INTERESTING NEWS

Souring EMIs

2008-08-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

SOARING EMI HAUNTS MIDDLE CLASS HOMES
The Latest Hike In Home Loan Rates Combined With Inflation Is A Double Whammy For Investors In Real Estate
Karthika Gopalakrishnan & M Ramya | TNN

Chennai: Janakiraman (29), currently employed at a PR agency, used to contribute Rs 15,000 towards the household expenses 18 months ago. However, this has dipped to Rs 5,000 now because the monthly EMI on his home loan of Rs 18.5 lakh has risen from Rs 16,500 to Rs 19,000. His repayment tenure has also risen to 25 years.
“Now, 65% of my salary goes towards the loan and I have been forced to cut back on my investments. I got good returns earlier by investing one-fifth of my salary in mutual funds. But now I invest only on the incentives that I get for my performance. In fact, even my allotment for recreation has gone from onethird of my salary to onesixth,” he said.
When the RBI announced the rise in repo and cash reserve rates in banks, the middle class held its breath. On Thursday, when home loan companies raised their housing finance rates by 75 basis points or 0.75%, there was a collective gasp.
With real estate remaining a popular mode of investment among the conservative middle class, home loans ought to follow suit. However, the rapidly rising interest rates and inflation are only serving as a deterrent in the process.
Poornima Ramanan, a quality assurance manager at Renault – Nissan, is worried about how the rising cost of living combined with the hike in EMIs will affect her daily life. Though the family income of her household would come up to Rs 1.5 lakh a month, she said the monthly budget would definitely be affected if interest rates continued to climb the way they did.
“Our pay will also not rise that much, maybe a maximum of 5 to 10%. I am planning to take a housing loan because I stay in a rented house on Santhome High Road right now. My rent is currently Rs 25,000 but once I take a home loan, my EMI will probably be double that amount. At this rate, we will definitely have to cut down on all our luxuries,” she said.
Poornima also cites the example of her friend, who had been paying Rs 18,100 on a loan of Rs 20 lakh for 20 years. “Now, it has gone up to Rs 20,120 and the tenure increased to 26 years. In fact, she expects it to rise by another Rs 1,000, as if the current situation is not bad enough,” she said.
Vijayan, a media professional, says that Standard Chartered Bank informed them about the first hike, which will come into effect from August 1, only on Thursday.
When they calculated the toll that the EMI rise would take on the family budget they found that they would have no savings at the end of the day. This was the situation before the Thursday hike. “If the bank decides to hike rates again we will find it difficult to make ends meet,” Shoba says.
The housing EMI is only a part of today’s problem for the middle class. “Take our case, what was Rs 100 a week for vegetables is now double that. Rice and provision prices have gone over the roof. Salaries don’t go up that way,” she chuckles.
During these trying times, not only do you have to shell out an exorbitant amount to ensure a roof over your head, you have to carry the burden over many years as well
Source : The Times of india dt 2 8 2008

Tech behind job losses: Obama

2008-07-31T19:36:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON: The Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has held revolution in technology and communication in last few decades responsible for outsourcing of jobs to India and China.

"Over the last few decades, revolutions in technology and communication have made it so that corporations can send good jobs wherever there's an Internet connection. Children here in Missouri aren't just growing up competing for good jobs with children in California or Indiana, but with children in China and India as well," Senator Obama said at a campaign rally in Springfield, Missouri.

In a veiled attack on previous government for its decision on economic reforms, he said "it was irresponsible decisions that were made on Wall Street and in Washington. In the past few years, we have relearned the essential truth that in the long run, we cannot have a thriving Wall Street and a struggling Main Street."

When wages are flat, prices are rising and more and more Americans are mired in debt, the economy as a whole suffers.

When a reckless few game the system, as we've seen in this housing crisis, millions suffer and we're all impacted, he said, adding when government fails to meet its obligation -- to provide sensible oversight and stand on the side of working people and invest in their future -- America pays a heavy price.

"So, we have a choice to make in this election. We can either choose a new direction for our economy, or we can keep doing what we've been doing," he said.

Emphasising on a need to develop job prospects at home instead of outsourcing it to other nations Obama said, "We can choose to do nothing about disappearing jobs and shuttered factories for another four years, or we can encourage job creation in the United States of America."
Source : infotech.indiatimes.com

How to boos your PC Speed

2008-07-30T18:48:00.000-07:00

Frustrated with slow computer speed? Hate it when your computer slows down while you access the Internet.

And you simply bang your head when your computer takes ages to search your files. You desperately wish that your PC could gain some speed.

Don't worry. You can easily overcome this.

Here are some easy-to-do tips which can boost up your PC speed.
Clean up disk errors

Whenever a programme crashes or you experience some power outage, your PC may create some errors on hard disk. This slows down computer speed.

For this, check and clean any errors on the computer hard disk.

To run Disk Check go to My Computer. Now, right-click on the drive you want to check for errors and click Properties.

In Properties dialogue box, click on the Tools tab. In the Error-Checking section, press the Check Now button. Access Check Disk to check for errors on your computer.

Depending on the errors, it may take up to an hour to check and clean. This must be followed at least once a week.

Remove temporary files
Your PC stores temporary files whenever you browse through the Web. Also, your PC stores temporary files when you work on programmes like Microsoft Word or Excel.

This ends up slowing down your PC speed. To overcome it you can use the Windows Disk Cleanup screen to rid your PC of these dead files.

To run Disk Cleanup go to My Computer. Right click on the drive you wish to check for errors and click Properties. In the Properties dialogue box, click Disk Cleanup. You can also use Disk Cleanup to clear unused files from your PC.

After scanning, the Disk Cleanup dialogue box lists the files you can remove from your computer.

Your PC stores temporary files whenever you browse through the Web. Also, your PC stores temporary files when you work on programmes like Microsoft Word or Excel.

This ends up slowing down your PC speed. To overcome it you can use the Windows Disk Cleanup screen to rid your PC of these dead files.

To run Disk Cleanup go to My Computer. Right click on the drive you wish to check for errors and click Properties. In the Properties dialogue box, click Disk Cleanup. You can also use Disk Cleanup to clear unused files from your PC.

After scanning, the Disk Cleanup dialogue box lists the files you can remove from your computer.

Organise your data
Often when you search files your PC takes a lot of time to track them. This is because computer breaks files into pieces to increase the speed of access and retrieval.

However, once updated, computer saves these files on the space available on the hard drive, which results in fragmented files. This makes your PC go slow because it then searches for all of the file's parts.

You need a Disk Defragmenter programme to needle all your files back together.

For this, go to My Computer and right click on the drive you want to check for error and click Properties.

In the Properties dialogue box, click the Tools tab, and then in the Defragmentation section, click Defragment. In the Disk Defragmenter dialog box, select the disk and then click Analyse.

After analysing your PC, the Disk Defragmenter pops up a message asking whether you need to defragment your computer or not. Once you defragement your PC, it will reorganise files by programme and size.

Install anti-virus
Biggest culprits behind slow PC performance are viruses and spyware. Both end up reducing your PC speed. Not only this they can also destroy your data and tamper files.

Also, with the 24X7 online environment, it is important to have anti-virus and anti-spyware programmes installed for secure online experience.

These programmes need to be frequently updated to avoid any attack on your computer.

You can do a recee of the Net for popular anti-virus and anti-spyware solutions. There are also several paid options like McAfee, Norton Anti-virus and Trend Micro.

Reduce page history
Is your PC giving you trouble while accessing the Internet? Don't worry. For Internet Explorer users, Microsoft has some rescue options for faster Web browsing.

To improve your PC speed, first reduce the size of your Web page history. For this go to Internet Explorer, and on the Tools menu click on Internet Options. Then go to the History section and type in the number of days you want to keep pages in history.

Preferably reduce the number of days as this will reduce the size of your Web page history.

Automate Microsoft updates

For Windows users, Microsoft frequently release updates which may help boost up your PC speed. For this activate automate Microsoft Update so that your computer downloads and installs all the latest updates without giving you any trouble of finding any new releases.

Go to Start menu and click Control Panel. In the Automatic Updates dialog box, check the Automatic check box. If your PC finds any new updates, it will automatically download and install them. This will help you keep your computer up to date.

*Source : Indiatimes News Network

18 bombs defused in Surat

2008-07-29T19:27:00.000-07:00

AHMEDABAD: In a day of “battle with bombs,” the Surat police on Tuesday unearthed 18 live bombs and its bomb squad succeeded in defusing all of them, averting a major tragedy in the second largest commercial centre of Gujarat.

It was the third consecutive day live bombs and explosives were found in Surat. As panic spread in the diamond and art silk city, all schools and colleges were closed and children sent back home. Shutters of cinema halls and shopping malls were also downed. These places will remain closed on Wednesday too.

Whether the terrorists were playing a hide-and-seek game with the police or all the bombs were planted simultaneously was not clear. But the bombs were found almost one after another from day-break till evening.

Of the18 bombs, as many as 10 were found in the labour-dominated Varacha Road and Katargam areas alone, striking a similarity with Saturday’s bomb blasts here, where the labour-dominated old city areas were targeted. The bombs and the explosive-laden cars recovered in the city in the last two days were also on the Varacha Road or nearby areas.

As if throwing a direct challenge to the police, two of the bombs were found right in front of the Labheswar police chowky and Sardarpura police stations. Two bombs were planted in the diamond market adjacent to the Varacha Road, one in the Radhakrishna textile market and two on a fly-over.
Not totally concealed

Surprisingly, unlike in Ahmedabad and most other places, the bombs were not totally concealed. Most of the bombs were in “boat-shape” and wrapped in coloured papers. They were kept at strategic points, including behind street hoardings or near garbage dumps.

The entire day the police and civic authorities repeatedly urged people to maintain peace and patience and cooperatewith them.

Minister of State for Home Amit Shah also appealed to people not to panic or spread rumours. He said the police were on maximum alert to protect the lives and property of people.

In Ahmedabad, life, by and large, was normal. However, in one incident, panic-stricken parents rushed to a school in Chandlodiya locality to get their wards following rumour of a bomb in a near-by area.
Source : the Hindu dt 29 7 2008

DA correction to add to pay panel’s goodies

2008-07-28T18:47:00.001-07:00

NEW DELHI: The Sixth Pay Commission award for government officials is likely to be sweetened with an upward revision in the dearness allowance (DA) entitlement. The committee of secretaries (CoS) looking into the recommendations made by the Sixth Pay Commission has suggested a change in the DA calculations. This could result in additional benefit of Rs 300-3,000 a month to a government employee, depending on her level.

The CoS, headed by Cabinet secretary K M Chandrashekhar, is giving finishing touches to the report that is expected to be submitted soon. The report would then go to the Cabinet for approval. Government sources said the change has been suggested in the wake of an across-the-board protest by government employees against the way DA allowance was fixed.

The Fifth Pay Commission had recommended that the 50% DA payable in April 2004 be merged with basic pay. The dearness pay was to be counted as basic pay for all practical purposes, including for retirement benefit. Thus, logically, as on January 1, 2006, the recommended date of Sixth Pay Commission award, the 24% DA payable should have been on a salary that included the 50% DA that was merged with basic pay from April 2004.

In its calculation, however, instead of compounding the two DA components — 50% as on April 1, 2004 and 24% as on January 1, 2006 — the commission added them, yielding a figure of 74% composite DA. Consequently, while shifting to the concept of grade pay, the pay commission fixed the base salary as on January 1, 2006, at the basic pay drawn along with dearness allowance at the rate of 74%, and rounded it off to next multiple of 10. The anomaly resulted in a loss of roughly 7% to government employees.

To put it simply, if an employee had a basic salary of Rs 100 on April 1, 2004, according to the Fifth Pay Commission calculation, he would have a total salary of Rs 150 (including 50% DA). A 24% DA on that would increase his salary to Rs 186 — and not Rs 174 on January 1, 2006, used as the base for calculating Sixth Pay Commission award. The committee of secretaries is understood to have proposed that the anomaly be corrected and the DA be fixed at 86% and not 74%.

So, in case of a government employee in the Rs 2,550 pre-revised payscale, the revised pay in running pay band would become Rs 4,743 (increase of 86%) against Rs 4,440 (74% increase), a gain of over Rs 300. At the director level, in the payscale of Rs 18,300, the difference because of the change would be over Rs 2,000 a month
Source : The economic times dt. 27 7 2008

Soon, your TV may go green

2008-07-26T18:59:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON: Engineers in the US have developed TV displays based on a telescope design invented by Isaac Newton to reduce the display's electricity consumption.

The rear layer of a conventional liquid crystal display (LCD) used in televisions produces light (backlight), whose brightness is controlled by small liquid crystals that swing round like tiny shutters.

However, most of this backlight is wasted and never reaches the viewer.

Swapping the liquid crystals with microscopic mechanical mirrors arranged in a similar way to a telescope design invented by Isaac Newton can make much more efficient use of the backlight.
Source : infotech.indiatimes.com dt. 26 7 2008

Serial blasts rattle Bangalore; woman killed

2008-07-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

BANGALORE: A series of low intensity blasts on Friday rocked the southern and central parts of Bangalore, a city that has of late been on the radar of terror groups. One person was killed and seven were injured in the eight explosions that created panic among residents and threw traffic out of gear on a rainy working day.

The explosions were reported within 45 minutes from 1.15 p.m. Though the police have not ruled out the involvement of terrorist groups, Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar M. Bidari told journalists that “miscreants” had triggered the blasts to “disrupt the peace” in the city. Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, after an emergency Cabinet meeting, announced that no “hard core terrorist group” was involved in the blasts which, he claimed, were carried out to “malign” the government.

“I heard a deafening explosion as I was starting my bike,” Vinay, an employee of a car showroom on Mysore Road, told The Hindu. “I thought a bus tyre had burst until I saw smoke billowing from behind a bush. I ran back into the office,” he said.

According to police sources, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) fitted to timer devices were used in all the explosions. Preliminary investigations revealed that ammonium nitrate, bolts and nuts and cement chips were packed into the devices.

Sources in the National Bomb Data Centre told The Hindu that the IEDs were almost identical to the ones used in the explosions at the Mecca Masjid, Gokul Chats and the Lumbini Park in Hyderabad, and in the court blasts in Lucknow and Hubli.

The first explosion occurred at a bus stop near the Madivala checkpost, off the busy Hosur Road, around 1.15 p.m. Sudha Ravi, who was waiting for a bus with her husband, was killed on the spot, and two were injured. Two more explosives went off in the adjoining Audugodi area, injuring three persons.

Similar low-intensity explosions took place at three places on Mysore Road and at two spots in the heart of the city — near the Mallya Hospital and near the Rashtriya Military School on Langford Road.

At Audugodi, the explosives were planted behind a telephone junction box near a commercial complex under construction and another near a stormwater drain.

On Mysore Road, the explosives were placed under a power supply transformer near a mall; one near a stormwater drain; and the third near a car showroom next to the Regional Transport Office.

A high alert has been sounded across the State.
Source : The Hindu dt. 26 7 2008

`XP hurting Vista badly

2008-07-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Microsoft may have given farewell to Windows XP, but seems users are still in no mood to bid goodbye to one of the most popular operating systems.

According to a recent Forrester survey, less than 10 percent of the 2,300 companies surveyed use Vista. Forrester says 87.1 percent of companies surveyed continue to use Windows XP.

Mendel told a leading tech magazine that it would be wise by Microsoft to "consider following the lead of Microsoft's important partner Intel and re-evaluating the case of Vista."

The report negates Redmond giants claim that over 180 million copies of Vista have been sold. Also, what may be more disturbing for Microsoft is that many of the pre-loaded Vista machines are being downgraded to XP in compliance with corporate licensing plans.

The report also had a bit of good news for Microsoft. It found Vista usage among businesses going up by more than 40 percent since January and that the rate of adoption of Vista remains twice that of Mac OS X.

The Forrester report also shows the growing popularity of Firefox browser. It notes that almost 20 percent of the enterprise users are using Firefox browser and urges developers to make sure that their applications work with Firefox.
Source : infotech.indiatimes.com dt. 25 7 2008

IT jobs to grow ten fold

2008-07-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: "Indian IT industry may be passing through a rough patch because of a slowdown in the US economy and high inflation rates, but this stage will pass,” says a study.

The study elaborates, “India will continue to drive the global IT market for the next few years. In fact, it will emerge as the second most important IT industry in the world after the US in terms of revenue and employment."

"India will create the second largest IT services labour pool after the US within the next seven to eight years. That's not all, domestic IT industry's contribution to our GDP is likely to rise from 0.8 per cent in 2006-07 to 2.65 per cent by 2015-16."

This has been forecasted by a yet to be released white paper ‘India's Role in the Globalization of the IT Industry' by Evalueserve, a KPO. It says, "by 2015-2016, the number of professionals working in the IT industry will grow ten fold (from 2001-2002) and the total revenue will grow 22 times."

This means, the IT industry is likely to employ 3,750,000 professionals and record $193.1 billion in revenue by 2015-16.

"Since India's GDP is growing at 8.5 per cent per annum in real terms and 14 per cent in nominal terms, by 2015-16 our GDP is likely to be $2,400 billion. Given this, the IT industry is likely to constitute 8.05 per cent of India's GDP."

While in the last decade, IT services exports (including engineering services, R&D, and those related to creating and maintaining software products) have been growing at 32 per cent annually.

Evalueserve estimates this growth rate will taper off and become around 20 per cent in the next seven to eight years. The reason: rising wages, lack of high quality talent, and IT jobs relocating to other low-cost destinations in Eastern Europe and Latin America.

The paper thus concludes: First, by 2016 India will have the second highest number of IT professionals in the world after the US. In fact, US will employ between 1.25 to 1.33 times more professionals than India.

Second, even in 2016, the US IT industry will generate approximately $810 billion in annual revenue, which would be almost five times the revenue of the Indian IT industry.
And third, since the IT industries in both the US and India have become inextricably linked with one another, both countries will import and export more IT services and products for the next seven to eight years.
Source : The indiatimes.com dt. 25 7 2008

UPA claims it has support of 291 MPs

2008-07-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

New Delhi (PTI): With just two days to go for the trust vote in Lok Sabha, top UPA leaders on Saturday claimed that the combine had the support of 291 MPs and that JMM was "part and parcel" of the Congress-led coalition.

Union Ministers Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan claimed that the Congress-led coalition has the support of 291 MPs and "we will win the trust vote".

On JMM, Prasad said that the Shibu Soren-led party was "part and parcel of the UPA" and their MPs will vote for the country.

"This deal is in the interest of the nation and UPA has the support of 291 MPs," Lalu claimed and added "Mayawati is not so fortunate to become Prime Minister and Advaniji doesn't have it in his fortunes to become PM."

The Railways Minister said when Mulayam, Lalu and Paswan stand together "nothing can stop them from getting the majority."

Paswan said that the Left parties who had earlier "abused" the BJP have joined hands with the party and termed the opposition alliance as "opportunistic" one.

"There is no danger to UPA government and opposition has become an opportunistic alliance," Paswan said.

"The magic figure is 271 and Laluji said that we have the support of 291 MPs. We have identified 281 of the members who will support us. Remaining 10 will support us during trust vote," he said.

Criticising CPI leader A B Bardhan for termed all MPs as corrupt, Lalu said: "I want an answer from Prakash Karat that Somnath and Jyoti Basu had drawn a line over the issue, when senior leaders have such stand, then he should answer us on what basis they have termed MPs as corrupt," Lalu said.
Source : The Hindu dt 20 7 2008

Frenzy over Sai idol with one eye open

2008-07-19T19:26:00.000-07:00

BANGALORE: Hundreds of people descended on a merchant's house in Bangalore on Friday to witness what they believe is a miracle - the Shirdi Sai Baba idol is purported to have opened its left eye.

The frenzy was such that police had to be called in to control the surging crowds.

After reports of Ganapati idols drinking milk and the recent story of a bleeding Christ, the Sai Baba 'miracle' too saw both the devout and the curious rushing to the house.

Door No. 7, Chitra Block, Gavipuram Guttahalli, which, till the other day, was a non-descript residence of phenol merchant Babu, suddenly turned into a pilgrimage centre.

With devotees queuing up to have a glimpse of the statue, the area wore a festive look with small-time traders trying to make a fast buck by selling prasadam and Baba's idols!

The devotee couple Babu (45) and his wife Lakshmi took the marble idol to clean on Wednesday evening to prepare for the Thursday puja.

The idol had some black mark on its left chin and the couple's son Dhrupad, who was cleaning the eye, suddenly felt some change in the idol - the eyelash seemed moving. The devotees were astounded and stopped the cleaning work.

On Thursday morning, they found the left eye of Baba had opened. Thursday being a day to worship Baba, the couple, along with their neighbours, performed puja.

The news flashed on Friday morning and by afternoon, the crowds multiplied.

"We had gone to Shirdi a year ago from where we bought this marble idol. It is a miracle that Baba opened his eye on Guru Poornima Day to give us darshan. It has been very difficult to control the crowd as people are queuing up to see the miracle. So we had to inform the police and arrange for bandobast," said Drupad, a II PU student.

There was also a huge flow of cash as the devotees put "dakshine" (cash offering to God) after the darshan. "I am a staunch Sai Baba devotee and never had witnessed such a miracle. The idol looked like as if Baba was looking at me...I cannot forget this day," said Swamy Narayan, a resident of Hanumanthanagar, with tears in his eyes.

Policemen from two stations - Kempe Gowdanagar and Hanumanthanagar - were deployed near the house along with Hoysala patrolling teams from Bangalore South. "More than 1,500 people had gathered and the crowd was maddening. Our concern was maintaining peace", he said.
Source: The times of india dt 19 7 2008

Now, a 50 megapixel digicam

2008-07-17T18:55:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK: A Swedish company Hasselblad's announcement of the launch of Hasselblad H3DII-50, featuring a new Kodak 50-megapixel sensor, has pushed the available resolution in digital cameras to a new high.

Such high resolution goes beyond the needs of most consumers but professional photographers would appreciate the unprecedented level of detail provided by it.

"The H3DII-50 has been designed to meet the challenging demands of high-end photographers who require the best in image quality, performance and creative freedom," said Hasselblad CEO Christian Poulsen in a press release.

The camera, which would be available from October 2008, would also prove useful for applications such as aerial photography as the availability of higher resolution allows the plane to fly higher and the number of pictures necessary for covering a given area is also reduced.

The new Kodak image sensor, which produces an array of 8,176-by-6,132 pixels, would be implemented in the same size housing as Hasselblad's existing 39 megapixel H3DII-39 camera.

Kodak has also added a set of new features on the sensor, such as new dyes, that would result in richer colours. It also includes quick flush technology that enables faster image capture and lower power consumption, resulting in longer battery life.
Source : India times dt. 17 7 2008

N-Deal possible even if govt loses trust vote

2008-07-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: The PM may be committed to withdrawing the safeguards draft from the IAEA if the government loses the trust vote on July 22, but officials in the government say there’s no need to pull it out irrespective of what happens in the Lok Sabha.

If it goes into cold storage after the trust vote, it’ll be because the government chose to do so. For, the government has to only see the agreement through the IAEA board. The next few stages will be spearheaded by the US, not India.

According to sources in the government, if the UPA coalition fails the trust vote and becomes a caretaker government, they would be constrained from taking any fresh policy decisions. "But there is no law that prevents a government from carrying on with its existing policies," said a source.

However, the PM has said India would halt the process if he lost the trust vote. If he is held to his word, then in the event of a loss on Tuesday, he would have to signal to the IAEA that India cannot attend the meeting on August 1.

