Mobile applications are a rapidly developing segment of the global mobile market today. In case of India, with over 600 million mobile phone subscribers, the country is regarded as a mobile hotspot globally. With the increasing demand of mobile apps, there are a lot of opportunities for entrepreneurs generating in the mobile space.
"Enormous opportunities are there in the mobile space for entrepreneurs these days. Because of the revolution in original design manufacturing, devices and applications can be created at a very low cost, without any sort of compromise with the quality", said Shekhar Kirani, Vice President, VeriSign India and Angel Investor, on the occasion of Mobile Apps conference (MAC 2010) organized by Siliconindia in Bangalore. Emphasizing on the significance of the low cost devices and apps, Kumar Shiralagi, Managing Director, India, IndoUS Venture Partners told about the increasing interest of the telecom companies towards the rural areas in India. "The needs of the users living in the rural areas are not similar to that of the users in the urban areas. Telecom companies as well as mobile application developers need to try newer ways which can cater to the demands of those users in the rural areas", said Shiralagi. On the emerging 3G spectrum, he further said that after the implementation of 3G, there would be more mobile apps in the market and the number will keep on increasing. While more and more players are betting on the mobile applications market, applications need to be unique to survive the competition. "Uniqueness is the key for any new application and to get that uniqueness a good understanding of consumer needs is required", said Samir Kumar, Managing Director, Inventus. According to him, solving technical challenges is much easier than dealing with the understanding of consumer needs. Answering to a question by Satish S. Chandodi, Test Manager at Nokia, Bangalore, on the future of mobile applications in India, Kumar said that it may take some time for the market to take off in India, but in coming three to five years, the market will grow higher. Adding to the point of uniqueness of a particular mobile application, Sachin Maheshwari, Principal, Draper Fisher Jurvetson India said, "An entrepreneur should also keep a close eye on his peers. He should know about the current demand of the market and should figure out whether the users will pay for the new application or not". Thursday, September 30, 2010
Indian luxury market to grow over 25 percent
Indian luxury market will grow more than 25 percent over the next few years as disposable income of the upper middle class is surging on the back of robust economic growth. "Luxury industry in India has shown very promising growth over the last couple of years and is set to grow at a minimum of 25 percent per year over the next few years with India emerging as a luxury shopping destination," said Sanjay Kapoor, Managing Director of Genesis Luxury Fashion Pvt. Ltd. Kapoor, who is also Chairman of CII Luxury Goods Forum, said India was emerging as an attractive market for international luxury brands. "We have right environment in place for international luxury brands to have a retail presence across our major metros. I feel we are at the threshold of a great expansion and it is indeed encouraging to be part of this new drive," Kapoor added. According to India Luxury review, Indian luxury goods market was valued at $4.3 billion in 2007. The industry has witnessed robust growth in the last few years because of high disposable income among the middle class people. Upper middle class Indians have one of the highest disposable incomes. Over 126,000 people are classified as high networth individuals and another 3 million households earning above 10 lakhs per annum. The possible opening up of retail sector would give a fillip
to luxury industry in the country. The CII in partnership with A.T. Kearney will release a report next week that will highlight the latest trends in Indian luxury market.
to luxury industry in the country. The CII in partnership with A.T. Kearney will release a report next week that will highlight the latest trends in Indian luxury market.
Sabeer Bhatia bets big on Instacoll's Live Documents
Hotmail co-founder is betting big on Live Documents, a new web-enabled Office productivity suite launched by his start-up firm, Instacoll, to revolutionise the office space. " will do for documents what Hotmail did for email," Bhatia, the Chairman of Instacoll, which had tied up with the Karnataka Government and Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) for its products, told PTI.
It will free documents from the confines of the desktop and open up new vistas of collaboration and accessibility, he said. Live Documents is the Office suite for the next generation, combining the power and responsiveness of the desktop with the collaboration capabilities of the web. It allows users to create, edit and share documents, spreadsheets and presentations in the browser or on the desktop. "In three to four years, we have developed an application that is equivalent to Office. It has all the components. Live Writer is equivalent to Word, while Live spreadsheet is the equivalent of Excel, Live Presentation is equivalent to Power Point and Live Box equivalent to Outlook," he said. has tied up with the Karnataka government for Live InBox, a next generation e-mail application and messaging system. Live Inbox was being implemented on a pilot basis in the Dakshina Kannada and Tumkur districts in the last six months and now, it will be launched in all 30 districts of the state, he said. Nearly 300,000 computers will now have the software, which was completely made in India and developed in Bangalore, he said. Built using Adobe Flash and AIR, the email solution is a unique mix of rich features and great usability and will cater to the needs of both casual users as well as experts with sophisticated requirements, said Sumanth Raghavendra, the CEO and co-founder of the company. The company also tied up with VTU for Live Documents, he said. The best part of application was that it "encompasses both the worlds," Bhatia said, adding it could be used as part of a cloud or on a standalone desktop. It was 100 per cent compatible with Microsoft Office, he said, adding that no data could be lost during import or export of data from the other application to this one, he said. The product also had some enhanced features, including integration with Twitter. "Even as a person is making a live presentation, others could tweet during the presentation," he said. The suite can also be accessed in a number of languages.US and India are natural partners: Todd Stern
With the crucial climate change summit upcoming in Cancun in Mexico, US special envoy Todd Stern has emphasised on the enhanced cooperation between American and India on the issue. "The US and India are natural partners and have great future of cooperation ahead of us. We both have a large supply of human capital and talent. We both are viewed with built in entrepreneurial spirit. I think, quite importantly, with respect to the natural cooperation that we have between the US and India, we are both robust among democracies," Stern said.
"Already we are engaged in very constructive efforts with regard to technology at the bilateral level. Computer virus named Stuxnet attacks China
After Iran, it is China which has been the latest target of the computer virus named Stuxnet. Dubbed as the world's "first cyber superweapon" by experts, the virus is infecting millions of computers around the country. Stuxnet is capable of breaking into computers that control machinery at the heart of industry. After that it allows the attacker to assume control of critical systems like pumps, motors, alarms and valves. Apart from this, it can also explode factory boilers, destroy gas pipelines or even cause a nuclear plant to malfunction. The malware is specially designed to weaken plants and damage industrial systems, instead of stealing personal data. Once Stuxnet successfully penetrates factory computers in China, those industries may collapse, which would damage China's national security, said an engineer surnamed Wang at antivirus service provider Rising. As per the report of the official Xinhua news agency, the attacks had so far infected more than six million individual accounts and nearly 1,000 corporate accounts around the country.The Stuxnet computer worm -- a piece of malicious software (malware) which copies itself and sends itself on to other computers in a network -- was first publicly identified in June. It was found lurking on Siemens systems in India, Indonesia, Pakistan and elsewhere, but the heaviest infiltration appears to be in Iran, according to software security researchers. Yu Xiaoqiu, an analyst with the Information Technology Security Evaluation Centre, downplayed the malware threat. "So far we don't see any severe damage done by the virus," Yu was quoted by the Global Times as saying.
Top 10 mistakes of Google Google
Top 10 mistakes of Google Google is one of the biggest companies in the Internet today. It has been popular because of its search engine. Despite its size and popularity the company also has its own list of mistakes. Here are the top 10 mistakes of Google.
1. Gmail is recently experiencing outage and account inaccessibility. Is happens from time to time and Google has not yet addressed it until now. This will definitely tarnish the image of Google. You may check about the latest problem of gmail here. Stan Schroeder of Mashable published an article stating “gmail down panic mode on”.
2. Google Maps is another brilliant concept but it can also help terrorists with bad intentions do their strategic planning. May be you should know that “Terrorist Use of Google Earth Raises Security Fears” and “Google Maps aids terrorists”. Every technology have its own flaws but it can also be recovered. There are so many severe questions on national securities. For example latest Mumbai bomb blast terrorist “Kasab” is in arthur road jail so will Google remove arthur road from its map?
