London's iconic buses are back

London's iconic double-decker buses have gotten an update that looks uncannily like the past.
Seven buses with an open hop-on hop-off platform at the rear hit downtown streets on 20 February, running on route 38, between Victoria Station and Hackney, an east London neighbourhood.
Between the 1950s and 2000s, royal red double deckers sported distinctive open platforms in the rear. But in 2005, authorities took that Routemaster model out of service, replacing it with versions that only have an entrance at the front.
The city also added so-called “bendy", or articulated, buses, because they could carry more passengers, thanks to hinged midsections. But locals loathed the replacement vehicles. A common complaint was that the extended length of the buses snarled traffic on many narrow, twisting streets. So the city pulled that design off the streets in 2011, leaving regular double-decker buses in service and shipping the bendys off to other cities in the United Kingdom that have more spacious streets. Officials then ran a design competition to see if a better bus could be invented. The design that won, by Thomas Heatherwick and Wrightbus, restored the open rear platform.
The revived Routemaster design adds a second staircase to speed up passenger movement. It also claims to get a low 12 miles to gallon thanks to energy efficient engines and interior-heating systems. That efficiency means it produces 40% fewer emissions than the current double deckers, which run on diesel.
The success of this design depends on the outcome of this spring's mayoral election. If candidate Ken Livingstone defeats current mayor Boris Johnson, he may kill the new Routemasters, which are Johnson's pet project and cost about £1.3 million each, significantly higher than more prosaic models. A Johnson victory, on the other hand, may mean that hundreds of the buses are put into services within the next few years.
In the meantime, original 1950s buses with the open platform in the rear are still in service on parts of route 9, running between Trafalgar Square and Kensington, and route 15, running between Trafalgar Square and Tower Hill. Check the Transport for London website for route maps and schedules that say "heritage".

The other New Orleans soundtrack

While some tourists worry that the “real” New Orleans music-scene is made up of only never-ending jazz venues, in reality, the musical city’s voice and beat manifest in a staggeringly diverse set of genres. Indeed, New Orleans would not be the birthplace of jazz if it had not blended the other musical traditions that already had deep roots here.
Related article: Living in New Orleans
Many people seem to think that jazz is moody music played with brass instruments. But in New Orleans, “brass” is a genre in and of itself, a rocking, danceable sound that is definitely not what you listen to while reading Albert Camus in a coffee shop. New Orleans brass is dynamic; older bands may sound like the Dixieland-style Big Band orchestras from the early 20th Century, while younger bands frequently blend in hip hop and R&B.
Check out the Soul Rebels at Les Bons Temps Roule (4801 Magazine Street; 504-895-8117) on Thursday nights, and Rebirth brass band at the Maple Leaf on Tuesdays, to have all your preconceptions about brass music blown out of the water. Both of these bars are relatively near Tulane University, in leafy, lovely neighbourhoods. Other venues in this area include Neutral Ground, a coffee shop that doubles as a singer-songwriter stage, and Carrollton Station, a bar that features similar sounds plus plenty of college rock.
In downtown New Orleans, near the city’s emerging arts and warehouse district, seeing a band at the Circle Bar (1032 St Charles Avenue; 504-588-2616) is like watching a show played in your living room. But because it is so small, the Circle regularly books singer-songwriters and indie talent that the bigger clubs pass up. Chickie Wah Wah, near the Mid-City neighbourhood, offers a similar-sized venue and similar line-up of independent talent that is much beloved by local music connoisseurs.
If you intend to stay in the French Quarter, check out One-Eyed Jacks, consistently one of the best rock music venues in the American South. Local and international talent regularly take the stage, and it also hosts a fantastic regular burlesque revue. Walk 10 minutes from Bourbon Street towards Frenchmen Street (arguably the best place in the world to listen to jazz music) and you will find the Dragon’s Den, which usually looks (and sounds) like the set of a Metallica video. The Den always has a crazy line-up, and regularly hosts all styles of metal and dubstep nights. Just across the street is Maison, where the jazz line up is supplemented by plenty of local dance DJs and indie rock talent. Nearby, d.b.a serves up some of the most diverse musical offerings in town and has a great beer menu to boot.
Head north of here to St Claude Avenue in the Bywater neighbourhood, an emerging part of town where artists have been drawn by cheap rent. The Bywater is packed full of music venues: the Saturn Bar (3067 St Claude Avenue; 504-949-7532) regularly hosts punk shows; the Hi Ho lounge (2239 St Claude Avenue; 504-945-4446) has Monday bluegrass jam sessions and bluegrass, folk, country and rock concerts throughout the week; and at BJs (4301 Burgundy; 504-945-9256) you can catch the blues-y rock tunes of King James and the Special Men on Monday nights. Just around the corner is Vaughan’s (4229 Dauphine Street; 504-947-5562), where local legend Kermit Ruffins tears up some trumpet-funk-brass fusion sounds on Thursday nights.
For a unique New Orleans evening, head to Club Fusion on AP Tureaud Avenue to hear bounce – a New Orleans-born style of dance music that mixes hip-hop, call-and-response and a high dose of synchronized dancing.
Do not forget large venues like Tipitina’s (go to the Uptown location, not the more touristy version in the French Quarter), a New Orleans classic hotspot, and of course, the Rock ‘N’ Bowl, where you can get in some time on the lanes before catching regular zydeco shows, rock, rap and yes, jazz – because seriously, do not come to New Orleans without hearing some jazz.