Legally, there is nothing that stops the government. In many ways, the deal then goes out of India’s hands as it will be the responsibility of the US to pilot it through the NSG.

Meanwhile, the US’ top diplomat, William Burns, will be in Vienna on Friday, when foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon briefs the IAEA board and NSG members. Burns replaces Nick Burns who negotiated the deal. William is also expected to visit India days after the trust vote for talks.

Sources also said German chancellor Angela Merkel has indicated that, as president of the NSG, she would call an NSG meeting within days of the IAEA clearing the deal. In the US, senator Joe Biden has also gone on record to say that he would fight "like the devil" to clear the deal if India does its bit. Moreover, Barack Obama’s support for the deal has almost put it on auto pilot.

Significantly, on Thursday the Chinese government indicated its own emerging flexibility on support to the deal.
Source : The times of India dt. 18 7 2008

What iPhone doesn't have

2008-07-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

iPhone sequel is red hot. Even as it rolls out across the world in phases, the demand seems to be increasing with each passing day.

And as every buyer would proudly wink and declare his iPhonic status, the have nots will recoil and steel their resolve to acquire one.

By now you would surely remember by heart what the iPhone has. But wait, do you also know what it does not have?

We bring you a list of features that tells you what even the iconic iPhone doesn’t have...

Miss 1: Little on the looks front

Apple products are known for their design and looks. So, expectations about a new look were high. In fact, rumour mills worked over time on the looks of iPhone 2, it was speculated that the new back of the phone will no be longer metal -- but the whole thing will be glossy black, from top to bottom.

However, the new iPhone offers nothing new in terms of looks. The 3G iPhone looks pretty much like its predecessors.

The new iPhone is only about 0.1 ounce lighter than the previous model. The 3G iPhone shows a few cosmetic changes from the front, with similar display size and resolution, and the single Home button placed below the screen.

The phone's black plastic skin back has been replaced by silver-aluminum back. While the 8GB model comes in black only, the 16GB version is available in both black and white.

Miss 2: Video camera

There were speculations for a higher-resolution camera and a possible support for digital video recording. However, 3G iPhone disappoints with the same 2 megapixel camera and no video recording option and flash and optical zoom too missing.

This is specially a dampener since video recording feature is today found in most cell phones, even those at the lower end. Also, most of Apple’s rivals in the cell phone space like Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung are offering higher version cameras.

Sony Ericsson recently introduced an 8 megapixel camera. Samsung already has one in the range. Others Nokia and Motorola too offer 5 megapixel camera phones.

Miss 3: Multimedia deficit

Another sorely missed out features are multimedia messaging and voice dialing. Users can send text messages or snapshots via email, but there's still no MMS (multimedia messaging) feature on the iPhone!

Also, the phone disappoints fans who were hoping for a bundle of new multimedia features in 3G iPhone

Miss 4: User replaceable battery

User replaceable battery and tactile feedback for the touchscreen, both have been given a miss in the new iPhone. User-replaceable battery is a serious drawback.

Though Apple reportedly claims that it left out the user-replaceable battery because it adds bulk and weight, users can’t help comparing it with other smartphones.

Miss 5: Incompatible Bluetooth

Users were expecting a landscape keyboard, capability to cut and paste, expanded memory and additional Bluetooth profiles - which all too is missing.

For example, while iPhone supports Bluetooth headsets, the lack of keyboard or headphone would be a hindrance for those who want to optimise their experience with wireless peripherals.

Also, 3G iPhone does not have A2DP Bluetooth. Users may also sorely miss the support for Bluetooth stereo or in-car Bluetooth handsfree.

Miss 6: No support for Adobe Flash

Adobe says it is working on iPhone Flash, but sadly for now there is no support for Adobe Flash in 3G iPhone.

Presently, when users will browse through Web pages with Adobe Flash it will display empty spaces with missing icons. Apple claims Flash would run too slowly on the iPhone.

Thus, the lack of Flash support for the Safari Web browser limits the access of several websites on the iPhone.

Miss 7: No cut-and-paste

This may be hard to digest. BlackBerry has it, Nokia has it, however, 3G iPhone lacks it.

Most of the smartphones available in the market support the cut and paste feature, but somehow Apple has preferred to stay away from it.

* Indiatimes News Network dt 14 7 2008

The speed spur

2008-07-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some freeware add-ons that speed up application loading and improve system performance.

Adobe Reader Speed-up: (Size 245 KB) This software disables the majority of plug-ins that are completely useless for most users. Adobe Reader Speed-up supports any version of the Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader software, both Normal and Full/ Professional, from version 3.0 to 8.0 and upwards.

To configure this, just double-click the Reader Speedup.exe and select speed up radio button and click Start button. On the next screen, Select Speed-up Mode as "SpeedUp - Fast (recommended)" and click Start button and Click Finish. It also supports advanced tweaks such as disable automatic updates, splash screen on Reader's startup, browser integration, etc. To access Advanced tweaks screen, just click the link "Tweaks" on the main screen. It has the option on main screen to restore to original settings at any time. For more information, please refer the readme.txt file. You can download this from http:// www.download.com/Adobe-Reader- SpeedUp/3000-2378_4-10720728.html

FireTune for Firefox (Size 621 KB)

This is aimed at bettering your browsing experience with Firefox. According to your specific computer speed and Internet connection speed, FireTune will optimise several internal settings of Firefox for better performance.

To configure this, just double-click FireTune.exe. It is advisable to take a back-up of original configuration before making any changes. To do this, please click "Create backup of configuration" button on the main screen. Just click "Tune it" button to optimise your settings. It supports other useful settings such as "Turn on autocomplete for URLs, Optimize Firefox memory usage, etc. It has, on the main screen, the "Restore original configuration" option to restore to original settings at any time. It can be downloaded from http://www.totalidea.com/content/ downloads.php

Photoshop SpeedUp (Size 311 KB)

As its name suggests, this software significantly decreases the time it takes to load Adobe Photoshop by disabling the plugins that you may not need. There are several options such as whether to load the Adobe fonts, load the presets, and set the memory usage. You can restore the original settings at any time. Adobe Photoshop SpeedUp is freeware, works with Adobe Photoshop versions 3 through 8. Restore to original settings with a click of the Restore button at any time. You can download this from http:// www.acropdf.com/products.html

Tunexp 1.5 (Size 1 MB)

Tunexp maximises the performance of Windows XP. The tweaks are presented in five categories such as Memory and file system, Hardware, Internet, Services and Miscellaneous. The documentation is neatly presented. Please read the documentation for "Recommended action" for each setting before making any changes.

During the first run, you will initially have to choose your Windows location (for instance, drive C).

It supports the following tweaks: Disable Paging Executive, Faster Shutdown, File Allocation Size Tweak, Optimise Prefetch, Increase NTFS Performance, IO Page Lock Limit, Clear Prefetch Folder, Defrag Boot Files, Ultra-Fast Booting, Enable UDMA-66, Speed-up Windows IRQ Handling, Increase DNS Cache, Messenger Etc. This software is useful for advanced users and can be downloaded from http:// www.download.com/TuneXP/3000- 2086_4-10290929.html

M. SAMPATH

The Businessline dt. 14 7 2008

The ugly race for numbers

2008-07-14T18:22:00.000-07:00

Notwithstanding the Left leaders’ shrill statements denying any kind of a floor co-ordination with the BJP while voting against the confidence motion in the House, it remains that the nuke deal will manage to achieve what no recent election has. There will be a distinct division of all kinds of political groups with diverse and dramatically opposite ideologies, for and against the nuke deal, says RASHEEDA BHAGAT.

Short of fist-fights, a lot of action is happening on the national political theatre. And the frenzy with which our neta log have started hitting out at each other, the days in the run-up to the trust vote in the Lok Sabha, are bound to turn murkier.

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) on its part has pulled out all the plugs and unleashed an army of spokespersons to “inform” the people of this country that the Indo-US civil nuclear deal is going to be really good for them. Never mind the price of onions or tomatoes; they need nuclear power and badly too!

The Left, on the other hand, particularly the CPI (M) General Secretary and the conductor of the entire anti-nuke deal orchestra, Mr Prakash Karat, has further hardened its resolve to ensure the defeat of the UPA Government in the trust vote scheduled for July 22. And so we had Mr Karat driving down to the BSP chief, Ms Mayawati’s house in Delhi on Sunday for a tete-a-tete on the crucial need for her to manage floor co-ordination with the Left parties to ensure the defeat of the UPA Government.

Ms Mayawati, on her part, was most cordial to her visitor and promised all support. She is, of course, livid at the CBI raking up once again the issue of her disproportionate assets. Clearly, it has been done at the behest of the Samajwadi Party duo, Mr Mulayam Singh, and Mr Amar Singh, and the timing leaves much to be desired. But even though it is clearly a case of vendetta, what would get the goat of ordinary Indians struggling hard to make the two ends meet during these very tough times is the mind-boggling number of properties — land, houses, villas, etc, that Ms Mayawati and her relatives own, not to mention the various bank accounts, fixed deposits and other investments.

Big business and politics

Anyway, returning to the political climax towards which the country is headed in a week’s time, and the manner in which the CBI suddenly woke up to the fact that Ms Mayawati’s assets are disproportionate to her known sources of income, tells us once again that in the murky world of politics, nothing really changes when it comes to arm-twisting tactics, even though the principal players keep changing.

The only difference is that our politicians seem to get more and more brazen; and, of course, this time around, the people at the helm have had to deal with astute politicians such as Mr Mulayam Singh who can drive a really hard bargain. He and Mr Amar Singh would have certainly bargained very hard, and put in the caveat that unless they see results before the trust vote day of July 22, their votes could not be taken for granted.

Along with targeting Ms Mayawati, Mr Amar Singh has openly stated that the SP has asked the UPA Government to levy windfall profit tax on private oil refining companies; the target is obviously Reliance Industries headed by Mr Mukesh Ambani, the elder brother of Mr Anil Ambani who is extremely close to Mr Amar Singh. There have also been reports that the SP leader has asked the Prime Minister to bring about rapprochement between the two estranged brothers.

All this only goes to reiterate the thin dividing line between big business and politics.

Returning to the trust vote of July 22, while all the principal protagonists — the Congress(I), the BJP and the Left — are presenting a confident picture of how the vote will go their way, with each passing day, the smaller parties are changing their stance with a new statement. The Telengana Rashtra Samithi, for instance, has obviously taken a cue from the SP leaders’ book and announced a series of bandhs and protests in the coming week to force the UPA Government’s hand in coming out with a clear commitment on the party’s one-point agenda — a separate Telengana state.

The TRS President, Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao, has unequivocally said that the UPA could get his party’s three votes only if the Union Cabinet came out with a resolution announcing the formation of a separate Telengana. And, this should be before July 22. When the stakes are so high, as they obviously are for the UPA Government to survive and not be forced to seek a fresh mandate from the people in tough times such as these, the voices making demands are strident too. The clear message from Mr Rao is: My need is today!

But the one politician who might be even more difficult to get on the UPA’s side is former Prime Minister and Chief of the Janata Dal (S), Mr Deve Gowda. The Congress leadership knows only too well that he can effortlessly run circles around anybody and, hence, while bringing him on board would increase the comfort level of the Congress-led UPA, the strategy to win the vote of confidence does not really bank on Mr Gowda’s support. If it comes — in the form of three valuable votes — it will be a bonus, seems to be the thinking.

The Shiromani Akali Dal has finally ended speculation that it will vote in favour of the UPA Government just because the Prime Minsiter, Mr Manmohan Singh, is a Sikh. “Don’t drag me into non-issues like the prime minister being a Sikh,” the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal chided reporters in Jalandhar and said that since SAD is a constituent of the NDA, it will go along with it on the trust vote.

Both Mr Pranab Mukherjee and Mr Karat have met the National Conference chief, Mr Omar Abdullah, to seek his party’s two votes on the deal. But the NC is yet to disclose its stand on the issue, though there are indications that it might go along with the UPA. Allying with the BJP in the past cost the party its government in Jammu and Kashmir and with the PDP and Congress parting ways in the State, who knows if a different political alignment might crop up there. Anyway, the NC had emerged the single-largest party in the last assembly election and had opted to sit in the Opposition then. With the State already in election mode, a deal with the NC might cost the Congress dear in J&K politics, just as it threatens to do in Uttar Pradesh. Well, the Congress leadership will have to weigh the pros and cons of saving the UPA Government of today by sacrificing the party’s prospects in the future in important states such as UP and J&K.

Interesting polarisation

On the other side of the divide, Mr Karat is busy getting as many allies in his stable as he possibly can to ensure that the UPA Government loses the trust vote — after all he has said from various platforms that he will not allow the nuclear deal to go through. And he is not to be taken lightly. Mr Pranab Mukherjee who met the veteran Marxist leader, Mr Jyoti Basu, on Sunday to brief him about the parting of ways between the UPA Government and the Left, made no bones about proclaiming: “We consider Jyoti Basu, along with Harkishen Singh Surjeet, the architects of the Left’s coalition with the UPA.” This was an obvious effort to snub Mr Karat, who appears even more determined to defeat the UPA on the floor of the Lok Sabha than the BJP!

Unwittingly, and notwithstanding the Left leaders’ shrill statements, denying that they will have any kind of a floor co-ordination with the BJP while voting against the confidence motion in the House, the fact remains that the nuke deal will manage to achieve what no recent Indian election has. There will be a distinct division of all kinds of political groups with diverse and dramatically opposite ideologies, for and against the nuke deal. So essentially we will see two big blocks in Parliament on July 22 on the nuke issue.

If our politicians can manage to pull off such an impossible coup in the next election — immediately, in November or next year — we can be spared the painful prospect of seeing fractured verdicts and the hectic horse-trading that has followed in the last few elections.

But for the time being, horse-trading is very much the favourite sport. The figure, did you ask? Just choose any digit, put any number of zeroes that your imagination can muster, and seek the price. Provided you (or your friend, relative or whoever) have a vote that counts!

Response may be sent to rasheeda@thehindu.co.in

The Businessline dt. 15 7 2008

Infy to hire 25,000, attrition up

2008-07-12T19:27:00.000-07:00

BANGALORE: IT software major Infosys Technologies said that it planned to recruit 10,000 fresh hands in the second quarter of this fiscal and and a gross of 25,000 for the year.

"Hiring has been planned and attrition is under control," T V Mohandas Pai, member of the Board and Head-HRD and Education and Research of Infosys, told reporters.

Infosys plans to recruit 10,000 in the second quarter of the fiscal. Out of these, 8,000 would be campus recruitments.

He said that nearly 3,000 of the recruits were BSC, BCom graduates. "Most of these BSC graduates recruited are the cream and can be trained", he said. The software major was looking at deploying these graduates in positions like infrastructure management and independent validation.

Stating that attrition was under control, he said that the attrition figure this quarter was 13.6 per cent as against 13.4 per cent in the last quarter. Nearly 16 per cent left the company to pursue higher studies and 47 per cent for other firms.

The total projected employee strength for the first quarter of the current fiscal was 94,379 against 91,187 in the last quarter of 2007-08. The strength of software professionals was 87,816 as of this quarter as against 85,013 the last quarter of 2007-08.

Gross addition this quarter was 7,182 and net addition was 3,912 for this quarter with laterals being 2013.

Capital Expenditure of Rs 337 crore was incurred this quarter. As on June 30, 2008, the firm had 1, 78, 56,088 sqft of space capable of accomodating 80,880 emploees and 70,19, 986 sqft is under completition, capable of accomodating 23,945 employees.

indiatimes.com dt. 13 7 2008

Left readies action plan to topple govt

2008-07-12T19:24:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Admitting that ruling establishment is pulling all stops to get smaller parties and individual MPs to vote in favour of UPA during the trust vote, Left is also attempting to rally political parties so that the government can be toppled on July 22.

On Saturday CPM general secretary Prakash Karat had a meeting with party's parliamentary leadership to decide on the strategy inside and outside Parliament.
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee is likely to resign early next week. "Its all a part of well-thought out plan. We will not lose a vote," a source said. Senior leaders are also reaching out to various parts of the country to tell people how Manmohan Singh-led government has betrayed the country on the issue of nuclear deal and how it falls short of PM's promise in Parliament.

As for Left's efforts to garner support, so far apart from TDP no party has committed. JD (S) MP Veerendra Kumar has also promised support to Left even if party goes with the government. Left is also not relying on Deve Gowda.

But National Conference is undecided. On the other hand Left feels Jharkhand Mukti Morcha cannot be relied upon. Parties like AGP have gone over to NDA and will vote against the government.

Explaining NC's dilemma, a left source said, "National Conference does not want to antagonize Congress before assembly election. NC sees itself as filling the slot left by the PDP in J&K and team with Congress after the election results."

CPM also denied that senior leaders like Jyoti Basu do not agree with party's stand to vote against the UPA. Calling it "fabricated", CPM said "such motivated reports are being floated to hamper the rallying of all the forces who are committed to oppose the nuclear deal and bring to book UPA's failure to tackle price rise and other problems of the people."

The Times of India dt. 13 7 2008

When Sensex falls, leave the Toyota at home

2008-07-12T19:19:00.001-07:00

Investors are not the only ones to be hit by the free-falling Sensex. Brokers at the Bombay Stock Exchange have been at the receiving end of the downslide as well. Though they go through the motions and check out every penny stock that moves up or down, there is no excitement.

Sapan Patil, whose JNP Shares and Stock Brokers Private Limited was started by his grandfather 60 years ago, said many brokers have cut down on staff and are delaying capital expenses.

“I am trying to get employees for lesser salaries and am thinking about not renewing certain software contracts,” said Patil. “At a personal level, too, we are thinking of cutting costs. I have sold two of my four cars that run on petrol and opted for diesel ones.”

Biswanath Muralidhar Jhunjhunwala, one of the senior-most brokers the city, now takes the train from his Malad home to his office instead of commuting in his Toyota Innova. The austerity measures extend to his office as well: tea and snacks are served twice a day instead of three times, as was done earlier.

Business is so dull that several brokers have been forced out of business. “Brokers now have few orders to execute as clients are staying away,” said Madhukar Sheth, a broker who now concentrates on consultancy to listed companies and his personal investments.

“People are worried and nervous. Sub-brokerships and dealerships are being cancelled,” added Rahul Nangalia (26) who joined his father’s brokerage firm about four years ago.

Naresh Bhalerao, a sub-broker, said business was down by 70 per cent while Nangalia put the slump in revenue at 40 per cent.

The Hindustan Times dt. 13.7 2008

Inspired decor, personal style

2008-07-11T22:12:00.001-07:00

Decorating your room? Priyanka Joshi speaks to a few interior designers who offer tips on how to adapt hot styles and trends for your home.

Raise your hand if you know what an inspiration room is. No, no...it isn't a place to meditate or think quietly. An inspiration room could be any room, any attractively decorated room that is, that you've seen in a magazine, a showroom, or even in a friend's home and admire, but don't have the pocket to afford.

Good and affordable home decor may sound impossible, but it does exist. As the clich goes, you just need to hunt around a little to find it. Here are three dominant looks that you are Go green
Chances are parts of your home and lifestyle are already green  you're just unaware of it. A big part of going green is not just about reducing consumption but also reusing and recycling stuff.

If you've decided to remodel your home or room instead of building or buying a new one, you've already taken a step in the green direction.

"Natural fibre rugs, beeswax or soy wax candles can add eco flair to your decor. Another unique, elegant and green decorating tip  adorn your home with mosaic bamboo tiles to add warm tones to a wall or make a floor interesting," suggests Jessica Karani, owner of Mystique, an upmarket home decor store in Mumbai.

Prices vary from product to product, starting at a low Rs 150 for the soy wax candles, and rising to Rs 1,500 and more for the mosaic bamboo tiles.

How eco-friendly your furniture is depends on the material it is made from, how it is processed and what finishes have been used, so choose carefully, recommend design experts.

Buy second-hand (or vintage, if you like), and you're greener than if you buy the most eco-friendly of furniture. Plus, consider how much lighter it'll be on the pocket. "Natural tree bark and old wood artefacts and furniture are part of the green trend too," finishes Karani. Prices here start at Rs 500.

Throw in a grass-cloth wall covering, bamboo flooring and you get a simple, uncluttered room that fosters earthiness. If you're in the market for new furnishings, look for products that are chemical-free or made from renewable or reclaimed materials like paper and discarded wood.

Expressive invention
Of all the trends that are bursting on the scene this year, one is predominant: the ongoing integration of new technologies into everyday lifestyles. Mobile phones, MP3 players, home theatres, speakers and similar digital assistants are part of most households these days.

Inspired by their energy and pace, this trend advocates a decor emphasising graphic lines, in which 1960s- and 1970s-style furniture is arranged beside the high-tech equipment. The effect is "walls down"  functional, bright and clean.

Sounds too austere? Not at all, opines Radhika Gupta, owner of MoonRiver. Gupta's lifestyle concept stores are present in Delhi and Mumbai, and are expected to open soon in cities like Bangalore and Hyderabad.

She and her team of interior artists have styled villas and super luxury apartments for leading real-estate developers and individuals.

"Our patrons are boldly asking for oversized prints, stripes and psychedelic patterns boasting of strong colours," says Gupta, and adds, "Stainless steel, very light or dark wood and glass are also being used for surfaces while people want to accessorise with coloured plastic or dull metal for a touch of the fanciful."

Here too, luxury is the key. Designer labels do hold strong with furniture and accessories by well-known labels more sought-after than ever.

Although walls and other key surfaces are usually seen as providing a neutral background  often in grey, beige, white or black  the use of bold accessories and prints brings colour into play and conveys a refreshing naturalness. Result  decor that expresses a bit of whimsy but is still chic and neat, and all yours for anywhere between Rs 40,000 and Rs 60,000 a room.

Dramatic differences
"Warm-coloured metals like copper, bronze and gold, coordinated with precious woods, crystal, shantung silk, velvet and embroidery create an effect that's as dramatic as it can get," says Karani.

The ensuing look is both refined and welcoming and Gupta wagers that, at Rs 50,000-Rs 75,000 for a sitting area, it won't eat into your budget too. "Bright-hued furniture pieces, mostly in reds, greens and purples underline a dramatic effect," says Gupta.

Inspiration also means infusing your individual style into the design rather than replicating an exact duplicate. Most experts recommend trying to get as close to the "inspired" look and style as possible and then moving on.

Gupta suggests "warm, elaborate, rich, shimmering, embossed and embellished" as the catchwords of the season. So put in an ebony piece from Africa in one corner and a Moroccan brocade pillow and a mirror brought back from a trip to Europe in another.

This season, also go vibrant with spicy tones of red, fuchsia, turquoise and bright yellow for accessories. A symbol of luxury and wealth, aubergine, which emphasises both the sumptuous and the beguiling is the season's hottest colour.

The Business Standard dt. 12.7 2008

Scratch may make web 100 times faster

2008-07-11T21:37:00.001-07:00

MELBOURNE: Australian experts have developed a new technology that they claim can make web surfing 100 times faster in the near future.

Professor Ben Eggleton, a scientist at the University of Sydney, says that the novel technology is unlikely to cost users an extra cent.

Describing the university's photonic integrated circuit as "a small scratch on a piece of glass'', he insists that it can boost the performance of traditional optic fibres.

"This circuit uses the 'scratch' as a guide or a switching a path for information - kind of like when trains are switched from one track to another - except this switch takes one picosecond to change tracks,'' News.com.au quoted him as saying of the technology developed over the past four years.

"This means that in one second the switch is turning on and off about one million times,'' he said.

"Currently we use electronics for our switching and that has been OK, but as we move toward a more tech-savvy future there is a demand for instant web gratification,'' he added.