3. The Chrome is yet another web browser. Who needs another one? Google already partnered with Mozilla for the Firefox so there’s no point in adding another web browser. John Brandon says that “Is Chrome the first epic fail at Google?”You should also read the chrome fail discussion on the reddit. More over this is the comment from a user in a Google groups I just updated Google Chrome to the latest version, RC 1 i. e. non-beta. And now my Gtalk within Orkut states that it doesn’t work with this browser. Come on, both are Google products… They should work better together, not fail on such an epic scale. Update: Google is continuously working on project “chrome” and come up with some new features. I wish to remove this point after extensions updates in the Chrome final release. (on beta and developer versions it have extensions features and we also developed Google Chrome Extensions for Gtalk , checking IP and Speed Test )
4. Google Finance is so US centered, you cannot find good information about other countries. There are competitions that are far better like Yahoo Finance. Felix Salmon questioned “Is Google Too Big To Fail?”. According to a blog post “Minor disadvantages of Google Finance are that it doesn’t show all the popular ratios that Yahoo does, such as the PEG. For foreign stocks, it shows profit margin and operating margin information, but not the P/E or P/S”
5. Google Checkout is yet another mistake from Google. It is half-baked and it is so limited. Why should people use this when you have PayPal which offers more options. You check some advantages and disadvantages of Google Checkout vs PayPal.
6. Picasa is a good photo manager but Picasa Web album is definitely a bad idea. The user interface is confusing. I personally like to spend $25 on Flickr Pro rather than using Picasa.
7. Google Web Accelerator is another bad product from Google. It has many privacy issues. It also causes problems with some websites not loading properly. 37signals reports in fact that the Google Web Accelerator “Google is essentially clicking every link on the page — including links like “delete this” or “cancel that. ” And to make matters worse, Google ignores the Javascript confirmations“. Moreover checkout some “Hard facts about Google’s Web Accelerator”.
8. Google Video is also a bad idea. It did not feature popular TV shows. And it is so slow. Have a look on Why Google Video Will Fail and
9. Google Desktop is posing security threats among users. The software pulls personal data from your PC.
10. There are too many instant messaging software out there. Google Talk is too late. More over foxnews recently discloses that ‘ViddyHo’ Virus Spreads Through Google Chat”. In case you have the time ,look over the some interesting facts about Google Talk.
Last but not least newowin.net say’s that “Google to kill 6 of its failed projects” these are listed as follows:
• Google Video
• Google Catalog Search
• Google Notebook
• Dodgeball
• Jaiku
• Google Mashup Editor
The top 10 mistakes of Google are easy to correct. With the way the company works these can be done within months. I just remember this quote (find in a webmaster forum )
“Google seem to want to be the next Yahoo and Yahoo seem to want to be the next Google”
Netbiscuits joins with Samsung for Bada OS
Netbiscuits customers will now be provided with apps made for Samsung's OS-Bada. With a combination of both the website and app, the customers of Netbiscuits can now manage mobile sites and apps for multiple platforms using one single, cloud based software system, reports Supriya Bhattacharjee of Telecomyatra. The new apps will provide access to services like Immonet.de, Spiegel Mobil, PC-Welt, GameStar, CIO, TechChannel, ComputerWoche, kicker Mobil and Stau Mobil.
"The native hybrid apps concept enables app store operators to populate their stores fast and help content and service providers to set up and manage mobile websites and apps cross-platform in a cost-efficient way using Netbiscuits cloud-based software system," said Michael Neidhoefer, CEO of Netbiscuits. Axel Springer, Spiegel Online, IDG Germany and kicker online are the first Netbiscuits' customers to be enabled with Samsung bada native hybrid apps. Mukesh Ambani tops India rich list for 3 consecutive times
RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani has topped Forbes magazine's list with a net worth of $27 billion, for the third consecutive time. Steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, remains at number two with a net worth of $26.1 billion. However both are less well off than they were a year ago. Moving up to third position this year is IT outsourcer Wipro's Azim Premji. His wealth increased to $17.6 billion from $14.9 billion last year amid an improving outlook for the sector.
According to the Forbes India Rich List, there are 69 billionaires this year, compared to 52 last year. The combined net worth of India's 100 richest people is $300 billion, up from $276 billion last year. This year, there are 69 billionaires on the India Rich List, 17 more than last year. "As we had predicted, the huge correction in Indian wealth which occurred in 2008 is fast becoming a distant memory. This year's list illustrates the vibrancy and resilience of India's economy. It signals a second wave of Indian capitalists accumulating fantastic fortunes especially in sectors such as pharmaceuticals and real estate," said Naazneen Karmali, India Editor of Forbes Asia and Mumbai bureau manager. The top four tycoons on the list are worth a combined $86 billion, short of the $180 billion record they set three years ago, and well shy of the $150 billion net worth of the four richest Americans. A notable gainer is Ajay Piramal of life sciences firm Piramal Healthcare (No. 37; $1.75 billion). Also a winner this year is 45-year old media mogul Kalanithi Maran. Ranked No. 17 with a net worth of $4 billion, up by 74 percent from last year's $2.3 billion, he is the biggest gainer in percentage terms. The owner of Sun TV Network caused a stir this year when he took more than one-third stake in domestic airline SpiceJet. Unfortunately, Mukesh's younger sibling Anil Ambani lost the third spot on the list to IT major Wipro and fell to sixth rank. Mobile apps to be another revolution in Communication
With the technology becoming the top echelon for any business, information dissemination is no more confined to any particular medium. After the success of internet, mobiles could prove to be more advantageous as it is user friendly and is not place dependent, allowing freedom to the user to access internet as per his or her convenience.
Internet mobile applications seems to be easy and interesting but putting all kind of content on a cell phone is quite a task to be accomplished. Addressing these issues, Siliconindia had organized the Mobile Applications Conference, to provide a platform for the mobile application developers and entrepreneurs in mobile technology. "There is lot of complexities with mobile applications. Mobile device is not a PC. It has different versions, editions, feature packs, firmware updates and all of them have to be dealt separately," said Vishwanath Alluri, Chairman, CEO & Founder, IMImobile. Alluri figured out some of the problems faced by developers and listed out some of them being inconsistency in implementation of standards, inconsistencies in capabilities, the challenge of distribution and monetization and the limited access to the applications. Sharing the entrepreneurial experiences, Mouli Raman, CTO & Co-Founder said, "We worked with telecom operators closely to understand the consumer mindset and we got to know that one out of every four consumers in India uses ringback tones." OnMobile has marked its presence in 26 countries across the world and will expand its presence in nearly 40 countries in over a year. Raman shared an important fact that, many apps which are applicable in the Indian market is applicable on the rest of Asian markets as well, though the content might be different but the taste of the consumers is the same. It is very important for every app developer that, the apps they create should be easy to use or else the consumers will drop that app and the opportunity to bill the customers through mobile networks becomes minimal. Indian market is perceived to be a big market for mobile apps but there are certain drawbacks which might create problems for an easy growth of mobile applications. "Though India is a big market but the internet bandwidth available over here is not as good as the one in U.S. and European countries," said Shiva Bayyapunedi, Founder & Director, Apalya. The market of mobile applications is about to grow as big as the internet as hundreds of handsets are capable of installing and running apps. With the 3G coming to India, mobile applications are going to have a major impact on our economy. Skype, Facebook partnership to vie Google Voice
Internet telephony leader Skype and social networking site Facebook are partnering with each other, integrating the voice and video chat capabilities of Skype with Facebook. The alliance of the two companies would pose a threat to Google, which recently integrated Google Voice VoIP calling into Gmail, reports Noemi Cariaso-Mora of All247news.com. 
Recently launched Google Voice is going to face tough competition from Internet telephony leader Skype and social networking site Facebook, as they are announcing an integration in their services, reports Noemi Cariaso-Mora of All247news.com. Google Voice is a service that Google introduced for Gmail users to make voice calls to people on their list without logging off their site. On the other hand, in the Facebook-Skype integration, Facebook users will be able to use their log in information to access Skype. Apart from that Skype will be having status updates and news feeds in Facebook. This integration will boost membership for both companies whose combined registered users have reached 1 billion. Facebook can take advantage of Skype's strong presence in the international scene while Skype services will easily be distributed to the 500 million Facebook users. As of press time, both camps are neither acknowledging nor denying such talks and refused to issue any official statements or comments.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Rural India to support $2 Billion clean-energy market
A $2 billion a year market for clean-energy products such as solar-powered lanterns may exist among India's rural poor who want dependable, energy-efficient devices. The poor who live outside cities and comprise 60 percent of the nation's 1.2 billion people already spend $4.8 billion a year on fuels like firewood and dung for energy for lack of better, more reliable alternatives, said the report supported by the ICICI Foundation. 