Mail containing suspicious powder sent to US Congress

Two officials of the US Congress have received letters that contained a "suspicious powdery substance", following which officials sent out a warning cautioning other staffers to be on the lookout.

In an email to Congressional offices, Senate Sergeant at Arms Terry Gainer warned staffers to be on the lookout for letters containing "a suspicious powdery substance", Xinhua reported citing the Hill newspaper, which specialises in reporting the Congress.

The email said a Senate state office and a house district office received threatening mail on Tuesday that contained the substance.

The names of the lawmakers whose offices were targeted were not disclosed.

Gainer said the letters were tested and the enclosed substance found to be harmless.

But there were threats of more letters to come, the report said.

Gainer said his office was working closely with both federal and local law enforcement officials in an investigation into the incident.

Recently, a Moroccan terror suspect was arrested for plotting an attack near the Capitol.

Sachin Tendulkar must quit ODIs, say 57% in TOI poll

After former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, is it time for the world's greatest run-maker to bid adieu to one-day cricket? As many as 57% of respondents in a TOI online poll have answered with a 'yes', indicating that the public anger over Team India's dismal performances Down Under also extends to Sachin Tendulkar's poor ODI form.

The poll went online on TOI's website on Tuesday afternoon and by 9.30 pm on Wednesday, almost 47,000 people had responded. The question asked was, 'Should Sachin retire from ODIs?' While 19,127 voted 'no' (41%), as many as 26,813 votes were polled in favour of the question. Around 2% (817) people were undecided.

The surprising results came a day after Sachin's former opening partner Sourav Ganguly had hinted that the maestro should reconsider his ODI future and concentrate on Test cricket.

Ganguly said it was up to Tendulkar to decide if "he's still good enough to play in the ODIs". The former Indian skipper said, "I think Sachin deserves to decide on his own if and when to leave international cricket or one-day cricket... I don't think the selectors have got the right to ask him to go."

Heinrich Rudolf Hertz's 155th birth anniversary: Google pays tribute with a doodle

Wondering what is that electromagnetic wave that greets you on opening the Google home page? It is Google's doodle marking 155th birth anniversary of German physicist Heinrich Rudolf Hertz.

Hertz through his experiments proved that electricity can be transmitted via electromagnetic waves. It was this discovery that later paved the way toward development of wireless telegraph and radio. In fact, the unit of frequency of a radio wave is called hertz in honour of Heinrich Rudolf Hertz.

Hertz's findings expanded on theory of light put forth by British physicist James Clerk Maxwell in 1884. Hertz measured Maxwell's waves and showed how the velocity of radio waves is equal to the velocity of light. He also calculated the electric field intensity and polarity.