So far, initial tests of the technology have suggested that achieving internet speeds 60 times faster than the current Telstra network is possible, the researcher says.

Professor Eggleton strongly believes that, if developed further, the circuit may reach speeds 100 times faster.

"This is a critical building block and a fundamental advance on what is already out there,'' he said.

"We are talking about networks that are potentially up to 100 times faster without costing the consumer any more,'' he added.

India times.com dt. 12 7 2008

Citigroup may sell its India HQ

2008-07-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

MUMBAI: The subprime mortgage market collapse of last year may have an impact on one of the landmark buildings in the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC). According to real estate market sources, the New York-headquartered Citibank, which has been hit hard due to the crisis, is believed to be actively considering to put its eight-storey tower Citigroup Centre on the block.

When contacted, a spokesperson refused to comment and said the organisation does not discuss these issues with the media. However, reliable sources told TOI that since the past few months word is out in the property market about the imminent sale of Citigroup Centre. With close to 2 lakh sq ft of built up area, the building could fetch anywhere between Rs 500 crore to Rs 800 crore, according to a market estimate.

Those in the know said that after hiving of this prime BKC property, the bank will lease back the same premises. In February, Citigroup had completed a deal in this fashion with its building in Tokyo, Japan. The transaction was, what is called, a sale-and-lease back deal of the Citigroup Center in the Shinagawa district of Tokyo. Citigroup sold this building to its rival Morgan Stanley in a deal reportedly worth $445 million (approx Rs 1,800 crore).

It was almost a decade ago that Citibank moved its main offices from Nariman Point to the BKC. This decision to relocate led to heads rolling — two senior officials in Mumbai were sacked after top bank officials from New York found the BKC location completely desolate and inappropriate. This was in the late 1990s when BKC was yet relatively undeveloped and the top bankers from the US found it sacrilegious that their counterparts in Mumbai had thought of shifting away from Nariman Point, the numero uno commercial district.

The Citibank has been shedding its real estate (mainly apartments) all over the country. In the past one year, it has sold more than half a dozen flats in Mumbai alone.

These include a flat each in Meher Apartments (Altamount Road), Kanti on Mt Mary Road in Bandra, Hormuzd off Carter Road, NCPA Apartment at Nariman Point and as many as five apartments at Harbour Heights building, Colaba.

The Times of India dt. 12 7 2008

Rise in Maya's wealth is a mystery: CBI

2008-07-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: From Rs 1.35 crore to Rs 52 crore in just four years. The dramatic jump in Mayawati's assets - with little to show how it was acquired - is the mainstay of the affidavit CBI filed in the Supreme Court on Thursday to justify its decision to chargesheet her in a disproportionate assets case. ( Watch )

The charge listed in detail has been backed by documents running into over 100 pages, which can help CBI counter the allegation of frame-up the UP chief minister has levelled against the agency for insisting on prosecuting her. ( See Ninan’s cartoon )

The affidavit, which CBI sees as strong enough to help it secure a go-ahead from the SC, also includes her own accounts of the wealth.

It says that in April 2004, Mayawati in her affidavit before the returning officer for Akbarpur LS constituency put her assets at Rs 1.5 lakh in cash, Rs 9.78 lakh in bank deposits and properties worth Rs 1.25 crore in Delhi.

The CBI affidavit on Mayawati's assets also takes note of UP CM's submission before the returning officer for Akbarpur LS constituency.

In her affidavit in April 2004, Maya had put her assets at Rs 1.5 lakh in cash, Rs 9.78 lakh in bank deposits and properties worth Rs 1.25 crore in Delhi.

Just three years later, however, in the nomination papers filed during last year's assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, she put the value of her total assets at an enviable Rs 52 crore. No explanation was provided for the sudden jump, said the CBI affidavit.

When questioned by CBI, Mayawati came up with the ingenious explanation - first reported in TOI - that she owed the remarkable rise in her fortunes to the contributions ranging from Rs 5 to Rs 10 she had received from her lakhs of supporters who appreciated her commitment to the uplift of Dalits and backward class people.

CBI, however, said the explanation was not backed up by evidence.

The agency also took extra care to draw a bold line between the Taj Heritage Corridor scam and the DA case and said both the cases were being investigated separately.

Closure of the Taj corridor case because of refusal of sanction for her prosecution did not create any legal bar against CBI to take the probe into the DA case to the logical conclusion, CBI said in its affidavit. CBI said it did a professional job and thoroughly investigated each and every aspect of the DA case, painstakingly gathered evidence and came to a conclusion that it was a fit case for the agency to file final report (chargesheet) against her as mandated under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The affidavit was in response to Mayawati's petition accusing CBI of harassing her by keeping alive the DA case, which she said was only an offshoot of the Taj corridor scam. With the closure of the Taj corridor case, the DA case should also have been closed, she had said.

Citing her differences with the Congress-led UPA government, Mayawati had told the apex court that the investigation into the DA case was being used by the Centre to harass her politically.

The times of India dt. 12 7 2008

Talwar gets bail in Aarushi case

2008-07-11T21:15:00.001-07:00

NEW DELHI: Rajesh Talwar, arrested in connection with the murder of his young daughter Aarushi and the family’s domestic help Hemraj in May, was on Friday granted bail by a special Ghaziabad court. He is expected to be released from the Dasna jail on Saturday.

Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation submitted that it had not come across any evidence so far proving the complicity of Dr. Talwar, who was arrested by the Noida police on May 23. The court asked him to execute a personal bond for Rs. 5 lakh and two sureties for a like amount.

In another development, the CBI arrested Vijay Mandal, domestic help of a neighbour of the Talwars. Raj Kumar, domestic help of the Durranis, and Dr. Talwar’s compounder Krishna were arrested earlier.

Vijay was arrested on the basis of disclosures made by Raj Kumar and Krishna and the findings of psychological assessment and polygraph, brain fingerprinting and narco-analysis tests conducted on him in Mumbai and Bangalore.

At a press conference here, CBI Joint Director (Special Crime) Arun Kumar said after the agency took over the case, Dr. Talwar was subjected to a lie-detector test, but it remained inconclusive. “However, in the second test no deception was found.”

Dr. Talwar’s wife Nupur was subjected to polygraph tests twice and no deception was found in the second one.

Mr. Kumar said the Talwars were also subjected to psycho-analysis tests and nothing adverse was found against them. Then, with the help of experts, the agency conducted a simulation exercise during which the air-conditioners in the rooms of the Talwars and Aarushi were switched on. No sound of any activity in Aarushi’s room was audible in the adjacent bedroom when the door was shut.

Krishna’s confession

Krishna then emerged the main accused. The CBI found that a couple of days before the incident, Dr. Talwar had scolded him for a mistake and he publicly expressed his anger over the “insult.” Krishna was first subjected to psychological assessment and polygraph tests, which revealed deception on his part. He was, therefore, subjected to brain fingerprinting and narco-analysis tests. “After the tests, Krishna confessed to having committed the crime along with Raj Kumar and Vijay Mandal,” said Mr. Kumar.

Raj Kumar was put through all scientific tests in Gandhinagar and the findings suggested his involvement. He was then arrested and again subjected to a narco-analysis test in Bangalore. During the second test, he allegedly confessed to his involvement.

“As per the disclosures by the accused, Krishna, Raj Kumar and Vijay gathered in Hemraj’s room and consumed alcohol on the night of May 15-16. They talked about Aarushi and under the influence of liquor went to her room. She woke up and tried to scream, but was gagged and hit in the head with a hard blunt object. The accused then tried to sexually abuse her,” said Mr. Kumar. This led to an altercation between them. Aarushi had lost her consciousness by then. Fearing that the Talwars might wake up, they went to the terrace, where Raj Kumar and Krishna had a scuffle with Hemraj and allegedly murdered him.

They then returned to Aarushi’s room and slit her throat, said Mr. Kumar.

However, the agency is yet to recover the murder weapon and the mobile phones of the victims. Also, individual roles of the three accused have not been clearly established so far.

The Hindu dt. 12 7 2008

Obama reluctant to seek changes in nuclear deal

2008-07-11T21:12:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: Democratic Party candidate for the United States Presidential election Barack Obama has said he was reluctant to seek changes in the civilian nuclear deal with India, and hoped to see the process concluded before the year-end.

The existing nuclear agreement balanced both issues – America’s strategic relationship with India and its non-proliferation concerns. “I am therefore reluctant to seek changes,” he told Outlook magazine in an interview.

He admitted to some reservations over the “original agreement” but subsequently concluded that it would “enhance our [Indo-U.S.] partnership and deepen our cooperation” to combat global warning.

Asked whether an Obama administration in 2009 would reopen or scrap the deal if it was not concluded this year, he said, “A final judgement on the deal…must await the IAEA’s approval of a safeguards agreement and changes to be agreed [upon] by the Nuclear Suppliers Group. At that point the U.S. Congress will decide whether to approve the agreement. I continue to hope this process can be concluded before the end of the year.”

Indian connections

Disclosing several Indian connections, Mr. Obama said he would continue with the tradition established by George W Bush and Bill Clinton of visiting India during their tenure as Presidents. He was fortunate to have close Indian-American friends. He pointed out that his mother did rural development work in India.

“Throughout my life, I have always looked to Mahatma Gandhi as an inspiration, because he embodies the kind of transformational change that can be made when ordinary people come together to do extraordinary things. That is why his portrait hangs in my Senate office: to remind me that real results will come not just from Washington – they will come from the people.”

Asked in what areas he would like to see U.S.-India relations grow, his reply was, “across the board would the short answer.” Specifically, he would like to focus on counter-terrorism, greater military ties, promotion of democracy in the region and beyond and combating climate change and global poverty. “I would also like to see agriculture given a higher priority in our relations, as India pursues its goal of a second green revolution.”

Mr. Obama spoke against the Bush administration’s Pakistan policy of “putting all our eggs in the Musharraf basket” and wanted the U.S. to align with “Pakistan and its people and not just one individual.”

The Hindu dt. 12 7 2008

Guided tour to Google Lively

2008-07-10T18:51:00.000-07:00

Google gets Second Life. The no. 1 search engine company has launched a 3D virtual space, called Google Lively, that aims to give competition to the popular virtual world hangout Second Life.

The free service which requires no registration and can be accessed through a user's Google account enables people to congregate in fantasy rooms and other computer-manufactured versions of real life.

Lively's users will be able to create an avatar for themselves that can be male, female or even a different species. This avatar can assume a new identity, change clothes or convey emotions with a few clicks of the mouse. Lively also enables users to create different digital environments to roam, from a child's room to an exotic island.

Here's how users can find there way into the Lively world.

How to get going

Start with choosing your avatar. Users can choose from a variety of avatars available and can further personalise them to their liking. Every avatar has different animations and can be dolled up in various outfits and accessories.

Users can also go shopping for their favourite characters, say Logan, Hamlet, Matty bear, Heather, Jane Doe, Hajime, John Doe, Kitty, Ty and Vanessa among the choices available. Many of them are also available for free.

Lively users can then invite their friends and family into their virtual realities, where they can chat, hug, cry, laugh and interact as if they were characters in a video game.

Deck up your avatar!

Users can deck up their avatar to match their style. There are lots of colours and accessories to choose from. Lively users can choose from the clothing like tops, bottoms, shoes, suits, coats, outerwear, hats and gloves. They can also have their choice in skin and hair colours.

To change the outfit, users need to check out the styles available in the wardrobe picker. Browse or search the options in your wardrobe inventory and select items to wear.

In case a user feels that the chosen clothing or accessory doesn't suit his avatar, they can go back to their wardrobe, left-click on the item, and choose Remove Item.

Create your room

Another step is selecting your room. With Google Lively users can create their own space and share it with their friends. The way to go here is to choose a room shell first. This comes in variety of styles and shapes. Some popular rooms are girl's room, fight club, Fashion room and of course Google room.

Users can get the code they want to use to embed their room in a blog or webpage.

Users can also add music to play in their rooms. For this, users need to upload a music file from their computer or select from inventory. Also, you can grant permission if you want your visitors to enjoy.

Personalise your space

This one lets users decorate their rooms and add unique collections. Several choices are available, ranging from girl's room chair, segmented cabinet, superhero chair, tub couch, to Goth paintings and round coffee tables.

To choose furniture and other room decor items, users need to open the furniture picker and browse through the choices available. If they like something, click on the item and click on Add to room. They can also move around the furniture around and decide the placing.

Users can also design their rooms as per the theme of their choice, say nature lover or gizmo freak. The rooms can be decorated large-screen TVs that can be set up to play different clips from YouTube.com, Google's video-sharing service.

Explore further

To explore further, users can click on an object to leave a comment, or to find that item in the catalog.

More interesting, they can also double-click on an object to see if it comes to life!

* Indiatimes News Network dt. 11 7 2008

IT cos upbeat on Q1

2008-07-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

MUMBAI: India's top business service firms are likely to see higher revenues in the first quarter, boosted by a falling rupee and sustained offshore business from US clients, analysts say.

They forecast revenues for Indian software firms to grow by between three and 10 per cent in the three months ending June, helped by a weaker rupee.

Infosys, the Bangalore-based pioneer of India's showpiece business process outsourcing sector, kicks-off the earnings season on Friday.

"Infosys and Satyam will meet revenue projections as they had based their quarterly and full-year earnings guidance at 40 (rupees to the dollar), much lower than that prevailing in the quarter," brokerage Religare Securities said in a report.

The average rate for the rupee was 42.8 for the April-June quarter. A stronger dollar benefits India's software companies as they bill most US-based clients in the currency.

The US remains the biggest market for Indian software and service exports, which are forecast by the industry lobby group National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) to hit $60 billion by 2010.

"The business environment for IT stocks has become slightly favourable than at the beginning of the year," said Bhavin Shah of J P Morgan.

Last year software firms such as TCS, Infosys and Wipro were roiled by the rupee's steepest appreciation against the dollar in three decades, surging wages and proper

"Mathematically speaking, Infosys could increase their full-year earnings guidance by 6-7 per cent," Bhavin said.

"The growth in revenues is being primarily driven by a volume growth, boosted by a seven per cent depreciation in the rupee (against the dollar)," brokerage Sharekhan.com said in a note to clients.

For the January-March quarter Infosys posted a lower-than-expected net profit growth of 9.2 per cent at Rs 12.49 billion (315.04 million dollars), as a US economic slowdown hit clients' budgets.

Software stocks have been volatile this year, but have outperformed the interest rate-sensitive property, automobile and banking sectors, which were hit by several rounds of monetary tightening by India's central bank as it battles 13-year-high inflation.

There is renewed optimism after better-than-expected third-quarter earnings from US-based Accenture.

The global consulting and outsourcing firm said it has not seen any cancellation or big delays in its business due to a weaker US economy and the financial sector.

New bookings for Accenture, a key indicator of future revenues, rose by five per cent at $6.77 billion in the third quarter.

"We expect IT players to witness an increase in offshore volumes going ahead. An early indication of this is seen in Accenture's third-quarter earnings," said Anurag Purohit of Religare Securities.

Indian software exports grew 29 per cent to cross the $40-billion mark in the fiscal year just ended, despite global economic turmoil, Nasscom said.

A recent global survey of top chief investment officers indicates that IT spending could be stronger than expected in 2008.

The survey says that IT spending is set to grow at 8 per cent in the second half of the year, against three per cent same period last year.

Indiatimes.com dt. 11 7 2008

Six Indian cos among BusinessWeek's top 100 Infotech firms

2008-07-10T18:38:00.001-07:00

NEW DELHI: Notwithstanding the turmoil in global economic environment, as many as six Indian firms, including Reliance Comm and Bharti Airtel, have been named among top 100 best-performing infotech companies in the world by a US magazine BusinessWeek.

The BusinessWeek's latest annual list 'The Infotech 100', which ranks the firms on the basis of shareholder return, return on equity, total revenues and revenue growth, has ranked telecom major Bharti Airtel at the 21st position followed by Reddington India (55th) and RCom (66th).

The list is topped by US firms --Amazon.com and Apple-- who have taken the top two spots this year. However, the magazine said in an accompanying report that "the dominance of US companies is in decline, the country has 33 companies among the IT 100 this year, down from 43 in 2007."

Other Indian firms on the list, includes -- Azim Premji-led Wipro at the 74th position, Satyam at 91 rank and HCL Technologies has been ranked at the 95th position among the list of 100 firms.

South African telecom firm MTN Group, which is in exclusive talks with Anil Ambani Group flagship firm Reliance Communications, has been ranked at the 12th position in the global list even ahead of global IT giants IBM and Microsoft, which are at 13th and 23rd ranks in the list, respectively.

Besides, the other fast emerging country China also has six companies among the top 100 Infotech companies in the world.

The magazine has compiled the information for the list by sorting through the financial results of 30,500 publicly traded companies and has ranked the technology players on four criteria --shareholder return, return on equity, total revenues and revenue growth.

The companies leading the list are those with the lowest aggregate ranking.

The companies which qualified had to have revenues of at least 300 million dollar then the collection of about 800 companies was divided into eight industry categories, such as software and semiconductors.

"Companies whose stock price has dropped more than 75 per cent, whose sales shrank, or where other developments raised questions about future performance were eliminated from contention.

"We also dropped some phone companies whose monopoly or near-monopoly power gives them an unfair advantage over competitors," the magazine added.

The Economic times 11 7 2008

Filing income-tax returns not so saral!

2008-07-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

MUMBAI: Filing income-tax returns has never been so saral, as is made out to be. The latest controversy is about filing TDS (tax deducted at source) certificates. Last year, the department had issued an advise to taxpayers not to file any attachment with the returns. However, when taxpayers complied, the department changed its stand.

It said the TDS certificates would have to be filed along with the returns, else the returns will not be accepted. Now, taxpayers are in a fix: to file the attachment or not. Chartered accountant Nilesh Kapadia explains the dilemma. He says the income-tax commissioners are refusing to accept the returns if TDS certificates are not filed with the returns.

Even when you produce copies of TDS certificates along with the returns, the commissioners continue to reject the returns. The department insists that TDS certificates should be original.

The I-T department says the advise by the tax authorities not to file any attachment with the returns was part of its ongoing exercise to automate the whole administration. Office of the chief commissioner, Mumbai, said the instruction for not filing any attachment with the return was made in the financial year 2006-07.

The CBDT has already issued instructions that if the TDS claim by the employer is less than Rs 5 lakh or if the refund is less than Rs 25,000, the taxpayer need not produce the TDS certificate. In all other cases, the returns should carry the TDS certificate.

The office also explained the reason for the changed stance. Quite often, employers who are supposed to file quarterly returns do not follow the rule. And when they file it, they do not fill in crucial details like the PAN of the employee from whose salary the TDS has been deducted.

This prevents the officers from verifying the TDS payment mentioned in the return. Therefore, despite a decision to ask the employees not to file any attachment with the returns, the department had to reconsider the decision.
According to tax lawyer Jignesh R Shah, “Till the tax administration becomes completely automated, the taxpayers should be given an option to file returns electronically or manually.”

The Economic times dt. 11 7 2008

A callous government: Karat

2008-07-09T19:35:00.001-07:00

NEW DELHI: The four Left parties on Wednesday formally snapped their over four-year-old ties with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition government at the Centre by submitting their letters withdrawing support to President Pratibha Patil.

General secretaries of the four Left parties – Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Forward Bloc – met the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan and submitted separate letters to her.

They also submitted a joint letter, requesting her to direct Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek a vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha immediately. It was signed by Prakash Karat of the CPI(M), A.B. Bardhan of the CPI, T.J. Chandrachoodan (RSP) and Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc).

Later at a joint press conference, Mr. Karat said the UPA government minus the Left support has been reduced to a minority government.

Charging the Manmohan Singh government and the Congress leadership with being “callous” towards the people, Mr. Karat said it was more concerned with fulfilling the commitment made to the U.S. President, George Bush. “We cannot be a party to such a government. The Congress leadership and the government was always looking up to the U.S. but they should have learnt some good things also from America,” he added.

Mr. Karat cited the example of the U.S. government negotiating an additional protocol with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which was not yet approved by the Board of Governors but was made available to all members of the Congress and put on the net.

“Obviously, the IAEA cannot have one standard for India and another for the U.S.,” he said. The CPI(M) general secretary sought to know if the Indian government had asked the IAEA to treat the text of the safeguards agreement as “classified.”

“If the government wants to have any credibility, this text has to be made public. The people of the country and our nuclear scientists have a right to go through the text. It is an insult to the Left parties that at first you commit and then do not show the text.”

Claiming that the Congress leadership and the government had “disregarded” the majority voice in Parliament on the nuclear deal, Mr. Karat said the government had not been “transparent.”

Replying to a query if the Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee would be asked to resign, Mr. Karat said it would be for the Speaker to decide.

He said the Left fight against the deal would go on and hoped that the agreement with the U.S. would not become final. On future ties with the Congress, Mr. Karat said the current developments had shown that it would do anything to remain in power.

The Hindu dt. 10 7 2008

Rupee helps, wages bite IT cos!

2008-07-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

BANGALORE: India's top information technology outsourcing companies are set to report their first quarter results for fiscal 2008. While the profits are likely to rise, thanks to a weaker rupee, further losses for their major clients, US financial companies, could lead to falling orders.

Infosys Technologies and No. 4 Satyam Computer Services are expected to raise their revenue guidance for the full-year to March, analysts said, adding that they are keen to see evidence of new deals and their pricing. Although Indian outsourcing firms are expanding to Europe, Asia and the Middle East to lower their dependence on the United States, the country still accounts for roughly half of their sales.

The rupee's 6.8 per cent fall against the dollar in the June quarter has helped offset the effect of large wage increases and costs related to getting visas for their staff overseas on margins.

Brokerage Prabhudas Lilladher expects Infosys' margins to drop 34 basis points and TCS to dip 17 basis points this quarter compared to the previous one. Every 1 per cent rise or drop in the rupee impacts the profit margins of Indian software services firms by 30 to 50 basis points, they said.

"In the short-term, the rupee is likely to further weaken against the dollar or remain stable given the exacerbation of both domestic and global negative factors," India Infoline said. Shares in Infosys, which the market values at $24 billion, rose 21 per cent in the June quarter and Satyam added 11 percent.

Morgan Stanley said in a report this month the credit crisis fallout would extend into 2009, and that mortgage asset overhangs would drive additional write-downs for Wall Street firms, such as Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, as they struggle to clean up their balance sheets.

"Clients' postponement, cancellation of IT projects, indecisiveness over IT spending due to uncertainty over global economic growth remain key concerns," Khandwala Securities said in a note. Brokerage India Infoline said it had heard that some large banks, financial services and insurance companies were demanding significant price cuts. "This, along with low-volume growth, manifests a tough operating environment," it said.

A large pool of English-speaking graduates and comparatively cheaper wages had helped Indian firms ride an outsourcing boom for years, but the growth slowed last year when Wall Street banks issued huge write-downs related to the subprime crisis and as the US economy lurched towards recession.

Infosys which reports first results on Friday is likely to see net profit rise 17.6 percent to 12.7 billion rupees ($295 million) in the fiscal first quarter ended June from a year earlier, according to a Reuters poll of 15 analysts showed. Tata Consultancy Services, which reports on July 16, should post a modest 5.5 per cent rise, hurt by its high dependence on the banking and financial services sector.

India's software and back-office services companies revenue growth will slow a little to 25 per cent in 2008/09, down from an estimated 29 per cent a year earlier, lobby group National Association of Software and Service Companies has said.