One of three Indians lack access to electricity, a deficit that must be closed to ensure the expansion of the world's third-fastest growing major economy, the International Energy Agency said that India is seeking to promote standalone renewable energy projects, including 2,000 megawatts of decentralized solar plants by 2022, to help plug gaps in its electricity grid. Saurabh Lall, a research officer at the Washington-based World Resources Institute, which helped conduct the study said that if there are high-quality renewable products and services that meet consumer demand available, there is a market for them, even in the very poorest communities. Companies supplying clean-energy alternatives to rural communities report that sales have grown on average by 36 percent since 2004. The study surveyed 23 companies in India. A shortage of power-generating capacity and other infrastructure shaves 2 percentage points from growth, the Finance Ministry estimates. The economy has expanded an average 8.5 percent in the last five years.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Rural_India_to_support_2_Billion_cleanenergy_market-nid-72098.html
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Rural_India_to_support_2_Billion_cleanenergy_market-nid-72098.html
US Senate rejects bill to curb outsourcing
The US Senate has rejected a bill that sought to curb outsourcing of work to countries like India and create jobs by denying tax cuts to companies that hire a non-citizen to replace a domestic worker. With Republicans clearly opposed to the move, the bill - which was seen by India as another major protectionist measure by Washington against developing countries - was rejected 53-45, with two abstentions. The bill primarily sought three actions: * Deny employment tax exemptions for 24 months to companies that hire a non-citizen or a non-permanent resident to replace a domestic worker * Deny any tax benefits for the cost of an American job that is shipped out or outsourced overseas * Eliminate tax exemption on that part of an income of a foreign firm that arises out of property imported into the US, other than on farm goods not grown domestically. A bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to create American jobs and to prevent the off-shoring of such jobs overseas, read the official measure proposed in the event of the passage of the bill, sponsored by Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois. TechAmerica, the association of some 11,000 information technology companies in the US, was opposed to the move and said rather than nurse the economy back, it would actually undermine the recovery. This legislation is misnamed because it would eliminate American jobs not create them, said TechAmerica President Phil Bond. This bill would increase taxes only for US companies operating outside of the US, hindering their global competitiveness. The rejection came barely a week after India's Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, during a visit here, expressed New Delhi's concern over that he called were restrictive and protectionist policies adopted by the US in the last few months. "Protectionism kills growth and innovation. To ensure we continue our high growth trajectories, we have to be strong to resist domestic calls and pressures to increase barriers to trade," Sharma told US Trade Representative Ron Kirk. "I feel the US has seriously registered India's view point as well concerns of the Indian IT industry. We do hope there will be timely and appropriate responses," he told reporters after his meeting with Kirk. India has been objecting to a series of protectionist measures announced by the US recently, and has said these steps were likely to negatively affect the business of Indian outsourcing companies. Among the steps was an increase in the US visa fee, that is estimated to put an additional burden of $250 million annually on Indian IT firms. The US increased the fee by $2,000 for certain H-1B and $2,250 for L-1A and L-1B. Another protectionist approach was by the US state of Ohio, which recently banned offshore outsourcing by government departments.http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/US_Senate_rejects_bill_to_curb_outsourcing__-nid-72114.html
Nooyi, Kochhar among most powerful biz women
Pepsico chief Indra Nooyi has been named as the most powerful woman in corporate America by the Fortune magazine, while four other Indian women including ICICI Bank's Chanda Kochhar have made the cut in the list of female business honchos outside the US. Nooyi, chairman and CEO of beverages major Pepsico, has topped the list of 50 Most Powerful Women in US for the fifth time. In the latest ranking, Nooyi is followed by Kraft Foods' chief Irene Rosenfeld at the second spot and Archer Daniels Midland's boss Patricia Woertz at the third place. Others in the top ten include WellPoint's Angela Braly (4th), Avon Products' Andrea Jung (5th), media personality Oprah Winfrey (6th rank), Xerox chief Ursula Burns (9) and Yahoo!'s head Carol Bartz (10). "It was a year of expansion for this elite group.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Nooyi_Kochhar_among_most_powerful_biz_women-nid-72118.html
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Nooyi_Kochhar_among_most_powerful_biz_women-nid-72118.html
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Will Satyam be able to bring back its lost shine?
After two years, Mahindra Satyam is going to announce its first financial statements. Now, the employees, investors and customers are keeping their fingers crossed and are expecting that the company will be able to get new business and clarify about the company's financial health, reports Sreekala G and Pankaj Mishra of the Economic Times. "For me, tomorrow is the moment of truthwe will have something to show to our customers , both existing and potential," said Akshay Prakash, a 33-year-old project manager at Mahindra Satyam. Since two years, Satyam has been struggling to retain customers and its key employees. The company's SAP practice which was serving top customers like GE, GM and Nestle has been among the worst hit. The employee count from January 2009 has come down to 800 professionals from initial count of around 4,500 staff. Even the unit head Manish Mehta had quit to join Patni. "Financials are key to business and I believe that is the last tick mark left for the new management to do. It will open floodgates and we are ready to face it. For us, numbers are just another milestone. It will give more clarity to our customers and will help rebuild confidence and attract new talent to the company,"said Bhanu Murthy Sattiraju, Vice-President of the company's digital convergence business unit. Investors and experts hope that the new management would give a clear disclosure of quarterly results after two years. In January 2009, Satyam founder B Ramalinga Raju admitted to a fraud of inflating the company's revenues to the tune of 7,136 crore. Later, Tech Mahindra acquired a 43 percent stake in the company through a government-controlled auction.
Computers will help people remember things in future: Schmidt
Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google has envisioned a future in which people will remember things with the help of computers, a future in which computers will drive people's cars and translate phone conversations, reports Scott Morrison of the Wall Street Journal. Speaking on the occasion of TechCrunch Disrupt conference, Schmidt said that the combination of cloud computing and powerful mobile phones will also enable Google to one day tell people things they may want to know as they are walking down the street, without having to type in any search queries. Schmidt referred to it as a 'serendipity engine' and said that this will eventually be available to billions of people around the world, rather than "just the elites". The new computer technologies are creating a world in which people will never be lonely because they can always connect to some friend online and this future, he added. But Schmidt was careful to note that these new services will require that people consent to sharing information about themselves so Google can better target its services. He said ongoing debates about privacy and data encryption are "healthy" because the ability of powerful computers to process and manipulate information raises issues that are unresolved.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Computers_will_help_people_remember_things_in_future_Schmidt-nid-72073.html
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Computers_will_help_people_remember_things_in_future_Schmidt-nid-72073.html
Anti-outsourcing bill blocked by Senate Republicans
A Democratic bill on ending the tax deductions enjoyed by companies that close their U.S. plants and move overseas has been blocked by Senate Republicans. Democrats, who got only 45 votes, couldn't get the 60 votes needed to clear Republican procedural hurdle, reports Kim Dixon of Reuters. While most Democrats backed ending tax preferences, many of them opposed the bill also, including Max Baucus, Chairman of the tax-writing Finance Committee. According to Democratic backers, who vow to make the vote a campaign issue in the November 2 congressional election, claimed that Republicans have undermined their efforts to create jobs. On the other hand, Republicans and business groups dismissed the bill as a political stunt that would increase taxes on companies and undermine job growth. Nearly 15 million Americans are out of work and unemployment has been stuck near 10 percent for more than a year, according to sources. "The companies this bill targets, by and large, aren't opening overseas subsidiaries to make products for Americans," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said. The bill also takes on a hot tax topic known as "deferral," the ability of companies to defer taxes on income earned abroad. The bill would repeal deferral for companies that close or cut a business in the U.S. and expand overseas with the intention of importing goods for sale in the U.S.