Through his experiments, Hertz expanded the field of electromagnetic transmission. He proved how radio waves can travel through different types of media, which later helped in the development of radar technology.

Hertz was born in Hamburg, then a sovereign state of the German Confederation, into a prosperous Hanseatic family. He studied science and engineering in the German cities of Dresden, Munich and Berlin. In 1880, Hertz completed his PhD from the University of Berlin.

Google doodles are the decorative changes that are made to the Google logo to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists and scientists. The first Google doodle was created by Larry Page and Sergy Brin in the year 1998 to mark the celebrations of the Burning Man Festival. Google currently has over 1000 doodles.

Indian school in Bahrain to get 600 Aakash tablets

Students of an Indian school in Bahrain will soon get the world's cheapest tablet computer 'Aakash', developed by India's Human Resources Development Ministry.

Class 12 students of the Indian School Bahrain will get a tablet each soon, executive committee chairman of the school Abraham John has said.

He said that about 600 Aakash laptops will be made available to the students.

"Students will be able to enhance their knowledge, improve their projects and correspond with teachers and experts as they learn and expand their vision," John told Bahrain's Gulf Daily News.

"The laptops will help in more positive output in examinations and help students make informed decisions, especially in their careers," he said.

He said that the first consignment will be distributed to class 12 students and followed by class 11. "The distribution is in line with Indian government's directives," he said.

The Aakash is a low-cost tablet computer with a 7-inch touch screen priced around USD 35. It was launched in New Delhi on October 5, 2011.

The device was developed as part of the HRD ministry's aim to link 25,000 colleges and 400 universities in an e-learning programme.

Aakash was developed in two versions by British-Indian company Datawind. The advanced model is Akash Ubislate 7, while the less advanced version is for lower level students.

Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Research In Motion, and Hewlett-Packard sign privacy pact

Six of the world's top consumer technology firms have agreed to provide greater privacy disclosures before users download applications in order to protect the personal data of millions of consumers, California's attorney general said on Wednesday.

The agreement binds Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, Research In Motion, and Hewlett-Packard -- and developers on their platforms -- to disclose how they use private data before an app may be downloaded, Attorney General Kamala D. Harris said.

"Your personal privacy should not be the cost of using mobile apps, but all too often it is," said Harris.

Currently 22 of the 30 most downloaded apps do not have privacy notices, said Harris. Some downloaded apps also download a consumer's contact book.

Google said in a statement that under the California agreement, Android users will have "even more ways to make informed decisions when it comes to their privacy."

Apple confirmed the agreement but did not elaborate.

Harris was also among US state lawmakers who on Wednesday signed a letter to Google CEO Larry Page to express "serious concerns" over the web giant's recent decision to consolidate its privacy policy.

The policy change would give Google access to user information across its products, such as GMail and Google+, without the proper ability for consumers to opt out, said the 36 US attorneys general in their letter.

EU authorities have asked Google to halt the policy change until regulators can investigate the matter.

Can and will sue
California's 2004 Online Privacy Protection Act requires privacy disclosures, but Harris said few mobile developers had paid attention to the law in recent years because of confusion over whether it applied to mobile apps.

"Most mobile apps make no effort to inform users about how personal information is used," Harris said at a press conference in San Francisco. "The consumer should be informed of what they are giving up."

The six companies will meet the attorney general in six months to assess compliance among their developers. But Harris acknowledged "there is no clear timeline" to begin enforcement.

The attorney general repeatedly raised the possibility of litigation at some future time under California's unfair competition and false advertising laws if developers continue to publish apps without privacy notices.

"We can sue and we will sue," she said, adding that she hoped the industry would act "in good faith."

There are nearly 600,000 applications for sale in the Apple App Store and 400,000 for sale in Google's Android Market, and consumers have downloaded more than 35 billion, said Harris.

There are also more than 50,000 individual developers who have created the mobile apps currently available for download on the leading platforms, she said.

These figures are expected to grow. She said an estimated 98 billion mobile applications will be downloaded by 2015, and the $6.8 billion market for mobile applications is expected to grow to $25 billion within four years.