Indiatimes Infotech dt. 10 7 2008

Accenture India close to half of global count

2008-07-09T19:29:00.000-07:00

A key milestone in India’s IT revolution is set to be crossed in months if not weeks, as the country’s share in the global headcount of multinational Accenture’s outsourced services network is set to cross the 50 per cent mark – which means half of the world-wide work-force in the key unit will be based in New Delhi.

The Indian headcount of IBM Global Services is also fast heading for the half-way mark. Sapient, a relatively smaller company focused on IT consulting, crossed the half-way mark years ago. All these companies signify services globalisation, in which India is becoming akin to what China is in manufacturing.

As Accenture inaugurated a new delivery centre in Noida on Tuesday, its sixth in India since a modest start of the delivery centre work in 2003, the total headcount of the Global Delivery Network (GDN) – which is the part of Accenture that competes for outsourced work with companies like Infosys and Wipro – was about 77,000 across 53 countries. Company officials put the Indian part of it at well over 35,000 in six cities.

“We are just a couple of thousands away (from the half-way mark),” Pankaj Vaish, who heads the worldwide delivery centre network for Accenture, told Hindustan Times.

Accenture chairman Bill Green had said last April that the total headcount in India will cross 50,000 in about a year’s time.

Worldwide, Accenture has about 180,000 employees in 49 countries, but the bulk of the staff are consultants and computer systems integrators who work on client sites. The GDN has call centres and business process outsourcing (BPO) workers and in effect works like a company within the company.

(The Hindustan times dt 9 7 2008)

Apple iPhone 3G makes international debut

2008-07-09T19:14:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO: The iPhone 3G makes its international debut Friday in an eagerly-awaited launch expected to boost Apple's fortunes along with its share of the booming "smart phone" market.

Apple stores will open early to cater to throngs of aspiring iPhone 3G owners in more than 20 countries and analysts say sales could pass the billion-dollar mark within days.

IPhone fanatics began camping outside Apple's flagship store in New York City on July 4, while in downtown Tokyo some 30 people had begun queuing on Wednesday.

"I am a huge Apple fan and I'm excited to buy the iPhone, which I find is far better than any other cellphone," said 25-year-old graduate student Hiroyuki Sano who was first in line in Tokyo.

If Sano's anticipation is any indication, Apple's latest device will be a smash hit.

Online orders for iPhone 3G handsets at British telecom carrier O2 reportedly topped 13,000 per second on Monday, overwhelming the website and causing it to crash.

Industry tracker iSuppli predicts Apple might sell as many as two million iPhone 3G devices at the launch.

Apple intends to gradually roll out the coveted mobile phones, which it is billing as twice as fast and half as expensive as the debut model, in 70 countries.

First-generation iPhones are sold in six countries but have been taken to many others and modified to work on local telecom networks.

"It is clear there is a demand for iPhones in many more countries," Apple founder Steve Jobs said while unveiling the new device last month.

It is designed for faster Internet downloads, longer talk times, and takes advantage of the high-speed third-generation (3G) networks to provide built-in GPS mapping.

Early iPhone 3G reviews have been favorable, saying the device delivers as promised but expressing mild disappointment with battery life. The higher performance of the 3G network saps power faster than its predecessor.

Apple will sell iPhone 3G models in the United States for 199 dollars and 299 dollars, depending on memory capacity. The original eight-gigabyte iPhone was priced at 600 dollars when it debuted in June last year.

IPhone 3G prices in some countries will be as low as a euro (1.57 dollars) provided customers purchase multi-year service plans that translate into lucrative long-term revenue streams for carriers.

Apple is continuing its strategy of locking iPhones exclusively to one telecom carrier per country.

IPhone service providers are AT&T in the United States, T-Mobile in Germany, O2 in Great Britain, and Orange in France, where iPhone 3G launches on July 17.

Belgium will evidently be home to the most expensive iPhone 3G devices, which will be priced at 826 dollars (525 euros) and 968 dollars (615 euros) because law there prevents subsidizing hardware costs with service plans.

Apple and numerous technology websites have posted online tips on how to navigate Friday's anticipated buying frenzy.

The second-generation iPhone will let business users send and receive Microsoft Exchange email, in a direct shot at rival BlackBerry made by Canada-based Research-In-Motion.

BlackBerry handsets have long let people "push" work email to the devices using the Microsoft email system.

IPhones are the third most popular "smart phones" in the world, with 5.3 per cent of the market.

BlackBerry claims 13.4 per cent of the market while Finnish handset colossus Nokia dominates with 45.2 per cent," according to research from Gartner.

The popularity of iPhones has led to copying by competitors such as Nokia and Samsung, which have released touch-screen mobile telephones with Internet capabilities. BlackBerry is also planning a touch-screen device.

Apple reported selling six million iPhones as of June. Analyst Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray predicts Apple will sell more than 12 million new iPhones this year and more than triple that number in 2009.

The Economic Times dt. 10 7 2008

India’s top outsourcing cos

2008-07-08T18:37:00.000-07:00

The findings of Black Book of Outsourcing 2008 have not been too pleasing for the Indian IT industry. The 2008 list sees several Indian outsourcing companies failing to find their way in the Top 50 list. The list shows how Indian companies are losing their grip over the outsourcing market and also called for better delivery from Indian vendors to improve their act.

Leading Indian companies like Infosys, Hexaware, EXL Service and ICICI Firstsource failed to make the cut this year due to low client approval ratings.

Firstsource (formerly ICICI), a four-year top ranked performer fell the most of any outsourcing company to 1550 of 1690. Indian IT bellwether Infosys too fell out of the Top 50 circle to rank at 59 this year. According to the survey, most of these Indian outsourcers were deficient in their delivery levels.

However, with the losers, the Indian industry also had some winners. These companies with their consistent delivery levels and solid models continued to gratify clients across industry verticals. Here's meeting the top BPOs of India Inc.

Wipro

The first Indian company on the Black Book of Outsourcing list is Wipro. The IT major climbed a few positions to make its entry at no six.

In a year, when several Indian companies slipped ranks miserably, Wipro retained its position. According to the survey, Wipro's reverse outsourcing strategy in the US and UK has helped the company become a hot favorite among US buyers. Wipro's acquisitions are paying off and management is maximising synergies. Survey sees business transformation demands from clients propelling Wipro into a hugely successful 2009.

With over 19,000 employees, operating across nine different locations (India and Eastern Europe), Wipro BPO services include banking and capital markets, insurance, travel and hospitality, hi-tech manufacturing, telecom, healthcare sectors, finance and accounting, procurement, HR services, loyalty services and knowledge services.

Recently the tech major consolidated its entire consulting business under a single umbrella, Wipro Consulting Services. Facing tough times due to rising rupee vis-a-vis dollar and slowdown in its largest market US, Wipro reported its slowest quarterly earnings growth in the last five years as its clients cut back on technology spending.

The company is bidding for 12 contracts worth a total of $1.2 billion to help it meet its goal of becoming one of the ten largest IT companies in the world.

Satyam

Closely following its Indian rival Wipro in the list is Satyam. The fourth largest software services exporter Satyam is placed seventh in the list.

Satyam is the first company to be certified with e-sourcing capability model (eSCM) Level 5. The company recently reorganised its workforce to create almost 4,000 leadership positions, which is 8 per cent of its 50,000-strong workforce.

According to the survey, developing global archipelago of service centers makes this Indian ITO, BPO and engineering giant an annual favorite among customers.

Incidentally, Satyam is also placed at fourth position on the list of top 10 knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) vendors.

With US slowdown crimping outsourcing deals, the company reported an 18.5 per cent rise in the last quarter. The company stated that consolidated net profit for the quarter ended March rose to Rs 4.67 billion ($117 million) up from 3.94 billion a year ago.

However, the company is chasing 20 large deals in the $50 million-$100 million range to beat the slowdown tremors.

TCS

India's biggest software services exporter, Tata Consultancy Services ranks at 15th position in the Black Book Outsourcing list.

The survey states that TCS establishing a service center in Ohio helped it gratify major US clients. The over 100,000 employees and $4.3-bn strong company remains one of the few vendors to still able to sign super-sized contracts of the past, adds survey.

Like its rival Infosys, the company too has kicked off a succession plan to elevate younger executives into the top management cadre. Under the plan, the company has started a new leadership programme for executives in the age bracket of 35-43.

The Mumbai-based company has planned a capital expenditure of around Rs 4,500 crore for the current year. Of this, it will invest around Rs 1,467 crore in equipment and Rs 3,000 crore in land.

The company which derives 50 per cent of its revenues from North America is witnessing margin pressures due to sub-prime crisis and oil and commodity price escalation.

To address the risk, it has increased diversification across geographies, enlarged the basket of offerings and is focusing on enlarging global presence by strengthening global development centres.

Recently, it bagged a $11.5 million contract from the Uganda Revenue Authority to design and install a tax administration system. The project, funded by Belgium, Britain, the Netherlands and Uganda will bring in a new system that will cut costs and processing time while bringing fiscal transparency and financial accountability.

HCL
Noida-based HCL has bagged 21st position in Black Book outsourcing list. Founded in 1976, HCL is among the India's oldest IT startups, founded by Chairman and CEO, Shiv Nadar.

With $4.1 billion revenue, HCL has over 47,100 employees spread across out of 17 countries. The company's BPO unit has over 11,800 employees. It has offices in India, Ireland, UK and Malaysia.

It supports multi-lingual languages that include eight European languages and eight APAC languages. HCL BPO's focus verticals include telecom, retail, banking and financial Services insurance and hi-tech and manufacturing.

Recently, the European aerospace group EADS partnered with HCL Technologies (HCL) as a supplier for its product engineering and technical publication services. The services will be delivered through the company's design center at Bangalore.

In 2007, HCL was ranked at third position in Black Book of outsourcing list for Highest Satisfaction for Business Process Outsourcing. It has also been appraised at Maturity level 3 of People CMM.

NIIT

Founded in 1981, NIIT is the brainchild of two, young Indian entrepreneurs, placed at 36th position in the Black Book Outsourcing list.

NIIT is a first timer on the Black Book list with top scores from clients in banking, financial services and insurance, travel, retail and manufacturing sectors.

The BPO unit of NIIT, SmartServe (NSS) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of NIIT Technologies. Its main operations are based out of Gurgaon with a disaster recovery site in New Delhi.

NSS has a wholly-owned subsidiary in UK which caters to its marketing and customer management requirements.

The company recently entered into a training joint venture with Genpact to nurture talent for outsourcing companies. The joint venture plans to set up training facilities in several Indian cities, including Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Pune in the first year of operation.

In phase 2, the JV also has plans to set up operations at other emerging outsourcing destinations like Dalian, Changchun, Shanghai and Xian in China, and Manila in the Philippines.

Patni

Ranked at 45th position in the Black Book Outsourcing list Patni Computer Systems is a provider of information technology services and business solutions.

The survey states that Patni remains steadfast to its offshore model of keeping long-term clientele happy by maintaining low costs while expanding Europe-centric strategies and staff.

With over 15,000 service clients across industries, the company has 22 sales offices across America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, and 20 global delivery centers across the world.

* Indiatimes News Network dt.9 7 08

iGate subdued on outlook

2008-07-08T18:31:00.000-07:00

MUMBAI: iGate Global Solutions, part of iGate Corp, has said 2008 will be subdued for information technology (IT) companies due to cutbacks and cancellations on projects.

Phaneesh Murthy, chief executive officer, told a news channel, the budget actual spent of IT firms in 2008 will be lower than budgeted in 2008 and will also be lower than that in 2007.

Some IT companies may end up meeting their guidance numbers and some will not because of what happens with their customer sets rather than the broader market, he said.

"Volume growth is more likely to get affected than pricing. We are not seeing as much of pricing getting affected in the market," the CEO added. Worries for mid-size companies will be because of their client concentration, he added

The Times of India dt. 9 7 08

UAE arrests 3,000 Indian workers for rioting

2008-07-08T18:24:00.000-07:00

CHENNAI: Nearly 3,000 Indian workers have been detained at an undisclosed location on the outskirts of the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, on charges of rioting. ( Watch )

The workers - from Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Kerala - of a large ceramics manufacturing unit in the emirate of Ras Al Khaimah were rounded up by security agencies after they went on a rampage at their labour camp on Friday night to protest against the poor quality of food being served to them.

Indian ambassador to the UAE, Talmiz Ahmed, confirmed on phone that employees of RAK Ceramics indulged in arson by burning vehicles and destroying furniture and are now under arrest.

Although not all of the nearly 3,000 workers were involved in the fracas, the police took all of them to Abu Dhabi and Dubai in army vehicles.

While there have been strikes by Indian workers in the past in the UAE over poor working conditions and unpaid salaries, which have led to the Dubai riot squad being called in, this is the first time the UAE army has been pressed into service to arrest Indian workers for rioting.

Confirming the detention of the Indians, minister of overseas Indian affairs, Vayalar Ravi, told TOI that his department "is in touch with the UAE authorities". There were people of other nationalities, too, involved in the rioting, he said. "We are trying our best to get the Indians released. The labour officer attached to the Indian consulate is in constant touch with the UAE officials."

The workers have been questioned and their fingerprints taken. Those found to be involved in the violence will be deported after serving their prison terms, a source in the UAE told TOI. Ras Al Khaimah, where the violence occurred, and Abu Dhabi, are among the seven emirates that make up the UAE.

Talmiz Ahmed also said "the workers went on a rampage at their camp over poor quality of food served to them," and added that he wasn’t aware of the exact number of workers detained.

According to Rateesh, an eyewitness, the workers beat up the camp-in-charge, smashed windows and destroyed canteen furniture. Not content, they then came out and set at least two parked vehicles on fire. A few of them were even injured in the melee. During his visit to the UAE in May this year, foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee had urged the Gulf countries to promote social equality for the millions of Indian workers in the region.

(The Times of India dt. 9 7 08)

PM meets Bush, discusses nuclear deal

2008-07-08T18:21:00.000-07:00

TOYAKO: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday met US President George W Bush on the sidelines of the G8 summit in Toyako in northern Japan. ( Watch )

The meeting, that began 7.40 am local time, was held at Hotel Windsor Toya. The prime minister drove two hours from Sapporo, through mist-laden mountains and a lush green country landscape, to meet the American leader.

"I am very pleased with the state of our relationship," Singh told reporters after the meeting. "Our relationship with the United States has never been in such good shape as it is today," he added. Singh also said that India and the US 'must stand shoulder to shoulder' on pressing issues.

Speaking after the meeting, US President Bush said that he and the prime minister talked about the nuclear deal and 'how important it is for our respective countries'. He added that the deal to sell India nuclear fuel and technology is good for both nations, even though it has drawn fire in both countries. He also congratulated the Singh for his leadership. The India-US nuclear deal has already caused a rupture in the ruling UPA figured high in the discussions.

The government is expected to go through several mandatory procedures with the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) before the deal, in the making for three years, goes to Washington for a presidential determination and Congressional endorsement of the 123 bilateral enabling agreement.

PM Singh will return to New Delhi on Wednesday night.

(The times of India dt. 9.7.08)

Left withdraws support

2008-07-08T18:02:00.000-07:00

Parting ways

PM’s announcement on Monday on approaching IAEA soon on inking India-specific safeguards agreement was the trigger

Left sees no purpose in attending July 10 meeting of Left-UPA Committee

Ending weeks of speculation, the Left parties on Tuesday announced withdrawal of support to the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government over the latter’s move to push ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal.

“We have asked the President (Ms Pratibha Patil) for an appointment tomorrow morning so we can go and formally withdraw support,” the General Secretary of the CPI (M), Mr Prakash Karat, told presspersons here.

He said that the decision was made following the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh’s announcement on Monday that the Government would “very soon” be approaching the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for inking an India-specific safeguards agreement, which is a precursor for operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The CPI (M) along with three other Left constituents and an independent have 60 Members of Parliament and provide crucial outside support to the Congress-led UPA Government in the 543-member Lok Sabha. The Left’s withdrawal would technically reduce the Government to a minority, unless it is able to obtain support from other parties and demonstrate this through a vote of confidence in the Lower House.

The Foreign Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, said that the Government will seek a confidence vote before August 11 – the scheduled date of commencement of the monsoon session of Parliament. He further stated that the Government will not proceed to the IAEA till it wins the trust vote, for which a special session may be called “as soon as we receive formal communication from the President”.

The coming days are likely to see hectic political activity, with the ruling alliance trying to muster up the numbers to make up for the loss of its erstwhile Left allies. For now, the 39-member Samajwadi Party (SP), which till recently was at loggerheads with the Congress, has promised to save the Government in the event of a floor test.

Besides the SP, the UPA, which currently has a combined strength of around 225 MPs, is also looking to win over smaller parties to reach the magic 272-plus figure. They include the Janata Dal-Secular, Rashtriya Lok Dal, Telangana Rashtra Samithi and the National Conference, which have between two and three members each.

Earlier, Mr Karat charged the UPA Government with not making available the text of the safeguards agreement negotiated with the IAEA Secretariat to the UPA-Left Committee that had been constituted to iron out differences between the two sides over the nuclear deal. The Committee was slated to meet on July 10 to “finalise its findings”.

Since the Committee members have not seen the text and in the meanwhile the Prime Minister has already announced the Government’s intention to go to the IAEA, “no purpose will be served by having a meeting on July 10”, Mr Karat said. Mr Mukherjee, on his part, said that the full text of the draft agreement cannot be shared with “third parties” as it is a “privileged document held in confidence between the Government of India and the IAEA Secretariat”.

(The Business Line dt.9.7.08)

How tech is changing US classrooms

2008-07-07T19:50:00.001-07:00

BOSTON: From online courses to kid-friendly laptops and virtual teachers, technology is spreading in America's classrooms, reducing the need for textbooks, notepads, paper and in some cases even the schools themselves.

Just ask 11-year-old Jemella Chambers. She is one of 650 students who receive an Apple Inc laptop each day at a state-funded school in Boston. From the second row of her classroom, she taps out math assignments on animated education software that she likens to a video game.

"It's comfortable," she said of Scholastic Corp's FASTT Math software in which she and other students compete for high scores by completing mathematical equations. "This makes me learn better. It's like playing a game," she said.

Education experts say her school, the Lilla G Frederick Pilot Middle School in Boston, offers a glimpse into the future. It has no textbooks. Students receive laptops at the start of each day, returning them at the end. Teachers and students maintain blogs. Staff and parents chat on instant messaging software. Assignments are submitted through electronic "drop boxes" on the school's website.

"The dog ate my homework" is no excuse here. The experiment at Frederick began two years ago at cost of about $2 million, but last year was the first in which all 7th and 8th grade students received laptops.

Classwork is done in Google Inc's free applications like Google Docs, or Apple's iMovie and specialised educational software like FASTT Math.

"Why would we ever buy a book when we can buy a computer? Textbooks are often obsolete before they are even printed," said Debra Socia, principal of the school in Dorchester, a tough Boston district prone to crime and poor schools. There is, however, one concession to the past: a library stocked with novels.

“It's a powerful, powerful experience," added Socia. Average attendance climbed to 94 per cent from 92 per cent; discipline referrals fell 30 per cent. And parents are more engaged, she said. "Any family can chat online with teacher and say 'hey, we're having this problem'.”

Unlike traditional schools, Frederick's students work at vastly different levels in the same classroom. Children with special needs rub shoulders with high performers. Computers track a range of aptitude levels, allowing teachers to tailor their teaching to their students' weakest areas, Socia said.

Surge in online courses
The Internet is also a catalyst for change. US enrollment in online virtual classes reached the 1 million mark last year, 22 times the level seen in 2000, according to the North American Council for Online Learning, an industry body. That's only the beginning, said Michael Horn, co-author of "Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns".

"Our projections show that 50 per cent of high school courses will be taught online by 2013. It's about one percent right now," said Horn, executive director of education at Innosight Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Massachusetts.

K12 Inc, which provides online curriculum and educational services in 17 US states, has seen student enrollment rise 57 per cent from last year to 41,000 full-time students, said its chief executive, Ron Packard. Much of the growth is in publicly funded virtual charter schools.

"Because it is a public school, the state funds the education similar to what they would in a brick and mortar school, but we get on average about 70 per cent of the dollars," Packard told Reuters.

"We don't usually get capital dollars, or bond issue dollars. Sometimes we don't get local dollars. So on average it works out 70 per cent of the per pupil spending that an average school in the state would receive," he said. "We're getting the kids who the local school is not working for. And the spectrum goes from extreme special education to extremely gifted kids," he said.

US investment bank Morgan Stanley says K12 and similar companies look set to capture an increasing share of the $550 billion publicly funded US education market for children aged from about 5 to 18 as more US states adopt virtual schools.

Virginia-based K12 recently opened an office in Dubai to expand overseas. Packard says he expects strong offshore demand for American primary and secondary education tailored for foreign nationals who want to enter US universities.

Apex Learning Inc, based in Bellevue, Washington, is seeing a similar surge in demand. It started in 1997 by offering online advanced-placement courses to parents and individual schools but now sells an array of online classes for entire school districts and state departments of education.

"Over the last two years in particular we have seen very, very significant growth in the interest and demand for our type of digital curriculum," Apex chief executive Cheryl Vedoe said in a telephone interview.

Apex enrollments rose 50 per cent to 300,000 in 2006-2007, and likely grew at the same pace last year, she said. "Where we see the greatest growth today is actually in brick and mortar high schools for programmes for students who are not succeeding in the existing programmes," she added.

Online tutoring is also expanding rapidly. Bangalore-based TutorVista, which launched online US services in 2005, estimates its average global growth in active students at 22 per cent a month -- all taught by "e-tutors" mostly in India.

Horn expects demand for teachers to fall and virtual schools to boost achievement in a US education system where only two-thirds of teenagers graduate from high school -- a proportion that slides to 50 per cent for black Americans and Hispanics, according to government statistics. "You deliver education at lower cost, but you will actually improve the amount of time that a teacher can spend with each student because they are no longer delivering one-size-fits-all lesson plans," he said. "They can actually roam around."

(Indiatimes dt. 8.7.2008)

Hefty salary hikes turn a thing of the past

2008-07-07T19:13:00.001-07:00

Bangalore, July 7 Ask and it shall be yours, was the motto in the recruitment industry last year. The days of mind-boggling salary hikes for lateral moves seems to be over, say recruiters across the country.

Increment in salaries of people who switched jobs in 2006-07 rose 80-100 per cent in IT/ITES, retail and real estate sectors. This figure has now taken a beating with a few companies capping hikes at 15-20 per cent.

“Some IT companies have even gone down to as low as 12-18 per cent for mid-to-senior management positions,” says Ms Nirupama, V.G, Managing Director, Ad Astra Consultants, a Bangalore-based recruitment firm.

A leading retail firm which lured potential employees with 100-120 per cent hikes to their current salaries is now offering not more than 30-40 per cent even for top level positions, says a Bangalore-based recruiter.

Hiring slowdown

Mr Gautam Sinha, CEO, TVA Infotech, rationalises the sudden downturn and attributes it to companies going slow in hiring. “Earlier IT companies operated on a tight schedule and were ready to pay any price for talent. Now they can afford to wait for the right candidate rather than give in to the whims and fancies of a demanding candidate. This is also because there is a drastic cut in the hiring numbers in the industry.”

There is a general change in expectations of both the companies and the candidates, agrees Mr K Lakshmikanth, Managing Director, Headhunters India. In his opinion, premium on salary for laterals has fallen from 25-30 per cent last year to about 10 per cent this year.

Wary of switches

Employees too are wary of job switches this year, and therefore hiring predictability has increased. “While about 30-40 per cent of the candidates who took up offers last year did not join, this year the number of no-shows has come down to 10 per cent,” says Ms Nirupama.