MindTree gets two IM deals worth $10 Million
MindTree, a global IT solutions company, has been awarded with two infrastructure management services (IMS) deals. The deals individually could get the firm around $5 million totaling to $10 million at the end of the contracts, reports Goutam Das of The Financial Express. The contract period of the deals are spread across a few years. MindTree counts IMS as one of its fastest growing business. The IMS contributed four percent to its FY2010 revenue of Rs. 1,296 crore and is expecting that the service would put in six percent revenue in its pie by this year end. 
The company has started getting multi-year contracts since Q4 of FY10, shared Ram Mohan C, senior Vice President and Head of Infrastructure Management and Tech Support, MindTree. He said, "Today, there are a lot of enquiries. We have about three to four multi-year multi-million dollar deals in the pipeline now." The IMS division of MindTree was greatly boosted when it acquired 7Strata, a Chennai-based IMS company. It has helped in getting new deals for MindTree. Mohan said, "One deal from a India-based customer required 25-30 people. The second one has 10-15 people. The deals are for remote desktop support and critical server management." With this acquisition, MindTree got the Indian market for remote desktop support services. The remote infrastructure management (RIM) sector is gaining huge benefits in the recent days. In fact the Nasscom had recently announced that the RIM sector had export revenues of $4.3 billion in FY2010, a growth of 11 percent.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/MindTree_gets_two_IM_deals_worth_10_Million-nid-72048.html
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/MindTree_gets_two_IM_deals_worth_10_Million-nid-72048.html
Now, an Indian becomes one of the youngest profs in Cambridge
Vikram Deshpande, an IIT-Bombay alumnus is all set to join the league of the eminent professors at the Cambridge University. What sets him apart in the prestigious professors group is his age. At 38, this Mumbai lad is set to be one of the youngest professors at Cambridge when he joins the university on October 1, reports Anahita Mukherji of Times News Network. 
Deshpande will also be one among the few Indian professors in the university. Deshpande said, "It's important to pursue a career in a field that you are passionate about. Only then can you work hard at it." He is presently posted as a reader in the engineering faculty at Cambridge. Deshpande did his schooling in Bombay Scottish School, Mahim. His father, Sudhir Deshpande, shares Deshpande's childhood and says he was very mischievous as a kid. He said, "Vikram was very bright but everyone thought his elder brother was cleverer at studies than he was." Even Deshpande's guide at IIT-Bombay, MSC Bose vouches for his credibility when he says, "Over the past 25 years, at IIT-Bombay I have had more than 50 BTech project students. It is safe to say that Mr Deshpande is the star of this group.... (he) is a gifted student, has expertise in computer analysis and optimal design of automobile systems. There is no doubt in my mind that he will become an outstanding teacher and researcher." Deshpande rose to new heights seven years ago when he was awarded the Philip Leverhulme prize worth 50,000 pounds. The prize is awarded to scholars in UK institutions for outstanding research achievements. Deshpande earned his PhD from Cambridge University and a research fellowship at Brown University in the U.S. He was then appointed as an assistant lecturer at Cambridge in October 1999. In the last ten years, Deshpande also had a brief stint as associate professor at the University of California.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Now_an_Indian_becomes_one_of_the_youngest_profs_in_Cambridge-nid-72050.html
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Now_an_Indian_becomes_one_of_the_youngest_profs_in_Cambridge-nid-72050.html
Monday, September 27, 2010
Sony Ericsson ditches Symbian in favor of Android
Android is gaining ground in the mobile operating system arena. And it is expected to reach the top spot by 2013. With this background, it comes as no surprise that Sony Ericsson has officially confirmed that it will stop producing Symbian based smartphones in future, and will switch over to Android platform for most of its products. 
The last of Sony's smartphones to run on Symbian will be the Vivaz and the Vivaz Pro. The confirmation comes from a Sony Ericsson spokesperson who said, "We have no plans for the time being to develop any new products on the Symbian Foundation standard or operating system." Although Sony will continue to remain a member of the Symbian Foundation, the company's Chief Creation Officer, Rikko Sakaguch has also confirmed about its future with the Android platform. Although Symbian is still the most popular platform for smartphones, popularized by Nokia, its market share has drastically fallen from 41.2 percent in Q2 this year as compared to 51 percent in the same period last year. Reports also mention that the markets for iOS and Android have increased significantly in the same time frame. Other smartphone makers like Samsung and LG have also cut back on their support for Symbian. As Sony prepares to gain market share by switching to Android from Symbian, the company has been condemned for its slow upgradation of Android platforms. At a time when device makers are releasing Android 2.2 ready devices in market, some of Sony's Android 2.1 models are yet to hit the market that were scheduled to hit shelves this month. At this point, we can only hope that Sony gears up and shifts to Android 2.2 to be in the race.http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Sony_Ericsson_ditches_Symbian_in_favor_of_Android-nid-72003.html
More offers with dream salaries for IIM-Calcutta
With more placement offers and an average salary of Rs.18.4 lakh per annum, the Indian Institute of Management - Calcutta (IIM-Calcutta) concluded the placement for students of the third batch of the Post Graduation Programme for Executives (PGPEX). "Contrary to last year, this year the number of offers and participation of recruiters were higher. The average salary this year is Rs.18.4 lakh, compared to Rs.18 lakh last year. However, like last year the highest salary remained at Rs.35 lakh. Moreover, this year there was an international offer, compared to nothing last year," said a press release issued by IIM-Calcutta Monday. The recruiting giants include both Indian and global multinationals companies. The recruiting multinational companies include McKinsey & Co., Deloitte, TCS, Hewlett-Packard, Mindtree Consulting, Amazon Consulting, Accenture and Sapient in Consulting, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Rediff.com, HCL and Infosys BPO in IT/ITES/Telecom, Opus Soft, Google (India) and Zycus in Sales and Marketing, KPIT Cummins, Wellspun Group and Siemens in Project Management/Operations and Directi Internet Solutions, Infosys, Tata International and Manipal Education Group in Strategy and Business Development. IIM-Calcutta launched the one year full time residential programme for executives in 2006. On successful completion of the programme, participants are awarded a diploma titled Post Graduate Diploma in Management for Executives (PGPEX).
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/More_offers_with_dream_salaries_for_IIMCalcutta__-nid-72016.html
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/More_offers_with_dream_salaries_for_IIMCalcutta__-nid-72016.html
Obama signs $42 Billion bill to bring Americans back to work
The National unemployment rate reported was 9.6 percent since August 2009. In order to recover the struggling economy which is reeling under unemployment pressures, Obama signed the $42 billion bill, which will create 500,000 jobs. About $30 billion will go into smaller banks which will be lending loans to businesses. The rest of the $12 million will support business tax breaks to encourage investment, entrepreneurship and hiring. The legislation will save a lot of money for the owners and also from getting bankrupt. It not only reduces tax burden but also makes it easier for them to get loans. President Barrack Obama pressed the Congress for the bill to be passed .After months of debate the Republicans and Democrats gave their nod in favor of the president. Obama said, "I'm grateful that Democrats and a few Republicans came together to support this common-sense plan to put Americans back to work." Previously, tax cuts were given to businesses which were outsourced to other countries, now tax cuts are given to companies whose businesses are in U.S. and importance is given to ventures that are going to support the growth of U.S. economy. This bill could be an extension of Obama's trial to stop the tax breaks which were given to the companies that outsource jobs to emerging markets.
India should learn from China: Murthy
The series of issues like H1B visa fee increase and some proposed measures and rhetoric against outsourcing, has created a tension in the Indian business scenario. Infosys Chairman Narayana Murthy said that Indian industry does very little work with the U.S. government, either state or federal. Therefore, whatever happened in Ohio is not going to have much impact on Indians. 
As far as the H1, L1 visas are concerned; having a financial filter to vary policy is probably the best because that way there will be a certain burden on us but also an incentive to innovate, to come out with better value propositions for our customers. The solution for us is not to become strident or jingoistic. It would be better to use innovation, use ideas by which we become more indispensable to our customer. Today, China does not talk about it much. They have demonstrated by becoming more and more indispensable to the global economic order thanks to their hard work and commitment. China has understood that talk can take you only so far. Industry, individual companies, academia and government together can make Indian companies more and more indispensable to the new world economic order. China is a fantastic example - a nation which has become the second largest economy globally in a matter of 32 years. Isn't it extraordinary? Somehow, nobody says here, "Why don't we learn from China?" It is unbelievable that China will be one of the two countries they will shortlist to build California's high-speed metro! Many industry experts agree to this fact that Indians need to understand Chinese & their behavior patterns i.e their dedication towards their work. India always looks at China as a competitor but these experts opinion leave a question to all of us. Are we really on the same level of China to compete with them?
