batteries and pressurisation of propellant tanks will be performed.
Readiness of various ground systems such as tracking radar systems and communication networks will also be checked.
PSLV-C17 will launch GSAT-12 satellite into a sub-Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit of 284 km perigee (closest point to earth) and 21,000 km apogee (farthest point to earth).
GSAT-12 communication satellite, weighing 1410 kg with 12 Ext-C Band transponders, will augment communication services in the country, the release said.
Google+ has '10 million users'
Google+ is surely giving Facebook a run for its money! According to a researcher, Google+ could be on the verge of hitting the 10 million users mark in just two weeks.
Paul Allen, the founder of Ancestry.com, has estimated that Google+ is just a step away from hitting its 10-millionth member, if it hasn't already, Telegraph reported.
Allen based his analysis on data about surname popularity. In a post on Google+, he wrote: "By using a sample of 100-200 surnames, I am able to accurately estimate the total percentage of the US population that has signed up for Google+. Then I use that number and a calculated ratio of US to non-US users to generate my worldwide estimates."
Even though Google has not released the official number, evidence suggests that the demand has been extremely high. So much so, that the users are lining up to access Google+.
Despite facing flak from several corners, Google's social network has been well received by the masses.
However, Google+ has a long way to go to cause any kind of upset to Facebook which has 750 million users and Twitter which has more than 300 million users.
Paul Allen, the founder of Ancestry.com, has estimated that Google+ is just a step away from hitting its 10-millionth member, if it hasn't already, Telegraph reported.
Allen based his analysis on data about surname popularity. In a post on Google+, he wrote: "By using a sample of 100-200 surnames, I am able to accurately estimate the total percentage of the US population that has signed up for Google+. Then I use that number and a calculated ratio of US to non-US users to generate my worldwide estimates."
Even though Google has not released the official number, evidence suggests that the demand has been extremely high. So much so, that the users are lining up to access Google+.
Despite facing flak from several corners, Google's social network has been well received by the masses.
However, Google+ has a long way to go to cause any kind of upset to Facebook which has 750 million users and Twitter which has more than 300 million users.
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