Salary hikes offered are also directly linked to the criticality of the talent and the size of the talent pool in the area. Mr E Balaji, Chief Operating Officer, Ma Foi says even salaries that were upwards of 30 per cent last year have fallen to 15 per cent this year.

CXO expectations too have been tempered and global search firms like EMA Partners now advise executives to look for long-term gains rather than short-term compensation benefits. “Salary is not the absolute decision maker today, top leadership is now looking at autonomy and contribution to business,” according to Mr K. Sudarshan, Managing Partner at EMA.

Sharp fall in campus recruitments

2008-07-07T19:11:00.001-07:00

There is a 15-20 per cent drop in campus recruitment from second tier engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu this year. According to officials in-charge of placement, such as Mr S. Ganapathy of SRM Engineering College, recruiting companies attribute the decline to the recession in the US as well as “poor quality” of students.

This year, companies have stringent qualification norms for reduced intake of students to offset the 30-40 per cent buffer (of students) created from last year’s recruitment, said an official of a leading software company. Much of the campus recruitment happens in June; students join the companies next year.

Also seen is a drop in the number of companies visiting the campus this year, said Mr Ganapathy. In June only six companies visited the college compared to 30 last year. Out of the 1,800 students, only half of them were placed this year during the first month of recruitment compared with 1,200 last year. Tata Consultancy Services took 441 students compared with 538 last year, he said.

Infosys did not go to SRM this year. A few companies, including Keane, postponed their visits.

Crescent Engineering College saw a 15 per cent drop in placements. In the last couple of years companies took a number of ‘non-performers,’ but axed them later. This year only the best are being recruited, says the college’s placement officer, Mr Mohamed Tajudeen. Only half of the 423 students got placements. TCS recruited 115 students compared with 185 last year. However, Infosys increased its number to 105 this year from 70 last year, he said.

Quality check

There was a 20 per cent drop in campus recruitment at Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore. Out of the 630 students 374 got placements. Only 13 companies visited the campus this year compared with 18 last year, said its placement officer Prof D. Lakshmanan. “Only quality students get opportunity,” he said.

“It is time for testing the quality of students,” said Prof B.T. Maran, Placement Officer, SSN group of institutions promoted by Mr Shiv Nadar of HCL Group. The college placed 85 per cent of its students in various companies, including Cognizant that took 246 students (highest in private engineering college) and Infosys that took 92 students. HCL took only 13 students as against 60 last year, he said.

Students passing out of newer relevant courses like bio-technology and microbiology are becoming sought after. With healthcare and life-sciences becoming a key industry segment for large IT and BPO companies, students passing out of these courses are being lapped up, according to an official of a US-based software company.

This year more multinational companies such as Accenture and Capgemini are visiting premier campuses. In fact, Accenture has got a slot ahead of Infosys at Anna University, he said.

No meaning in another meeting, says Left

2008-07-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

NEW DELHI: The four major Left parties on Monday reacted angrily to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement from Japan that the UPA government would move the International Atomic Energy Agency “very soon.” to seal the safeguards agreement.

They said there was “no meaning” in holding yet another meeting of the United Progressive Alliance-Left panel on the civilian nuclear deal.

Dr. Singh’s statement came shortly after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in a letter to the Left parties, said a “draft report” of the committee was ready and it could be considered at a meeting of the panel on July 10.

“The CPI(M), CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc are meeting on Tuesday and we will give our reaction to Dr. Singh’s statement and Mr. Mukherjee’s proposal at that time,” CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat told Hindu The.

We will go to IAEA very soon: Manmohan

2008-07-07T19:05:00.000-07:00

“Once we decide, the U.S. will have to fulfil its promises”

Sapporo (JAPAN): Hinting that the government was ready to take the next step on the nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that he expects to rally international support from countries, including China and Australia, when he meets their leaders separately on the margins of the G8 summit at Toyako on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido over the next two days.

“Once we take the decision to go to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) for an agreement, the United States will have to fulfil its promises. There is the July 2005 statement in which the U.S. has publicly stated they will help us to get through the IAEA and the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group). I hope they will do their work,” he said.

While he declined to indicate a timeline for taking the agreement to the IAEA — he said he could not reveal that while he was on a foreign trip — he noted the government “will, very soon.”

Dr. Singh flew into Sapporo on Monday evening after an eight and a half hour flight from New Delhi, seeming quite pleased with the way his government had been able to prise out enough domestic political support for the deal over the past week. “I don’t foresee an election before time,” he said confidently in response to a question whether he anticipated they would be held any earlier than April next year.

He seemed equally hopeful of winning international approval for the nuclear deal.

The Prime Minister will, in fact, be working overtime on Wednesday starting at 5 a.m. to drive two hours and 20 minutes from his Sapporo hotel to meet U.S. President George Bush at the G8 summit hotel at Toyako. He will later meet leaders of Russia, China, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Korea and Indonesia, countries which are either on the board of the IAEA or members of the influential NSG, whose approval India needs before it can hope for international nuclear cooperation.

It is not clear how many members of the NSG are still not persuaded to make an exception for India. International commerce in nuclear supplies has been limited so far to countries that have signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. But Dr. Singh appeared confident of securing their approval.

He said he would reinforce efforts to impress upon the global leaders about the civil nuclear deal that goes before the IAEA and the NSG. “We obviously seek the support of the world community in both these fora,” he said. “Fortunately, we have the support of the major powers, the U.S., Russia, France and Britain.”

Answering a question specifically on China, he said, “I have discussed it with the Chinese leaders on more than one occasion. I cannot say that I have a firm assurance but I have a strong feeling that when the matter comes before the relevant fora, China will not be a problem.”

Sources indicated that the government may wait for another meeting of the UPA-Left coordination group before heading to the IAEA.

TIP-OFF

2008-07-06T18:55:00.001-07:00

Here is some freeware software that could be of help during everyday computer usage.

Dictionary Software (the first two)

WordWeb 5.5 (Size 7.44MB)

This is a one-click English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows that can look up words from almost any program. It works off-line, but can also look up words in web references such as the Wikipedia encyclopedia. Features of the free version include: Definitions and synonyms, Proper nouns, Related words, Pronunciations, 1,50,000 root words, 1,20,000 synonym sets, Fixed web reference tabs etc. It can be downloaded from http://wordweb.info/

Merriam-Webster Concise Dictionary (Size 1.59MB)

This contains more than 40,000 entries, clear and concise definitions, written pronunciations, and variant spellings. The iFinger engine under the hood works both online and offline, checking spelling automatically or allowing you to run manual text searches for specific queries. Internet required while installing this software. Download from

http://www.download.com/Merriam-Webster-s-Concise-Dictionary/3000-2279_4-10059666.html

Mozilla Firefox 3.0 (size 7.14 MB)

A small, fast and easy to use browser, it includes tabbed browsing and pop-up blocker. The new version 3 has improved performance, Add-ons manager, download manager, Smart Location Bar, better password manager and malware protection. Please look up

http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=2248

Gadwin PrintScreen (Size 2.75 MB)

This captures the contents of the screen with a single keystroke. The captured screen can then be sent to the printer, or saved to disk as a file in six different graphics file formats (BMP, JPEG, GIF, PNG, TIFF, TGA). Gadwin PrintScreen can capture the entire Windows screen, the active window, or a specified area, when the hot key is pressed. The hot key defaults to the PrintScreen key but users can define other keys too to initiate a capture. Gadwin PrintScreen allows you to e-mail the captured images to recipients of your choice.

http://www.gadwin.com/download/ps_setup.exe

ExplorerXP (Size 410 KB)

This is a fast, small, compact file manager for Windows 2000/XP. Unlike the regular Windows Explorer, it displays the total size of each folder and allows you to browse multiple folders from a tabbed interface. It also supports Multi rename, split and Merge, etc. You can download it from http://www.explorerxp.com/

ExtractNow (Size 1MB )

This utility allows you to extract multiple archives quickly and easily. Supports ZIP, RAR, ISO, BIN, IMG, IMA, IMZ, 7Z, ACE, JAR, GZ, LZH, LHA, TAR, SIT archive formats. Extract files into current directory, named folder, or favourite folder of choice. Integrates with Windows Explorer via special context menu items

http://www.extractnow.com/

Stickies 6.5a (Size 975 KB)

Stickies is a PC utility to try to cut down on the number of Post-It notes you leave stuck to your monitor. It is a computerised version of those notes.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download5501.html

Recover Files (Size 1.17MB)

This is file recovery software that allows the user to recover accidentally deleted files, even files removed from the Recycle Bin, network drive, compact flash card, portable drives, in a DOS window, or from Windows Explorer. Download from http://www.download.com/Recover-Files/3000-2094_4-10715455.html

FlashGet (size 4.4 MB)

This is a download manager. It uses MHT (Multi-server Hyper-threading Transportation) technique, supports various protocols such as HTTP, FTP, BT, MMS, RTSP and has document management features.

FlashGet can call anti-virus automatically to clean viruses, spyware and adware after finishing download. Check it out at http://www.flashget.com/index_en.htm

PM to take up fuel price issue, need for action plan at G8 meet

2008-07-06T18:46:00.000-07:00

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, plans to highlight at the G8/G5 outreach summit not only the impact of the sharp rise in fuel prices on the global economy but also the need for joint action by both producing and consuming nations to control it.

In a statement issued on the eve of his departure for Japan to attend the G8 summit, the Prime Minister said that India’s perspectives on a wide range of global issues, including the state of the world economy, development, trade, transfer of technology, energy security and food security would also be presented at the meeting. During the visit the Prime Minister will also attend a meeting of the G5 group of outreach countries, being hosted by the President of Mexico.

“Over the years, India’s participation in the G8/G5 dialogue process has enabled us to articulate our concerns on a wide range of issues in a forthright manner, on an equal footing. Today, India’s views are heard with respect, and there is recognition of the fact that solutions to global issues require India’s involvement,” Dr Singh said. During the visit, Dr Singh will have bilateral meeting the Prime Minister of Japan, the US President, and the leaders of Australia, Canada, China, Indonesia, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Russia and the Secretary General of the United Nations.

The Prime Minister will also participate in the meeting of the leaders of major economies at which the issue of climate change will be discussed.

“I will convey to the international community India’s belief that climate change, energy and food security are interlinked, and require an integrated approach. The National Action Plan on Climate Change, which was released recently, underscores our commitment to address the challenge of climate change, and outlines concrete steps to meet this challenge,” he said.

Nadal beats Roger Federer to win Wimbledon title

2008-07-06T17:54:00.000-07:00

WIMBLEDON, England (AP): Rafael Nadal ended Roger Federer's five-year reign at Wimbledon on Sunday, winning a riveting, five-set marathon to claim his first title at the All England Club and signal a changing of the guard in men's tennis.

Nadal held off a stirring comeback by Federer from two sets down to prevail 6-4, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (8), 9-7 to become the first man to win the French Open and Wimbledon in the same year since Bjorn Borg in 1980.

Nadal, the first Spaniard to win Wimbledon since Manolo Santana in 1966, avenged his losses to Federer in the last two finals here and snapped the Swiss star's All England Club winning streak at 40 matches and overall grass-court run at 65.

The rain-delayed contest ended in near darkness after 4 hours, 48 minutes of play _ the longest men's final in Wimbledon history _ when Federer slapped a forehand into the net on Nadal's fourth match point and second of the game.

Nadal fell onto his back in exhilaration at the baseline and, after congratulating Federer, climbed into the players' box to embrace his entourage. With his tears in his eyes, he grabbed a Spanish flag and went over to the edge of the Royal Box to shake hands with Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Spain.

Federer, who converted only one of 13 break points in the match, fell short in his bid to set two historic landmarks: He failed to surpass Bjorn Borg by winning a sixth consecutive title or match Willie Renshaw's all-time record of six in a row from 1881-86.

Nadal won his fifth Grand Slam title, adding to his four consecutive French Open championships. Federer, meanwhile, remains two shy of Pete Sampras' record of 14 Grand Slam wins.

Watching it all from the front row of the Royal Box was the silver-haired Borg, who won 41 straight Wimbledon matches during his 1976-80 title runs.

Mendis stars as Sri Lanka retains title

2008-07-06T17:50:00.000-07:00

Karachi: An old tale of capitulation against Sri Lankan spinners was replayed on a forgettable Sunday for M.S. Dhoni’s men. And as defending champion Sri Lanka defeated India by 100 runs in the final and retained the STAR Asia Cup at the National Stadium here on Sunday, memories of botched chases flitted past.

Vinod Kambli’s tears and the 1996 World Cup semifinal, Asia Cup final 2004 and India falling short by 25 runs. These are scripts spun together by the guile of Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan and Upul Chandana.

Add Ajantha Mendis (six for 13) to these names as he flummoxed the Indians and helped Sri Lanka’s 273 in 50 overs, assume alarming proportions in a tournament where 300 plus scores was the minimum yardstick. India scored 173 in 39.3 overs with Virender Sehwag’s 60 (36b, 12x4) atop the order and Dhoni’s (49) sanity in the middle being the exceptions as Sri Lanka cruised to its fourth title triumph in the Asia Cup.

Chase starts

The chase started with Sehwag scattering Chaminda Vaas, the lofted drive over the bowler’s head being the pick. Vaas, however, found relief in scalping Gautam Gambhir and India’s steady ally of good opening partnerships was cut adrift. Sehwag’s upper cut of Kulasekara assuaged nerves but he gave Mendis the charge and was left stranded as the spinner pitched it a shade wide past a flailing bat.

Mendis struck again two deliveries later as he bowled Yuvraj, who was all tentative feet and a late bat coming down and across. Suresh Raina played an ugly hoick, Rohit Sharma was rooted to the crease. Mendis had spun his web with a mix of deliveries that held their line and hurried off the pitch and those that turned just a wee-bit to nudge out reluctant batsmen busy looking at the giant television screen to figure out their mode of dismissal.

Dhoni hung in grimly while Muralitharan ruffled Robin Uthappa’s pads and Mendis prised out Irfan Pathan and R.P. Singh. The fire had died long back and when Vaas bagged Dhoni, the embers of defeat smouldered.

Power and placement

In the evening, Sanath Jayasuriya’s 125 melded power and placement and gave Sri Lanka compelling reasons to believe in hope and rebirth. Struggling at 66 for four in 12 overs and with Ishant Sharma finding rhythm against a top-order that erred in its shot selection, Sri Lanka banked on Jayasuriya for deliverance.

And the man from Matara readily obliged. Jayasuriya’s 27th ODI ton, and his 131-run fifth-wicket partnership with T.M. Dilshan ensured that Sri Lanka managed a challenging total after Dhoni opted to field and belied pre-final hints from both camps of batting first on winning the toss.

After the first over bowled by R.P. Singh went for 11, Ishant’s next over led to a collective intake of breath as the Indians celebrated Kumar Sangakkara’s dismissal. Jayasuriya tapped straight to Suresh Raina, Sangakkara charged from the non-strikers end and never returned.

Skipper Mahela Jayawardene had four fielders in his gaze and yet failed to ground his cut. Ishant then surprised Kapugedera and induced the leading edge and two deliveries later, had Chamara Silva chopping on to his stumps.

26 in an over

Jayasuriya (125, 114b, 9x4, 5x6) meanwhile rocked back to cut and pull Ishant and Irfan Pathan and pummelled R.P. Singh for 26 in an over. The ease with which he flexed his forearms and swivelled his legs to generate power belied his 39 summers. And in Dilshan (56), Jayasuriya found sustenance.

Jayasuriya glanced Sehwag to short fine-leg for his hundred and fell with a slog-sweep but it was a supreme innings though the lone discomfort was when Ishant got one to dart past his rib-cage early in the innings. For India, Ishant bowled a good first spell, Pragyan Ojha was steady but Irfan frittered away, gifting width and got punished as Jayasuriya reigned.

SCOREBOARD

Sri Lanka: S. Jayasuriya c Ishant b Sehwag 125, K. Sangakkara (run out) 4, M. Jayawardene c Rohit b Ishant 11, C. Kapugedera c Raina b Ishant 5, C. Silva b Ishant 0, T. Dilshan c Dhoni b Irfan 56, C. Vaas b R.P. Singh 19, N. Kulasekara (not out) 29, T. Thushara lbw b R.P. Singh 5, A. Mendis b R.P. Singh 8, M. Muralitharan c Dhoni b Irfan 2; Extras: (lb-8, w-1) 9; Total: (in 49.5 overs) 273.

Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-34, 3-66, 4-66, 5-197, 6-213, 7-236, 8-256, 9-264.

India bowling: R.P. Singh 9-1-67-3, Ishant 10-1-52-3, Irfan 9.5-0-67-2, Pragyan 10-1-38-0, Sehwag 8-0-30-1, Rohit 3-0-11-0.

India: G. Gambhir c Dilshan b Vaas 6, V. Sehwag st Sangakkara b Mendis 60, S. Raina b Mendis 16, Yuvraj b Mendis 0, M.S. Dhoni c Sangakkara b Vaas 49, Rohit lbw b Mendis 3, R. Uthappa lbw Muralitharan 20, Irfan c Jayawardene b Mendis 2, R.P. Singh b Mendis 0, P. Ojha (not out) 6, Ishant b Kulasekara 8; Extras: (b-2, w-1) 3; Total: (in 39.3 overs): 173.

Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-76, 3-76, 4-93, 5-97, 6-135, 7-154, 8-154, 9-160.

Sri Lanka bowling: Vaas 9-0-55-1, Kulasekara 6.3-0-26-1, Thushara 8-0-51-0, Mendis 8-1-13-6, Muralitharan 8-0-26-1.

No summer jobs available for Indian students in America

2008-07-06T08:56:00.001-07:00

Indian grad students studying in the US are finding the summer hard.

Those who chose not to go back to India for the summer break, hoping to get summer jobs, are finding that for the first time there are no jobs...not even in grocery stores and fast food eateries.

Employers cut 62,000 jobs in the month of June as soaring fuel prices and a slowing economy forced companies to reduce costs.

The US Department of Labour reported that the economy has lost about 438,000 jobs since the beginning of the year. The unemployment rate was at 5.5 per cent.

Amar, a sophomore student at George Washington University, realized that he could not stay in DC this summer and went home to Karachi.

The eatery he was working in the downtown area shut down when the owner was unable to make his lease payment.
"The collapse of the housing bubble is slowly sinking more and more sectors of the economy," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research.

The Labour department report states that 5.4 million Americans, about 3 per cent of the workforce were working part time either because their hours had been cut, or because they could not find full time employment.

Charles Page, a real estate agent in Centerville, Virginia once sold 5-6 million dollar homes. In barely a year, he has gone bust and now works for a realty company, that too part time.

The political criticism of the economy has been bipartisan.

Senator Obama said yesterday " The American people are paying the price for the failed economic policies of the past eight years, and we can't afford four more years of the same."

Not to be outdone by the Democratic candidate, Senator John McCain said: "We must enact a jobs-first economic plan that supports job creation, provides immediate tax relief for families, enact a plan to help those facing foreclosure, lower health care costs...."

Across the political spectrum, there is concern growing into a near panic that the there is need for a more aggressive action by the federal government to prod economic growth.

nfotech hiring shrinks 40%

2008-07-06T08:51:00.001-07:00

BANGALORE: The boom element in hiring seems to be substantially diminishing. Thanks to the economic turbulence in the domestic and international markets. Tech hiring has shrunk upto 40%. Subprime crisis, unprecedented rise in oil and commodity prices and the Indian economy reeling under a double-digit inflationary regime, its no surprise that the people-boom is taking a beating, said Mohan Menon, CEO, Sentient Consulting, a corporate advisory firm.

The country has over a million tech workers of which IT services alone accounts for almost 7 lakh, on an average, 15%, that means 1,05,000 people are on the benches.

“Ideally, no company wants to have people on benches. So, there is a huge amount of focus on moving the bench out into productivity. That's where a lot of tech firms are going to save on additional hiring. And this will definitely eat into the quantum of hiring,” said Amitabh Das, MD Vaticonsulting, a recruitment process outsourcing firm.

“In the coming quarters, many tech firms are likely to revise their people outlook downwards. It’s already happening unofficially. Hiring is almost nil among BFSI firms, IT consulting too has impacted greatly. The industry in general is reworking on hiring outlook. The line up of additional inputs (talent) is pretty thin for many,” observed B S Murthy, CEO, Human Capital.

According to Manish Sabrawal, founding partner, Teamlease, “There is something weird going on in this downturn. There has been a clear blunting in salary growth but unlike most slowdowns where lower attrition is almost a leading indicator, this time attrition continues to chug away. Well, may be that's the only silver lining in the cloud.”

BJP says it will renegotiate nuclear deal if it comes to power

2008-07-05T19:45:00.000-07:00

Amid increasing prospects of the Left withdrawing its support to the UPA Government, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and senior BJP leader Mr L.K. Advani on Saturday demanded that the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, should seek a vote of confidence in Parliament.

“The moment the Left parties withdraw support to the Government, it is incumbent on the Prime Minister to seek a vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha. The BJP demands that the Government must immediately call Parliament into session and take it fully into confidence,” Mr Advani said at a joint press conference along with Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mr Jaswant Singh.

On the issue of the Indo-US nuclear deal, Mr Advani said: “The UPA has supinely now consented to be pushed to agreeing to this deal, at a pace dictated by the US and at their domestic convenience.”

“As the UPA is now a minority, it has no right to execute any binding international agreements.. It must obtain Parliament’s approval by first obtaining a vote of confidence from the house,” they said in a joint statement. At the same time, Mr Advani said that the BJP favoured a strategic relationship with the US — the ties between the two large democracies needed to be more than friendly. He maintained that the BJP, if elected to power, would renegotiate the deal to ensure that India “maintains” its strategic sovereignty and becomes an agreement between equals.

However, the Samajwadi Party clearly indicated that it would back the trial of strength in Parliament. Samajwadi General Secretary, Mr Amar Singh, said, “Communalism is a bigger threat than imperialism...if our friends from the Left want to defeat the Government with BSP and BJP, we don’t want to say anything. But we can’t do this work.” Though Mr Amar Singh, did not formally announce that his party has wrapped up a deal with the Congress on the nuclear energy issue, he said, “L.K. Advani is a bigger threat than George W, Bush.”

Meanwhile, CPI(M) General Secretary, Mr Prakash Karat, said India’s independent foreign policy would be in peril if the country went forward with the civil nuclear deal with the US. “Our independent foreign policy will be in peril if we go for defence and military cooperation, strategic and economic partnership and the civil nuclear deal with the US,” Mr Karat said, adding that “even if we produce 40,000 MW of nuclear energy in the next 15 to 20 years, it will not constitute more than 8 per cent of our power requirement.”

Life at Googleplex!

2008-07-04T19:51:00.000-07:00

It's hard to figure out, for first time visitors to Googleplex located at 1600, Amphitheatre Parkway, Mount View California, if the campus they are in is a hi-tech hotbed or a play school.

Googleplex is the headquarters of the Internet economy titan, Google. There are red, green, yellow, purple and orange coloured soft toys scattered around on a red couch placed on a distractingly multi-coloured carpet.

A two-seater plane is suspended mid air and a toy T-Rex close by seems to be hunting a toy flamingo. It’s almost unimaginable that the cutting edge technological innovation half the world seems to fear can be born in an atmosphere of such puerility. But then, Google is hard to figure out.

Over the last few years Google has consistently topped several ‘best employer’ surveys globally to the extent that its number one billing is now taken for granted.

The company’s carefully assembled university campus like environment -- lava lamps, massage chairs, free gourmet food courts -- has been the subject of saturation media coverage.