India aims to build 1 Million multi-skilled workforce
In the face of rising global competition, Government is now targeting to build one million-strong multi-skilled workforce of "world standard". A central scheme is being implemented to upgrade ITIs into centres of excellence for producing multi-skilled workforce of "world standard" and one million persons will be trained and their skills be tested and certified under the scheme, Labour and Employment Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said. 
Asserting that quality and relevance in skill are the key to India's global competitiveness, he said there is a need to recognize the importance of synchronising national skill development policies with policies on technology, trade and environment. Kharge was addressing a Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar and National Safety Award distribution function organised by The Labour and Employment Ministry. 114 industrial establishments were given National Safety Awards in recognition of their outstanding safety performance. The minister presented 28 Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar, to be shared by 128 persons, for their outstanding contribution in improvement of quality, productivity and working conditions of their establishments. "We are aiming at nurturing the dormant talent and the skill, which is present abundantly in every worker, so that he or she is presented with suitable opportunities and a work atmosphere in which every worker can develop to his optimum level of efficiency," he added. He also appealed the industrial establishments to introduce worker-participative schemes in a big way to harness and leverage the hidden potentials of the workers and requested the trade unions to make "these work participative schemes successful". Kharge said that Indian economy is facing new challenges on the international front, which have implications for employment growth. "Some of these challenges are--absorbing capital inflow for investment purposes, providing enought security to migrant workers going abroad, enhancing skill levels of migrant workers going abroad, protecting small and medium enterprises which face unequal competition and providing incentives to labour intensive export sectors like textile, gems and jewellery and handicraft," he said. Minister said that globalisation has influenced the Indian labour market "significantly". The increased international trade has provided the impetus for the introduction of new and modern technologies which has a "direct bearing" on the skill enhancement of the Indian workforce, he added.http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/India_aims_to_build_1_Million_multiskilled_workforce_-nid-72013.html
Indian-American working on robots to improve daily life
They're mundane, yet daunting tasks: Tidying a messy room or assembling a bookshelf from a kit of parts. Fetching a hairbrush for someone who can't do it herself. What if a robot could do it for you? Assistant professor of computer science Ashutosh Saxena at the Cornell University in the U.S., who did his B. Tech. from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 2004, is working to bring such robots into homes and offices. 
Saxena, who joined the Cornell faculty in 2009, believes robots can make people's lives better and more productive, according to a Cornell release. "Just like people buy a car, I envision that in five to 10 years, people will buy an assistive robot that will be cheaper or about the same cost as a car," Saxena said. Saxena leads Cornell's Personal Robotics Lab, which develops software for complex, high-level robotics. Among the lab's goals are programming robots that can clean up a disheveled room, assemble a bookshelf and load and unload a dishwasher - all without human intervention. One of the biggest technical challenges is endowing robots with the ability to learn in uncertain environments. It's one thing to make a robot do simple tasks: Pick up this pen. Move to the left. It's quite another to make a robot understand how to pick up an object it's never encountered or navigate a room it's never seen. "For example, if you look at a new object, how would you pick it up? If you are in a new environment, how do you figure out how far away things are?" Saxena said. On a typical afternoon in Upson Hall's Personal Robotics Lab, Saxena and his students can be found huddled around a computer perfecting the coding to make their robots come alive. One of their research platforms is a robotic arm with a gripper. Using a camera, the robot evaluates an object -- say, a cup or plate -- and figures out how best to grab it. This technology will eventually integrate into the full-fledged dishwasher-loading robot. Another set of students works on a roving robot with a camera. Its job is to find an object, such as a shoe, by systematically scanning the room. "In a cluttered room, it is notoriously difficult for today's object detection algorithms to reliably find an object as simple as a shoe," Saxena said. The key is to not look at this task in isolation, he explained. If the three-dimensional structure of the room is known, it becomes easier to find the objects. The lab is building learning algorithms to enable roboticists to quickly combine several perception algorithms into a more reliable one. Graduate students Congcong Li and Adarsh Kowdle presented these projects at the European Conference on Computer Vision, held in Greece Sep 5-11.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/IndianAmerican_working_on_robots_to_improve_daily_life-nid-71995.html
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/IndianAmerican_working_on_robots_to_improve_daily_life-nid-71995.html
RIM unveils its tablet PC, the BlackBerry PlayBook
The anticipation is finally over. The curtains are up. The much in talks Research in Motion (RIM)'s tablet, called the BlackBerry PlayBook, was unveiled at the Developers' Conference. The 'enterprise ready' tablet has a seven inch screen. Weighing less than a pound, the PlayBook will support Adobe Flash Player 10.1 (a feature lacked by the iPad) and is expected to go on sale early 2011. Nothing has been mentioned about the tablet's pricing. 
Although the screen size of the PlayBook is smaller compared to its able competitor, Apple's iPad (9.7 inch screen size) but it scores over the latter in the camera section. The PlayBook has two cameras including a 3MP front facing one for videoconferencing. The PlayBook features computer monitors and TV outlets for it to display material. The tablet will use a new OS, called the BlackBerry Tablet OS, developed by QNX Software Systems. QNX was acquired by RIM early this year from Harman International. The device will run on a 1GHz dual-core processor, with 1GB of RAM as well as HDMI and USB ports. The PlayBook can be synced-up with other RIM handsets through Bluetooth. The device will be Wi-Fi enabled and will be followed by 3G and 4G tablets in future. Michael Lazaridis, Co-Chief Executive, RIM said about the PlayBook that the new tablet contained several features requested by corporate information technology departments. He branded the PlayBook as "the world's first professional tablet". Lazaridis emphasized on the fact that the PlayBook was fully compatible with the special servers that corporations and governments now used to control and monitor employees' BlackBerry devices. While Apple has always been ahead of RIM in terms of number of applications, the announcement of the PlayBook was followed by Amazon announcing introduction of Kindle e-book application for the PlayBook. Charles S. Golvin, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research said about the PlayBook, "It's a very real product. But obviously it's very much a work in progress."
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/RIM_unveils_its_tablet_PC_the_BlackBerry_PlayBook-nid-72031.html
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/RIM_unveils_its_tablet_PC_the_BlackBerry_PlayBook-nid-72031.html
Nandurbar to get first of unique identity numbers on Sep 29
India starts giving unique identity number to each of its one billion-plus citizens Wednesday when under the ambitious project the first set of numbers is distributed to some villagers of Nandurbar district in Maharashtra. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi will formally launch the Unique Identification Numbers (Aadhaar) nationally by distributing the first numbers among the villagers, the Planning Commission said Monday. 
The project is being implemented by Unique Identification Authority of India, which began working in August 2009 and promised it would start delivering the numbers within 12 to 18 months, the Planning Commission statement said. 'With the launch date for the project scheduled for Sep 29 now, the Unique ID Mission has achieved its goal of on-time delivery,' it added. The mission aims at delivering the 'Aadhaar' number to every resident in the country, besides setting up a cost-effective, ubiquitous authentication infrastructure to easily verify these identities online and in real-time. The unique identity project would ensure the uniqueness of the 'Aadhaar' by linking them to biometric attributes like fingerprints and iris scans, said the statement adding, 'This will help agencies and service providers across India clean out duplicates and fakes from their databases'. 'The elimination of duplicate, ghost and fake identities across various schemes is expected to substantially improve the efficiency of the delivery systems by ensuring that the leakages are reduced and the benefits reach the right people,' it added. Pointing out the lack of identity proof available with large numbers of citizens, especially the poor ones, the statement said that this lack disables the most marginalized section of the society in accessing any benefit of various programmes launched by the government for them. 'The Aadhaar number will ease these difficulties in identification, by providing a nationally valid and verifiable single source of identity proof,' it added.http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Nandurbar_to_get_first_of_unique_identity_numbers_on_Sep_29-nid-72025.html
iPhone, Android mobile users to have glasses-free 3D experience
Spatial View, an online store of stereo 3D content, is developing an application and hardware solution that allow iPhone and Android mobile users to watch glasses-free 3D stereoscopic movies and images. The 3DeeCentral app for the iPhone will appear first, which is a portal to an online movie store where users will be able to download content designed to work in conjunction with Spatial View's 3DeeSlide. The 3DeeSlide is a clip on lenticular lens attachment, which works in portrait and landscape modes and also supports touch-through. The experience, while not as compelling as watching 3D on a larger screen using glasses, was nonetheless 'awesome' and an exciting development for the smartphone segment, according to Business Insider. The iPhone screen is expected to cost under $20 and will work on the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Screens for the iPhone 4, the iPad and Android devices will also become available after the initial launch.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Confused of Indian CSR? Siliconindia unveils platform to strengthen CSR in India
We are so engrossed with our personal and professional lives that it leaves us hardly any time to think or do something about the less fortunate ones. Companies across the globe have the prime motive of making profit and run their business to grow big. Is it then a case of Objectivism as proposed by Ayn Rand, as a philosophy of living on earth, which the modern world is following? Fortunately not! Even in the profit making businesses, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has emerged as a primary duty. However, many activities by the corporates or individuals are never revealed, and hence they fail to enthuse the people at large. So, SiliconIndia will provide a new platform through their portal siliconindia.org to bring such activities to the limelight and encourage everyone to take their bits of learning from it and contribute more for the social good. "The CSR activities of TATA, Birla or Infosys, Wipro is always in the limelight. But think about a small firm addressing some local needs as a part of their social duties in some corners of North-East. It is to encourage such activities and empower the organizations more, our new platform is set into place," says Gunjan Sinha, Chairman of SiliconIndia. As a part of CSR, Indian companies are spending about Rs.30,000 crore in a year, where the company indulges in sustainable or responsible activities that point to its good intentions as a corporate citizen. But when it comes to awareness even within the organization, there is a huge gap. Harvi Sachar, CEO of SiliconIndia explains, "When we talk to employees at the lower rungs, they are hardly aware of the any societal initiatives of the company and the case remains intact for corporate bigwigs. There is a huge need to spread these social activities, within the corporates, among the employees. Through siliconindia.org, we are striving for a well-spread awareness of each of these initiatives." Along with the corporates, there is also the need to drive the attention towards a community which since long has been striving for the solution of every minute issue in the country - the NGOs. It's about two million NGOs operating in India, but the people with the funds are hardly aware of the majority of them. The new CSR portal will become a podium for every NGO to share their stories and get a mindshare of every corporate body. The new venture of SiliconIndia will be a platform where different CSR efforts can leverage each others' resources and learnings to provide maximum help to their target communities in India. The program is also inclined to bring in more corporate sponsors for NGOs and also to attract more individual professionals as volunteers and donors.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Confused_of_Indian_CSR_Siliconindia_unveils_platform_to_strengthen-nid-71979.html
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Confused_of_Indian_CSR_Siliconindia_unveils_platform_to_strengthen-nid-71979.html
India still to produce adequate employment opportunities
India's GDP growth might have recovered from the global crisis, but the question still remains whether there are adequate employment opportunities or not. According to the Economist, India had a joblessness rate of 10.7 percent in 2009, reports N Chandra Mohan of Rediff.com. But as per the latest official number on the rate of unemployment, it is eight percent on a daily status basis in 2007-08. Unlike advanced countries where up-to-date information is available on labour market behaviour, this information is available in India only with a five-year lag. The last comprehensive survey of the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) pertains to 2004-05. The next survey for 2009-10 has just been completed and the results will be published in 2011. The ministry of labour and employment, however, has so far conducted six successive quarterly surveys on the effect of the global slowdown between October-December 2008 and January-March 2010. These surveys indicate that there has been a net addition of 850,000 jobs in a sample of firms in industries like textiles including apparels, leather, metals, automobiles, gems and jewellery, transport and IT/BPO. The earlier quarters -- October-December 2008 and April-June 2009 show a net decline in employment but there has been a turnaround since then. However, the fact that two-thirds of such employment has been generated only in IT/BPO sector while it is shrinking in labour-intensive sectors like textiles hardly indicates any broad-based upswing in overall job creation. Given the unavailability of NSSO's latest 2009-10 data, the Annual Report to the People on Employment from the ministry of labour perforce has had to make projections from the 2004-05 survey for making estimates of the labour force for 2009-10 and thereafter. However, researchers are unlikely to be enthused by the report's findings as the unemployment rate derived from that estimate for 2009-10 is only a lowly 2.7 percent on a usual status basis as it includes persons who are out of work and are seeking or available for work over a year. Longer-term unemployment rates are unlikely to capture the impact of the global crisis on GDP growth in India and the resultant spike upwards in joblessness. They remain low because in a country with pervasive poverty few can afford to remain unemployed for long stretches of time. They are forced to take up self-employment or casual odd jobbing in the unorganised sector than be without work. Unemployment rates on a daily status basis that capture those seeking/available for work on a typical day in the year are certainly a better indicator than the usual status one. Like the ministry of labour's report, one can extrapolate from earlier NSSO five-year surveys to derive more recent estimates, especially after the global crisis hit India.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/India_still_to_produce_adequate_employment_opportunities-nid-71978.html
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/India_still_to_produce_adequate_employment_opportunities-nid-71978.html
Indians can access only 50 countries without visa restrictions
Indians are among those who figure way down in the list of people with freedom to travel free of visa restrictions. Out of 193 countries surveyed in 2010, Indians have visa-free access to just 50 countries, reports Rema Nagarajan of the Economic Times. According to the latest visa restriction index rankings, United Kingdom is at the top with Britons having visa-free access to 166 countries. The U.S. has been slipping since the first index was published in 2006, when it ranked at the top along with Finland and Denmark. In 2008, it slipped to number 3 and in the current ranking, it stands at the seventh place. Henley and Partners, a firm that specializes in international immigration, consular and citizenship law, analyses visa regulations of a large number of countries in the world every two years to bring out the visa restriction index. The index ranks a country according to the international travel freedom of its citizens or the number of countries their citizens have visa-free access to. According to the index, Japan is the only Asian countries within the top 10 ranks. Singapore is at the 11th place followed by both Korea and Malaysia ranking 13. Maldives (56) is the only Saarc country that ranks higher than India (77). The rest follow India - Bhutan (83), Sri Lanka (84), Bangladesh (85), Nepal (88), Pakistan (90) and Afghanistan at the bottom.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Indians_can_access_only_50_countries_without_visa_restrictions-nid-71975.html
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Indians_can_access_only_50_countries_without_visa_restrictions-nid-71975.html
Rubik's Cube still fascinating puzzlers 30 years on
It is brightly coloured, angular and made of plastic. The Rubik's Cube has hardly changed in 30 years. But the three-dimensional mechanical puzzle remains as popular as it was when it first came on the mass market in 1980, particularly among those, both young and old, who like to test their ability to solve it quickly. 