But despite its much-lionised and benign corporate credo ‘Do No Evil’, and a self-projected work culture that would appear to border on bohemian anarchism, Google gives media and technology giants from Redmond to New York to Minato sleepless nights. For the conspiracy theorists, Google’s takeover of the world is imminent.

James Monroe, Paris Hilton, Obama, Ciroc, Sura Zuri Mccants, and Lift Magic are names that randomly scroll across a giant LCD screen in the lobby of Google’s California headquarters.

A shiny piano stands alongside. “These are most popular searches happening around the world at this moment," the Google visitor’s guide informs.

Googleplex, as one discovers, is a labyrinth of LCDs. A little ahead, more giant screens display some of the most cutting-edge work that’s currently transpiring inside the company’s laboratories.

An innovation by the name of Gmail would’ve run across this very LCD back in 2004, one of the many outcomes of Google’s HR initiative -- ‘The 20 per cent time’, which requires Googleites to spend a 20 per cent of their time on projects that interest them, unrelated to their day jobs.

One of the LCD screens shows a trend-analyser which plots a nation’s GDP against its average life expectancy. Another LCD screen displays what is considered Google’s coolest recent invention.

Colourful little dots emerge out in streams from a rotating digital earth. The dots, representing real time searches, rise from the earth’s surface towards outer space. The colours of the dots -- red, blue and green -- denote the languages in which Google searches are happening at this very instant.

There are two land masses from where no colour dots emerge -- no prizes for guessing that those are Antartica and the Artic Circle where there is still no PC penetration.

The third screen shows a haze of circles -- floating randomly and cris-crossing each other. “This are what patterns in a computer’s mind will look like if it starts -- well, dreaming like humans,” we are told.

“So what is it like working for Google?” we ask an employee, who’s busy posting personal photographs on an office notice board. Google’s notice boards, and even its glass doors, are a free-for-all; Amitabh Bachchan, Rajnikanth and Chiranjeevi peer down at you from various soft boards in the office. “It’s great fun”, says Tan Chade Meng, a software engineer at Google.

Well said, but push employees for a more detailed response and most times the answer would revolve around food. The food culture at Google is institutionalised and everything from M&Ms to fresh fruit juices, colas and pretzels are free. If vending machines are too prosaic, there are specialised foodstations “Charlie’s Grill” , “Back to Albuquerque” , “East Meets West” and “Vegheads”.

The only foodies that have a hard time at Google are the chocaholics; vending machines charge you by the number of calories a bar of chocolates contains.

But if the calories come gratis so do the workouts. Strewn in the hallways are all-terrain bicycles and exercise balls. There’s a workout room with weights and a rowing machine, and foosball, whirlpool and roller hockey matches happen twice a week at the parking lot.

Googlers can shoot pool while taking a break in one of several employee lounges. Also, employees can take an afternoon volley ball break.

How many 'brains' your PC has?

2008-07-04T19:47:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO: Just how many "brains" does your personal computer need, anyway? Not that buying a PC was ever as easy as, say, buying a toaster or an electric toothbrush, but the companies that make the electronic brains, or microprocessors, for PCs today have managed to make it even more complicated.

It used to be that Intel Corp, the biggest maker of chips that are the central computing engines of PCs, and rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc would sell to PC makers versions of the same chip that run at faster speeds.

As far as consumers were concerned, Intel made Pentium chips and AMD made Athlon chips. Yet that hasn't been the case for a while now, and in the last few years, the choices facing consumers when they go to buy a PC have mushroomed.

With computer games becoming more mainstream and more people making and editing digital pictures and home movies, PCs can now boast microprocessors with two brains, four brains, and soon, even more.

But does the average Joe really need such souped-up chips?

"It's an interesting question," said Tim Bajarin, a long-time technology analyst and consultant with Creative Strategies. "If the basic issue is productivity like Web browsing, word processing and e-mail, you don't need all that much. A dual-core processor is good enough."

f I only had two brains
Dual-core processors have two brains instead of one. Intel sells dual-core Pentium and Core processors, as well as quad-core chips for more demanding PC uses such as editing high-definition video of a family vacation or intensive games.

"When you actually break it down, the base processors like 1.3 to 1.6 gigahertz are more than enough," Bajarin said, noting the basics are fine if you're watching a YouTube video or a network TV show online, though the video quality won't be anything like a regular TV, let alone high-definition TV.

AMD's website invites visitors to compare its different microprocessor offerings: The AMD Phenom, Athlon and Turion chips. All of those come in varying clockspeeds, or how fast a chip will perform the instructions or tasks it's given.

On Intel's website, once you navigate past seemingly simple introductory pages, you find 11 different basic products from which to choose, including the Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 with Viiv technology, Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Pentium dual-core and Celeron processor. And those are just the desktop versions.

"The reason we got into a multi-core world was not because we needed more and more cores to do the computing work, but because Intel and AMD had run out of room to increase the frequency on the processor," said Endpoint Technologies analyst Roger Kay.

Before Intel and AMD started selling chips with two or more cores, they had simply cranked up how quickly the transistors -- the tiny switches that make up semiconductors -- could turn on and off to process computing tasks.

But as chips ran at higher and higher frequencies, the processors began using too much power and generating too much heat inside cramped desktop and notebook PCs.

So now consumers choose from different dual- and quad-core offerings (AMD even sells a processor that has three brains). And prices for PCs from brand name companies now range from $300 to $4,000 and more for a high-end extreme gaming PC.

With that sort of variety, PC makers like Dell Inc and Hewlett-Packard Co and the processor makers have responded by placing all the different types and speeds of PCs into three basic categories that you can think of as every day computing, some performance and lots and lots of performance.

"What you've got is basically good, better and best, but the PC makers don't like you to call it that," Kay said. For those who want to surf the Web, watch online videos, store music and photos, watch movies, do word processing and e-mail and keep a home budget, a PC with a dual-core processor from either AMD or Intel should do the trick, analysts said.

But consider spending more for a quad-core system if you plan to edit HD video you've taken with your HD camcorder, have a budding musician in the family who likes to mix digital music tracks, or are into the latest hard-core video games that are especially taxing on processors and video graphics chips.

"This particular question goes back almost to the beginning of computing: You basically try to buy the most computing power you can afford, with the understanding that you can expect applications will continue to get better," Bajarin said.

UPA, Left afraid of elections: BJP

2008-07-04T19:34:00.001-07:00

NEW DELHI: The hard political reality is that the ruling United Progressive Alliance and its supporting Left parties are afraid of elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party said here on Friday, while describing the “political theatre of the absurd” that has been played out in public over the last couple of weeks.

Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said the recent political manoeuvrings by the Samajwadi Party smacked of political opportunism. “The UPA began as an anti-BJP platform and it had now degenerated into the worst kind of opportunistic alliance that was also trying its best to ward off the spectre of an early Lok Sabha election,” he added. Neither the UPA partners nor the Left wanted to face immediate elections, he commented.

The party scoffed at the Left for wanting to work out modalities of withdrawal of support when everyone knows what the modalities were. “It has become clear that the supporting Left parties are now looking for a date for withdrawal of support. As soon as they do that the Manmohan Singh government will be in a minority. Political morality demands that the Prime Minister should seek a trust vote at the earliest.”

Mr. Prasad commented on the “absurdity” of the Samajwadi Party apologising to Congress president Sonia Gandhi nine years after it had declined to give her the support she needed to replace the then Vajpayee government.

He lashed out at the SP for declaring that the BJP was its political enemy number one. He said such a stance was “anti-democratic … We have ruled at the Centre for 6 years and the BJP is in power, with or without allies, in 12 States. We have reached this milestone because of the support of the people. They [the SP] will not succeed in halting the BJP’s march forward.”

Mr. Prasad noted that the adverse effects of the political uncertainty, generated by the UPA-Left stand-off, on governance were being felt by the people. “The government is paralysed. Important decisions that need to be taken are not being taken. Foreign policy has become hostage to communal politics and in coming days inflation will rise to 13 to 14 per cent,” he said. The government in fact had run out of ideas on how to control inflation, which had now reached 11.62 per cent. The BJP hoped the people would give a drubbing to the UPA whenever elections were held.

Left sets July 7 deadline

2008-07-04T19:30:00.001-07:00

NEW DELHI: Political activity on the India-United States nuclear deal continued to be on high pitch on Friday with four Left parties setting a July 7 deadline for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government to clarify if it will be seeking the approval of the safeguards agreement by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The deadline coincides with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s departure to Japan for the G-8 summit.

Letter to Pranab

The Left sought the clarification in a letter to the External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is the convener of the UPA-Left committee on the nuclear deal. The Left parties took the decision at a meeting that lasted more than an hour.

The letter was signed by the general secretaries of the four parties – Prakash Karat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), A. B. Bardhan of the Communist Party of India, Debabrata Biswas (Forward Bloc) and T. J. Chandrachoodan (Revolutionary Socialist Party).

Reading out the letter at a press conference at the CPI(M) headquarters, Mr. Karat said:

“Various pronouncements are being made by leaders of the ruling coalition and some Union Ministers that the government is going ahead with the nuclear deal.

“We wish to know definitely whether the government is proceeding to seek the approval of the safeguards agreement by the Board of Governors of the IAEA. Please let us know the position by July 7, 2008.”

All-India campaign

Mr. Karat said they decided to launch an all-India campaign from July 14 to explain to people their opposition to the nuclear deal, disapproval of the government’s refusal to take appropriate measures to tackle high inflation and price rise.

“The Left parties will staunchly expose and oppose the efforts of the BJP and its allies to whip up communal polarisation with a view to gaining political and electoral support. The Left parties appeal to all other secular forces to join us in this endeavour,” a joint statement issued after the meeting said.

Later, CPI national secretary and MP D. Raja told reporters that the Left had been “reasonable.”

Congress reaction

PTI reports:

Reacting to the Left deadline, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said sovereign governments or political parties could not be subjected to deadlines.

“We are working towards triple objectives – to do a nuclear deal in the national interest, to carry along our allies with us for that purpose and to go to elections as per the constitutional schedule,” he said.

Sarath Babu, a mealion dollar baby

2008-07-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

Humble beginnings seldom pay. But E Sarath Babu will not buy that. For this 28-year-old, rags-to-riches is not just another adage. It’s his very foundation of success. From a slum in Chennai to the top echelons of academia with an enrolment in chemical engineering at BITS Pilani and IIM-A, and now as the steward of his Food King Catering business, Sarath has come a long way. His humility perhaps made him reject several high-brow offers from MNCs after his MBA. That, in a way, was the genesis of Food King Catering—with a paltry Rs 2,000 seed money.

Today, his food business spans six locations with a Rs 9-crore turnover to boot and set to clock Rs 20 crore by year-end. For Sarath, his mother, who once sold idlis on the pavements of Chennai and worked as an ayah, is a pillar of strength. “Her sacrifice eggs me on,” says Sarath. Apart from bringing up four children, Sarath’s mother worked as a cook for the mid-day meal scheme for 11 years and got paid just a rupee each day.

Having completed SSLC, she moved on to teach under the same scheme for five years. Even then, her salary was insufficient. So Sarath’s mom sought refuge in the food business to supplement her meager income. As she rolled dough in the form of idlis, dosas, bhajjis and appams, it was Sarath’s job to sell them in the neighbourhood. “For kids living in a slum, idlis for breakfast is something very special,” says Sarath even to this day.

A natural entrant to the food business with acquired acumen in childhood, Sarath has trained his sight higher. From the current 250 people, he’s aiming to recruit 2,000 people by next year, “and probably, 5,000 in the next two years”.

Initially, his catering business, with two units in Ahmedabad, was Rs 2,000-per -day in the red. “But I burnt the midnight oil literally to get a solution,” Sarath says. It’s worth a mention here that Sarath spent most of his childhood in the dark, without electricity. He focused on volumes rather than spartan servings, and started taking contracts from institutions and companies.

To bag an order, Sarath even slept on the platform of Mumbai’s railway station. “That’s one of my finest nights I’ve ever had,” Sarath reminisces. Today, Food King is targeting 100 clients, including 50 top institutions and 50 corporates for the snacks business — South Indian, North Indian and Chinese food.

Food business is not just about selling but also taking care of quality and the people associated with it, Sarath points out. He now envisions FoodKing’s Palace (food malls) across cities where all kinds of Indian food would be served at “economical rates”. And how does he manage his team? “I ask them to write their dreams on a piece of paper and advise them to think of developing themselves,” says Sarath.

Is he really worried about inflation or price-rise in food products? When most of the restaurants have increased their prices, Sarath sees an opportunity to serve at a cheaper price. “Sourcing from one place makes a lot of difference. I will tap this opportunity,” says Sarath. Today, he drives a Chevrolet to take his mother for a ride to oversee his business units in Chennai. “Next, I want to build a house for my mother,” says Sarath.

No summer jobs available for Indian students in America

2008-07-04T19:23:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON: Indian grad students studying in the US are finding the summer hard.

Those who chose not to go back to India for the summer break, hoping to get summer jobs, are finding that for the first time there are no jobs...not even in grocery stores and fast food eateries.

Employers cut 62,000 jobs in the month of June as soaring fuel prices and a slowing economy forced companies to reduce costs.

The US Department of Labour reported that the economy has lost about 438,000 jobs since the beginning of the year. The unemployment rate was at 5.5 per cent.

Amar, a sophomore student at George Washington University, realized that he could not stay in DC this summer and went home to Karachi.

He eatery he was working in the downtown area shut down when the owner was unable to make his lease payment.
"The collapse of the housing bubble is slowly sinking more and more sectors of the economy," said Dean Baker, co-director of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research.

The Labour department report states that 5.4 million Americans, about 3 per cent of the workforce were working part time either because their hours had been cut, or because they could not find full time employment.

Charles Page, a real estate agent in Centerville, Virginia once sold 5-6 million dollar homes. In barely a year, he has gone bust and now works for a realty company, that too part time.

The political criticism of the economy has been bipartisan.

Senator Obama said yesterday " The American people are paying the price for the failed economic policies of the past eight years, and we can't afford four more years of the same."

Not to be outdone by the Democratic candidate, Senator John McCain said: "We must enact a jobs-first economic plan that supports job creation, provides immediate tax relief for families, enact a plan to help those facing foreclosure, lower health care costs...."

Across the political spectrum, there is concern growing into a near panic that the there is need for a more aggressive action by the federal government to prod economic growth.

Marriage announcement very soon: Saif Ali

2008-07-03T19:40:00.001-07:00

Wedding bells may not be that far away for actors Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor as the two are contemplating marriage sooner than the three-four-year target they had set earlier.

"Oh yes, much sooner. In fact, people may be hearing an announcement from us very soon. If I had my way, I'd marry her today right here in London where she's joined me," Saif told media over phone.

"Yes, I'm ready to make it legal any time. In any case, aren't we supposed to have gone through a secret Muslim marriage?" he says sarcastically about certain media reports.

Saif was married to Amrita Singh and after 13 years of marriage and two children, the couple separated in 2004. After he divorced Amrita, he dated Italian model Rosa Catalano, but broke up with her in 2007.

The romance between Saif and Kareena took off on the sets of "Tashan". And Saif has never sounded so fiercely committed.

"If I'm sounding that way, it's because that's how I feel. With due respects to all the other relationships in life, after my marriage to Amrita and my two kids, this is the most important relationship I've had." Saif can barely contain his anxiety and eagerness to do the right thing.

"Of course, I'm anxious. You must understand this is the most important part of my life... so much so that at times I find even my career taking a backseat to my relationship. I've to guard against that. I must quickly learn to separate the professional from the personal."

Saif admits it would take his children Sarah and Ibrahim a while to get used to the changes in their dad's life.
"I'm not going to pretend that my children, Kareena and I have become one big family. They're intelligent kids with a mind of their own. Sarah is in fact 13 and a lady herself. It would be quite a while before they are fully comfortable with the change in my life.

"They haven't spent that much time with Kareena to know her as well as I do. But the good thing is everyone close to me realises that this relationship is for keeps, that I've never been more serious. Now it's entirely up to me and Kareena to take the relationship to the next level."

Saif is upset with reports that he has lately been crowding his ladylove with his attentions. "Of course, I want to be with her as much as I can. My regret is we can't be together more often. We are uncannily similar people and I've only now begun to understand why I need to be with her constantly. She complements me, as I hope I complement her. So of course, I try to be where she is."

He dislikes people intruding into his personal life and says: "I understand people want to put our relationship under a microscope. They want to know about our relationship. But there's only so much that they can know or perceive. What Kareena and I feel for each other, only the two of us know."

World happier, Denmark happiest

2008-07-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

Washington: Denmark, with its democracy, social equality and peaceful atmosphere, is the happiest country in the world, researchers said on Monday.

Zimbabwe, torn by political and social strife, is the least happy, while the world's richest nation, the United States, ranks 16th.

Overall, the world is getting happier, according to the US government-funded World Values Survey, done regularly by a global network of social scientists.

It found increased happiness from 1981 to 2007 in 45 of 52 countries analyzed. "I strongly suspect that there is a strong correlation between peace and happiness," said Ronald Inglehart, a political scientist at the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research, who directed the study.

And, said Ingelhart, there is a strong correlation between happiness and democracy. "Denmark is the happiest country in the world in our ratings," Inglehart said in an audio statement released by the National Science Foundation, which paid for the analysis.

"Denmark is prosperous -- not the richest country in the world but it is prosperous." Puerto Rico and Colombia also rank highly, along with Northern Ireland, Iceland, Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada and Sweden.

"Though by no means the happiest country in the world, from a global perspective the United States looks pretty good," Inglehart said. "The country is not only prosperous; it ranks relatively high in gender equality, tolerance of ethnic and social diversity and has high levels of political freedom."

The survey, first done in 1981, has kept to two simple questions: "Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy, not at all happy?" And, "All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?" Writing in the journal Perspectives on Psychological Science, Ingelhart's team said they have surveyed 350,000 people.

"Ultimately, the most important determinant of happiness is the extent to which people have free choice in how to live their lives," Inglehart said.

Take a bow, Japanese voted world's best tourists

2008-07-03T19:33:00.000-07:00

Singapore: Going on holiday soon? It would help if you became more like the Japanese, who were voted by hoteliers as the world's best tourists in a global travel survey released this month.

The survey, by online travel company Expedia.com, asked more than 4,000 hoteliers from across the globe to list their best overall travellers. It also rated the travellers on categories that included manners, willingness to learn the local language and sample the cuisine, tidiness, generosity and stylishness.

The Japanese won top prize for being overall best tourists. Germans and Britons tied for second place, followed by the Canadians and Swiss. American tourists came in at number 11 overall.

"Hoteliers are the experts when it comes to interacting with tourists," said Expedia.com travel expert Karyn Thale in a media release. "So as the busy summer travel season approaches and vacationers prepare for their own travel experiences, we thought it would be fun to present some of their common perceptions regarding tourists from all around the world."

The survey ranked American tourists as the most generous, followed by Canadians and Russians, while the French, British and Dutch were the most "fiscally conservative". Britons, Italians and Americans were considered noisy, while the French and Germans were among the messiest hotel guests. Americans were bottom of the list when it came to fashion sense, with Italians and French voted tops

Expedia.com advised travellers to make an effort to be more tidy and considerate to make the most of their holiday. "Always remember that quality standards vary from country to country, so don't be shocked if some experiences may be different than you pictured," it added. Here is the list of top 10 overall travellers according to the survey: 1. Japanese 2. British/Germans 3. Canadians 4. Swiss 5. Dutch 6. Australians/Swedes 7. Belgians 8. Norwegians 9. Austrians/Danes/Finnish 10. New Zealanders

Blame $146 oil on speculators, US House told

2008-07-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

Analysts have for some time now been arguing about how big a factor speculation has been in driving international oil prices sky high.

Finally, thanks to a US congressional investigation, there are figures that seem to confirm that it has indeed played a significant role. Conventional arguments put the voracious oil appetite of China and India as the main reason for the spike in prices.

Crude oil prices have gone up a staggering eight times in the past 10 years — from about $18 a barrel at the beginning of 1998 to $146 a barrel on Thursday. In the past one and a half years, prices zoomed by over 133%. Coming close on the heels of record-breaking food grain prices, this has sent shock waves around the world. The knives are out as big oil corporations, governments, oil exporting countries and investment bankers blame each other for this situation.

The US, as the largest consumer of oil — 24% of world output — has been burning midnight oil trying to find out the reasons behind this ruinous price rise. Over 40 meetings of various committees and sub-committees of the US Congress have been held in the past 11 months to investigate the inflamed oil market.

And the truth is slowly seeping out. In a hearing of the obscure Sub-Committee on Oversight and Investigations, held last week, it emerged that one of the main reasons propelling ever-higher commodity prices is the gigantic flow of speculative funds into the futures trading market.

This has been alleged many times earlier, but figures pinning it down have come out for the first time. Investments by pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and endowment funds in commodity futures increased from $13 billion at the end of 2003 to $260 billion in March 2008.

That's a 20-fold growth in less than five years. These figures have been calculated by Michael Masters, a fund management expert who testified before the sub-committee. His calculations are based on figures from US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a regulatory body, and reports of various fund managers.

These funds have been buying up futures of 25 commodities. These include food items like coffee, cocoa, wheat, soyabean, sugar and cattle/hog; energy commodities like crude oil, petrol and natural gas; and metals — both base and precious.

SP may press Congress for FM's removal

2008-07-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

Samajwadi Party's support for the beleaguered Manmohan Singh government will not come cheap. The party, which virtually holds the key to the government's survival given the imminent withdrawal of Left's support, is likely to come up with an expensive wish list. ( Watch )

As the party readies itself for the rescue act, there are clear indications that it may demand changes in the portfolios of Finance Minister P Chidamabram and Petroleum Minister Murli Deora, as well as the scalps of RBI Governor Y V Reddy and India's Ambassador to the US Ronen Sen. As reported by TOI, it will also demand that the Women's Reservation Bill be shelved. will also demand that the Women's Reservation Bill be shelved.

The laundry list was drawn up here after a meeting of SP's parliamentary board, convened to complete the formality of authorizing party boss Mulayam Singh Yadav and his associate Amar Singh to wrap the "deal over the deal".

Sources familiar with the thinking in the party said that the removal of Chidambaram, Deora and Reddy was necessary to buffer the party against the "incumbency liability" UPA has acquired on account of inflation. The party's grouse against Ronen Sen is that the envoy allegedly tried to prevent former US president Bill Clinton from visiting UP at the invitation of Mulayam Singh.

Sources said that the removal of the "troika" responsible for "mismanagement of the economy" would help the party deal better with the criticism that its turnaround on the deal was opportunistic.

They said the Congress should act on SP's "suggestions" given its vulnerability on the price front, which both BJP and the Left would seek to exploit.

Congress's response to the tough conditions was along expected lines. Party spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi shrugged off the suggestion that SP may seek to drive a hard bargain.

"It is amusing and presumptuous to suggest that the Indian Cabinet is decided outside the government of India, and without the PM's knowledge. Not only is it unfair to Congress, but also less than fair to Samajwadi Party."

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party and Congress stepped up their efforts for an early conclusion of their pact on the nuclear deal, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh swiftly complying with SP's demand for a public statement to allay the apprehensions on the controversial India-US agreement.

The demand for a public statement was voiced by SP leaders Amar Singh and Ramgopal Yadav soon after an anxious government sent the national security adviser, M K Narayanan, to brief them on the deal. The PMO's statement and the NSA's briefing are part of the script to make SP's change of stance on the India-US pact sound credible and informed rather than based on political expediency.