When someone holds a Rubik's Cube puzzle in their hand, he or she knows instinctively that it won't be easy to solve. Six different colours are dispersed on squares on all sides of the cube. To solve it, the nine squares on each side must be turned so that, in the end, each side of the cube consists of only one solid colour. It's been challenging people's patience ever since it began selling in large quantities in the early 1980s. For some it's too perplexing, but for other people it's so fascinating that they want to time how long it takes them to solve it in competition with other puzzlers. They call themselves speedcubers and they regularly hold contests to determine who is fastest at solving the puzzle. The German speedcubing championship, for example, was held recently with Cornelius Dieckmann, a 15-year-old from Berlin, winning the German master award. Robin Bloehm, 22, is another award-winning German speedcuber. He recalls the day three years ago when he was sitting in a math lecture not understanding a word when he noticed the guy next to him with a Rubik's Cube. His father had an old one and he tried it. "At the beginning, it was something that required concentration and patience," he said. "But at some point it just came together automatically. Now it's about working the puzzle quickly." The Hungarian interior architect who invented the cube, Erno Rubik, came up with the idea for the toy in the mid 1970s, with the idea of using it to improve people's sense of space. At the time Hungary was part of the Soviet Union's communist bloc, making marketing the toy difficult. It took until 1980 for it to be introduced to the mass market. Since then, 350 million Rubik's Cubes have been sold, according to Wikipedia. It's best to understand a little bit about the construction of the cube before trying to solve it. The square in the middle of the nine squares on each side stays in place while the others around it move in all directions. There are several ways to solve the puzzle but the minimum number of turns is 22. One way is the Fridrich method, in which different algorithms are used, meaning the cube's pieces have to be turned in a certain order. This is the method Bloehm employs to solve the puzzle. He got quick at it, but now as a student, he doesn't have all day to practice, while younger speedcubers do. Some speedcubers solve the puzzle as many as 1,000 times per day. No one has been able to beat the record of 7.08 seconds set two years ago by Erik Akkersdijk of the Netherlands. "It's unbelievable how fast some of the younger players have become," said Reiner Thomsen. At age 45 he is among the oldest Speedcubers. "I had the cube in my hands when I was young," he said. His first contact with speedcubing came six years ago at a toy trade show in Essen. By practicing he got his time down to under 20 seconds, said Thomsen, a computer scientist. Algorithms, mathematicians, computer scientists? Can only geeks solve the puzzle? Bloehm and Thomsen admit that the speedcubing scene is dominated by men and mathematicians. "But they are all very informal," he said. "Naturally, we talk shop." But it's still fun, even after 30 years, and especially in the era of video gaming consoles and computer games. "My free time does not revolve around the cube. Far from it," said Bloehm. He worries that strenuous training could cause tendonitis in his hands and wrists and he advises speedcubers to use silicon spray so that the cube's sides turn more smoothly.
He adds that he leads a "normal life" and has a girlfriend. She has also come under the spell of the cube and is now among the fastest women at solving the puzzle.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Rubiks_Cube_still_fascinating_puzzlers_30_years_on-nid-71948.html
He adds that he leads a "normal life" and has a girlfriend. She has also come under the spell of the cube and is now among the fastest women at solving the puzzle.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Rubiks_Cube_still_fascinating_puzzlers_30_years_on-nid-71948.html
Saturday, September 25, 2010
China thinks India is a democratic mess
China thinks India is democratic mess, without seeking to understand why it is a democracy in the first place. The view has been changing in recent years, according to Richard McGregor, the author of 'The Party: The Secret6 World of China's Communist Rules'. In an interview with R Rajesh Kumar, Sify News, the author said that relations between India and China are always difficult. The two countries' political systems are starkly different. 
India's nuclear bomb gained New Delhi respect in Beijing. Chinese strategists complained that Beijing did not respect New Delhi until India had the bomb. They believed that China should have tried to engage India much earlier than that. India's technological advances and companies have helped change the country's image in China. "I think the PLA has some respect for the Indian military, especially the navy. But this is an area in which China is gaining fast on what once would have been regarded as a more sophisticated Indian naval force" said McGregor.
Obesity becoming epidemic in developed countries
Obesity is becoming the most prevalent public health problem in industrialised nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) said, and called on governments to take comprehensive action to tackle it. Since 1980, when fewer than one in 10 people in OECD member nations were obese, rates have doubled and even tripled in many countries, the OECD said in a report released Thursday in Paris. 
"If recent trends continue, projections suggest that more than two out of three people will be overweight or obese in at least some OECD countries within the next 10 years," the OECD said in the study, "Obesity and the Economics of Prevention". According to the OECD's website, one is obese when one has a body mass index (BMI) of 30. The BMI is calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by the square of one's height in metres.The reasons for the surge in obesity include: changes in food production that "have cut the price of calories dramatically", changing living and working conditions that reduced the amount of physical activity, increased levels of stress, and longer working hours, the OECD said. Women are more often obese than men, but male obesity rates have been growing faster than female rates in most OECD countries.In addition, obesity is more common among the poor and the less educated. These social disparities are also present in obesity rates for children, the organisation said. Perhaps not surprisingly, the problem is most acute in the world's most prosperous country, the US, where in 2008 nearly three in four women and two in three men were overweight, and about one-third of all adults were obese. As a result, obesity accounts for between five and 10 percent of total health expenditure in the US, compared to one to three percent in most other countries."And costs will rise rapidly in coming years as obesity-related diseases set in," the OECD warned. The organisation called on governments to take action to "help people change their lifestyle", including health education and promotion, regulation and fiscal measures as well as lifestyle counseling by physicians. These methods "are a better investment than many treatments currently provided by OECD health care systems", the organisation said.Such a comprehensive strategy would prevent 155,000 deaths from chronic diseases in Japan every year, 75,000 in Italy, 70,000 in Britain and 40,000 in Canada. As athletes begin arriving, CWG finally on track
The controversy-hit 19th Commonwealth Games here Oct 3-14 are finally on the home stretch, despite some more pullouts by star athletes, and Australia, which hosted the previous edition, even questioning why the Games are being held in India. After days marked by doubts and uncertainty, England's first batch of 47 officials and athletes, including the hockey and lawn bowls teams, arrived in New Delhi Friday. The full contingent of 551 athletes will arrive in the next few days, officials said. 
For the Organising Committee, there was much to cheer as Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) president Mike Fennell said Friday he was pleased with the confirmations of Australia, England and Wales to participate in the Games. "I am certainly pleased to arrive in Delhi with the news that Australia has moved into the Village to get ready for the arrival of their athletes, and with the confirmation late yesterday that England and Wales will be on their way to Delhi shortly," said Fennell, who came here Thursday to review the progress. "Already so many athletes from around the Commonwealth have started their journey to Delhi," said Fennell, who is taking stock of the Games Village Saturday.On Friday, Fennell also met Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrashekhar, who is in overall charge of the preparations for the Games. He had sought an appointment with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, but this was declined. Fennell said he has learned considerable progress was made in the Games Village, where conditions had earlier in the week been described as "filthy and unlivable"."The briefing I received from my CEO, Mike Hooper, last night, was that considerable improvements have been made within the Village, with further significant resources deployed by Delhi Chief Minister, Mrs. Dikshit, to make good what was a concerning situation," Fennell said. As part of the cleanup operations, around 100 stray dogs have been rounded up from the Village and other Games venues by the capital's civic authority in coordination with an NGO, an official said Friday. According to Fennell, "we must ensure that a suitable environment is provided to ensure the welfare of the athletes and their support staff. It is vital that all remedial work that has already started continues with the greatest urgency". Even so, the England team was lodged in a five-star hotel and not in the Games Village. As frenetic efforts were on to clean up the village, England chef de mission Craig Hunter said they would wait until it was ready. "We will set up our athletes in local hotels," Hunter was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph."We do not want to move them in one day and then have to move them out again. We want them to get over their jet lag and then move in when it (the Village) is ready." The hockey players and lawn bowls team landed on a day when four world-class British cyclists and one from New Zealand pulled out of the Games - the largest sporting event India is hosting since 1982 Asian Games. Englishmen Ben Swift and Ian Stannard and Pete Kennaugh of Isle of Man said they would give the Games a miss."It is a massive disappointment first and foremost but with the hygiene and the risk of getting ill, it was a massive risk," The Guardian quoted Thomas as saying by. Greg Henderson from New Zealand also decided not to attend citing issues like the conditions at the village and dengue, reports said.Earlier, world champion discus thrower Dani Samuels and two Canadian archers withdrew from the Games after severely criticising the athletes accommodation. To add to the many voices questioning India's preparations for the global event, Australian Olympic Committee John Coates said India "shouldn't have been awarded the (Commonwealth) Games". "In hindsight, no, they shouldn't have been awarded the Games," AAP quoted Coates as saying.The previous Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne in 2006.In all this, there were words of praise too. Canadian officials, who Wednesday delayed the departure of their athletes for New Delhi, expressed satisfaction with progress being made at the Village and expected the event to take place as scheduled. Canadian athletes are now scheduled to begin arriving in Delhi Sunday, reports from Toronto said.