Now, brain drain from UK to India

2008-07-03T19:11:00.000-07:00

LONDON: Professionals and graduates from elite British universities are making a beeline for India, thanks to its booming economy, closer trade relations between the two countries and numerous job opportunities there.

Thousands of people face the prospect of losing their jobs due to the current credit crunch and a downturn in the British economy. A steep rise in the cost of living in recent months has further prompted professionals to look beyond borders.

Fresh MBA graduates from the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School have taken the initiative to organise a recruitment fair in Mumbai on July 30 and 31. They have already received an enthusiastic response from potential recruiters.

Apart from Britons and British-Asians seeking employment abroad, professionals leaving the country include many among the recently arrived highly skilled migrants from Poland, Nigeria and Australia.

The Institute of Public Policy Research says that they may have better job prospects back home, where they can also avoid Britain’s spiralling cost of living.

Private hospitals in India often recruit doctors working in the National Health Service (NHS). These include Indian doctors who came to the UK some years ago and are now choosing to return home for better working conditions.

A recent survey revealed that British graduates were prepared to fill nearly 200,000 jobs in Indian call centres by 2009. Several Indian and British call centres recruit British graduates from regions that have large Asian population. Their accent helps them interact with British customers while working in call centres in India.

For British Asians, working in Indian call centres has a double attraction they get a job that helps them connect with their roots.

A Scottish history graduate recently made news by quitting his job in Sky Television with an annual salary of 21,000 pounds to work in an Indian call centre.

Officials at Oxford’s Saïd Business School said that the recruitment event in Mumbai will offer Indian recruiters a unique opportunity to meet outstanding postgraduate student talent under one roof.

Bollywood’s flop show

2008-07-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

In an industry which equates success with commercial gain, it is quite strange that the first half of the year has had more than a handful of films winning critical acclaim, and only a few making the cash registers ring at the box office. On the one hand, there have been films such as Black & White, Subhash Ghai’s attempt to get serious with a crossover film about a guy forced to take to arms post-Gujarat 2002. Or for that matter, the more recent Aamir which again talked of the tendency to taint the Muslim community with the same brush: here the victim was the accused too. On more or less the same lines, a little earlier came Samar Khan’s Shaurya, an Indian adaptation of A Few Good Men that got the critics raving. Much like Mithya.

Unfortunately, despite good reviews and favourable word-of-mouth publicity none of these films can actually be considered a blockbuster, a term reserved for otherwise masala entertainers such as Race and Jannat. The former had a prolonged skin show, the latter capitalised on the cricket fever in the country during the IPL. Both reaped dividends at the box office, as indeed did Jodhaa-Akbar that performed creditably in some pockets, and only average in many others. Similar was the fate of Sarkar Raj, people across the country dismissed the film but it collected more in Maharashtra and the South than Sarkar. More like the snakes and ladders that we witness every year? Yes, but more snakes than ladders at the box office so far. The year has had more than its share of duds, films which were technically poor, moth-eaten, and commercially disastrous. Here is a recap of the flop show:

U, ME AUR HUM

Ajay Devgan joined hands with wife Kajol to spring a tale about an Alzheimer’s patient. The audiences forgot to queue up at the turnstiles, and the Devgan couple was left ruminating ‘you, me aur hum’.

HALLA BOL

The year got off to a traditional inauspicious start with Raj Kumar Santoshi’s loose take on Safdar Hashmi biting the dust at the box office. Not even the presence of Ajay Devgan could get an initial opening and the masses failed to understand what all the fuss about Halla Bol was.

JIMMY

Mithun Chakraborty’s son Mimoh made his debut with this belated release. He tried everything which made Papa Dear a darling of the masses. The only problem was nobody was watching. And the cliché-ridden film went back unseen, unsung.

BOMBAY TO BANGKOK

Nagesh Kukunoor’s attempt to go ribald went kaput. This story of a chef from Bombay to Bangkok went nowhere. And Kukunoor, hopefully, realised his limitations.

TASHAN

Yash Raj Films’ date with mortality, Tashan, proved that resources are no guarantee of quality cinema as director Vijay Krishna Acharya goofed up big time with a star cast that included Akshay Kumar, Saif Ali Khan, Anil Kapoor and Kareena Kapoor. Easily the biggest disappointment this year.

RAMA RAMA KYA HAI DRAMAAA

This confused comedy failed to raise any laughs at the box office, only proving that there is only so much comedians like Rajpal Yadav can do. And actresses like Neha Dhupia can only dish out certain kind of appeal. With all its numerology-inspired name, this was a drama even Rama could not save.

MEMSAHAB

The very fact that the film finds a mention here is probably more than it deserves. Starring Yuktaa Mookhey trying desperately to prove that height is no deterrent in commercial cinema, the film was replete with the stereotypes we thought we had left behind. And to think this utter disaster was based on the anti-Sikh riots of Delhi! Noble intent, ignoble content.

WOODSTOCK VILLA

Anupam and Kirron Kher’s son Sikander made his debut with this tautly made film. The only problem was there was not much support for the debutant, and at a little less than 90 minutes, some traditional cinemagoers felt cheated. Too small, too quick. Sikander’s second outing with Summer 2007 was similarly more talked about than seen.

FORGOT THEM

Ah! There were others, films which were released at the box office, and as immediately got a release from it. Names such as Mr Black Mr White, One Two Three, Sirf, Pranali, Don Muthuswamy, Haal-e-Dil, Hastey-Hastey, Thodi Life Thoda Magic… come to mind. Then there were others such as Bhram, Dasavatar, Krazzy-4, Mere Baap Pehle Aap…. Yawn.

Venus and Serena set up all-Williams Wimbledon final

2008-07-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

Five years since their last title matchup, the Williams sisters are back in the Wimbledon final with another Grand Slam championship - and family bragging rights - at stake.

The sisters won in straight sets Thursday to set up their seventh all-sibling final at a major and third at the All England Club.

Defending champion and four-time winner Venus beat Elena Dementieva 6-1, 7-6 (3), then two-time champ Serena overcame two rain delays and served 14 aces to down China's Zheng Jie 6-2, 7-6 (5).

It will be the first all-Williams final at any tournament since 2003, when Serena beat her older sister in the Wimbledon title match for the second year in a row. Serena will be going for her ninth Grand Slam title; Venus her seventh.

``It's definitely been a while,'' Serena said. ``We've been on the same side of the draw a few times. It's good. This is a new start for us.''

Said Venus: ``It's every Williams for themself.''

Serena holds an 8-7 career edge over Venus, including 5-1 in Grand Slam finals. Since Venus won the U.S. Open in 2001, Serena has won all their major finals.

``It's easy, especially with sibling rivalry,'' said Serena, who has also reached the women's doubles semifinals with her sister. ``I personally want everything that Venus has. We're good at this now. We just leave everything on the court. This is the finals of Wimbledon. Who doesn't want it?''

The sisters shrugged off suggestions that their previous finals have failed to live up to expectations because they feel uncomfortable trying to beat each other.

``It's gotten easier for me personally because I just realize that I want to win,'' Serena said. ``This is Wimbledon. This is a Grand Slam. This is history. We both are trying to make our mark.''

Venus overpowered the fifth-seeded Dementieva in the first set and then prevailed in an error-filled tiebreaker to improve her record to 7-0 in semifinals at Wimbledon.

``I am dying for S. Williams to get through,'' said the 28-year-old Venus, who hasn't dropped a set in five matches.

After Dementieva knocked a forehand into the net to end the 1 hour, 42 minute match, Venus skipped and hopped up and down with joy like a kid at a birthday party.

``I guess it started to set in a little bit about being in the final,'' she said. ``When I'm excited I always jump. That I guess will never change. I'd like to celebrate even more if I'm good enough to take that title.''

Venus then went back out to watch her 26-year-old sister, who sat through rain breaks in both sets before cranking up her big serve, saving a set point in the second set and finishing off the 133rd-ranked Zheng to put her one win away from a ninth Grand Slam crown.

After Zheng dumped a second serve into the net on match point, Serena looked more relieved than anything to get through the match. Venus fiddled with her fingernails as she watched alongside their father, Richard, in the players' box.

``She definitely pushed me,'' Serena said of Zheng, the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam semifinal and first wild-card entrant to get this far at Wimbledon. ``Unbelievable, and not only that she played a great game. She played like she had nothing to lose and she didn't.''

Richard Williams said he would fly back to the United States on Friday and doesn't plan to watch a single point of the final on television, saying he can't bear to watch his daughters playing against each other.

In men's play, 32-year-old Rainer Schuettler outlasted Arnaud Clement 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-7 (7), 8-6 in a match that lasted more than five hours over two days. The German saved a match point at 5-4 in the fifth set before pulling out a victory that sends him into the semifinals Friday against No. 2 Rafael Nadal.

The other men's semifinal has five-time champion Roger Federer facing a resurgent Marat Safin, a former No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion.

Like her sister, Serena Williams hasn't dropped a set so far. And, like Venus, she relied on her serve to pull her through when she needed it most.

``I didn't want to go three sets,'' she said. ``I could have. I was ready to go three sets, but I felt like I didn't want to. I just wanted to close it. I just hit some big serves.''

Asked about an all-Williams final, Dementieva said she couldn't imagine playing against a sibling, adding, ``For sure it's going to be a family decision.''

Venus took offense to a question about a predetermined outcome.

``I'm extremely professional in everything that I do on and off the court,'' Venus said. ``I contribute my best in my sport and I also have a ton of respect for myself and my family. So any mention of that is extremely disrespectful for who I am, what I stand for, and my family.''

Later, Dementieva issued a statement through the WTA clarifying her comments, saying English was not her first language.

``I do not think for one second that matches between Serena and Venus Williams are family decisions,'' she said. ``What I meant was it is a unique situation for a family to be in to be playing for a Grand Slam title. I have a lot of respect for Serena and Venus.''

Asia Cup: India thump Sri Lanka by 6 wickets

2008-07-03T18:57:00.000-07:00

India exhibited their batting prowess to perfection with their top order firing in unison to score an easy 6-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in their must-win Asia Cup Super Four match and set up a summit clash against the same opponents on Sunday.

India chased down the target of 309 with 19 balls to spare and after losing four wickets, thanks to a half century each by Gautam Gambhir (68), captain M S Dhoni (67) and Suresh Raina (54) and a valuable 42 from Virender Sehwag after Sri Lanka, electing to bat, had made 308 for 8.

Yuvraj Singh (36 not out) and Rohit Sharma (22 not out) romped him with an unfinished 57-run stand for the 5th wicket.

Today's result extinguished Pakistan's any hopes of making it to the final and rendered tomorrow's last Super Four match between the hosts and Bangladesh here inconsequential.

India made a blazing start with the opening duo of Sehwag and Gambhir carrying their solid batting form from their match against Pakistan yesterday, putting on 92 runs from 70 balls.

The duo drove, pulled and cut the Lankan opening bowlers without taking much risks, hitting boundaries in regular intervals and keeping the asking rate always lower than the required rate of 6.18 per over.

Sehwag played second fiddle to his junior partner but did not shy away from hitting odd balls for boundaries including a huge six off Nuwan Kulasekara early in the innings.

The 'Nawab of Najafgarh' fell to a soft dismissal in 12th over being deceived by a Kulasekara slow ball holing out to Dilhara Fernando at fine leg after scoring 42 off 34 balls, studded with six fours and a six.

Gambhir raised his 11th ODI fifty by hitting a four off Thilan Thushara after facing 45 balls in the 15th over with the help of nine fours.

Gambhir, however, failed to read a Muttiah Muralitharan 'doosra' and fell LBW in the 21st over at team total of 135 for 2 for a well-made 68 compiled with the help of 11 fours from 61 balls, to allow Sri Lanka come back into the match.

Suresh Raina, who got a life when he was on 11 when Lankan 12th man Jehan Mubarak failing to hold on to an easy chance, made the most of the reprieve to hit his fifth ODI fifty and did the consolidation work along with his captain Dhoni, who also struck his 22nd ODI half century.

Run rate dipped a bit after the return of the opening pair to the hut but Dhoni, who promoted himself up the order, and Raina survived the middle overs while keeping the scoreboard ticking.

The duo scored ones, twos and occasional boundaries including Dhoni's six off Sanath Jayasuriya and frustrated the Lankan bowlers before Raina was run out in the 36th over after facing 66 balls for his 54 (3x4), at team total of 234 for 3.

Just as it seemed Dhoni would open up to end the run chase in quick time, the Indian captain fell to Muralitharan cleaned bowled for 67 (62 balls; 5x4; 1x6) in the 38th over.

Needing just 47 runs from from the last 10 overs, Yuvraj and Rohit Sharma romped home with the Punjab southpaw hitting the winning runs, a four off Kulasekara, to reach 310 for four in 46.5 overs.

For Sri Lanka, Muralitharan was the most successful bowler returning figures of 10-0-44-2.

Earlier, Sri Lanka made 308 for eight with half centuries from Chamara Kapugedera (75), captain Mahela Jayawardene (50) and Chamara Silva (50).

Playing before a sparse crowd, Sri Lanka was in control for most part of the innings but lost wickets at regular intervals after reaching 217 for three. In the final 10 overs, they lost four wickets for 74 runs.

After losing Kumar Sangakkara in the fourth over for just seven runs when he was caught down the leg side off Ishant Sharma, Sanath Jayasuriya went about his usual self.

Dropped on four by Yuvraj Singh, who attemped a difficult take running in from mid-off, Jayasuriya breezed his way to 43 from 37 balls with eight balls before he was caught by Dhoni on the leg side to give Sharma his second wicket.

Jayawardene, who scored his 47th career fifty, and Kapugedera put Sri Lanka into the driving seat with a 78 runs stand off 89 balls hitting some smooth boundaries to put the pressure on India.

Jayawardene fell just one ball after completing his half century from 62 balls. He was caught by Gautam Gambhir at long off dancing down the wicket and attempting to hit Pragyan Ojha out of the ground.

Kapugedera teamed up with Silva to put on another 68 from 66 balls for the fourth wicket as both the youngsters batted with freedom as Ojha went for runs.

Kapugedera raced to his fifth half century from 55 balls with the help of six fours before Praveen Kumar trapped him leg before at the total of 217 in the 38th over.

Five overs later, Tillakeratne Dilshan also pulled Irfan Pathan down to RP Singh at fine leg making 15 from 19 balls.

Silva's run out after reaching his 50 in the 46th over at the total of 263 put Sri Lanka back in their effort to score quick runs in the final overs and post a big total.

Irfan Pathan was the most expensive bowler conceding 80 in his 10 overs with his final over conceding 14 runs.

Left to decide timing, modalities of withdrawal today

2008-07-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

New Delhi (PTI): Gearing up to implement their threat of withdrawing support to the UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Left parties would on Friday work out the timing and modalities of the pullout.

"We will demand on Friday from the Government to tell us as to when it is going to the Board of Governors of the IAEA. The question is not whether they are going (to IAEA). The fact that they are going ahead is clear, but when is the question," CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan told reporters after a meeting of the party's Central Secretariat here on Thursday.

"There are no two opinions (about the Left decision to withdraw support). Modalities will be decided ... we have to write to the President (to declare withdrawal of support) ... all these things will be decided," he said.

Asked whether the Left parties had any indication as to when the government would move the IAEA, Bardhan said "the government itself is in a hurry. If they are going (to IAEA), they are going within this week ... within the next seven, eight or ten days."

On whether the Left parties would wait for the Prime Minister to return from his visit to Japan to attend the G-8 summit before taking the ultimate step, the CPI leader said "if they tell us they are going on the 5th or 6th, we will withdraw then itself. But in the normal course, we will wait till he comes back."

Besides the CPI Central Secretariat, the other Left parties -- RSP and Forward Bloc, also met here today. The CPI(M) Polit Bureau has already decided to pull the plug the moment the government moved the IAEA Board of Governors to finalise the India-specific safeguards agreement, which is a key step in operationalising the nuclear deal.

Even marriage has its costs

2008-07-02T19:43:00.000-07:00

piralling inflation has forced across-the-board compromises on the scale of marriage ceremonies. Parents, brides and bridegrooms, and other family members have to now plan meticulously to ensure that weddings do not wipe out bank balances.

Shantha Sridhar, whose son got married seven months ago, is now planning her daughter’s wedding. “From the rent paid to the mandapam and the cook’s charges to the photo-video costs to even the flower garlands, everything has become very expensive,” she says.

With just about a fortnight left for the wedding, the family is trying to cut down on last-minute expenditure. “As parents, we want to give our best and make the wedding as grand as possible since this is a once-in-a-lifetime occasion for our child,” she says.

The price rise has hit everyone hard. “The beautician charges a lot more today,” says Sharon Sangeetha, who is getting ready for her wedding. “In fact, my sister, who got married recently, decided to do away with bridal mehndi because it cost so much,” she says.

“Thankfully, we purchased my wedding saris and jewellery in advance, during discount sales. Otherwise, it would have been too much pressure to handle.”

Imtiaz Basha agrees that is it indeed a lot of financial pressure on families. When he started planning for his brother’s wedding two months ago, he had decided to invite the guests personally. Now, he has sent the invitations through post and is following up over telephone. “Petrol costs so much more than it did two months ago. Moreover, many bunks don’t sell ordinary petrol. They only have the premium variety that is even more expensive,” he says. Due to the various additional costs, he also had to cut down on the gold jewellery gifted to the bride.

Inflation hasn’t spared the much awaited wedding feasts, too. Mr. Basha says the price of mutton has drastically gone up in the last couple of months, from about Rs. 180 a kilo to Rs. 240.

“Mutton biriyani is the main dish in our weddings. Now, we have no choice but to reduce the quantity of mutton in the biriyani and compensate it with a chicken dish as the rise in the price of chicken is relatively less,” he adds.

And for businesses that depend on weddings, it’s a tough time. K. Manohar, who has a flower garland store in Pondy Bazaar also says that passing on the costs to the customer at this point would ruin his business. “This is off-season for us, anyway. About 300 gms of jasmine that cost Rs. 20 a few months ago now costs Rs. 80. If we decide to price our garlands higher, we might lose existing business. But yes, many are thinking twice before buying fancier flower garlands. Only very rich families go for garlands made of just petals, because they are expensive. The others are switching to the cheaper varieties,” he says.

Budget for monarchy

2008-07-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

The Queen and the royal family cost taxpayers 40 million pounds in 2007-08, a rise of two million pounds from the previous year, Buckingham Palace has said. The annual report into the royal finances showed that the Queen was not immune to the rising costs that have hit millions of her subjects in the last year. It warned that cuts to the royal property budget have created a backlog of urgent works that will cost 32 million pounds within 10 years.

Outstanding projects include: Replacing the lead and slate roofs at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. (Cost: £ 16 million); Updating the heating and electrical systems at Buckingham Palace. (£ 2.4 million); Replacing the 19th Century iron and lead water pipes at Windsor. (Three million pounds)

Palace officials said a drive to conserve energy at palaces and other royal buildings had helped to cut costs and reduce environmental pollution.Electricity usage fell 7.3 percent in 2007-08, helped by the introduction of low-energy light bulbs. Water from a borehole in Buckingham Palace was used to cool the wine cellars and water the gardens.

Travel costs rose to 6.2 million pounds in the year to March 31 from 5.6 million pounds in the previous 12 months.During the year, there were State visits to the United States, Uganda, Belgium, France and the Netherlands. The Queen had 440 engagements across Britain and entertained 38,000 guests at garden parties in Buckingham Palace and the Palace of Holyroodhouse in Edinburgh.The money, which also paid for royal staff wages, amounts to 66 pence per taxpayer each year.

Spokesman Graham Smith said the Queen should receive a fixed salary managed by the government and that parliament should set an annual budget for the monarchy.

Truckers go on countrywide strike as talks fail

2008-07-02T19:33:00.000-07:00

Truckers went ahead with their countrywide strike to press their demands ranging from review and roll-back of hiked toll tax to rationalisation of high duty on diesel.

Initial reports indicated mixed response from different parts of the country on the opening day to the strike call given by the All-India Motor Transport Corporation (AIMTC). There were reports of crippling of industrial activity in some States, including Kerala.

An early end to the stir was nowhere in sight as at the end of the day as the second round of talks at the Transport Bhawan also failed and the AIMTC, which is spear heading the transporters’ struggle, declared that their strike would continue.

“We want a complete roll-back of the increase in toll tax, but we are also open to a middle path,” Gurinder Pal Singh of the AIMTC told journalists after the second round of meeting with Transport Ministry officials here.

The mass protest crippled industrial activity in many parts of the country and hit food supplies to Kerala, which depends on neighbouring States for staple edibles.

However, transporters maintained supply of essentials such as fuel.

The strike began from Tuesday midnight with truckers stopping ferrying of goods other than fuel and other essential commodities. The essential items have been kept outside the purview of the strike for the time being.

The impact of the strike in terms of disruption of supply chain as a result of non-movement of the goods was not felt immediately as the trucks started going off the roads from midnight only. However, the truckers said that the real effect of their agitation would be known after sometime.

The earlier round of talks between Highways and Road Transport Minister T. R. Baalu and the AIMTC representative too did not yield anything. The Minister is reported to have taken a tough stand. “Yes, the hike in toll tax in February was too much, but it was through an Act of Parliament... it is not possible to roll back the hike,” Mr. Baalu told them.

Mr. Baalu, however, said that his Ministry has talked to the Petroleum Ministry on the truckers’ demand for levying fixed duty on per litre of diesel instead of the prevailing ad valorem duty and that a clarification was expected soon.

Transporters would be provided whatever variety of diesel they want at normal rates, he said and asked them to end their strike.

The Finance Ministry too held discussions with the AIMTC delegation in relation to service tax and other issues falling under its purview. It was indicated that the Ministry was open to offering concessions on service tax.

So far as the issue of removing speed governors from roads were concerned, Mr. Baalu said it was a State subject and he would hold a meeting with the Transport Ministers to resolve the issue.

“We will continue with the indefinite strike,” AIMTC president Charan Singh Lohara said.

Mr. Lohara said: “We are running on losses... the Minister is saying that if you are going on losses, then stop your business. So, we are stopping our business and continuing with the strike.”

Central Board of Excise and Customs member V. Sridhar said the government was ready to consider the demand of goods transport agencies for enhancing the abatement rate from 75 per cent.

Sikh student's turban set afire in NY

2008-07-02T19:30:00.001-07:00

The Sikh community in New Jersey has demanded a full fledged inquiry into an incident in which a high school student allegedly set afire the "patka" or small turban worn by a fellow Sikh student, in an unprovoked attack.

The student suffered minor burns but it has raised outrage in the Sikh community which has also asked the school to do more to combat discrimination.

The culprit, identified as an 18-year-old Hightstown senior Garrett Green, was arrested hours later and charged with arson and criminal mischief. He has also been suspended from the school.

Police is investigating the incident which occurred on May 5 in Hightstown High School in Mercer County in New Jersey during a fire drill.

The Sikh student, who is a teenager and would not like to be identified, was chatting with a fellow student when Green, whom he did not know, came up from behind and set "patka" on fire using a lighter.

A teacher helped him to put out the fire. The "patka," shown by his relatives, had at least two big burn holes.

"No mother should have to worry that her child could be hurt at school because of the way he looks," said Sukhjot Kaur, the teenager's mother.

The Sikh Coalition, a community organisation, urged the School to take immediate steps to address the concerns of the community.

US govt sues company for not hiring Sikh for his looks

2008-07-02T19:28:00.001-07:00

A Texas company has been sued for religious discrimination by the US government after it did not hire a Sikh who refused to shave his beard and take off his turban.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is seeking punitive damages for Sukhdev Singh Brar, a certified security officer in the Dallas area, apart from back pay and compensation for pain and suffering caused to him.
Brar applied for a job at the Champion National Security Firm in Richardson in October 2005.