If the progress is sustained, the Commonwealth Games will be held without any further setbacks, a TV channel quoted Scott Stevenson, director of Sport for Commonwealth Games Canada, as saying.Stevenson, who is here, said Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has brought "a change in the culture of preparations" by bringing in her own staff, including engineers, to manage the project. Andrew Pipe, president of Commonwealth Games Canada, also welcomed the intervention of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who held an emergency meeting with Sports Minister M.S. Gill, Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy and seniors officials Thursday to fix the problems. New Zealand, which has been scathing in its criticism, also decided to attend the Games, ending days of speculation following concerns of hygiene and security, announced New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) president Mike Stanley and secretary-general Barry Maister. New Zealand Prime Minister John Key added in Wellington that he would go to New Delhi based on the information he has received so far from Delhi."Yeah, if I could pick my own sport, yeah I would go," Key was quoted as saying by the New Zealand Herald. "It's very unlikely that New Zealand would pull out on its own. If we are likely to not send our team, then it will be because a large number of like-minded countries form the same view."Some 7,000 participants and officials from 71 countries and territories are expected to attend the Games.
Friday, September 24, 2010
Cabinet approves bill providing legal backup to UID project
The union cabinet Friday approved a bill to accord legal backup to the project providing unique identification numbers for the residents of the country. The bill titled the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010 was approved by the cabinet in its meeting here chaired by Prime Minister Monmohan Singh, said an official release. The cabinet also decided to give the go-ahead to the introduction of the bill in parliament in its upcoming winter session, the statement added. "The bill seeks to constitute a statutory authority to be called the National Identification Authority of India (NIAI) and lay down its powers and functions, besides the framework for issuing unique identity (UID) numbers to be known as aadhaar numbers," the statement said. The law will empower the NIAI to issue aadhaar numbers to individuals residing in India, besides certain other classes of individuals, the manner of their authentication and other related and incidental matters, the statement said. The project will involve an expenditure of Rs.3,023.01 crore which includes a sum to fund the various components of the project by March 2011 and recurring establishment costs for the entire project phase of five years ending March 2014. "The UID project is primarily aimed at ensuring inclusive growth by providing a form of identity to those who do not have any identity," the statement said, adding that it seeks to provide aadhaar numbers to the marginalised sections of society and thus would strengthen equity. Apart from providing identity, the aadhaar number will enable better delivery of services and effective governance, the statement said.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Cabinet_approves_bill_providing_legal_backup_to_UID_project-nid-71924.html
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/Cabinet_approves_bill_providing_legal_backup_to_UID_project-nid-71924.html
Delhi's Khan Market: World's 21st costliest high street
New Delhi's Khan Market is the world's 21st most expensive retail high street, according to an annual survey by global real estate consultants Cushman & Wakefield. The survey "Main Streets Across the World 2010", states that India has improved its position from 24 in 2009 on the back of strong rental value movement this year. While New York's Fifth Avenue retains its position as the most expensive shopping destination in the world, Hong Kong's Causeway, and Ginza in Tokyo are in the second and third places ahead of London, Paris and Milan in the 2010 survey, the firm said in a release here today. The study was done among 269 shopping locations across 59 countries. Khan Market is ranked above expensive Mumbai's Linking Road in Bandra and New Delhi's Connaught Place. "With the markets gaining momentum and retailers globally revising their expansion plans in India, we see a gradual resurgence in values. New Delhi and Mumbai will continue to witness a faster growth rate in value against others due to greater interest in these markets. "However, cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and even Ahmedabad, have experienced a growth over the previous year," Cushman & Wakefield India Executive Director Kaustuv Roy said.
UP govt. chooses TCS to set e-governance data center
In its bid to join the other states marching ahead in the e-governance arena, the Mayawati led Uttar Pradesh government has selected Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country's premier software exporter, to develop the State Data Center for the e-delivery of government services, reports Virendra Singh Rawat of Business Standard. Chandra Prakash, UP IT and Electronics Principal Secretary informed that four companies including HCL were in the running for the project but TCS emerged the winner as theirs was the most economical offer. The Data Center will be established in Lucknow, the state capital, which will be a centralized one. All data and services related to the various departments of the state government will be monitored in the Data Center. This e-governance venture would cost the UP government about Rs. 19 crore. The project will be completed in the six months time. The project plan is to set up a common service center called Jan Suvidha Kendra (JSK) between every six villages to deliver the services. These centers would provide online income tax, caste, death, birth and domicile certificates, besides issuance/renewal of ration card, old- age pension to the people. The Data Center will act as a store house of all the departments' information albeit in a digital form. The idea behind this center is to have better coordination among the departments thereby saving precious time and money. The state has been involving in a lot of e-governance related activities in the recent past. Like sometime back it had updated all the official websites on real time basis with the help of National Informatics Centre (NIC). The introduction of a smart card system is in the offing. The UP government has already set a 6000 JSKs pilot project to offer online services. Another 11,000 will be launched soon with the help of private organizations.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/UP_govt_chooses_TCS_to_set_egovernance_data_center-nid-71925.html
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/UP_govt_chooses_TCS_to_set_egovernance_data_center-nid-71925.html
IIT-ians invent a communication device for cerebral palsy kids
Upon completing his graduation from Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, Ajit Narayan went to U.S. with the plan of returning to India after a few years to be an entrepreneur. In 2007, Ajit was back in India and with a few like-minded friends, he started Invention Labs. In 2010, they invented Avaz, one of the most useful talking devices for those affected with cerebral palsy, writes Shobha Warrier from Rediff.com. Ajit's idea of founding a company was that a lot of inventors from all over India should join hands under one umbrella so that everyone could contribute to the country. "I was very impressed with the way America had adopted technology in day-to-day life. I wanted to invent things that would improve the lives of Indians. So it was my dream that I should start a company that would create products which are useful to the people of India," said Ajit. Visiting the disabled at Vidyasagar (formerly called the Spastic Society of India) and getting to know those children with normal intelligence who could not express themselves in words, gave birth to the idea of designing a communication device similar to what is used in the U.S. but is affordable to people here.
Spending hours with the children at Vidyasagar and doing experiments with the updated prototypes at every sessions over two years, they launched Avaz in February 2010 at Vidyasagar. Avaz, which means 'speech', gives speech to a child. The device is mounted on the wheelchair which the child uses. It can be kept on the desk or on the child's lap. They used the T9 method used in mobile phones. "We looked at it as T1 where we have to capture only one movement; the movement of the hand, head or leg. It is like, converting those movements to creating sentences. After creating sentences, we create voice. It works on a principle called scanning," Ajit explained. These children do not have the dexterity to touch the exact word on the screen. So once they touch anywhere on the screen, a color moves to each word and when it reaches the right word, they need to touch again, anywhere on the screen. Our target price was 1/10th of what was sold abroad but we were able to do better than that. Our target was Rs 40,000, but we could sell it for Rs. 30,000. The company's aim is to incorporate the device into the way children are taught in various institutions so that teachers can structure education with the help of Avaz. Although Avaz only talks in English at present, efforts are being made to introduce other local languages in it. Invention Labs' next plan is Avaz for autism, dyslexia, mental retardation and people affected by stroke.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/IITians_invent_a_communication_device_for_cerebral_palsy_kids-nid-71926.html
Spending hours with the children at Vidyasagar and doing experiments with the updated prototypes at every sessions over two years, they launched Avaz in February 2010 at Vidyasagar. Avaz, which means 'speech', gives speech to a child. The device is mounted on the wheelchair which the child uses. It can be kept on the desk or on the child's lap. They used the T9 method used in mobile phones. "We looked at it as T1 where we have to capture only one movement; the movement of the hand, head or leg. It is like, converting those movements to creating sentences. After creating sentences, we create voice. It works on a principle called scanning," Ajit explained. These children do not have the dexterity to touch the exact word on the screen. So once they touch anywhere on the screen, a color moves to each word and when it reaches the right word, they need to touch again, anywhere on the screen. Our target price was 1/10th of what was sold abroad but we were able to do better than that. Our target was Rs 40,000, but we could sell it for Rs. 30,000. The company's aim is to incorporate the device into the way children are taught in various institutions so that teachers can structure education with the help of Avaz. Although Avaz only talks in English at present, efforts are being made to introduce other local languages in it. Invention Labs' next plan is Avaz for autism, dyslexia, mental retardation and people affected by stroke.
http://www.siliconindia.com/shownews/IITians_invent_a_communication_device_for_cerebral_palsy_kids-nid-71926.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)