"When I finished applying, she (company representative) called me for an interview, and told me, 'I'm going to hire you, but you have to shave and take off your turban,'" he was quoted as saying by CBS.
Brar says he told the representative what she was saying was against federal law and his religion. "I cannot cut my hair. I cannot take off my turban," he said.

"She told me, 'This is our company policy and we cannot change our company policy.'"

The government wants the court to order the company to change its hiring practises.

"Essentially, they're asking, demanding someone give up their deeply held religious beliefs for a job. In that regard, I think it's very egregious," said Bill Backhaus, EEOC.

Before the EEOC filed the lawsuit against Champion National Security, it tried to resolve the case. But the government said the company wouldn't budge.

A company attorney said they haven't seen the lawsuit yet. But he says they don't discriminate, and have a good track record of hiring a diverse workforce.

Since the 9/11 terror attacks, the government says there have been more than 1,000 cases involving people from the Mid-East or South Asia, the CBS reported.

Baby comes alive 10 hrs after declared dead

2008-07-02T19:24:00.000-07:00

Call it a miracle or a medical mystery. A baby declared dead by a doctor returned to the mother’s lap after 10 hours - alive and breathing.

Sangita Das (32), a Howrah resident, gave birth to the "stillborn" male baby at midnight on Sunday at the well known Belle Vue Clinic. It was a premature baby of 25 weeks. Three nurses present during the normal delivery found it was a "stillborn case" as there was no sign of life in him. They then conveyed the sad news to the mother.

But Sangita’s husband Manas Das found the baby breathing when doctors did a last moment examination before releasing the "body" on Tuesday morning. Doctors on duty found signs of life in the newborn and immediately sent him to the Calcutta Medical Research Institute (CMRI) for critical care treatment.

Manas lodged a complaint with the Shakespeare Sarani police station on Tuesday, demanding an inquiry into the negligence of the hospital doctors and nurses. He said no doctor was present during the delivery and that nurses did the job.

Manas said, "The nurses asked my wife to convey the message to me. On Tuesday morning I rushed to the hospital to collect the body. The nurses asked me to arrange for a Hindu Satkar Samiti vehicle to carry the body for cremation. Even the doctor, Gautam Khastagir, informed us around 9.30 am that our baby was dead.”

Khastagir said, "It is a miracle for me and my colleagues. I have never experienced such a case in my 25 years in the profession. The baby was only 800 gm. There was no sign of life like heart-beats, pulse and breathing. That is why the sisters verbally declared him dead. Even the following morning it was stillborn."

Pradip Tandon, CEO of Belle Vue Clinic, said there was no mistake or negligence on the part of doctors and nurses in his clinic. Initially, there was no sign of life in the baby, he said.

City paediatrician Dr Supratik Dutta said there is every possibility of signs of life within a few hours after the birth of a stillborn baby. But he had never heard of such a case as in Belle Vue Clinic.

TCS courts young in new succession plan

2008-07-02T19:22:00.001-07:00

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest software firm by revenues, has kicked off a succession plan as it wants to elevate younger executives into the top management cadre. Under the plan, the company has started a new leadership programme for executives in the age bracket of 35-43.

The executives, who are now being groomed to take up bigger roles through extensive training programmes, will be given important roles in the company’s five verticals. TCS divided its operations into five verticals in February this year, moving away from an organisational structure linked to geography and services.“It’s an attempt to create a second layer of leadership,” said an official close to TCS, requesting anonymity.

Ajoyendra Mukherjee, the new HR head, is understood to have conceptualised the leadership training programme. A TCS spokesperson declined to comment.

"We are looking at some extremely focused leadership training programmes for a set of people in the age range of 35 to 43. This is a vital initiative and there are exciting roles that people are going to play for a very long time," S Ramadorai, MD and CEO of TCS had recently said in an interview in the group’s website.

The new exercise will bring about opportunities for many middle to senior level executives who are now struggling to find their feet in a large oraganisation like TCS, according to analysts.“Middle level management people were stagnating at TCS. This must be one of the reasons for the company to introduce the leadership programmes," said a Mumbai-based analyst working with a global consultancy firm.

TCS, which is battling a decline in large outsourcing orders due to the economic slowdown in the US, has implemented a major operational revamp. Operations of the company are now divided into the industry solutions group, major market group, new growth markets group, strategic initiative group and organisation infrastructure group. The new verticals will be headed by a director each.

Earlier last year, software major Infosys had undertaken a similar restructuring exercise. The company broadened its senior management team and reorganised its business units. Two months ago, Wipro, too, reorganised its business heads

Younis takes Pak to a big win

2008-07-02T19:16:00.000-07:00

Pakistan batted with supreme authority in a must-win game, and beat India by eight wickets chasing 309, and avenged the thrashing India had given them in the previous game, where they chased 300 runs in just 42 overs.

The home team needed to win this Karachi fixture by a big margin to stay alive in the Asia Cup. Thanks to Younis Khan's 123 not out - his second century against India in a month - Pakistan needed just 45.3 overs to win.

It was advantage India going into the game. Pakistan lost the services of their captain Shoaib Malik, who collapsed from exhaustion in a pre-match fitness test and had to be rested.

India elected to bat and blazed away. Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag added 88 in just 10.3 overs, while fifties from skipper MS Dhoni and Rohit Sharma, who has been out of touch, and a quick 38 from Irfan Pathan, took India past 300.

Pakistan's openers, Salman Butt and Nasir Jamshed, batted like men possessed and took Pakistan to 65 runs in the first eight overs.

Butt, who has five ODI centuries against India, was the first to go. He was run out for 36.

Jamshed attacked India's seam bowlers and reached 53 from 43 balls before he retired hurt due to exhaustion.

Piyush Chawla has been targeted repeatedly by Pakistan's batsmen and today was no different. Today, he switched to bowling around the wicket - something Anil Kumble has tried against Pakistan and had moderate success - and managed to bowl Mohammad Yousuf around his legs.

Thereon, the stand-in captain Misbah-ul Haq stitched a 144-run partnership in just 20.2 overs with Younis and took Pakistan home.

Mid-innings collapse cost India vital runs

After the opening partnership, India had a mini collapse, where they lost four quick wickets to the seam bowling of Abdur Rauf and Rao Iftikhar, who took 3-51.

Gambhir made 35 (32 balls, 4x4) before holing out to cover to give Iftikhar his first wicket.

Sehwag went four balls later, caught behind off Rauf for 49 (33 balls, 6x4, 2x6).

In the same over, Suresh Raina, who had come out one-down, played a rash shot to deep mid wicket and was out for 1.

Yuvraj Singh began to repair the innings with skipper M.S. Dhoni but he edged one behind to Sarfraz Ahmed, who dived to his left to take an acrobatic catch.

Rohit got out trying to hook Iftikhar and top-edged a catch to Rauf.

Yusuf Pathan, sent ahead of his more experienced brother Irfan, made 0 before he holed out to long off trying to up the run rate.

Dhoni, who batted 96 minutes in sapping heat, finally played a tired shot in the penultimate over. His runs (96 balls, 4x4) had been made with some furious running

Left sends mixed signals on N-dea

2008-07-02T19:11:00.000-07:00

The debate on when the Left intends to withdraw support to the government just got a lot more confusing.

After suggesting that they may withdraw support if the PM goes to the G8 summit, the Left or at least senior leader A B Bardhan appears to have toned down the rhetoric a touch.

Now, A B Bardhan has indicated that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh travelling to the G8 summit may not be the trigger for the Left to pull the plug.

CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat says the Left will take a final decision on July 4.

Recovering digital camera photos

2008-07-01T18:12:00.000-07:00

My digital camera is a Sony Cyber Shot DSC - W80 with 7.2 MP. I have stored a lot of pictures in it. But I am now unable to locate them. If I connect the camera with my computer, the system says no files exist. Have the pictures got corrupted or been deleted? My system is configured with Windows XP. Please tell me how I can retrieve the photos.

JAGDEESH

Here are some free data recovery programs that support the digital camera too. Zero Assumption Digital Image Recovery (size 628 KB)

This program is used to recover photos stored on the digital camera memory card if the images were deleted before copying to the PC, the card was accidentally formatted, some sort of camera failure occurred and the images are not accessible any longer. This program is easy to use. Just select the device that contains the images that need to be recovered and specify the folder to save the images to.

The supported formats are JPEG, GIF, TIFF, CRW (Canon RAW image format), WAV, MOV. Some features are limited in this version.

If your digital camera allows you to access the memory card as a drive (with a drive letter X: assigned, like for a hard drive or a CD), you can try using the camera to read the memory card.

If this does not work (camera not detected, or card not readable), you need to remove the memory card from the camera and use the card reader device.

You can download this from http:// www.download.com/Zero-Assumption- Digital-Image-Recovery/3000-12511_4- 10193327.html

Art Plus Digital Photo Recovery 3.1 (size 1.29MB) This tool helps one recover lost images from corrupted or accidentally formatted digital camera memory cards. It works with all types of memory cards. It's able to recover images from formatted cards, it reads corrupted cards (even if they're not recognised by Windows), it recovers JPG, TIF and most of RAW files.

You don't need to install it, just double-click the photorec.exe file and click start. Next select "Restore photos directly from memory card" option and click next. Then Select Card Reader or Digital Camera Drive and click next. Select the File Type say JPG and click Next. Select the target folder to restore images. You can download this from http:// www.download.com/Art-Plus-Digital-Photo- Recovery/3000-12511_4-10513647.html

C compiler

Could you please suggest a free C compiler for Windows or Linux. My system is loaded with Windows XP and does not have any Linux operating system installed. My system configuration is P1V 512MB, 80GB with BSNL broadband connection.

S. AMAR

Turbo C version 2.01 (Size 1.04 MB) This will provide you with everything you need, in one environment. Turbo C 2.01 provides tight integration between the editor, compiler, linker, and debugger.

For more information, please refer http:// dn.codegear.com/article/20841. You can download Turbo C from http:// dn.codegear.com/article/images/20841/ tc201.zip

Borland C++ Compiler 5.5 (Size 8.52 MB)

Free Borland C++ Compiler can be downloaded from http:// www.codegear.com/downloads/free/ cppbuilder.

Please see the file bcb5tool.hlp in the Help directory for complete instructions on using the C++ Builder Compiler and Command Line Tools.

Quiz

2008-07-01T18:08:00.000-07:00

1. Which telecom major has agreed to buy social networking start-up Plazes as part of its big endeavour into offering Net services?

2. In the ‘2008 Global Outsourcing 100’, compiled by the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals, name the five Indian firms in the top 10.

3. Which cyber-legend had his last ‘official day of work’ on June 27 at the cyber giant he founded in the 1970s?

4. To which company was Microsoft ordered to pay $511.6 million in damages and interest by letting stand a jury’s decision that Microsoft infringed on two patents?

5. How many downloads did Firefox 3 achieve in 24 hours on June 17-18 to set a new World record?

6. Which company plans to “make history” with the world’s “longest Non-Stop LAN Party” in August?

7. The multimedia co-processor, derived from the Cell chip that powers the PlayStation 3, that Toshiba plans to introduce in its laptops is called..?

8. What is the outstanding feature of the RepRap robot developed by scientists at the University of Bath in England?

9. Which is the world’s largest wireless carrier with nearly 400 million subscriber accounts?

10. According to experts, how soon will the Net run out of addresses as only 700 million separate addresses are remaining for allocation out of the 4.3 billion available on the present network?

Answers

1. Nokia

2. Infosys (3rd), TCS (6th), Wipro (7th), Genpact (9th) and Tech Mahindra (10th).

3. Bill Gates.

4. Alcatel-Lucent.

5. More than 8 million.

6. NVIDIA Corporation.

7. SpursEngine

8. It replicates itself!

9. China Mobile.

10. 2010

Fuelling a diesel crisis

2008-07-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

It is a scene reminiscent of war times. Vehicles queuing up at petrol bunks and people lugging all kinds of containers, from plastic water pots to jerry-cans and even empty mineral water bottles, to buy that precious litre of diesel or petrol. From Chennai and Salem in Tamil Nadu, to Belgaum and Mangalore in Karnataka and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh and other parts of the country, reports have been coming in of a shortage of fuel, especially diesel, over the last two days .

No, India is not at war and there is no clampdown on fuel sales. Nor is there a scarcity of oil supplies worldwide, as it last happened during the first Gulf War in 1990. So, why are petrol bunks pulling down shutters? The reason, at least in Chennai, is attributed to logistical failure. A public sector oil company apparently failed to move a parcel of diesel from Kochi to Chennai in time, leading to a shortage at its outlets and causing a run on the outlets of other oil companies.

Plausible as the reason seems, the truth lies elsewhere. The events of the last two days are but a manifestation of the bad governance of the petroleum economy that is now snowballing into a crisis. How is a shortage of diesel in some parts of the country bad governance? Read on.

Truth about diesel

Diesel accounts for a little more than one out of every three litres of petroleum products sold in the country. At 47.63 million tonnes (of a total of 129.24 million tonnes of petroleum products sold in the country) diesel sales grew by a big 11 per cent in 2007-08; in contrast, sales of all petroleum products put together grew by 7 per cent in the same period.

Diesel sales growth has been galloping away over the last couple of years, and at rates higher than the overall economy. This has confounded experts, who are unable to justify the apparent lack of correlation between diesel sales growth and that of the economy itself.

Some say that the spike is because of the increasing number of utility vehicles and cars on the roads that run on diesel but a number of others point to a quiet shift by captive power plants and other small users to diesel from expensive fuels such as naphtha, furnace oil and low sulphur heavy stock (LSHS), driven by price economics.

Diesel sells for Rs 35,000-38,000 a kilolitre (KL), compared to Rs 40,000/KL for fuel oil and Rs 43,000/KL for LSHS. Whatever the cause, the bottomline is that diesel sales are growing at an unnatural, rapid pace. And this is exerting direct pressure on oil companies’ finances because of the artificially low price for diesel fixed by the government. They are being called upon to subsidise higher volumes than planned for.

What compounded the problem of the oil companies — Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum — was the EOU (export oriented unit) status granted to the 33-million-tonne refinery of Reliance Industries in Jamnagar by the government in April 2007. What this seemingly harmless development did was to take away more than 11 million tonnes of diesel from the domestic market for supplies abroad.

This forced the public sector oil companies to import diesel to compensate for the loss of volumes from Reliance. In 2007-08, the oil companies imported 2.93 million tonnes of diesel at international market prices, while Reliance exported 11.46 million tonnes at the same international prices. This has led to heartburn for the oil companies — while they were making losses buying diesel abroad at market prices and selling below that, Reliance was able to export its own production at premium prices.

No imports

In order to protect their finances, the oil companies cut down on diesel imports from April this year. They appear to have resorted to an unspoken strategy of “managing” supplies, that is, control sales in order to cut down on losses. And they are doing it cleverly — their production, at full tilt, is enough to meet the projected demand growth of 12 per cent but not the incremental growth. And that seems to be the reason behind the shortage that we are witnessing in select pockets of the country now.

There have been reports that dealers have been informally told that their monthly supply is being linked to their average sales in the same month last year. Thus, a dealer who sold 10,000 litres of diesel in June 2007 will be supplied the same quantity this year. In effect, the incremental demand will be left unserviced. To be sure, there is nothing on record, nor are oil company executives willing to confirm this, even off the record. But the experience in the market over the last two days only seems to confirm this theory, especially because the shortage coincided with the end of the month. Dealers ran out of their quotas and hence had to down shutters till the start of the following month.

Bad governance

It is easy to blame the oil companies now but that would be missing the wood for the trees. Which producer of a product can continue to sell at unremunerative prices for a sustained period of time and also hope to stay afloat?

The oil companies cannot be blamed for their attempt to cut down on losses by resorting to ‘supply management’, if indeed that is what they are up to. If anything, it is a smart strategy that will not only help them stay in business but also control the exploding rate of fuel consumption in the country!

The blame rests squarely at the doorstep of the government for allowing things to come to such a pass. The administered price regime and artificial subsidies have created a cancer that has now grown deep to the bone, threatening the economy itself.

The so-called hefty hike in prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas last month was too little and too late. The government ought to have passed on price increases over the last year at regular intervals, in tune with the international price trends. It could have avoided this unseemly crisis had it done so. Unfortunately for the government, oil prices have advanced further since June 5 and very soon it will be confronted with yet another price hike decision.

Link prices to market

Ideally, the government should now move away from the subsidy regime and link at least petrol and diesel prices fully to the market. Subsidies on kerosene, the so-called poor man’s fuel, can continue while cooking gas prices can be gradually linked to the market. There is no reason why petrol and diesel prices ought to be subsidised. The long queues in front of petrol bunks in the last two days confirm that people, even if they are grumbling, are willing to pay what it costs to buy their fuel.

They are not willing to sacrifice the comfort of personal transportation even if it means waiting for hours in a queue, sometimes even paying a premium for the scarce fuel. This is not behaviour expected from consumers pinched by supposedly high fuel prices. Why should the government protect this class of consumers and risk damage to the economy in the process?

While the arguments in support of market-linked prices are weighty it is impossible to see the government moving in that direction for now. The hullabaloo over prevailing double-digit inflation is enough deterrent for the government to even think in terms of freeing prices. So, does that mean we should be resigned to live with shortages?

Probably yes, unless the government is miraculously able to find resources to fund the yawning subsidy gap. In the specific case of diesel, it could consider directing Reliance Industries to sell a part of its diesel output in the domestic market.

EOUs can be permitted to sell in the domestic tariff area but they have to suffer numerous duties and taxes while doing so. The government could consider waiving duties and taxes for diesel supplied by Reliance and treat it as deemed exports by the latter. There is already a working example of such an arrangement in the case of cooking gas. Extending this to diesel will help ease the burden on the oil companies and prevent shortages of the kind we are now seeing.

An obsession to fulfil commitment made to Bush, says CPI(M)

2008-07-01T18:00:00.001-07:00

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Tuesday said the proposal by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to place the India-U.S. civilian nuclear deal before Parliament “revealed nothing but an obsession to fulfil the commitment made to President Bush in July 2005 in which the people of this country and Parliament had no say.”

The CPI(M) said both Houses had comprehensively discussed the 123 Agreement in December last. “It is on record that except the United Progressive Alliance parties, all others which constitute the majority expressed reservations about the 123 Agreement and urged the government not to proceed further,” the party said in a release here.

‘A fait accompli’

The reaction came a day after Dr. Singh said the government would seek the sense of Parliament on the deal after the safeguards agreement was approved by the Board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and waiver was obtained from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

“After both the steps [IAEA and NSG] taken for operationalisation of the deal, the Prime Minister promises to take the sense of Parliament. This would mean a fait accompli, as the only step left would be the vote in the U.S. Congress,” the release said. It said the government had gone to the IAEA and negotiated a safeguards agreement. But the text was not shown to the UPA-Left Committee or made public.

“The government now insists on going ahead for getting the Board’s approval without anyone seeing the text or the UPA-Left Committee on the nuclear deal giving its concurrence.”

The CPI(M) said the 123 Agreement was signed in July 2007 before it was placed in Parliament.

“As soon as the text of the 123 Agreement was made public, the Left parties and other political parties, which represent a majority in Parliament, came out against it.”

My life is under threat from my own son: Gony's mother

2008-07-01T17:57:00.000-07:00

Upcoming India pace bowler Manpreet Gony landed in an awkward situation with his mother levelling a serious allegation against him, saying that he was threatening to kill her.

Mohinder Kaur told reporters that Gony was being instigated by his in-laws.

"I am pained to tell my plight through media and that too about my own son. Shortly before he left for Asia Cup in Pakistan, Manpreet along with a few of his relatives from his in-laws side came to my house and threatened to kill me," Mohinder Kaur told reporters at her house in Mohali.

"After the IPL was over and before the Asia Cup, he came to the house and took away his belongings and tried to beat me up," she further alleged.

Gony, who married a girl outside her caste, has been living with his wife and mother-in-law in Mohali ever since his 16-day old son died over a year back.

"Gony's mother-in-law is a very greedy woman. She first ousted her husband out of her house in Mohali and now she has put my son under some evil spirits. I do not know what her motto is, but she is spoiling my son and taking him away from me," Mohinder Kaur claimed.

When asked why she was not lodging a police complaint, she replied, "This will spoil my son's career".

Meanwhile, Gony's wife has refuted all the allegations while her mother-in-law was unavailable for comment. Gony is currently in Pakistan with the Indian cricket squad taking part in the Asia Cup.

Rajesh & Aarushi shared a special bond: Nupur Talwar

2008-07-01T17:39:00.001-07:00

Dr Rajesh and Nupur Talwar have been under tremendous pressure since their daughter Aarushi was found murdered. Nupur talks about her daughter and the character assassination the couple faced from a section of the media.

Q: It has been 45 days since that fateful day, how has life changed for you?

Life has completely turned around for us. Our loving daughter Aarushi was one of the most important objectives of our life and today we are questioning the objective of our very own existence. After losing Aarushi in such a cruel manner, my husband Dr. Rajesh Talwar was framed by the Noida Police. From becoming amongst the luckiest parents in the world with the most wonderful family life, we have become the most unfortunate father and mother. I pray to God that no parent is put through such misfortune.

Q: And now your husband is in prison...

Yes, with my husband unjustly languishing in prison, the grief of losing my daughter has become even more unbearable. We were a small close-knit family of three. After losing Aarushi, I and my husband are unable to even share our grief and pain with each other. I had wished that we could provide him support in the comfort of our family to deal with the pain. But that has been denied to us. Rajesh is a physical and emotional wreck. Rajesh and Aarushi shared the most special bond ever between father and daughter. The unbearable grief of losing her and then being unfairly and wrongly named as accused is something he just cannot comprehend.

Q: Are you happy with the investigation and how is it going?

The CBI is the leading investigating agency in the country. We hope they find the culprit and reveal the truth. We have cooperated with them in the past, and will continue to cooperate whenever required to do so.

Q: And there are constant updates on TV and any little rumour or fact is part of breaking news...

We were just a normal middle class family, far removed from media and criminal investigations. While we can understand the importance of the media reporting and covering happenings like this, there have been several instances of the media being irresponsible, speculating without verifying facts, character assassinating Aarushi and both of us as well. We find that there is no accountability and such speculative and incorrect reporting goes unchecked and continues till this day.

Q: Tell us about Aarushi and what was her life like? What did she want to become?

Aarushi was the most loveable and wonderful child ever. We doted on her. She was the apple of our eyes and we showered all our love and affection on her. She had many friends in school. She loved music and dance. Academically she was an outstanding student and enjoyed every moment of her life till she was tragically taken away from us. She wanted to become a doctor.

Q: How did you feel when a channel tried to make a serial on the incident?

It is shocking that some people can be so insensitive to convert our tragedy into a soap opera. We have strongly condemned these moves and have appealed to National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to prevent such happenings.

Q: You went through the lie-detector test, so finally do you think it has helped to put things in perspective?

Our objective from day-1 has been to cooperate with the investigating agencies as we want to see that the culprits are found. I have been through two lie-detector tests, Rajesh has been through three lie-detector tests. We both have been through psycho-analysis tests and in the future, if any more scientific tests are needed, we are both willing to undergo them too.

Q: How do you see your life when the dust settles? Will you go back to your private practice again when all this is finally over?

We are still numb with grief and trauma. Rajesh is still in judicial custody. Passing each moment each day is an ordeal. At this point of time I can only hope that justice is done, and that, Rajesh who is absolutely innocent, is released from jail.